Rubber Side Down

23 down, 26.2 to go

Okay, so this is not going to be the most intersesting post in the world, but it will be a record of why I did when and how I felt, hopefully of some use to myself and other future marathoners.

Race day, I mean training day that felt like race day, dawned cool and cloudy. Perfect running conditions. Pegasissie promised to keep the rain away and that she did.

We headed out from Campbell park, deciding to start in the middle of the course and make our out and backs from there. The first 6 miles to LGHS was at a slightly uncomfortable 9:15-9:30 pace, made more so by my mental reservations that I would not be able to sustain this pace for any length of time. Other than the nagging worry about burning out by the half-way point, I concerned myself with following my game plan which included starting hydration early, after about the first 15 minutes, and taking in about 16oz. of just plain water the first hour. This was modified by the weather, since it was so cool. I plan to be around 24oz/hour in San Diego if its warm.

At 00:45 I broke out my first gel, and nursed it over something less than 10 minutes. We hit the turn around point at LGHS, dropped our empty bottles with Stephen (our excellent support team) and started heading back out, Pegassie starting kicking it up and I tried to pace her. I took my first e-cap at about 1:00:00 Miles 6-10 were memorably positive, the sluggishnes I felt running 9:30 pace the hour before was a gone and I was running fast but comfortably around 8:45 pace. Would it last?

I started my second gel somewhere just before the Vasona dam, and Stephen met us at about mile 10 at one of the bridges with refills of our empty water bottles and I picked up my protein bar. This support crew thing was mighty convenient! By the time we hit Campbell park again and mile 12 we had mostly made up the "slow" first miles and we were right around 9min/mile pace. I stopped for a minute or so to fill 2 of my bottles with water from the fountain.

We hit mile 13.1 very close to 1:58:00. "Only 10 more to go" a very encouraging Sissie said.

At around 2:20:00 I had my second e-cap. At this point I was starting to feel run down. I remember I stopped at the bridge around mile 14-15 before heading out to Meridian and had a couple potatoes. The small break felt good but the mental and physical effects were hitting me. My glutes and hamstrings were tightening up and I kept thinking, how much longer can I last? I started to fall further and further behind Sissie. I didn't want to overdo the electrolytes by when you're lagging why not try another e-cap? I also started on the protein bar. It was a miserable 15 minutes. Some combination of fluids, the e-cap and the protein bar and I started to come back alive. My race plan is to be more agressive with the e-cap and take one hourly, which should help with the fluid intake as well. I also think I'll start on the protein bar earlier. It was not bad on my stomach, but hard to chew and dried my mouth out. I'll have more energy to focus on eating it, and more time to digest it. I ate about 3/4 of the bar over the next hour, along with the gatorade and electrolyte drink I had with me (Hammer HEED.)

The final miles are kind of blurry now, I think I took another short break coming back into the support station at mile 19, took myself down to 2 bottles of HEED and whatever was left of my gatorade. I remember Sissie passing me before mile 21. On the way back, during the last 2 miles, I tried to envision the marathon, and what I would need to do if I had 5 miles left and not just the 2. I took a 3rd e-cap, and broke out another gel which I ended up not even finishing by the the time I got to the park.

A fairly shocking 3:30:34 for something around 23.3 miles. Even more positive was I didn't feel the need to down several bottles of water, which I usually do after a long long run, and my legs were in pretty good shape.
I can even walk down stairs without a problem, something that took me 3 days after the marathon last year. Hamstrings and tendons around the back of the knee are tender, but nothing to worry about.

Damn near perfect conditions and a damn near perfect run. Maybe I don't even need to go to San Diego...

posted by Patrick el Coyote @ 11:24 AM