Cross-post from Runner's World Online:
Even though I have already moaned and groaned all over the other Mercedes threads... here's a more detailed report on my second Mercedes Marathon experience, and my third marathon experience overall.
My last marathon was Rocket City in Huntsville in December, where I ran a 3:04 and creamed my 3:17 at Mercedes last year. Post Rocket City, I decided to use my BQ and registered for Boston. So I was facing Mercedes nine weeks after Rocket City and then Boston nine weeks after Mercedes.
With only 9 weeks available for training, and a desire to improve my performance over Rocket City, I ramped up my training pretty quickly after that race. Within a couple of weeks, I ran a stretch of 50+ mile weeks that were 10 or more miles over my typical training weeks before Rocket City. All of my training is on very hilly terrain, which made it good prep for both Mercedes and Boston. I had a couple of rough weeks in January with the increased running frequency, but overall things seemed fine. I decided not to dramatically cut back my training for the first two weeks of my taper (week 1 - 47 miles, week 2 - 42 miles, week 3 - 14 miles), thinking that this might be better overall for my Boston training. Plus, I felt so good with the slightly reduced miles. I had some excellent training runs during those first two taper weeks - including
PR's on some difficult longer run training courses.
The final week before Mercedes went pretty well... I dramatically cut back my running and didn't run at all for the three days preceding the race. I felt like my diet was good - I increased my carb intake and indulged in a couple of big desserts and felt I was well "carboloaded."
I felt really good and thought I would go ahead and go for a sub-3 attempt on this course, even though I knew the prospects of knocking that much time off my marathon
PR from 9 weeks earlier and on a more difficult course were pretty slim. Nevertheless, I was hoping for that perfect day.
Saturday before the race I spent with a friend from Virginia who had traveled down to run the 1/2-M and his wife. We had a good day doing some sightseeing in the area (well, okay, tourist attractions are limited in Birmingham!), and we all went out to dinner with my family that evening. A good prelude to marathon day. That night was not so good. I could barely sleep at all - I think I finally got some deep sleep starting around 1:30AM (after beginning my attempts at 9:30PM!), but even that was intermittent... and then the alarm went off at 5!! This isn't unusual for me on the night before a race, but I'm sure it wasn't helpful. Loaded up on coffee and oatmeal, got dressed, and headed downtown to the race start.
I didn't get to the race start early enough. The cold weather had caused everyone to mass at the auditorium, and making that final trip to the bathroom was very difficult. Then I had to squeeze my way from the back of the pack all the way to the 7:00 pace zone sign, which was quite a job in itself! I made it with 30 SECONDS to the gun!
Finally the race started, and I felt like the early part of the pack spread out and cleared fairly quickly. The weather was cold, but I was dressed more appropriately for the weather than I had been in even colder temps. in Huntsville, so I didn't feel like weather was a factor at this point. I don't have the photographic recall that many people seem to have about their mile-by-mile experiences in marathons, as I seem to zone out pretty quickly, but here are my mile laps and recollections:
1 - 6:08 ?:| I don't think so! All of us were looking at our watches. The first mile marker must have been 200 feet too early. I think I was more likely 6:40'ish, given the weaving, etc. at the start and trying to break through the pack.
2 - 6:34 - That seems more realistic. I felt really good, but knew this was a little too fast. I wanted to run 6:40's to make up for expected time losses on the big inclines, and maybe some 6:30's on easier portions of the course.
3 - 6:41
4 - 6:47
5- 6:50 - slowing down a little, but there were some uphills here.. I knew this would be a somewhat erratic course as far as mile paces...
6 - 7:08 - this was the one mile incline that brought us over Red Mountain, a ridge bissecting the city's Southern side, the first time. My semi-plan allowed for much more of a slowdown on this mile -- and this was probably a pretty big error on my part. But I felt good, and I train on hills worse than this -- and I didn't feel like I raised the intensity on this hill at all. I'm thinkin' -- hey, this is what I train for! The drum beats on this hill were very cool! LOL.
7 - 6:40 - off the big incline, but still some ups and downs. This was likely too fast, as I had planned for some slowdown on this 2-3 mile stretch of rolling terrain before we started to descend the mountain into Homewood.
8 - 6:58 - I believe this mile was marked slightly too long... my Forerunner said 1.02 miles for this "mile," and my lap pace readout was in the 6:40's for this entire lap.
9 - 6:46 - We are off the rolling hills of Valley Avenue and heading down into downtown Homewood. Still some big hills in here, though. I think I ran everything from about 4-9 too hard. It wasn't realistic.
10 - 6:16 -- No way! Another misplaced mile marker. By this point I note that I am unusually irritated with the frequent turns in Homewood. Probably was a sign that I was fatiguing early. Last year, it didn't bother me at all, as I recall.
11 - 7:00 -- Uh oh! A 7:00 already and without a monster incline to blame it on...
12 - 6:57
13 - 7:01 (accrued time was 1:27:50 -- I forgot to hit my lap button at 13.1 -- but my estimated 1/2-M split would work out to approx 1:28:32).
-- At this point, my half split is one minute faster than at Rocket City. I realize that I am slowing down a little, but am hopeful that I can hold high 6:50's enough to maybe still get a sub-3 (obviously delirious) or at least beat my Rocket City time.
14 - 7:05 -- this is not good -- we are now on the easiest part of the whole course on a relatively level greenway, and I am still slowing down...
15 - 7:12 - UGH!
16 - 7:28 - this is still pretty flat, although beginning to generally ascend again according to the elevation profile. I am really feeling rotten at this point -- I didn't get to this level until after 20 miles at Rocket City.
17 - 7:38 - getting ugly! I really had to slow down at the Mile 17 aid station
18 - 7:58 - by now I know I'll be lucky to get a 3:10 and am anxious to get to the next huge incline
19 - 7:57 - Maybe I can hold this pace? Except for the big one coming up??
20 - 8:46 - I guess not!
21 - 8:24
22 - 9:16 - the hardest incline of the course, approx. 250 feet over 1.5 miles (but most of it in one mile) started in this mile
23 - 10:06 - I felt like I crawled up this hill. I was surprised I made it in 10:06. It took all of my willpower not to walk
24 - 8:51 - Back downhill, some of it steep and hard. I was disappointed that I didn't speed up more
25 - 8:31 - Back on reasonably level terrain, but I am really struggling to move at this point...
26 - 8:13 - I realized in this mile that I might not beat my time from last year if I didn't kick it a little..
26.2 - 1:47 (8:55 pace) - Struggled my way across the finish! 3:17:09 gun time at the finish... 13 minutes slower than at Rocket City and less than 20 SECONDS faster than my Mercedes time last year...
I felt pretty crappy afterwards - very disappointed with my performance, etc. I wasn't realistic about this course and ran the first 9-10 miles too hard, and I paid the price. I should have put myself on pace for a 3:05'ish marathon, and I might have held it - because I felt really strong in the beginning. I also should not have attempted to run it so fast without more of a taper... On the plus side, I am happy I mentally pushed my way through to the end... it was harder for me even than my first one last year.
Now I have 9 weeks until Boston and am certainly planning to taper appropriately and give myself a decent reverse taper period. I'm encouraged that I am recovering from this marathon faster than my other two as far as muscle soreness, etc., but I know I need adequate rest if I want to have a much better run on April 17th!
Overall, I think the Mercedes Marathon is a well done event. It is great to see the media coverage and community support in a city that is not exactly a mecca for fitness activities. I know it is a hard event for the local volunteers to put together, and their work and sweat to make this happen are much appreciated!
My MotionBased data for this race is located at
http://trail.motionbased.com/t rail/invit....pkValue=459126 if anyone is morbidly curious. The elevation profile is pretty cool! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]
Mercedes Marathon 2006 Race Report - Long Winded - BEWARE!
Linear Mode
