Sabado, 1 Noviembre, 2014 – 8am: Woke up a bit before 4am for Indianapolis Monumental Marathon at 8am (start). I had a roommate (Evan Gaynor) who was sleeping later, so I headed down to the hotel lobby, had breakfast (plain bagel, black coffee), did some reading, walking/light jogging inside, and just relaxed until about 6am. I headed back upstairs and talked to my roommate (Evan Gaynor) a bit. We headed over to the elite start area around 6:45am.

Logistically, this was about as easy as possible. Our hotel was across the street from where the elite staging area was – a heated, indoor space – which was right next to both the start and finish. I sat for a bit and then did about 7 minutes of very light jogging inside around 7:30am, followed by drills and getting ready to go.

We all left the building around 7:50am and walked together over to the start. It was VERY cold – about 28F and windy. It was also still almost totally dark, though light was starting to come though. I wore my throwaway sweats (which I ended up getting back – thanks!) until just a minute or so before the gun. I did some drills and kept warm, no strides.

I found Scott W on the line who was to be our pacer for the day and got a spot right next to him. The very tall guy (Michael Eaton) was also right next to us. He was the only other one that I knew would be for sure on our pace train.

The plan for today was to do a very hard long run. Originally, the workout was 40km at 93-98% of goal MP (or 25M at 5’15-31 pace). Jon and I decided to do this run in a race setting for a few reasons:

Logistics – a race would offer us a closed course, mile markers, fluids, etc.
Company – the hope was a race would also offer others to run with (this proved excellent here as there was a pace-setter looking to run 2h18 pace (or right on the fast end of my target pace).
Practice “racing” – basically a dress rehearsal for the big one. A chance to practice all the little things – travel, timing meals and bed-time, getting up, controlling nerves, etc.
Financial incentives – a final reason was the ability to earn some money for what would be a significant, but not 100%, effort.

With this in mind, my plan was to hop on the 2h18 train and basically hang on as long as possible. The weather had turned foul in the few days leading up to the race (sub-freezing temperatures and 20MPH + winds), so my goal was mostly to stay with the lead group at least through the first half of the race (where we’d face most of the headwind) and then see how I felt in the second half. Jon and I had discussed various “bail” points if it felt too hard or if I was running too slow, so there was a lot of flexibility in the plan.

The gun went off just as the grey sky was becoming light and we were off. We were running with the half marathon for the first 7M, so there quickly formed a pack ahead of us running about 5’00/mile pace and we settled into a nice rhythm. There were a surprising amount of people in our group – maybe a dozen or so – which i figured was made up of a lot of half marathoners looking to run in the 68-69’ range. It was quite cool and windy, so I stuck to my plan and tucked right into the middle of the big pack.

I only looked at my watch a few times, mostly to see how close my garmin was reading to the mile-markers on the road (pretty close) and then just focused on zoning out and staring into the back of Scott’s singlet.

We passed 5km in 16’15 (right on pace) and I was feeling very relaxed. We quickly left downtown and began a long section out to the north (and into the strong wind). Even tucked into the pack, the wind was still very cold and blustery. The course was great – lots of long straight sections and fairly flat, with a couple gradual climbs – but the weather was rough.

I missed my first bottle at 10km. We passed the split in 32’30 (just under pace), but the bottle table flew by in a blur. I made a grab for one bottle that looked like mine but I realized at the last minute it wasn’t and knocked it over. Oops. I took a power-gel, which I was carrying, and washed it down with water at the next water-stop (of which I got about 1 sip into my mouth).

Shortly after 7M, the marathon and half split and our pack was down to 6. A Kenyan guy (Tabut) had been leading us and we had moved up to him. Then it was me, Eaton, and two others, with Scott leading the way.

This section felt pretty brutal. It was long, straight, boring, and into the strong wind. There was also a long, gradual climb from about 7-11M. We naturally slowed down a bit in this stretch, running 16’28 to 15km, and passing 10M right on 5’15/M pace at 52’30. The pace then stayed even until we passed the halfway in 69’03.

My legs had not been feeling that great for the past couple miles, and I got to the halfway really hoping that turning around and having a slight tail-wind would give me a much-needed boost. As we made the turn back for home, our group started to separate a bit. I had been trying to take a second gel around the 70 minute mark (I also missed my 20km bottle – ugh) and in doing so had let a tiny gap form between me and the pack – which had now widdled down to Tabut, Scott, Eaton, and one other (Brandon, I think).

I tried to just catch my breath and work my way back up, but I couldn’t seem to make up any ground. In retrospect, Brandon had actually asked Scott to speed up and I was not slowing down at this point. I was actually accelerating (running 16’16 for 20-25km). I was running 3’12-12/km at that point. I was just getting dropped because the pack was picking it up. Mentally though, this was tough, and for some reason, I didn’t look at my watch to see how I was running.

At some point around here, Eaton pulled off and ran into a port-a-potty. I honestly figured he was done and was still focused on working up towards the pack in front of me. At 25km, I was at 1’21’40 on my garmin, so probably around 1’22’0x on the course, which was right where I wanted to be. My legs felt tired, but I wasn’t really slowing down yet.

I knew that the biggest hill on the course was around 25km and there was a significant amount of climbing between 25-30km. I used this section to work back up to the leaders and was actually reeling them in a bit on the hills. I was feeling a bit better but just couldn’t for the life of me close the gap.

25-30km was my slowest 5km of the day so far (16’46), but I knew this was the toughest section of the course, so I actually felt pretty good about it. The split at the 30km mat was 1’38’36 (2’18’40 pace). I knew that I was a bit behind where I wanted to be (~1’38’00), but I was feeling okay and I knew the last 12km was fairly flat and should have some tail-wind to bring me home fast. I was still thinking about possibly winning the race and running under 2h18 at this point.

Around 31km, I saw Scott step off and I felt like I was closing in on Brandon. Also around this time, I heard someone come up from behind me and I saw it was Eaton (who had stopped for the bathroom). I was surprised to seem him, but he was really moving so I tried to stick on him and use his momentum. He was going at a good clip and I felt like I was really starting to dig deep to stay with him. Keeping in mind that I didn’t want this to be a 100% effort, I backed off and let him go.

I saw Eaton catch Brandon pretty quickly and then it was him and Tabut up front. I could see that I was also reeling in Brandon and I think I caught him somewhere around 35km (passed in 1’55’23, a 16’56 5km and on pace for about 2’19’xx). I felt like I could maintain this pace through 40km and I thought I might be able to catch up to the 2 in front of me if they started to fade, so I kept going.

After 23M, the course turns right and heads due south towards the finish. It’s another long, straight mid-western section, with one small hill around 24-25M. I was actually feeling a bit of a second wind at this point and was amped up by the crowds – we were running by the half marathoners who were finishing at the same time. I was closing in on Tabut (he was about 20 second ahead at the turn and I got that down to about 10 over a couple miles).

I was trying to do the math, but didn’t quite have the brainpower. I had run a few pretty slow miles between 35-40km, but I was picking it up trying to catch Tabut. With about a mile to go, I really made a bid, running the last kilometer in 3’06 (4’59/mile pace), but it wasn’t quite enough. I kept expecting that final 100m stretch but it seemed to never come. Finally I made the turn into the finish and saw 2’19’5x and knew I was going to just miss it. I finished in 2’20’03 for 3rd overall. The last stretch from 40km to the finish (2.33km on my garmin, just under 1.5M) was run in 7’36 (5’14/M, 3’15/km). For comparison, this was ~8’00 at VCM and around 8’30 at the Boston Marathon, so a MUCH stronger finish, even in a <100% race effort.

In total, I was quite pleased with this performance. I ran more than the distance I expected at right about the pace I wanted to run (40km was 2’12’26, 3’18.6/km, 5’19.7/M, 97% of goal MP). In comparison, I ran this workout 5 weeks out from Boston and ran about 2h16. This run was also pretty adverse conditions – the freezing cold, high winds – and I really didn’t taper at all (140 mile week before, 104 mile race week). I even ran a PR, which is great under these circumstances.

Moreover, it gives me great confidence for what I can do in 5 weeks at CIM. Knowing that I can run a big PR on a brutal day with no taper gives me a lot of faith in my ability to perform on the big day with a bit more rest and focus.

Finally, it was great to really “practice” the whole race routine – the traveling, eating, warming up, dealing with the chaos of being at the front of 30,000 people… It can be a bit of a circus and I’m really glad to be able to practice that.

Luckily, I got on an earlier flight home and I was back home by 7pm (originally supposed to get in around midnight). A big thanks to Kyle Marks and his family for putting me up on Thursday night in their lovely home. Thanks to Indiana Monumental Marathon for the support and putting me up on Friday and having me in their fine event. Thanks to Hoka One One for the AWESOME shoes and support and keeping me healthy and fit. Thanks to Jon Waldron for keeping me sane and getting me fit and healthy. Also huge thanks to Scott Wietecha for pacing so well and handling the brutal conditions as well as he did. And of course thanks to my family and friends for all their support, without which I’d never have made it to where I am.

5k Splits:

5km: 16’15

10km: 32’31 (16’16)

15km: 48’49 (16’28)

20km: 1’05’23 (16’25) (HM: 1’09’03)

25km: 1’21’40 (16’17)

30km: 1’38’26 (16’46)

35km: 1’55’23 (16’57)

40km: 2’12’27 (17’04)

42.33km: 2’20’03 (7’33 – 16’18 pace)

 

 

Full km splits

1          (3’16.7)

2          (3’12.8) 6’29.5

3          (3’12.7) 9’42.2

4          (3’09.0) 12’51.2

5          (3’23.7) 16’14.9

6          (3’12.8) 19’27.7

7          (3’15.9) 22’43.6

8          (3’19.3) 26’02.9

9          (3’14.3) 29’17.2

10        (3’13.4) 32’30.6  (16’15.7)

11        (3’15.8) 35’46.4

12        (3’20.7) 39’07.1

13        (3’17.0) 42’24.1

14        (3’18.0) 45’42.1

15        (3’16.4) 48’58.5  (16’27.9)

16        (3’17.6) 52’16.1

17        (3’16.1) 55’32.2

18        (3’20.4) 58’52.6

19        (3’17.0) 1’02’09.6

20        (3’13.9) 1’05’23.5           (16’25)

21        (3’16.4) 1’08’39.9 (HM: 1’09’03)

22        (3’13.7) 1’11’53.6

23        (3’13.7) 1’15’7.3

24        (3’12.6) 1’18’19.9

25        (3’20.1) 1’21’40  (16’16.5)

26        (3’20.6) 1’25’00.6

27        (3’23.2)1’28’23.8

28        (3’21.2) 1’31’45

29        (3’18.9) 1’35’03.9

30        (3’22.1) 1’38’26  (16’46)

31        (3’20.7) 1’41’46.7

32        (3’21) 1’45’07.7

33        (3’23) 1’48’30.7

34        (3’25) 1’51’55.7

35        (3’27.1) 1’55’22.8           (16’56.8)

36        (3’22.5) 1’58’45.3

37        (3’31.3) 2’02’16.6

38        (3’27.8) 2’05’44.4

39        (3’21.6) 2’09’06

40        (3’20.7) 2’12’26.7           (17’03.9)

41        (3’20.5) 2’15’47.2

42        (3’6.7)   2’18’53.9

42.32km(1’09) 2’20’03.0