Preamble
It's been a long while since I've actually posted anything on this blog, though I think I have my 2013 Wisconsin Ironman and 2014 Ironman Austria reports both about 66% done. I needed to write this particular race report, though, since it turns out: I won!
You might recall from earlier posts that I train with a great group of people, all of them endurance athletes. A set of six of us decided to sign up for the 2015 Ironman Wisconsin and wanted to also look at an early marathon, both as a test of our training for Ironman, but also so that some in the group could (re-)qualify for Boston in 2016 (Dave and I had already qualified and ran there and the others had it as a dream or stretch goal).
We recycled a plan that Dave had used as he prepared to run a sub-3:00 at Boston (he wound up with a 3:00:03) in 2013. I entered the plan into a spreadsheet and setup formulas for each of the workouts so the pacing data would adjust for whichever runner was looking at the plan. We might have an interval run like: "2 mile warmup/ 2 down + 6x 1 mile @ 06:25-06:30/mile with 2 minutes recovery between," which is pacing for me, but it would change to "07:51-07:57/mile" for Deb. We ran outside, up here in Minnesota, all winter long, and even fit in twice a week biking sessions, just because we're triathletes and still have our eyes on Septembers Ironman. A couple of the folks in the group even managed to get in their swims as well!
Lead-up
We collectively looked at races in the area in the early spring and settled on the "Run for the Lakes" marathon in Nisswa, MN. In it's eighth year, the race is a USATF certified course and a qualifier for Boston. We all trained hard and got stronger and faster, though there were some set-backs. Kristen developed some IT band issues and was out for several weeks. Mark had some knee issues and wasn't even sure if he was going to run at all. Dave pulled a hamstring playing soccer and was out for a couple weeks, traveled overseas and didn't run for a couple more, and then developed Achilles tendonitis that had him out for another couple weeks. Deb wound up with some knee issues and cut some long runs short. Mike felt like he was over-trained but kept plugging away. Chris started off wanting the BQ but then revised his plans based on what he was seeing in training. I even had a bit of a scare when, just four weeks before the event, I started noticing something in my left glute that I thought might be tendonitis. In spite of all this, we loaded up in cars and headed to Nisswa on Friday night and everyone planned to run at least part of the race.
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| Walking to the car at the hotel, carrying 40s for after the race |
The two women in the training group, Deb and Kristen, needed 3:40s, to qualify for Boston. Given historic cut-offs, we figured everyone should be at least 2:00 faster, so they were training to run 3:35. Three of guys the training group, Dave, Mike, and Mark needed a 3:15 and they trained for a 3:13 to be safe. I'm older so only needed a 3:25, but planned on running the race with Dave, Mike, and Mark at 3:13.
In the end, Kristen was going to run the half. Mark wasn't sure what he was going to do, leaning towards not running at all, but considering the half. Mike, Dave, and I were going for the 3:13 BQ. Deb was going for her 3:35 and a BQ and Chris was going to run with her. Matt was going to run the half for a PR. We had a group meal at an Olive Garden in Brainerd, then were back to the hotel in Baxter to get race bibs fastened and strategies discussed. We then headed out about 07:15 for the quick drive up to Nisswa.
The Race
The weather was perfect: it was cool and cloudy and while there was some wind, I never really thought it was an issue on course. After hitting the bathrooms and getting a great group picture
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| Clockwise from back left: Chris, Dave, me, Mike, Deb, Kristen, Matt and Mark |
The first half marathon was really quite nice.
Dave and I were chatting, a bit, hitting the aid stations, taking note of significant points for the next lap, etc. We were cruising and feeling good. As we came to the half marathon point, we were curious to see how many of the people in front of us would disappear. It turns out that "all" of them did. We took our full marathon detour and suddenly there was nobody in front of us, as we wound our way around the finish and back onto the main loop. As we came around a corner just past mile 14, one of the volunteers shouted to us, "Go get her!" We looked up ahead and saw a lone figure running a ways up the road. We kept on our pace and were slowly gaining on her. At mile 14.6, there was a left turn so we could go up 0.2 miles, turn around in the road, and then come back down again to add the 0.4 needed because of how our course differed from those running the half, but allowing us all to finish in the same place. As we were running to the turn around, two things happened: 1) we finally got a chance to see the woman ahead of us as she came running past us after she'd made the turn; and 2) Dave started having issues.
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| Course map |
At the time, what I heard was, "Uh, ... not feeling so good ... go get 'em," or something like that. What I found out later was that he noticed his HR had spiked up in the 180s and that his gut was bothering him. He said it was the first time he really thought he was going to puke in a race! I continued running pace, but kept one eye behind me, thinking and hoping he'd recover and rejoin me. The other eye was on the woman in front of me, growing steadily closer. I passed her just after mile 16. I heard from Dave afterwards that when he saw me catch her he thought, "Oh no!..." because when you pass someone, you don't want them to linger just behind you - you want to pass them and make sure they don't stick there, so you pick up the pace a bit. I don't think I did that, but all Dave knew was that he'd need to run even faster to catch.
It turns out he was doing some very low 7:00s trying to catch me. At one point I heard him just behind me, maybe 10 meters. He'd passed the woman too and seemed to be rallying so I gave him a thumbs up and some encouraging words. Unfortunately, that was the end for Dave and he faded quickly thereafter. Later I learned that he kept running to about mile 18, then walked and ran to about mile 23, looking for the medical tent, and then DNF'd. They put ice on his Achilles and he got a ride back to the finish.
On My Own
I, however, was now running on my own. I'd passed the woman, but had no idea how many others were in front of me. Rather than think about that, I kept focus on my pace. I was surprised to see mile 19 pop up. The previous couple of miles just sort of flowed. I was in a good place and was enjoying the feel of the run - it was quiet in the woods. All I heard were my own footfalls and breathing. Even the aid stations were quiet, people just standing there with water or Powerade in their outstretched hand.
Regarding nutrition, I'd decided to make a big change heading into this race. I've gotten myself to the point where I can do a 12-14 mile training run without water or food. I do pre-hydrate by drinking a water bottle of electrolyte beforehand and maybe munching on some sort of bar or popping a GU. During my long runs, I've been doing water in two bottles and a carb drink in the other two, plus some blocks or chomps and a GU. This is very different from my carb drink heavy approach of years past, where I was also trying to do a GU every 45 minutes or so. I've had two recent races where my gut prevented me from a better time (the Boston marathon and Ironman Austria) and I really didn't want that to happen again. For this race, I drank my electrolyte water bottle just after waking up and munched down a Bonk Breaker bar. I packed a bar and some chomps for the run. I started the chomps around mile 6, just two at a time, slowly dissolving and chewing them. I would alternate that with nibbling on the bar. I also alternated just drinking water and then Powerade at each support station. In addition, I brought along a GU Roctane, but was only going to use it if I really thought I needed it.
Miles 19-~23 got a bit hard. I'd lost my "zen" feeling and realized it was different and a bit lonely up front. I've done most of my running with my training group, though have done enough solo running, usually longer runs, that it wasn't entirely new to me. The terrain was rolling and, for the first time, I found that I needed to put in some effort to keep pace up the hills. Mentally, I pulled out some of my first-use Ironman mantras, including a new one my partner had gifted me in an email just that morning when she said, "Run like the wind, Bullseye!" Somewhere in there I decided to do the Roctane. I'm glad I did. By mile 24, I was feeling strong again. Of course, by this point the rollers were done and there was an ever so gradual uphill slope left to the finish. As I came around a corner just past mile 24, I zipped to the aid station to grab a handful of oranges and asked the volunteers there how many were ahead of me. Their answered shouts came to my back as, "Uh, ... I don't know, ... maybe a couple?" I looked up the road and, sure enough, saw someone off in the distance.
I briefly allowed myself to think that, "Wow, I might be able to podium in this," thinking third place would be pretty darned cool! I quickly re-centered and focused on pace again and was surprised when I zipped past the person who had been so far up the road. It turns out to have been a half marathoner who I'd just lapped. That also helped explain why the volunteers really weren't sure how many were ahead of me. Another corner revealed several clusters of half marathon joggers / walkers. I did my best to maintain my pace catching up to and running past these groups. I had my pace and I was going to stick to it.
When I saw the sign for mile 25, I was really happy. I was feeling good and knew that even if I totally blew up, for whatever strange reason, I could still walk it in and meet my real qualifying time. Earlier on, while still running with Dave, he'd asked how far ahead we were. I paged down on my Garmin screens to my Virtual Pacer, set for 7:20s, and saw that we were about 1:45 ahead of pace at that point. I figured I might be something over 2:00 minutes ahead and did the quick mental math and realized that I had a chance of doing a 3:10:something. Again, though, I put that out of my mind and just focused on pace and form. The wall I'd hit two years earlier in the Minneapolis marathon never appeared. It seemed the worst I'd faced in this race was a little bit of extra effort needed to get over the rolling hills 8 miles back. Things were looking and feeling good.
As I came up the biking trail they had us running on into town, I shouted out to a volunteer, "Where's the finish?" and she indicated, with a big smile, "It's just up there, keep going then turn left." So, I did. I covered that last third of a mile and came to a cluster of people cheering at a corner. One of them was Matt, from our group who'd done the half marathon. I'm hoping it was a smile I gave him as I came around the corner. That's when I saw the race clock and it read 3:09:19, or something like that. I know I smiled then as I realized I was going to make it under 3:10! Still, though, I just kept running what felt like pace (I didn't look at my watch) and ran myself under that finishing banner.
I stopped my watch, took a few steps, then put my hands on my knees and just rested a bit. I wasn't really all that tired and wasn't sore, though I had noticed my hips talking to me a bit the previous 4 miles or so. I stood up and started walking again when I realized I likely should be getting a finisher's medal and turned around. A volunteer sort of awkwardly walked up and draped one around my neck then silently offered me some water.
As I was opening the water bottle, a man walked up to the barricade and asked my name and some other basic information. I thought he was the race director, just wanting to make sure things matched with my bib number. Then I saw Matt and he was beaming a smile at me. He said something like, "Great job!" I thanked him for that and then he said, "You won!!!" I didn't believe him, and said as much. I think I said, "You're kidding, right?" but he insisted that I'd won. He said that another runner had come through before me, but he was the last member of the winning relay team. Matt assured me that I was the first solo marathon runner to cross the line. I was totally surprised! I really thought there were "a couple" of people in front of me. The man who had asked me my name then reappeared, though I think he'd been watching Matt and I the whole time. He asked a few more questions and then said he'd like to talk with me some more after I'd had a break. I still wasn't clear on who this guy was, but I indicated I'd likely just be "around."
Matt and I got my thermal blanket wrapped around me, though I really wasn't cold. We talked some more about his claim that I'd really won the event, with me still disbelieving, but coming around to the idea. Eventually the question-asking guy came up to us again. This time Matt walked off and the guy pulled out a tape recorder. He asked a lot of questions, which I answered, though I still didn't really know who this guy was. I still thought he was a race director. Cutting this bit of the story to it's conclusion, he turned out to be a reporter who wrote this story the next day.
Matt and I reconnected and then I mentioned that, "Dave should've been right behind me." As we waited, though, it became clear that he wasn't. We then watched the next person come in and cross the line. I wandered back toward the finish and shook his hand. He said his name was Lon Anderson, that he was 50, and that this was his first marathon. I was quite impressed. His time was 3:20:something which is quite fast for a first event. Matt and I kept watching the clock and expecting when the next members of our group would be coming through. We kept hoping to see Dave, but never did. Next to come through was Mike, who ran an awesome race and PR'd by 25 minutes, placed 10th overall, and took 3rd in his age group! Then we saw Deb, who made her BQ by 57 seconds, also PR'd, won her age group and took 2nd overall for women! Excellent performances!
In talking to Mike, and then Deb, Matt and I learned that Dave had DNF'd, as I mentioned above. That was sad news to hear as he and I were really having a great race together up until his issues at mile 15. I then decided to walk to the car and get my phone, only a block away. I'd turned it off to save battery and when I turned it back on, it started beeping with all sorts of notifications. The first thing I did, though, was called home and talked to my partner. Her first words were, "Oh Brian, what happened?" Her voice was full of compassion and concern. I was really confused at this point. I told her that I'd just run a 3:09, that I'd set a new PR, and that I thought I'd won the race. She said, "Hon, I've been watching the results page. They have some guy named Lon as the winner with a 3:20. I can see Mike's and Deb's finishes, but I don't see you or ... oh wait, there's Dave." I told her again that I was fine, had finished well, and that I really did run a 3:09. With that, she was quite happy! She congratulated me and then let me go.
I checked on some of those many notifications and one of them was a text, from a training mate who's running a later marathon, saying, "Mike is that a PR!! Brian what happened???" By now I understood the confusion and what he was asking, so I texted back, "My watch had me at 3:09:44. I think I won. I was interviewed by the race director" The response came back, "Yes!!! You are not on the results page tho! They hv winner at 3:20" After hearing that news twice now, I headed over to the results tent. They had a really nice large-screen display showing the results and, sure enough, Lon Anderson was listed as the winner with his 3:20:02 time. The had a computer there where you could put in your bib number and get your timing ticket printed. I did so and was pleased to see that I had an official time of 3:09:37! With that in hand, I then walked to the timing tent. I mentioned to them that their on-line page showed Lon as the winner with a 3:20:02. They looked at their phones and said, "Yup." I then held out my finishers ticket and said, "I ran a 3:09." One guy grabbed the ticket, seemed surprised, and dashed for a computer and started clicking away. The other one had a clipboard that he started flipping through. He quickly said, "Sure enough, we have you here as the first finisher and the backup stopwatch time matches. You got first. We'll get it corrected."
The whole experience was a really weird way to find out I'd won -- it didn't show that to people watching on-line and no race official actually did or said anything when I finished. Still, it eventually sank in and was a pretty neat feeling. Somewhere in there Kristen, who'd run the half and had no knee issues, joined Matt and I and gave me a big hug. Mark started the race to do the half, felt good, and just kept going and finished with a PR! Chris finished with a smile on his face as well. Dave came hobbling over with an ice back taped to his swollen Achilles, all smiles and happy for the whole crew. Those 40s I'd lugged to the car were found and opened by Mike and Dave. We all headed into the Community Center and took turns getting our free, post-race massages. I was pulled aside and interviewed by another reporter (I never have found that article). We all had some beer, ate some donut holes, and had a great time talking about the race, getting each person's perspectives on the various stories and experiences we'd all had. It was a really fun time.
We all hung out in the Community Center and waited for the 13:30 awards ceremony. It was pretty neat that three of us, in the group of eight, managed to place in our age groups, two of us took podiums in our gender, and that I somehow snagged the overall win. We all had a great day and everyone left happy. I don't think you can ask for much more than that. We drove home shortly afterwards and headed to Mike's where we'd planned a party for the runners, spouses, and children. What Dave didn't know is that his wife had also planned to use that party for his birthday party: he would turn 40 the next Tuesday. We all had a great time, ate too much food, drank too much alcohol, and probably stood on legs that could have used a rest. Everyone had an awesome time!
I've taken a peek at my splits in Garmin and on Strava, specifically looking at Grade Adjusted Pacing (GAP) and found that Dave and I, then just myself, did a great job at keeping pace. It wasn't as robotically perfect as Dave managed when running Boston, but I was quite happy with what I saw. My average HR was just 155. When I BQ'd in the Minneapolis marathon in June 2013, my average was 161. As I look back on the race, I realize that it was more like a training run. I was never out on the edge or worried about whether I'd "make" it. I did have to work that one section to stay on pace, but things never faltered. I also realized that I negative split my second half-marathon, running a 1:34:49 for the first half and a 1:34:48 for the second half -- a one second difference. NOTE: I just downloaded my "official" finishers' certificate and they are listing my official time as 3:09:48, so the two half-marathon times are exactly the same.
I think that if I'd thought more about my mental math when I realized I could go a 3:10-ish around mile 25, I believe I was still far enough away from the "edge" to be able to bump the pace by 10-15 seconds per mile. In my day-dreams, I'd have been able to drop the pace to 6:50s for those last two miles and that would have put me into the 3:08 range that I really felt I could have run at Boston in 2014 if I hadn't blown-up due to meds and GI issues. That's awesome validation of where my training is at as I look forward to Ironman Wisconsin in just over four months. It also has me thinking about what I want to set my goals for at Boston in 2016. Maybe a 3:05? Maybe shoot for that magical "Rule of 6" and go for a 3:02:57!? We'll see what the future holds.
I really, really, really need to thank my running group for all the help and support they've provided over the years. Besides the folks who were at the race with me, this includes Johnny, Jen, Evan, and even folks like Andrew who have influenced me from afar. Having a group of folks like they all are is invaluable. You know they're getting up when you're feeling tired and questioning wanting to get out of bed. You know that they'll be at your side pushing harder when you want to falter on the interval run. You know that, while there is always some friendly competition and ribbing going on, they have your best interests in mind with helpful and critical thoughts on nutrition, overtraining, stretching, injuries, and the like. I'm a far better runner today than I was when I met the first of these folks and started training with them. I really and truly owe them the majority of my success. Thanks to you all!!!!
When I saw the sign for mile 25, I was really happy. I was feeling good and knew that even if I totally blew up, for whatever strange reason, I could still walk it in and meet my real qualifying time. Earlier on, while still running with Dave, he'd asked how far ahead we were. I paged down on my Garmin screens to my Virtual Pacer, set for 7:20s, and saw that we were about 1:45 ahead of pace at that point. I figured I might be something over 2:00 minutes ahead and did the quick mental math and realized that I had a chance of doing a 3:10:something. Again, though, I put that out of my mind and just focused on pace and form. The wall I'd hit two years earlier in the Minneapolis marathon never appeared. It seemed the worst I'd faced in this race was a little bit of extra effort needed to get over the rolling hills 8 miles back. Things were looking and feeling good.
As I came up the biking trail they had us running on into town, I shouted out to a volunteer, "Where's the finish?" and she indicated, with a big smile, "It's just up there, keep going then turn left." So, I did. I covered that last third of a mile and came to a cluster of people cheering at a corner. One of them was Matt, from our group who'd done the half marathon. I'm hoping it was a smile I gave him as I came around the corner. That's when I saw the race clock and it read 3:09:19, or something like that. I know I smiled then as I realized I was going to make it under 3:10! Still, though, I just kept running what felt like pace (I didn't look at my watch) and ran myself under that finishing banner.
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| Done! (with a chomp block in each cheek still) |
Post Race
As I was opening the water bottle, a man walked up to the barricade and asked my name and some other basic information. I thought he was the race director, just wanting to make sure things matched with my bib number. Then I saw Matt and he was beaming a smile at me. He said something like, "Great job!" I thanked him for that and then he said, "You won!!!" I didn't believe him, and said as much. I think I said, "You're kidding, right?" but he insisted that I'd won. He said that another runner had come through before me, but he was the last member of the winning relay team. Matt assured me that I was the first solo marathon runner to cross the line. I was totally surprised! I really thought there were "a couple" of people in front of me. The man who had asked me my name then reappeared, though I think he'd been watching Matt and I the whole time. He asked a few more questions and then said he'd like to talk with me some more after I'd had a break. I still wasn't clear on who this guy was, but I indicated I'd likely just be "around."
Matt and I got my thermal blanket wrapped around me, though I really wasn't cold. We talked some more about his claim that I'd really won the event, with me still disbelieving, but coming around to the idea. Eventually the question-asking guy came up to us again. This time Matt walked off and the guy pulled out a tape recorder. He asked a lot of questions, which I answered, though I still didn't really know who this guy was. I still thought he was a race director. Cutting this bit of the story to it's conclusion, he turned out to be a reporter who wrote this story the next day.
Matt and I reconnected and then I mentioned that, "Dave should've been right behind me." As we waited, though, it became clear that he wasn't. We then watched the next person come in and cross the line. I wandered back toward the finish and shook his hand. He said his name was Lon Anderson, that he was 50, and that this was his first marathon. I was quite impressed. His time was 3:20:something which is quite fast for a first event. Matt and I kept watching the clock and expecting when the next members of our group would be coming through. We kept hoping to see Dave, but never did. Next to come through was Mike, who ran an awesome race and PR'd by 25 minutes, placed 10th overall, and took 3rd in his age group! Then we saw Deb, who made her BQ by 57 seconds, also PR'd, won her age group and took 2nd overall for women! Excellent performances!
In talking to Mike, and then Deb, Matt and I learned that Dave had DNF'd, as I mentioned above. That was sad news to hear as he and I were really having a great race together up until his issues at mile 15. I then decided to walk to the car and get my phone, only a block away. I'd turned it off to save battery and when I turned it back on, it started beeping with all sorts of notifications. The first thing I did, though, was called home and talked to my partner. Her first words were, "Oh Brian, what happened?" Her voice was full of compassion and concern. I was really confused at this point. I told her that I'd just run a 3:09, that I'd set a new PR, and that I thought I'd won the race. She said, "Hon, I've been watching the results page. They have some guy named Lon as the winner with a 3:20. I can see Mike's and Deb's finishes, but I don't see you or ... oh wait, there's Dave." I told her again that I was fine, had finished well, and that I really did run a 3:09. With that, she was quite happy! She congratulated me and then let me go.
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| Clockwise: Deb, Mark, Matt, me, Mike, Kristen, and Dave |
Awards
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| Me, Mike, and Deb with Awards |
Post-Race Analysis
I've taken a peek at my splits in Garmin and on Strava, specifically looking at Grade Adjusted Pacing (GAP) and found that Dave and I, then just myself, did a great job at keeping pace. It wasn't as robotically perfect as Dave managed when running Boston, but I was quite happy with what I saw. My average HR was just 155. When I BQ'd in the Minneapolis marathon in June 2013, my average was 161. As I look back on the race, I realize that it was more like a training run. I was never out on the edge or worried about whether I'd "make" it. I did have to work that one section to stay on pace, but things never faltered. I also realized that I negative split my second half-marathon, running a 1:34:49 for the first half and a 1:34:48 for the second half -- a one second difference. NOTE: I just downloaded my "official" finishers' certificate and they are listing my official time as 3:09:48, so the two half-marathon times are exactly the same.
I think that if I'd thought more about my mental math when I realized I could go a 3:10-ish around mile 25, I believe I was still far enough away from the "edge" to be able to bump the pace by 10-15 seconds per mile. In my day-dreams, I'd have been able to drop the pace to 6:50s for those last two miles and that would have put me into the 3:08 range that I really felt I could have run at Boston in 2014 if I hadn't blown-up due to meds and GI issues. That's awesome validation of where my training is at as I look forward to Ironman Wisconsin in just over four months. It also has me thinking about what I want to set my goals for at Boston in 2016. Maybe a 3:05? Maybe shoot for that magical "Rule of 6" and go for a 3:02:57!? We'll see what the future holds.
Thanks
I really, really, really need to thank my running group for all the help and support they've provided over the years. Besides the folks who were at the race with me, this includes Johnny, Jen, Evan, and even folks like Andrew who have influenced me from afar. Having a group of folks like they all are is invaluable. You know they're getting up when you're feeling tired and questioning wanting to get out of bed. You know that they'll be at your side pushing harder when you want to falter on the interval run. You know that, while there is always some friendly competition and ribbing going on, they have your best interests in mind with helpful and critical thoughts on nutrition, overtraining, stretching, injuries, and the like. I'm a far better runner today than I was when I met the first of these folks and started training with them. I really and truly owe them the majority of my success. Thanks to you all!!!!
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| Finisher's medal, overall trophy (it's a water tower), and the age group winner's medal |
