Adarq.org

yesterday

- marathon race in 3:07:12 (chip), 3:05:56 (watch)
measured distance was 42.39 km, which accounts for most of the discrepancy between the times. failed to hit sub-3:05, which was the A goal, but did get sub-3:10 and i had enough gas left at the end to pass a bunch of people in the final miles. split was pretty close to even but slightly negative, 1:33:30 and then 1:32:26 using the watch record. my legs started to get tired around mile 19 - there was a big hill between miles 18 and 19, the only real one on the course - but i never hit the wall. plenty to be happy about despite not hitting the A goal. conditions were good, overcast and high-40s/low-50s, although it was pretty breezy and some of the more exposed sections were into a meaningful headwind.

but one huge frustration: i had to stop to go to the bathroom twice! lost around 90 seconds to those stops. the second one, right after the halfway point, i even had to take a shit. what the hell! i went to the bathroom about 45 minutes before the race started but i started to have to pee again a few minutes later and the lines were too long to go again closer to the gun (horn). i could probably have gotten away with just peeing at the second stop but it wouldn't have taken much less time and at that point i figured if i was going to stop, i might as well get whatever was in there out to minimize the chances of a third stop.

it sucks to think that i could have run 3:05 official and even sub-3:05 on my watch if not for my stupid bladder. gonna have to do some research around that. IIRC, i never had to use the bathroom during the 50k back in october. during the JFK i did, during the first segment.

couple other data points/reflections:

• my right peroneal hurt and felt swollen for the first 10 km or so. my shins have been bugging me for the last week or so, which has been weird and came seemingly out of nowhere. something else to research. and my left ankle also bugged me off and on for the first 10 km. shins were also probably the most tired single muscle group at the end of the race as well, and even this morning, although overall i feel pretty good right now.
• my intervals.icu fitness graph is interesting to look back at. in the green for pretty much all of january and february, then dipping down to blue when i got sick in early march, then back into the green for a few days before going up into the blue again during the ski trip. but then from about march 22-april 16, it's in the grey. started to dip into the blue again last weekend, as previously noted, and had just tipped into the blue on saturday, which is good. but i didn't feel as fresh as i've felt at other times. that shin feeling is part of it. i know copeland says "in the green, too keen; in the gray, okay." but i kind of felt like i was gaining more fitness during the early going and the graph seems to bear that out.

also, i just revised my threshold pace down to 4:03, from 4:12. the latter was probably too conservative, 4:03 is what my watch estimates for me right now and it is spot-on with predicted race times (1:28:09, 3:06:16 full; bathroom breaks be damned), so i'll go with that.

• i basically stopped strength training or doing any kind of soft tissue work at least a month before the race. that's probably not ideal.
• mileage averaged 72 km/45 miles per week, against a plan target of 85/53. i also never actually reached the peak mileage, getting close to 100 km a few times early on but never crossing it. that includes the ski week, which i knew about going in, and also getting sick for a few days in march. but mileage dropped significantly in the last 6-7 weeks, especially the two weeks leading up to the half. it looks like that basically explains the transition from green to gray on the intervals.icu training graph, which i suppose makes sense. on the plus side, apart from the illness and the ski trip, i only skipped two planned training days. never got hurt during the block and so i think in the next build i could shoot for higher mileage overall. and i think it's time to just switch to running every day. that will make it easier to raise weekly mileage and also reduce the impact of missing the odd day.

long story short: i'm glad to have done it and given it what i had. some things to figure out for the next one. and now, i'm even more motivated than before to break 3 hours.

as a side note, the winner ran 2:05, a huge course record. glass city is usually pretty fast for a mid-sized (~5,000 runners between the half and the full) race: the announcer at the start said about a third of entrants usually qualify for boston. but not that fast. impressive! and unlike the kenyans who just destroyed the WR in london, he's probably not juiced to the gills.