I thought CIM was suppose to be rolling hills the first half and then a nice easy downhill and flat second half. In 2008 the top seven guys went through the half in just under 1:08, yet their finish times ranged from 2:16:42 to 02:21:03. What gives?
2008 was not a fluke either. Looking at the history, there have been very few top finishers who have negative slit the course.
2nd half can get windy, and people often overun the first half and their quads are shot
I once tried to negative slit a course.
I never recovered.
It's a Marathon.
A couple of factors.
1. Alot of people here "net downhill" and fail to realize the amount of hills in the front. Beats up alot of legs.
2. The top guys usually go out a little fast.
3. If you notice the top 7 all went through the half together, so they were racing and not running for a time. The three behind them did the same as well. After them you start to see some pretty even splits. You will also see a few blow ups, but that can be expected.
Alot of people come to this marathon becuase it ranks high in boston qualifying and claims "fastes marathon in the west" but the course actually takes some thinking. If anyone is interested in this race i suggest you drive the course a few times.
I ran 2:23 down there last year and only gave back 50 seconds on the 2nd half but, I suffered worse in the last 8 miles than ever before in my life. PAIN!! My quads were pretty gone by 16 but, I just kept grinding. There is no such thing as an easy marathon and those rolling hills in the first 10 miles will chew you up if you don't do some specific work in your training and then, race very smart early on.
-The Killer
Answer Guy wrote:
It's a Marathon.
Bingo.
The great malmo shows us we are all idiots once again.
Occam's razor
I've been looking over your logs a lot figuring you ran CIM and that marathon is in my back yard.
The week of CIM was ridiculous in your log. It changed the way I look at running.