Marathon Training Thread week ended 4/29

Foogo

RE: Marathon Training Thread week ended 4/29 4/30/2012 10:41AM - in reply to kr

Thanks for asking KR.

So the race was on saturday. goal was 2:45. hot day. at 7 it was 60. at noon it was about 82.

I promised myself I would post this whole training cycle and the race results even if things did not work out in the race. for the body of marathon knowledge.

The knee never really recovered. In the final 2.5 weeks before the marathon I think I took off about 8 days. The day before the marathon I did a little 3 mile jog to check the status of things. I just jogged about 8 minute pace. I felt some tightness, but i did not push into anything closer to race pace because i wanted to make the final call on race morning.

Race morning with adrenaline going, my 8 minute warm up before the race felt pretty decent.

still, i was way off for the race. i had a number of friends already coming out to watch so from the get go i was a conservative.

in training i had done 21 miles on the same course at 6:45 avg for the firs 11 and (6:20 avg for the last 10) that was 6 weeks before though.

i ended up running 3:08. the first 10 miles i was running about 6:40 pace but even then my legs felt empty. it wasnt hard for me breathing or anything. i just felt like how i feel if i don't eat all day and then try to run at the end of the day. (i had been eating well thoug)

even at that pace I cramped up as early as mile 17 which was really strange to me. it did turn out to be an 85 degree day so i was definitely feeling the heat, but i had run 6:40 pace in that heat in training runs no problem.

i keep analyzing what went wrong but i have to remind myself the knee thing played a big factor and the results of this race, don;t necessarily serve as a fair trial for the training i was doing. the saturday before i was really thinking i would not be able to run because of the pain i felt just jogging around.

regardless of what the ultimate problem was, i still think i will change two things in my next marathon based off of this one.

1. because it was such a hot day, i had 4 great friends on the course with 18 oz water/ gatorade mixed bottles for me. i'm good at taking in fluids on the run, so at 5, 10, 15, and 20 i downed the whole bottle each time and took a full gu. still, the fact that i cramped up at mile 17 leads me to believe the cramping was definitely a salt issue.

last year i cramped up at mile 24 and i thought it might have been due to glycogen depletion. since i cramped up so early on such a hot day this year, i think i have ruled the glycogen depletion out. i never cramped up in my 4 20 mile training runs. the fact that i was taking in more fluid then usual makes me think i was diluting the salt i did have in me while i was losing a lot on a hot day.

so at mile 17 i just started doing 7:40 pace just so the cramps would not bring me to a complete standstill.

at mile 24 i asked a medic tent if they had salt. they did. i poured the packet of salt in my mouth, and i actually do think i started feeling a little bit better in the final. i wish i had thought to ask someone earlier about that.

in the future, i will not emphasize taking in big quantities of liquid on the course. i think i will just take some sort of salt thing with me and rely on the water cups. id like to have whatever salt thing on my person during the race so i can make in the moment judgements.

2. next race i will run in my trainers. well, i actually don't think this was a big problem but i need to try something different. i had done 2 20 mile runs in my brooks t7s in training at around 6:40 pace avg no problem. i think the cramping was why it made my legs feel so beat in the shoes on saturday. still, im 165 and the way my last two marathons have gone i have felt like by the time i am cramping up in the second half of the race, im thinking to myself, "wow even cutting off 10 seconds per mile in these flats doesnt seem that significant, now that i am running 2 minutes sloweer than goal race pace."

anyway,, very long post.

like i said i just need to jump in another marathon soon now. and not make it such a big deal. i feel like on my 21 milers in training i could have added another 5 miles on no problem to run 2:50. no more shooting for 2:40. i need to go with increments. pr is 2:54. next step is just to run faster than that.

one final thing. i definitely see how overall mileage is very important now. i was averaging about 50 miles a week for the past 10 weeks and just focusing on quality long runs. i could see what i was lacking from this type of training.

still i don't want to make any ruling on that now because i know the training i was doing still should have had me run under 2:50 regardless of my overall mileage.

ok thats enough. sorry i can't rant to my friends because they just say, "you ran a 3:08... you were top 20!" that's incredible. i guess it does put it in perspective, but at the same time when you have particular goals, you still feel like a failure regardless of what the general public thinks you accomplished. you guys understand though.

any suggestions for marathons in june or july? heat or no heat i just need to go out an run one.

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