2010 Green Mountain Marathon

Green Mountain Marathon
South Hero, VT
October 17, 2010
3:28:54
7:58 Pace

This was a great race!  The field was in the hundreds, the location was a quiet town, and it had the feel of a local 5k.  Just a little bit longer.

I wasn't quite sure how this was going to turn out for me.  I trained as best I could over the Summer, but in the last few weeks, I was developing some discomfort in my foot and leg - the same area that has been bothering me for years.  I switched to an old pair of sneakers, and loaded up on the stretching during taper, and it seemed to help.

The race runs along the west shore of an island on Lake Champlain, in a perfect location to catch a breeze off the water.  Most of the route was paved and the other sections were on well packed dirt roads that felt good underfoot.  I drove the course the night before and made a mental note of that last hill at mile 20, and other than that, the rolling route looked pretty reasonable.  The pre-race pasta dinner was hosted in the local school, and it seemed the whole town turned out for the event.  It was a great atmosphere, much different from the huge expos and pre-race events I've seen before.  I was most impressed the morning of the race when I was able to park my car 200 yards from the start.

At 8:30, the gun fired, and a crowd of 400 runners crossed the chalk line.  I was feeling pretty good, and after the first few miles, settled into 7:40 pace.  At the half, (u-turn at another chalk line) I was right at 1:40, and thinking I could go for a 3:20 finish.  I picked up the pace for a few miles because I knew I could use a cushion if I was going to make a BQ, but the marathon had other plans for me.  I was still pacing 7:40 to 7:44 through 20 miles, when we turned west and met the chilly breeze off the lake.  Cooooooold!  My next few miles were getting slower, and I started to assess my legs and overall condition.  I didn't want to push too hard and risk a cramp or injury, as has happened at that point in so many races before.  On the other hand, I was so close, and still slightly ahead of pace.

By 22 miles, I knew enough to let go of 3:20.  I was losing a few seconds, and didn't have it in me to keep pushing the pace.  I made sure to grab enough water when I could and tried to stay strong through the end.  Sure enough, mile 26 was one of my fastest of the day.

I'm happy with this effort, getting my third fastest time, and seeing the results of hard work and good coaching over the Summer.  It's been a while since I've felt this prepared for a race, and it's good to know I can still bring my time down.

Now, I'm off to rest for a week while I figure out how to keep this momentum going for the next one in December.

Marathon racing is a year long process

I know I'm no Ryan Hall.  At least not yet.  So when I read the news that he was pulling out of the Chicago Marathon this weekend to focus on getting stronger, avoiding injury and races ahead, it got me thinking about where I am in my training and how I've been feeling over the past few weeks.  Realistically, I'm not ready to run my best marathon.

I started training for a Fall race almost six months ago, deciding to run in a small race in Vermont.  It looked like a reasonably fast course, it's close to home so I can drive there and only stay one night, and would be a cheap weekend.  Over May and June, I started to recover from my Spring races and built a good mileage base, but the high heat and humidity in July made it tough to keep up the long runs so I turned to shorter, faster workouts. August brought some relief from the heat, and by the end of September, I had run three 20+ mile long runs over seven weekends.  I was gaining confidence in the distance, and feeling like 3:20 was a reasonable goal.

Then, things started acting up.  I've had some discomfort in my foot, leading up through my knee, hamstring and hip on the right side.  This has been an ongoing issue for me since 2005, and it's getting bad at the worst possible time.  I've raced like this before, once, in New Orleans a few years back.  The injury set me back nearly five months, and I don't want to take that risk again.

Knowing that I can still run 26 miles at an easy pace, I'm planning to head to Vermont next week and use it as a good, long distance run.  I'm signed up for Las Vegas in the first weekend of December, so I need to figure out a strategy to keep my distance momentum up, while I strengthen my right side to where it needs to be.
All along, I had planned to race my best time in Vermont, and then enjoy the Las Vegas race, but it looks like I'll be reversing that strategy and need to update my plan.  Distance running for me truly requires long-term planning, and just like the race itself, I sometimes need to adjust my goals along the way.