Greetings, friends.
Yes, this morning was my latest attempt at the marathon. A year ago, I ran 3:25:27 (7:51/mi) on very light training mileage. That was about my 25th marathon, but the first since 2003.
This past January, I set a few goals for 2017, including 3:15:00 for the marathon. I increased my mileage and added workouts. And, even at age 57, I immediately saw big gains in fitness. I began to think that 3:10 or 3:05 or even one last sub-3 might be possible. I became a bit overzealous. And, no surprise, I became injured. Adding both intensity AND volume simultaneously is risky at best. Especially at 57.
Despite the setback and reduction in training, I thought I could ignore the injuries and maybe run 3:05:00. In recent weeks, however, as mileage and workouts continued to wane, 3:05 was looking impossible, and 3:10 would be a challenge. But I really had no idea -- I had never been so unsure of what pace to attempt.
Still, in the past I always seemed to innately settle into the "correct" and sustainable pace from the very beginning of a distance race. So, I decided to just go by feel. I have an old Timex watch that I manually hit for each split. No GPS watch with continuous feedback. Just run, and see what the watch says after each mile.
The weather was perfect. Light wind. 38 degrees at the start. 50 degrees by the finish. A few minor hills.
I lined up back with the 3:30 pace group, forcing an easy first mile. With the crowds slowing my progress, I passed 1-mile at 7:32. Then settled into my "innately felt pace." Checked my 2-mile split, not knowing what it might be. 7:03.
Interesting, as that is about 3:05:00 pace. Third mile: 7:05. Then 7:05 again, then 7:06, then 7:05.
With my slow first mile, I was still steadily passing runners. Maybe got a little over-confident as miles 7, 8, and 9 were 6:53, 6:58, 7:00. I backed off the pace a little until mile 16, and returned to 7:05 or better through mile 23.
My lack of training mileage caught up to me after that. I had been fighting fatigue for a while, but finally succumbed, finishing 24 through 26 with 7:33, 7:33, 7:39, and 1:28 for the final 385 yards. 3:07:28 finish. A slightly positive split -- second half about 40 seconds slower than the first.
One of my main goals for the race was to place in the M55-59 division. In the final few miles I had been closing in on a gray-hair ahead of me, but I lacked the willpower to match his closing mile. I too easily convinced myself that he surely wasn't over 55. Whew! Luckily, I was right about that. The M55-59 winner was a few minutes ahead. I was 2nd.
At the risk of TMI, here is the entire race, by mile splits:
7:32, 7:03, 7:05, 7:05, 7:06
7:05, 6:53, 6:58, 7:00, 7:12,
7:13, 7:07, 7:09, 7:09, 7:09,
7:05, 7:05, 7:05, 7:05, 7:03,
7:02, 7:04, 7:02, 7:33, 7:33,
7:40, 1:28
This past week's training log:
SEPT 25 - OCT 1, 2017:
Off
Easy: 4.0 miles (splits - 8:48, 7:55, 7:49, 7:15)
Easy: 4.0 miles (splits - 9:03, 8:21, 7:57, 6:53)
Easy: 4.0 miles (splits - 8:22, 7:49, 7:07, 6:44)
Easy: 2.0 miles @ 7:54/mi
Off
Race: Marathon 3:07:23 (7:09/mi)
WEEK TOTAL: 40.2 MILES
2017 Racing
5K: 18:57 April 2 (6:06/mi)
Half Marathon: 1:28:41 April 30 (6:46/mi)
15K: 59:59 August 6 (6:26/mi)
Marathon: 3:07:23 October 1 (7:09/mi)
I am going to take a couple weeks off completely, see how the healing goes. Reassess after that. Maybe a couple years off, Ed Whitlock-style.
Be well,
Allen