Elizabeth's Running Blog

To train for my 3:51 marathon:
- Seven weeks of consistent training
- Average 40 miles per week
- Peak mileage was 48
 

To train for yesterday's marathon:
- Six months of consistent training
- Average 50 miles per week
- Peak mileage was 56
 

I ran the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N Roll marathon last weekend. I awoke at 2:00am the morning of the race. That's 4:00am EST, when my body always wakes up naturally. I could not get back to sleep, so I just played around on the internet and watched TV until it was time to get dressed.

I started to realize how thankful I was that I wouldbe running this race with a perfect training regime behind me, without any injuries, and without having gotten sick in the past few months. I had been plagued by injuries and illness a lot during 2008, and finallyI felt awesome, and ready for my BQ. I got dressed in my running skirt,sports bra, visor and sunglasses. I headed out the door and walked to the area where the shuttle would take me to the race start.

I got on the shuttle bus and arrived at the race nearly two hours before itstarted. Better to be safe than sorry! It was dark and in the lower 50's. My feet went numb because I wasn't wearing my "warmer" socks. The weather prediction was for a much hotter race than I had originally anticipated so I wore my lightest pair of socks.
 

Miles 1-5
I lined up in the start corral and one of my friends from the Runner's World forums found me. We had eaten dinner together the night before along with Yulyia. We chatted for a bit and then the race started. We didn't plan onrunning together, so I let her pull ahead while I stayed back. The 3:40 pace group was in the corral behind mine, so I let them pass me in the first mile.
 

I've always walked through the water stations because I am a believer in Galloway's theory that just a 10-second walk isenough to help preserve your legs. On the plane, I sat next to a woman who consistently ran about 3:20, and she told me she did the water station walk breaks always. 
 

My goal was to go out at a pace of 8:30 and then speed up to goal pace (8:24) by about mile 4. I missedthe first mile marker, so I had no idea what pace I was at. During the third mile, the 3:45 pace group passed me. I knew that there was no waythey were going at a 3:45 pace. They had to have been going much faster. This is the reason I don't run with pace groups. But it annoyed me that they were now in front of me and I felt like I was  on targetfor a 3:42 at that point. 

I passed the mile 4 marker, and my split was a 7:48. I was sort of pissed because I only sped up due tothe fact that the 3:45 group passed me so quickly. And even after the 7:48 mile, I was still behind them. I knew that a 7:48 was way toofast, so I slowed down substantially. (I later realized that the mile was misplaced, so I was actually right on target with my pacing).

I didn't really feel goodduring these first miles. My stomach felt kind of heavy (I drank a tonof water) and I  felt BLAH. But I reminded myself that I typically don't feel "right" about a run until mile 5 or 6. 

Miles 6-10
Thesewere probably the best miles of the race. I averaged about 8:25 duringthis time and felt relatively strong, despite the stomach tightness I was having.

At about mile 7, I passed the 3:45 pace group and I told myself I would not let them get ahead of me again.

I debated how much water I should drink. It was starting to heat up and the sun was beating down on me. And yet my stomach cramp seemed to begetting worse and worse, and I was beginning to have some upper backpain.
 

Miles 11-15
Thisis really where the race fell apart for me. I wanted to cross thehalfway point at 1:50 or 1:51 because I knew that a lot of people were tracking me and I wanted to give the impression that I was right on target. But as soon as I crossed over the halfway point (1:51:5x), I dramatically slowed down.  Little did I know that my stupid D-Tag wasn't even registering my splits. So it didn't even matter.
 

Igot to the mile 14 marker and I hunched over in pain from my stomach cramp. My back was also really hurting. Additionally, I had major foot pain. I had felt this same foot pain before in a hot half marathon, so I wasn't terribly worried. I think it was from my foot swelling so much in the heat and then pushing against the top of my shoe. But it only hurt when I ran on it, so it almost felt like a stress fracture. I just reminded myself that I had felt this before and it turned out to justbe pain from the shoe.
 

The 3:45 pace group paced me at aboutmile 14, and I realized that there would be no way I could BQ. The bestI could hope for would be a PR.
 

Miles 16-20
I'venever hit "a wall" during a marathon, but starting at mile 16, the whole race felt like one big brick wall. And I knew it wasn't my fault.I know I had trained better than I had for any other marathon. And I didn't go out too fast with the exception of the one mile that was 7:48. I was even giving myself walk breaks. 

The foot painstarted to get really bad. I sat down on a curb and removed my shoe.The top of my foot was red and swollen, and my big toe felt weird and numb-like. I eventually put the sock and shoe back on and continued. At this point, I could still feasibly PR if I miraculously got my speed back.
 

Miles 20-25
After crossing the 20-mile mat about 10 minutes off of my target pace. I realized that a PR was not going to happen for me. At about mile 21 Isat down on a park bench for about a minute and wached the 3:50 pace group speed by me. I remembered how easy it felt to run at a 3:50 pace for most of the Shamrock marathon. I remembered how awesome that felt. And now, despite the fact that I had trained 500% longer and with muchgreater weekly mileage, I couldn't get my butt off that bench. The heat was just zapping me.
 

I guess I am just really sensitive to thesun. I do fine if it's upper 60's and overcast (Miami Marathon, Richmond half marathon) but if it's at all sunny, I feel it.  My facealways gets bright red after speedwork and stays that way for over an hour. The red face even happend to me as a child and teenager after 4minutes of doing a dance routine all-out.  At this point, it was about 62 degrees and very sunny. My body didn't feel hot in the traditional sense becuase it's a dry heat that I am not used to. But it was reacting the same way it did when I ran the really hot VA Beach half in 2006, and also some 10Ks as well. I totally bonk in the heat, always. 

I got up from the bench and I realized that I simply couldn't run. Butthen I reminded myself that this was all mental, so I just told myself"yes, you can run". So I did.
 

I had a friend waiting for me atmile 25. I didn't want him to leave or think that he missed me, so thatwas really all that was motivating me. I kept making bargains withmyself: "Just run to that water station up ahead, then you can walk."It was a run/walk from there out. My running pace was actually about9:00/mile, but there was so much walking that my splits were about 10:30's.
 

I started to hear the songs on my iPod that I was hoping to finish to, so I just turned the damn thing off and took my headphones off of my head. It was too depressing to be at mile 22 and hear my finish line songs.

 

Finally, I came to mile 25 and stopped to chat with my friend Steve. I told him that I was having the worst marathon of my life and how much pain I was in. He said "you're almost done. . . just go run to the finish now!" And I said that I wanted to just stop and chat with him for longer. So that lasted for about two minutes and then I finally made my way to the finish. If it weren't for him being there, I would have had no motivation to run at all during that last portion.
 

He took this photo of me:
 

26 and the Finish
I did a run/walk to the finish, but did run that last 0.2 very strong andsmiled for the camera as I crossed the finish line in about 4:10.My gun time and net time are identical on the web site, but I was a 4:10 according to my watch. A few years ago, I would have been elated with this time. But now, I realized I was 30 minutes off of my goal.
 

Myfriend, Eric, found me and I started bawling my eyes out the moment Isaw him. My foot was killing me, I was so exhausted. And I just felt like such crap. They were handing out popscicles and mine tasted amazing at that point.
 

Final Thoughts
I just find it highly ironic that I have never had a bad marathon untilnow. And I had run 7 previous marathons. Each marathon had been betterthan I expected, and I had always exceeded my goal by 2-5 minutes. Andyet, I never had a training program that was so strong. I did everything "right" this time around. I trained for a full 18 weeks (actually more if you consider everything I was doing in July and August before I got sick). And I averaged about 50 MPW. I did multiple 20 milers and in the past, the most I had ever done was just one. 

Idefinitely don't think I was over trained. I think I was optimally prepared to BQ, or at least set a significant PR. But I don't deal withheat well. The foot pain and the stomach cramping also really played afactor before the heat started to kick in. Last summer, I ran a 4-mile race at a pace of 8:56 because it was so hot and sunny. Slower than mymarathon PR pace!

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have changed anything. However, if I knew that the heat was going to be this bad, I would have changed to the half marathon at the expo and not even run the marathon to begin with,

I was really lucky to have gotten through this training without any injuries, but extremely unlucky when it came to race-day weather.

Now I am trying to think about my next marathon  I want to redeem myself ASAP because I know I am in such great shape! But I also don't want torush recovery. Today my legs feel better than they typically do after a marathon, probably because I did so much walking. And yet, I ran the London marathon in about the same time, and recovery only took me a few days. (It was a fun run, and I didn't exert myself the way I did yesterday).  I will either do the Shamrock Marathon on March 22, which might be too soon, or the NJ Marathon in early May, which seems like too far away!

I just have to say that the best thing to come outof this was all the support from all of my friends. Big Cats espeically! Not to mention all the support I have from my three friends who live in Phoenix. They were so amazing to help me with everything. What's most important is that I have an incredible support network. In a way, I feel like I let you all down because Iknow you were all rooting for me. And then I just ended up with this epic failure. But ultimately, I know I did the best I could in those circumstances, and I'll just have to pull myself back together and crank out the next one. 
 

 

For some reason, I am not able to get the amount of mileage out of my running shoes that most runners get. Shoes are supposed to last from 300-500 miles, but I can only manage about 180 miles, sometimes even less. Of course this makes running more expensive for me. And I know that the shoe truly is "dead" because my hips and knees begin to hurt, and I can really feel the ground beneath my feet.

2008 was the first year that I maintained a detailed running log. Everytime I logged a run, I indicated the shoe I wore and then the system kept track of my shoe mileage. Here is the rundown.

Total shoes in 2008: 15 pairs (5 active, 10 retired)
Total Miles: 1730 miles
Total Cost: $1151.00

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6
- 3 pairs used/retired: 212, 169, and 193 miles 
- 1 pair active with 39 miles (to be used in the marathon)

My favorite shoe of all-time. I have only three pairs left, which are reserved for races and special occasions.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8
- 3 pairs used/retired: 197, 170, 175 miles
- 1 pair active with 122 miles

This is a solid training shoe but too much padding for me to feel "fast". It has kept me injury-free, but the bulk makes it not good for speedwork or races.

Nike Zoom Air Structure Triax +11
- 1 pair used/retired with 165 miles (due to a blister, not because the shoe was dead)
- 1 pair active with 176 miles.

These shoes seem to last longer than the Brooks because my pair with 176 miles still feels very supportive. I did have to retire the first pair at 165 because part of the inner fabric got puntured somehow and was giving me a blister. These shoes are lighter than the GTS 8, but still too much cushion for me to feel like I am running efficiently. They aren't supportive enough for runs longer than 14 miles.

Lightweight Trainers
At the beginning of the year, I was using Brooks Axiom for short races and some speedwork. But the fit was too wide and I had to use Superfeet insoles for my feet not to hurt in them. This pair of shoes only has 25 miles, and I have had them since the middle of 2007.
 

Then I discovered the Mizuno Wave Elixir, which is the best fitting shoe ever. Nothing has ever felt like it molded to my feet so well! These shoes are lighter than the Brooks Axioms, and yet more supportive. No superfeet required. I do short races and some speedwork in these, but I try to use them sparily because I don't want to get injured. 6 miles at a time would be the max I would use them for.
 

This entry probably really bored you if you are not a runner. If you are a runner, it still may have bored you!
 

"Setting a PR in the 5K is like squeezing blood from a turnip," one of my wise runner friends once told me. Back in June 2007, I squeezed two seconds out of it, down to 23:30. I hadn't squeezed anything since. . . until today!

I ran the 20th annual Virginia Run Turkey Trot 5K in Centreville, VA. This is a large 5K with about 3,000 participants. This is my third consecutive year running this course, and my course record was 23:32 from 2006. Last year's race was a disaster.

I was really hoping for and expecting a PR today. By how much, I had no idea. All of my training is targeted towards a January 18th marathon, which means that the bulk of my speedwork is only just beginning. Up until now, most everything has been focused on endurance and lactate threshold. A 5K is mainly a test of your VO2 Max, and I haven't been doing that kind training.

The weather was sunny with no wind, and the temperature was a frigid 33 degrees. I wore tights, and actually put my skirt over my tights for the first time ever. It was surprisingly comfortable. I wore my lightweight Mizuno Elixirs which are simply awesome for short races and speedwork. The course was rolling hills, with two longer/steeper hills (but that weren't terrible).

My strategy for this race was to not go out too fast (I ruin almost all my short races this way) and to not look at my watch. I wanted to wear a watch so I would know my time immediately, but I didn't want to look at it. I lined up toward the front, but not the very front. I didn't want to go out too fast so I made sure I was back some. The people around me were talking about running a pace of 8:30, and I was hoping for about 7:30, but I didn't move. The race started and it was really crowded. I didn't want to expend energy weaving through too many people, and I didn't want to go out too fast, so I just tried to stay relax and go with it.

I came to the first mile marker and hit the split button. I wanted to record my splits but not look at them. Well, I "accidentally" saw that I ran a 7:54. Not good. (I would later learn that this was more like a 7:50 because I started my watch too soon). I told myself not to worry and that I could easily run the rest of the race at a pace of 7:20. And that's exactly what I did.

I gave myself a bit of a push and I told myself to just maintain that faster pace. I passed a bunch of people at this point, weaving through them left and right, but I was determined to run at my pace and not let the crowd stop me from getting a PR. I zoned out. I focused on the music in my iPod. There were two long hills. I told myself that I had been training on hills so not to be intimidated. 

All of a sudden, I noticed that I was turning back onto the main "drag" that meant that the race was almost over. I didn't even see the second mile marker. I looked at my watch and it read 19:04. Where did all that time go!? It just went by soooo fast because I was so focused, or perhaps I was zoned. Whatever I was doing, it worked.

Someone on the Runner's World forums said that you are supposed to feel like you are on the verge of vommiting during a 5K. So, I reminded myself that the pain I was feeling was normal and good, and that I could survive just a few more minutes of it. I told myself that I could NOT slow down and that I would sprint to the finish. I was grunting loudly. Every 15 seconds or so, I would let out this loud grunt that was totally incontrollable and really embarassing!

As I approached the finish line, I looked at the clock, which read 23:35. I knew I had a PR so I just did this sprint, and passed a few runners in the last 50 meters or so.

My official time was 23:22, with an average pace of 7:31.
This is a 5K PR by 8 seconds, and a course PR by 10 seconds.

I placed 5 of 136 women aged 30-34, beating 96.3% of them.
I placed 56 of 1421 total women, beating 96.1% of them.

After the race, I ran another 5 miles at a pace of about 8:50. Including the warmup and the race, I ran 9.1 miles today.

I'm very pleased with my performance, especially since this is the ONLY 5K where I have ever run negative splits. Maybe the crowd at the beginning was a blessing in disguise.

Time for Turkey! Happy Thanksgiving to all my LJ readers!  

Race Morning
I looked out my window and there was no rain. All the weather web sites were still forecasting a 100% chance of rain during the race with 100% humidity. Temps were supposed to be in the lower 60's. I ended up wearing a sports bra (no shirt to cling to me if it got wet) and a hat to keep the water off of my face.

I drove to the site of the race and calmly told myself not to panic as I could not find parking. So many roads were blocked off, that I couldn't get to the lots that the race web site said to use. At one point, I found myself going down a dark alley under the stadium and I was all freaked out. I finally found a lot that was really close to the start line, but that the web site hadn't mentioned.

I made my way to the start line, and lined up in the first corral. I had memories of being there for the full marathon last year. I had been freezing cold and Brent was with me. Brent was making me nervous, though, so I told him to move ahead in the corral!

Miles 1-4 
The race started and memories of the marathon from last year came flooding back. The first two miles were on the same streets and I just reminded myself of how it took a while to get into my "groove" back then, so it was okay to not feel great at the beginning. I really didn't want to go out to fast, or waste energy weaving through people, so I let the crowd set the pace. It felt like a pace of 8:45, and I told myself that any pace was acceptable for mile one, but it ended up being 8:15 and I was pleasantly surprised. All I had to do was to maintain that exact pace for the remainder of the race.

I was mentally prepared for a somewhat steep hill at the end of mile 3, which during the marathon, was the end of mile 19. I was thankful that it was only mile 3 and so glad that I wasn't having to conquer that hill at mile 19 again. After that, we ran on a track through a stadium and then around a large parking lot. This was cool because I could see a very long stream of runners behind me and ahead of me. Everyone was sprawled out around the track and the parking lot. I must have slowed down here, although it didn't feel slower.

Mile 1: 8:15
Mile 2: 8:14
Mile 3: 8:10
Mile 4: 8:23

Miles 5-10
During this whole time, there was not a single drop of rain. The temperature was in the mid 60's and very humid. I tried not to get freaked out by the humidity, and just told myself to push through. I had my first pack of sports beans during mile 5 and my second pack (with caffiene) during mile 10. I ate about 3/4 of each pack.

The course wound through some neighborhoods, and this was not part of the full marathon course. There was no mile marker 5, (or at least I didn't see it) and I told myself not to worry about it and just keep going. I crossed the 10K timing mat at 51:03, which was perfect! This was a pace of 8:13, and exactly on target with where I wanted to be. I wondered if my friends were getting the text messages they signed up for. I would later find out that the timing system was completely messed up.

Mile marker 9 was misplaced and this messed me up. According to my watch, I ran a 6:43 mile, which I knew was not correct. However, there was a downhill during that mile, and I did feel fast, so I figured there was a good possibility that I had run a sub-8:00 mile. I told myself to slow down so that I wouldn't hit the wall during the last few miles. This was a mistake. I came to the next mile marker in 10:21. I had no idea what those two miles averaged at the time, but it ended up being the slowest part of my race.

Mile 5: 8:09
Mile 6: 8:09 (both of these miles averaged 16:18)
Mile 7: 8:18
Mile 8: 8:15
Mile 9: 6:23 (probably around 8:15)
Mile 10: 10:23 (probably around 8:45)

Miles 11-13.1
I was finally in the home stretch. I told myself that nothing could stop me now! Well, the wind did its best to stop me. By this point, the temperature had risen to about 68 degrees, with high humidity, and the winds were really picking up. I couldn't draft off of anyone because there was no one close enough to me. I never felt like the wind was at my back-- it seemed like a strong headwing for these last three miles.

I was looking forward to that last mile because I knew that it was mainly downhill. It was mainly downhill, but I was also fighting wind, so it was a really weird sensation. The last quarter of a mile was a steep downhill and I wanted to make the most of it. I lengthened my stride farther than it's ever been and I felt like I was flying. I was afraid of slipping on the wet pavement, but I stayed focus and tried to really hammer it home with the help of that downhill.

I did a major sprint to the finish line, and my legs were moving faster than I have ever felt them go, with the momentum of that hill. I don't know how fast the sprint was because I didn't stop my watch until a few seconds after crossing the finish line, and as of now, my chip time has not been recorded by the race.

Mile 11: 8:23
Mile 12: 8:29
Mile 13: 8:02
Last 0.1: Major sprint!

After the Race
Because I have far too many race photos of me hitting my watch at the finish line, I waited until I was well beyong it to stop my watch. My watch time ended up being 1:48:45, but I'm going to call it 1:48:42 to account for the fact that I waited a few seconds to stop it. (Yeah, I am OCD that way). Because of so-called weather issues, my chip time is the same time as my gun time in the official results. About half of the other runners have that as well, so I hope they correct it.

I am really not a fan of the D-Tag. I think I have complained about it in every blog of every race I have run with it. My VA Beach half marathon splits were incorrect for about a week, and then they were finally fixed. I hope they are able to fix my official results, because this is a PR for me!

Didn't Push Hard Enough?
When I crossed the finish line, I felt amazingly good. I typically am out of sorts for about 5 minutes after a half marathon. I have never felt so good at the finish line! Nothing hurt, either. I had no soreness or leg aches during the race. I felt like I could have kept going at that same pace for a few more miles, but it would have been hard to speed up. Once again, this is a testament to my endurance abilities over speed.

I didn't feel sore or stiff for the rest of the day, and today, there is just some minor soreness. The good news is that I won't have to sacrifice this week of training due to recovery. I will hopefully be able to log another 50-mile week instead of having to take extra days off for recovery. This was not my "A" race, so it makes sense that I didn't push it. On the other hand, I am really curious what I could have done if I had pushed harder. Or if there was no wind or humidity. I am planning ..ing on the half marathon this spring, so this just sets me up for even more PRs!

STATS
My time was 1:48:42, with an average pace of 8:17. This is a PR by 2:01. I have not set a PR since March, so it felt awesome!

Based on my GUN time, and the fact that many other runners only have a gun time, here are my rankings:

25 of 334 for women ages 30-34, beating 92.5% of my age group.
126 of 2038 women, beating 93.8% of the women
423 of 3620 total finishers (male and female), beating 88.4% of all runners.

I am very pleased with my rankings. Sure, I think I could have run faster, but maybe not because of the wind and the humidity.

Next up is my annual Turkey Trot 5K.