Week 16 of 16 Marathon Training

Monday April 4

10 miles, 71min + drills

Tuesday April 5

AM: 6 miles, 42min + strides

Noon: ART session with Dr.Pete

PM: 9 miles, 58min

5k tempo at MP (16:07.30), goal to "run as if I have 23 miles left"

Late PM: massage from Amy (Massage Envy Burlington)

Wednesday April 6

AM 10 miles, 67min

PM Travel Boston-London-Bruxelles

Thursday April 7

10 miles, 69min + strides

Friday April 8

6 miles, 43min + strides

Saturday April 9

4 miles, 30min + drills

Sunday April 10

28 miles, 2:31min

Rotterdam Marathon - 17th place (1st American) 2:18:43

13 minutes warm up

Splits:

5 kilometer 15:59 (15:59)

10 kilometer 31:30 (15:31)

15 kilometer 47:17 (15:47)

20 kilometer 1:02:48 (15:31)

Halve marathon 1:06:27

25 kilometer 1:19:06 (16:18)

30 kilometer 1:35:54 (16:48)

35 kilometer 1:53:05 (17:11)

40 kilometer 2:10:48 (17:43)

83 miles

I guess I can now officially say I am a "marathoner" since I completed my first marathon this past weekend. I fell just a bit short of my initial goal of sub 2:18, but considering the circumstances, I am not too surprised I ran slower. My initial plan going into the race was to settle into a good group that would carry me through 5:10ish pace. As the race started, I was probably 10 rows back from the leaders. I saw 4 packs form at about a mile. I was kind of stuck between pack 3-4, but ended up choosing pack 3 since there were about 30+ runners ahead of me. In my mind this pack of runners would be running 5:10 pace - I was wrong! My first mile was 5:14, after I joined that pack, I did exactly what I wanted to do: shut off my brain and run. The only problem is this pack of runners were going 5:01-5:02 pace with even a few miles at 4:55 or 4:56. By the time I took notice of this, it was too late. We went through the half way point in 66:27 and the pack was still tight. Slowly, I was fell off the group around 24k and I was on my own from there to finish. Every once in a while I would notice the original pack members either DNF'ing or walking the course. Not sure what we were all thinking, but the pace was too fast for the fitness of everyone in that group. Now that I know how my body responds to this, I am confident my next marathon will be much better. I have to remain very patient, but it's better to make rookie mistakes on the first marathon and learn from them so the next ones will be better.

As far as the whole preparation for the marathon went, I don't think I would have changed anything from mileage or workouts. Coach G and Nate got me in the best shape I've ever been for any race. I was definitely in sub 2:16 shape even in the weather that we had at the race (sunny, mid 60's at 11pm start) and definitely think I could've set many PR's in other distances during this training phase. The bright side is that in the future, I will be able to handle the marathon blocks even better now that I have some parameters to work with. However, I do need to execute the race better. I can't wait until I get in the right race at the right time.