So after my disappointing experience at McNaughton I decided to sign up for a road marathon to hopefully give me some confidence that I could actually put some miles down.
I had not done a big road race since the Derby festival half marathon in '08 so thought it would be something different. I'd also like to eventually join the 50 states marathon club so I figured why not knock off Ohio?
In the time between I tried to get some speed training in on the treadmill but really had no long runs under my belt.
Fortunately race day was cool and cloudy with a bit of a drizzle at the beginning. Forgetting how crowded these big races get I got stuck near the back of the crowd after my early bathroom break. I don't know how many people were there but it was packed. Between the full, half and relay runners I could hardly see the starting line. From the time the gun went off it took me almost 12 minutes to reach the starting line behind the walkers. I had no choice but to take it easy in the first 10k or so since I didn't want a repeat of Louisville where I wasted too much energy chasing down the pace leaders through the crowd.
I enjoyed just taking it easy and trying to conserve my energy for the race ahead. I assumed that after the half there would be very little crowds similar to Louisville but this wasn't the case as there was always a new influx of relay runners. The course wasn't too bad but I've been spoiled by too many trail ultras and it just seems like running in a city.
At any rate my half time was just shy of 2:06 which certainly reflected how conservative I'd been running. Knowing how far back I started my new goal was to try and catch the pace runners knowing that if I could catch up to the 4:10 crowd I had a shot at coming in under 4 hours. I was able to pick up the pace considerably in the second half routinely ticking off miles between 8- 8:30 pace for most of the remainder. There were a few hills that I walked briefly but was able to maintain a good effort for most of the race.
With probably 4 or 5 miles left I finally had the 4:10 group in sight and had something to look forward to. I caught up with them shortly and from then on knew that I could make a sub 4 effort, a personal best by almost ten minutes.
I did get a bit lazy at this point knowing that I was in good shape as long as I stayed with that crowd so I would run to the horizon, walk till they caught me and then pick it up again. I wound up running 3:59:09 which I was ecstatic about considering how little running I'd done in between my last ultra.
I had always wanted to be able to negative split a marathon and was finally able to do so. With my first half being clocked at 2:06 it meant I was able to run the second half at about 1:53 with an overall pace of around 9 minutes.
I was much more sore than I had been over the last several races mostly due to running on the road. Overall it was a confidence building race time wise but I'm ready to go back to the trails in the fall.
Now, on to triathlon season.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
McNaughton
After a long absence I am back here to put up a new post for those few who may take a look at my blog.
Since March I have had at least one disappointment and one success while aiming to keep up with training and have my sights fixed on IM Louisville in August.
In April I headed up to Mcnaughton Park to attempt another 100 miler after an OK race in Western Kentucky and not a whole lot of running in between.
My prep up to McNaughton was certainly less than stellar and the trip up and prior to the race was a bit ominous.
First I had to go by myself since it was just too much too ask my wife to go up there, camp and manage the children over what could possibly be 30 or more hours.
Arriving Thursday evening I planned on getting some good rest and then starting early with the 150 mile bunch Friday at noon.
It began raining around eleven and rained through most of the night making for a cold damp and dismal morning. After grabbing some lunch at Denny's I headed back to get my gear ready and attend the pre-race meeting. A light rain continued and I geared up to head out anyway hoping the extra time would do me some good.
Within the first 1/2 mile of the course I knew it was going to be a long race. After circumnavigating the first field you head out and up into the mud and continued with wet feet for most of the ten mile loop. The first creek crossing was refreshing and at about thigh deep height. The course was definitely challenging in it's own right with lots of ups and downs but the mud and wetness were easily demoralizing.
My game plan was just to take it easy and see how it went. The first couple of laps went alright and I even stopped for a shoe, sock change. Food and drink I pretty much just ate whatever seemed palatable at the aid stations which were more than adequately laid out by a stellar group of volunteers. I met and ran with one gentleman for most of lap three which helped past the time. I believe my first lap was somewhere in the two hour range becoming longer and longer as the evening went by.
On the 4th lap I hooked up with a group of another 4 or 5 runners and had a great time actually running a good bit of the loop and getting to know some other racers. By the start of the 4th loop we were well into the dark having started at noon on Friday and the temperatures were also cooling down nicely. The only dispiriting thing about running with this group was to find that most of them were already on their 5th lap and almost ready to be done for the day as they were just running 50 and then sticking around to volunteer. That and the fact that a couple of them could have been my dad! Oh well, they were great guys and the companion ship helped alot.
Continuing on this wave of optimism I think I made a mistake in not changing clothes for the fifth lap and staying in shorts. It seemed that within a mile of the 5th lap the wheels just came off the bus and my energy was just sapped. I wound up walking most all of the 5th lap and it was too easy of a decision to call it good having ran at least a 50 miler. I did spend a good amount of times at the aid stations consuming hot soup, instant potatoes and cheese and enjoying the bonfire, so much so that I had to be coaxed from my spot by one of the volunteers.
I tried to tell myself that I might just take a quick nap and then feel like running again. Yeah right. After completing my th lap at about 4 am in the cold I crashed out in my sleeping bag and called it good. I awoke to the call for runners for the six am start and laid in bed listening to the main group head off. I slept for another hour or two and then woke hungry to go find food, coffee and let the RD know I was done.
It was still Saturday morning and I was excited about being able to make it home to see my family and celebrate Easter.
In retrospect I know that I could have gone farther, especially if I had someone to kick my butt and motivate. As opposed to Pinhoti I never felt injured, and never felt sick, just felt wore out and demoralized over the difficulty of simply getting miles in on the course. The thought of getting back out in the mud was more than I could bear.
My hat goes off to Ryan Dexter, the winner of the 150 and extreme motivation for me to get on the ball and hammer out one of these 100 milers.
Since March I have had at least one disappointment and one success while aiming to keep up with training and have my sights fixed on IM Louisville in August.
In April I headed up to Mcnaughton Park to attempt another 100 miler after an OK race in Western Kentucky and not a whole lot of running in between.
My prep up to McNaughton was certainly less than stellar and the trip up and prior to the race was a bit ominous.
First I had to go by myself since it was just too much too ask my wife to go up there, camp and manage the children over what could possibly be 30 or more hours.
Arriving Thursday evening I planned on getting some good rest and then starting early with the 150 mile bunch Friday at noon.
It began raining around eleven and rained through most of the night making for a cold damp and dismal morning. After grabbing some lunch at Denny's I headed back to get my gear ready and attend the pre-race meeting. A light rain continued and I geared up to head out anyway hoping the extra time would do me some good.
Within the first 1/2 mile of the course I knew it was going to be a long race. After circumnavigating the first field you head out and up into the mud and continued with wet feet for most of the ten mile loop. The first creek crossing was refreshing and at about thigh deep height. The course was definitely challenging in it's own right with lots of ups and downs but the mud and wetness were easily demoralizing.
My game plan was just to take it easy and see how it went. The first couple of laps went alright and I even stopped for a shoe, sock change. Food and drink I pretty much just ate whatever seemed palatable at the aid stations which were more than adequately laid out by a stellar group of volunteers. I met and ran with one gentleman for most of lap three which helped past the time. I believe my first lap was somewhere in the two hour range becoming longer and longer as the evening went by.
On the 4th lap I hooked up with a group of another 4 or 5 runners and had a great time actually running a good bit of the loop and getting to know some other racers. By the start of the 4th loop we were well into the dark having started at noon on Friday and the temperatures were also cooling down nicely. The only dispiriting thing about running with this group was to find that most of them were already on their 5th lap and almost ready to be done for the day as they were just running 50 and then sticking around to volunteer. That and the fact that a couple of them could have been my dad! Oh well, they were great guys and the companion ship helped alot.
Continuing on this wave of optimism I think I made a mistake in not changing clothes for the fifth lap and staying in shorts. It seemed that within a mile of the 5th lap the wheels just came off the bus and my energy was just sapped. I wound up walking most all of the 5th lap and it was too easy of a decision to call it good having ran at least a 50 miler. I did spend a good amount of times at the aid stations consuming hot soup, instant potatoes and cheese and enjoying the bonfire, so much so that I had to be coaxed from my spot by one of the volunteers.
I tried to tell myself that I might just take a quick nap and then feel like running again. Yeah right. After completing my th lap at about 4 am in the cold I crashed out in my sleeping bag and called it good. I awoke to the call for runners for the six am start and laid in bed listening to the main group head off. I slept for another hour or two and then woke hungry to go find food, coffee and let the RD know I was done.
It was still Saturday morning and I was excited about being able to make it home to see my family and celebrate Easter.
In retrospect I know that I could have gone farther, especially if I had someone to kick my butt and motivate. As opposed to Pinhoti I never felt injured, and never felt sick, just felt wore out and demoralized over the difficulty of simply getting miles in on the course. The thought of getting back out in the mud was more than I could bear.
My hat goes off to Ryan Dexter, the winner of the 150 and extreme motivation for me to get on the ball and hammer out one of these 100 milers.
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