Being Stubborn and Stupid

Stubborn and Stupid marathon time for 2013

Sensible and Personal Record marathon time from one year earlier.

Ever since I started running and training for marathons I have striven to obtain, give and discuss proper and helpful training methods with those who are also running and training or thinking about running and training for marathons. I've read books,  magazines, forums, blogs, and articles which all say things like "don't go too far too fast" or "back off the training when you sense injury coming on" and have been said and believed in by me.  I have cautioned myself and other runners to alter planned running paces in bad conditions and too ease into a race rather than going full bore like an idiot.  You would think I would know when training for and running my fifth marathon that all of the aforementioned principles don't just stop applying because I have ran a marathon before.  

Nope, not this year.  I did pretty much everything wrong in my process leading up to and during my marathon training.  I then compounded that problem with an utterly stupid race strategy that left me having the worst pacing since my first marathon and had me see my third worst marathon time ran (the other being my first and second marathons).  This blog will attempt to glean what went wrong (hint: I failed to follow well established training and racing principles). 

Training for my 2012 and 2013 marathons pretty much started the same.  Due to our son's medical issues, it is hard for me to run more than one marathon a year, with traveling, expense and the time it takes to do it, so I pretty much prepare for the next marathon right after the previous one is over.  This typically involves a reverse taper (resting and light running for two to three weeks following the marathon) and no speed training for four weeks after the marathon.  Now, the tricky part with that plan is that I usually start a training program for a big 5 or 10 k in the spring (typically the Azalea Trail Run or Spring Fever Chase), so I start a training program for that pretty soon after the reverse marathon taper is over (and I try my best not to start before full recovery).  

After that event, I plan out my fall marathon schedule and then plan a 8 to 12 week base building program through the summer to where I am running around the weekly distance I will be running in my marathon training program, without the same amount of long run since those typically entail many 18-22 mile runs.  From there, I go into my marathon training which is usually a 18 week modified Pfitz plan.  

In 2012, I was able to have a pretty good base building period, running six days a week up to a maximum of 50 miles towards the end.  The problem I had then was I planning on following the Pfitz up to 70 mpw plan, to the T.  I thought base building up to the start of that plan would be sufficient to go right into it with no worries.  Two weeks in and my body told me otherwise.  Plantar fasciitis, runner's knee, my ITB Band, you name it, started flaring up and made me realize the plan was not going to work.  So I dialed it back, modified the Pfitz up to 55 mpw plan with increased speed work and reduced mileage, and averaged roughly 50 mpw. I did my customary multiple 20 – 22 mpw runs and kind of dealt with the  plantar fasciitis (golf ball massage) and ITB Band (foam roller and Alleve once a week) to where I was able to hit all my workouts and times in those workouts.

 I felt decent coming into the 2012 First Light Marathon about hitting a PR, especially if the weather cooperated.  My plan was to pace for a 3:20, but doing it with a pretty substantial negative split so I could ease into the race.  All I needed was good weather.  

Unfortunately, that did not occur.  

The weather was pretty hot for that time of year, and while I don’t remember the exact temperature, I remember telling my wife not to expect anything great since it was going to be shitty weather.  So did I plan to keep with the 3:20 pace plan?  Nope, I adjusted the goal to any PR  I could get and basically planned to run the splits I had the year before and hope to not die doing so.  I altered my fueling strategy as well and had a pretty good race, although the increased consumption of Gatorade (trying to combat the increased sweating due to heat) than what I had trained with made me want to vomit towards the end.  Below are the splits for that race followed by the splits for the 2011 race, look at how consistent they are for the most part: 

2011                                                                            2012

1st mile: 8:18:3                                                            One 7:36 

2nd Mile: 8:20 16:38                                                   Two 7:50 

3rd Mile: 8:19 24:58                                                   Three 7:52 

4th Mile: 8:00 32:58                                                    Four 7:52                    

5th Mile: 7:53 40:51                                                    Five 7:44 I Hit watch early

6th Mile: 8:00 48:52                                                    Six 8:03 

7th Mile: 7:49 56:42                                                    Seven 7:35 early again

8th Mile: 8:35 1:05:17 (Restroom break)                     Eight 8:18 

9th Mile: 8:05 1:13:22                                                 Nine 7:54 

10th Mile: 7:59 1:21:22 Hills start                                Ten 8:15 Hills start

11th Mile: 8:13 1:29:35                                               Eleven 7:47 

12th Mile: 8:13 1:37:49                                               Twelve 8:03 

13th Mile: 8:00 1:45:50                                               Thirteen 7:54 

14th Mile: 8:01 1:53:51                                               Fourteen 7:51 

15th and 16th Miles: 15:47 2:09:39                             Fifteen 7:45 

17th Mile: 8:00 2:17:40                                               Sixteen 8:00 

18th Mile: 8:17 2:25:57 Last mile with Hills                 Seventeen 8:01 

19th Mile: 7:50 2:33:47                                               Eighteen 8:06 Last  Hills

20th Mile: 8:00 2:41:48                                               Nineteen 8:01 

21st Mile: 7:56 2:49:44                                               Twenty 7:48 

22nd Mile:7:47 2:57:31                                               Twenty one 7:56 

23rd Mile: 7:56 3:05:28                                              Twenty two 8:08 

24th Mile: 8:18 3:13:46                                               Twenty three 8:02 

25th Mile: 8:22 3:22:09                                               Twenty Four 8:10 

26th Mile: 7:54 3:30:03                                               Twenty five 8:11 

.2 1:31 3:31:35                                                            Twenty six 8:05 

                                                                                    Point two 1:35 

I was happy with both of these races and the pacing I did. I never hit a wall and kind of just killed my plan and got a PR both times.  A big part of my training in both of these years was running the hilly portion of the actual course for my long runs many times.  I passed so many people in the hills and at the end I was constantly getting motivated to keep it going through the race.    

After the 2012 race, I followed the same schedule until my summer base building.  In order to get more miles in, I eliminated most of the speed work and ran seven days a week.  Why?  Because it seemed like the best way to get in the most mileage in the least amount of time, my wife is very patient with my running schedule, but I wanted to try it out to see if I could acclimate myself to running every day that way I could get home earlier and take less time on the weekends running.  Well...my body did not acclimate to it very well.  Runner’s knee struck, along with my recurrent ITB band issues, and really put a hurt on the pace I could run. Did I stop and regroup? Hell no, I kept on running through it thinking my body would acclimate and that the first two weeks of my marathon training program would be kind of like a taper (WTF was I thinking) and kept on pushing through the pain. 

I also decided to alter my training schedule from the previous year.  I wanted to work up to the Pfitz 70 mpw plan for my 2014 marathon (why am I thinking a year ahead?) so I modified the 55 mpw plan to include an extra day of running (running 6 days a week), and all of the long runs and midweek long runs from the 70 mpw plan.  This resulted in a plan where I was averaging 60 mpw running.  Sounds great, except my knees never got better and my paces were still slower than in the past (I know you are not supposed to run easy runs hard, but my easy pace was now in the mid to high 9:00's whereas previously it was low 9:00's high 8:00s).  I was able to hit my speed workouts (tempos and track), but could not even think of running the marathon paced long runs or the races set out in the plan.  Even when I would race, family fairness dictated that I run my long run on that day as well so that I was not taking up a full weekend of running.  My wife needs to have some sort of weekend and recover too after all!!! 

Well, all that did was further injure me (running twelve miles after an all-out five mile effort with warm-up does not lead to proper form or is a good recipe for avoiding injury) and defeat the purpose of that weekend since the race was to tire you out for the next day’s long run.  To make up for the lack of racing, I extended some of the speed work and tried to add additional mileage in because I thought (wrongly) that this would help me in some way for the marathon.  All it ready did was wear me down further.  By the time my taper came, I was still injured, exhausted, and knew the race was going to be shit.  But I still had hope for running close to my PR if the weather cooperated since I ran a PR when the weather was so shitty. 

Ten days out I knew the weather was not going to be an ally.  High 70’s, high humidity and wind.  Fuck.  As the marathon drew closer, the weather, which is never predicted right in our area, was sticking to that forecast, high heat (ideal marathon temps, IMO, are 40’s and 50’s, dry), humidity and wind. So, did I alter my pacing plans...who do you think you are reading about, hell no. 

I don’t know why I did not decide to just set out running 8:15 to 8:20 a mile and stick with it.  It was not as if I thought I had a chance of PRing.  Anyone I thought would be interested in it or could provide me some encouragement I let know, “No way in hell I am Pring”.  But I still foolhardily stuck with that goal.    

Race day came, and the following happened:  

2013:

Mile one 7:30

Mile two 8:00

Mile three 8:00

Mile four: 7:56

Mile five: 7:56

Mile six: 8:05

Mile seven: 8:03

Mile eight: 8:11

Mile nine: 8:04

Mile ten: 8:08 Hills Start

Mile eleven: 8:08

Mile 12: 8:21

Mile 13: 8:19

Mile 14: 8:15

Mile 15 8:14

Miles 16: 8:17

Mile 17: 8:28

Mile 18: 9:10 Last mile with hills

Mile 19: 8:52

Mile 20: 8:54

Mile 21: 8:52

Mile 22: 9:20

Mile 23: 9:49

Mile 24: 9:55

Mile 25: 9:28

Mile 26 9:00

to end 1:52

It was very humid and the wind was awful.  It seemed as if there was a hard headwind the entire race, especially in the hills.  The pacing also started way too fast and I never wavered from it, not even in the hills.  I dropped and passed so many people in the hills I thought I was killing it.  In reality, I was being dumb while everyone else was being smart.  By the last hill I had barely anything left.  Typically, I recover (pace will slow down slightly, no walking) in the mile following that hill and then get right back at it.  The recovery never came for me.  The best thing I can say is I never ran a ten minute mile in the last six. And while I am typically the one passing people in the end, I was passed by three marathoners following the hills. 

The weather really was awful, but I doubt I can attribute a 14 minute decline in a year to just that.  At one point my arms were covered in white, which was the salt left over from my sweat evaporating, and my left arm would not quit cramping (I ran at one point with my full arm extended, pretty sure some people thought I had Bell’s Palsy).  Running injured should never really have been an option for me and I should have recovered and then tried to resume training.  My training paces should have been the indicator but I told myself I was just tired from the extra mileage I was averaging and that the taper would put the goodness there.  Not altering my pace was probably the biggest dumb ass move ever.  No way I should have run that first mile in 7:30 and just really wasn't a smart pacer (which is one of my strong suits in running) as evidenced by the trail off at the end.  Being passed at the end really stuck it to me since I cannot recall finishing a race so weak, outside of my first five k and marathon.

So, back to the drawing board.  I am going to get a full recovery in and shoot for the ATR or Spring Fever Chase.  If I am not recovered by then, there is a neat five k in April benefiting the Ronald McDonald House in Mobile where people throw paint on you a I can go for: http://www.colormerad.com/races/mobile.html

Wonder if it’s possible to go sub 20 while covered in paint?

From there I’m going to base build, six days a week, and try and get that mileage to where I can either do the 70 mpw plan safely, or follow the plan I did in 2012 with a little bit more mileage.  The one thing I have to remember though, is running injured is no longer an option.  It does not further my running goals or plan so doing it is just fucking stupid. So is running balls out when you know you dont have the fitness to do it.  Oh well, the last six miles of this year's race taught me a pretty good lesson on not making the aforementioned mistakes again.