The New York Marathon continues to wait. I was on tap to run it in 2012, but two things happened. One was Hurricane Sandy. The other was a series of little stress fractures in my left lower leg.
(I should note that shortly after my Seattle Marathon, in February 2012, I blew away my PR at the Kaiser Half-Marathon, running 1:27:14. I ran the same Half-Marathon earlier this year, my first race back from the stress fractures, in a less impressive 1:28:57.)
I decided, once I recovered from the stress fractures, that I would run a marathon before the 2013 New York Marathon I'll run in November. I debated between two spring marathons, choosing the relative convenience of the somewhat local Avenue of the Giants Marathon. (Located in Humbolt State Park, a few hours drive North of San Francisco.)
Training went quite well. I didn't miss a single run over the course of training -- and it has been a long time since I did that. Well, actually, I did miss a single run. Five days before the race, stepping out of the shower, I bashed my fourth and fifth toes on my left foot.
The Avenue of the Giants is a nice, small race. Fewer than 500 people finished the marathon in 2012, and if I ran well, I could place in the top ten (against last year's field). The race took place just three weeks after the insane bombing of the Boston Marathon, and so I decided to wear a remembrance I designed to pay tribute to the victims of that terrible event.On the morning of the race, my wife drove me to the race site, I picked up my bib, and ten minutes before the start, I walked over to the crowd near the starting line and did some plank exercises. Five minutes before the start, I had shed by sweats (handed them to my wife), loaded my shorts with GU, kissed my wife and worked my way to the front of the starting area. In fact, there weren't very many people crowding to be at the front of the line!
Race Start
After the National Anthem, the starter encouraged us to move forward towards the actual starting line, and then, we were off.
The pace was fast at first. I started to count how many people went ahead of me in the first half mile and settled at around 20 or so, consciously trying to slow it down a bit, as I realized the people ahead of me were going out much faster than I would run. I took note of a couple of guys I marked to be over 40 (and, essentially, my competition). I noted a 6:53 split for the first mile, solidly 20 seconds faster than I planned for that mile, and I doubled my resolve to not be concerned about the speed the other runners were going. I was glad to note that my toes were feeling fine, and I only had a little sensitivity around the pad of my left foot. I tried to settle in to the pace that I was hoping to run for the first quarter. The course is essentially two, 6.55 mile out-and-backs (each being 1/2 of a marathon), and I had understood that the first half was a gradual uphill climb to the first turnaround. So when I marked my split for mile 2, hoping to be at 7:10, I was disturbed to see 7:38 instead. I didn't think I had slowed down that much!
I pressed on, perhaps speeding up a bit, pretty much holding position and trying to keep a fellow I thought was over 40 in sight, though sometimes he'd vanish in the curves of the road ahead of me. Fortunately, the enormous redwood trees were not only beautiful, they provided shade. I marked 7:08 for my third mile, pretty close to what I wanted, but I realized that my watch now told me that I had gone about 3.2 miles (not 3), so I knew that the calibration of my footpod was off (telling me I had run longer than I actually had would mean that the watch would tell me I was going faster than I actually was, so I tried to estimate that whatever my watch said was 10 seconds faster than my actual pace). I tried to hold this pace over the next mile.
Then it got weird. My mile 4 split was 6:36, and I couldn't believe it. Sure, the hills were rolling, but not so much that I would record such a fast mile. I thought for a second that the mile marker was off. I just tried to maintain pace, checking my watch, making the mental calculation of adding ten seconds, trying to keep pace.
And then I saw my mile 5 split at 7:33. Again, no way I was going that slow, and it stood to reason that the fast mile had been "short" while the next (slow) mile had been "long". Ugh. Neither my watch was calibrated well, nor were the mile markers in the right place. Distracting! I took my first GU and pressed on, perhaps pushing a little to finish the uphill section as I would get closer to the first turnaround.
Mile six split showed at 6:34 -- gads! Another bad mile marker! I started to take note of the leaders of the marathon coming back the other way. The first two guys were coming back really fast, but not as soon as I thought they would be. I blew past a water stop (I carry my own water bottle) and headed for the turnaround, trying to note how far behind the guy in the red shirt I was. Not close, but not too far.
Now, the hill profile would be an advantage, and the plan was to run a bit faster on the way back to the starting area than the way out. I crossed the mile 7 marker with a 7:00 split, pretty close to my target, and was satisfied with the pacing. I would start clicking off the miles here, with the mile 8 split at 6:51 (a tad fast), mile 9 at 6:56 (closer to target) and mile 10 at 6:44 (definitely downhill, but a bit too fast). I took an S-Cap at the first hour (between miles 8 and 9), and my second GU at mile 10. The S-Caps are an attempt to forestall cramping, something I've had in my right calf the prior three marathons I've run.
I started to pick off a few runners at this point, slowly dragging in a woman whose form was a bit tight. I passed her on a bit of a curve, telling her that she was looking strong (and she called back that I was too). And then I quickly caught another runner.
The mile 12 split came in at a reasonable 7:08, along with someone announcing the overall time -- I noted being more than a minute faster than my goal at this point. I soon made it back to the starting area for the completion of the first half, I notched a split of 6:34 (gads, another mile marker out of place?)
I passed back under the overpass through a somewhat tight corner lined with screaming race fans. At this point, so close to the finish and start, the vast majority of people watching the race are all crowded into one place. Around that corner and uphill over a small bridge -- and there's my wife, screaming and cheering for me and running ten steps or so with me, spurring me on.
This next half was reported to me as mostly flat, with a bit of an uptick at the far point and this bridge being the only hilly parts. Also, this half was going to have a lot more runners on the path: they started a half-marathon an hour after our marathon start, and they also started a 10K at some point.
I took note of the decidedly downhill section as I came off the bridge, noting a 6:57 split for mile 14. I was cruising a bit here, and I came upon another runner who liked my pace. We exchanged names and goals (both targeting 3:05), but I told him we were a solid minute or more ahead of that pace. He dropped behind me quickly. My water bottle was nearly empty, so I cruised in to the next water stop with the cap off of my bottle, picked up a pitcher cleanly and refilled. Back I went. I notched a 6:57 split for mile 15, then took my third GU.
Now, I began to see slow 10K runners, and I also began to feel like I was heading uphill. Fortunately, some of the 10K runners would call out to the others "marathoner!" and "get to the right, marathoner coming through!", so I could run down the center without much trouble. I tried to keep the pace, but it was harder to gauge pace when passing so many runners. Plus, there were now lots of slower half-marathoners and somewhat fast 10K runners coming back the other way. Then I reached the point where the 10K runners turned around, and it was just half-marathoners to contend with. I missed the 16 mile split, so when I finally caught sense of my pace at mile 17, it looked like I had averaged 7:24 for the past two miles! I chalked it up to the uphill, but wasn't too happy about it anyway. I took my second S-Cap.
I approached the final turnaround, passing more half-marathoners, no idea now which runners were in my race, and which were in the half. I noted 6:40 for my mile 18 split and began to doubt the mile markers again here.
The final ascent to the turnaround was on me, and my foot was starting to feel a bit off. Not the toes, but the foot in a more general sense, near the pad and outside of it. I hit the mile 19 marker at 7:41 and was just convinced that it was nonsense. I pressed on, made the turnaround, and headed back down.
Still passing half-marathoners. The next split I saw was 6:37 at mile 20. Huh? Well, 6.2 to go. I took my last GU. This pain in my foot is something, but I felt okay. I felt a flash of a small cramp in my right calf.
Mile 21 at 7:18. Hm. I'm heading back downhill. That's disconcerting.
Mile 22 at 7:17. I thought I had tried to pick it up. The foot is hurting a bit more. I get a full cramp in my left calf and have to slow to walk for a step, but I'm back to running pretty quickly, just feeling a bit wobbly about that calf.
Mile 23 at 7:14. My plan was to be at least 10 seconds faster. I tried to push a bit more, and it felt like I was going at a reasonable pace, just slower.
Mile 24 posts at 7:19 and now I know I'm not doing well. My foot certainly hurts and I just want this race to be over. I feel another small cramp go through my right calf. There are runners around me, but I don't know which race. I'm just trying to get done. My left foot hurts and I'm feeling wary of the cramping my my right calf.
Mile 25 comes in at 7:22 and now I know I've lost any chance of a better race than my plan. I am just aching for the finish. My foot hurts with every stride and I'm not feeling like I can go any faster. Where oh where is the finish line? I come back to that bridge and try to drive across it.
I see the Mile 26 marker and note a 7:29 split, but just try to drive to the finish. I come around a bend and see the finish, the half-marathon clock momentarily fooling me into thinking that I somehow come in at 3:03, but then seeing the full-marathon clock and realizing I'm done in 3:05. I'm so beat that I don't even raise an arm in triumph as I cross, just glad to have crossed the finish line.
I walk, with pain in my foot, but not limping. I collect my medal and a patch. (The patch is unusual: of my prior six marathons, the only one that included something other than the standard medal/shirt was Portland.)
I get some water.
My wife meets me. I'm so done. I wander amongst the mass of finishers. I take a banana, and I try to keep walking so I don't stiffen up. After about ten minutes, I finally sit in the area where they have ice and get a bag of ice and water to plunge my foot into (I took off my shoe and sock first).
Nice. It's warm now, outside of the shade of the trees. I don't even need to change my shirt. I've never finished a race and not felt cold inside of five minutes, but here I'm feeling fine.
We hang out for an hour, with me wandering over to the results table. 13th. Fourth in the over 40 set, and second in 40-44. My wife brings me a blanket, my stretching gear, and my black foam roller (that others looked upon with envy). I lay on the blanket, stretching, and then it is almost too warm in the sun. They start to announce awards.
I wait long enough to collect my age-group award.
So… Graphs! Oh, I love graphs.
First, let me say that all the noise during the race about mile markers being off? Well, yes, they most certainly were. While my watch was not calibrated that well, at least it should be consistent, so when I re-scaled my watch readings to match 26.2 miles, and then re-scaled my splits, I saw a different, smoother pattern. The red line shows what my pacing was actually like. Much smoother, much less of a swing from mile to mile. The blue line is what my watch was showing me. The green line, which matches the blue line pretty well, is how far off from 1.0 each mile marker was (secondary axis for that).
Variance from plan. (From here on out, I use the effective splits I calculated after the fact.) I had established a nominal plan to finish a bit above 3:05, so this just shows what it felt like: I was largely on track or ahead of pace until mile 16, where I slowed down. The only exception was Mile 25, where I ran an effective split of 7:14 even though my watch said 7:22.
Heart Rate:
I have always looked to this to tell me something about my race that isn't as clear from time-splits. What's different here is that there isn't as much of a profound dip after that initial peak than what I usually see. Seems that in my prior races, I would settle in between miles 8 and 10 and then slowly increase towards the finish. My average heart rate here, however, stays above 172 for most of the middle of the race.
I decided to compare this to my prior three marathons. You can see how that pattern is there in all the races, except this one, my peak wasn't as high and my dip wasn't as low. The most profound difference is between this one and the last one (Seattle).
I suppose this could mean that I wasn't able to maintain that higher-level of heart rate the whole way while running that kind of pace. I'm just not sure, given the different middle-section and the generally higher heart rate.
Time relative to Plan:
Yep. Ahead of plan the whole way, and after 15 miles, I started to slow down.
Projected base upon pace:
This graph shows how I was flirting with a PR but would have had to stay on pace after mile 16. And, it shows that I was ahead of my pace band from miles 13 to 23. A pretty solid march back to plan after I slowed down.
Marathon Record:
On the one hand, I've now put in three consecutive marathons faster than my 2008 Portland race. On the other hand, while my first five marathons all marched downward on that graph, the next two races have each been slower than the prior ones.
Again, I'm thinking big for New York. November 3, 2013!
•••
Mixed.
I'd really like to understand if it was all just the foot that caused me to slow down. I had in my head that I would do better, and during the race, I knew I was ahead of pace. So to slow down so much in the second half leaves me less than satisfied. There are just so many factors to consider:
- the mental-chaos of the mile markers being off
- the possibility that it was, say, 65 degrees or warmer and I didn't notice
- the possibility I had simply started too fast (first half of the race)
- the cramps
- the pain in my foot
That said, it was a nice course, and despite the pain, a generally enjoyable experience. I liked it, and would consider running it again one day.
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