Philadelphia Marathon

The race time prediction calculators were all wrong.  I went out way to fast, toasted my quads by mile 14.  I was at the half at 1:35:13.  Even pace would have put me at 3:10:26.  But I ran an 11 minute POSITIVE split, to end up at 3:21:31.  And it wasn't fun, hurting all the way out to Manayunk and back.  I couldn't decide if it hurt less to run slower or faster.  I was living for the next Gatoraid and just thinking the only way to get this done is to get it done...

I was definitely fooled by the rest, by the taper effect, for the first half of the run.  I was throwing the dice out there that all the bike riding - the bulk of my training in the last four weeks since I broke my toe - would somehow let me really stick to my 3:10 goal, which I had formed when everything was humming along swimmingly up until that fateful 8K XC race one month ago.

So checkout my crazy splits, especially my erratic 18-26, that I took on my Timex Ironman Triathlon watch:
Miles 1-11 @ 1:19:32 = 7:14
12 @ 7:15
13 & 14 @ 14:56 = 7:28
15 @ 7:28
16 @ 7:50
17 @ 7:51
18 @ 7:44
19 @ 8:10
20 @ 7:57
21 & 22 @ 16:05 = 8:03
23 @ 9:01
24 @ 8:33
25 @ 8:42
26.2 @ 10:24 = 8:40

So I can tell you unequivically, that you can not train for a marathon by riding a bike a lot and running a little.  I was so glad when that one was over.  I was only a minute and a half slower than my personal conservative prediction from way before the race.  See, I know a lot more than those stupid calculators.  It would have been much less painful if I just ran splits for a 3:20 from the start.  Going out too fast led to my most embarrassing moment: getting passed by the guy in the tutu. (Thanks Liane P. via her Facebook album for the photo, right and below)

Other Philadelpha Marathon snippits:

• Drove down to Philly on Saturday afternoon with Joel S., Steve R., Kyle S. and John D. after a morning of two soccer games for my daughter.  We saw NJ state troopers with shotguns trained on some vehicle they pulled over, with the entire northbound side closed.  Not a word about it in the Internet newspapers.  
• The expo was OK, the tech shirt is cool and the goody bag itself is mesh instead of plastic, and contained a nice pair of tech fabric gloves.  
• Fourteen of us RVRR and related people had a great family style dinner at some restaurant that seated us by walking us through the kitchen.
• It was indeed a beautiful day.  Compare this day to last year's 25 degree weather!  The sun was out and it was in the lower to mid 50's with a bit of a breeze.  Wore a singlet, shorts and gloves.
• Ran the first few miles with Bill Bosmann.  He was running in a jacket just to carry a cell phone, despite the beautiful weather.  He joked that it was no big deal, because he "was running so slowly anyway."  I couldn't keep up with him - at 59, he won the 55-59 age group at 2:54:30!
• It was so great to have the support of other RVRR friends.  A group was in downtown Philly, another group was just after the Philly Zoo, others were along the Manayunk out & back, and at the finish.  Seeing them, high-fiving and the hugs were the best part of the event.
• It was cool to see John D. when he was on his way out to the Manayunk turn around while I was on the way back, and for him to say, "I'm coming to get you!"  And he did.  He ran a great race, finishing in 3:15:05, negative splitting by 5 minutes.  That is how to run a marathon!
  
• Afterwards, we spent some time drinking some beer and eating, when we could find some service, at a Philly Irish pub, Tir Na Nog, that was not ready for the crowd.

Philadelphia Marathon Prediction Calculators

My plan for the Philly Marathon this Sunday is to run conservatively, especially in light of breaking my toe a scant month ago.  I had wanted to run around 3:10 before the stupid move of breaking my piggy.  I felt I was on target to do it.  My training was going well.  So I tempered my ambition to run something more like a 3:20 this Sunday.  I feel that is pretty within my reach even though I lack long runs, and running mileage in general.  I filled the void with good cycling mileage.  I am aerobically an animal ready for big things, but lack the training specificity.

Enter the Race Prediction Calculator.  There are a ton of them on this here interwebs.  Based on the 5K I ran last weekend @ 19:20, most of them predict I can run 3:10 or better.  Nothing like getting my hopes up and messing up my mental plan.
Running Times predicts a 3:09:09 @ 7:12 pace
McMillan Running predicts a 3:08:29 also @ 7:12 pace  (what?)
Marathon Guide predicts a 3:08:03
Running for Fitness predicts a 3:05:13  !!
This little applet predicts a 3:04:49  !!!

Wow - should I abridge my plans?  Whom should I listen to?  Perhaps my own body in the first few miles...  Feel good: attempt 7:12.  Feel not so good: attempt 7:37's for a 3:20 as planned.  We shall see.

Found While Looking for Past Boston Marathon Times: My Marathoning History

I am on this slow psych-up for Boston this week.  I figured I would look in my old "Race Results" file and see if I could find some record of my previous two Boston Marathon times.  I ran it a long time ago.  I would say the last time I ran it was at least 20 years ago.  No kidding.  I did not find any certificates for Boston - I have not given up because I have a shelf in a closet full of old running logs from when we had to write it down in a notebook - BUT I did find four interesting certificates from 1975-1978.  The Jersey Shore Marathon was my first road race.  Yes, after cross country there was no indoor track at my high school.  A bunch of guys decided to train for this marathon thing.  Why?  It was the year after Frank Shorter won the Olympic marathon.  Bill Rodgers was on a roll.  Marathoning was what distance runners did when they got serious.  We didn't even know that there were other, shorter races on the road.  We were pretty dumb about road racing, and about running marathons.  But we just did it.  Is that crazy or what?

I ran my first marathon when I was 15 years old, January 19, 1975.  I was a sophomore in high school.  My son is 15 now - a freshman running track.  I showed him my certificate and told him I ran my first marathon when I was 15.  I asked if he wanted to try it.  Not yet, he said.  I hope my running history does not put undue pressure on expectations of his performance.  It probably does, but I really try not to push it on him too much.  Just setting an example and showing interest in his efforts, whatever the result is, should be enough.  Too much will push him out of it, probably.

Here is a scan of the 1977 certificate.  I ran a 4:24:18 in my first marathon.  If I remember correctly, I didn't train too much for it.  I think probably only a few weeks of running, maxing out at only about 12 miles.

The following year, with another track and XC season behind me, I ran it again.  If I remember the race correctly, it was freezing cold and snowing.  I remember an icicle formed on the face-mask/hat thing I wore.  I touched my chin at the half-marathon turn-around and thought my chin was literally frozen, but it was just the icicle formed by my exhales.  At 16 years old I ran 3:35:30.

In my third marathon - my third road race, at 17 years old, a senior in high school - I broke three hours, running the Jersey Shore Marathon in 2:53:21.  In retrospect, I feel like I was a fairly good distance runner at a fairly young age.  I didn't really appreciate that until now, at 49, when it was a painful struggle to to run 3:18 last November in Philly.  Also, this makes me kind of psyched, to recall all this marathoning history that I honestly forgot about, as I am heading into Boston on Monday for its 113th running.  It will be my 19th marathon, if I have my count correct.

In 1978 I was a freshman at Rutgers.  I was a lowly walk-on to the Rutgers XC and track teams.  I ran the Penn Relay Marathon in 2:41 and change.  I was the third college runner, and I have a bronze Penn Relays medal to show for it.  This was a time that I was doing hundred mile training weeks leading up to marathons. 

I think I was lucky.  My desire to run marathons at a young age was fueled by Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and the culture of distance running that I became acquainted with.  It was, and still is, my source of friendship and feelings of self-esteem and accomplishment.  I am hoping that Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher become roll models for the young high school aged runners and spur them on to a great running life.

Watchung Winter Ultra Does Me In

The Watchung Winter Ultra "fat ass" trail race had two options: run 50K or a marathon.  I chose the marathon.

I run at Watchung about a dozen times per year.  I used to ride my mountain bike there, for winter training, back when I was a serious triathlete in the late 1980's- early 1990's - before the park banned them.

This was to be a fun day - I wanted a good long run as an easy race on a trail I was very familiar with.  I had no qualms about cutting it short if I felt over-stressed, since my recent running mileage has been relatively very low.  Plus there was the forecast for snow at a high of 25 degrees F.

I felt cold before the race in the morning.  About 50 people showed up, including my friends Paul, IronPete and Dixon.  They were all slated to run the 50K; Paul and Pete have done many, but it was Dixon's first. The race director did a great job setting up this event and even marked some of the course himself that morning before running a couple laps of the course himself.  I ran a lot of the first loop near enough to talk with him.  I ran almost the entire loop with David, a Chi Running enthusiast who I had emailed with before but never met in person - and running with him turned out to just be a chance meeting.  I was amazed that he survived about three falls from trips and slipping on ice on the first loop or so.  The last fall he had on ice hurt his knee enough for him to cut the second loop short.  Little was I to know what I was headed for.

The marathon was two and a half loops of the Sierra Trail at the reservation.  (See my account of running there last weekend for comments on that.) It was a beautiful day to be running - not many people on the trails, it warmed up a little within 30 minutes of starting, and snow was flurrying just enough to add to the ambiance.

I had two great loops and was leading the marathon runners - loop splits were 1:44 & 1:47- and I was feeling GREAT.  Really great.  I was gonna chop off that half lap in 60 minutes.  But about a half mile from the start/finish I tripped and fell and broke my rib.

I have fallen dozens of times running trails, but this time I fell really hard and I think a protruding root or rock just hit my side in a bad way.  The break is kinda under my left arm.  The fall did hurt a lot and the wind got knocked out of me.  I tried walking to keep going but noticed it felt really weird in there, like something was rattling around, and I noticed I couldn't breathe deeply without pain.  So I think I smartly decided to bag it and walked back.

I checked in as DNF and drove myself to MediMerge...  The Vicoden I just picked up is defiintely working better than the advil.... 

At the doc, my temperature was 94.3.  The nurse said it was the lowest she ever recorded.  It was kinda funny because she asked a couple of times why I would want to run that far.  Doc said, "curtail your activities" for a few weeks.  I told him I was going skiing next weekend.  He said he wouldn't do that...  hope I can.

One of the reasons I think I felt great was fueling. I used my skiing Camelback plus a Powerbar Gel ("2X Caffine") about every 30 minutes. That stuff works pretty good for me. I don't like eating random food handed out at races. I used the Powerbar Gels at Philly too, every 45 minutes. After today I think my next marathon - Boston - I will do one every 30. Gotta start shooting that stuff early. They are sort of a pain to carry - pockets of circa 1980 Moss Brown jacket today were fine, but gotta work that out for Boston. 

Hey, just looked, you can still get those jackets ... think I might get a new one.

Thanks to Paul for the pics and vid from the race below, and to Associated Radiology in Warren for the x-rays.

 
IronPete, Paul, Me

 
Paul, Me, Dixon (nice face)

Start bottleneck at bridge.  Me in yellow jacket & Camelbak

 
A few minutes past the start/finish area, 50K route

Race Director Rick explaining too much before the start & me looking too happy

 
One of my x-rays.  Difficult to scan and see the break.

Post-Philly Thoughts

Analyzing my splits, I could have possibly gained a few minutes during the final three miles, when I was crashing, by running a little slower during the first half of the race.  I am thinking of running The Boston Marathon in April.  Perhaps more long runs, and a few more than two hours, might erase the rapid decline in pace over the last three miles of the race.

Reacting to some other people's comments, I now realize the effect of the wind chill factor.  I remember talking to people before the race, after walking almost 2 miles from my parked car, and feeling that my face was cold enough to cause my speech to be slurred.  That should have given me a clue that my core temperature was below normal, especially for starting a race.  I changed into shorts just before the start of the race.  It felt warmer than the wind chill dictated at that time because I was in the shelter of the bag check area, protected from the wind by dozens of school buses formed up into sort of a corral, and surrounded by hundreds of other runners.  The result was an inability to warm up.  The top of my left hamstring had an unnatural tightness for a few miles.  My quads were sore from about mile 8 to the end of the race.  I didn't remove my had or gloves ever, even though I usually do that to moderate my body temperature at some points during most training runs that require hats and gloves.  It was cold enough to make my Powerbar gels feel almost chewy and make the water and Gatorade go down with ice-cream-headache swallows.

I told a lot of people I was going to run the first half of this race conservatively.  I just wanted to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time.  For me, that is 3:30 = 8 min/mile.  I found myself in the first corral, got sucked into a 7:10 pace, perhaps - partially, at least - in an effort to get warm.  And once you are in a pace, it is hard to step back and get out of it when you are surrounded by an endless crowd of fellow runners.  The taper always makes the first half of a marathon feel much too easy.  Although this was my 17th marathon, the third in three years after a big marathon-break of perhaps 12 years, I still was a little foolish.

But I shouldn't judge myself so harshly, since marathoning itself is both an immensely self-important and an immensely foolish activity.  Yet, for so many people, the foolhardy few hours we are out there running a marathon marks a pinnacle in time.   The marathon defines and justifies everything we have done in our daily lives to lead up to it, and sets up our plans for everything we do to recover and improve after the event.  These effects go beyond simply training for our next race - it leads us to living a more transcendent, productive, meaningful life.

Philadelphia Marathon

Ran the Philadelphia Marathon today.  At 7 AM start, it was 25 degrees F.  I decided to wear shorts.  On top, I wore a wicking long-sleeve, a Mizuno wind vest, a fleece hat & polypro gloves.  I didn't feel warmed up until about an hour into the race.  My legs remained fairly cold until after the mile 20 turnaround, that put our faces into the rising sun, plus it was a couple hours later.  This was the first marathon - or any race that I can remember - where the volunteers had to warn people as they approacehed water stations about the ice on the ground from the spilled water and Gatoraid.

I took 2-mile splits:

2 @ 14:19 = 7:10/mi

4 @ 29:51 (15:32) (4th mile was marked long)

6 @ 42:55 (13:04) (5th mile was short) = 7:24/mi

10 @ 1:12:57 (30:01) = 7:30/mi

12 @ 1:27:29 (14:32) = 7:16/mi

14 @ 1:42:20 (14:51) = 7:25/mi

16 @ 1:57:51 (15:30) = 7:45/mi

18 @ 2:13:25 (15:33) = 7:46/mi

20 @ 2:28:42 (15:17) = 7:38/mi

22 @ 2:44:12 (15:30) = 7:45/mi

24 @ 3:00:12 (15:59) = 8:oo/mi

25 @ 3:08:16 = 8:03/mi

26 @ 3:16:37 = 8:21/mi

Marathon time 3:18:22 = avg. 7:34/mi

Active.com results screen capture

I Ran to Work & Philly Marathon Thoughts

I had been thinking about running to work for a long time.  I have been able to ride my bike to work since school started on September 2nd.  I have driven my car only seven times since then.  I decided to do this run to work because my last few runs have felt really great.  I feel in better cardio shape than I have in about a year and a half.  My legs are feeling unbelievably strong, as evidenced by my riding my Dawes SST single speed.  It is really great to feel the fitness from the two activities of running and cycling coming together - I remember that feeling from back when I was a fairly serious triathlete, about 1985-95.

I felt a bit of pressure to get to work fast, since I left only about 10 minutes earlier than when I ride my bike.  I figured it would take me about an hour to cover the 7 miles, thinking I might take some walk breaks.  I have done this run before, to work and back, on a weekend leading up to some long race last year, for a regular nonstop long run, so I had some experience with the timing.  I didn't take any walk breaks today.  It only took me 53:49 = 7:42/mile.  Pretty good, considering my backpack, though packed light, was annoying me.

It was a cool but sunny run.  Tech long sleeve, last year's NYC Marathon shirt, polypro gloves and tight sweatpants did it just fine.  Ms. Click beeped at me and Mr. Dobson yelled "Go Mr. G!" from the window of his car when he passed me.  I gave him a double fist pump, even though I didn't know it was him until I saw him inside later on.  A couple of other teachers saw me and asked how my ride was.  I told them I ran in today.  Of course they said I am crazy.  Maybe I am, in a good crazy way.  I didn't tell my family I was running in today, because I didn't want them to think I was getting nuttier about this commute-as-workout thing.  But if I do qualify for Boston, I will be doing it more often December-March.  That might be the best way to deal with inclement weather this winter - on days when biking would be dangerous or really too cold.  Plus, it will be a great offset to all the days of running I miss due to skiing.

One of the main reasons I ran to work today is because I  needed to get in a long day today, since it is getting close to the Philly Marathon, and I certainly don't have enough long runs behind me.  I figured two seven mile runs in one day will be a good long day.  It isn't exactly a 20 miler, but it is something.  I have no 20 milers at all leading up to this marathon.  The last time I ran anything close to that was 30K for the Escarpment Trail Run in the end of July, during the days of the broken toe.  I have a bunch of long-ish days, but usually spread over two workouts.  I feel fitter than I have for the last two years going into the NYC marathon, because of cross-training on the bike.  Hopfully a taper next week will be enough to run at least a Boston qualifier.  In 1983 I ran 2:41 at the Philly Marathon.  I am fairly sure the course was different than it is today.  So 25 years later I am hoping to run a 3:30 or better.  That averages to exactly 8 minutes per mile.  Using the MacMillan race predictor calculator with my 1:32 Newport-Liberty Waterfront Half-Marathon time, it predicts a 3:14.  That is a good sign.  I am in a lot better shape today than I was for that race.  Using my most recent race, 32:29 at the USATF-NJ 8K XC, it predicts 3:12!  That was XC & barefoot - but don't get too excited, because it was a shorter race.  Predictions must be more accurate when the predictor-race distance approaches the actual race distance.

iDon't run with iPod

Article in the New York Times today says,

USA Track & Field, the national governing body for running, this year banned the use of headphones and portable audio players like iPods at its official races. The new rule was created to ensure safety and to prevent runners from having a competitive edge....

Elite runners do not listen to music in races because they need to concentrate on their own bodies and hear their competitors, and some die-hard, old-school runners follow suit. Those runners — purists who prefer the sound of the crowd or their own breathing over, say, “Fergalicious” — cheered the headphone ban.

But for competitors who use music as a motivational tool while training and competing, the ban was frustrating, as if the race directors were forcing them to run barefoot.

Though I would not be against race directors forcing runners to run barefoot, I do choose not to wear headphones. I am not elite, so I guess I am a "die-hard old school" runner. Headphones and other electronics annoy me - I wind up playing too much with the music and the device, so I loose focus on the run. I prefer to focus on the run or on my own thoughts and perceptions.

The USATF has a history of making rules and supporting events that favor elite runners. This rule is part of USATF's tendency towards discouraging participation for more recreational runners. Unfortunately, monopolies can do that and still thrive. Fortunately, people who want to run wired can easily ignore the rule. Just pay your yearly USATF membership fee so you can play in the streets with the elites and everybody is happy. :)

Chicago Marathon

I am stupid. I would not have stopped. After spending all that time in training and travel, and after spending the amount of money it costs these days to do a marathon, and after having the background I do as a runner, I would have been pissed off if I was forced to stop running the race.

But perhaps I think different. The people who had to stop were the (slap me if I am being politically incorrect) slower runners. I do not disrespect them. I understand that their race is as difficult and as important to them as the faster runners. I am even joining the ranks of the slower runners at this point in my life. The slower runners are still fitter and more courageous than 99.9% of the rest of the population of this planet.

And it is hard to imagine the real scene there. There is a great slideshow at the Chicago Tribune web site (thanks to them for the screen cap) that can make some impact for those of us that were not there.