My Third “Marathon” - a new PR sort of
Well, I did it… I ran 26.2 miles for the third time in my life. This makes running 25 or more miles four times in my life. What? You didn’t know I had a race this weekend? Well, I didn’t… but as part of my “train like you race” philosophy, I decided it was time to take on a full 26.2 mile training run. Here’s how it turned out…
First of all… if I was paying attention to Galloway (my running Bible) then I’d have planned to run 1-2mins per mile slower than I could have run that day. The problem with this instruction, at least for me, is that I don’t really have a slow gear. So the best I can do is try to tell myself to keep it slow…. and then not be too upset when I fail to accomplish this goal.
I decided that since my December marathon time goal is a 7:28/mile pace, and my IM split goal is 8:01/mile that I should shoot for between 8:30/mile and 9:00/mile. Yeah right… the truth is, I decided to go try to run 26.2 miles at an 8:00/mile pace. Something I’ve never done before… but 9 months ago in the Seattle Marathon, I had maintained this pace for 23 miles… so I figure with all the training I’ve been doing in the last 9 months, and since I am certain my fitness has improved… I should go for it. But… I keep telling myself to be happy with any pace better than 9/mile!
Alright… so how did it go? The way out was easy peasy… 13.1 miles, 1:44:45, sub 8:00/mile.
Now mind you I had two short stops that were off the clock in this section. At about 2.5 miles I had to stop and buy some fuel… gels, and Clif Shot Bloks. I had no gels at home, and I couldn’t realistically do this run with no fuel at all. I don’t know how long I was off the clock for this stop, but there was a customer in front of me, and when I started up again my HR had dropped to about 80, so I am sure it was at least 5 minutes or more.
The second stop was at mile 12.5, I happened to run into Lisa on the trail… she was out riding her bike and saw me running along and called out to me. We chatted for a couple minutes, and then I headed out again. My splits in those miles were both well below average, so I know that I had a little extra gedyup in my step after the short rests.
Splits for miles 1-13.1: 8:09, 8:02, 7:32, 8:04, 8:01, 8:06, 7:54, 7:55, 7:58, 8:05, 7:51, 8:11, 8:03, 8:19/mile (for .1 mile)
Then the turn around…. I think there is something that hits me psychologically about the half way point of an out-and-back. I seem to really slow down at that point. I also started to feel a little tightness in my right IT Band at this point.
I made a water stop at Log Boom Park which was mile 15.5 or so of the run. This stop was off the clock, and I refilled my 2 flasks and my water bottle, and stretched out my calves, hamstrings, IT band, quads, and hip flexors. Then headed back on the road.
At this point I started trying to psych myself into keeping up my pace. I was having a heck of a time keeping my pace in the 8:00/mile zone… in fact I was fighting to keep it below 9:00/mile. I kept looking at my average pace and doing the math to figure out how slow I could run and still get a PR pace.
But by mile 17 my IT band was really getting tight… so much so in fact that the outside of my knee was starting to get a dull pain in it. It felt like someone had attached a giant rubber band to the side of my knee and was pulling it tighter and tighter. I stopped a couple times to stretch out, these stops were also off the clock.
By mile 20, I was fighting to keep my pace under 10/mile… I was hurting. My walk breaks were getting longer and I was having to try to run faster to keep my mile averages near the goal. I stopped a couple more times off the clock to stretch.
I kept looking for other runners to pace me… at one point I was stretching on a bench, and I saw a runner approaching in the direction I had been running. I remember seeing him pass me going the opposite direction only about a mile earlier. He seemed like he was running a pretty good pace, and I figured his legs would be fresh. But as he approached, I stood up to start running behind him, and it was as if he slowed down… I started running, thinking he’d pass me… but he never did.
I checked behind me a couple times and I was dropping him, despite running a 9:54/mile pace. Drat! That didn’t work out.
Finally at mile 23 I had to stop at the local grocery store, Metropolitan Market, or MetMa as us locals call it. I was out of water, and needed to stretch again. I called home to let them know I was still probably 45 minutes out at this current pace… although I hoped that I was overly conservative in this estimate.
I really struggled getting those last 3.2 miles. At the two mile mark, I tried to get a kick in to finish strong, but I just didn’t have it in me. Without anyone to pace me, I “jogged” in the last little bit.
Miles 13.1-26.2 splits: 8:49, 8:18, 8:22, 8:55, 9:34, 9:54, 9:54, 9:44, 9:54, 10:41, 9:57, 9:24, 12:57/mile (short lap, .1 mile), 10:10
Again, I can’t really call it a PR, because I had breaks… so my wall clock time was actually 4:15, but run time, 3:49:32 beats my previous 26.2 mile PR by almost 9 minutes.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 08/12/2007
- Time: 20:31:01
- Total Time: 3:49:32.00
- Average Heart rate: 153
- Max Heart rate: 170
- Calories: 3023
- Distance: 26.2 miles
- Average Pace: 8:45.55/mile
After crossing my virtual finish line, I walked about a 3 blocks to my house as a cool down. Got home and stretched out… then jumped in a warm shower to clean off the sweat and dirt… then jumped into a cold bath to try to help my legs recover… I hear that Dean K. does an ice bath after every 20 mile run (which he does every day apparently!)
Then I ate a ton of dinner! Hey, I did just run a marathon!
Filed under: Ironman, Run, marathon, run, triathlon |
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10 Comments: :
My Third “Marathon” - a new PR sort of
August 13th, 2007 7:02 am
melbean says:
THAT’S AWESOME! Great job. You deserved a giant dinner. Your note about your weight loss really inspired me and gave me a boost. Happy Monday
August 13th, 2007 8:57 am
Lisa Sabin says:
Awesome! Great run! I hope I didn’t throw you off pace too much by chatting. I think you are going have a PR Ironman.
August 13th, 2007 9:30 am
shebaduhkitty says:
I was noticing how you kept pace with the family eating on vaca and yet so thin… then I reminded myself you have to be averaging at least 2 hours a day of exercise. You certainly have that figured out! If you love food as much as we do… gotta exercise more than your average bear.
August 13th, 2007 10:19 am
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
It’s not easy keeping pace on eating with our family… you’ve got to be a real eating pro! The up side is the yummy food… the downside… well… we all know the downside.
August 13th, 2007 2:14 pm
kimayars says:
That is amazing!! Nice job!
August 13th, 2007 3:52 pm
Lisa Sabin’s - Boston or Bust » Back On The Bike says:
[...] I ran into Brad on the trail. He was running 26 miles. I felt like a slacker, only riding 20 miles. Then again my upcoming triathlon is a sprint distance, which takes about 1.5 hours vs. 10-15 hours for an Ironman! Go Brad! [...]
August 14th, 2007 4:49 am
Bill says:
Well done, Brad. Well done.
4:15 on the clock is still quite a nice time. Keep in mind that you wouldn’t have 10-ish minutes stopping for fuel/fluid during a race, since it’s all catered.
August 14th, 2007 8:10 am
karlmccracken says:
Fantastic result Brad - how’s the heel holding up to this kind of punishment? I’m not sure if you’ve just been recording more in your public blogbook, or if you’re now really ramping up the time, mileage and effort in preparation for Grand Columbian, but things on Zappoman.com have certainly taken an upturn in the last few weeks - I feel distinctly daunted by your schedule!
On a separate note, do PRs in training count? No, I’m not saying that your’s doesn’t - it’s just that I’ve got to try and knock off my 10k in 40 minutes target, and I’m struggling to find a suitable 10k (look - I want a ‘fast’ course (without it being just running down the side of a mountain!), to stack the odds a little). So I’m wondering if I do it outside of an official race if I can count it. Waddya think?
August 14th, 2007 11:35 am
melbean says:
HAHAHA - not a problem. I was thinking it was some prankster getting back at me for being mean somehow. Thanks for letting me know. Have a good one!
August 14th, 2007 10:45 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
Thanks for the encouragement…
I took yesterday off, and today I got a massage… my IT band is really sore… I got out of the habit of stretching it, so I need to get back into a regular rolling out the IT band routine. I need to figure out if I’ll do another long run or not before my IM… I was thinking I’d do a 30 miler… but take it super super slow… but I want to give myself plenty of time to recover afterwards.
Bill, I agree… having to bring my own water and fuel slows things down for sure. I’m happy with my run time and wall clock time. I just want to push myself harder on race day.
Karl, as for whether or not of increased my training… I don’t think I have… not that much, although I’m getting more focused on swimming and running. Before July I was pretty focused on cycling. As for my schedule… well… with the summer, I’ve been getting more day light training in… I guess working on an early stage project like Sweat365 means I get to change my schedule to meet my desires. Last year, I used cycling to work (25 miles each way) every day as my main training. This year, I’m mixing it up more.
As for PR’s in training… I think you can count it… but you should put it in context… for example, I wouldn’t really count my run as a Marathon PR since I think you need to use wall clock for a PR. But if you used wall clock… and you set a new PR… then sure! That’s a PR in my book!