Rt66 Marathon recap

[biomaj5]

This will be short and sweet because I'm hella tired and sore and I still have some homework I have to do before I can crash in bed.

It was 24F at the start, and never got above 27F. I was bundled up like a freaking eskimo with my sweats and winter coat over my running clothes; my friend took them from me when I lined up in the corrals and brought them back to me at the finish line. My clothing plans worked well-the handwarmers in my gloves and the knit headband over my nose/mouth were essential to my survival. The race would have sucked hardcore without them.

The outside of my right foot hurt for the first 5 miles or so, and then that stopped. My knees started hurting around mile 11 (yay IT bands-at least my hips didn't hurt this time!). Around mile 22 is when the mental game came into play because I was fairly tired by that point. But I pushed through. The 4:45 pacer caught up to me at 25 miles, and from then on I kept her behind me. I raced some random dude for the last .1 miles or so; he thanked me after we crossed the finish line. We both needed that little push to get through to the end. He beat me, btw, but that's cool because I was worried about tripping and so I pulled up a little. It would be my luck to faceplant right at the finish line lol.

I know most people do their fastest goal as their A goal; I do it backwards. My official A goal was sub-5hrs; my super-secret B goal was 4:45. This was my second marathon; my previous PR was 5:36:29. I ran 4:43:02 today. That's a 53 min PR.

I don't actually have a finishing photo; my phone died and I was hungry and cold.

My pre-race eskimo getup; what I actually ran in (add gloves and facewarmer from first pic lol); and me and my medal in the car on the way home.
Attachment DeletedAttachment DeletedAttachment Deleted

[coconutbug]

Congrats on your PR!! Awesome improvement!

[Wines Not Whines]

Congratulations! That was a crazy cold race!

[biomaj5]

Thank you! I'm already thinking about what my goals should be for the next one (endurance vs time goal). But I'm still high from the run, so I probably shouldn't make any important decisions right now lol.

[runaways]

Awesome job! That's a huge PR!

[jene]

Congrats!

Did you switch anything from your training for your first full to training for this race?

[al320]

Congrats! Thats a huge pr!!!

[sassystace]

Great job!!

[gogadgetgo]

Go bio!!!!!

[biomaj5]

Nov 24, 2013 20:26:53 GMT -5 jene said:

Congrats!

Did you switch anything from your training for your first full to training for this race?

I started running in Jan 2012, and ran my first marathon in April 2013 (OKC Memorial Marathon). I ran some of my long runs with my bff, and her pace was about 3 mins per mile slower than mine; I don't know if that had an impact. I also weighed about 8-10lbs more than I do now.

I started doing weekly sprints on the treadmill in May; I definitely think that has had an impact on my overall speed. Everyone told me that this marathon is super hilly, so I added hills into the latter half of my longest mid-week run (treadmill). I cut out sprints during the taper though, and didn't do any hills last Tuesday. I think part of the improvement is simply that I've been running a teensy bit longer; some of it is surely stubbornness. The memorial marathon was my 6th race; today's marathon was my 16th race (various distances; this was my 2nd marathon), so knowing what to expect in a race and being a little bit tougher mentally probably helped. I definitely do not expect to have this big of a PR ever again. I was probably more aggressive in training than I should have been-I haven't even been running for 2 years. I paid for it, too: I had shin splint issues for most of the summer, and my IT bands give me some problems if I'm not diligent about foam rolling.

If I pick a time goal over less walking breaks as my goal for the next marathon, I doubt that I'll have anything better than a 10-15 min PR at the most. I really need to take a few weeks off from running and let my body recover. I think that how well I can recover will dictate how my next training plan will go. I'm not the best at taking rest days, but I think I can be disciplined enough now to recover properly.

[grk2012]

That's fantastic, congrats on the PR! Major kudos on trucking through the cold, too. Wow!

[sadlebred]

Congratulations on your PR!

[chw57]

Congratulations on that amazing PR! I can't imagine running a marathon in the cold like that!

[clseale]

Haha, I love the Eskimo pic!! Congrats on an amazing PR. Awesome job!

[wanderlustmom]

You did great and look so happy!!!! Really exciting to read. You should be proud of your huge PR and making it through in the cold. I am with you, just ran my first full and I'm a hot mess. Had the thought during my five miler tonight that I'm going to do my next this spring then later thought nah , I'll just stick to halves. Lol! I love to run but my feelings about fulls are all over the place.

[kams]

Brrrrrrr!! What an incredible PR! Congratulations!!

[Deleted]

So cold!!! I can't imagine running a marathon in that! Congrats on the PR!

[jene]

Nov 24, 2013 21:05:02 GMT -5 biomaj5 said:

Nov 24, 2013 20:26:53 GMT -5 jene said:

Congrats!

Did you switch anything from your training for your first full to training for this race?

I started running in Jan 2012, and ran my first marathon in April 2013 (OKC Memorial Marathon). I ran some of my long runs with my bff, and her pace was about 3 mins per mile slower than mine; I don't know if that had an impact. I also weighed about 8-10lbs more than I do now.

I started doing weekly sprints on the treadmill in May; I definitely think that has had an impact on my overall speed. Everyone told me that this marathon is super hilly, so I added hills into the latter half of my longest mid-week run (treadmill). I cut out sprints during the taper though, and didn't do any hills last Tuesday. I think part of the improvement is simply that I've been running a teensy bit longer; some of it is surely stubbornness. The memorial marathon was my 6th race; today's marathon was my 16th race (various distances; this was my 2nd marathon), so knowing what to expect in a race and being a little bit tougher mentally probably helped. I definitely do not expect to have this big of a PR ever again. I was probably more aggressive in training than I should have been-I haven't even been running for 2 years. I paid for it, too: I had shin splint issues for most of the summer, and my IT bands give me some problems if I'm not diligent about foam rolling.

If I pick a time goal over less walking breaks as my goal for the next marathon, I doubt that I'll have anything better than a 10-15 min PR at the most. I really need to take a few weeks off from running and let my body recover. I think that how well I can recover will dictate how my next training plan will go. I'm not the best at taking rest days, but I think I can be disciplined enough now to recover properly.

That's awesome! 

[noisemaker2]

Amazing job!!

[hannahb]

Nice job! And Brrrr!

[Deleted]

Wow! Great job training and great PR!!!

[cinco]

You did great! Congrats on a huge PR and hitting all your goals!

[gt7301b]

Great PR!!!

[katinthehat]

excellent job!!!

[boston340]

Great race recap! Congrats on your PR and running such a strong race. You look cute all bundled up before the race! Did you feel like you were dressed properly for the race?

[lovesherheels]

I can't IMAGINE running a marathon in that weather, much less getting a PR too! Way to go!

[emuni04]

Congrats on the PR!

[Deleted]

Sweet work!! Awesome new PR, that's incredible!!

[LWoods]

Great job!

[biomaj5]

Nov 25, 2013 9:44:22 GMT -5 boston340 said:

Great race recap! Congrats on your PR and running such a strong race. You look cute all bundled up before the race! Did you feel like you were dressed properly for the race?

Yes. I took the sweats and jacket off right before I went into the corral. I stood in the corral for probably 20 minutes. I was cold until 2 miles in or so, but after that I was ok. I had planned to ditch the facewarmer thing after a few miles, but needed it for the entire race. I think I would have been very cold without the facewarmer and the handwarmers in my gloves.