2015 Portland Marathon Race Recap

I survived another marathon! (See recap of my first marathon in 2013 here.)

After a solid go at carb loading and hydrating the day before, I got up at 5 am, had my usual pre-run toast with peanut butter and Golazo energy drink. Abe drove me to the start line (and then went home and back to bed!) to arrive shortly after 6 am, for the 7 am start. I immediately got in the fairly short porta potty lines, peed, then got back into the now-longer line to pee again. (Overheard: it never hurts to be in the porta potty line.)

I then still had some time to kill, hung out and chatted with another runner, finally figuring out what was going on with the different colored race bibs: most bibs I saw (and mine) were blue, but here and there were red (actually orange-y, but looked red in the low light at that hour of the morning), green, and purple. Turns out they corresponded with what color finisher shirt you'd ordered (classic marathon blue and green, Beavers, Ducks, or Huskies). 

The weather turned out pretty perfectly - it was about 50 degrees at the start; I wore shorts, short-sleeves, and cheap-socks-turned-arm-warmers to begin, plus a long-sleeve throw away shirt (a very old shirt of Abe's that's torn enough that I hate to see him wear it in public, so I convinced hi to let me wear it to toss). After tossing the extra shirt, I was a bit chilly as my corral walked to the start line, but by the end of the first mile I also got rid of the arm warmers. There were some spots in the middle with shade and some wind that felt slightly cooler, but overly it stayed pretty warm and comfortable. By the end I think it was in the mid to upper 60s, plenty warm but not so hot to be overheated while running.

The overall goal: stay between 12:00 and 12:30 for as long as possible, for a 5:15 to 5:30 finish. But mainly, I wanted to finish strong, i.e., without tons of walking and stopping at porta potties simply for a break from moving (as I may have done last time).

Miles 1 - 5: 12:25, 12:00, 12:15, 11:39, 11:56

A little slower than I felt I could go in the first mile as it was crowded, then settling in to a nice comfortable pace as we spread out. Miles 4 and 5 are downhill, so not extra effort even though slightly fast. Started eating 2 shot bloks at mile 3, and about every 3 miles after. I carried a 12-ounce water bottle, getting it refilled several times at water stations. 

Miles 6 - 10: 12:03, 12:02, 12:10, 12:49, 11:54

Mile 9 included about a minute stopping to pee. I needed from about mile 5 or 6, but waited until there were some porta potties without a line. 

Miles 11 - 15: 12:11, 12:14, 12:21, 13:05, 14:28

Started to feel a bit tired, and wondered how the hell that was when I've gone this far, faster, in half marathons. I saw a friend who was spectating near his house in mile 12, which was fun to see a familiar face - everyone cheers for you by name if it's on your bib, so it takes a second to realize when it's someone you actually know yelling at you!

I was starting to slow down here and there, but the slower splits here are also due to taking care of other things - at the halfway point I ate a pack of nut butter, which is what I've been using to fuel on long runs (to try to train my body to use more fat than just sugar - the single-serving Justin's varieties that include honey or maple syrup, so they do have some sugar, but it's not just carbs) And then mile 15 was a porta potty stop for #2 - though I tolerated the shot bloks pretty well for not having used them much in this training cycle, I started having some mild stomach discomfort in the few miles before this.

I also let myself pull out my headphones around the halfway mark, and listened to Gilmore Guys for the remainder of the race as a distraction.

Miles 16 - 20: 12:11, 14:33, 13:22, 13:56, 14:24

After talking strategy with a coworker who was also running, I decided it wasn't worth expending energy to run up the hill to St. John's Bridge in mile 17, but I did manage quite a bit of speed walking. I was getting pretty tired by now, though, even without the hill, and had a hard time getting myself back into a groove of running even once I reached the top of the bridge. I took some gummy bears at aid stations a couple times to spread out my shot bloks (I had planned to take 2 every 3 miles, but for some reason didn't bother calculating then how many I'd need, and didn't have quite enough.)

Heading off the bridge, I started talking some walking breaks, but again, trying to do more speed walking than plain walking. I wore toe socks, which was actually kind of stupid, because I rarely wear socks while running (minimialist shoes are designed to not have any seams that make them prone to rubbing in the wrong places), but thought it'd be good... just because, I'm not really sure. But one of the toes of the sock was pulling and rubbing in a weird way, so I think it was in mile 20 that I sat down to take off my shoe and see if I could adjust the sock at all. That was where I saw some goats walking along the street (they didn't seem to be with anyone, so not sure what was going on with that), and since I was already stopped figured I might as well get photographic evidence.

Miles 21 - 24: 14:51, 14:46, 14:45, 16:05

This was getting really hard. My feet were hurting from the pounding. My left IT band was hurting. I pulled to the side a few times to try to stretch it. I had lots of walking intervals, but I think at most I walked a tenth of a mile at a time, and ran for at least half a mile (last time I think those ratios were probably the opposite). Although lots of stuff hurt, and I was getting really tried, It was easier - not easy, but easier - to push through, give myself a short break, but continue running, at least some.

Miles 25 - 26.2: 13:44, 13:11, 9:25 

Coming off the Broadway Bridge I got a small portion of a second wind, and was able to stretch out between walking intervals even more. Before 24.2 I tried to promise myself to run the last 2 solid miles, didn't quite, but I think only one break in the midst of that. I calculated by this point that getting under 5:45 was a definite possibility so long as I didn't walk the whole thing, so that became a new goal to focus on.

My parents and Abe were waiting for me just before the final finishing chute (there was a tracking app through the race that worked on GPS activated on the app on my phone, so they knew I was approaching), and I handed off my water bottle for the final stretch. I was pretty much running down the chute by myself, small clusters ahead and behind me. An announcer was talking on a microphone, I think by his expression when I passed by he had been teasing me in some way, but I was pretty out of it and had no idea what he was saying beyond hearing my name a couple times. 

My watch turned to 5:44 with the finish line still just around the corner, so I busted out a pretty good sprint to make sure it wouldn't be more than another minute. When counting in hours, the garmin screen I had showing doesn't show seconds, so I didn't know who close under I was, but I knew I'd made it under 5:45! 

Stopping, my legs felt stiff, but I felt decent overall, all things considered. Nothing sounded good to eat, but I quickly drank a cup of orange juice to get in some calories, and grabbed a banana, chips, and some candy. A friend from my Toastmasters group was volunteering at a food table, another friendly face that's nice to see at that point (I'll definitely need to volunteer next year!).

I walked out to meet up with my family, where I sat down as soon as I could, putting on flip flops (beyond the pounding, a mostly-healed blister from the tri a few weeks ago (where I wore perfectly worn-in but torn up shoes in which I really should always wear socks as the rips do rub the wrong way) got aggravated a bit by the aforementioned toe socks that were pulling weirdly), and drank up some coconut water. (Froze half of it overnight, pulled it out and filled the remaining way when I left the house for them to bring for me, and it was perfectly chilled!) 

They were parked maybe half a mile away, which I slowly walked rather than have them drive over, figuring the movement would help. I took a few minutes to stretch before the quick drive home, but was pretty sore and walking funny for a while. For a few hours after the race, my feet hurt a ton, even to the point that I took an Ibuprofen (which I rarely do, just cause I figure most pain is a signal to your body to do something (like hydrate, or rest), but in this case I knew what it was telling me already!), and hung out laying on the floor with my legs up on the couch. But then there was a tipping point where it pretty quickly dissipated to a mere annoyance, and then I started noticing the aches elsewhere in my legs.  

We went out to pizza for dinner, though I remained not too hungry until Monday morning, and even that hunger didn't last too long. Last time, after not feeling like eating for the first few hours, I remember being ravenous for a few days, and I still don't feel like that's really happened, which seems odd. My legs feel a bit tired still, and have plenty of sore muscles and knots, but overall not too painful. I got a massage on Tuesday that highlighted the worst spots, including my hip flexors (the speed walking that my body's not used to probably contributed to that). 

I'm both proud of and disappointed in my time. While I set my time goal based on what I thought capable on my half marathon PR (2:31, so twice plus some), 5:30 was also a pace that was faster than my first 5k five years ago - but by going over a 13:00 pace, I ended up not meeting that, and I really wanted to be able to say that. 

I still fell apart in the last several miles, and I thought I was strong enough to not do that. I thought the back to back long/medium-long runs, and especially the longer tempo runs in the Hansons plan would be great to help deal with that fatigue. I also thought the skill I've been developing in shorter races, of getting over the mental hurdle of just being able to push through pain and be uncomfortable for the remainder of the race, would be utilized, and I did to a degree, but the pain and discomfort of a marathon is different than that of a 10k, and I couldn't push through it the same way. 

I wanted to not take any real walking breaks and say I ran the entire marathon, and I didn't meet that, but even for as much of the walking that I did do, I think I still finished reasonably strong, I still pushed through and didn't walk as much as I wanted to, and for that I'm proud of myself. 

You'll either do one marathon or you'll keep doing them.. well I've already done two! I definitely plan on another one, but it will likely be further out this time. Portland Marathon's 50th will be in six years, so that sounds like a good timeframe at this point.

Toastmasters: Speaking to Inform: The Road to 26.2

After finishing the first Toastmasters manual (Competent Communicator), you get to choose from several advanced manuals. Generally working on two at once - both because you finish two to complete each level, and each advanced manual only has five speeches/projects, so that puts you at ten total which is the same as the CC manual. While I'll probably eventually branch out, for now I stuck with what seemed most relevant to my professional life - Speaking to Inform and Speeches by Management. I kicked things off with a very timely speech to inform everyone a bit about the history of the marathon. (The pics included were included with my speech in a google slides presentation.)

Title: The Road to 26.2 

It all started with a guy named Pheidippides. 

Source

In 490 BC, he ran 40 kilometers - about 25 miles - from the city of Marathon to Athens, to announce that they, the Greeks, had defeated the Persians in the Battle of Marathon. He proclaimed his news… and then collapsed and died. 

 When the modern Olympics began in 1896 - hosted in Athens - the marathon route was revived, following the 40 kilometer route that could have been Pheidippides’ path, with the winner finishing in just under three hours. But, you ask - no one’s getting tattoos of 25.0 on their feet: Why are modern marathoners running longer than the original distance?

Source

Well, the initial distance of 40 km remained the rough distance for races for a few years until 1908. In these London Olympics, the course designers wanted the marathon to begin at Windsor Castle, and finish at the stadium, which was 26 miles. Then, from entering the stadium, they wanted runners to lap around the track and finish in front of the Royal Box. This resulted in another 385 yards, thus we have the marathon distance of 26 miles and 385 yards, or 26.2 miles, or 42.195 kilometers. This distance was accepted as the standard distance by IAAF (International Associations of Athletics Foundation) in 1921, and has been used ever since.

The marathon also quickly became an event outside the Olympics, with the Boston Marathon beginning the next year in 1897. It’s grown from 18 runners to 30,000, and is now incredibly competitive to even get in. Even with an adequate qualifying time, there’s no guarantee, only by beating the time by a large margin will you definitely earn a spot.

Screen shot of this page

These are the minimum thresholds for qualifying for the 2016 Boston Marathon; they’re graded for age but are still pretty tough times for the average hobby jogger to meet. The requirements for women 75 to 80 and 80 and up - 5:10 to 5:25 - is actually basically the range I’m aiming for at this year’s Portland Marathon. So I just have to maintain this level of fitness for another 45 years, and then I’ll totally get my BQ.

Speaking of my participation, as a female, - it wasn’t until fairly late in the 20th century that women officially participated in longer athletic events, such as the marathon. The first woman credited with finishing a marathon was Marie-Louise Ledru, who ran in the Tour de Paris Marathon in 1918. A decade later is the “officially timed” first woman, Violet Piercy who completed the Polytechnic Marathon in London in 1926, with a time of 3:40:22.

But the real turning point in marathon history was the running of the Boston Marathon in 1967 by Kathrine Switzer.

Source

While women were not officially allowed to enter at this time, she registered as “K. V. Switzer”, thus remaining under the radar - until the race began. When a race official saw a woman on the course, with an official bib, he literally tried to physically remove her from the course. However Switzer’s boyfriend, also running the marathon, shoved the official aside so Switzer could continue running. She finished in 4:20, nearly an hour behind Bobbi Gibb - another woman running unofficially, who’d also run the year before. 

It took another five years for women to be allowed to officially participate in Boston, but female participation has grown since then, with women making up 43% of marathons in 2013, and more than 50% of most current running events.

Source

Today, there are more than 500 marathon races held each year around the world, and there are an estimated 550,000 marathoner finishers in the US each year. The record finishing time currently stands at 2:02:57 overall (by Dennis Kimetto of Kenya in 2014), and 2:15:25 for women (by Paula Radcliffe of the UK in 2003). Even as the records are consistently whittled down, the average finishing time has crept up, from just over three and a half hours in 1980, to over four hours today. Some people bemoan that fact, saying it’s been watered down, but I think that represents that the sport has become more and more accessible. More people taking on the challenge, seeing it as hard but doable.

Photo purchased from 2013 race photographer

In less than two weeks, the streets of Portland will be filled with 10,000 marathoners, some qualifying for Boston, some just trying to finish (such as yours truly). Either way, we’ll all be following in the footsteps of the great Pheilipides, but hopefully surviving at the end.

Resources:
Wikipedia - Marathon (and linked individuals)
Runner's World - A Brief History of the Marathon
Ask History - Why is a Marathon 26.2 Miles?
Running USA 2014 Annual Marathon Report
NYT - Plodders Have a Place, But is it in a Marathon?
Wikipedia - Boston Marathon

PDX Marathon Take 2: The Plan for This Time

Yesterday, I talked about what went wrong in my first marathon to take over an hour longer than I expected (and a very miserable last hour, at that). Here's what I'm doing to make sure that doesn't happen again this year. 

Time goal: 

My time goal is actually basically the same, 5:15. That requires a pace about 30 seconds slower than my half marathon pace, so maybe on the faster spectrum of what's possible, but not outside the normal range. Based on the x 2 + 10-ish minutes, it's right there. Other online calculators predict 5:16 - 5:19, so it's close. I'm training for and expect (pending how the training goes) to start the race on pace for 5:15, but will absolutely be fine with up to 5:30. Though 5:15 might be just a tad ambitious, we're talking a couple minutes, not an hour, so it's close enough to reasonable that it shouldn't screw me up so much to bonk at mile 16, it might just create a slight positive split if it ends up to be a tad fast. 

Training plan: 

I'm going with the Hansons method - the "renegade" training method. This differs from conventional training plans (at least those for the typical beginner/hobby runner) in a few ways:
1. Relatively short long runs, peaking at 16 miles.
2. Relatively high weekly mileage, peaking at 57 miles for the beginner version.
3. Relying on cumulative fatigue by building up mileage and workouts throughout the week so that that 16 mile long run feels like the last 16 miles of the marathon (versus a 20 miler after resting the day before that would feel more like the first 20 miles of the marathon).

The rationale for maxing out at 16 miles runs is largely because of how long it is for the average non-elite to run that far. Not only is 20 miles a huge % of your weekly total if you're only doing 40 or 50 for the week, but even a faster non-elite is likely to take 3 hours or more. (For some of us, upwards of 4 hours). For most people, that's going to a point of diminishing returns. Apparently research has shown that the benefits from long runs only last through 2.5 hours of running. After that, you're not getting any further benefits, and you're risking a lot through additional wear and tear on you body (especially since your form will likely degrade after so long). 

Instead of running long all at once, the plan has back to back runs. The day before a long run, rather than rest, is a moderate run of 6 to 8 miles, and this is coming after some easy miles and no rest day since the tempo run a couple days prior. So your legs are not at all rested for the long run, just like they won't be as you're pushing through the end of the marathon.

There's also a high reliance on very long tempo runs, reaching 10 miles of tempo (plus warm-up and cool-down). I think my last plan only went up to 6. You really have to get used to running that goal pace for a fairly extended period of time. 

Though what initially appealed to me was the shorter long runs (20 miles takes a really long time to run at my pace!), it's far from low intensity. The workout runs and the total mileage is designed to be challenging, even for a beginner. But if you do the work to meet that challenge, the marathon should be extremely doable.

Commitment to training plan: 

Not only am I motivated to get prepared to redeem my previous time, but the plan I've picked requires you to stick to it for it to even work. The 16 mile long run won't do any (well, much) good on its own; you have to have done the preceding runs for the cumulative fatigue to have set it and for the 16 miler to do what it's supposed to do.

I am going to slightly modify the plan to reduce the mileage - cutting not from the number of runs, but from the total easy miles included. And I think that's consistent with the heart of the intent; for example an easy 4 or 5 mile run on Monday, I think is intended to be a short easy 30 - 40 minute recovery run. If it takes me almost an hour at truly easy pace to run that 4 miles, the sheer duration will inhibit it truly being that easy recovery activity. So cutting it to 3 miles keeps it with the original intent. 

What's most important, I think is the "substance" workouts, especially the tempo and long run miles, but beyond that, I think minor cuts are ok. There's also a lot of cross training I want to fit in (some to improve running, some for its own sake), so in terms of aerobic ability I do have that supplementing. I think I might try to peak closer to 50 miles than 57; like with my easy recovery run example above, I think that much total mileage and time on my feet isn't uncomparable to the intent, given my slower pace than a more typical hobby runner at, say, a 4:00 marathon.

The other aspect of actually committing to the plan is committing to the proper paces. Easy runs should really truly be easy. From the charts in the book (or rather, extrapolated from the charts that only go up to a 5:00 marathon goal), my easy runs should be approaching a 14:00 pace! There's almost a 5 minute spread from speedwork (5k) pace to recovery pace (even slower than easy!). The faster paces on the chart might not have as much of a spread in total minutes - but it is in percentage. An 8:00 recovery pace on a 5:20 5k pace is fewer minutes difference, but still a spread of almost 50%. Thinking of it being universally applicable in that sense might make it a little easier to handle seeing 14s on my garmin.

Of course, all this talk of commitment, and this week I already skipped an easy run altogether, dropped 2 of 12 quarter mile repeats, and reduced the tempo by a mile! It's so ridiculously easy, given the sheer volume of work that marathon training takes, to let life get in the way. That's... going to be a challenge to overcome. 

PDX Marathon Take 2: What Happened Last Time

I'm registered for my second ever marathon, doing Portland again this October. My first attempt was two years ago; while I finished it - and that's certainly an accomplishment in itself to be proud of - it did not go well. After so many weeks of high (relatively speaking) mileage, it was far too easy to go out too fast; I beat my then-half PR by the midway point, and totally bonked super early around 16, leading to a really slow and miserable final 10 miles. 

There were a few problems that contributed to finishing an hour over even my slowest time goal: 

1. Delusional time goal.

2. Poorly designed training plan.

3. Lack of commitment to training plan.

Let's start with the time goal. Though I didn't have a time goal per se - obviously your first time the real goal is just to finish - you nonetheless need to have some expectation of what is reasonable, in order to properly pace yourself. 

There are tons of calculators and charts to figure out what pace you can sustain for a given pace, based on your pace at a different distance. What you're truly capable of is going to differ by person, of course (slow twitch versus fast twitch muscle fibers, etc.), even with good training; but the general trend is going to be similar. And that trend isn't linear - you can't just double your 5k time for a 10k; if you're giving you best effort for a shorter distance, you shouldn't be able to hold it for a longer distance.

For the marathon, I've heard as a generality to double your half marathon time, plus 10 to 20 minutes. For slower runners, probably on the longer side of the add (after all 10 minutes is a smaller percentage of your total pace, the slower you are). When I started marathon training, my half PR was 2:58:48. I thought I should pace the marathon for a goal for 5:30, maybe 5:00 if the training went really well.

I'll give you a second to do the math there... in other words, I thought I'd go ahead and run 26 miles at 1 to 2 minutes faster per mile than I was currently capable of running 13 miles. I did bump down my half PR to 2:48:42 during marathon training, but even that put 5:30 as a waaaay stretch goal (i.e., basically maintain the same pace). 

Because of the higher mileage and high long runs, for the race itself, that pace didn't actually feel that hard - I actually set a new unofficial PR by the midway point of 2:42! - but, shockingly enough, I couldn't hold that for the entire time, and ended up walking huge chunks of the last 10 miles. Had I instead started on pace for, say, a 6:00 marathon, I might have been able to keep it up.

Now, I was able to improve my pace at shorter distances because of the demands of marathon training. But that plan, in terms of truly preparing me for a great marathon experience? Wasn't so great.

I put together a plan myself (because really, who knows better how to train for a marathon than someone who's never done so before?), based on some internet sources. I mostly figured that what mattered was (1) total weekly distance, (2) long run distance, and (3) some inclusion of speedwork. Which, yes, to some extent. In order to just physically be able to finish at all, that's enough. But not enough to make sure you really know how to keep on your goal pace (or know what your goal pace should be).

But even with two 20-milers, my total weekly mileage was only planned to peak at 40 - that's not really that much compared to running 26.2 at once! There are really a lot of nuances, based on how you body reacts to runs, how you much time you need to recover, whether you can handle cumulative fatigue, that ought to go into a training plan, that I didn't even know I needed to consider.

I also didn't stick close enough to the plan, such as it even was. Not that you have to 100% hit every single workout as prescribed, but you have to be reasonably close. I did hit two 20-milers, but they were slow and miserable, because I didn't built up to them properly after falling short on earlier log runs. I frequently fell short on both long run distance and total distance, peaking at only 38 miles for a week.

I talked about this a bit in this post at the time. A long-ish road trip and other summer goings-on made it so easy to make excuses of ways to spend time other than running. And though I didn't burn out on running altogether, this kind of training made running hard! I knew I had to put work in in order to succeed at the marathon, but I don't think I fully realized how much work it took, until I proved that I hadn't put in that work.

This time, I hope to avoid these issues, and let whatever it is that will go wrong over 26.2 mile at least not be something of my own doing! I've decided to do the Hansons training plan, and will talk about that in another post, hopefully up tomorrow.

Marathon Shadow Box

Although I've been saving all of my race bibs, and display them in a large frame:

I wanted to do something special to highlight my marathon bib and medal. After finding some pinterest inspiration, I decided to make a shadow box (and one for Abe, too)!

Supplies

• A shadowbox frame (these have space between the backing and the glass, to allow for display of 3D objects)
• Scrapbook paper or other paper/material (maybe a a branded space blanket or map of the race route) for a main background, and contrasting colored paper to put behind the photo or other paraphernalia 
• Paper cutter or scissors
• Glue (I'd actually recommend less-sticky glue - like a cheap kids' glue stick - rather than better craft glue, as you might someday want to be able to pull up your bib or photo to display differently)
• Race memorabilia - bib, medal, photo

1. Take the backing off the frame, and lightly glue on the paper or material you're using for the main background.

2. Trim a piece of contrasting paper to the same size as the photo.

3. Glue the photo, offset, onto the contrasting paper.

4. Glue the photo (glued onto contrasting paper) and bib (and any other flat components) onto the background paper.

5. Roll a small piece of tape and use it to stick the medal onto the background.

EDIT: eventually the tape stopped sticking, and I used Command adhesive velcro to attach the medal instead.

6. Wrap the medal ribbon onto the back of the frame backing, and tape it in place.

7. Put the backing back into the frame, and hang in a prominent location in your home!

Commemorative Coin Ornament

If you're like me, you've recently started to think about ideas for Christmas gifts. Keeping in mind the recipient's preferences, I like to tend towards things that are eco-friendly, reused or reusable, and sentimentally meaningful.

I've also been trying to figure out what to do with the commemorative coin that I got from the Portland marathon. Although it's awesome that they give you a lot of special things at the finish line: I can wear the finishers t-shirt, plant the tree in a pot on my deck, hang the medal on the wall. But what can I do with this?

In the past I've often bought special ornaments for my parents, such as when traveling. Not as the main gift, but just to share a little something of my experience. Finally, it hit me: I could make the coin into a Christmas ornament for my parents, to thank them for their support in achieving this goal.

Supplies Needed

• Commemorative coin from a special event
• Ribbon that is approximately the same width as the coin (1/8 inch in this case)
• Low-temp hot glue gun: Other types of craft glue might work, but I did try tacky glue at first, and it was too slidey on the metal - I couldn't get it to stick long enough to set. You can find basic hot glue guns at craft stores for as low as $10, and they're really useful in a lot of craft projects.
• Scissors

1. Plug in glue gun to heat up.

2. Cut a piece of ribbon about 18 inches long. The actual length needed = the  circumference of the coin, plus about 6 - 7 inches for the loop and knot, but if you leave some extra, you don't have to worry about getting the coin centered while you're gluing.

3. Apply a short, thin ribbon of glue approximately on the center of the ribbon, and immediately stick on the bottom edge of the coin. You don't have much time before the glue cools! Apply glue in half-inch or less increments, working around each side from the bottom.

4. Once each side is glued within a quarter inch from the top, tie the ribbon into a knot, pulling it tight against the coin. 

5. Tie the ends of the ribbon about 3 inches above the coin, and trim any excess.