Marathon Re-cap

So, after 17 weeks of ups-and-downs, I felt like I was ready for the marathon. However, in the middle of my taper was the annual Sabino Sunset Run, which is my favorite race on the SAR calendar. It's a tough 7.4-miler, up and down a steep hill. I wasn't sure how to approach it: go all-out and hope the six days between it and the marathon would be enough recovery, go all-out only on the uphill half, or take it kind of easy for the whole thing. I finally decided on the first option because a) the prospect of a PR and doing well in my age group was too enticing b) I needed the points to move up in my Grand Prix category and c) YOLO! And that's basically what I did, though I didn't start out very fast, and missed getting a PR.

I was pretty sore in the few days after Sabino, so the pre-marathon week had even less miles than I'd planned. This was also the week in which the Boston Marathon bombing occurred. Fast forwarding to the evening before the marathon: I heard over the radio that suspect #2 was captured just as I was pulling into the hotel after the drive up from Tucson.

But my mind was focused on the run coming up and, in particular, getting enough calories, hydration, and rest. After a good pasta dinner put on by the race organizers, a trip to Food City to get some breakfast items (granola bars and apples) and a few hours sleep, I was up at 4am to eat, prepare, check out of the hotel, and drive over to the start, warming up in the pre-dawn chill (mid-40°s). The lights of Jerome shone brilliantly from the mountainside far above.

Cottonwood AZ is a nice town. Seems to be the opposite of nearby Sedona; unpretentious, down-to-Earth, free of BS.

The run started in a park, promptly at 6am after a nice intro from an organizer and a great rendition of the national anthem. There were about 60 runners for the marathon start. A call was made for "competitive runners" to go to the front but nobody moved. I took off my hoodie and placed it on a fence. The sun had just risen and finally the gun went off.

At mile one, I looked at my watch, 9m20s had gone by, which was good, I had planned to start a little slow. The course climbed gradually upwards, through Old Town Cottonwood, then there were a couple of steeper sections. As planned, I increased speed only slightly in this section, passing a few people.

The course leveled out and went into Tuzigoot National Monument, crossing a bridge over the Verde River, then hooking left onto a USFS road. I was looking forward to the point where the road turned to dirt and it arrived sooner than expected. I was three minutes ahead of a 4-hour pace and maintained that as the road paralleled the river and a giant black slag heap, rose steadily uphill into a forested section, and got rockier as it plateaued a few hundred feet higher than the start. The race leaders, having already reached the turnaround, flew by, gratifyingly not tremendously far ahead of me. I felt great as I reached the mile-11 turnaround and picked up the pace heading back down the dirt road.

But things began to not feel so good at around mile 16 or 17; although I'd been drinking water at every other aid station (and slowing down to walk when doing so) and consuming a gel every 45 minutes, suddenly the pace felt unsustainable and I slowed for a brief walk. After concluding the downhill, I went into maintenance mode and just tried to sustain a steady, though slower pace. My legs never stopped hurting in the last 8 miles, but at times it was easier to push the pain away, and certainly much easier than in previous attempts at a marathon. There was a nice trail section, a loop through a state park with several lakes and many people fishing along the paths, a short section through woods, all very well marked and guided by friendly volunteers.

Just before mile 24, I walked for about 50 yards, then steeled myself for the final miles. I just wanted it to be over. Finally, at 4 hours and 55 seconds, I crossed the finish line and it was over!

Somebody later asked if I was bummed to go over the 4 hour mark by less than a minute. The answer is no: I trained for a 4-hour marathon and hit the target, so I'm happy. It was a 15% improvement in my marathon PR and those other times I had to stop and walk for a few miles so really I don't even count them as running a marathon. With only two brief stops, I consider this my first true marathon run... and it was a tough one, with hills and long unpaved sections and even singletrack. I'll strive to be back next year and be in even better condition!

Marathon Prep Summary

In December, I scanned the list of spring marathons and found an ideal candidate: a late April marathon in Cottonwood, Arizona. The timing was right for 16-18 weeks of training, it was an out-and-back course (I don't like having to be bussed to the start), it sounded like a beautiful location, it was only a few hours drive away, and the temperatures would likely still be mild (Cottonwood, located in central Arizona between Prescott and Sedona, is higher elevation than Tucson).

To recap my short history with 26.2-mile runs:

• 2010: had only ever run 13.1 miles max, thought "what the heck, let's see what happens." What happened was I ended up walking 8 or 9 miles of it.
• 2011: bumped up my training, had done a 21-miler, but due to a combination of factors it was pretty much an instant replay.
• 2012: bumped up my training further, but still well below a typical marathoner, and didn't improve overall.

So, this time around I was determined to do better. I knew the most critical thing was getting a lot more volume, so planned out an 18-week training schedule, targeting 70 workouts and 700 total miles, and peaking with a 60-mile week (I'd only managed the low 40's previously). For each week, I planned the number of workouts (3-6) and what distance the long run for that week would be. This loosely followed what I'd seen of marathon plans online, but based on the advice of a couple of friends, made every third week an "easy" week where I'd cut back to my baseline going in, of 25-35 miles/week.

Also, at the same time I signed up for a training program with a local running shop (Fleet Feet Tucson) that went through the winter. I intended to use that to get a little bit faster for the series of local 5K and 10K runs put on by the Southern Arizona Roadrunners, but knew that it would help for the marathon as well. Ostensibly for people who were doing their first half-marathon, this program incorporated interval training at a local high school track, taught some very useful dynamic stretches and other warm-up routines, some running clinics and great advice by their coaches. Furthermore, I was in a bit better running form starting off, having done a few long trail runs.

Even so, there were a few set-backs along the way. First, I twisted my ankle stepping on the edge of rough pavement during a night run. Fortunately, it wasn't bad and I took only 4 days off from running. Second, in the middle of training I developed persistent pain in my heels. I thought it could be a fore-runner of plantar's fasciatis but was advised that it was likely just due to running with tight calf muscles. I took a few more days off and also started stretching & massaging my calves more frequently. It made for some extra "easy" weeks and threw off my schedule of gradually increasing long runs. So, ultimately, I cut back by 15% and ran around 600 training miles, peaking at a 56-mile week and 21.5-mile long run.

In addition to the track workouts, I ran a lot of trail miles and all my long runs were mixed road/trail. I figured this would be less wear-and-tear (the variation of trail running versus the repetitive strikes of road running), but it also simulated the Cottonwood course description.

I improved my 5K and 10K PRs by 4%; no doubt that could have been greater had I not been focused on ramping up my mileage so much. The best part was finally doing a 20+ mile run and not being terribly sore afterword, in fact just doing a 21-mile run and feeling like I could keep going. That told me I'd finally done enough work to actually be ready for a marathon.