sub-3 or blow-up trying

North Central Maryland Trail Marathon

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Location:

Mooresville,NC,

Member Since:

May 01, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

2007 Highlights:  Litchfield Road Race (7.1) in 58:36

2008 Highlights:  New Jersey Marathon in 4:12, Bay State Marathon in 3:10:30

2009 Highlights:  Boston Marathon in 3:13:26, Litchfield Road Race in 49:30, New Haven 20k in 1:25:03, Bay State Marathon in 3:09:09

2010 Highlights:  Bradley 10k in 39:58, Litchfield Road Race in 48:06, New Haven 20k in 1:23:59, Ghost Trail 1/2 Marathon in 1:29:12 (trail), Philadelphia Marathon in 3:06:59

2011 Highlights:  Litchfield Road Race in 47:44, Ghost Trail 1/2 Marathon in 1:28:35, Goshen Turkey Trot in 40:46, Jingle Bell 5k in 19:05

2012 Highlights:  Finished Boston Marathon in 3:41:59 in 89 degree heat, broke the top 100 in Litchfield Road Race (82nd), 1st Place (overall) in Solstice 5k, Hogsback 1/2 in 1:29:36, and bq'd in Bay State Marathon (3:14:20).

Personal Records

1-mile:  5:39/track (2008)

5k:  19:05/Jingle Bell (2011)

10k:  39:58/road race (2010)

20k:  1:23:59 (2010/New Haven)

1/2 marathon:  1:28:35 (2011/Ghost Trail)

marathon:  3:06:59 (2010/Philly)

 

 

 

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub-3:05 marathon in Fall

Sub-1:23 in New Haven 20k

Sub-46 min in Litchfield RR

Sub-19 in 5k

Sub-5:30 in mile

Upcoming Races: 

     TBD

 

 

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

sub-3hr marathon

sub-5:15 min mile

become a competitive master's runner

win age division in smaller marathon

 

Personal:

Married w/six daughters (9 year age span)

Pastor a church in NC

Enjoy travel and recreation with family

Began running in November of 2007

 

 

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Miles:This week: 16.00 Month: 151.00 Year: 363.00
Barefoot Lifetime Miles: 114.25
K12- Black Lifetime Miles: 401.00
Kinvara 13 (blue 1) Lifetime Miles: 327.00
Kinvara 13 (blue 2) Lifetime Miles: 363.00
Kinvara 14 Neon Lifetime Miles: 384.00
Kinvara 14/teal Lifetime Miles: 315.00
Kinvara Blue/red Lifetime Miles: 64.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
38.007.950.000.0045.95
Tangent 3 (4) Miles: 7.75Progrid Rides (2) Miles: 38.20
Weight: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.750.000.007.75

This was not an encouraging run. The ankle and achilles were sore today. I shut down my attempt to do a 4mile mp run and may rule out using light trainers on Saturday. May expectations are quite low at this point, but I'll do my best to take care of myself between now and the marathon. Maybe a short 3 mile mp tomorrow and then definitely 2 days of complete rest. I will be careful to do full recovery in December- maybe even 2 weeks off.

Tangent 3 (4) Miles: 7.75
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.000.000.000.005.00

5 miles on a hotel tm.

Progrid Rides (2) Miles: 5.00
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

7 miles slowly with my wife.  Achilles pain will not go away.  Will run very lightly tomorrow and took motrin this evening.  Taking it day by day, hour by hour.

Progrid Rides (2) Miles: 7.00
Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Race: North Central Maryland Trail Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:31:16, Place overall: 73, Place in age division: 14
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
21.005.200.000.0026.20

Quite a day! I knew I was in trouble 2 days ago when I couldn't keep up with my wife's 8:30 pace without noticable pain. Somehow I imagined 1 day's rest with motrin would magically heal me in time for the big race on Saturday. I also convinced myself that I could hang on to my fitness from October's marathon, which in ideal circumstances maybe I could, but I was not able to accomplish either speedwork or volume since that time. I haven't run a 70 mile week since August and I haven't been able to run fast since spraining my ankle 3 weeks ago (until last week and then hurt my achilles). So, basically I limped up to the starting line hoping to accomplish mind over matter (never mind my fitness had suffered and some was "the matter" with my achilles). So, I slept well last night, made it to the elementary school an hour early, stretched, found a secret bathroom in the back hallway, and made it to the front of the pack for the start of the race. I sized up the crowd around me and realized on a good day I could probably make top 20 or so (only 10 finished under 3hrs). Somehow, I convinced my mind that I could do this and ran mile 1 (all downhill) under 6 minutes. Did the achilles hurt? Absolutely! But I was going to give it my best until my body wouldn't allow me to. By mile 3, my body started to say, "enough's enough". That was my last sub-7 mile. One month ago my last sub-7 mile was on mile 16. I completed mile 5 with a time of 34 minutes. Mile 6 was complete in a time of 41:30...uh oh! The next several miles were grueling. All slightly uphill on a trail against a 20mph wind. My achilles was really starting to scream, so I slightly adjusted my stride to a semi-gallup. My goal was to make it to the halfway point with a chance of stil pr'ing (3:09). By mile 12 there were probably only 25-30 runner (of 450) in front of me. By mile 13 there were at least 40-50. I completed mile 13 in just over an 8 minute pace, making it to the halfway point in about 1:35 flat. Somehow, again I thought my mind could convince the body to do the impossible. I told myself that the 2nd half would now be slightly downhill with a 20 mph tailwind, which was true, but I failed to recognize that my right achilles was still hurting and that now my left calf was almost dead from over compensating. 

As I made the turnaround, I hooked onto a pack who pulled me along to mile 17 at a fairly decent pace.  Not sub-7, but close.  Then everything began to unravel.  The wind was at my back, the trail was moving slightly downward, but my legs no longer worked.  The only good part was my left calf was so dead that I was now shifting my weight back to the achilles which somehow had become more a dull pain.  I kept about an 8 minute pace until mile 21 and then stopped to eat a handful of gummi bears.  This was almost my undoing.  This is the point I decide it wasn't worth the risk of injuring myself and maybe I should just walk the rest.  Doing the math, I realized a 10 minute pace would get me back in just over 50 minutes and walking could take me 2 hours.  So I decided to just shuffle my way back.  Fortunately the trail was very forgiving, so I don't think much damage was being done. 

The last 1.5 miles were back on asphalt and I caused a few laughs by climbing 4 feet up an embankment and trotting on soft grass.  This last maybe 3/4 of a mile and then I thought I was going to kill myself trying to get back down.  Completed the final stretch, all uphill, spotted my family, and grabbed my 10-year-old who accompanied me to the finish.  My achilles and calf were sore, but the rest of me really wasn't all that tired. 

Am I glad I still ran?  Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but I actually enjoyed the experience.  It was a beautiful course, very well organized, and I can put another marathon notch on my belt.  It wasn't pretty, but I learned alot through this experience.  I plan now to take 2 full weeks of rest before training again and I'll definitely think twice before running back-to-back marathons or returning from an injury too soon.  Fortunately, the achilles doesn't seem much worse and my body feels 10x better than it did upon finishing Boston last Spring.   Hats off to you veteran marathoners who run several of them per year.  I nowhere near that in this stage of my running career.  If any of you made it this far, thanks for reading! 

Progrid Rides (2) Miles: 26.20
Weight: 0.00
Comments(8)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
38.007.950.000.0045.95
Tangent 3 (4) Miles: 7.75Progrid Rides (2) Miles: 38.20
Weight: 0.00
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