Marathon # 3 - Mankato

Marathon number 3 is in the books. It was much more difficult than I anticipated, I did not reach either of the goals that I was aiming for...but it was still a rewarding experience and my best effort on that day. Sometimes that is all that you can ask for.

Fellow Daily Miler Tom and I after the race.

Before I start rambling about my marathon experience I would like to recognize some people. First, congratulations to my sister-in-law Kari who rocked the half marathon! And a huge thank you to the rest of the family, including my wife, that raced around to cheer us on throughout the run and put up with my whining about my performance after the race. It wouldn't have been the same without them there!

My coach and I had been talking about the possibility of a Boston qualifying run at this marathon. My training had gone very well this summer and I had a strong PR at the Sioux Falls Half Marathon. If you have been keeping up with my blog you will know that the thought of running an entire marathon in the 7:30's was all a bit overwhelming to me. Additionally, my last month of training had not really gone well due to my relocation and starting a new job. After talking it over with the coach, we decided that 3:30 pace (8:01) was completely obtainable and would not be out of reach by any means. This really helped take the pressure off, but in the back of my mind, I was still considering the 3:20 finish. I would wait and see how I felt on race morning, but I didn't tell of any of this to the coach.

Along comes race day! The weather forecast leading up to the race was for a 60% chance of rain all morning. It was cloudy and sprinkling on and off before the race. I ran in to fellow DM'ers Tom and Sara before the race and we had to get under a tent for a little while to stay dry. Luckily the rain stopped before the race started and never became a factor. In fact the weather was almost perfect. It was nice cool and cloudy morning, great weather for a long run!

Back to the race. I was excited and feeling good. I had decided that I was going to see how it felt to hang with the 3:20 group, I decided to go for it. Part of me said that if it was too much I would just drop back with the 3:30 group while another part of me knew that it doesn't usually work that way. After a brief pep talk from Dick Beardsley to start the race, we were off!

The pace was great, I had no trouble keeping up and felt very comfortable. At about mile 5 we approached the first of two large hills. Instead of trying to keep up with the pacer I ran my own pace up the hill and then picked it up to catch back up. I stuck with the pacer until around mile 11, then I let him go and decided that I had better run my own race.

I get pretty focused on what I am doing when racing. I really don't know what is going on so much around me because I am thinking about pace and running form and constantly evaluating my exertion level. My wife told me that I ran right by her at mile 10 while she was shouting and clanging the cowbells, I never heard her or saw her. Fellow DM'er, Jeri, told me the same thing, she was screaming at me and taking pictures, I ran right by her, didn't see or hear a thing.

Through the first 15 miles I had an average pace of 7:38, right on target for BQ, but that was all that I had. It seems that after 15 - 17 miles life gets much more difficult for me. Between 15 and 19 miles my average pace dropped a full minute to 8:37. After 19 it was pretty much a battle for survival. I finished off the race with a walk run strategy and my spirits were crushed. I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to walk any parts of the race but my calves were cramping up and my right knee was really starting to hurt. Finishing the race was painful, I had to talk myself into running any way that I could. I ran with a guy that was struggling like me for awhile for inspiration, but it wasn't enough. I even had to walk some during the last mile of the race, it wasn't until 25.5 on the Garmin that I decided one way or another that I was going to run it in the rest of the way.....and I did.

Dragging my sorry ass to the finish.
Photo courtesy of Jeri !

I heard and saw my family cheering me in just before the finish, it was a great ending to the race! It's funny how the first hour or so the pain and fatigue are so great that I tell myself I will never run another stupid marathon. What's the point of putting yourself through weeks of training for this torture called a marathon? I couldn't even remember why I had decided to attempt such a thing.

Then the pain begins to fade and the mind clears. I am starting to think about how it all played out and what I could have done differently. Hmmm....could there be a # 4?

Technical Stuff (sort of)

My fuel plan worked well for this run. I took a Hammer Gel about every 5 miles. I also took 3 Endurolyte capsules each at miles 9 and 18. I drank either water or Gatorade at every water stop sometimes even 2 cups  to stay hydrated because I sweat like a man!

I likely would have finished a little sooner had I followed the plan and went with the 3:30 group, but I will never know. Besides, I would probably be kicking myself for not doing it had the 3:30 run gone well.

I am not sure what's going on with the knee, but I will be doing some spinning and very little running this week to recover. I am definitely looking forward to some cross country running on tap for this fall!

Mankato really shined when putting on this race. There was fantastic support along the route and the water stops were great. Because it was the first year for this marathon and a limit of 2,000 runners the expo was small but still offered a nice variety. I would recommend this marathon to anyone considering it but I would also encourage you to be ready for some hills. You can't run in Mankato without running some hills!

Fargo Marathon Recap

8am on 5/22/10 was the beginning of the Fargo Marathon, my second marathon.
Here is the short and long of it all.

Summary (for those of you that don't care about the technical stuff)

Starting weather: pleasantly cool with a light rain (perfect)
Finishing weather: warm, sunny, and strong gusting winds (not perfect)
Goal time: 3:50
Actual finish time : 3:55:43
Overall place: 308 / 1878
Gender place: 471 / 1124
Age group place: 89 / 182

My goal for this race was to finish in 3 hours 50 minutes. After mile 22 I "hit the wall". My quads started to ache, my calves were cramping, and my right knee had a little bit of a twinge. At this point I believe all but the knee can be attributed to not taking in enough sodium. The knee I blame on not doing enough running specific strength training.

Overall, I felt great throughout the run until after mile 22, then it felt like the longest 4.2 miles of my life.

A marathon is such an interesting beast. You train 18-20 weeks for (in this case) 4 hours of running. Certainly there is much more to it than that, there are many mental and physical challenges along the journey. But the rewards are well worth it as well as the camaraderie of other marathoners.

The Details

Now for the good stuff!

I really feel like I learned some good information from my first marathon, and I am almost certain that # 3 will be even better. Here is what I have learned, the mistakes I made, and where things went well.

The Friendships
Before I talk about the actual marathon and training details I have to give a plug to the great DailyMile people that were at Fargo, I know there were more, but these are the ones I know and had contact with.
Jenn - I have spent many hours running with Jenn here in Sioux Falls. She has dramatically improved her running skills within the last year and will continue to grow. She's a great friend, keep your eye on her training, she will likely be qualifying for Boston this fall in Chicago.
Jenessa - This was Jenessa's first marathon. I had the great opportunity of first meeting her in St. Cloud for the Earth Day run where she PR'd her half marathon. She finished strong in Fargo and will also only get better. Way to go Jenessa!
Rob (aka Rob the Runner) - If your are on DailyMile you have got to check out his mileage. Rob is such a great spirit and inspiration on DM. In celebration of running Fargo, Rob was sporting the "mara-hawk" hairdo, check it out!
Emily A. - What a sweetheart! Emily and I had the same race goal and I had the pleasure of running with her for almost the first half of the race. She wasn't feeling it and eased off of the pace after awhile but she still had strong performance for the day.

The Training
When I first started training for Fargo, my intention was to use Higdon's Intermediate II plan. I quickly figured out that this plan was a little too aggressive for me and backed down the the Intermediate I plan. Not a huge difference but it did not have the 50 mile weeks. My running is a great mental release for me and I found myself overtraining and becoming injured three different times throughout my training. Between a hamstring problem, a knee problem, and tendonitis I guess that I am lucky to have even completed this marathon let alone PR it.

 I am my worst enemy with my training and created my problems by not allowing my body proper rest among other things. I am going to use a well respected coach this time and see if I can have a more successful training period.

A lot of equipment for such a minimalist sport!

Fuel and Nutrition
During the Twin Cities marathon in October I made the mistake of not taking my gels or drinking enough water because I didn't feel like I needed it. At that time I was also hung up on using one type of gel, which was the orange GU with caffeine (another mistake). This time, after some experimentation, I switched to the Hammer Gels. So far I love them. They are the best tasting and easiest to consume gels that I have tried. What seems to work for me is to consume one gel every 4 miles (or about every 35 minutes). I also drank water at every water stop to keep hydrated and help break down the gels. The one thing that I will change on my next marathon is to take in some electrolytes. Once again Hammer Nutrition offers Endurolytes, an electrolyte replacement. I actually purchased these before Fargo, but had not trained with them and was not comfortable using them. Side note: For the second time, I also consumed a 5 hour energy drink moments before the start of the race. Does it help? I like to think so, but it's difficult to say for sure at this point.

The Weather
Really nothing we can do about the weather. It's always the luck of the draw. Spring marathons are tough because you train through the snow and cold of winter, the nice cool spring days and then you hope it stays cool for your race. Leading up to Fargo it looked like it was going to be much warmer than what I had been training in. Luckily we caught a break on race day and had cool temps with a light rain, at least for the first hour. The clouds stayed out for the next couple of hours, then the last hour the sun and the wind showed up to add an extra challenge. I am glad that I was able to get a couple of warmer weather runs in pre-marathon so that I was somewhat acclimated to it.

The race actually finishes inside of the Fargodome, it's a great experience!

The Marathon
My game plan was to stick with the 3:50 pacer up until mile 23, then if I had anything left in the tank to give it some gas and finish strong. Throughout the race we were right on pace, even a minute or so ahead of goal pace at around mile 14. I kept falling behind the group at the water stops until somewhere around mile 16 when I actually found myself ahead of the pacer. This was not intentional but I went with it and did a decent job of maintaining about an 8:45 pace, at least until I finished mile 22. The pace group caught and passed me right after the mile 23 marker and I just didn't have it in me to keep up. My quads were aching and the last two miles my right calf started to badly cramp. I had to walk it off, I was afraid that if I kept running while it was cramping that it would get so bad that I might not be able to finish. I did a combination of running and walking to the finish. That last mile seemed like the longest mile ever.

In reflection, with better training and continuing to dial in my nutrition, I can realistically see taking another ten minutes off my PR for the Mankato marathon.

After the marathon with my running buddy Jenn.

The Technical Stuff

I have to say that I am very happy with my splits, they were pretty consistent until the bonk at 23. 

Looking at my heart rate, it took a pretty good jump about 1:45 into the race and continued a steady climb afterwards. This is where I believe that electrolyte replacement would have greatly helped.

Lots of details, but to me that's part of the fun. Knowing that there is room for improvement is a great motivator!

53 Miles

My first marathon has taught me many lessons, most importantly, patience. In training for the first, I selected a fairly challenging training plan and ran almost every run at a strong pace. Never really thinking much about recovery. If you run fast in training, you are bound to run fast in a race right? Right….to a point. Being a master’s runner (40+ yrs of age) changes the game a bit. I have to be a little gentler on the body whether I like it or not. I am still learning about running and researching what will be my next marathon training plan. If Fargo is my race, then I have until February to select the right plan for me. Until then I have been experimenting with aerobic base training and heart rate training.

It’s not glamorous, trust me, I used to check my resting heart rate and what it was right after a run, but never gave it much thought beyond that. My opinion was that it really did’t matter and that if you run harder your heart will get stronger. I was wrong. Using a heart rate monitor helps you gauge your effort and keep that effort within the optimal zone for what you are trying to accomplish on each particular run. This type of training is supposed to build up your aerobic capacity and improve your overall running abilities for all distance running. This training encourages you to listen closely to your body and not push yourself to the limit for each run but allow for recovery after every run. It is actually much more detailed than what I touch on here but I can tell you that it has made my runs definitely more enjoyable. I now closely monitor my heart rate during my runs and do not worry about how long it will take me to finish. In fact I enjoy my runs much more at this slower pace because instead of running at the top end of my abilities, I am running in a comfortable heart rate zone.

It has been a relief, training myself not to run by pace on the watch, but by effort. Forcing myself to slow down when the heart rate gets too high and making myself speed up if I take it too easy going downhill. Since my marathon I have been working to safely increase my mileage. In fact I just finished October with 173 miles, my highest month ever, and the week ending November 1st, I logged over 53 miles. If you want to learn more, below are some links with some explanation. I am also open to any thoughts or recommendations from anyone with experience with this type of training.

H.I.T – the book that started it all for me (this is an advanced running book but still has some good tips for an amateur like me)
Aerobic Base Training
Heart Rate Training

New Running "Tool"

Happy Father's Day to all of the other father's out there! I have been saving a little money here and there the last couple of months for something that I have wanted for quite some time now. It is an extremely technical running tool that has the potential to enhance my training and bring my running to a whole new level.
Ok, truth be told, this may be the coolest gadget since the Furby!



I bought the Garmin Forerunner 405.

This is not just a running watch, this is a GPS enabled sports watch that wirelessly links to my computer and uploads my workouts. The features are amazing. During a run, the 405 will tell me my current speed and distance; it also records my coordinates and altitude. This gizmo records my predetermined splits and alerts me at each one to what my time is for that split. When I am running through town and have to stop for traffic, the 405 will automatically pause until I begin running again. There are also several training features on the 405 including a Virtual Partner in which I can pace myself against a predetermined or previous pace. When my workout is completed I just get within 3 meters of my computer and the information is wirelessly uploaded!
That's not all folks! Once my information is uploaded to my computer, it transfers to the Garmin website. This amazing website filters, crunches, stretches, blends, chops, purees, bakes, fries, and toasts all of this valuable information, then regurgitates it back out into this amazing log!
Although this is my first day with the Garmin 405, it looks like we will be building a beautiful relationship together, yes, I think I am in love. At least until the next techo-gadget comes out!

Have fun and run hard!