My race report - I worked with @smoove who gave me a structured plan for this cycle:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pdahQE-VCVXBv6NQq-LiixPuJPCMzcV4UdY73noSmiw/edit#gid=1884481222
. As you can imagine was very focused on a lot of mile and 2 mile repeats at tempo with a few MP tempos. I got up to around 90 miles per week in mostly singles and peaked at 108. It worked out really well and I got in the best running shape of my life and don't think I would change anything about the plan or workouts. My MP pace dropped from 6:20s down to roughly 5:35 at the end and my LT pace from 5:50-6:00ish down to 5:20. Had a lot of nagging issues that crept up (I'm looking at you piriformis) but nothing that really derailed the training for more than a day or two. Was really good at getting in a couple strength training sessions a week to focus on core and the stability muscles and tried to do yoga once a week but strength was a priority and I think that is what allowed me to do a much higher volume and have fewer injuries than before.
A lot of things could have gone better - I wished I had started the plan at race weight instead of 25 pounds over race weight. My nutrition was sporadic which meant I had good weeks where I was properly fueled and down weeks where I was underfueled or wasn't eating great. I should have gotten more sleep than I did, I averaged about 6 hrs/ night, but that is the tradeoff I had to make between training and work. I also often forgot the little things - drills, strides, foam rolling, etc. In the end though I was very happy with how this cycle went and when I did 4X2mile @ 5:20 pace I knew I was ready to roll.
2 days before the race I went to the expo early to get the new vaporflys (I already had a pair but wanted to have a pair of the flyknits in case they were better for the rain?). It was crazy at the beginning and a huge crowd rushed the nike booth when the opened the gates running right by security. The nike exhibit had these black hard platforms rising out of the floor and I ran right into it and whacked the top of my foot. It hurt but I didn't notice it until the afternoon, I had even met up with @smoove at the expo and we both were feeling great. It started to get worse and worse until I couldn't walk on it it was too painful. I was texting @smoove and my doctor in law brother and was freaking out and was totally hystical that my entire race just went down the drain for being an idiot. My foot was purple-ish and swelling and my brother in law said it was a lafranc injury and bone was likely displaced and I would drop out quickly if I tried to race on it. I went to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon and night icing and elevating and resting and downed a tank full of ibuprofen. Next day the foot felt a lot better though still hurt to walk on. I kept icing and resting and did an elliptical / treadmill test and luckily it seems like the injury was just topical to the top skin and nothing structural and running motions didn't really make the pain worse.
On race day I felt great, foot was fine, and listening to music and letting the caffeine hype me up knew I was ready to go. Was super pleased with Chicago organization (so much better than the shitshow at NYC) - I was able to easily warm up, drop my bag off, and get to my corral. I was looking around for @sloflo and @immunorunner but there were too many people but did find some people from bay area I knew.
I shot out with everyone else but also tried to hold back and not get swept up in the emotion. I didn't see mile marker 1 but when I saw mile marker 2 I went to manually lap my phone as I was using the 'race screen' garmin app which has been amazing for past races. I looked at mile 2 split and it read "0:18" which was really confusing and I was trying to figure it out but then it hit me, I had forgot to turn off auto-lapping so I just lapped again and my splits were now officially f*@cked. I was really mad at myself and worried I wouldn't be getting splits but quickly composed myself and focused on racing. I didn't look at my watch again for the rest of the race.
Around this same time @sloflo and I ran into each other and we quickly joined the Alexi Pappas / Gwen Jorgensen. I thought they would be going out at 2:26 pace given Gwen's 1:11 half earlier so I was pleased that this meant I was going faster than pace and the pace felt relaxed and easy. When we passed 5K though I saw the clock tick 18:02, 18:03, ... and doing the math in my head I realized i was WAY behind goal pace. This really freaked me out and I took off. In reality my 5K was 17:53 due to crossing the finish line 10 seconds later but for some reason this never occurred to me during the race. This was actually a great start and I should have just slowly dialed up the pace but instead I took off and pushed in the wind to catch back up to goal pace and stupidly rattled off 17:25, 17:17, 17:19 5Ks.
I think it was around mile 7? 8? when I caught up to @smoove and @andy was there and @immunorunner caught up too and so it was a nice little mini reunion. I told @smoove I was feeling great but in reality I was a bit tired from pushing against the wind to catch a pack and then to catch this pack. But after a few minutes of catching by breath I felt good and pushed up towards @andy with @immunorunner. I kept getting caught solo in the wind and was secretly jealous of @andy who seemed to always be tucked into a pack. At some point I really just wanted to hit the pack @andy was behind and so I told @immunorunner I was going for it and pushed up and tucked in.
I passed the half in 1:13:42, only about a minute faster than my PR. I was feeling pretty tired from the pace changes I was throwing in and fighting the wind and was a bit worried at this point. I knew I wasn't negative splitting at this point. My plan was to take gels at 0, 5, 10, and find the race nutrition at 13.2 and 18?ish and bananas but I never found race nutrition on course. This meant I was taking gatorade at every station even though I wasn't thirsty. I didn't have GI issues but really felt like I needed food or gels in my stomach. Vaporflys didn't really feel magical this race - my socks were swollen with water and my feet would slip on each turn and I ddin't feel like I had great traction. Really wish I had worn my takumi sens, but I don't think it affected my race much.
20k-30k were done in 17:37 and 17:31. But when I hit 30K I knew I was done. My quads were hurting at each step and I just felt fatigued. I couldn't fathom that I had 8 miles ahead of me. I knew now it was a race against the clock, had I banked enough time and I could I hold a fast enough pace to keep the 2:30? At each mile I would compute what the next split should look like to be on 5:40 pace. Even though it felt like I was slowing down a lot and was in a lot of pain it seemed like I wasn't too far off of 5:40 pace. The last 6 miles were an absolute death march. I wanted to quit, I wanted to slow down, but I kept imagining how awful it would feel to drop out with 2:30 in reach and what I'd have to tell everyone who was following me so I mentally gritted my teeth and kept pushing. I would attach myself to people, or pick something in the distance, or change my stride, or play to the crowd, whatever I could to hold pace. It was really miserable and it sucked but luckily this seemed to work to keep me going and 30k-40k were in 18:06 and 18:28. I kept computing that I needed about an 6:00 pace to stay under 2:30 and that was motivating as that seemed challenging but doable. At some point someone said I was 4th from corral A which felt pretty cool but then I wondered why someone was keeping track of that?
Usually with 1-2 miles left I'm able to speed up and let it all out but I literally had nothing left in the tank. With one mile to go I realized I just needed about a 6 minute pace and I pushed hard but wasn't getting much speed. 800m to go and my legs started shaking and wobbling and collapsing but I pounded my chest and kept tried to focus. 400m to go and there was no amount of money that could have got me to 6:00/mile pace so I just pounded my arms and pushed. Got near the finish line and passed someone named "alex" that I had been yo-yoing with the past several miles (he turned out to be the last pro runner so I beat one pro runner). When I saw the clock was 2:29:3X and I realized I was going to make it I was overcome with so much relief and joy and threw myself across with nothing left.
I waited to see who else would make it and saw @smoove cross not much longer after and shared our race stories. I started to go downhill pretty quickly and soon became hypothermic and really ill. I quickly got my bag and met my wife and rushed back to the hotel where I puked my guts out and laid in a hot shower all afternoon. It took most of the day until I could hold food down again. This was the hardest I've pushed myself in any race in my life I think, I've never been so sick, fatigued, and broken.
The takeaways I learned for the future:
* Getting behind a pack or someone in the wind is crucial - better to sit behind someone slower and wait. Don't push it into the wind.
* Don't be afraid to be patient. You have lots of time to catch up to goal pace.
* Don't count on course nutrition.
* Don't trust others to be running the right pace for you.
* It's really hard to find people pre-race at these big meets, but somehow as pretty easy to find people on the course.
In the end I think I left some time on the course that I could have gotten back with better pacing and maybe better nutrition. But I don't care at all. I hit the goal I wanted and that's all that matters. I wish I had had more fun during the race as it was pretty brutal, but I guess if 2:30 wasn't meant to be easy.