I have been pretty busy since Top of Utah Marathon. Unfortunately for my training, nothing that involves much running. 2 weeks before the marathon, I was working a few 16 hour days, occasionally escaping work for 30 min to go for a quick speed run.
Last week, I went to a friend's wedding in Normandy, France and aside from a last half marathon long run 8 days before the marathon, I did not get to run at all. Instead, I enjoyed unsparing quantities of celebratory wine, and did not waste an occasion to visit the amazing French bakeries. I consumed reckless amounts of pastries. I so miss them!
Last week, I went to a friend's wedding in Normandy, France and aside from a last half marathon long run 8 days before the marathon, I did not get to run at all. Instead, I enjoyed unsparing quantities of celebratory wine, and did not waste an occasion to visit the amazing French bakeries. I consumed reckless amounts of pastries. I so miss them!
A quick lunch at a Parisian bakery...
After the wedding, I traveled to Paris to visit some friends and again yielded to the art of fine cuisine and alcohol enhanced "moments of life".
A couple of days later, I was traveling again to Clermont-Ferrand, in the center of France to visit my family. My mother was prepared and greeted me with her finest dishes and of course, my cherished pastries from the amazing local pastry shop.
This last Friday, I woke up at 5:45 am to prepare for the trip back home..Hm well.. the trip to the St George marathon. This involved 3 flights and nearly 24 hours of travel.
I finally reached St George at about 7pm Friday night and caught a cab straight to the expo. I shopped for a few Gu's and supplies I had not been able to take in my trip. Fortunately, the expo was huge and there was no problem finding anything I wanted. The main challenge was navigating through the tight aisles and crowds at the expo with my bags and suitcases.
A couple of days later, I was traveling again to Clermont-Ferrand, in the center of France to visit my family. My mother was prepared and greeted me with her finest dishes and of course, my cherished pastries from the amazing local pastry shop.
This last Friday, I woke up at 5:45 am to prepare for the trip back home..Hm well.. the trip to the St George marathon. This involved 3 flights and nearly 24 hours of travel.
I finally reached St George at about 7pm Friday night and caught a cab straight to the expo. I shopped for a few Gu's and supplies I had not been able to take in my trip. Fortunately, the expo was huge and there was no problem finding anything I wanted. The main challenge was navigating through the tight aisles and crowds at the expo with my bags and suitcases.
The expo was quite big and crowded
I walked from the expo to my hotel which was less than a mile away.
I laid down all my marathon gear on the floor for the next morning. It was going to be a 3:30am wake up. At this point I was so jet lagged that I did not care that much. I just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before the race.
I went to bed at about 10pm and could not sleep at all. Not because of the stress of the trip, or the angst of delivering the best performance of my life. No, I was much too tired for all that.
Some kids playfully screaming, excitedly slamming doors, joyfully sprinting in the hallways and their parents blissfully ignoring them is what kept me awake until about 11:30pm.
I still woke up every hour after than to check on the clock.
I can't say this was my best marathon preparation week, or month even!!
I laid down all my marathon gear on the floor for the next morning. It was going to be a 3:30am wake up. At this point I was so jet lagged that I did not care that much. I just wanted to get a few hours of sleep before the race.
I went to bed at about 10pm and could not sleep at all. Not because of the stress of the trip, or the angst of delivering the best performance of my life. No, I was much too tired for all that.
Some kids playfully screaming, excitedly slamming doors, joyfully sprinting in the hallways and their parents blissfully ignoring them is what kept me awake until about 11:30pm.
I still woke up every hour after than to check on the clock.
I can't say this was my best marathon preparation week, or month even!!
St George marathon elevation profile.
My goal for this marathon was to beat my previous best (3:06:42) and if at all possible, slip under 3. I had no illusions though. With my poor preparation, I was well aware that I might just implode midway.
With this course profile, I had strategized to maintain a sub 7:00 min pace till mile 7. Miles 7 through 14 were likely to be tough and so trying to stay as close to 7:00 min/mi as possible, maybe 7:10 was going to be the goal. Then I would have to be very consistent well under 7:00 min/mi to the finish line, without any significant fading at the end to get close to the 3 hour mark.
The pre-marathon start was well organized. Many 'bon-fires' had been set up and kept me warm till the very last minute before the start.
The race began in pitch black obscurity at 6:45am.
I started a bit in the back of the pack. The crowds had prevented me from reaching my desired spot on the starting line. I was not too far though. I had managed to position myself between the 3:15 pacer and the 3:05 pacer.
The start was a bit chaotic. I slalomed to make my way through the crowd, avoided the slow runners and after a few minutes I passed a big chunk of runners surrounding the 3:05 pacer.
One thing that is beyond me is why at this stage of the race I was still passing running barely doing 12min/mile. Why do people do that!? It is dangerous...and so very annoying.
The first few miles felt easy. I was careful to stay within my planned pace range and comfortable effort level:
Mile 1 6:45
Mile 2 7:01
Mile 3 6:51
Mile 4 6:41
Mile 5 6:51
Mile 6 6:40
Mile 7 6:38
Right after reaching mile 7 a big surprise was waiting for me. Yes, that mile 7 hill was no joke. I really was not expecting this. The climb must have been close to 10% incline and seemed never to end.
I increased my effort drastically but I was careful not to hit the "red zone" too much. At mile 8, there was going to be a lot of work to do after that hill. So I held back just a tad. Everyone was passing me in that hill...Maybe 200 people I had just passed in the previous miles rushed back pass me.
I did not panic though. I have enough marathon running experience at this point to know that all these people were most likely not managing their effort properly. I would see them again at mile 20 or before...
Mile 8 7:51
Mile 9 7:25
Mile 10 7:12
Mile 11 7:36
Mile 12 7:02
I lost a lot of time is these few hard miles.. Just about 2 minutes. But this was a necessary slow down for me. I felt that I could not have gone faster and leave too much energy to get back in the pace in the last 3rd of the race.
After mile 12, the course started going down again, and I was glad to still feel relatively fresh. My knees were a bit sore, but nothing too unusual. I probably should have changed my shoes about 50 miles ago...
Now all I had to do was to maintain a 6:45 pace to the end, and I should get close to 3 hours.
As expected, from mile 13, I started to pass a lot of runners. Slowly at first...Then the difference in pace was really obvious, culminating around mile 20-22.
Mile 13 6:50
Mile 14 6:52
Mile 15 6:30
Mile 16 6:22
Mile 17 6:40
Mile 18 6:43
Mile 19 7:01
Mile 20 6:48
When I completed mile 20 in well under 7 minutes, I knew it was going to be a good race for me. Even if I completely blew up in the last few miles, my time would be respectable.
I started calculating splits to see how close I could get to 3 hours. I was going to be very close. I needed to run the last 10k in less than 41 minutes.
41 minutes seemed do-able. But even on fresh legs, a 41 min 10 k is a challenging time for me.
I had to really push hard every mile till the every end to have a chance.
However at this point, the legs were anything but fresh. I was not feeling terrible, but I had blisters on both my feet and my legs were starting to complain about the abuse. The perfect time to crank it up!
Mile 21 6:36
Mile 22 7:00
Mile 23 6:45
Mile 24 6:40
Mile 25 6:57
At mile 25, I feared my worst nightmare had finally come true. A distinct cramp of my right calf was starting to appear. I modified my stride slightly, trying to raise my toes to stretch the muscle and thankfully, the cramping stopped.
The last mile felt like it was never ending. I had planned to rip it as hard as I could, but I really did not have much left in me...
Mile 26 7:10
Mile 27 7:08 (min/mi)
When I crossed the finish line, my left knee immediately started to hurt like hell. The pain continued throughout the evening but after icing the knee and resting it overnight, the pain is gone.
With this course profile, I had strategized to maintain a sub 7:00 min pace till mile 7. Miles 7 through 14 were likely to be tough and so trying to stay as close to 7:00 min/mi as possible, maybe 7:10 was going to be the goal. Then I would have to be very consistent well under 7:00 min/mi to the finish line, without any significant fading at the end to get close to the 3 hour mark.
The pre-marathon start was well organized. Many 'bon-fires' had been set up and kept me warm till the very last minute before the start.
The race began in pitch black obscurity at 6:45am.
I started a bit in the back of the pack. The crowds had prevented me from reaching my desired spot on the starting line. I was not too far though. I had managed to position myself between the 3:15 pacer and the 3:05 pacer.
The start was a bit chaotic. I slalomed to make my way through the crowd, avoided the slow runners and after a few minutes I passed a big chunk of runners surrounding the 3:05 pacer.
One thing that is beyond me is why at this stage of the race I was still passing running barely doing 12min/mile. Why do people do that!? It is dangerous...and so very annoying.
The first few miles felt easy. I was careful to stay within my planned pace range and comfortable effort level:
Mile 1 6:45
Mile 2 7:01
Mile 3 6:51
Mile 4 6:41
Mile 5 6:51
Mile 6 6:40
Mile 7 6:38
Right after reaching mile 7 a big surprise was waiting for me. Yes, that mile 7 hill was no joke. I really was not expecting this. The climb must have been close to 10% incline and seemed never to end.
I increased my effort drastically but I was careful not to hit the "red zone" too much. At mile 8, there was going to be a lot of work to do after that hill. So I held back just a tad. Everyone was passing me in that hill...Maybe 200 people I had just passed in the previous miles rushed back pass me.
I did not panic though. I have enough marathon running experience at this point to know that all these people were most likely not managing their effort properly. I would see them again at mile 20 or before...
Mile 8 7:51
Mile 9 7:25
Mile 10 7:12
Mile 11 7:36
Mile 12 7:02
I lost a lot of time is these few hard miles.. Just about 2 minutes. But this was a necessary slow down for me. I felt that I could not have gone faster and leave too much energy to get back in the pace in the last 3rd of the race.
After mile 12, the course started going down again, and I was glad to still feel relatively fresh. My knees were a bit sore, but nothing too unusual. I probably should have changed my shoes about 50 miles ago...
Now all I had to do was to maintain a 6:45 pace to the end, and I should get close to 3 hours.
As expected, from mile 13, I started to pass a lot of runners. Slowly at first...Then the difference in pace was really obvious, culminating around mile 20-22.
Mile 13 6:50
Mile 14 6:52
Mile 15 6:30
Mile 16 6:22
Mile 17 6:40
Mile 18 6:43
Mile 19 7:01
Mile 20 6:48
When I completed mile 20 in well under 7 minutes, I knew it was going to be a good race for me. Even if I completely blew up in the last few miles, my time would be respectable.
I started calculating splits to see how close I could get to 3 hours. I was going to be very close. I needed to run the last 10k in less than 41 minutes.
41 minutes seemed do-able. But even on fresh legs, a 41 min 10 k is a challenging time for me.
I had to really push hard every mile till the every end to have a chance.
However at this point, the legs were anything but fresh. I was not feeling terrible, but I had blisters on both my feet and my legs were starting to complain about the abuse. The perfect time to crank it up!
Mile 21 6:36
Mile 22 7:00
Mile 23 6:45
Mile 24 6:40
Mile 25 6:57
At mile 25, I feared my worst nightmare had finally come true. A distinct cramp of my right calf was starting to appear. I modified my stride slightly, trying to raise my toes to stretch the muscle and thankfully, the cramping stopped.
The last mile felt like it was never ending. I had planned to rip it as hard as I could, but I really did not have much left in me...
Mile 26 7:10
Mile 27 7:08 (min/mi)
When I crossed the finish line, my left knee immediately started to hurt like hell. The pain continued throughout the evening but after icing the knee and resting it overnight, the pain is gone.
Resting for a few minutes at the St George airport after the marathon.
I was initially a bit disappointed to slip just beyond 3 hours but in retrospect, I really could not have hoped for a better performance given the circumstances. And really, I am not sure where I could have shaved another 1+ minute off my time on this race. My pacing was near perfect. It is my 4th PR out of 6 marathons this year and I can only be thankful for a great running year.
This marathon gives me just enough to be desired to fuel my motivation for another great running year in 2013.
This marathon gives me just enough to be desired to fuel my motivation for another great running year in 2013.
