Last Saturday I ran my last race of the year- the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. This the 4th time I’ve run this race (each of the last 4 years) which as you can see from the picture was a special 4 year series and so all the finishing medals fit into this spiffy display case along with the center star piece. The short version is I ran a 4 minute PR of 4:24:02. The long(er) race report is below the cut.
This year my main A race was an Olympic Triathlon at the beginning of September and overall this year I focused much more on shorter distances (ie. no 70.3′s this year)- so other than this race, the longest other race of the year was only about 2:40 of effort (but I did WIN my age group in that race!) So all of that to say that I only really had about 9 weeks of real long distance focused training, though I was building longs runs before that. My longest long run was only 17.5 this year because I got behind in my progression early on. Mileage averaged about 35 miles / week though my peak week was 45 miles.
The lady I’ve been coaching in triathlon this year was also running in this race and it would be her first. As it worked out, our race paces were going to end up being pretty much the same, so the week of the race we decided we would run together.
The weather was perfect for running - temp range from 47-51, overcast, dry, no crazy wind. We were pacing at 9:20/mi (pretty spot on for the first 5 miles) but I knew we would slow down a bit from miles 15-18 due to some hills. We also planned to walk the aid stations (just while drinking) so I was hoping we’d end up averaging 9:30-9:40/mi. Through the first 13.1 we were averaging right at 9:30/mi. In past years I was really mentally challenged in the section from mile 15-18, but this year it wasn’t nearly as bad. Kinsey was fighting through some ITBS and knee pain and since I knew the hills would probably hurt a lot, I think my concern for her left me no time to worry about myself :)
As expected, by the time we got to 30k our average pace had fallen to about 9:40/mi, but seeing the 3:00:00 as we crossed was a good sign I thought. The section from 18-22 on this course is tough for a number of reasons, but it seemed to pass pretty quickly for me. Unfortunately I realized at this point that I had gotten too far behind on my nutrition -- heart rate had started to drift and stomach was starting to get sloshy so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to take on much more and I had only used about half of my planned intake by mile 20.
Around mile 22 my calves started getting crampy. I had actually strained my left calf earlier this summer pretty bad (the main reason I got behind in my long runs) running cross country trails. I’ve been using a Stryd powermeter this season and through experience I knew that when my output gets up above 330w I’m really pushing my calf to failure. In this race my target output was actually only 235w so I thought I’d be safe, but obviously I didn’t have the muscular endurance to hold things together even at the lower intensity. So anyway, back to mile 22 - I could tell my efficiency went to shit around this time because while we held our pace (around 10:00 by this point) my HR was pushing into mid-zone-4 and my power output was actually increasing even as we held pace (more effort going into less result).
From back at the 30k mats we knew that the 4:15 pace group wasn’t far behind us because we’d hear people cheering for them. I’m surprised we stayed ahead of them as long as we did (I never looked back), but they did finally pass us between mile 22 and 23 (darn!)
As we got to mile 24, my calves were full on cramping. I made Kinsey go on without me. I could tell she was hurting (who isn’t at the end of a marathon?) but she was still moving with decent form. I determined my best chance to finish was to run/walk it, so I went 1:00 walk/.5mi run (about 5 minutes of walking).
Though it was a disappointing to hobble to the finish line that way, especially after having a great 22 miles, there was quite a lot to come away happy with. I beat my PR from 2015 by 4 minutes. I finished my 4th marathon and also completed the special “IndyThon Ultra” from running the 13.1 sister race the month prior. Kinsey finished her first marathon about 4 minutes ahead of me (sub 4:20).
Running continues to be a lot tougher for me than swimming and biking. I doubt I will run another open marathon before I run 26.2 in an Ironman (2019?) For the rest of the year I’m going to focus on trying to drop some weight and get back into some real strength training.
Got a slew of these emails - must be my Aug and Sept races all finally got processed at the same time. Nice to get the qualification out of the way so early though and YES I think I am going to go to Cleveland next year! Hope to see some tumblrs there too!
Had the chance to run Central Park today. The weather was a perfect mid50s! And so many people (without feeling crowded) - heck I've run races with fewer people around! Loved it ❤
Beautiful race today! While my finish was about 2 minutes slower than my PR from the spring, this course had more climbing than any other I’ve ever done (including full marathons)- about 4x as much as my PR 13.1 race. Also I didn’t taper and peak for this race, though I did race it full out - using it to determine my marathon pace for the Monumental in a month. I felt reasonably strong throughout and was definitely doing more passing than getting passed towards the end (following some killer hills in mile 10/11).
So I'm running this half marathon this weekend. I signed up for ages ago as it fits into my marathon training plan, but then I didn't think I was going to be able to run it because my son's last/biggest XC meet of the year was schedule on the same day. Well it turns out that meet isn't until the afternoon so now I'm back into this race! I just checked the route and elevation maps though- it's more climbing than any other run race I've ever done 😳 And the marathon I'm training for is pretty flat so I haven't really gone out of my way to run hills in quite awhile (hill repeats in the middle of the summer tri season) 😬
Found another pic from this weekend's race. Its rare to get a picture of me running where I don't look completely in pain so I couldn't let this one go to waste 😂 I'm also thinking being caught midair might be the key as its the ground that seems to cause most of the trouble 🏃
Last triathlon of the season yesterday - MuncieMan Olympic. Great race with some chilly and choppy water. I had to pull out my old full sleeved wetsuit! Though I only PR'ed this course by 10 secs or so, the tougher conditions had me finishing much better with the same time - 4th overall and 1st in age group (last time I was 93rd overall). Missed the overall podium by 5 seconds.
Here's the second clip from today. What I've found most challenging in this new sport (to me) is tackling features/hazards presented in quick combination. This segment of the trail has given me some issues in previous rides (this was only my 3rd time riding it), but today I got through it pretty well!
Was playing around with my new Fly12 cam on my MTB ride this morning. I trimmed out 2 short clips. This first is the hard part of a segment called Harambe's Clymb. As a fairly inexperienced mountain biker this is a pretty technical climb right at the start of this trail. This was only my second time on this particular trail.
Local Sprint Triathlon today- can't believe I only have one more (Oly) Tri this season! Crazy thing happened at this race. The bike course was open to traffic though officers were still controlling the intersections. Through odd circumstances I ended up passing 2 cars on the course that were going too slow for me! I don't really recall the specifics other than I obeyed all traffic laws and I'm pretty sure I was within all rules (I can't think of any that prohibit car passing). Anyway, it was a first for me (and it happened twice!)
Yesterday I raced Tri Indy (olympic distance). It’s a great race located right in downtown Indianapolis. Between the Olympic, Sprint, Duathlon, Team, and Kids events there are well over 1000 participants, so it has that big-race feel without the big-race price. I’ve raced this one once before, but as a Sprint.
Overall I did pretty well, with a new Olympic PR of 2:32 - though my previous PR was 2:40 on a much more difficult course (the course I’ll be racing again in 5 weeks as my A-Race for the year). I finished 92nd overall and 12th in my age group. Race recap below the cut...
Swim 26:56 (1:38/100)
Given that the canal the swim is in is only 4 feet deep it has very quick temperature fluctuations and so 2 days of cooler nights brought it down to 75F. Yey! Wetsuit legal. Also, while probably only psychological, colder water always seems fresher and hence cleaner to me. I was surprised that only about a quarter of the Oly field chose to wear wetsuits, but it made me feel super strong and fast. I probably passed 20-30 people at least (it was a time trial start).
T1 1:32
I had a pretty good rack location and my flying mount (only the second time I’ve used it in a race) went off just fine. As I went to thank the volunteer manning the end of the transition chute I couldn’t hear myself and realized I had left in my ear plugs from the swim, haha.
Bike 1:06:32 (22.4mph)
Felt really strong (as usual) on the bike - by far my strongest discipline. I passed countless people (seriously probably > 100), especially on the 2nd lap when the people from the Sprint were also on the course. I believe I was only passed by 2 people (actually 4, but since I later re-passed 2 of them they don’t count :)
T2 2:43
Funny I don’t remember this transition taking that long, but the results say I had the 36th fastest. Perfectly executed bike dismount - and it’s a good thing too because there were 3 of us coming in together. If any of us messed it up we’d probably all have crashed.
Run 54:50 (8:49/mi)
A little bit disappointed that I couldn’t never find my speed here. I did injure my calf earlier in the week, but really after the first mile (which was probably one of the fastest) I didn’t notice it hurting much. I just kept feeling the need to hold back so I didn’t blow up (HR stayed right in high Z4 all run). I did manage to barely negatively split and did have a slight (fairly weak) kick in the last half mile. I guess even though I know I can run better than that, I think I really got the most my body had to give on that day at that time.
This was only a B-race for me. I had actually planned on training straight through it, though with my calf I did end up resting 2 days prior to the race. So I’m thrilled to have grabbed a new PR. Next race is in 3 weeks (just a fun Sprint) and then my A Tri Race for the year in 5 weeks (another Olympic).
Halfway through Disney week and I managed to fit in a 5 mile run this morning- sad that my "secret" path between Port Orleans and Old Key West resorts had a locked gate on the path though :( I sure hope I get some adaptation from suffering out in this oppressive heat and humidity!
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