One week from tomorrow is THE race. I've checked both weather.com and Accuweather and they are pretty in sync with their forecasts. Looks like we have a chance of rain (40-50%) and roughly 45 degrees as the high. I can live with that, especially because the week looks relatively dry, which will be HUGE for the trail portion of the race. It is also nice that the trail segment is first and won't have all day to get soggy and muddy before we run on it. I will take it!
I guess I'm tapering. After tomorrow's run, weekly mileage will be at 28 miles (two weeks in a row of getting my spot near the top taken on Garmin Connect weekly mileage… UGH!). Next week, I'll do 2 or three very short easy runs to keep the legs loose and just stay generally active without overtiring my legs. There is a fine line between overdoing it and turning into a slug where I've had so much rest, things don't want to get moving on race day. That's not good. So I try to find the happy medium. Meanwhile, Sondra is resting and trying to keep her shin splints (developed late in training) in check. She's been really smart this week and I imagine will be next week too. I do keep telling her that training is done and there is no benefit to be had by pushing on that leg. At this point, all either of us can do is screw it up!
I am expecting a good race. I am not nervous, although usually race expos can change that. I don't think my goal is overly aggressive and think that strategy will have more to do with reaching it than anything else. Fifty miles is a long way to go and to reach the goal that I know I am physically capable of, I need to plan how to execute each portion of the race. Of course I will plan on wiggle room since I don't know at which point in the race I will encounter some rough patches (inevitable in a 50 miler. Not an "if", but a "when"). The last time I ran JFK is was around mile 34. I remember Jack telling me that the 30s are the toughest miles. You aren't quite close to being done, but you're now running much further than any of your training runs. You're body rebels a bit and you just have to plow through it. Having that insider knowledge was huge when I hit that point because the unknown can be scary and make me think I can't. That was when I discovered the beauty of electrolyte tablets in an ultra marathon. I got to the point where food was unappealing, Gatorade tasted bad and it was hard to eat so much. The E-tabs were great to get all I was losing replaced and ease up some of the odd leg cramping I was having.
Maria is my crew. John is staying home since Emma has to take the HSPT for high school. I wanted her to be in her own bed and have a good breakfast before she goes. I love my in-laws and all, but they are indeed, grandparents. If the girl requests straight sugar for breakfast, then straight sugar it is! And my girl would. So I'd like her to have brain food and something conducive to focus and concentration and not give her that inevitable crash midway through. She's top of my prayer list until noon while I run. I think that is when the test ends.
John will get to track the race through the really cool "Live Tracker" capability that Garmin has. I registered him by email and as soon as I start my Garmin when Live Tracker is initiated, he will get an email invitation to "View Kate Rewwer's live activity". I practiced it a couple of times and he was able to track some runs of mine. He said it updates about every minute so he will really get to see exactly how I'm doing and where I am on the course. It'll give him an average pace, which of course will vary dramatically from trail to road. The other nice thing is that he won't drive Maria crazy with texts questioning how it's going. The only issue will be if my battery dies before the race is over. Tracking will stop and he will have to wait it out. The last time I ran JFK, I got to mile 41 and the battery died. I don't know how long my battery life is, but if it is only 8 hours, it will die before I finish. My goal is a sub 10 hour race. Greg and Sarah have also been added and I won't add anyone unless they WANT to track it. I don't want to assume that people want to sit at their computers and watch a slow blue dot crawl all day long. Me? I kind of like that sort of thing. With a 50 miler, you can actually do a lot and then come back and be sure that the blue dot hasn't gotten very far and know you have not missed much :) So mom, let me know if you want to track me! Oh yes, and I won't be adding people I don't know, creepy, weird people, murderers, kidnappers, etc…
I've done the calculating, of course, and my average pace needs to be below 11:57 overall. Now that sounds way doable, right? Well of course you have to add in the trail portion, the aid station stops for fuel and shoe changes, bathroom stops (which are a few during 50 miles where you are eating and drinking a lot) and average all that in. I also have to consider those "rough patches" where I only may be able to walk for a bit until my legs come around. So run pace isn't that generous for the distance with all that factored in. Nevertheless, I'm feeling ready for it.
Finally, if you are the praying type, please offer up a prayer or two for my brother, Joe (the one doing Burning River next summer). He has been incapacitated this week due to a compressed disc. He was found on exam to have an old fracture in his back (WHOA!) and is currently flat on his back on Flexerall and Vicodin. From what I understand, he should really be back to normal soon. I don't know what it will do to his current base building for BR. He's been doing really well and been very consistent with his running and has been keeping me updated. He has some army buddies who have agreed to crew and pace for him, making this very real for him. His plan is to get some longer walks in when he is back on his feet and I know he has PLENTY of time still to be ready, even with this setback. BUT… prayers always make things better. That's a fact.
See you after the race!
Friday, November 14, 2014
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Indianapolis Monumental Marathon
I will not wear a watch in the next marathon I decide to race. I will also likely never run with a pace group.
Yesterday I ran the Monumental marathon as a "training run" (and a hopeful Boston qualifier) for JFK 50. I did not get my BQ time goal, but it was a great run. The weather, minus a few miles of a headwind, was really perfect for marathon running. I like cold weather running the best and this was the coldest it has been so far this fall. Greg also ran the full marathon and Suttan ran the half. It was nice to have company to hang out with prior to the start. The very gracious staff of the Indianapolis Westin hotel allowed runners to take over their lobby and use their bathrooms prior to the start. The starting line was right outside the hotel, so no freezing and shivering for 15-20 minutes in line at the start. It was great!
I decided a while ago not to wear my Garmin, but as I got dressed that morning, I decided I could not forgo the watch. I mean, how would I review my splits afterward? How would I obsess over good miles vs. bad? How would my friends in my GarminConnect group do the same over my run (HAHAHA… you all KNOW it's true!)? So I put it on. Literally 5 minutes before the start I felt the nerves as I powered up my satellite. And then I got this feeling that was overwhelming. I would not wear it. Period. I took it off, powered it off and zipped it into the back pocket of my running tights. Not quite sure where that overwhelming absolute sense of "PUT IT AWAY AND FORGET ABOUT IT" came from, but it was the best decision I have ever made in regard to racing a marathon. I would run this race based on how I was feeling and I would not let my splits begin to freak me out or mess with my head. This, after all, wasn't my race. I actually had to keep saying that out loud to remind myself of it. My plan was to start with the 3:50 pace group since on the website a few mornings earlier, there was no 3:45 pacer. I would start out a few seconds behind pace and then begin to take seconds off after mile 5 or 6. I have never done that before in a race. Usually race nerves and a poor sense of pacing have me starting out a bit faster than one should for a race that long. Greg and I lined up together. I guess tiny Suttan got lost in the crowd of giant people (compared to her :). I then spotted the guy holding the 3:50 sign and right behind him, someone holding 3:45!! Surely that was a sign from God that this would be the day. I was certain he fell from Heaven just a few minutes prior. Well maybe he did and then needed to be quickly reassigned when he was only halfway through the job, because our lovely 3:45 pacer DROPPED from the race just after mile 14!!!
Here is how it went down… I settled into a nice pace after mile 1 as I let the 3:45 pace group catch up. I had crossed the mat maybe 30 seconds before they did and figured I could pull ahead at mile 24 or so (HAAA!). As always, it was taking my body some time to warm up. In other words, I didn't feel my best, but I refused to let it rattle me. For every complaint that popped up, I pushed it away, knowing I would feel better once a few miles were behind me. I do the same thing on my Wednesday speed runs… start out thinking there is no way I will be able to hang at pace that day, but always do just fine. So all those reminders were really helping keep my head in check. Sure enough at around the 10k mark or even mile 7, I was feeling quite comfortable and at ease. The wind was at our backs at that point. I knew all the prayers that I had said and that my friends had and were saying (thank you, Sarah!) were absolutely making a difference. I was running along with the pace team, really feeling good and confident. This was the such a new and delightful marathon "racing" experience for me. The knowledge that it was a training run was huge. It kept me super relaxed. I had no fear or worry of disappointing anyone and really felt this run belonged just to me. I had no watch to look at a million times that would trip me up if I saw a number too fast or too slow. I just figured I'd let this guy do the work and I would tag along.
After we crossed the halfway mat, the pacer said he was going to take off his sweatshirt. Another girl running with the group and I continued on. I figured she was also pacing the group since she seemed to converse with the pacer for much of the first half and also stayed right beside him. I told her I'd stick to her like glue and she replied, "Well I'm relying on him!", and pointed behind us to the pacer. She then told me she was trying to qualify for Boston with a 3:45 and had really trained hard and had missed it by 5 minutes in her last marathon. I'm told her that I knew a thing or two about that and we began to talk about racing and all that fun stuff. The other factor not mentioned is that she also did not have on a Garmin… just a watch with time. We kept running, but she soon began to worry we were running too fast since the pacer seemed so far back. She did NOT want to get too far ahead at this point and wanted to pace very carefully. Smart girl. We even commented that we both felt awesome at the pace we were running… it seemed almost slow! But we knew we had to let the pacer catch up so we walked, yes, WALKED up a small incline. We soon discovered when we looked back that he was GONE. We knew he did not pass us and we knew he was not behind us. We also did not realize how far behind we were at that point. This was a very good thing for me. I had no clue I was nearly 10 seconds off overall pace at that point. I wasn't paying attention to the time clocks at all since that would require some mental math and figuring out stuff. Well no wonder I felt pretty good! I had slowed just enough to fool me into thinking I was more than ready to nail my time and that it might actually be easy.
I crossed the 30k mat pretty sure I was still on pace. It was not until after the race that John told me my split at the 30k was an 8:46. For me, however, it wouldn't have mattered if it were an 8:36 or an 8:46 at that point. At mile 21, the infamous wall jumped in front of me. It was the dramatic and immediate feeling that I was out of gas and out of fuel… glycogen depleted. This didn't rattle me either, though. Running this race at the pace I did was a bargain without the traditional 3 day carb load. I discovered that it matters a lot for me. Since running a mid 8 pace for that long truly is a race for me, I was using up my stores faster than I could replace them. I did one 26.2 mile training run at a slower pace several weeks ago and I never got depleted. Sore and achy, of course! But not glycogen depleted, therefore despite the annoying discomfort of running that far, I could hang on to my pace. This time, I couldn't. I definitely tried to run hard through the crash, but I couldn't run hard. I probably dropped a minute off my pace per mile from that point on. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't as horrible as it normally is for me because I was still very happy. I know this is part of marathoning. I know it isn't recommended to run back to back 20 milers two weeks out or do a 10 mile tempo run 1 week out. I also know a 3 day carb load is recommended and although I did rest a lot this past week, sleep was not a luxury. So I was so ok with it all and still gave it my physical all to the very end. Even without our fearless pacer dropping out, I would not have hit a 3:45.
I am not so sure about my friend though. When she discovered we were way off pace and when the 3:50 pacer passed us, she absolutely crumbled. Her mental state crashed and her body followed. I never saw her again after mile 21. I felt horrible for her. I knew exactly how she felt but I also knew nothing I said to her would matter at that moment. So I just shut up and ran on. But not before I told her marathons are a dime a dozen and she would get her time. Although she was angry at the pacer, I felt it best not to mention that the pacer is not responsible for a runner's racing success. You are bargaining that the pacer, who is human, WILL have a good day. Well the marathon is a fickle bitch, as my husband likes to say. No one is immune from a bad race day. Not even a pacer. So every racer has to have a back up plan to run his own race when a pacer has a bad day.
I crossed the mat in 3:54:45… 10 minutes off my goal time. Suttan was waiting at the finish for me after running an awesome half. Greg was on target to cross soon and came in at 4:04:04… an incredible PR for him. The cool thing is that he didn't train specifically for a marathon. He ran one 20 miler with me 2 weeks ago and much of his racing success yesterday has to do with his half ironman training, which he built an awesome aerobic engine by cycling mixed with running. He also expected nothing from himself, which helped tremendously.
Yesterday's race was a huge victory for me. I have never raced a marathon feeling that strong mentally, especially when I've fallen off pace. I did keep it a race and did plow hard through the final miles, though it wasn't enough. I think that is why I cannot fathom running my second back to back today. I am so sore and my right knee is bothering me. With my real race only 3 weeks away, I can only screw things up by too much at this point. It is a shame to miss the Mason half on such a gorgeous morning, but I know it is for the best. When my alarm went off and I tried to go down my steps and needed the banister this morning, I knew it wouldn't be wise to even attempt it. It has been a long time since that has happened after a long "training run". I need to recover a bit.
I'd like to thank all those who sent up prayers for a good race for me. On all saints day, there was certainly a whole host of heavenly saints keeping me mentally on target, no doubt in preparation for the next time I train for that goal. You know, the one I have said many times over I am not doing anymore? Yeah, that one. I ran the best I was able yesterday, no doubt about that. For that, I am really, REALLY grateful and happy for that awesome training run.
Yesterday I ran the Monumental marathon as a "training run" (and a hopeful Boston qualifier) for JFK 50. I did not get my BQ time goal, but it was a great run. The weather, minus a few miles of a headwind, was really perfect for marathon running. I like cold weather running the best and this was the coldest it has been so far this fall. Greg also ran the full marathon and Suttan ran the half. It was nice to have company to hang out with prior to the start. The very gracious staff of the Indianapolis Westin hotel allowed runners to take over their lobby and use their bathrooms prior to the start. The starting line was right outside the hotel, so no freezing and shivering for 15-20 minutes in line at the start. It was great!
I decided a while ago not to wear my Garmin, but as I got dressed that morning, I decided I could not forgo the watch. I mean, how would I review my splits afterward? How would I obsess over good miles vs. bad? How would my friends in my GarminConnect group do the same over my run (HAHAHA… you all KNOW it's true!)? So I put it on. Literally 5 minutes before the start I felt the nerves as I powered up my satellite. And then I got this feeling that was overwhelming. I would not wear it. Period. I took it off, powered it off and zipped it into the back pocket of my running tights. Not quite sure where that overwhelming absolute sense of "PUT IT AWAY AND FORGET ABOUT IT" came from, but it was the best decision I have ever made in regard to racing a marathon. I would run this race based on how I was feeling and I would not let my splits begin to freak me out or mess with my head. This, after all, wasn't my race. I actually had to keep saying that out loud to remind myself of it. My plan was to start with the 3:50 pace group since on the website a few mornings earlier, there was no 3:45 pacer. I would start out a few seconds behind pace and then begin to take seconds off after mile 5 or 6. I have never done that before in a race. Usually race nerves and a poor sense of pacing have me starting out a bit faster than one should for a race that long. Greg and I lined up together. I guess tiny Suttan got lost in the crowd of giant people (compared to her :). I then spotted the guy holding the 3:50 sign and right behind him, someone holding 3:45!! Surely that was a sign from God that this would be the day. I was certain he fell from Heaven just a few minutes prior. Well maybe he did and then needed to be quickly reassigned when he was only halfway through the job, because our lovely 3:45 pacer DROPPED from the race just after mile 14!!!
Here is how it went down… I settled into a nice pace after mile 1 as I let the 3:45 pace group catch up. I had crossed the mat maybe 30 seconds before they did and figured I could pull ahead at mile 24 or so (HAAA!). As always, it was taking my body some time to warm up. In other words, I didn't feel my best, but I refused to let it rattle me. For every complaint that popped up, I pushed it away, knowing I would feel better once a few miles were behind me. I do the same thing on my Wednesday speed runs… start out thinking there is no way I will be able to hang at pace that day, but always do just fine. So all those reminders were really helping keep my head in check. Sure enough at around the 10k mark or even mile 7, I was feeling quite comfortable and at ease. The wind was at our backs at that point. I knew all the prayers that I had said and that my friends had and were saying (thank you, Sarah!) were absolutely making a difference. I was running along with the pace team, really feeling good and confident. This was the such a new and delightful marathon "racing" experience for me. The knowledge that it was a training run was huge. It kept me super relaxed. I had no fear or worry of disappointing anyone and really felt this run belonged just to me. I had no watch to look at a million times that would trip me up if I saw a number too fast or too slow. I just figured I'd let this guy do the work and I would tag along.
After we crossed the halfway mat, the pacer said he was going to take off his sweatshirt. Another girl running with the group and I continued on. I figured she was also pacing the group since she seemed to converse with the pacer for much of the first half and also stayed right beside him. I told her I'd stick to her like glue and she replied, "Well I'm relying on him!", and pointed behind us to the pacer. She then told me she was trying to qualify for Boston with a 3:45 and had really trained hard and had missed it by 5 minutes in her last marathon. I'm told her that I knew a thing or two about that and we began to talk about racing and all that fun stuff. The other factor not mentioned is that she also did not have on a Garmin… just a watch with time. We kept running, but she soon began to worry we were running too fast since the pacer seemed so far back. She did NOT want to get too far ahead at this point and wanted to pace very carefully. Smart girl. We even commented that we both felt awesome at the pace we were running… it seemed almost slow! But we knew we had to let the pacer catch up so we walked, yes, WALKED up a small incline. We soon discovered when we looked back that he was GONE. We knew he did not pass us and we knew he was not behind us. We also did not realize how far behind we were at that point. This was a very good thing for me. I had no clue I was nearly 10 seconds off overall pace at that point. I wasn't paying attention to the time clocks at all since that would require some mental math and figuring out stuff. Well no wonder I felt pretty good! I had slowed just enough to fool me into thinking I was more than ready to nail my time and that it might actually be easy.
I crossed the 30k mat pretty sure I was still on pace. It was not until after the race that John told me my split at the 30k was an 8:46. For me, however, it wouldn't have mattered if it were an 8:36 or an 8:46 at that point. At mile 21, the infamous wall jumped in front of me. It was the dramatic and immediate feeling that I was out of gas and out of fuel… glycogen depleted. This didn't rattle me either, though. Running this race at the pace I did was a bargain without the traditional 3 day carb load. I discovered that it matters a lot for me. Since running a mid 8 pace for that long truly is a race for me, I was using up my stores faster than I could replace them. I did one 26.2 mile training run at a slower pace several weeks ago and I never got depleted. Sore and achy, of course! But not glycogen depleted, therefore despite the annoying discomfort of running that far, I could hang on to my pace. This time, I couldn't. I definitely tried to run hard through the crash, but I couldn't run hard. I probably dropped a minute off my pace per mile from that point on. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't as horrible as it normally is for me because I was still very happy. I know this is part of marathoning. I know it isn't recommended to run back to back 20 milers two weeks out or do a 10 mile tempo run 1 week out. I also know a 3 day carb load is recommended and although I did rest a lot this past week, sleep was not a luxury. So I was so ok with it all and still gave it my physical all to the very end. Even without our fearless pacer dropping out, I would not have hit a 3:45.
I am not so sure about my friend though. When she discovered we were way off pace and when the 3:50 pacer passed us, she absolutely crumbled. Her mental state crashed and her body followed. I never saw her again after mile 21. I felt horrible for her. I knew exactly how she felt but I also knew nothing I said to her would matter at that moment. So I just shut up and ran on. But not before I told her marathons are a dime a dozen and she would get her time. Although she was angry at the pacer, I felt it best not to mention that the pacer is not responsible for a runner's racing success. You are bargaining that the pacer, who is human, WILL have a good day. Well the marathon is a fickle bitch, as my husband likes to say. No one is immune from a bad race day. Not even a pacer. So every racer has to have a back up plan to run his own race when a pacer has a bad day.
I crossed the mat in 3:54:45… 10 minutes off my goal time. Suttan was waiting at the finish for me after running an awesome half. Greg was on target to cross soon and came in at 4:04:04… an incredible PR for him. The cool thing is that he didn't train specifically for a marathon. He ran one 20 miler with me 2 weeks ago and much of his racing success yesterday has to do with his half ironman training, which he built an awesome aerobic engine by cycling mixed with running. He also expected nothing from himself, which helped tremendously.
Yesterday's race was a huge victory for me. I have never raced a marathon feeling that strong mentally, especially when I've fallen off pace. I did keep it a race and did plow hard through the final miles, though it wasn't enough. I think that is why I cannot fathom running my second back to back today. I am so sore and my right knee is bothering me. With my real race only 3 weeks away, I can only screw things up by too much at this point. It is a shame to miss the Mason half on such a gorgeous morning, but I know it is for the best. When my alarm went off and I tried to go down my steps and needed the banister this morning, I knew it wouldn't be wise to even attempt it. It has been a long time since that has happened after a long "training run". I need to recover a bit.
I'd like to thank all those who sent up prayers for a good race for me. On all saints day, there was certainly a whole host of heavenly saints keeping me mentally on target, no doubt in preparation for the next time I train for that goal. You know, the one I have said many times over I am not doing anymore? Yeah, that one. I ran the best I was able yesterday, no doubt about that. For that, I am really, REALLY grateful and happy for that awesome training run.
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