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This photo perfectly captures how we were feeling after this marathon.
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Sunday, October 6, 2013
Bath, NY to Corning, NY
Difficulty score: 2/10 (0 for weather, 2 for course profile, 0 for altitude)
I finished the Wineglass Marathon in 3:19:31 (7:37/mile), more than 11 minutes slower than my PR in the USA Marathon this past March, even in spite of higher mileage during this training cycle, a significant PR in the Philadelphia Half-Marathon three weeks prior, and the Wineglass course supposedly being easier and faster than the USA course. The weather was the problem here; race day was the last day of an Indian summer that hit the Northeast. At the start of the race, it was 64 degrees Fahrenheit with 99% humidity; these were by far the most unpleasant conditions under which I had run a marathon.
Even though I had wanted to qualify for Boston, which would have required a 3:04:59 or better, or at least get a marathon PR, which would have involved beating 3:08:13, I was still reasonably happy with my performance. As frustrating as it was, the weather was completely beyond my control, and even in those conditions, I still managed a decent time. Besides, the conditions were simply not there for me to even get a PR; 7:10/mile pace, which was around my USA Marathon pace, felt like a noticeable effort even in the early miles. Perhaps if I went out at 7:25 to 7:30/mile pace, I might have been able to avoid the leg cramps and the wall during the last four miles, and that might have taken a few minutes off my marathon time. Regardless, I doubt I could have done much better than a 3:19:31 on that day.
Training
This time around, I tried to increase my weekly mileage. During the previous two marathon training cycles, I ran five days per week except during race weeks and the taper, where the Tuesday runs were tempo runs, Wednesday and Saturday runs were recovery runs ranging from five to six miles, Thursday runs were track workouts consisting of 400 meter, 800 meter, or 1200 meter repeats, and Sunday runs were long runs. Going against conventional wisdom, I took these long Sunday runs significantly faster than what most runners would recommend, running them at around 20 to 25 seconds slower than my target marathon pace; most training programs recommend doing long runs 10 to 20 percent slower than marathon pace, which in my case would have been about 45 to 90 seconds slower. I averaged 38 miles per week, hitting a peak of 45 miles per week. This all had yielded two 3 hour 8 minute marathons in which I was able to finish strong, running the last 10K at a noticeably faster pace than the first 20 miles.
For this cycle, I wanted to run six days per week; my plan had me averaging 46 miles per week, with a peak of 54 miles in the eleventh week. My week would look similar to before, except I would add a Friday recovery run ranging from four to six miles, and I would only do track workouts every third Thursday, rotating between them, hill workouts, and tempo runs. I had hoped the overall increase in mileage would be able to chop off those 194 seconds standing between me and a Boston Qualifier (BQ).
At first, all of the workouts were going fine with the exception of the long run. Like in the previous two cycles, I had targeted a long run pace of about 25 seconds slower than my target marathon pace. On my 12-mile and 14-mile long runs during the second and third week of training, I could not hit those paces; I simply thought that was a result of the late June heat and humidity of Washington, DC. It was not until my fifth and sixth weeks where I began to get concerned; these two weeks respectively ended with a 16-mile and 18-mile run, both in which I hit the wall. The 18-mile run was so disastrous that I had to cut it short at 17 miles after hobbling back to my starting point, and had to take the next day off from work because I felt sick. I was puzzled as to why I could not execute my long runs; I was able to finish them just fine last summer, even though the temperatures were hotter last year. After seeking some advice and insight, I decided to slow down my long runs to about 45 to 90 seconds slower than my target pace. The remainder of my long runs that cycle went fine. Looking back, I think it was the combination of the higher mileage plus the long run pace that had pushed me over the edge; when I had been running lower mileage, I might have had enough in me to run my long runs at that faster pace, but now that I was averaging about seven or eight miles per week more, I had to slow down my long runs to avoid overtraining.
The rest of the cycle went fine. My body adjusted to the increased mileage and I was able to complete pretty much all of the workouts on the plan. Also, summer 2013 was noticeably cooler than Summer 2012, which allowed me to hit some pretty good paces during my tempo runs and my target times during my track workouts. Initially I was concerned that I would lose speed from doing so much of my training at a significantly slower pace, but those worries disappeared three weeks prior to the Wineglass Marathon, when I ran my tune-up race, the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half-Marathon, and finished with a 100-second PR in 1:25:25 (6:31/mile). Given my half-marathon time and my higher mileage, I was confident going into the taper period leading up to the marathon.
The Days Leading Up to the Event
The week before the marathon was stressful. On the Sunday before the marathon, I caught a cold. I went home in the middle of the day on Monday to rest a little to expedite my recovery. Fortunately, I recovered more rapidly than usual, being able to run the marathon completely symptom-free.
The government shut down that Tuesday, which meant that I was forbidden to work lest I wanted to deal with a hefty fine, disciplinary action, and, according to some coworkers, possible jail time. During the first few days, no one was certain whether or not we would get paid retroactively. I was hoping we would, but others in Washington, DC told me not to expect it. Government workers did receive retroactive pay during the last shutdown in late 1995 and early 1996, but Congress had no Tea Partiers back then. I really did not want to have to dig into my savings. We did end up getting retroactive pay, but the first time I heard of this decision was the day after the marathon.
However, neither getting sick nor getting furloughed stressed me out nearly as much as the weather forecast for race day. As of Tuesday of that week, the forecast predicted a heat wave for the rest of the week, and it was not predicted to subside until after the marathon. The forecast underestimated how hot it would actually be that week, and the prediction for the temperature and humidity for race morning progressively got worse. That Friday, the forecast predicted 64 degrees that morning with 99% humidity. I was prepared to slow down for this race, but I really did not want to do that; I had trained hard for the past 16 weeks, and I wanted, at the very least, a PR as a reward.
Otherwise, the taper, the car ride up, packet pick-up, and the carb-loading dinner the night before all proceeded without a problem.
The Race
64 degrees and 99% humidity did not feel terrible. In fact, as I pulled into the parking lot of Phillips Lighting, I even felt a little underdressed in just a sleeveless T-shirt and shorts. As I stood at the start waiting for the gun to go off, I thought about my execution of this race and decided that I would proceed with my original plan rather than slow my pace for the high humidity.
The best word I could use to describe this course is desolate. The first three miles were through the streets of the town of Bath, but then for the next six miles, the course ran down New York State Route 415, a rural state highway running parallel to the Southern Tier Expressway. After a brief trip through Campbell, NY near around Mile 9, the course became sparse again, going down on some roads where the only things around were wilderness and the occasional house. The next sign of civilization did not come until around Mile 20, when we approached Corning, NY. The last 10K went through various neighborhoods of Corning, with the end at Centerway Square. Other than a few clusters of spectators in Bath, Campbell, and Corning, very few people watched or cheered for the runners. The size of the race was also limited to a few thousand runners, so after around Mile 5, we were also quite spread out. In spite of the sparsity of this course, the first 20 miles of it were at least quite aesthetically pleasing, particularly with the Appalachian Mountains in the background and the leaves changing color. I also noticed that even though the course had a substantial net downhill, there were quite a few substantial uphills that were surprisingly challenging.
The first two miles went according to plan. I eased into my target 7:05 to 7:10/mile pace, running the first mile in 7:21 and the second in 7:12. However, in subsequent miles, I had trouble staying in the 7:05 to 7:10/mile range; I was working, but I did not want to push any harder out of fear that it would cause me to hit the wall later. I figured I could try to make up the time later on in the race; for the time being, I would just try to stick to this pace. I also noticed I was passing quite a few people.
Meanwhile, I fueled using the same plan that worked for me during my previous two marathons, taking three Shot Blocks about every three to four miles starting at Mile 4 and getting Gatorade at every water stop. At the water stops, I even grabbed an extra cup of water and poured it over my head and on my forearms in an attempt to keep myself cool.
I eventually began to notice the effects of the high humidity. Even as early as Mile 11, I noticed people already walking, having clearly hit the wall. At Mile 13, a girl collapsed right in front of me and had to be carried to the nearest medical tent. At Mile 14, I began to feel tired. Some guy that I passed around Mile 2 that had been running behind me since passed me back around this point, and I was unable to keep up with him. At Mile 15, my pace slowed from 7:05 to 7:10/mile to 7:15/mile, and my pace kept getting slower with each subsequent mile. At around Mile 18, I realized I did not have it in me to pick up the pace and run the last 10K with a finishing kick similar to the ones I had for the last two marathons. Any hopes of running a PR that day quickly vanished.
At around Mile 23, my legs started cramping badly and I hit the wall. I finished the last four miles trying to run, but cramping up and needing to walk it off after about a quarter of a mile of running, and then repeating the entire process. At around Mile 24, the 3:15:00 pace group leader, who was running by himself, passed me. My paces for Miles 24, 25, and 26 were slower than 9:00/mile; at that point, I considered the possibility that I might not even beat the time from my first marathon, 3:23:36.
I eventually finished, with a bicycle escort riding with me to the finish after she found me cramping up near the 25-mile mark. But when I arrived, I suddenly felt very lightheaded and had trouble standing. Some volunteers wheeled me to the medical tent, where I stayed for a few minutes, and after sitting for a little while, I began to feel better.
I waited for Thorne to finish and shortly afterwards, we boarded the bus back to the start.
Lessons Learned
Two important lessons came from this experience. The first is that I will never win against Mother Nature. If race day turns out to be hot and/or humid, then I will need to accept that I will not be able to perform my best and there is nothing I could do about that except adjust my pace accordingly. This goes particularly for the marathon; I have actually been able to run a half-marathon PR in similar or worse conditions, as I did in Frederick last year, but the marathon magnifies the effect of every adversity at least tenfold.
I was not the only one whose performance suffered in this weather. On the bus ride back to Bath, Thorne and I talked to some of the other marathoners about their race. Many of them, just like I had, increased their mileage noticeably while training for this marathon and ran a substantial PR in their tune-up half-marathon. Yet they did not perform nearly as well as they did in previous marathons either. When I returned to the hotel room, I looked up my overall place. I had finished in 107th place out of 1687 finishers; in 2012, when it was 42 degrees and much less humid at the start, I would have finished around 144th place out of 1586 had I also run a 3:19:31 then.
On a related note, high humidity coupled with temperatures in the high 50s or low 60s is a particularly insidious combination. Those temperatures will not feel particularly warm at the start, while 99% humidity seems much less noticeable than temperatures in the 80s or above. This may trick runners into thinking they can maintain their normal pace in those conditions, until the effects of the high humidity suddenly take their toll at Mile 15 of the marathon.
The second lesson I learned from training for and running the Wineglass Marathon was that just because the marathon itself did not turn out as well as I hoped does not mean the entire training cycle was a waste. I did improve my fitness from increasing my weekly mileage and hitting faster tempo paces during this training cycle. That certainly showed during my half-marathon in Philadelphia three weeks before Wineglass in the form of a 100-second PR.
Next Steps
My running group has a marathon party the day of the Marine Corps Marathon, which this year will take place on Sunday, October 27. All runners who have run at least one marathon or half-marathon during the previous year are invited to wear some or all of their race medals. I will certainly wear my Wineglass Marathon medal. For those of you who have not seen it, it is a handcrafted medal made from the same type of glass used in wine bottles. It is definitely unique, and I plan on showing it off.
After I recover from this marathon, I have planned several short races to take advantage of the fitness I have gained from this training cycle. These include the AIDS Walk 5K at the end of October, which would hopefully be enough time for me to recover enough to the point where I could race a 5K, the Veteran's Day 10K two weeks later, and the Jingle All the Way 8K in December. Perhaps I could get a PR or two in these shorter distances.
And regardless of the unpleasant race day conditions, I still have not been turned off from marathons just yet. Quite the opposite, actually; I have already planned a marathon for the early spring. Hopefully, I could increase my mileage and speed up my training paces a little, and hopefully this time, the weather on race day would not nullify the effects of my more intense training over this past year. I will probably run the Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon in Virginia Beach, which takes place the day after the USA Marathon. I have already run the USA Marathon twice, and I'm in the mood for a change.
