Hyannis Marathon 2012

I finished my 10th marathon yesterday with mixed feelings. I was happy to finish in under 4 hours, 3:59:01, but was not happy with the overall effort.

My training was OK. I didn't miss any long runs, didn't do any speed work outs and could have done more non-long runs.

The day before the race was total panic. I had two cuts on the bottom of my right foot that got infected. With the help of my family i tended to it all day, in the end New Skin saved the day and it was never really an issue during the race, my foot was sore around the area afterwords but it was never really in pain.

The day of, it all started out good and got better, i was totally relaxed, had plenty of time to get my number get dressed, bathroom lines weren't long, and then i got shit on by a Seagull, I knew it was going to be a good day.

I lined up in the wrong spot, too far back but it was partially on purpose. I wanted to be forced to go out slow and it worked but i did exert a lot of energy in going around slower runners.

The mental prep for this race was pretty straight forward. This marathon was all about time, where in the past it was about distance. My training long runs were all about time not distance, so i was doing 2.5 hours instead of 16 miles for example. So the marathon would be layout out with the same way, maintain for the first 3 hours and hammer home after that. In summary, instead of looking at mile 20 as being the first half, this race that point was 3 hours.

It didn't go that way. I had no problem maintaining, for the first 2:30 but then it became very difficult. To go one step farther, i wanted to run with little effort until hitting 3 hours and bury myself. This is what this race was really about. For the Ironman im doing in July i need to train myself to run in total pain. I just happened to get that early in the race, when maintaining the 7.4 mph pace because painful. Then at mile 19 i hit the wall.

The wall was what it always is. Nothing worked. No matter how prepared you are mentally, you just can't get past the decisions you've made in the past. In hind site, i deserved all of this.

To avoid this in the future, bring GU. I only took in Gatorade, that's it, only 2 small cups of water all the rest Gatorade. I should have bought some GU, even a caffeine table to counter act the lack of coffee. I just figured they'd have it on the course, even though no were on the site did they promise any of this. So my bad. I have learned. I ran out of gas and that's that.

Post Marathon - First Sip - Harpoon Black IPA

If i hadn't run out of gas? I would have done a 3:36, that was my pace up to mile 19. I was consistently in the 7.4 mph average the whole day until that point. It was nice having that feedback but if i could do it again maybe i was running faster then my training allowed for.

The weather was also a factor, the wind was bad by i was prepared for that, the sun was pretty intense and could have lead to my massive cramp at mile 23. If only it was overcast and not windy, but that what makes the marathon so amazing in the first place. If it was just a mater of running fast for 26.2 miles then then everyone would do it. But it's about running a smart race. I did not run a smart race, but not a dumb race either, so for that a sub 4 is satisfying but i would really like a redo.

Takeaways. The plan of learning from the pain was useless in that you can only apply it to a near upcoming event. What i gained from it will only be there in July if i continue on this same training regime. Nutrition, prepare better with GU, etc.