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Race Information

• Name: Indianapolis Monumental Marathon
• Date: November 9, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
• Website: https://monumentalmarathon.com/
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12860850188
• Time: 2:55:44

Goals

Splits

Training

A very belated race report that I hadn't gotten around to writing until recently! This was a hard report to write, considering what I’ve gone through over the past few months.

Before I started my fall marathon training cycle, I was dealing with some physical issues over the summer (hamstring and groin soreness), and I decided that it was worth visiting a PT to get ahead of it. This was the right call that I made for myself; after a couple of visits to the PT and doing PT exercises over a few weeks, I was able to mitigate those issues to the point I was able to run without it bothering me too much. I was not 100% (and still experienced lingering soreness), but it was good enough where I could now train as long as I continued to do those PT exercises to keep those issues at bay. Crisis averted (for the most part).

I started my fall marathon training cycle in mid-August and had plans to go through a 12 week training block; I ran into issues as soon as I started. Two weeks into my training cycle, I started feeling a bit off and running became a bit more labored. I tested for COVID and it came back positive, and I had to back off on my training for a week to recover. After I recovered, I immediately noticed my lungs were not back to normal. I did a couple of light workouts to ease myself back in, and effort wise it felt much harder to run at certain paces that I had no problems doing so just six months ago.

I didn’t fare great when it came to my fall tune up races: a half marathon and a 10 miler, both held locally. Originally, these were meant for me to check my fitness and see where I stood along the way. After I caught COVID, those tune up races took on a different purpose: “just go out by effort, hold on, and do your best” and not think about trying to go for PRs. For the half marathon, I ran a 1:25 plus change two weeks after recovering from COVID. Four weeks after, I finished the 10 mile race in 64 minutes. Compared to the shape I was in this past spring (where I ran 2:46 at Tokyo and at Eugene), this was a huge setback for me, and my confidence and motivation hit rock bottom. I realized I was in deep trouble; if my tune up race results were an accurate predictor of what I could run in an upcoming marathon, I was now facing the realistic possibility that I might not be able to run a sub-3 marathon of any kind, which would put my sub-3 marathon streak in jeopardy (six in a row at the time).

Here were a few key workouts that I did; these were done in the four weeks leading up to Indy:

• 20 mile long run with 15 miles at close to MP (6:40 per mile)

• 18 miles long run with 12 miles at goal marathon pace

• 2 x 5K at goal marathon pace

These workouts suggested that I was somewhere in the low to mid 2:50s shape for the marathon. My coach also noticed this and told me my fitness was coming back rapidly and that a sub-3 marathon was now back on the table. While this was good news, I was very cautious and wary about that for good reasons. Even as an experienced marathoner, I still respect the distance above everything else; you can nail your key workouts in the weeks leading up to the race but executing your race according to plan at your goal marathon is a wholly different matter. Ultimately, I had to lean on my lifetime fitness to help salvage what I could for the fall marathon training cycle. And I focused on my current fitness and what was realistically possible at the present, instead of thinking about reaching high and aiming for lofty goals I had for this fall.

Pre-race

I arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday evening and went to the expo to pick up my bib on Friday afternoon. Hung around the expo long enough to see the pro athletes panel, followed by the fireside chat with Olympic gold medalist Cole Hocker (and I got to meet him in person afterwards!). Had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, then went back to my hotel to prepare my race kit and drop bag, and went to sleep sometime after 10 PM.

I woke up at around 5:30 AM, had a small breakfast, got dressed, and was out the door by 7 AM. Since I was staying in downtown and the start/finish line was in that area, it only took me 10 minutes to walk over. The convention center was open, and I took full advantage of it by using the restrooms inside and stayed warm inside for a good amount of time. Closer to the start time, I went and dropped my bags off, did some drills and strides, then went into my corral to line up. After the usual introduction remarks and the playing of the National Anthem, Cole Hocker fired the starting pistol (he was the honorary starter for the race) and we were on our way.

Race

Start to 10K

The first 10K of the race was fairly uneventful for the most part. It was crowded during the first 1-2 miles but the crowding lessened up and I had adequate room to run my race. We were running through downtown for the first 5K, and so there were numerous turns along that stretch. I took water and Gatorade from most of the aid stations along the course and took a gel right before the 10K mark. Crowd support was decent in downtown Indianapolis, but became very spotty as we headed north and further away from downtown.

10K to Half

Heading north, half of this stretch was fairly flat but the other half featured a good number of rolling hills. I felt mostly good on this stretch, and had people to run with for the most part. Half marathoners peeled off sometime after the mile 7 marker, and us marathoners were left on our own for the rest of the race.

Along the way, I remember seeing a high number of McMansions in the neighborhoods I ran through in this stretch. And I was seeing and dodging a good number of potholes on the roads (and this was a frequent thing I noticed throughout the course). I was forewarned beforehand about the sorry state of roads in Indianapolis, but seeing it for yourself is something else! I was so grateful that I did not step into a pothole the wrong way and wreck my ankles. I continued to hit up all the aid stations, and took a gel at the aid station just before the mile 12 marker.

I went through the halfway point in 1:26:27; this was a bit of a surprise for me, considering that I tanked my fall tune up races and I had very modest expectations for myself going in.

Half to 30K

Even as we headed south, this stretch featured more rolling hills and per usual, I went by effort on those hills and was mindful to not overcook myself. I was still feeling good along this stretch, but I knew that the final 8 miles was going to be a slog for me, both mentally and physically, and prepared myself for the battle ahead.

Given that Indianapolis featured a significantly smaller field (in comparison to the major marathons), I was wholly prepared to run by myself during the second half of the race, where there were no one around me. Surprisingly, I had people to run at various times, and I always saw runners ahead of me most of the way. This was quite the relief to see. Per usual, I took fluids at all hydration stations I encountered along the way, and took a gel at the aid station just before the mile 18 marker.

30K to Finish

By this point, I was starting to show signs of gradually fading away, and I did my best to hold on. I took a couple of brief walk breaks at aid stations along the way to allow me to catch my breath and give myself a respite mentally. Sometime after the mile 22 marker, the 2:55 pace group caught up to me and I decided to latch onto them and run with them for as long as I could. That only lasted for just over mile or so; they gradually pulled away from me sometime after the mile 23 mark, and I was left to my own devices for the final stretch of the marathon.

After the mile 25 marker, I stepped on a large piece of gravel and I had to pull off to the side of the road and spent about 30 seconds dislodging the object from the bottom of my shoe. With just over mile left to go, I was determined to hang on and make it to the finish despite gradually fading. I started to look at my watch and counted down the miles until I reached the finish. And once I turned onto Meridian Street onto East New York Street and saw the crowds, I was in the home stretch. Picked up the pace when I made the left hand turn onto Capitol Avenue and saw the start area ahead of me, and the finish area just around the corner. One final right hand turn and I booked it to the finish line as best as I could.

I crossed the finish line in 2:55:44

Post-race

After crossing the finish line, I took a few moments to catch my breath, and took in the finish line area around me. I found u/Siawyn at the finish line a few moments afterwards and we hung out for a few moments talking about how our races went; we tried looking for u/run_INXS at the finish, but we were unsuccessful in doing so. After u/Siawyn and I parted ways, I met up with another running friend and we spent an hour at the finish line festival enjoying the post-race food and drinks and talked with other participants about how our races went.

Honestly, this marathon result was a miracle and a big win for me. My results of my tune up races (1:25 half, 1:04 10 miler) in the fall did not indicate that I was in shape to be able to run a sub-3 hour marathon, and I was prepared for the worst; I overperformed with my 2:55 marathon result in Indianapolis and kept my sub-3 marathon streak alive (7 in a row after Indianapolis). What likely helped was that I leaned into my lifetime fitness (aided by the fact that I was great shape this past spring and ran 2:46 marathons at Tokyo and Eugeue). Once I came back from COVID, I gradually resumed workouts did my best to be consistent with the workouts (even if many of those workouts felt very sub-par because of post-COVID recovery), and my fitness came back just in time for me to take advantage of it.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s been a hell of a couple years over here - from the most fit I’ve ever been, running mile repeats in low 6s while pushing a stroller, to struggling to breathe immediately after COVID and gaining 15 pounds for no apparent reason (eating less, nauseous a lot). I’m on the verge of being roughly normal again (but still up about 10 pounds) after a lot of running-related specialist visits and physical therapy and I have a low-stakes marathon coming up in January, so I figured what better time to tackle a solo half marathon time trial and tell nobody except my sports psych about it beforehand? Among all the COVID/potential asthma/likely perimenopause/chronic sleep deprivation, I’ve accumulated a lot of emotional baggage around my current body and running ability; I really wanted to run something that would meaningfully inform a marathon race plan, but honestly right now I can’t imagine paying money to go run a slow race so this was my compromise to get back out of the comfort zone.

The day after Thanksgiving: staring down the barrel of a 3.5 hour drive and having gotten up with a coughing sick toddler a couple times overnight, I was like zero percent excited to get up at the crack of dawn for a fucking long grind of a workout all by myself. Got ready anyway, this is really the only day that makes sense to do it so just buckle down and go.

My stale half PR is from 2018 off a season of triathlon training, 1:34:33; I have a faux-PR of a few seconds faster from a failed marathon attempt fall 2022, and I thought I should have been in 1:28-1:30 shape at a couple of points in the last 5 years but not at all recently. Race ‘em when you got ‘em, kids, because you never know when your aging body is going to spontaneously fail on you.

I ran 1:40 and a few seconds last December while actively having either an asthma attack, a panic attack, or both at the end, so I was mostly just aiming to do better than that experience - if not faster, at least more comfortable. I had figured roughly 7:37ish would get me 1:40 and I’d look to hit halfway in about 50 minutes but otherwise no stressing about splits. I’d be upset to be over 1:45 but either way it’d give me a needed data point for the marathon in January.

Okay, back to the run now. Two puffs of the ol’ albuterol inhaler, jogged two easy miles, sucked down a gel, switched to super shoes (Endorphin Pro 3), headed off from my driveway with another gel and a handheld with water. It’s been so long since I’ve really raced a half, I used to do it without any fuel or water and it’s probably time to catch up with the research and at least make an effort to get that little extra edge. Race playlist going but more just to shut my brain off than anything. I had planned a route to loop around the lake twice with a little added distance down some other side streets to get 13.1+ and then a bit of cooldown to get home.

Splits 1-3: 7:45, 7:37, 7:36

I glanced at my watch early in mile 1 and saw 8:something at that point so I had assumed I went through mile 1 over 8 minutes, apparently not. Stay steady, stay focused, don’t burn any matches too early. I’ve run this exact route more times than I could possibly count so no thinking involved, just move the legs and try not to let doubt and anxiety creep in.

Splits 4-6: 7:34, 7:21, 7:37* (moving time)

Ugh my handheld is bothering the absolute shit out of me, I hate carrying this thing. Switched hands and that didn’t help. It was all I could focus on. Shoot. I’d have to get rid of it. Stopped at a little park at 5.5, sucked down my gel, chugged some water, found a spot to stash the bottle and got moving again. Wasted a couple minutes but I am just calling it comparable to running an actual race instead of this solo nonsense. Mentally revised my route as I got going again so I could finish where I dropped my bottle - adding a couple side streets at the end with a gentle uphill, but followed by a quick downhill.

Splits 7-9: 7:30, 7:38, 7:23

Hit the halfway just under 50 minutes and started to feel pretty good, until it became clear that I was going to be managing a side stitch until the end. Oof. Well, let’s just get this thing done.

Splits 10-13.2: 7:20, 7:18, 7:25, 7:28, 1:25.4 for last 0.2

Stitch threatened but never fully materialized. Stay tall, stay relaxed, hips even, don’t overstride. Really cautious the last couple miles - mile 12 included the additional hills - but happy to feel strong for once. I mustered a small kick once I hit 13 but at that point I knew I was safely under 1:40 (moving time, at least) and didn’t pull out all the stops because I still had almost 2 miles left to jog to get home and really didn’t want to be fighting the side stitch then. Went to 13.2 to account for GPS error or whatever, 1:38:57 on my watch. Average heart rate after the fact was 168, vs 169 for my 3:13 marathon PR, but that was 5 years and a lot of medical things ago.

VDOT calculator says that translates to 3:25:48. I think there are too many variables at play right now to say how doable that is, but it’s feeling like a step in the right direction again.

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

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BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

One look at the forecast for Thanksgiving Weekend makes it plainly obvious the time has come! So what are your go-tos and must haves when it gets seriously cold out?

I'd be interested to hear suggestions for best socks, best gloves, best headwear. While we're at it, probably best tights/running pants for very cold weather as well. As most probably know, it's your extremities that usually get cold first. Layers are my friend when it gets really cold as well - I can just layer 2 shirts and a full size running jacket and that will take me down to 0 F no problem even with wind added in. The more layers you have, the more "defense in depth" you have against the cold - it has to work through each layer and your body heat gets retained very well. (we'll avoid the fashion debate of "shorts over tights" though!)

Recent winters here have been pretty mild so I just haven't had to think about it that much. And by mild I mean temps staying mostly in the 20s and above. If it's 20 F I just throw on any pair of regular gloves and socks and hat/cap and I'm fine. I'm talking more about the cold where you have to produce the "why do I live where the air hurts when I breathe" meme.

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

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Hi! I’m looking for some advice or best practices on how to build up for the half marathon. I noticed that I’m a few weeks ahead of schedule on the hal higdon training block and curious if I should keep building my mileage or stay at the current mileage and aim to peak at half marathon date?

Basically, I did 8 miles for my long run last weekend and still have 11 weeks to go for my half marathon date. Originally, I was planning to keep building to 12 pre-race, but noticed that I'll hit a long run of 12 miles about 5 weeks out from race day. So I’m wondering if I’m better off staying at 9 or so miles for a few more weeks now, before increasing mileage further to avoid over training or continue building to 12 and then figuring out a maintenance plan when i get there?

Would be awesome to hear how folks think about prepping for the half, if they’re confident the mileage will be there on race day? Are there any guides out there to potentially train maintenance miles 4-5 weeks out from race day?

Thanks you so much for your inputs!

Race Information

• Name: Snow Canyon Half Marathon

• Date: 11/16/2024

• Distance: 13.1 Miles

• Location: St. George, Utah

• Website: https://sgcityutah.gov/activity/activity/special_events/st._george_races/snow_canyon_half_10k_5k_fun_run_walk_n_roll.php

• Time: 1:44:33

Goals

| Goal | Description | Completed? |

|------|-------------|------------|

| A | Sub 1:45 | Yes |

| B | Sub 2 | Yes |

| C | Not Die | Yes |

Splits

| Mile | Time |

|------|------|

Training

My training was inadequate. I entered this 18 week block with high expectations, but non-running injuries (a fall from work being the main culprit) derailed my training multiple times. It was discouraging to say the least and in log I summed up a rather rough week as "amateur hour" and while I meant it in a self-cutting way, I came to find a bit of beauty in that. Yes, I am an amateur. Very much so. I am a mediocre runner. All of that is true and there is no shame in that because I'm out there doing something I love. Isn't that where we get the word 'amateur' from? To love?

Pre-race

I loaded the bus at 7:15 and was taken up to the starting area where it was quite cold. There I made a few friends and chatted with the various pace makers. The 1:45 pacers were going to go out at 7:00/mile pace to bank time for the hills at the end. A big goal of mine was to not have the first 5k split be my fastest split so I chose to run with the 1:50 pacers who ran a sensible pace.

Race -5k Split 24:28

"Hot-to-go" was playing at the start and it would be stuck in my head for the next 13.1 miles. If you don't know the song, do yourself a favor and don't look it up. It is quite the ear worm. Other than that the first 5k went well. I ran with the 1:50 pacers and we went out at a nice relaxed 8:15 pace. We sped up a little after the second mile but everything felt good and relaxed.

Race - 10k Split 46:27

Just after the 5k mark I started pulling ahead and started settling into my pace. I focused on just running relaxed and with minimal effort. I took a bathroom break around mile 4, which added some time but also helped me get my heart rate under control.

Race - 15k Split 1:16:44

Here I was starting to hurt. I was cramping up pretty bad after taking a gel and the goal here was to hold the pace. It was here I decided to walk through aid stations. Otherwise I just ended up splashing water on myself and I thought water would help the gels settle.

I also passed the 1:45 pacers here. They were 1:30 ahead of their planned pace, and so they were walking to conserve energy for the last few miles. I am really glad I didn't trust them. I haven't mentioned it yet but this race was absolutely gorgeous. You're running through snow canyon, which is where my wife and I did our bridal photos, and it is just stunning. Somewhere during mile 7 you turn a corner and are hit with a giant American flag strung across the canyon. https://shorturl.at/7w5Ne That was an incredible sight.

Race - Full Race

After you get out of the canyon you wind your way through neighborhoods. There are some small hills (well, objectively small, in the moment they felt huge) in these last few miles and I knew, at least intellectually, this is where the race really began. I was struggling big time to hold a decent pace though and you can see that in how much I slowed down. I turned the corner to finish on the Snow Canyon High School track and when I saw 1:44:XX on the clock I sprinted, knowing I could still get under 1:45 gun time. I didn't, 1:45:08 gun time. My wife got an incredible race photo of a really painful grimace. I really hope the race photographers got something better.

Post-race

I waddled through the finishing area drinking some water, collecting my medal, and eating some snacks. "Keep moving" was the mantra here, I knew I'd be hating life if I didn't at least try to cool down. I found my wife and daughter after a few minutes of wandering. I didn't put on my medal, mainly being in somewhat of a daze, but when my wife made a comment about it I had enough foresight to say "I thought my #1 supporter would like to put it on me." I think a new race tradition has been born!

Observations

I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of myself for the resilience I showed before and during the race. I'm proud that my first 5k split wasn't my fastest (but it definitely wasn't the slowest either). I'm proud that I trusted my gut as I finalized my race plan. I am proud that I was adaptable and that I finished strong. I'm proud that for once I don't feel like I under performed.

That said, the moratorium on self criticizing is now over and there's a few things I should point out.

1. I am under-developed aerobically.

2. I definitely need to work on my nutrition, both during training and during the race.

3. I should have been better prepared for those hills at the end.

Great race for me and I really enjoyed the half marathon distance. Baby #2 is coming in June, so I doubt I'll be back for 2025 but I want another stab at that last 5k!

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

It’s the Weekly Rundown! This is the place to post your last week of training. Feel free to include links to wherever you track your runs. (Strava, Smashrun, etc.).

Your weekly place to discuss or ask questions.

Is your question one that's complex or might spark a good discussion? Consider posting it in a separate thread!

BEEP BEEP! It's weekend time! What are you up to?

Race Information

• Name: Indianapolis Monumental Marathon
• Date: November 9, 2024
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Location: Indianapolis, IN
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/12861398378

Goals

Training

(I wrote this along the way before the race, so that it wouldn't be influenced by the result. Also I don't write short reports, so skip to the race itself if you want)

This was a deeply personal cycle and it's impossible to write this report without describing the circumstances around it, but need to keep it vague for reasons. When I started this cycle in Mid-August I was really going through some tough times that were self inflicted, which made it even worse. Definitely the lowest I've ever been in my life. I would not recommend throwing yourself completely into running as a coping mechanism, but I huffed some grade A copium and I was very fortunate that I didn't break myself completely. I lost about 10 lbs in extremely rapid fashion (8 of them in just a week) the week before I started this cycle, and ended up dropping from 183 lbs to 169 lbs by the end of August. I managed to pull myself back up to the 172-175 range since then, which is still anywhere from 7-10 lbs less than my typical race weight. I'm 6'4" for reference. The first 3-4 weeks of the cycle was pretty tiring as a result, with lack of sleep, lack of eating properly and just a lot of stress in general. After that I slowly pulled myself together and just kept focusing nearly 100% on running. I did stabilize the diet and sleep finally and from mid-September on at least this facet of my life was stable. I treated the missing 7-10 lbs as a gift. Again, not recommended, but sometimes life throws you curveballs and you just have to roll with it - life isn't always fair & you learn a lot about yourself during those times.

With that said, I had signed up for Indy just before all of this went down. I had run a hilly half marathon in 1:37 in early August, and that was a course PR by 3 minutes - I had run it every year since 2016. My HM PR is 1:32 from 2021, and that year I ran 1:40 in that particular August race so that told me with a good cycle I'd be primed to take a shot at a BQ, which has always been my dream. The revised BQ for me, a 52 M, is 3:20. I figured I needed to be at least at 3:16 to feel safe and that seemed within the realm of possibility with a good cycle.

Backing up a bit with my history, I started running in 2016 when I decided to stop being sedentary behind a desk for 2 decades.I started hardly being able to run a quarter mile without being hopelessly out of breath. Then I made it to a 5k, and then a 5k without stopping. My first HM in 2016 was a 2:10, I ran a full in 4:56 and then whittled that down to 1:39 and 3:41 respectively in 2018. Then I took a break from marathons, focusing on HM and shorter distances until I felt like I could run a BQ. I lowered the HM PR to 1:32 in 2021 and that was my sign. In 2022 I ran Grandma's but I got hurt halfway through my cycle and had to jog in the same time of 3:41. I took another crack that September at BQ.2 in Chicagoland and was on pace halfway through but pulled a muscle in my quad and had to post my only DNF of my entire running career. That one hurt in more ways than one and put me out of commission for a while. 2023 wasn't a great year, but I just very gradually built back up. That August HM race saw me struggle to a 1:53, but in late September I ran the Akron HM in 1:43 and things were finally looking up. Then I caught COVID in October and had to reset everything... again. 2024 saw me do a 5k/10k cycle for an 8k race in June. I had a great cycle for a while but flirted with overtraining and horrible race day conditions had me only post a 38 min 8k. Very disappointing at the time. Took a couple weeks very easy on pace which was sorely needed, had an amazing start to summer, built back up, ran the 1:37 HM and I was clearly on the upswing. I had been around the 50 mpw mark as well. Indy would be marathon number 8 and my 4th state. (OH, IN, IL, MN)

I went with Pfitz 12/55 for the plan, but I ran every day (I have a 320 day running streak as of the posting of this report now) and occasionally I added a mile here or there to the MLRs and LRs. The MLRs is where the sausage is made in Pfitz plans IMHO as you're almost always running them on tired legs. I also did easy doubles usually once a week to add a little more easy mileage. I seemed to be fond of doing these on Monday, or on the evening after a morning workout. I kept the pace on "rest" days as easy as needed, sometimes that meant miles that started with a 10 for pace. All that mattered is that I was moving, and I always felt better afterwards. Ultimately I ran 750 miles for the 12 weeks and from weeks 2 to 10 I averaged 69 mpw. Mileage by week was 52, 72, 72, 76, 64, 66, 75, 69, 64, 65, 50, 23. Did I mention that prior to this I'd only run greater than 70 miles for 3 weeks in my entire running history? See above about throwing yourself completely into running as a coping mechanism, and again, I'm incredibly fortunate I didn't break myself. In fact, shockingly I never had any niggles. I -was- occasionally very weary though. I remember a couple of MLRs where I just wanted to lie down and die afterwards, and one LT workout early on where after I finished the LT part in humid conditions I was just so drained physically/emotionally that I sat on a bench and cried for a minute. The only other bad decision that I made (at least with respect to marathon training!) was volunteering at a soup kitchen and the food bank. These would be 3-4 hour sessions standing on my feet a lot and found that more tiring than running 2+ hours! But from a non-running perspective it was really important to get me by - I needed to stay occupied. Giving is what gives me happiness.

Training breakdown - after that first week I really ramped up the miles but as noted above I tolerated it somehow. Starting training while it's still August in Ohio is always tricky but tolerated that as well. The key is to just be realistic about workout paces and not stress about being slower. A not-so-brief summary of how it went:

August:

First 14 with 8 MP session went great at 7:24 for the MP miles. The first LT session was not with obscenely warm/humid conditions and averaging 7:09 for 4 LT. However I knew that was all weather related so I didn't stress about it one bit.

September:

LRs this month were very solid. One thing I started to do, because it just really helped me to do things over the weekend, was to make some road trips for most my long runs and do other things while there. The LRs this month were in Cleveland (16 at 8:32), Cuyahoga Valley National Park (17 at 7:40, with 10 at MP at 7:20 with the last mile in a comical 6:47 because I felt strong and ripped one), Pittsburgh (19 at 8:19), and Cincinnati (20 at 8:24) The first LT workout this month was all over the place but averaged close to 7:00 for 5 LT. The 2nd one was a shot in the arm averaging 6:55 for 4 LT. By mid month I was really starting to feel the fitness take shape. I ran the hilly Akron HM on Sept 28 in 1:34 for a big course PR on a tropical morning (thanks Hurricane Helene!) and that told me again that my BQ goal was very doable. More importantly, I ran positive and with joy with every step, the first sign that I was pulling myself out of my malaise. The very next day I ran 13 miles easy and I wasn't even that tired, which just reaffirmed how awful the weather was for the race - I had been limited by my lungs, not my legs. The weather most of this month sucked. The last 20 days of Sept were all above normal and frequently humid. I knew it would pay off later though, even if it didn't help me in the moment. I ended up with 310 miles this month, which blew away my old monthly record of 250.

October:

The weather finally broke, and I took off. 7 days after that HM I did the infamous 7 LT workout and absolutely crushed it averaging 6:51 with the last mile at 6:42. Followed it up 2 days later with a 21 mile LR in Columbus at 8:06. The next week I did a 10k TT in 41:58 for a pretty good PR. The next day I did a hilly 17 mile LR in an easy 8:44 in Monaca PA (which is really good the day after a 10k race) but almost had catastrophe strike as I tripped over my own feet while daydreaming and fell going down a hill. Busted up my forearms pretty good, lots of road rash as well, tweaked my left ankle and knee and had a nice cut on my head. However I avoided actually breaking anything and didn't have a concussion so I got incredibly lucky. I wasn't feeling that way while running the 8+ miles back to the car though hurting the whole way with dark thoughts swirling (why do these things always happen when you're at the furthest away point?) Metaphorically this was just me picking myself up off the ground, yet again.

I powered through the next week while very sore with a decent 4x1200 workout (roughly 6:35 pace but it was rainy, windy and only 39 degrees, just an ugly morning & in a dour mood) a 14 mile hilly MLR on that Friday and then a killer 22 mile LR on Sunday in Athens OH at 7:42 pace with a negative split. I honestly was stunned at that one and this is where I was asking if I was overcooking things, or if I really was that fit. Evidence pointed to me actually being that fit though. I wrote in my running journal yet again that I had no idea where I was drawing this strength from, but maybe it's because running was the only thing I had in my life at that moment so I was wholly committed to it. In this case, I really was trying to make the best of a bad situation, but I became more and more positive with each day that dawned. After the 3rd week of October I felt like I was peaking or very close to it. The question would be how broad I could make that peak last, but it was only 3 more weeks to the race so was already close to the taper. A lot of times this month I started to visualize the finish to Indy. Just putting myself into the mindset, knowing I'd have to embrace the grind, be willing to suffer, and how good it would feel coming down the finishing chute realizing my dream at last. I particularly seemed to keep visualizing seeing the mile 23 marker and telling myself only 5k to go, time to hammer it. I had no idea what mile 23 at Indy looked like but I was ready to find out.

Last weekend of October was the final 10k tuneup and I aced that with a 41:30 time and an estimated 5k PR along the way with very even splits. In fact this was my best age graded score & time of 74% / 36:17. The very next day I went back to Pittsburgh and cruised through 17 miles at 8:06. It shocked me just how little fatigue I had in the legs the day after that 10k. October ended up with 290 miles, so 600 miles total between Sept/Oct.

Running continued to be a metaphor for me putting myself back together - I just kept getting stronger and stronger somehow, pulling from some unseen well that somehow never emptied. The gradual confidence that I kept gaining from running was exactly what I needed as I had been just so incredibly down on myself. Then it was the taper and hoo boy, the taper crazies hit big time for the first time ever. I'm a very calm/patient/stoic person but not this time. I just wanted to run ALL THE TIME - not because it would keep me from losing fitness, but because I was just going stir crazy not being out doing it. It had been such a huge part of my life for the prior 10+ weeks, the structure being the lattice that I clung to while pulling myself up off the floor and I had to figure out how to fill the extra time and all the extra energy that was spilling over. The taper ended up being symbolic of me learning to stand on my own 2 feet again. Gotta stand before you can run, right? And I had about 26.2 miles to run still.

The last workout 10 days out was the 3x1 mile one. Despite not really feeling that great for it, did well averaging 6:27/mile for the splits. I set a (very soft) mile PR of 6:25 in there. Time to close the barn door, because it was bursting with hay.

November:

Not much to add here. As alluded to above, the taper crazies raged at first, and this really was the first time in my entire running career that I had them. It's just this running cycle had meant EVERYTHING to me. Time passed at a glacial pace. Race day would never get here. I'd probably trip going up the steps and hurt my knee. Or I'd pull my back getting out of bed. Or I'll catch a cold or worse, COVID again. Ok doomer.

Pre-race

Of course none of that happened, and we made it to the Friday before the race and I made the 4.5 hour drive to Indianapolis and the expo for packet pickup, did my 3.5 mile shakeout feeling light and easy and settled into my hotel for the night. I had entered a tranquil calm, my last long run the weekend before had been 13.1 miles at 7:43/mile while still feeling easy and that was just the final piece of this jigsaw puzzle that I had laid out for myself 3 months ago. The "race prep" 7 with 2 at MP workout felt hard, but it was also nearly 80 degrees in November and windy so I dismissed it. The whole week I just thought of how far I'd come and kept visualizing the race, how easy it would feel for a long time as I was well prepared and reminded myself many a time not to get carried away too early in the race. Being patient and calm is a strength of mine, and I needed to lean into that all the way.

At the very start of this cycle I had penciled in 3:18 as a goal time. I had slowly settled in on low 3:1X for my goal as the cycle went on. Nothing dissuaded me from that on race week. I've been running long enough and had enough data to know that this was a reasonable goal. (my watch suggested 3:29 - thanks for the vote of confidence, Garmin!) A 41:30 10k would suggest 3:11. My HM (adjusted for hills and weather conditions and my prior experience running flat HMs 6 weeks after that hilly one) suggested 3:11 was reasonable. My MP workouts early in the cycle suggested that high 7:1X pace was reasonable. 3:11 would be 7:17 pace. 3 solid to great 20+ LRs and carrying 70 mpw for most the cycle told me that my endurance was more than fine.

All in all I'd target 7:15 on the watch, knowing that the actual pace would probably be 2 sec higher due to GPS. I subscribe pretty religiously to the 10/10/10 rule for the marathon in which the first 10 miles should feel easy, the 2nd 10 should feel moderately easy, and the last 10k is where you do the work. I'd re-evaluate at 10 and 20 miles to determine what I'd do with the pace, but ideally I'd still be cruising at 20 and then could ever so slowly ratchet up the effort. My goal was still somewhat binary (I wanted that BQ more than anything else) so I could afford a bit of a drop off on the second half. I'd be fine if I split 1:36/1:39 for example. I think that really gave me a little bit of comfort headed into the race; I had some wiggle room. I knew I had an outstanding block of training behind me; going all 12 weeks and not missing or compromising on a single run was an incredible feat. If I failed, it wouldn't be because of training. But I wasn't going to fail, and my mood was extremely positive headed into race day. Running sometimes can be half mental, and I was going to ace that part. I reminded myself every time I set a big PR in a race I was always full of quiet confidence on race morning. I thought of how far I had come in 12 weeks. The one time I wasn't mentally strong had cost me so much. It wasn't going to happen again.

I really nailed race week prep. I got 8-9 hours of sleep most nights up until the night before, and I carb loaded pretty well. My sleep schedule has been hilariously off kilter since August and the time change the prior weekend did not help one bit, but I wasn't worried about trying to correct it until after this cycle was over. I crashed around 8 pm, woke up around 2 am, was up a few times, caught some brief winks of sleep between, then was up for good around 4:30 am. Had my usual poptarts & Gatorade for breakfast, took a long hot shower to relax, knocked out the Final Poop(tm), checked out of the hotel and got to where I was parking at 6:30. This ended up being quite early but being in an unfamiliar city meant I'd rather be safe than sorry. So I just chilled in the car for a while, then walked over to the convention center a block away which was open, found a bench I could sit on, and relaxed there watching the minutes tick away agonizingly slowly. Re-tied my shoes and went to the corrals around 7:40 and worked my way up toward the front of corral B. I should have tried to switch to Corral A at the expo but didn't think of it. The 3:15 pacer was at the back of A. Oh well, I figured there'd be plenty of people in the same boat as me and this was a big marathon anyways.

Weather was about ideal as you could ask for - mid 40s at the start with some scattered layered clouds. A beautiful fiery red sunrise greeted the day, and just put me in an even better mood. I looked around the corral. Everyone here had their own personal story, but we were bound by the commonality of it all. Mine was pretty simple. Complete the journey, and get that BQ. I reminded myself how I ran the Akron HM in late Sept - positive and full of joy and how it felt like the dark clouds were finally parting for at least a time. We're going to latch onto that, and just keep the good vibes flowing I promised to myself. This race is a celebration of me and the culmination of a journey unlike any other in my life. I knew I was going to get it. I was 100% positive of it, even if a little voice told me being overconfident is the devil's work. But damnit, I'd earned the right to be confident. It's a fine line between that and being cocky, and I was hopefully staying on the correct side.

Corral A went off at 8, B was to go off at 8:05 and I ditched my throwaway sweater - forgot the sunglasses were on top of my head and they went flying off - oops. Grabbed them off the ground, put them back on, had took my first GU a few mins prior and we walked up and we were off. Finally.

Miles 1-5

I was right in that all of us in the front shot out fairly fast, so I pretty quickly locked into the 7:15 pace that I was shooting for. These miles just passed away with hardly a thought. I'd brought 6 (now 5) gels with me and the only changeup was I had to hold 2 of them in my left hand as all of them in my shorts were too heavy. Whoops. Turns out losing 10 lbs will do that. I started hitting the fluid stations right off the bat, taking water at first. Gel 2 was at mile 4. GPS got very jumpy headed back through the downtown circle, but I just kept the effort even and it smoothed back out. Everything felt free and easy and I just cruised.

Splits: 7:14, 7:14, 7:16, 7:14, 7:13

Miles 6-10

We start heading north out of downtown here. Indy serves Nuun as their sports drink and I hadn't realized that - never had it before. But it tasted fine to me. Gel 3 was taken at mile 9. Keeping with my "running with joy" directive, every time I saw a spectator with an Ohio State shirt on I'd yell "O-H!" and I'd get the "I-O!" back. I'm not even really an Ohio State fan despite being from Ohio, it was just me being cheerful. Headed west on E 38th for a bit, my reverie was broken by the sound of several sirens as an ambulance and fire truck came down the road behind us - fortunately on the other side. Shortly after turning north again on Meridian St for a few miles, a blonde pulled up alongside me to the right. She said she had been just 5 seconds behind me for a long time now and thought she would catch up. We chatted for a bit about goals etc and she was looking to finish under 3:15. Told her she was well on her way for that, as I was aiming for 3:11 and just making sure every mile was under 7:20 at the least. The conversation lasted for a couple of miles, then I gradually pulled away. At mile 10 I took stock of how I was feeling, given the 10/10/10 philosophy I follow. First 10 felt easy, we're good. Lets just keep on cruising.

Splits: 7:16, 7:14, 7:15, 7:16, 7:13

Miles 11-15

I kept hitting most fluid stations, alternating water and Nuun. Started to pick up a few minor rollers here on the course - nothing major, just enough to keep it interesting. I remember seeing in the distance the halfway checkpoint for the marathon and I was surprised - I thought I was coming up on the mile 12 marker, not 13! I'd been idly daydreaming and completely lost track of the miles. Cool, free mile! I rolled through the checkpoint at exactly 1:35:30 per the official race split - I was proud of that one. Just gotta do it again, that's all. Around mile 14 I hit another fluid station for water, and I must have took too big a swig and some of it went down the wrong pipe because suddenly I started coughing and choking on it. Well, that's cool. First time for everything I guess. I slowed up slightly for a few to work that out and got back to pace. It did however set my stomach off slightly and I delayed my next gel for a bit until that settled. Other than that, kept on cruising.

Splits: 7:15, 7:13, 7:14, 7:13, 7:14

Miles 16-20

We'd started to turn back around to the south here and the southeast wind made its presence known - it was fairly steady around 10-13 mph. Also picked up the most notable hills of the course here - it's all relative as Indy is a flat course but this was definitely the hilliest section. Gel 4 was taken at mile 17 after I judged the stomach was fine again. Around mile 19/20 finally had some downhills and that gave some bonus seconds. However, this also was an empty part of the course. When I hit mile 20 - it was time again to take stock. Felt like I was working pretty hard, enough to where picking up the pace I figured was an unwise gamble - better to just stick to the mid 7:1X's and go for the even split, and with the wind it might get tough because I knew it would be a headwind for almost the remainder of the race. I was so proud of my incredibly even splits so far though.

Splits: 7:19, 7:15, 7:17, 7:07, 7:14

Miles 21-23

I knew 21-23 would be the key point of the race going in. If I felt good at 20, I would have the BQ in the bag (barring some awful catastrophe) but the final 10k was where I was going to find out if my top end goal was in play or not. The marathon is long enough to where you make all these plans and there's a million possible ways it could go sideways. The wind was enough to start slowing me up a touch and I finally saw a 7:2X mile for 21, but halfway through 22 I started to feel a side stitch on the right. I was hoping it would go away. Spoiler: It did not. It grew from an annoyance to becoming actively painful. Legs were tired and sore - mostly the quads, but were able to keep on, but I had to slow up in hopes of somehow working the side stitch out. Wasn't happening. The wind started to feel more annoying because of that. It became a delicate balancing act of how fast could I run without the side stitch getting worse. I was willing to suffer a lot, but with 4 miles to go it was a bit too far still. The pavement was a little rough in spots, and spectators were rather uncommon on a fair part of this section as well.

Splits: 7:24, 7:34, 7:54

Miles 24-26

I saw the mile 23 marker and it took me back to my visions in October. I had thought about this for a long time; now the moment was here. I'd visualized having a message of strength and picking it up. The message I got instead: Pain. I heard a female voice beside me saying "Lets go" - it was the blonde. She had caught back up to me, and she was rolling. I half grunted side stitch and she pulled off. I didn't see her again, so she had an amazing race. My right side hurt like hell but my new goal in the moment was just to keep the miles under 8, no matter what. Somewhere around 23.5 you turn south on the long straightaway back to downtown Indy and holy shit, the skyscrapers look impossibly far away. THERE IS NO WAY ITS ONLY 2.5 MILES TO THERE. It looked like 7. I realized I was starting to feel negative for the first time and was like fuck that, so I flipped my sunglasses down and just didn't look that far ahead. I endured, and there was some carnage along the way. One person laid out in a blanket with EMTs attending to them. People cramped up stretching or walking. Here I was still running sub 8 miles and staying steady, even if it hurt badly. The wind was incessantly annoying at this point but as we finally closed in to downtown it lessened a touch. Anytime a negative thought of how it was hard entered my mind, I shoved it away. Nope, not going there. I'd hurt worse before. I'd force a smile and remind myself how far I'd come. Saw another Ohio State person and did the "O-H!" thing again. Catching back up to the crowds helped.

I got to about a half mile to go, where you make a right turn, then a left turn, and then a right turn to the finishing chute. I made one last request. One last request to the unseen well I had pulled from for the last 3 months. Give me whatever you got left, and I'll finish as hard as I can. The answer I got back was: "Go, run!" And somehow, mysteriously, miraculously the side stitch just... vanished, and I took off. My body just felt like it was tingling. Nobody passed me in that last half mile and I blew by people, with mile 26 managing to be a little faster than the prior 3, and then the last 0.36 on the watch being under 7 with the closing kick in the chute being around 5:30 pace. I completely fed off the crowds that were roaring. If dopamine was a PED, I'd have been busted. This was enough to get me just under 3:14 for a 28 min marathon PR. Yeah, I think I'll take that!

Splits: 7:54, 7:54, 7:41, 6:43 pace (last 0.36)

Post-race

I knew immediately when I got that tingling feeling that 2 things were going to happen: I was going to finish incredibly strong, and I was going to cry the second I stopped. Both were true, I veered to the right to an empty section of the rail and just leaned over it and the tears flowed - tears of happiness this time, just all the emotion spilling out, not just from the prior 3 hours and 13 minutes, but from the last 3 months. I was just completely emotionally spent. How I had pulled myself back together and somehow put this cycle together and this race together, and didn't give in. Official time was 3:13:47, which gave me a very nice 6:13 buffer off my BQ time. Age graded that's 72% and the age graded time is 2:50. You figure the splits were 1:35:30/1:38:17 so not really that bad.

u/theintrepidwanderer found me shortly after and we slowly made our way out while chatting for a quite a while - it was nice catching up with you! I had to skip around noon as I still had a 4.5 hour drive back to Akron, and with all the stops I needed on the way home to stretch and eat etc I didn't get home until almost 7. Going down stairs are still fun today but outside of that, I'm quite fine.

Reflections

Interestingly, I never hit the wall. My slowdown was purely because of the side stitch, and once that went away I had so much juice left in the legs still. I'm not sure what caused it. I don't know if the half-choking incident at mile 14 threw everything off, or if it was because I'd never had Nuun before (even though it tasted fine?) that it reacted differently eventually or what. Maybe the wind made it a bit harder. Sometimes it's just one of those things too! I never did take another gel after 17 and no other fluids after 20 - certainly wasn't going to while side stitched. But I had all the strength I needed. I really leaned into the running with joy this race. The execution was nearly perfect - stuck right to the plan with the splits, and if you skip past the side stitch part, I'd never closed feeling so strong in one. Best feeling ever to hammer it home at the end like that.

It took 8 years from absolute scratch with ups and downs along the way, but I can type this out - I'm going to Boston. This, this was my race of a lifetime.

What's next?

I honestly don't know. I had wondered for a bit what I would do after Indy as this was my singular focus, my driving purpose for the last 3 months, but then put those thoughts away in a box. I'll run a Turkey Trot & Christmas 5k and see if I can carry this fitness into my first sub 20 5k - would be cool to get at my age. After that, I just don't know what 2025 will bring. One day at a time has been my mantra and I'll keep on with that for a while. I do know I'll be running Chicago in October though, so perhaps I'll do a shorter distance cycle in the spring to unlock even more speed. I see a path to a sub 3 marathon out there (which is 2:38 age adjusted) but I'll need to stack another cycle or two like this one. I know I can do it though. Nothing will ever be harder than this one, or maybe my strength was just forged out of the circumstances.

Splits

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

November 9

Background and Training

This was my fifth attempt to get on the five decades sub-3 marathons (aka 5D/S3) list, there are only a few dozen runners who have done that. Previously I ran 2:34 in the 80s, 2:44 in the 90s, 2:54 in the 00s and my last sub 3 was in 2018 with a 2:58. The 2020s attempts have been 3:02, 3:00, 3:01, and 3:05.

Otherwise, this was a big year of racing with a 25K and two half marathons on the docket. I knew going in, that it would be a big ask to fit in a late-year marathon.

In August I ran the world masters half marathon in Europe, got sick on the return, and it took a couple of weeks to get my legs back. Going back to the first week of September mileage was 50, 57, 70, 70, 61, 70, 64, 70, 68, and taper weeks of 36 and 31 miles. I got in four decent long runs of 19, 20, 22, and 20 miles, and a mid-long run of 11-13 on most of those weeks.  The long runs included progression efforts to marathon pace or just a little over, and most of the mid-long runs had tempo or threshold workouts.

The Race, How Did it Go?

Listening to the evidence on carbo loading, I carbo-loaded a bit more than usual on Friday, but not too extreme. And for the race I had Maurten 160 in a handheld for the first 50 minutes and after that used Maurten gel every 30 minutes (so 480 calories for the race). That was about all I could take in.

Cut it close getting into the corral before the start. The first 4-5 miles of this race are very crowded. We hit the first few miles a bit slower than race pace the 5 mile split was in the 34:30s.

Through 10 miles I felt heavy from the carbo loading, but not terrible. I kept clicking off 6:55s or so and was 68:40s for 10 miles. Then I fell into a funk, and was questioning whether I should continue with this return to sub 3 quest, and also wondering if I could maintain or increase pace, to keep o the sub 3 quest. That was not a good headspace.

We passed the half, a bit off pace and then 15 miles n 1:44, and knew that sub 3 was no longer on the table. I just resolved to keep on the pace for as long as I could.

My mantra for the day was to live in the mile, and that’s what I tried to re-focus on. And I also thought about resilience. The mostly the downhill 19^th mile felt great! But then my pace fell off to 7:10s or so. Came through 20 miles in 2:18. 10K to go. Once we got back onto the city streets after about 21 miles I focused by making it from stoplight to stoplight and that helped keep my head in the game.

The last few miles weren’t terrible, nor were they great. I could not ratchet my pace down to sub 6:50, that just wasn’t in the tank. But 7:05-7:10 was sustainable.

My wife and son (he’d just finished the half) were on the side of the course with about a half km to go, before the last couple of turns. With less than a quarter go however, my little toe blew up (ended up being a popped blister, and I’m certain to lose another toenail), so I had sort of a sprint-hobble over the last bit of the course, crossing in 3:03.

Post-race

I grabbed some food and got my medal and made my way to the gear tents, but soon after getting my bag I got nauseous and started throwing up. That only lasted for a minute or so, but it felt longer. Then I felt better. Lolled around the area for an hour or so until we all reconvened. Enjoyed some good meals later in the day a couple of beers in the evening.

Post Hoc, What worked and What Didn’t?

I’ll give the training block a mixed review. I did get an adequate amount of mileage, with long runs and workouts, but an 8-week marathon-specific build may not have been enough. However, I did have solid a summer HM block preceding that, but it was hard to come back from a peak week (in August) in just a couple of months.

Fueling and hydration went okay. I did not bonk or cramp. That was more gels than I’m used to, but still it was less than some are now recommending.

My mental prep and attitude? Also mixed. I was probably less nervous for this race than any marathon I have done, going back 40+ years. That’s good. But I have never felt so off in the middle of a race—that time between 10 and 15 or so miles, I when I was questioning whether I should do any more of these, in particular another sub 3 attempt. Fortunately, I was able to pull out of that and get back into the mindset of just being in the mile.

The Future?

I don’t know. No doubt I enjoy distances, say 25K and under (down to about 5K) more than I do the marathon. What does that tell you? I would at least like to get NYC done to complete the North American WMM tour. And my son and daughter-in-law are already talking about doing Berlin someday. But breaking 3 again? Has that ship sailed?