Sport Today

Abstract:
Perfect day.
Felt lousy and sore at the 1:38 half.
Struggled through 20 at 2:32.
Got mad and ran hard the rest of the way.

St. George was supposed to be a fast course.  It has about 600' of climb,
and 3200' of descent.  It was my first marathon since '86.  The last time I
raced a downhill marathon, in '83, I averaged 5:40/mile from mile 10 to 20.
So I was hoping to coax the old legs into 7:00 miles.  On my long trail runs
in the hills, I ran a lot of 6:30 - 6:40 downhill miles, so I thought I had
a shot at it.  One key unknown was the surface:  I run 90% trails, but I
hoped that pushing the downhills in training would toughen up my quads for
the asphalt.

My younger brother Greg (44) and I planned to take it out in the low 7's and
see what happened.  We jogged 10 minutes and got by the velvet rope into the
first corral.  We opened up with 21:40 at mile 3, which in retrospect was
pretty quick given that the race started at 5200' (a 20 sec/mile penalty).
At 5 miles I tried to remember how it felt to run the first 10 miles in a
marathon.  This felt harder than the moderate effort I remembered, so I
backed off a tad.  I let Greg run off ahead.

At about 8 miles I was taken aback when I was passed by a couple of
overweight guys and even one woman with some extra avoirdupois.  I hit the
10 in 73 and change, but my quads were already getting sore.  I backed off
and hit the half in 1:38.  By now I was very sore, and feeling terrible.  I
could do the math, and the news was that I'd slowed to 8:00 miles -- on a
downhill course!  I had visions of deteriorating to 10 minute miles.  I'd
run long runs after a hard week better than this.  Just to make it
interesting, there were deep rumblings (from a less-comfortable compartment,
CP) that required urgent attention -- a first for me in dozens of marathons
and ultras.  So I stopped and took care of business which cost me a shade
over 2 minutes.

I merged back into the crowd (which had been running about 10 sec/mile
slower than I) and I struggled to stay with them.  I resisted tempting
thoughts about*** it up and jogging in to a 3:30.

I ticked off the miles, getting sorer and sorer.  This course was a meat
grinder.  I had envisioned pushing the aerobic pain envelope, not quad pain.
Finally, I hit 20 at 2:32 and got mad.  Mad at my legs, mad at my body for
letting me down, mad at the overweight guys who'd passed me.  I thought "I'm
going to treat this mile marker as if it were the start of a 10k."

I started breathing 3-step, cranked up the heartrate to 161 (89% max), and
put my head down.  I started moving through the crowd.  Every once in a
while, someone would challenge me, but no one stuck.  Now I felt better,
despite the pain in every downhill step.   At 22 miles, I knew that I could
do this all the way in.  I caught my brother, and we exchanged a quick
"Hey", but he didn't want to join me.  Finally I felt like I was racing, on
offense.  I reached out and slapped dozens of spectators' outstretched
palms.  Their touch energized me.

By 24 it was getting rough.  The wheels were still on, but there were loose
lug nuts and the differential was making funny noises.  It wasn't fun, but I
could make it.  One runner dashed ahead of me, then stopped, then raced
ahead again.  At one aid station he stepped in front of me and stopped dead!
Strangest thing I've seen in a long time, but I wasn't in a philosophical
mood.  Finally we made the last turn, and the course flattened out for the
last 3/4 mile.  It was *so* tough.  Now others were putting on their
finishing surge, and I struggled to hold on to my pace.  At the 26 mile mark
I kicked it in.  3:17.

So it was a long day at the office, and a dissapointing time, but I felt
good about my 6 mile dash at the end.  The legspeed ain't there anymore, but
the mind is still willing.  My goal is to get back into 80.5% wava shape, a
3:00 marathon at my age, but I'm stuck at 72%.  There are still a few things
I can do (speedwork, lose that 10 lbs, run a few more miles).  I was
surprised that my legs were so sore and dead at the half;  I expected the
going to get tough after 18, not 11.  Greg finished about 4 minutes back.

I chatted with three faster runners afterward, and they ran 10-15 minutes
slower than expected. The race has a lot of sneaky uphills in it, from 25'
to 400'.  The ups were no problem; the downs were the silent killers. Some
thrive here, but this ain't no gimme.  On our trip to the drug store that
afternoon, we saw three young skinny guys limping out.  "Advil?"  "You got
it!".

The weather was perfect:  about 40F at the start, and 60-ish at the finish,
clear and clean, with some cloud cover in the middle miles.  I doffed
gloves, ski cap and baggy T-shirt over the first 8 miles.  Fantastic views
the whole way, from the crescent moon overseeing the dawn to the sunny
finish.  Hundreds of personal inspirational signs taped to road posts.
Crowds gathered at all the crossings in the countryside, and the last few
miles were lined with cheering spectators.  The aid stations were spread out
and well manned with eager volunteers.  Very cool polished stone medals.
Lots of goodies at the end (but no beer -- hey, this is Utah!)

Lessons learned:

You can't take it with you (into the future).
Tapering is overrated.
Sometimes you have more in you than you think.

Hydration/nutrition:

Started with a full 24oz squeeze bottle on a lightweight belt.
Refilled it w/gatorbarf at miles 7, 13, 19, and drank on the run, ~8oz every
2 mi.
Took 1 succeed cap per bottle.
My gu fell to the floor of the porta-john at 13 and I left it there!

Do you reckon this was behind your mile 13 pitstop?

A number of "sports nutrition" products, drink (including g'rade) and
gel (especially Hammer and Cytomax), have some degree of
disruptive/laxative effect on me.  For now I'm sticking with CarbBoom
gel.

Sorry and surprised to hear it was such an unexpectedly tough day, Dan.

Oh, and they may not give you beer at the finish line, but it was in St
George that I became acquainted with Polygamy Porter.  :-)

nice job dan...and i'll take 72% in a Marathon any day (and kiss the
ground at the finish!)

you really feel that way about tapering?....how do you feel you should
have tapered...and did not?  though i briefly "blacked out" after my
1/2M yesterday (70F 50% humidity)...i only consumed 4 sips of gatorade
(2 stops of 2 sips).

apprx 8 oz every 2 miles seems like an awful lot of hydration. you
stopped off at a porta-john too?....wow....fortunately i've never had
to do that in a race....

Nah, 'cause I drink the foul swill at ultras for hours at a time.

Thanks, and my condolences to you on your HeadCold/Stitch-in-time Half.  I
predict you'll be fine at da Big One.  Resist the temptation to tackle Lance
in the finishing stretch :-)

Given the high percentage of blondes over there, I went for the Polygamy
Pilsner.  It was scary seeing so many white people in one place!

-- Dan

I guess there really is something to be said for specificity of training.
However, do you really want to train that much on asphalt? Where I run
it's probably more suited for St. George training - rolling hills on
asphalt. Unfortunately I'm training for a trail 50K. Would you like to
trade running routes for a few months? Nah, I didn't think so. ;-)

[...]

It works for me, but then again, I do a real taper. No 14-milers the
previous Saturday. But then again, it's all relative.

At any rate, a great finish. I know it's not whay you wanted, but a 72%
WAVA is something I would cherish. Congrats and thanks for the report.

--
Phil M.

I still think the Western States trail is one of the most beautiful
places that I have vomited. --Mary Gorski

You can run a pretty decent half while being somewhat dehydrated (as
you've proven). But pushing the 2, 3, and 3:30 mark in a state of
dehydration will slow you down.

Actually, for Dan this seems like he backed off on the fluids a bit.

--
Phil M.

Well, to put the 80% vs. 72% into age 40 terms, if you knew you had a 2:40
in you, a 2:59 wouldn't make you want to kiss the ground, even though many
would kill for a sub 3.  Nevertheless, I remain extremely grateful for my
health and the ability to run at all.

My taper was:
Sat:  14 brisk
Sun:  0
Mon: 6.5 easy, w/3 x 1:30 6:30 pace surges.
Tue:  6.5 easy
Wed: 5 easy w/1 mile at 6:45.
Thu: off
Fri: 20 min jog (105 pulse)
Sat: 26.2 Race

My taper was 34 miles for the last week, as opposed to 74 miles with more
intensity and a lot more hills.  I really have felt better on my Saturday
runs, strange though it may seem.  Nevertheless, I will continue to taper
for races.  I'm always tweaking the taper...

You might want to do some research on syncope.
http://SportToday.org/

I blacked out once stopping suddenly while running, and I now make sure I
never abruptly stop while running, especially in the finish chute.

One typical cause is *** pooling in the legs -- the muscles do a lot of
the work of pumping the *** back up to the heart, and if you suddenly stop
running while your arteries are wide open, your *** pressure can drop,
causing a blackout which resolves when you hit the dirt and the *** flow
normalizes.

There are many possible causes, though.

You and your ***-and-guts approach might get you in real trouble one day.
Have you done a weight test to see if you really only need 3oz when running
13 miles at race pace?  :-)  You don't need to replace it all, just try and
keep it within a couple of lbs to get your best performance.

Your hydration strategy is not advised for a marathon, in terms of health or
elapsed time...but we've scolded you before, to no avail.

That's 32 oz/hour, and I usually sweat close to 40/hour when racing in mild
conditions, so I was a bit light at the finish, but not enough to hurt my
time, I hope.  Back in the day I lost 8-10 lbs in a marathon, and I wonder
what I could have done if I was smarter about hydration/salt.

Me neither, in ~200 races, until last Saturday...Can I deduct the two
minutes?

Yeah, more roadwork would have helped a lot, but I just can't get motivated
to run on asphalt.  I'll pass on the trade, if you don't mind  :-).

Seems strange, but the 14er was no biggie, and had been preceeded by an
easier semi-taper couple of days.

I'm grateful that I'm still able to hit 72, but I know I've got some
untapped potential.

Thanks and your welcome...

How 'bout you keep your trails, you give me your dewpoint and I'll toss
in a couple of crazed red-neck pick-em-up drivers at no cost to you.

Yeah, I see that now in your post to Lance.

I know you do. But do you want to start pounding your body into the
asphalt to prove it?

--
Phil M.

ouch - on asphalt, no less. You're a glutton for punishment ;)

Way, to recover and stick it to the course ;)

How many people could put together a finish like that after your long
day? Congratulations on pulling it out -  maybe not what you wanted, but
still really good.

The hills between contour lines are always interesting - up or down.

Congratulations, Dan, and thanks for the report. Sounds like an
interesting day. Is this your last dance with asphalt or are you going
to try to get revenge on it?

Dot

--
"running is a mysterious journey that we take not just to beat other
people or to stay in reasonable physical shape - but to find out more
about ourselves" - Owen Anderson

I dunno.  If I can lose the weight and get my 10k under 39 I'll probably
give it another go.  Are there any flat trail (toepath?) marathons out
there?  Even though I've run many sub 3 marathons, it would be a treat to do
one over 50...Otherwise, I'll stick to my beloved trail ultras.

How's this:  "I lost 10 lbs in one day!  Ask me how!"

Towpath Marathon, near Cleveland OH

http://SportToday.org/
http://SportToday.org/

One marathonguide reviewer says:

   This is one of the most beautiful courses around. Run mostly
   through a National Park on a finely crushed limestone path,
   this a basically a trail race without the downside of roots,
   rocks and uneven footing. The trail follows an old c***system
   and parallels the Cuyahoga River. Flat and very scenic in the
   fall, this year's race was also wonderfully administered.

However, bad news for you Dan - another reviewer mentions that

   bathrooms were waaaaaay too few and far between from about
   mile 2 until about mile 9 or 10.

Sounds like a decent compromise: "flat and fast" but also reasonably
scenic and, hey hey, not pavement.

Besides what Charlie suggested, you might take a look at the San Pablo
Bay marathon (too late for this year) or Bizz Johnson (if you recover
really fast) or some others from redwoodtrails. I think I've heard good
things about this organization, but I can't remember the name of the
California one that has a reputation for expensive and maybe not well
operated.
http://www.redwoodtrails.com/final/calendar.html

Dot

--
"running is a mysterious journey that we take not just to beat other
people or to stay in reasonable physical shape - but to find out more
about ourselves" - Owen Anderson

Way to go, Dan! Great report, too.

I actually saw that (except IIRC it was 16 pounds) on the back of a
T-shirt, for the Badwater or Western States 100, I think.
--
Brian P. Baresch
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Good job in that last 10k Dan. You're getting in the habit of passing your
brother in the end of races! I guess no matter how you slice it roads are
meatgrinders unless you train on roads. Why are tapers overrated? Going to
try another one anytime soon?

-Tony