Rock n Roll DC marathon race report

On March 12th I ran my 7th marathon, the Rock n Roll DC marathon in 4:48:18.  I had a great time seeing some parts of DC that I've never really seen before. Here is the link to the course map. http://cdn.runrocknroll.com/wp-content/sites/13/2016/02/DC_16_CourseMap_CE_Final.pdf.
I never knew DC had as many rolling and even steep hills.

The race starts on Constitution Avenue with both the marathoners and half marathoners starting at the same time.  As a marathoner in this race that makes it a little difficult to run my pace as half marathoners will go out faster having to run half the distance of the full.  We head out towards the Washington Monument and White House before crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge circling around and coming back on to Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.  We stayed on Rock Creek Parkway for about 3 miles or so, culminating with a long steep hill from 6-7 miles.  The course then weaves through the outskirts of Northern DC before heading south on N. Capitol Street, heading towards RFK Stadium.  The half marathoners and marathoners split at around the 12.5 mile mark.  The half marathoners head towards RFK while the marathoners have another 13.7 miles to go.  Marathoners head west and then south towards Nationals Park. I'd never been to Nationals Park, it looks beautiful from the outside.  We then head towards an industrial park and weave our way around the park before heading out and crossing the Anacostia River at 18 miles.  The marathon course then goes through Anacostia Park and some of the roads around the park.  It's at this point the course makers decided to put some nasty steep hills, where you get a lot of up hill and not so much downhill.  After we leave the park marathoners head west back towards RFK by crossing the Anacostia again on E. Capitol Street and up the hill to the finish line.

After I finished the race and received my medal, heet sheet, and grabbed some food and drink, I headed for the gear check trucks to pick up my bag.  After receiving the bag I got the worst calf cramp I can ever remember.  Luckily it went away pretty quickly.  After regaining my composure I headed over to the jacket pick-up where I got my marathon finisher jacket.  Wary of getting another cramp, I headed towards the metro ad headed towards home.

The weather was great for the marathon, except for the last 4 miles or so where it got a little more humid.  It was nice and cloudy with low to mid 50's at the start and probably just got to 60 as I finished.  However, somewhere around 10 miles in, I noticed I wasn't able to absorb fluids, whether water or Gatorade.  It wasn't sitting in me, I was just excreting it as fast as I was taking it in.  Around 15 miles, I decided it wasn't worth it to keep drinking which was a mistake and the cramp proved it.  For my next marathon (RnR DC marathon 2017) I will try taking some salt before and during the race, which should help me keep water in and not excrete it out.  I also stopped taking gels since I couldn't hold water either. 

The marathon is always a learning experience and I learned a lot.  I pushed through and finished with my 2nd best marathon time on a pretty hilly course.  My training went well and I only dealt with some minor knee pain during training and nothing during the race which was nice.  I'll keep on trying to move forward with the marathon but it takes so much out of you that sometimes you just need a break.  I will be training and running more half marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks to try and add some speed.  In November I'll start training for the 2017 DC marathon.

Now for Taper Madness

After peak week last week, it's now time to taper down for the marathon.  This is one of the most difficult things that many marathoners have to do.  You've spent months working your way up to the 20 milers and now you quickly dial it down so that your legs feel fresh for the marathon.  The reality is your mind starts to wander.  When you've been running 40-50 mile weeks or more for a few weeks and you suddenly find yourself running 30 miles and then 20 miles for the weeks leading up you get a little stir crazy and taper madness has set in. 

I'm in the middle of taper madness now.  My mind is starting to not trust the training I've run so far.  I haven't gotten too cranky yet since I'm cutting down my mileage and slowing myself down a bit more.  It's now Wednesday and I've only run 7 miles.  Two weeks ago on Wednesday I was over 20 miles.

I feel like I'm ready but I'm already checking the weather forecasts for DC, could be a chance for some rain but looks like decent weather right now.  I have a plan which is to not worry about time and just go out a run comfortable for the first 13.1 and then see how I feel and look to pick up the pace from 22 miles on.  The adage for the marathon is start slow and when you feel good stay slow.  A 20 mile warm up and a 10K race.

Before DC though I have the Tim Kennard River Run in Salisbury, MD at Salisbury University.  I'm running the 10 mile race, although I will do my best not to run it like a race.  I'm going to try to run it like an easy longish run.    My daughter goes to SU and she will be running the 5K race the same day.  It's a great course and relatively flat.  Last year the race was in snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain in the course of 10 miles.  Driving home was a bit sketchy going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Bay was frozen and the bridge was slippery.  This year it looks like it will be decent weather, so I'm hopeful that I can control my speed and not push the pace.

Yes I'm nervous, yes I'm going a bit stir crazy keeping the pace and mileage down, but in the end I know it's worth it.

Happy running..

Peak week is done and now it's time to taper

I finished peak week running about 56 miles which is the farthest I have ever run in one week.  I've run almost 500 miles since I started training for the RocknRoll DC marathon on November 23rd.  I've been pretty healthy throughout training which has allowed me to consistently train.  In December and January I've run just over 160 miles and should do it again in February which would be my farthest mileage months ever.  For New York it was only near the end that I got to 130+ miles in the month and only one 20 miler.

Last week saw me run a 12 mile medium long run and a 20 mile long run in the same week, add in a couple of 5 milers and an 8 miler and I got to 56 miles.  The 12 miler was done entirely on my treadmill since it snowed and the streets were pretty icy.  The 20 miler was split between doing 13 miles on the BWI trail and 7 on the treadmill.  I didn't want to push too hard and do something stupid with 3 weeks left before the marathon, my 3rd marathon in less than 12 months.  I feel pretty good right now and am just trying to maintain my fitness through the taper period.

I've been doing a lot of my training on my own which can sometimes be a chore.  It's easier for me to run long and not give in if I'm running with someone else or a few people.  That being said, I'm pretty proud of myself for being self motivated to get the training done.  I've only really run into a few snags with a slight runners knee injury due to not replacing my shoes in a timely fashion.  It's much better now and continues to get better each week.

The next two weeks are taper weeks and I've never really been good at tapering and reducing mileage.  But if I follow the plan I should be OK.  I can't gain anymore fitness but I can sure screw up the marathon by trying to gain some fitness.  Hopefully I can control myself and not get stupid.

On March 6th I'll be heading to Salisbury to see my daughter at Salisbury University and to run the Tim Kennard 10 mile River Run while my daughter runs the 5K.  The idea will be to keep the pace easy and not try to set a PR or feel like I'm racing.

Thanks for reading and keep on running.

8 weeks down 8 weeks to go!!

8 weeks down 8 weeks to go until the RnR DC marathon on March 12th. It will be my 7th marathon since 2010.  So far it's been going pretty well.  I'm about 15 miles short of where I should be due to some long runs that either didn't happen or were run shorter than planned.  I'm slowly making them up and hope to be back on track or a little longer before taper time.

On January 1st I ran the Resolution Run 5K in Patterson Park that I've run since 2010.  This year I ran it in 25:53 which is a PR on this particular course.  It was too cold and the race is always well attended with runners and walkers.  The post run spread is held in an old Church.  They server chili and holiday cookies.  It's a great way to start the New Year.

My training in general has been much heavier than I usually run, but my goal of breaking 4:30 in the marathon is still in sight and I feel that I need to put in high slow mileage to get the strength and stamina to finish the marathon in less than 4:30.  I seem to really respond when the runs are slower than pace than if I run faster than marathon pace.  I also seem to respond to higher mileage.  I've gotten up as high as 16 miles and soon will be at 20 miles for the long run.

I hope to get one 22 mile run in 3 weeks before the marathon which would be the farthest I've run in training.  I also will have a 10 mile race a week before the marathon.  I can't believe there are only 8 more weeks of training and really 5 weeks of heavy training before a 3 week taper.  I'm trying to go into this marathon with less anxiety and not to panic if things are not where I think they should be.  I sometimes think I'm faster than I am or stronger than I am and start to "split watch", not taking into account terrain or weather.

I'm pretty happy with my training and hope to continue it for the next 8 weeks.  It will be fun no matter what.

Last few weeks of training

I'm now 5 of 16 weeks into this current marathon training block.  This is some of the most intense running I've really ever done.  Weeks 3, 4 and now 5 have seen my mileage go from 34 miles up to my week 5 mileage of 46 miles.

I'm looking forward to a small cutback week in week 6 where I will only run 42-43 miles.  I've continued to most of my training on the roads, trying as best as possible to forgo the treadmill.  Although due to the crazy mid-atlantic weather I had to do some of my midweek mini long runs on the treadmill due to the rain.

I'm also figuring out nutrition and that it's possible I'm not eating enough calories and carbing up enough before some of the long runs and I need to snack a little more than I am now and drink more water.  I continue to feel confident that the DC RnR marathon in March will be a good one.

This is the first time since starting running that I have broken 1,300 miles for the year and have run 100 miles or more for 9 of 12 months.  By the end of 2015 I will have also run over 6,000 miles since November 14, 2009 when I first started using dailymile.

Turkey Trot fun and marathon hijinx

This past week was week 1 of the 16 week 660 mile training plan I'm using to run the Rock n Roll DC marathon on March 12th, 2016.  I haven't gotten to heavy mileage quite yet and won't for quite a while.  The plan I'm using has me running 5 days a week with 1 cross training day and 1 rest/cross training day.  Those days are usually Thursdays and Sundays.  However, Thanksgiving was Thursday and my daughter (who was home from college) and I have a standing tradition of running the Towson Y! Turkey Trot 5K.  This year was a blast and just a bit warmer than last year.

For marathon training I took Monday and Tuesday off and ran Wednesday-Sunday.  The plan called for 29 miles but I only got in 24 miles which was OK.  I kept most everything easy and under control and even ran on the treadmill for a few miles.

Right before Black Friday I bought and new GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 220.  The nice thing about the watch is it locks on to GPS signals with in 10 seconds and it also can sync up your data to your phone instead of having to go to a computer.  Lastly it uses and accelerometer to count your steps per minute and also when the GPS is off it uses your steps to try and get your miles too.

I still want to qualify for Boston and we'll see if that happens but after a 5:15 in Pittsburgh and a 4:51 in NYC, I'll see if upping my mileage to around 41 to 42 miles per week will make a dent.

Next marathon is up

I've decided to run another marathon in the early spring.  I'm running the Rock n Roll DC marathon on March 12th.  I've run the RnR DC marathon a few years ago, it's a great run and a little bit hilly.  Training starts November 23rd.

The training plan I'm using will have me running 660 miles or more over 16 weeks.

I've started to feel better since the TCS NYC marathon on November 1st and I'm anxious to try and see if I can get this marathon thing right.