2007-2008 Marathon Season has started

Here we go again!

Austin Marathon 2007 Race Report

My marathon goal pace was 10:00/mi with a 4:22 time. My general strategy was to take it easy up Congress, take it easy through the exposition hills, and make it across Mopac feeling somewhat fresh. Then I would get back in pace, and try to pick it up in the end if I had it in me, or survive and make it through my first marathon if I didn’t.

I made it up congress pretty well, loved the crowd support after Lamar, and proceeded to the hills. After a brief pit stop on Lyons municipal golf course I started the hills. I got through the hills just fine, really no problems. I got across Mopac and felt very fresh, but with a blister on my left foot. It had recurred a couple of times this month, but it really came back after the hills. I had to stop twice before Great Northern to nurse it, which ate up a lot of time. The 4:30 group was gone, so I pretty much gave up trying to get 4:22 and wanted to make it through the race. No demons came out on Great Northern and my friend Steve took the rest of my cloths.

Then the problems began. I think I took too much gu too early, I took my 4^th gu near Northcross, and it had a hard time going down. Once I got to Arroyo Seca I was having trouble keeping Powerade down. My 5^th gu barely went down, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I proceeded to North Loop past the Cliff Shot zone, and had recurring bouts of nausea. I had a 6^th gu, but was debating taking it and risk throwing up and possibly DNFing, or just rely on PowerAde. I decided to just rely on powerade from then on in. I figured out that if I sipped water and PowerAde, then it went down easier. By 46^th street I was going light post to light post. I thought about nothing besides finding a landmark and running towards it. My body and mind was begging me to stop, but I stole one of Andrea’s mantras, and kept repeating “Just keep Running” to myself and played “Eye of the Tiger” over and over again on my shuffle. I did that all the way to the finish line.

I got to that big hill near Hancock golf course, and thought “If I am even considering doing Pikes Peak in August, then I have to run this hill”. So I didn’t walk at all and powered up the hill. From there to the finish was the longest part of the course. Even when I got onto Congress and could see the finish line, I still went from block to block. I cross the finishline and felt pretty good, no dizziness. I was able to get down 6 Tacitos at the Distance Challenge area, but after that my food intake was pretty limited. I was exhausted and whipped out the rest of the day, and was finally able to eat a full meal at around 9pm.

On Monday I felt very good, I had muscle aches of course but my energy level was pretty high. Today I’m feeling a lot better.

My finish time was 4:36:12 10:33/mi. I am very happy with my time, given that it got hot and I didn’t quit. I look forward to beating it next year.

Rough Splits, I forgot a couple mile markers and lapped early/late on some

Mile 1: 10:57

Mile 2: 10:15

Mile 3: 10:04

Mile 4: 10:01

Mile 5-6: 10:05/mi

Mile 7: 10:23

Mile 8-10: 10:26/mi

Mile 11-13: 10:07/mi

Mile 14-15: 10:14/mi

Mile 16: 10:33/mi

Mile 17: 10:00/mi

Mile 18-19: 10:04/mi

Mile 20: 10:12/mi

Mile 21:10:34/mi

Mile 22: 10:40/mi

Mile 23: 11:15/mi

Mile 24:10:49/mi

Mile 25: 11:28/mi

Mile 26:10:07/mi

3M Race Report 2006

Overall 3M went very well. My goal time was HMGP which was 2:04:00 9:27/mi. I decided to try a progressive pace run, starting slower at the beginning and speeding up so that I could practice not going out too fast. My mantra was "Not too fast" at the beginning and "Don't give in to the daemons" through the rest.

Mile 1-6 was spent weaving through and passing what seemed like an endless number of people. I thought I had started too far up but I was wrong. And with my goal time slipping away I was pretty frustrated, and felt like I was wasting too much energy getting blocked by tons of people.

Mile 7-10 was pretty difficult, I hadn't hit my pace by mile 7 (I didn’t hit my lap at the mile 6 marker until later, so I didn't know I had hit my pace for the first time). I didn't think I was going to hit my goal time, I was starting to slouch (started repeating Mantra #2) so I just figured I would run the rest of the race out.

Mile 10-finish: Once we turned onto Duval I saw the long downhill and decided to increase my pace. I figured it was all downhill, so I just went for it. I did the first and second mile pretty fast. At mile 11 I knew I was almost home, and had a lot left in the tank so decided to give it everything I had. I passed tons of people, and just kept increasing my speed. The only thing that hurt was a blister on my left foot, but otherwise everything felt great. By Mile 11 I looked at my pace band and saw that I was ahead of my goal time and that I was going to break it. I got to the 13 mile marker and started to get a little tired so I pulled it back once I knew I was going to break my time and crossed the finish line, looked at my watch, and saw that I was a minute and a half faster then my HMGP. That was about the happiest I have ever felt after a race (splits below).

Afterwards I felt great, stretched out and went to breakfast.

I am having one injury problem though that started a couple days before the race. The muscle inside my right calf and thigh is hurting. It is pretty difficult to explain without showing you, but it hurts a little when I stretch it a certain way, and some when I walk. Oddly enough it doesn't hurt at all when I run (I just did my 5 mile recovery run), and doesn't hurt more after I run. I can show Matt at the workout tomorrow evening and maybe he can explain it better. I may go get some ART work done on it, and maybe a message.

Mile 1: 9:59
Mile 2: 9:41
Mile 3: 9:32
Mile 4: 9:33
Mile 5: 9:16/mi missed mile marker 6
Mile 6: 9:29/mi
Mile 7: 9:29
Mile 8: 9:42
Mile 9: 9:22
Mile 10: 9:12
Mile 11: 9:14
Mile 12: 8:41
Mile 13: 8:12
Mile 13.1: 7:45/mi

Total Time: 2:02:36
Total Pace: 9:21/mi

ARA 20 Mile Race Report

I had a pretty good race. I started out with the 4:30 pace group, not on purpose but because all the pace groups were bunched together at the start. I started to try and pass them, but they were actually doing a 9:30 pace, and even though my goal pace was 10 I didn’t want to fall behind them, so I kept up with them. I felt the first couple miles were too fast, a little under 10 each. I lost a lot of time on the first waterstop (they did learn to just dunk the cups in the powerade once I got there). The 4:30 pacer started doing a slower pace during the out and back, so I passed him and kept going. I made it up the hill and back just fine.

I was aiming at doing a strong 16 miles then falling back. I was pretty tired most of the race, but it was pretty easy to keep of the pace. I caught up with Sara Grahm in the tree tunnel, and ran with her for a little bit. She dropped back towards the end of the tree tunnel (maybe around 14) and I kept up my pace. I got to mile 16, and didn’t have too much left in the tank, but for some reason (possibly ill advised) decided to try and do my MGP the entire race. I got to the Phil and the start of the last hills, and felt pretty bad. I am proud of the fact that I kept running even through for a while through the hills I didn’t see a single person running. I passed a ton of people, and used my arms and legs (and a couple expletives) to get myself over the hills. I got back to crosspoint and really had to dig deep to keep myself from walking. I felt that if I walked then I would shutdown, but I was nervous that I would not be in good shape when I crossed the finish line. I got to Steve, he gave me some encouragement at 19, and pushed myself the final mile having not walked.

Sara then caught back up with me and we finished together.

My splits from my garmin are pretty off, since I didn’t see a lot of the mile markers and forgot to hit lap a couple of times. The splits from run-far show a very surprisingly steady pace. I did around 2 minutes slower then my MGP 20 miler time so I’m happy about that. So I feel pretty good that once I taper I should do pretty good. I felt very sore afterwards, and after an icebath I feel better. My acheles were acting up (I need to roll my calfs) but my knees were really bothering me too. It’s not a pain on the outside of the knee so I don’t think it’s IT band, but maybe they were just really sore.

Mile 1: 9:43
Mile 2-3: 10:01 maybe
Mile 4.03ish: 10:13
Mile 5ish: 9:51
Mile 6: 10:10
Mile 7: 10:23
Mile 8-9: 9:53/mi
Mile 10:10:05/mi
Mile 11: 10/mi
Mile 12,13,14: 9:55/mi
Mile 15: 9:54/mi
Mile 16,17: 10:15/mi
Mile 18,19: 9:57/mi
Mile 20: 10:30/mi

Splits from Run-far:

10K: 1:02:38.40 10:05/M
15K: 1:33:52.95 10:13/M
20K: 2:04:53.35 10:09/M
25K: 2:36:17.40 10:09/M
20M: 3:21:51.95 10:10/M

Total Time: 3:21:51
Total Pace: 10:06/M

Decker 20K Race Report

My goal for this race was to beat my last year's time, not get
injured, and just make this an easy run. Since I ran Decker last year
at a 12:17 pace I didn't think breaking that was going to be
difficult. I ran with Andrea and Suzi the entire time. About half way
through the race I had pain in my left and right achilies, right below
the calf. The pain continued until the end. I had some ART work done,
iced it, and today it feels OK. I plan on scheduling a message with
Ron this week. It hurts a little today, and was wondering if I should
do the 6 mile workout today or just do cross training. I'm also having
some minor achey knee pain every now and then.

My splits are the same as Andreas, but I cut and pasted them below:

Mile 1 - 11:12
Mile 2-3 - 23:40 (11:49)
Mile 4 - 11:40
Mile 5 - 11:55
Mile 6 - 11:20
Mile 7 - 10:49
Mile 8 - 10: 49
Mile 9 - 10:49
Mile 10 - 11:34
Mile 11 - 11:30
Mile 12 - 11:01
Last .4 - 4:48 (~10:39 pace)

Total time - 2:21:11 (11:23 pace)