Blog of a Middle Aged Athlete

OK, so my 2nd marathon is finished, now what?

I have flawlessly executed my recovery week, managing to run only 3 times in 8 days totaling 12 miles (not counting my daughters’ school “fun run,” which may have added another mile).  I have done 2 strength training workouts,  which I hope to incorporate more into my routine throughout the summer months.  But the truth is, I don’t have a race on the calendar, and I’m getting antsy.

I find myself browsing marathonguide.com at odd hours of the day/night.  Do I have a problem?  Should I seek help?

If anyone has a recommendation on a summer marathon, please let me know.  I have a free Southwest airlines ticket burning a hole in my pocket.

The Davy Crockett Bear Chase is a small marathon and half marathon run in Groveton, TX, which is about 40 minutes northwest of Huntsville, TX.  It is in a beautiful part of the state, with rolling hills, tall pines and wildflowers everywhere.

Having just run my first marathon in February (Austin) and being pretty surprised as to how well I felt afterwards, I decided I was going to take a slightly different strategy for this one.  When I ran Austin, I was definitely a little frightened of the distance.  I ran the race very conservatively, and really didn’t push myself until the last few miles.  For this race, I was going to start my push at the halfway point, and see what happens.  I ran Austin in 3:43, and due to 2 trips to Las Vegas in March (not good for training), I set a conservative goal of 3:40 for this race.

I thought the course was a little unusual for a Boston qualifier.  It began at the Groveton High School track and proceeded down a bumpy, packed gravel road for about 1.5 miles.  The race then went down FM 3154 (two lane highway) for 4.5 miles, then turned directly into the Davy Crockett National Forest on a packed dirt road until the 6.5 mile turn around.  The runners, then ran back to the high school for a 13.1 course.  The marathoners ran the course twice.

The weather was about as good as you could hope for in Texas in April.  It was about 55 degrees at the start, with cloudy skies and a light breeze.  There were probably about 300 runners total, with maybe 1/3 of them running the full marathon.  It was nice to start a race and not have to weave in and out of other runners for the first few miles.  I started out and immediately settled into an 8:40 pace.  My goal was to keep at that pace until the halfway point, then begin running negative splits.  However, as I ran each mile, I noticed my overall pace creeping lower.  Rather than slow down, I just readjusted my goal and decided to run half the race at an 8:30 pace, then press it from there.  

As I crossed the halfway point and headed out again, it became extremely evident to me that these next 13+ miles would be a little lonely.  Many of the runners were completing their half marathon, and I only saw one other marathoner on the track ahead of me.  By the time I hit mile 15, I had passed that runner, but couldn’t see the next runner ahead of me.  I felt a little like Jack Nicholson in The Shining after a few more lonely miles, so I began singing to myself to prevent myself from going nuts from the isolation.  I picked up my pace, and from miles 14-20 ran an 8:14 pace.  I actually said to myself, “Joe, what do you think you are doing?”  I was putting together a pretty good race, and it actually surprised me.

I would like to digress here about race music strategy.  Everybody has their own theory about running music.  Some like all upbeat music with a nice beat, and others like heavy metal.  I even have one friend that ran most of a race listening to nothing but “Africa” from Toto over and over again.  However, I have a different strategy.  I usually start out with some mellow songs so I don’t go out too fast, then finish with some good hard rock to finish up.  In between, I mix in all types of music.  In fact, I even have my daughters pick out a few songs to help me think of them while I’m whittling away at the miles.  I am not embarrassed to say that I have run to both the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana!  Anyway, the reason I bring all of this up is when I had hit the 20 mile mark, I was starting to feel some pain.  Then, like a shot in the arm, I heard it.  The upbeat bongos of Copacabana from Barry Manilow.  I think I actually laughed out loud as I pounded out the next 4 minutes listening to the love story of Lola and Rico.  If you run to music, and haven’t mixed up your music types like this, I highly recommend it.  Now back to the race.

I had been sucking down GU about every 4 miles or so, but I could definitely feel my energy level going down.  At mile 21, my legs were starting to feel heavier and heavier, and I looked ahead to see if there was a runner ahead of me that I could try to catch.  I estimated that the runner ahead of me was about a half a mile away.  My Garmin was showing that I was running at an 8:10 pace since mile 20, so instead of chasing the competition, I decided to race against my GPS watch.  Keep knocking that pace time down for the last 5 miles, and I would be happy.

Most people have heard about “The Wall.”  I have read enough articles, listened to enough podcasts and talked to enough experienced marathoners to understand what it means to hit the wall.  By the time I hit mile 24, I was there.  The voices in my head were telling me to slow down, and I felt myself get emotional (don’t ask me why this happens, but it has happened during both marathons!).  I felt my throat constrict as I thought about finishing.  I was making some strange noises as I struggled to breathe.  But after a few seconds, my machismo took over.  I saw a crowd (5) of ladies at the top of the hill, and I waved my arms in the air in an attempt to get them to cheer for me (whatever it takes, right?), and they did not disappoint.  As I passed them I gasped, “Thanks, I really needed that.”  I don’t know if they know this, but their support helped tremendously.

I was back on the gravel road for the last mile and a half.  At each turn of the road I looked for the stadium lights.  Of course, they were further away than I expected.   As I approached the high school track, I saw my brother at the entrance.  (Sidenote: My brother ran the half marathon in 1:33 finishing 7^th overall, with only a few weeks of training.  Amazing!)  He started clapping for me as I neared, and while passing him I remember saying “This is really hard.”  What an intelligent statement!  I should run for office!

I completed the final 300 meters on the track, and actually found some energy to get across the finish line with a little speed.  The race organizers give stuffed animal bears to all the participants, with your place number on a tag around its neck.  They handed me a green bear with the number 15 on the tag.  I looked at my watch – 3:34:46.  A PR!  Now I must cut those last 14 minutes off so I can qualify for Boston!

I believe every runner is a little frightened during the few days before a race.  Specifically, the “taper period” is the time before a marathon when a runner is supposed to slow down and rest up.  The philosophy is usually that a runner cannot improve his or her time during the last week (or two or three) before the race, but they certainly can hurt their performance.

So, runner’s go through this mental battle, not wanting to push themselves too hard, while at the same time feeling guilty that they are not doing enough.  Remember, for weeks and months leading up to a race, the runner is doing 30 or 40 (or more) miles per week.  Then during the last week, they only run a few maintenance miles.  How much is too much?  How little is too little?

So here I am.  Less than 4 days until race day.  Worrying.