BayState Marathon = 3:11:53 :)

My attempt at getting excited for the race...painted nails

Pre-race taping and stuff

There were 3 weeks of tapering. And I actually ran less miles than planned all 3 weeks. I wanted to make sure I was well rested and when (in those weeks) I felt tired, I ran less. I figured by the time tapering comes being tough isn't all that beneficial.

The week before the race was difficult. Besides being nervous, my right knee randomly started bothering me, my right IT band randomly started to feel tight, I got my period, my asthma was acting up, and I seemed to be fighting off a cold. I iced, stretched, rolled, rested, took my vitamins, took my inhalers, and did my best not to waste my energy worrying about things out my immediate control.

I tried to get excited for the race by watching "The Spirit of the Marathon", but other than the parts about Deena Kastor, I didn't find it particularly inspiring. I was actually a bit nervous that I didn't feel more emotion regarding the upcoming race. I was stuck in my engineer mindset (completely logical, practical, and emotionless).

Race morning

I did all the normal stuff. My parents picked me up. (Thank you mom and dad!) The last hour was really annoying. I just wanted to start...

The race

My goal for the first mile was to make sure that I didn't run too hard. I kept checking my Garmin because people were flying by me. My first mile was 7:11. Hmmm, could that be too fast? Well, given that the Garmin is always a little off and that my breathing was excellent, I thought I was probably okay. I wanted to be cautious though, so I made an effort to ever so slightly let up on the pace. And I did that. My mile 5 was a 7:20, but then I decided I didn't want to get complaisant either, so I made an effort to ever so slightly increase my effort. And I did.

I felt in control the whole race. My asthma turned out to be fine (though I made an effort not to talk knowing that exacerbates it), my knee and IT band were fine. The one issue I did have was a cramp in my side. The kind you get when you drink too much water, but I hadn't drank too much. That cramp traveled with me starting at mile 5 through the rest of race right to the finish, but as far as things go that's no so bad. Just uncomfortable.

I didn't feel great, but I didn't feel bad either. I don't find running marathon pace easy. I also (in a way) find the first half of race to be more difficult than the second half. I think a lot about how the second half will be harder and the fact that first half isn't easy...well this mentally takes a toll on me. Anyway, I crossed the first half at 1:35:30 (according to the race clock, so it was actually 1:35:23 for me). I was quite pleased. All my training had been geared towards a 7:20 marathon pace which is a 3:12 finishing time, so it was a great half point time. I spent the next mile or so thinking about seeing Nick. He was waiting around the 14 mile marker to switch my bottles. Poor guy, he was stressed about getting the bottle swap right, which went just fine. (Thank you Nick for everything you did to make my race go smooth! I love you soooo much!) Then I was on my own until the finish. Once I hit mile 14, my mental game got better. I thought "12 miles. I've done a ton of 12 miler MP runs. I can do this."

Once I hit 16 miles, my confidence grew (though my legs started to feel tired). I had run so many 10 milers, and I ran 10 miler MP runs the day after almost all my long runs (on tired legs). So I thought, "Yes, my legs are getting tired, but I can do this. I did this all the time in training." When I hit 18 miles, I thought, "At most, I have a little over an hour to go. I can do that." I was slowly passing people. People were starting to fade, but I just kept pushing. It felt controlled and consistent. 

I hit 20 miles, and then there was just a 10K left. Less than 50 minutes for sure...my legs were starting to feel tired, my hips were a bit tight, but overall I was just fine. 21, 22, 23 miles past. It was at 24 miles that I really started to feel tired. I was getting warm, but I kept dumping water on myself which helped. I just told myself that I had less than 20 minutes left, and obviously I can handle anything for 20 minutes. It wasn't until the last half mile that I really felt like I was fading. People were yelling only half a mile to go, and I was thinking "sigh, I don't really feel like running anymore." Then I started thinking, "just 4 minutes, just 4 minutes, just 4 minutes." Then with about 100 meters to go, I saw the clock...and started hauling. That clock read 3:11:xx, and I thought "I want to break 3:12." The clock read 3:12:00 when I finished, and I forgot to stop my watch so I wasn't sure until later day if I had actually broken 3:12. My official time was 3:11:53! 


Final thoughts

My parents and Nick and Kaylee were all at the finish. Nick gave me a hug, and I started to tear up a little. This was the first marathon I've run that I felt like I was actually able to meet my goal. I had trained for a 3:12, actually hoping to run 3:15 (because to run a good marathon I have to train harder than the calculators seem to think I should.) I trained so hard for this marathon, got lucky enough to also have a good day, and am so happy with my time. Now I'm looking forward to not training for a marathon, running a 5K in few weeks, and a 10K on Thanksgiving.

Splits for anyone interested 

So there are the Garmin splits, which reported me running 26.52 miles at 7:14 pace, which would be super cool, but I know the Garmin was off a bit. I'm assuming the course is not long. I've assumed that Garmin error is about the same for each mile (which may or may not be the case), and normalized my reported Garmin results to reflect what my splits probably were based on my finishing pace of 7:20 per mile. Mostly it just gives an idea of where in the race I might have been struggling or not struggling...

Mile	Recorded Garmin splits	Normalized based on official time
1	7:11	7:17
2	7:12	7:18
3	7:15	7:21
4	7:17	7:23
5	7:20	7:26
6	7:16	7:21
7	7:14	7:20
8	7:17	7:23
9	7:14	7:20
10	7:10	7:16
11	7:05	7:11
12	7:07	7:13
13	7:11	7:17
14	7:10	7:16
15	7:15	7:21
16	7:15	7:21
17	7:13	7:19
18	7:13	7:19
19	7:13	7:19
20	7:11	7:17
21	7:12	7:18
22	7:16	7:21
23	7:13	7:19
24	7:24	7:30
25	7:19	7:25
26	7:16	7:21
26.2	7:22	7:28

Tricky Taper...

The whole tapering thing is a mixed bag. Some runners love it. More runners hate it. And I'm indifferent (or maybe I want to love it, but actually hate it). I mean it's necessary, right? You spend 15-20 weeks beating up your legs, then aim to rest them up for 2-3 weeks in order to be in peak condition for some huge race. It's all very logical, which suits me just fine. Except there's more to it than that.

This training cycle I could not wait to taper. It was hard building up to 76 miles! I was tired, and so happy to have made it to the tapering part of the training cycle with no injuries! That was huge for me. But tapering is a big change too. I've been thinking about it, and most of us like routine. I think my body likes the routine. A huge cut back in running is difficult, and not just because of the reduction in endorphins  (which is what I see most complaining about when it comes to less running). For instance, I started having trouble sleeping. I realized that my habit of drinking a cup of coffee around lunch time wasn't working now that I'm not running as much. It was keeping me up a night. So I stopped the afternoon cup of coffee. Then, of course, by 2:00 I want to take a nap, but can't.

I've been finding that my runs are a bit sluggish, then realized that I'm not running far enough to feel good. Generally, the first few miles of all my runs feel sluggish. Often I don't start feeling good until after 5 miles or so...It is so annoying to never get to a point where you feel good in a run.

The real annoyance was last week when I ran a 5 mile run and my IT band started to hurt. Seriously? I have had no IT band issues in over a year. One would think IT band pain would be far more likely to pop up around a peak week, not a taper week. I immediately started to think about anything that I had recently changed, and realized I was suddenly using the foam roller more (because I had more time and it seemed like a good idea). I wouldn't think that the foam roller would cause an issue, but other than reducing my mileage, it is the only change to my routine. So I stopped using it, took a day off, and the next time I ran it seemed fine. I can only guess that I irritated something...

The last few days I've felt particularly tired. Is this from tapering? I don't think so. Everyone in the house is sick, so I'm sure my body is tired trying to fight something off. Oh yeah, everyone is sick. Is this totally freaking me out? Not really. I'm doing all the right things, so if I get sick, I get sick. There's not much I can do to control it...

On a more fun note. I did this ghost craft thing with Kaylee that turned out really cool. Here are a couple pics. It so looks like it's just floating there. It looks better in person than it does in the pictures too. If you're interested here's the link to the craft.

Trying to rock my taper

Okay, so I have exactly 10 minutes to give you an update...and I'm not a fast writer but I'll try...

• Last week was my first taper week, and ended up with 54 miles.
• I had 3 workouts: 2 x 10 mile MP, and 3x1 mile faster than 5K interval. All 3 workouts went well, but I was sore after the interval workout, which may (or may not) be because I ran it the day after one of my MP workouts. Stupid. Oh well.
• According to what I've read (like yesterday) right now I should be aiming for 2 easy days to each workout day (not 2 workout days to an easy day). Okay, lesson learned. I'll be sure to do that that this week.
• This week I'll be running 45 miles: 1 "long" run (10 miles) and 1 interval and everything else super easy (and shorter). The interval is suppose to be 6 x 800's at 5K pace. I will probably run the 800 workout slower and make it closer to a Yasso 800 workout, which shouldn't leave me sore.
• It's sort of sad, but my 10 minutes is almost up.  
• Life is generally good. We carved a jack-o-lantern this weekend, which was fun. According to Kaylee the best part is "scooping the guts." I use "we" loosely. The kids scooped guts for about half an hour. There was more playing in the slimy pumpkin guts than actual scooping. Eventually they got bored. Eventually. At which point, I scooped the remaining innards and carved away. The whole time Kaylee was asking "when will you be finished mommy?" (No pressure.)
• I'm not super nervous about the marathon. Yet. I do have lingering doubts some days. What if my legs aren't rested enough? What if I get sick? What if I die at mile 16 again? What if my legs fall off? (Because that could totally happen.) All pretty typical. It's generally not within my personality to be a head case though, so my doubts are more like passing thoughts than really lingering. Overall, I think I'm in good shape...
• Hope everyone else is doing well! I read a few people had marathon PR's this past weekend! Congrats!

Here's our super scary jack-o-lantern!

Shhhh...lean closer, I want to tell you a secret

No, not really, but there's something interesting I heard about a year ago but forgot (of course) to blog about it. For awhile, I was running with someone from work who runs a ton of marathons and also happens to do the Iron Man too. She volunteers at the Boston Marathon, and somehow she scored the mega awesome volunteer status of working in the elite tent. She gets the elite runners whatever they want after they finish the race.

Any guesses as to what all the elite runners want after they finish a marathon? Water? Soda? A nap? Apparently, it's hot coffee, which sounded absolutely awful to me when she said it. Seriously? It's not like Boston is a winter marathon. Also, I generally feel nauseous after finishing a marathon, and coffee sounds really icky to me when my stomach is churning.

During my last marathon training cycle (Providence this past May), I decided to give coffee after long runs a try. It was sort of hard because my stomach is generally unhappy after a 20 miler, but I figured these elite runners must know something that I don't. Well, it turns out I really liked it, and I don't know if coffee has anything to do with it, but I have a lot less nausea now too. Could just be a coincidence too, I do run more long runs now.

Now I'm wondering if everyone out there knew about coffee after long runs? What do you drink or eat after a marathon of long run?

In other news, I'm now officially entering the three weeks of taper before the big race day! Though I don't think the first week will feel much like a taper, but still, I'm almost there! Last week I finished my peak week with 76 miles and my last long run was 23 miles at 7:47 pace. I did two marathon pace runs last week that were both 11 miles. Overall, it was a solid week of running, and I'm still in one piece too! Yay! Now I just need to hold it together for three weeks. ;)