#robert-cal

I don’t know about courses in other cities, but the one in Chicago does suck. They trap you in Grant Park with a bunch of hairpin turns that are total momentum killers. Not really sure what they’re supposed to do in the city on a Thursday night though.

At least that’s what I remember about it all because it’s been 12 years since I’ve competed for a company. So for that reason alone I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I won’t care as much next year.

@seechrisrun said: Great ideas. It’s really hard to get everything perfect, but improving some or all of these will get your closer to your goals.

It really is hard! Even when we had a perfectly flexible schedule in Europe, I still had trouble making all the pieces fit. I concluded that as long as I tried my best to get most things right (80/20!), then I was doing okay. 

@fitfriendruns said: All valid points, especially with the sleep and eczema issues of early to mid summer. But I see a lot of downplaying the fact that Victoria had 10 X the elevation of Manchester…this is not an apples vs apples analysis 😉

Oh, that elevation thing. Ha! I will never underestimate a hilly course again. But I will also make damn sure that I am prepared for a hilly course the next time I race. 

@ariavie said: Having a base in the off season is essential. It doesn’t have to be all running, but a having a solid 35-40 mpw makes the transition to higher miles so much easier. I second what Robert said about breakfast too (lucky charms and donut girl over here)

I think I need to try out this lucky charms and donut breakfast thing. :) I used to do oatmeal, but I can’t seem to stomach it anymore. I’ve tried “overnight oats” and oats cooked in water or milk. My stomach won’t have any of it. I’m not a huge fan of bagels and I can’t handle peanut butter on race morning (love it otherwise). Smoothies are great, but not always possible for destination races. I’ve been having corn flakes and plain muesli because it was portable and only required me to buy (non-dairy) milk when travelling. I’m getting a little sick of it, though. 

@robert-cal said: A lot of good things to work on. In particular, it’s good to know what your morning fuel routine is for a race. I always bring my own food for the morning before and stay with the routine.

Totally. As I mentioned above, I’ve going through a series of pre-run breakfast meals. I still feel like I haven’t nailed it yet - mostly because my stomach changes its mind all the time and certain meals that worked suddenly don’t appeal or sit well with me. Still experimenting...

@runningonredbull said: Strength training and sleep are both things I need to improve for 2016. I completely give up strength training until I start feeling pain too! Who wants to workout after their workout?

@seechrisrun said: Others already mentioned it, but don’t underestimate how much being sick the week of the marathon can affect you. I remember catching something before Boston 2010. I was run/walking by 13 and wondering why I was so gassed so early

You’re right. I guess because I have run sick before and I felt a lot better during the marathon than I have in the past, I assumed I was actually “healthy” during the race thanks to all the vitamins I took in the days leading up to it. But then I got sick the next day and haven’t been able to shake it all week, so maybe it was a factor after all. 

@healthyontheinside said: Proud of you! Running a marathon at any pace is awesome xxx

Thank you! <3 Now that I look back, I realize I didn’t give running a marathon enough credit in the moment. A couple of years ago, I was convinced that I was incapable of training for and running a marathon uninjured. Lots to be thankful for. :) 

@robert-cal said: It’s still a big accomplishment to finish. But being sick is not possible to run a marathon well. You are already taxing the limits. I am surprised that the course was hilly. The race elevation profile is misleading.

Totally agree on the race elevation profile being confusing. But I have never really been one to visualize flat vs. hilly when I see a course elevation profile. I typically take the race website’s word for it, or read other people’s race recaps for the course to know for sure. That seems like a safer bet. 

@runningonredbull said: Oh we could be twins! I had a 3:45 goal for Chicago and ended at 4:01 too. I run elevations like that here in KC and they are no joke. I don’t get people who think hills are no big deal! Way to push through to the finish and don’t give up on BQ!

We should have just run a marathon together. :) I’m definitely not giving up. In fact, I’m already dreaming about my next race. Hope your recovery is going well! 

@ariavie said: You do have it in you to BQ. Running while sick is SO HARD mentally. Recover, regroup, and try again. (It took me 4 real attempts at a BQ before I got mine.) Congrats on toughing it out! 

@seechrisrun said: Wow, 10k race plus 20 miles is a lot. Not surprising that the following week was rough. At least now you have a better idea of what your limits are.

It seemed like a lot to me at the time, too! I guess you can only learn your body’s limits by trying things out. I have some friends who can manage this (perhaps if they really don’t race which I wasn’t intending to do either, but I was still trying to put a good effort in if that makes sense). I now know not to do this again. Especially at the end of a training cycle when my long runs are long! 

@robert-cal said: Marathon training is running through fatigue so maybe this is all ok. It’s amazing what the taper week will do.

Do you think that you will have to substantially increase your weekly mileage?

seechrisrun said: 

It definitely takes some experimentation. I’m tweaking at every marathon to find the right combination.

Is that what you call an awesome PR in the Boston rain yesterday? Tweaking?? 😜👏

malloryrunsthis said: 

I’m a big fan of liquid gels: chews and blocks seem to get stuck in my throat and feel heavy in my stomach. I only take them before a race instead of during.

It’s scary to think that if this has been the core problem, then basically I’ve been doing long runs and racing half marathons with no fueling. Ridiculous. Chews and blocks are going to be public enemy #1 in this training cycle. 

robert-cal said: 

In a marathon, if something goes wrong, it’s harsh that there’s usually no recovering from it. Ultimately, you’ll get it right if you have the patience to keep working on the details.

I find that patience comes easily when I really want something...and I don’t know if I really want to work on the marathon yet, for any other reason than I feel cheated and I have unfinished business. Hmm, but I guess that 1 reason is better than 0 reasons. Onwards with training ;)

runrunningrunner said: 

Amazing good job. Give her a high five from me

Done!

runningonredbull said: 

Wow! Knocking over an hour off her time?!! Speedy McSpeedy!

It’s been a long time coming and I’m as happy as she is that she really nailed it this time :)

Boston

It was pretty awesome to see other Tumblrs posting people’s times and giving kudos. 

I never expected to see that and it just added to the atmosphere! 

Post marathon day #2 (PMD #2) is here and I'm now back in Chicago and enjoying my vacation. New Orleans treated us well on Sunday night, and we were able to get out and enjoy a lot of the local sights and sounds prior to heading home. 

One of the things that was helpful for me in getting ready for the marathon this past Sunday was reading the experiences of faster, more experienced runners like Robert and Chris. From Robert's pacing at his most recent Chicago effort to Chris's details for long runs, I learned a lot in the buildup to the race on Sunday. Some good examples of this were my long runs - during the buildup to Chicago 2013 I struggled with long runs, with everything from stomach issues to pacing issues to hydration issues tripping me up as I struggled with the cumulative fatigue of the Hansons plan as well as the oddities of my work schedule. This time around things went a bit better for me and I owe a lot of credit to those guys and a lot of other people in Tumblr's running community for the success this past Sunday.

So in an effort to pay it forward I'll share some of the specifics from Sunday's race (and the training cycle as a whole) that worked for me. I hope they help some of you guys as well! 

The three main categories that helped this time around were: picking an adequate target time, proper fueling, and proper mileage.

Target time

Two things that helped me identify a proper target time for this effort were running a half marathon halfway through the training cycle and then using that half marathon to both reinforce my training times and to shape a conservative goal for the actual marathon.

Going back a little, I ran a fall trail marathon, the Wisconsin North Face Challenge, on September 13 with the goal of building up to a strong push for a PR in Louisiana if the Chicago winter allowed. So when I ran a 4:03:59 at that race I wasn't as concerned about the time, even though it was a PR, as I was concerned about learning about the distance itself and how I felt in the buildup to the race.

I planned to immediately start week 1 of training for Louisiana following Wisconsin, but unfortunately the hills of that race gave me a mild anterior ankle tendinopathy. It first flared up in the week following the race and then again during week 4 of the Louisiana training cycle. So when I got to week 9 of the cycle it became important to understand where I was at fitness-wise in the wake of the injury. I ran a tough, windy half marathon near my hometown in Week 9 and put up a 1:35:21 there. I plugged that time into the McMillan calculator and it churned out a 3:20:40 for the full marathon. The Hansons pace chart (Table 3.5 in the book) has a row for a goal marathon time of 3:20:00. Given that I had been banged up in the buildup to the half marathon (1:35:21) and that I didn't feel especially fit - as well as the tough conditions on race day - I knew that I had plenty of room for improvement - so an aggressive goal of 3:20:00 would fit well with my training times. 

The second part of pacing for me was my actual race day target time (as opposed to what I theoretically trained for). I decided to go with a slightly more conservative target time of 3:25 given my previous difficulties with the marathon distance (i.e., crashing/burning), and I also felt this was more fitting my style of pushing ahead on the back half of the race with an attempt at negative splits. So even though I had comfortably completed training runs with a target time of 3:20, I ultimately decided that starting at 3:25 pace, then pushing it with 6 miles left to go sub 3:25, fit better with my running style. 

So take-away points: 1) run a half marathon early on in your marathon cycle to assess your fitness level and determine your training paces (don't be afraid to be a little aggressive if you feel your conditioning has room to improve) 2) it may help to run your actual race at a pace slightly slower than what you trained for and then pick it up at mile 20 if things are going well.

Fueling

Three things helped me with fueling this training cycle: viewing my training long runs as dress rehearsals for the real thing, taking a slightly more conservative fueling approach, and utilizing salt tablets. 

Long training runs are always tough for me given my work schedule and inability to eat quality foods in the hospital (ironically). But this time around I really tried to mimic my race-day meal plans during my actual training runs. So that meant eating more carbs in the days leading up to the long runs, drinking what I would drink on race day, getting up early if possible, etc. There wasn't a whole lot different on race day which was helpful for me (no bathroom breaks, thank God). 

Second, I found Nuun tablets and fell in love with them during this training cycle, especially the lime flavor, instead of alternating from one fluid to another during every week of training (like in previous training cycles). I wanted to limit caffeine, as well, to avoid GI problems, and the lime Nuun tablets fit the bill. I also cut back my fluid intake to 3-4 gulps every 30 minutes and did the same thing on race day with good results. 

My gel use mimicked my approach to fluids - I previously took two Clif Shot Blocks every 20 minutes but felt like I was spending a lot of time looking at my watch and unwrapping gels with that approach. This time around I took three Strawberry Clif Shot Blocks every 30 minutes to perfectly correspond with my fluid intake. I also read some articles talking about the performance benefits of letting gels sit in your mouth for a bit before actually swallowing them - so I really took two or three minutes total to get down three blocks before washing them down with 3-4 gulps of Nuun. On race day I kept fueling with the gels all the way up to the 3:00 mark and then told myself at that point that the next food I would eat would be on the other side of the finish line which was terrific motivation (because, frankly, I was really hungry!). I also exclusively drank from my hand held water bottle on race day and ignored the Powerade on the course. 

That being said, I didn't avoid the water on the course. Steve Magness talks in his book The Science of Running about how performance can actually be limited by a runner's internal body temperature becoming too elevated. Remembering that chart I grabbed a cup of water at every station and literally placed it upside down on my cap - I didn't dump it as much as I let it soak into the cap's material and dissipate the heat from my head. Some people said the actual weather on race day was humid - I didn't really notice the humidity as much and I think the water helped with that issue. 

Finally, I used two Hammer Endurolytes salt tablets every hour during race day and on my long training runs - I cramped up pretty terribly in the Wisconsin marathon and didn't want a repeat of that this time around. So at the one hour and two marks of the marathon I literally ate my three Clif Shot blocks (washed those down with a gulp of Nuun), shook two tabs out of a Tic Tac container (washed those down with a gulp of Nuun), and then took two more gulps of Nuun for good measure. I bumped the scheduled 3 hour salt tabs up to the 2 hour 45 minute mark in order to fully digest them and have time to still get the benefit of the salt once I realized I was going to get my goal of a sub 3:25 effort. 

Mileage

I've posted a screenshot of my mileage log from my three marathon efforts below. The "standard" recommended mileage each week is in the second column: 

I think the most striking things from that chart are that my total mileage for the training cycle didn't differ all that much (even with the injuries in Week 1 and Week 4 making a dent in my mileage) from previous efforts, and that my peak weekly mileage was dramatically higher (peaking at 90.7 in week 13). I think those two points reinforce the idea that the mileage from the Hansons method is totally sufficient to hit your target time. I also think that it reinforces, for me, the idea that I can bump my mileage up as necessary without necessarily having the wheels fall off secondary to injury. And I guess it shows how, even if you put in the miles, the first efforts at any race distance can be tough until you start to learn how to race that distance (and I'm by no means there yet). In the future I'd like to surpass the total of the standard mileage recommended by the Hansons plan as the higher mileage fits well with my running style. The high mileage weeks came entirely from increasing my easy miles in the form of longer warm-ups/cool-downs, running on the "off" day, and adding a handful of miles to the long runs. This is what Humphrey recommends doing in the Hansons book for runners who want to increase their mileage from the standard Advanced plan and it worked well for me.