Thursday, 13 October 2011 - Written by rcblu2 [profile]
| Well, the marathon on Sunday didn't go so well for me thus I haven't been hurrying to LYR to type a report. It was a classic case of hitting the wall. I felt great leading up to the race. Felt great on race morning. Legs were light and fresh. Took off a little too fast, but not too bad. I averaged 8:40 for the first 5k. I slowed myself down leading up to the 10k mark averaging 8:46. I didn't notice, but between the 10k and 15k mark I was averaging 8:30. Much too fast. I slowed down from there, but had a solid 1/2 marathon of 1:54:51. That gave me 5 minutes cushion. I was still feeling good and I wanted to save energy so I walked a little more. My pace dropped to 9:15. Then around mile 18 I realized I was struggling. My muscles would not go and I HAD to walk. I let my pace drop way down hoping I could salvage my race. I ran a little more and my calves started cramping. At mile 20 I was done. I pretty much walked it in. Finish time was an unimpressive 4:38:13. My muscles had nothing at the end.
My analysis is that I just did not have enough running miles this year. My knees did great because of the low mileage, but I didn't have the conditioning. If I had paced better I might have been able to do a 4:15 marathon maybe a 4:10, but not much better. I was just going too fast for the training I did.
I am bummed, but what am I going to do? There will be other marathons. I am trying to learn what I can from this one. |
KathyStenson says: Most people will never be able to say they finished a marathon, so while I understand you are disappointed, you gave it your best and like you said you will learn something for next time...I am truly impressed that you stuck with it, you should be proud of yourself for getting out and doing the training, for finishing even though it was painful and anti climactic, and for planning a next time already!!!
lazyking says: Congratulations!!!!
I agree with everything Kathy said! Was going to write pretty much the same. You are a warrior and most importantly you didn't give up.
I was there in the crowds and I can tell you that 95% of the runners had a bad race. Watching runners at mile 25 was't inspiring, it was kinda scary. The expressions on their faces were just awful.
It just got too damn hot after 10am. Out of my 6 friends who were running it, only 1 of them was happy with his time and they did train very well. You can learn from every race and that can only make you better.
"The bad races will make you appreciate the good ones even more"
scmullgardt says: Congrats on completing Chicago (I assume that is what you are referring to). I echo everyone's comments. I ran Chicago last year and the weather was equally bad, if not worse. I do not enjoy/do well in heat so running this summer was a major drag.
In an attempt to avoid the heat, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon on October 2nd. Although not my fastest time (due to inconsistent training this summer), the TCM was hands down the most enjoyable marathon I have run. The weather was spectacular (41 degrees at the start), the route and finish are absolutely beautiful and the crowd support is really strong. They bill the TCM as the most beautiful urban marathon and they are absolutely correct. It is not as flat as Chicago (which, to me, is a good thing), but the pristine conditions make is one that I think you could PR on.
Nice job finishing Chicago!
adigerati says: After I finished my half. I went back to my hotel, showered, checked out, went and got a bite to eat then I headed home. We ended up crossing the path of some marathoners on the way home and I all could think was, "I'm glad I didn't sign up for that torture".
Someday I will run a marathon but for right now I'm glad I can live vicariously through you and the other marathon runners on this site. Glad to hear you finished even though it didn't go as good as you would have liked. I think that takes a certain amount of toughness.
Mury says: Congrats on the marathon. Just to echo everyone else, there will be more to accomplish other goals.
I for one can say I'm thrilled I did a marathon way back in the day, but I vowed never to do another one unless I was completely and utterly prepared for it. Thus there's never been a 2nd :)
rcblu2 says: Thanks, Gang, for all the very nice responses. It is much appreciated. Comment on this post |
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