A Tough Reminder and a New Experience

Saturday's 18-miler served as a tough reminder of my first marathon last year in Oklahoma City. Those who know me know that it was not a great marathon experience. The run took me over 5 hours to complete. It was, to say the least, frustrating. The reason: I went out too fast.

On Saturday, the same thing happened, and while my takeoff was not nearly as careless as it was in OKC, I still ended up regretting it a little around mile 13. The first 5 miles of the run was a flat loop through Jenks. I could tell we had started out maybe a little quicker than usual, but it was not until the 4th mile that I glanced down at my Garmin to see that, at that moment, we were running 7:44. Obviously, that was not our sustained pace, but considering we were not even coming off of a hill, our average pace was, for me, uncomfortably faster than my marathon pace. (Maybe that's a good thing?)

Dave and I pulled back a pretty decent amount as we headed east down the Creek Turnpike Trail. After the turnaround on Garnett, my legs started feeling a little fatigued. I slipped on ahead of Dave at a water stop on Memorial (not because of my speed, but just because I did not stop and chat for very long). He quickly caught up with me, and I told him I was going to hang back, that I had already used up too much.

Once I had topped the hill west of Sheridan and had regained my composure headed toward Yale, I started to feel a little more energy. Trying hard to just ride this late burst, I focused on maintaining a steady, consistent pace, so as not to use it all up again.

In the end, I was content with my average pace--extrapolated, it still would have gotten me to the finish line in under 4 hours--but I think I could have attained the same pace a little more comfortably had I started out a tad slower and reserved more strength for the later miles. Doing so might help me through the last 6 killer miles of a marathon.

This morning, I decided to go to the Y for some treadmill time. This, once complete, affirmed my long-held belief that I do not like treadmills. I ran for 30 minutes (3 miles according to the display), and that was all I could take. I considered running another 3 miles around my neighborhood after I got home, but decided against it since I was wearing a now sweaty short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Also, I was missing another garment of clothing I typically wear (especially in the winter), but forwent this morning in order to experiment with what seems to be a clothing norm among Runners World Tulsa Facebookers--at least, among those who responded to a recent Facebook poll posted by Brian. My thoughts on this new experience? In a word: liberating.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 665 ft Location: Jenks, OK Elev. Gain: -10 ft Date: 02/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+925/-935] Time: 08:02 AM Difficulty: 3.9 / 5.0 Weather: Light Rain Fog/Mist 42 F temp; 92% humidity 42 F heat index; winds NE 5 Performance Distance: 18.33 miles Time: 2:35:26 Speed: 7.1 mph Pace: 8' 29 /mi Calories: 2183 Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 06 -0' 23 7.4 +0.3 -3 ft 2 8' 06 -0' 23 7.4 +0.3 +3 ft 3 8' 12 -0' 17 7.3 +0.2 -6 ft 4 8' 06 -0' 23 7.4 +0.3 0 ft 5 8' 22 -0' 07 7.2 +0.1 0 ft 6 9' 17 +0' 48 6.5 -0.6 +6 ft 7 9' 18 +0' 49 6.5 -0.6 +95 ft 8 8' 29 +0' 00 7.1 -0.0 +26 ft 9 8' 18 -0' 11 7.2 +0.1 -62 ft 10 11' 24 +2' 55 5.3 -1.8 +26 ft 11 8' 14 -0' 15 7.3 +0.2 -52 ft 12 8' 25 -0' 04 7.1 +0.0 +23 ft 13 8' 28 -0' 01 7.1 +0.0 +46 ft 14 9' 06 +0' 37 6.6 -0.5 -49 ft 15 8' 28 -0' 01 7.1 +0.0 +13 ft 16 8' 48 +0' 19 6.8 -0.3 +30 ft 17 8' 25 -0' 04 7.1 +0.0 -49 ft 18 8' 40 +0' 11 6.9 -0.2 -66 ft end 8' 23 -0' 06 7.2 +0.1 +3 ft Versus average of 8' 29 min/mile

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