Marathon Race Report
This was kind of an unplanned race. I had the idea of doing a marathon this year but timing wise figured I wouldn’t be ready until late summer early fall. However I had a couple weeks ago I had a good training run and since this race was local to me I knew the course super well. Then on Friday when I saw the weather was looking perfect (minimal wind and tempts in the high 40’s and low 50’s) I decided to pull the trigger. I didn’t set any real lofty expectations, mostly was curious as to where my fitness was at.
Primary Goals
Boston Qualifying time (3:05 for my age group)
Stick to my nutrition plan (2 Gu’s a 12 oz Gatorade each hour - 66 grams of carbs)
Secondary Goals
Sub 3
Run a negative split (though I only missed this by 20 seconds)
Buildup
As mentioned above, I wasn’t planning on doing a marathon this early in the year so I wasn’t coming in with too much of a base. I took a couple months off of running last year post IM and didn’t start back up until November. I was following a BarryP-like plan and was pretty cautious about increasing my mileage (usually 5-8% a week with a rest week every 4th or 5th week). I only had 4 weeks above 50 mpw and my longest run was 17.5 miles (and 4 other runs in the 15-17 range). The large majority of my running (95%?) is been in Zone 2. The aforementioned long run was 2 weeks out from the race and I did the middle 15 miles at a 6:48 pace. This was what had me thinking a BQ (and maybe sub-3) could be possible. As fate would have it I got a bad cold and lost my voice 9 days out from the race so I cut things back a ton and took several days days in a row off to let my body rest. While this kind of sucked it was actually probably better as it forced me to rest and for the most part I had just a few lingering issues form the cold this morning.
The course
Takes place in northern Idaho. Two out and backs. The first is ~16 miles and the second is ~10 miles. The first out and back had one big hill that you go over the top of in both directions (0.5 miles/4% on one side and 0.8 miles/4% on the other) as well as another which you turn around on the top (0.4 miles/5%). The second out and back has a hill going into the turnaround but it’s pretty shallow (1.5 miles @ a little less than 2%). Total elevation gain is 760 feet.
Prerace breakfast:
A small bowl oatmeal with a some grape nuts ~10g of whey protein powder, half a Cliff bar, and a few chocolate covered coffee beans (basically just found what I could try and get down as I wasn’t feeling hungry)
Race time:
I decided I needed one last stop at the porta potty which led to me not getting to the start line until 90 seconds after the gun went off. Normally this would suck, but since my plan was to just run my own race TT style I think this was a blessing in disguise as it meant I wouldn’t be tempted to jump on with any runners or groups going faster than my planned pace (though it did mean I had to get through 250 or so runners).
The plan was to to not run any faster than 6:55 for the first 21 miles and then if I felt good, drop the pace and take a shot at getting under 3 (the last 5 miles were slightly net downhill). I did end up with thee miles in the first have being a couple seconds each under 6:50, but they were on the downhill sections. Otherwise I was able to hold back and stay on pace. Overall pace stayed consistent at all my mental checkpoints - mile 8 (6:58), 16 (6:57) and 21 (6:56). I did some quick math at mile 21 figured if I dropped my pace to 6:40 for the for 5 miles I would have an outside shot at ‘sprinting’ to a sub-3 in the last 0.2. However after 2 miles of this strategy my hip flexers were begging for mercy and I started to get concerned that I’d blow up and lose out on a BQ so I backed it off to a 7-7:30 pace for the last three.
3:02:16 clock time which was a 5.5 minute PR (though this was only my 2nd standalone marathon and the other one was 8 years ago). I just missed negative splitting (20 seconds slower on the 2nd half). Hoping this is far enough under the BQ time to get in the 2023 race.
Lessons Learned
Coming in a little undertrained is much better than a fatigued or over trained.
That said, I think I need a bigger base (more weeks above 50 mpw, topping out at 70 mpw as well as couple training runs over 20 miles) to make the jump into the 2:50’s
Slowing down a little bit to make sure I consumed enough carbs and liquids pays dividends. Probably the second most important thing to keep from blowing up on the back half of the race.
And the most important thing: not going out too fast. This one gets a lot of people since it feels so easy to run just a little faster. In my first marathon I went out in a 1:27 and back back in a 1:40. This one I went out In 1:31 and came back in 1:31. At the mile 8 turnaround I was ~20th place and everyone in the top 10 was at least 2 minutes up on me. By the finish I had moved up to 6th and only the top three guys had beaten me by more than 2 minutes.
Not gonna lie, I initially read that as 32 miles one way and 20 miles the other.
Brilliant work. I find that the best feeling in a race comes when you put together a plan and execute it to perfection on the day. However, the second best feeling is when you absolutely boss something, and frankly a 5 and half minute PR is bossing it in my books, in a race where you had 0 expectations.
Checking back in re: wearing carbon-soled shoes for daily running.
DON’T do it. After about 4 months I started to develop what I thought was achilles tendonitis with posterior plantar fasciitis. Mild but bothersome - I’ve learned over the years to not let running injuries get out of hand. I tapered down my intensity and volume, but kept wearing the Hoka Carbon X 2’s around the house and casually for a couple of weeks. Tendonitis didn’t get better, it actually got worse. Started to look into it more, figured out it was “insertional” achilles tendonitis. Then started looking into common causes, described as a result of increased volume, intensity, and shoes with stiff midsoles. Evidently the stiff midsole removes the foot’s contribution to the stride and basically places all of the load on the Achilles.
I stopped wearing them and went back to my Adidas Ultraboost with Birkenstocks casually. Also started doing reverse calf raises focusing on eccentric loading. In 1 week I’m back to normal and slowly adding back volume.
I’m sure they’re great for some people and for racing, but for me they were a recipe for an injury.
You should lead with that. Starting with all caps DON’T do it is missing the point that this your n=1 experience. Some, myself included, are perfectly fine doing a lot of miles in all kinds of carbon shoes.
Not all carbon shoes are build the same, and not all carbon shoes work for everyone. I have know people who have issues with them, specially if you are heel striker or if you over pronate. Achilles issues happens usually when you are prancing or pushing from the ball of your feet. This is something that could hurt you if you are not used to it. Carbon shoes will force you into this position.
But if they don’t work, they don’t work. I know i really love mine
Carbon plates in running shoes have been around for decades, but without any significant performance boost. The performance benefit is from the minimized hysteresis loses of the latest foams. I agree that the foam alone would be too unstable and thus the rigid plate is added for improved stability. But throwing in a carbon plate with older foam technology, like Hoka has done, results in a shoe that’s no faster than before.
Reebok just launched a carbones plated shoe on the floatride. My issue is that float ride is more on the firm side. I don’t think it will perform as well as it does on Nike and Saucony
Nothing I’ve heard. As I’m doing more running than cycling I was keeping my calendar updated but finding that too much admin. Free stuff like intervals.icu I’m finding more value from.
After many years I don’t expect running sync to ever appear. As I’m more run than cycle now I’m seriously looking at not renewing my subscription come October. Don’t think it’s for me anymore.
What are the general consensus about cadence here?
My cadence is on the higher side. My normal easy cadence fall between 185 and 190.
During track/races and do between 200-220.
On a full out 200 and can go to 240.
This week I have been trying to reign on the cadence. Today I tried to keep the cadence bellow 185 but also keeping the run faster that I would normally do at that cadence (about 8:45 mpm).
I succeed. I was even able to run the last mile with an average of 8 mpm (with some stretches in the mid 7’s) and still at 185. Now the calves are ON FIRE.
So much of the newer research and anecdotal evidence now points to ‘whatever is normal for you’ as your cadence will self-optimize.
Mine is the opposite of you in that I’m much lower. Recovery pace 8-830 my cadence lowers to 165, endurance paces 170-175 and threshold is right at 180. Event a paces above threshold I barely hit 185.
I’ve tried increasing cadence while maintaining pace but found it was too difficult. Both mentally and perceived effort. Though HR would typically inscrease the ‘harder’ I focused on it so I just let it be.
More generally, unless your cadence is increasing injury risk through over striding or similar I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
I do think stuff like trails and hill running can be a huge benefit in terms of form though. It sort of passively forces you to figure out what’s most efficient for you and breaks up any little bad habits that might creep in through the more repetitive nature of road running, but without the effort or potential downsides to trying to ‘force’ something on your body that doesn’t work for it. I’m built like a garden gnome so I also have a pretty high cadence, but hill sprints in particular got me generating a little more force rather than relying on a high turnover alone. Brought about a slight decrease in RPM as well as some decent performance improvements, and though I don’t the latter is a direct result of the former I do think it bears some relevance.
Yeah, I’m looking hard at all my subscriptions this year. I really like TR but I’m kinda learning that there’s really only a few key workouts that most people need, and I can design my own workouts and use (and donate to) intervals.icu instead. I may regret that choice during indoor riding season but I have until Jan to make my decision. If run sync doesn’t happen by then, not sure I get the value. I do need to spend some time using adaptive training I suppose. Maybe I’m already missing the value, I’ve just not been in “training” mode this year, more just trying to enjoy the bike and try new things mode…
