Columbus Marathon Recap-was running well and blew up to a 3:20:01. Still a PR.

Dude, you need to chill.

Take a break from running, reading about it, just take like a week break

And don’t do a 26.2 x 1 mile loop desperation race to try and BQ to yourself. Marathons are supposed to be fun, you’ll hate every minute of that race.

Just move on, live to run another day and be happy with your pr

Something else stands out that others haven't commented on: your marathon was 26.7 miles. It's impossible to run perfect tangents, but you could cut .3 miles off your distance just by knowing the course well. That's 2-3 minutes right there.

How do you have pacing set up on your watch? If it's set to show current pace, change it to average lap pace. It's much less volatile than current pace. Check it every quarter mile or so in the opening miles to make sure you're getting on pace.

You might also want to look for a flatter course. That uphill at mile 18-19 must have made life difficult. It's really only the last 3 miles where you dropped off pace significantly, and you wouldn't be the first marathoner to experience that. Congratulations on the PR. What you learned this time will help a lot with marathon #3.

Good stuff from Flagpole. At least I have a good half time now lol

I thought Cbus was a great fast course? It's flat...I respect your take, but you're the first one to say it wasn't a marathon to run your best. I understand you are right about CIM though.

Fueling was fine--I did this on my training routes and took in gels. I carry a handheld (12 oz.) and fill it up when I run low from the water stations. It's hard to drink directly from the water cups they give so I put the water from the cups into my water bottle.

Bittersweet--the Browns lost and I had a good marathon but could have been better.

colder and wiser wrote:

Something else stands out that others haven't commented on: your marathon was 26.7 miles. It's impossible to run perfect tangents, but you could cut .3 miles off your distance just by knowing the course well. That's 2-3 minutes right there.

How do you have pacing set up on your watch? If it's set to show current pace, change it to average lap pace. It's much less volatile than current pace. Check it every quarter mile or so in the opening miles to make sure you're getting on pace.

You might also want to look for a flatter course. That uphill at mile 18-19 must have made life difficult. It's really only the last 3 miles where you dropped off pace significantly, and you wouldn't be the first marathoner to experience that. Congratulations on the PR. What you learned this time will help a lot with marathon #3.

Interesting point about average lap pace instead of current, so I'll look into fixing that.

I didn't think the hill would have messed me up that much, it was only 100 feet in gain I think.

When I ran I made sure to run the tangents and not just run with everyone else.

Flagpole wrote:

I see you talked about gels, so as others have said, it really seems to be the pacing issue.

Get to CIM next year!

The good news is aerobically I wasn't out of breath at all when I finished. Just the quads and calves were screwing me. No shortness of breath, heavy breathing.

If you do sign up for Indy, I’m racing the 5k. I suspect you already know this, but the HM and Marathon courses are very flat.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do!

jecht wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

congrats Jecht! room to improve. keep at it.

Thanks, I am hard on myself as any poster here.

I probably will drop to 5k to get faster.

Considering Indy if I have one more shot at it this year.

Would love to age into a BQ someday.

It was a PR but it felt like a Browns collapse like The Drive or The Fumble.

Don't know how old you are, but one should not count on "aging into a BQ". With age you will get slower.

The BQ standards are quite consistent for men, at around a 66% age graded performance. So 35 is 66.7%, 40 is 66.5%, 45 is 65.7 %, 50 is 66.9%, 55 is 66.7%. You get a slight break at 60 (65%), but not much.

It doesn't get any easier.

Just went to the Indy site--they don't have any affiliated hotels left lol

Those km splits aren't truly accurate but the half marathon split was spot on. I ran yesterday and took my own splits - there seem to be some slight discrepancies in the intermediate mat placements because I KNOW I didn't run the pace my splits indicate in the first 7k or 15k (according to both my Garmin and the mile markers on the course, I didn't dip below 8:00 those first few miles, yet my 7km split pace indicates 8:00 for that stretch). The half though is perfect - so you still went out too fast.

I've paced a lot of marathons and I don't understand why more people don't write out their plan and then stick to it. For my key races, I write out whatever splits I want to hit - every 5km, or every few miles - and have it in my pocket to refer to during the race (packing tape is a good way to waterproof it). If I'm way faster than that pace, I adjust ASAFP. A flat course like Columbus is easy for that - if you can catch yourself before you dig too deep a hole, you have a much better chance of running well. I understand a fast first mile or two - but at some point you need to either decide:

a) I may be having the race of my life so I'm going to keep rolling and either COMPLETELY blow up or crush my goal

b) I'm a dope and need to slow down

I'm a big believer in plan your race, and race your plan. If you don't stick to the plan for whatever reason and it doesn't work out, you can't really fault the plan. If you make your goal easily, maybe your plan was too conservative.

Sounds like your secret A goal was 3:07, not 3:15. And honestly, that's not much of a blowup so good job keeping it together. The wind was pretty strong in some sections around mile 19/20.

colder and wiser wrote:

Something else stands out that others haven't commented on: your marathon was 26.7 miles. It's impossible to run perfect tangents, but you could cut .3 miles off your distance just by knowing the course well. That's 2-3 minutes right there.

You might also want to look for a flatter course. That uphill at mile 18-19 must have made life difficult. It's really only the last 3 miles where you dropped off pace significantly, and you wouldn't be the first marathoner to experience that. Congratulations on the PR. What you learned this time will help a lot with marathon #3.

This struck me as well - half a mile is definitely worth 2-3 minutes or so. It's not likely attributable to your GPS/strava - even my venerable Polar M400 is accurate to at least 0.1km over that distance. And if you are more familiar with the course, you can anticipate street turns, use inclines/camber and negotiate the landmarks more efficiently next time around. Simple things (e.g. knowing visually how far you are to the crest of a hill so that you are heartened to maintain effort, and so on) are a benefit on a course that you know.

Don't beat yourself up, especially not on your 2nd marathon. Your training sounds spot on, and your general logistical planning (hydration, gels etc) seems fine.

With the exact same training next time around , you could very likely run at least 5-10 minutes quicker just with the pacing, running slightly more efficient lines, and with the benefit of having covered the course once already.

That said, a very solid 2nd marathon.

Don't tell Greg ;)

In all seriousness, I'm going to take the advice and see how I can make a pace band. Maybe CRC or FF has a band like the ones the QBs wear for audibles that I can write on.

Looking at hotels for Indy. One of my friends lives in Fishers and worst case if all the hotels are full, I can stay with him overnight after getting my packet from the expo and then drive downtown the morning of race day, park, etc. and run, then drive 3 hrs back to Cbus.

Thank you! I know not to rely too much on the GPS watch (Fenix 5S, I'm used to my trusty timex) but as HSXC said the mats may have been off. When I ran I made sure to run tangents as well. Some people went wide, which was weird, although some turns were very sharp and I slowed down to avoid hitting others.

LRC can be a cesspool but this is one of the best threads about training in a LONG time.

I get how to use the incline as you said well but what do you mean about using camber to your advantage?

jecht,

You are a quality poster and I liked following your training. Letsrun needs more people like you.

A PR is a PR so congrats on that!

colder and wiser wrote:

Something else stands out that others haven't commented on: your marathon was 26.7 miles. It's impossible to run perfect tangents, but you could cut .3 miles off your distance just by knowing the course well. That's 2-3 minutes right there.

You might also want to look for a flatter course. That uphill at mile 18-19 must have made life difficult. It's really only the last 3 miles where you dropped off pace significantly, and you wouldn't be the first marathoner to experience that. Congratulations on the PR. What you learned this time will help a lot with marathon #3.

It is impossible to actually run that much longer at Columbus, and this is due to a GPS watch issue, not the course or not running tangents.

The incline after Campus towards UA is very manageable and you more than get your momentum back going back through Grandview.

The cbus mile marker splits did seem off. My gps and their markers did not agree. Not sure how far gps can be off, but the splits seemed to be off toward the end. Could have just compounded over the duration of the race.

forcerunner wrote:

colder and wiser wrote:

Something else stands out that others haven't commented on: your marathon was 26.7 miles. It's impossible to run perfect tangents, but you could cut .3 miles off your distance just by knowing the course well. That's 2-3 minutes right there.

You might also want to look for a flatter course. That uphill at mile 18-19 must have made life difficult. It's really only the last 3 miles where you dropped off pace significantly, and you wouldn't be the first marathoner to experience that. Congratulations on the PR. What you learned this time will help a lot with marathon #3.

It is impossible to actually run that much longer at Columbus, and this is due to a GPS watch issue, not the course or not running tangents.

The incline after Campus towards UA is very manageable and you more than get your momentum back going back through Grandview.

Good points ForceRunner. I know you had run Cbus well in the past.

GPS/watch is a Fenix 5S, so that could have been an issue. I know Cbus is USATF certified and Strava is more an approximate so that's why it was long too.

pavement88 wrote:

jecht,

You are a quality poster and I liked following your training. Letsrun needs more people like you.

A PR is a PR so congrats on that!

Thank you! I'm analytical to a fault, trust me, I know myself and I know I can get crazy sometimes. But that's what I love about running as a sport--lots of numbers, splits, math in my head, etc. And the writing and description of the races--as a former writer, there are some REALLY GOOD writers on this site (AverageForFun and others), who make races come alive for those who didn't run them (i.e. describing course breakdowns, runs, scenery, training, etc.).

Keep in mind that a marathon that you set out to run in 3:25, yet finish at 3:20, feels a lot better than one you set out to run in 3:15, and finish at 3:20. They both feel very different, but the are the same.