Some days just don't go your way

Sometimes you can do a lot of things right and still not get the outcome you want. And with the marathon you just can't be sure what will happen on race day. 

I did a lot of things better than last time. I ran longer long runs during training. I had better gear. I made sure to adequately carbo-load. I rested and hydrated yesterday. I spent more time running in training. I got good sleep and didn't stress or worry about the race. 

We got up this morning as planned, had my usual pre-race English muffin, got dressed, and caught a courtesy shuttle to the start line with my brother-in-law, who ran the marathon for the first time today. It was actually pretty cold this morning, which I thought would make for perfect race weather.  I used the restroom before we left the hotel, but by the time we got through security I had to go again, so I got in the very long line. I had a nice conversation with some other runners waiting for the port-o-pottys. Half an hour later I rejoined my BIL in the last start corral and we worked our way up to the front. 

Right away I noticed that there were a lot fewer people between us and the very end of the corral than there had been two years ago when start corrals weren't assigned and I got to pick my spot on race day. So right from the start things just didn't feel the same. Our wave started at 8am, and we actually crossed the start line at 8:24. It was still really cold at that point, which made deep breathing more difficult, especially at first. 

Being so very close to the back of the pack made the race just feel different. There were fewer spectators for us, even at the beginning of the course, and there wasn't that feeling of getting caught up in the pack of runners. I was very much on pace for the first few miles. Kourt and my sister and my BIL's girlfriend were there to cheer us on right around the 1-mile mark. But by mile 3 I was already being tailed closely by the pace car. 

I was still on pace at mile 5, but had to use the restroom again and desperately needed to deal with my runny nose and knew if I stopped, the pace car would pass me. Still, I'd have to stop at some point on the course and the port-o-potties at mile 5 didn't have a line of people so I stopped. When I got back on course the pace car was a couple of blocks ahead. I managed to catch up and pass it, but over the next few miles my pace started slipping. I don't know if it was the cold temperatures or if having the pace car on my heels was just too stressful, but I felt like I was pushing as hard as I could but still couldn't keep myself moving fast enough. 

By mile 8 I was off pace by about 30 seconds per mile, and the pace car had passed me. I kept trying to catch up, but doing so took more effort than I knew I could maintain for another 16 miles. Soon the police car behind the pace car had passed me, then another, then trucks carrying orange cones. The aid stations were still handing out water and Gatorade, but they were breaking down tables and bagging trash when I passed. Every time an official vehicle passed me I got more frustrated. I watched my pace slow and by the time I got to mile 11 I knew I wouldn't be able to make up for the lost time, especially if they were going to continue breaking down aid stations. When I got to where our group was waiting just before mile 12, I'd decided to stop. Kourt walked with me until almost halfway, and I called it a day. 

I don't know exactly why I couldn't do today what I'd done in training. Maybe it was the temperature, maybe I did something wrong in training, maybe things would have been different if I'd been in a different start corral. Or maybe today just wasn't a good day for me. 

I'm a little bummed, but it is what it is. It's certainly not the end of my running career. My next goal is to conquer the half marathon. I hope to do a couple of half marathons in 2014 with the goals of a) running the whole race instead of using a walk/run strategy and b) running it in 2:45 or less. And in a couple of years I'll try the full again to redeem myself. 

Shaking things up

It seems that this must be the point in the training routine where I'm prone to start worrying about my speed.  I did it last time, and I'm doing it again. I can't help it, apparently. I'm not a fast runner yet, and I don't have enough marathons under my belt to judge how much better I am (or worse) than last time. 

On the positive side, there are some things I'm doing better this time around. 

First, I'm simply running more. I'm putting in more running mileage and less walking mileage. 

I've also done a much better job this year of running no matter the weather. My very first long run fell on a weekend where I had to work the morning shift and then we had guests over that night, so the only available time I had to run was at 2:30 on a 90 degree afternoon. But I did it anyway, it was miserable, and it has gotten much easier to run in the heat since then. I've even found out that I rather enjoy running in the rain. Granted, having "Seventh Level of Hell" weather followed by "Start Building an Ark" weather has apparently caused a weather pattern called "Unleash the Swarms" which is decidedly unpleasant to run in. Sunday I was briefly attacked by biting flies, and Monday I was swarmed by what looked like flying ants as soon as I stepped out the door. And neither of those things should even exist.  But even the bugs buzzing in my ears and biting me through my skapris hasn't kept me off the road. 

Also, I haven't struggled as bad with my long runs this time. Last year I never made it past 16 miles, and that wasn't on the run that was intended to be 16 miles, it was supposed to be 18, and what was supposed to be 16 got cut short at 12 or someing. So far I've only had two problem long runs this year. After a really good (despite the sunburn) 14-miler, I headed out the next weekend for what I hoped would be a nice, cool, rainy 10-miler. Then a nasty thunderstorm rolled in, and despite my desire to keep going I finally gave in to common sense and cut the run short.  Given how well I felt doing 14 miles, I expected the following week's 16-miler to go pretty smoothly. Much to my disappointment, I started breaking down on mile 12. I went from feeling a little less energetic than normal to feeling like I was dragging an elephant. It took all I had not to stop after 14, but after 15 miles I quit. My muscles were on fire and I was almost in tears, partly from pain and partly from frustration. My first thought was that this was the consequence of not completing the 10-mile run, but after some clear-headed analysis I realized I had simply hit the wall. Like a semi. And that the real difference between my 14-miler and 16-miler was that the day before 14 I had eaten what I thought was way too much. We'd had a housewarming, and I'd spent all day eating carb-heavy foods like pasta salad and veggies and chips and even s'mores. The day before the 16-miler I'd simply not eaten enough. I didn't start the run on a full tank, and I paid for it in the end. 

So I'm now also paying more attention to my running diet and making sure I don't go into my long runs already too glycogen depleted to finish them. 

On the down side this year, though, I'm about 30 pounds heavier than on race day 2011, which I know impacts my speed. And although I think I'm losing a little weight with training and definitely toning up a lot, I know I can't drop much in the next 7 weeks. 

And despite my far more consistent training, I don't seem to be getting faster. 

So I'm starting to feel like my regimen has become a little stale. My thought going in was that I'm still enough of a novice marathoner that just completing the required miles would be sufficient to make positive progress. But I don't feel like there's a whole lot of progress going on. The big question is not if I can make it through the marathon distance, but how much faster I can do it than last time, and I'm worrying that if I don't start pushing myself a lot harder, I'm in for another race where I barely make it in ahead of the sweep vehicles. 

So with 7 weeks until race day, I'm shaking up my routine. I've always held the day after my long runs as sacred rest days, but in an effort to teach my body to run more efficiently, I'm throwing that idea out and putting in recovery runs instead with a rest day after that. I did 3 recovery miles on Monday after my push-a-little-closer-to-race-pace 12 mile run on Sunday, and felt it was both challenging and beneficial. I was definitely sore Monday and even the easy pace run felt like an effort on tired legs. But the next day I wasn't sore anymore, and I guess time will tell if this will help my ability to run past the point of fatigue. 

My other new killer workout is hill sprints. I'm hoping they'll produce a noticeable difference in both speed and cardio fitness. I did them the first time last Friday for a total (sprints and downhill recoveries combined) of 1 mile, and came away feeling like my ass had certainly been kicked. Far harder than my short workouts usually feel.  So this Wednesday I did a total of 5 miles, alternating a regular mile runs with mile sets of hill sprints. Then I went ahead and did Zumba on Thursday (and felt every second of it) to make sure I really pushed into fatigue-land. 

I've got an 18 mile long run tomorrow, and I think next week I'm going to try a Yasso 800s workout to maybe see just how far off track (or on) I am.  And hopefully at some point I'll find some extra speed and stop worrying. 

An update while I'm recovering from my own stupidity

So, it's been a while since my last update, but training is in full swing. I just finished week 7 of 18, so I'm just past 1/3 of the way through. Pre-pre-training didn't go exactly as planned and pre-training was even less consistent, but training has been mostly going well. We finished the process of buying our first house and moving all our things (thus the lack of training) just before my training plan started, and we have moved into a neighborhood that is great for running in. I found a route that is almost exactly a mile long and passes our house twice, so tracking distance is easy and I don't ever have to worry about not being able to find a bathroom or running out of water or whatever. And, most importantly, I don't feel creeped out running in this neighborhood. So it's far easier to find the motivation to get out and run when I can do it right outside my front door.

So that has all been going well. I got an awesome pair of Asics Gel-Noosas to run in this time around, I've discovered the joy of running skirts with pockets, and I'm already a far better runner than I was on race day two years ago. Also, I've started taking a Zumba class as part of my cross-training, which is both super fun and great for maintaining flexibility. 

However, I apparently didn't learn all the lessons from my mistakes last training cycle well enough. 

Sunday I had a 14-mile long run. Usually I try to get out running by around 8am. Ok, usually it's closer to 9. But this past weekend we had a big housewarming thing on Saturday, and I stayed up into the wee hours of Saturday morning finishing up a decorative paint job in the dining room, so I was in need of some real sleep Saturday night. I didn't strap on my running shoes and hit the road until past noon. 

Now, I'm usually really diligent about sunscreen. But Sunday was cool and overcast and even drizzly at times, and like an idiot I headed out without any on, thinking (though I absolutely know better) that since I was running close to home I could just stop and put some on if the sun came out or I started to feel like I needed it. 

The run went great. I even had the energy at the end to speed my pace up on the last two miles. I came home, showered, had guests over for our usual True Blood watching party, and felt fine (other than the expected muscle stiffness and being a tiny bit thirstier than usual after a run).  I didn't notice anything really wrong until we were getting ready for bed and Kourt pointed out that I had some serious lines where my tank top had been, which with my fair skin never means a tan. 

Sure enough, I was deep fried crispy. 

It was painful yesterday, and I felt seriously run down. But I don't usually run on Mondays anyway, so no biggie.  But today my shoulders were still red and warm and tender, and I was so tired this afternoon that when I got home from work I pulled into the garage, shut the garage door, rolled down my car window, took off my seatbelt, and then apparently fell asleep right there in the driver's seat for at least a half hour. So no run today, either.  I'm hoping I'll feel well enough tomorrow to run. I've been making such good progress and I feel like a lazy bum not running. But I know it's not a good idea until it's had some time to heal. 

And hopefully this will be the last time I ever leave the house for a long run without sunscreen, no matter what the weather. I really should know better by now.