« October 2007 | Main | August 2008 »

November 19, 2007

Philadelphia Marathon

3:16:51. I just looked at my Garmin data for the first time since before the halfway point of the marathon on Sunday. It’s fascinating and frustrating at the same time.

My garmin says I was pretty erratic in my pacing, which is inconsistent with the way I felt I was running. But the course is hillier than advertised, which played a part in the inconsistency. It says I was pretty steady around 7:10-ish pace for the first five miles and then clocked two sub-7s at 6 and 7 and then a 7:24 at 8. But then back at 7:08 for 9 and 7:26 for a mile 10 with a good hill in it, and 7:01 for 11 and 7:15 for 12.

The problem with these splits, though, is that I was letting the Garmin take them automatically. They weren’t taken manually as I passed the mile markers, which seemed to get further and further off where the GPS said they should be. But I naively thought that at some point they would synch back up.

So despite seeing splits that seemed to indicate that I was doing really well, somewhere between 6 and 7 (I think) the 3:10 pacers caught up to me. I ran with them for a while, and then after a water stop that involved picking up a dropped gel I looked up and they were far ahead of me. I had tried to stay on top of how my overall time was comaring to where I should be for a 3:10, but was having a hard time reading my pace band (and when I could read it, I was having a hard time believing it – I just kept thinking the mile markers were off somehow.) Having them pass me took some of the wind out of my sails, and then going through the half, just under 1:36 on the clock, I just lost all enthusiasm for a p.r.; I knew I wasn’t fresh enough to pull off a 2-minute negative split.

Mentally I was in a rough place during those miles when the pace group left me all the way through the half. But after the half marathoners left us and the route followed the Schuylkill River, I had a few miles of reflective time before the rush of the faster runners started coming in the other direction to think about what I wanted to do with this marathon. This may have been a “moment of truth” kind of moment when a “true champion” digs deep and goes after that negative split. I just decided to stay strong and relaxed and see what happened.

And my second half splits are slower than my first half, but they’re steady, as opposed to getting progressively worse. And I felt strong the entire way, never fighting the urge to walk, and never fighting any true physical breakdown (there were strides near the end, though, where my leg would inexplicably twitch and go off in a slightly erratic angle.) I passed many more people than passed me. And I got to enjoy running with Janie, who jumped in with me around mle 22, rather than being oblivious to her or even possibly annoyed at the company. I did turn down her offer of a story, though; telling her that “quiet is good.”

I really truly and honestly enjoyed the second half. It was gorgeous out there. The crowds at the 20-mile turnaround were fabulous. I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed miles 14-26 as much.

I can’t help but wonder if I would have had a more legitimate shot at a p.r. if I had started the training cycle actually in decent shape. Or even just not completely out of shape! Maybe I should have chosen a marathon later in the winter to give the speed a chance to catch up with the endurance. Maybe maybe maybe. But I didn’t. And what I got out of it was pretty great, even if it wasn’t “perfect.” I had a really, really good time (with some bouts of despair early on) on a great course on a not-glorious-but-perfectly-acceptable Pennsylvania November day. With lots of friends, no less (one of whom actually got his p.r.!)

And yes, they played both “Eye of the Tiger” and the Theme from Rocky at the starting line. And yes, I got ferclempt when I heard those trumpets. Yo! Philly! Thanks for a great time!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:30 PM | Comments (5)

November 12, 2007

Last pre-marathon post

A quote from August Jen:

We have a marathon goal pace run coming up shortly, and I’m dreading it. Not because it’s going to be a tough effort, but because I feel really stupid calling whatever pace I can handle for that distance right now a “goal.” My true goal is to run as fast as I can on race day. More to the point, I kind of feel like deciding on a pace for that run that’s in line with what I have been doing lately and calling that my “goal pace” is the first step to giving in and accepting that I *am* this slow (I can’t say that I’m “out of shape” when I’ve been running as much as I have for as long as I have) and admitting that 3:30 (or even 3:20 or 3:15) is the best I can hope for at the end of this training cycle. How totally depressing. Maybe I’ll insist that we all call it something else, like “turnip pace run” or “Shirley.”

November Jen has decided she agrees with August Jen. Based on my recent race McMillan seems to think I can do a 3:15. My friend who's been following this program with me and running many of my runs with me thinks I should shoot for 3:15. Both August Jen and November Jen think 3:15 is, well ... meh.

Why not go for the p.r.? If the conditions are perfect, as they're looking to be, I'm not passing up that opportunity. I think it's the only thing I'll really be happy with. I mean, how happy can you get over "well, I ran really smart and was only five minutes slower than my p.r. after 18 long weeks of exhausting high-milage training"? I have blown up spectacularly in the past (try as early as mile 11!) and not died of total embarrassment at my slow time. The spectacular blowups were spectacularly painful, of course, but then again, so were the p.r.s.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:18 PM | Comments (4)

November 7, 2007

Taper gives you more time to blog

and fewer miles to blog about! We did 3x1600 at 5K pace this morning. I averaged 6:24 pace for all three, with each quarter being between 1:33 and 1:37. Before the last one I let out a little squeal of joy to be wrapping up the last hard effort I'll put in this training session before the actual marathon.

Wowee.

I need a strategy for the race. I suspect I'll come up with an A goal and a B goal, but ultimately deciding on a race plan will be difficult because my approach to this race has been so ... blind? I dunno. I started the program with a 1:40 half marathon and 7:22 pace for a 3-mile tempo, but really didn't know where I could go from there in only 18 weeks. I think it's much easier to try to choose a goal based on being relatively in shape and working from that point than it is to try to guess how long it'll take you to get in shape and whether you can get faster in any remaining time you may have. Ya know?

So I thought I'd just do the program and see where I ended up. And here I am. I have an idea of where I ended up, but I'd like to think that with some rest I could be a little faster than where I am right now. Beth used the term "undercooked," which I love. As I rest up out of the "oven" of training my body continues to get in better and better shape. It could happen! But I also know that trying to execute a race based on an unrealistic goal would be disastrous.

We'll see I guess ...

Posted by jenandmats at 8:18 PM | Comments (1)

November 5, 2007

Taper hyper

My shin is better. I can't even make it hurt when I flex my foot. Rest, ice, ibuprofen, and the foam roller were my self-prescribed solution and it seems to have worked. I used ice and ibuprofen on Saturday, and took yesterday off from running, but even yesterday afternoon it still hurt really badly. We went to the Texas Book Festival with MG in the stroller, and I didn't take any ibuprofen before we left, and I had a distinct limp and had to walk really slowly. It wasn't until last night that I got after it with the foam roller, and this morning I woke up to a pain-free leg. Weird.

I wonder if the agressive rest, ice, ibuprofen, and foam roller was the solution in '05 when things got worse and worse until I DNF-ed the marathon.

I should be knocking in wood, I suppose; I haven't run yet. I missed a 17-miler on Sunday. But the fact that I can't make it hurt even if I flex my foot as hard as I can indicates that there's some definite progress.

Posted by jenandmats at 7:50 PM | Comments (1)

November 4, 2007

That shin thing

is back. Unbelievable. In early January of '05, near the end of a training cycle that was looking like it might get me in marathon p.r. shape, I have an entry that starts "On my right shin the muscle that flexes my lateral toes is very sore. You'd think I'd traumatized it somehow." And then the next entry I say "It hurts when I press on it, but if I keep pressing it doesn't hurt anymore. It hurts when I flex my foot, but if I keep it flexed or repeatedly flex it it goes away. It's an acute pain, not a soreness."

Oh good. Now I don't have to write all that again. Just change the reference from "right shin" to "left shin." How totally awesome!

We went down to New Braunfels for a five-miler yesterday. I did fine, but I didn't blow myself away like I'd hoped I would. I was marginally faster than at the five miler a few weeks ago. I was hoping for some sign that I would miraculously be ready for a p.r. in Philly, but I don't think 6:38 pace for five miles will translate to a sub-3. (Did I mention that my last mile on my 20-miler last week was faster than that pace?) Oh well. Time to come back to earth.

Maybe this shin thing is kharmic revenge for griping about not being in p.r. shape, since I'm definitely in good shape and shouldn't be taking it for granted.

This is actually the third time this has happened to my shins. In my log from October of '02 I have an entry that says "hurt leg from yesterday. Stumbled on a rock?" And I remember stumbling on a rock and not thinking much of it until after the run and my shin got tighter and tighter. And puffier and puffier. No puffiness today, but at the race yesterday I had a woman catch me with less than a mile to go and she really pushed me in, and with only about a 400 left to go I stumbled on some uneven pavement. It wasn't until well after the race, while in the beer line, that I realized that it was starting to hurt.

Stupid shin!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:35 PM | Comments (2)