Hi everybody! I'm home! Drove back from a Sat. marathon on Sat. eve. Left Sun am (driving) for Florida (Disney, Sea world etc.) with a stop for golf in Myrtle Beach for a few days on the way back.
Thanks for the kind words all. I suppose the one good thing about the wind leading to a small PR is that it leaves more room for the next one! I posted this in the other thread I contribute to, but it seems to make sense to cut and paste my report to here.
Mon - Fri (22 Total. No off days. 6 w/2@mp only non-easy running)
Sat - Gansett Marathon. 13th Place (3rd master) 2:52:32.
As I told a couple of friends on the phone after the race, if I ever mention running another ocean front marathon again, smack me, HARD! Despite sustained 20-25 mph wind I managed to eek out a 12 second PR on a more rolling than expected course. I feel great about this race as I think I executed everything just about as well as I could. Maybe a couple of seconds per mile slower in the first 5. Should have had my fourth gel. Seeded 18th so I met the goal of beating my seeding. Was as low as 18th early, 17th late and did some passing in the final 10K despite my slowdown. The course was basically twice around a 10.5 mile loop with a couple of extensions along the first loop. Pretty easy from my splits to see where the wind was.
1 - 6:22
2 - 6:29 (Mi. 1-5 Time seemed fast, but it really was
3 - 6:19 pretty comfortable and using the wind.)
4 - 6:24
5 - 6:20
6 - 6:28 Gel 1
7 - 6:31 First slower mile, no biggie.
8 - 6:20 That's better.
9 - 6:32
10 - 6:34
11 - 6:36 um... gel 2
12 - 6:48 Straight into the wind and up the biggest hill
13 - 6:39 Up (13.1 1:25:40)
14 - 6:45 Up
15 - 6:30 Ahhh, finally back down.
16 - 6:35
17 - 6:38 Back to the first loop again
18 - 6:43 This hill grew since the first time...
19 - 6:22 Nice, I'm not dying
20 - 6:27 2:10:35 Gel 3
21 - 6:34 (Well, Ok ... but Pr should still be a cinch as
22 - 6:44 long as I don't blow up.)
23 - 6:58 YIKES! So much for a cinch.
24 - 6:45 Just keep going.
25 - 6:51 Down, but heavy wind and just having trouble fighting it.
26 - 6:36 GO!!! YOU CAN DO IT!
26.2 - 1:23! (My watch and the clock as I ran by both showed 2:52:30, so I'm not sure where the :32 came from)
I know the splits make it look like I never really found a rhythm, but effort-wise it felt pretty even. Miles 12, 22-3 and 25 were the only ones I felt like I was struggling. They had a 1 mile to go board, so I knew that I had to pick it back up to still PR even though the last mile was into the wind. I'm sure that on a flatter course with less wind I had sub 2:50 in me.
That leaves the question of what next. I can think of three goals off hand. Sub 17 5K (ideally lifetime PR like ID, but that would mean a 16:20 and I just don't know about that) 100 miles in 24 hours (that will be on July 16th, so that is going to have to be an immediate training focus) and another marathon PR (still chasing something sub 2:50). Core and strength are going to be a key for any of those, so the main thing I am going to try to take from this thread is the supplemental stuff and the sense of dedication.