Gary’s Fitness Blog

So how was I going to approach the marathon at the end of my EndureChallenge journey?  It would have been easy to go into the race thinking that all I wanted to do was finish the race, but other than celebrating the transition from my 20’s to my 30’s, I wanted to try and break through some psychological barriers that I’ve developed around racing over the years.  (I’ll write more on that in some upcoming posts).

So here is how I approached the race:

1.  Even though I wore my Garmin 305 and the heart rate monitor (thanks Saori and Paul), I told myself that I would not look at the heart rate data at all during the race.  I also decided that I would only look at the watch at mile 10, 13.1, 20 and the finish.

2.  Without the feedback from the Garmin, stopwatch or race clocks (this race didn’t have clocks or timers along the course), I decided to run a pace/effort that felt doable - But an effort that was “hard”.

3.  I also told myself before the race that I didn’t want any excuses for not “meeting expectations”.  I knew that there would be periods where I would try and use the Great Illini race the week before or the bike touring during the week as reasons that I wasn’t running well - I decided before hand that those excuses wouldn’t be acceptable.  (Easier said than done.)

Race Start:

There were tornado warnings in the area and it was raining pretty hard on and off during the night, so the race was pushed back a half hour.  At one point I was nervous that they would decide to cancel the race, which would have meant that my week would have come to an anticlimatic ending.  But after some sitting around and with the race director trying to get the course remarked with chalk, the race got started.

First 10 miles:

Before the race, I heard two girls discussing how they had planned on running just under 3 hours.  I thought that if I was going to see what was possible, why not latch onto them and keep them in sight as long as possible.  And hope that they don’t go out in 2:50 pace, because I wouldn’t have any way of knowing.

As we took off, it felt pretty comfortable to run with the small group of 4 or 5 that chose to run that pace.  I knew it was harder than I’d run in some time, but not unthinkable.  The race consisted of 3 loops (1,2,3) then you ran over a bike path to another division around a lake and ran 5 more loops (a,b,c,d,e).  I ended up running just behind one of the girls through loop d (when she started to pull away a little).

I crossed the 10 mile marker at 69:xx minutes.  “Holy Crap,” I thought, “I can’t believe that I’m actually running this fast still.”  It felt good at that point and around mile 12 the second girl started to run next to me.  As we ran back through the bike trail towards the half way point she said that she’d hurt her knee and that she was going to fall out at the half.  I was a little bummed that I wouldn’t have anyone to run around, but also knew that with all the loops there would be ways to see others and pace myself.

As we ran through the half, my watch said 1:31:xx.  Still going pretty well, I thought, but wondered how long it would last.

After running loop 1 and 2 of the second half, I knew that I was going to be in trouble - so I decided to take a conservative approach to my walking breaks.  I decided to walk 30 seconds at every other aid station,  I had been doing 30 seconds every 3 to 4 miles.

It seemed to help as I was able to run strong during the run portions of my race.  The a and b loops went pretty well, even the c and d loops were steady (although I could feel the pace slowing quite a bit).  I ran through the 20 mile marker at 2:24:xx, pretty good I thought.  10k to go.

I could feel the pace slowing more and more, along with my legs beginning to hurt significantly.  Many times during a run/race when I feel the pain and hurt begin to set in, I have confidence that my legs won’t give out (like on the run during the Great Illini last week).  This week it didn’t happen.  The last 10k was pretty rough.  I never stopped moving, but at times I really, really wanted to.

Finish: 3:17:xx (results not up yet)

Final Conclusions and Thoughts:

Most people say that I should be incredibly happy with how the marathon turned out.  To be honest, I don’t think that I’m ever fully excited about a race result.  Even at the Great Illini I wasn’t too happy and I set an Iron Distance Triathlon personal best by 12 minutes.  There is always something to improve when I look back.

But, that wasn’t the point of the week or the marathon.  It was to celebrate and I feel like that is exactly what I did for a week.  How lucky am I that I have the ability to get out there every day and push my body to the limit, without my body caving in?  How lucky am I that I have the health that allows me to be active and mobile everyday?  How lucky am I that I have so many friends and family that were supportive and interested in my crazy-little-mess-of-a-week?  How lucky am I that I have a wife that loves me, puts up with this craziness and supports me and even encourages me?

At one point early in my collegiate career I sat down and wrote out a sketch of goals in most of the major areas of my life.  The areas included:  education, financial, career, athletic and personal development/spiritual.  As I look back, many of those goals are starting to become a reality or have already been realized.  I remember after running my second marathon in 4:00, I thought that qualifying for the Boston Marathon may never be possible.  I sit here today a little dissappointed that I didn’t run under 3:10 a week after an iron-distance triathlon and 323 miles of bike touring - YES, I am a very lucky guy.

Athletic Conclusion to Marathon:

I am almost always very conservative when I develop a race strategy for triathlons and marathons.  I rather be conservative and finish well then go out and limp my way home - is my normal line of thinking.  While this often proves itself well in triathlons and marathons, I also realize that by always being too conservative we may never realize our full potential.

Fear of Failure is often the biggest limiter we face in endurance athletics

As I mentioned above, I did not want any excuses or reasons for not giving this marathon everything I had.  This meant I had to be ok with walking, stumbling or crawling across the finish line.  So I gave it a shot during this marathon and I feel very good about the opportunity my mind allowed my body have.

So was it realistic to run under 3 hours or even 3:10 at this race, with this training or in this situation?  Probably not, but it sure felt good to at least try!

This race was a little bit different for me, so the race report will be a little different. In this report, I will not include race strategy or performance details. I posted the race data from my Garmin yesterday, that should be enough to explain that side of the race.

I ended up getting into the Country Music Marathon on a last minute whim. Here’s how that happened: Nikki was planning on running the Derby Half Marathon and had trained for that race. A little over a week ago, she got an email saying that the Derby Half Marathon and Marathon was full. Her comment to me was,

“I guess you are not doing the race”

Which was fine with me because I wasn’t really excited about doing the Half Marathon anyway. Then I asked,

“I don’t think you signed up either. I don’t remember getting the receipt for your registration?”

It turned out that she hadn’t signed up. She ended up calling a friend (Jill) that was doing Country Music and decided to go to Nashville. Long story short, Nikki ended up not being able to travel with Jill… Nikki was going to go alone… I said I would go with her… I decided to sign up to do the full marathon.

The Marathon Course - the scenery

The half and full marathon runners are together until the 11 mile mark. While the first half of the marathon has some scenic areas (actually a couple different scenic neighborhoods), the full marathon offers an even better enviornment to run through.

There are two stretches after the courses seperate that were very refreshing. The first section was an approximately 1.5 mile stretch that was along a bike path that was along the river. While there were no spectators during that section, it was nice to get out of the streets and run with Jill in a peaceful and more relaxing setting.

The second section was between miles 23 and 25. That section was a loop through a park, evoking similar peaceful thoughts. A welcomed thought when you are at those portions of the marathon.

The Marathon Course - the terrain

I ran the 2004 Country Music Marathon and since that time I’ve been telling people that the course was a flat race. I apologize to anyone that I’ve given this advice. The course is not flat. It is not a particularly fast course either.

There are many sections during the course that have some type of hilly terrain - it never has a long stretch (multiple miles) of running that is forgiving or that would allow you to pull back large amounts of time lost on previous hill climbs.

Nashville as a host city

I just completed the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona this past January; given that the race was put on by the same race organization, I think it is fair to compare the two events. I personally enjoyed the venue, course and atmosphere of the Country Music Marathon more than the Rock N Roll in Arizona.

The one thing that made my experience in Arizona so rewarding was the Team in Training involvement, but overall, Nashville is more my style. Not only do I enjoy country music, but the downtown in Nashville and the entertainment options in Nashville are more appealing.

Lodging

We signed up late for the race and were left seeking hotel space at the last minute. We ended up staying at a Quality Inn off of Interstate 24, which was about 3 miles fromt he finish (Titan’s Stadium). A perfect location because it is easy to get to the stadium and they have buses running to the start line.

As we checked into the room I thought we had got lucky, as the lobby was clean and modern. Our room turned out to be “the worse room we’ve ever stayed in,” (a quote from my never-likes-to-complain wife). Besides the damp and mold / moist smell, it felt like it was two feet from the interstate traffic. In fact, after a couple hours of trying to sleep, Nikki got up and went and tried to sleep on the bathroom floor to get away from the noise.

That’s all I say about that. The hotel that Jill stayed in was a nice place that was on West End. I don’t remember the hotel’s name, but it was across from the Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery. A great place to get something to eat. I had the porter, which I can recommend, along with the Buffalo Burger; great post race recovery food!

Final Thoughts

I have now done the Country Music Marathon twice. It is on the top of my favorite marathon list to this point. For those of you doing a 50 States and DC challenge, I suggested making the CMM your Tennesse stop.

This race was personally satisfying. Running with my wife and a good friend and just enjoying the day is a great way to spend a Saturday - add in another 30,000(ish) runners and it becomes a party.

Our friend Amie running the marathon in Antartica!

Those of you that read my blog have probably seen a few posts where I talk about my desire to run a marathon in every state and DC. Then last year there was the an opportunity to earn a spot in the North Pole Marathon, which I applied for, but didn’t get.

Well, as I got more and more excited about the idea of running a marathon at the North Pole, I found several people that had accomplished the challenge of running a marathon on every continent. Amazing!

Today I got an email from a good friend of mine (Cory) that is worth sharing. Cory’s wife just ran the marathon in Antartica this past weekend. Amie is now a hero to me! Here’s Cory’s recap:

*** email start ***

Gang,

This email is all about Amie,as it should be!

When we left Antarctica, the last time, Amie mentioned that she regretted not running the marathon while down here. She said that if we ever came back (NO, that isn’t why we came back!), she would run the Antarctica Marathon. Well, Sunday was gameday. I volunteered to help support the marathon and Amie of course was going to run it. We drove out there at 0830 to get things started by 0930. Amie and her friend were ready to run so they decided to get to it. The weather was calm and sunny. Not a breeze in the area. Mt. Erebus was smoking and the sun was at high noon (like it usually is during the summer). There were about 30 other participants starting later. Along the route, there were aid stations set up, snow mobiles, and two Piston Bullies (what I was in). They also had participants running the 1/2 marathon and skiing the full and 1/2 marathon. Amie finished in a great time as her goal was to just finish the marathon. No sense hurting yourself down here when you have a month left.

Afterwords, there was a reception where the t-shirts were passed out and cookies were eaten. We treated ourselves to burger bar and mimosas……well, treated Amie as I didn’t work too hard supporting the race.

It was a perfect day for Amie to complete her mission. Now she only has five more marathons on five different continents! Next up…….who knows, maybe the Great Wall Marathon!

Hope all is well.

Next week will be about my new adventure/adventures……

*** email finish ***

Amie, you deserve a huge congratulations!

I have been spending the past few days in Arizona at the Rock N Roll Marathon. I came as the Team in Training coach for the Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter. For those of you who have not done the marathon, I believe that this may be one of the better courses to PR on than any course I’ve been on. Here are a couple reasons why:

1. The course is beyond flat. The elevation change is minimal and even when it does change, it is welcomed after all the flat running that you’ve done.

2. The number of runners isn’t too many to be able to actually run. Chicago is flat too, but anyone who has done that race knows that there are way too many people to get going from the start.

3. The time of year is perfect, if you live in an area where winter training is possible (and in KY, I believe winter running is the ideal.)

My experience here was different than any marathon I have done before, other than possibly the Tecumseh Trail Marathon when Nikki and I ran the race together. There were 16 runners from the chapter out on the full marathon course, so my only goal was to get each one across the finish line. And they were all successful! As a coach it was a little challenging at times over the weekend, primarily due to the fact that I had only met the walking group from Lexington a couple times and had never met the group of runners from Louisville at all. That makes it difficult to provide guidance leading up to the race, especially when they have trained differetly in many ways.

It might be hard to give a honest assessment of the Rock N Roll Marathon because of the Team in Training involvement, because at times it is hard to remember that all the participants are not receiving all the support, guidance and celebrations that the TNT group does. The one thing I have to compare the TNT experience to would be Ironman athlete support and celebration. They have:

1. Pre-race pasta parties and celebration
2. Race Morning support
3. Lots of support during race day on the course
4. Post-race victory party

In addition to that, TNT takes care of travel arrangements, hotel arrangements and transportation while at the site. As an athlete you really don’t have to do anything other than show up and do the race.

Plus, you get to use your involvement to support an organization that is making a huge difference in blood cancers by raising money for research and patient support. It was inspiring to see all the ribbons and pictures pinned on the racers jerseys. But then again, as one runner reminded me, it also is not a good thing because it means there are lots of people out there still battling blood cancers and lymphomas.

Some day that may not be true!

So my run was a great experience. I’m not sure how much I ended up running? I estimate >30 miles but <34 miles. Too bad I didn't have my new Garmin ready to go. I was a little bummed to see that this won't count towards my 50 marathons in 50 states goal. The one thing as a coach that was a bummer was that I didn’t end up as an official participant, i.e. no number, no chip therefore no result. So after reading the 50 states rules again, I’m left still needing Arizona. I did find out thought that Ironman races do count, along with ironman-distance races. So I guess I have Wisconsin done!

If you are thinking about trying a marathon for the first time, I would suggest thinking about going the Team in Training route. It is a great experience.