5 Nov – 8 March
18 weeks of base aerobic training. 30-35 miles a week. Main runs: Monday 60+ minutes at HR 150. Did two at HR 155 towards the end. Thursday 200/200 fartlek on the track. 200 at 5k pace (around 6:00 or 45 seconds per 200). 200 15-18 seconds slower. Ranged from 5k – 85 total. Got down to 42-43 seconds for the fast parts. Saturday long run. Got up to a couple 12-milers on the trails along the Palisades. At the end ran an aerobic test that indicated I could hold 6:5? at a HR in the low 160s. About the HR I should be able to hold for a half and right around the 6:52 pace that would equate to a 1:30 finish (which for some reason is what I put down for my expected finish time when I applied to the lottery back in December).
I also did a couple 10.7 mile quite hilly trail races (they were each 1 loop of 3-loop 50k races). The first one in January went well (1:38). The second in February did not (1:44).
This would be my first road race over 10k. (I raced one 10k like a million years ago.)
9 March – 17 March
Sick. Only run was 3 miles on Sunday the 11th. Finally felt over it on St Patrick’s Day.
6:30 PM Saturday
Sat down to St Patrick’s Day dinner at our house with 4 other family’s from town. I made a potato leek soup with cheddar cheese and crispy bacon toppings. Had a nice big bowl of that. And a medium plate of corned beef and cabbage, of course. And two Guinness 16 oz. Drafts. And then 2 Pepsis. And a slice of mint chocolate torte.
9:00 PM Saturday
Bed.
4:00 AM Sunday
Woke up.
4:15 AM
Wasn’t going back to sleep so got up and had some oatmeal and OJ.
6:00 AM
Got to the Park entrance and find some port-o-potties. While I was standing in line I noticed a gut lying on the group on a towel with some headphones in his ears, just chilling in the cool morning air. The bag next to him read, “3 – Meb.” I then became aware that the other people in line with me were all very thin. And also had some very low numbers on their bibs and bags. Apparently I had wandered into the “Elite Athlete Hydration” area. No one seemed to mind though.
6:45 AM
Got into the “Million Man March” that was the port-o-potty line that was just for my corral. In fact it was one of two lines just inside my corral.
7:15 AM
Last port-o-potty visit.
7:30 AM
We’re off!
Miles 1 – 10
And he’s how it went for the first 10 miles (This is from my Garmin. It seemed to hit the miles progressively sooner and sooner. It had the last 0.1 as 0.2. So probably my paces were just a bit slower than this.)
| Mile | Avg HR | Pace | Overall | Total | Projection |
| 1 | 146 | 7.15 | 7.15 | 7.15 | 94.59 |
| 2 | 162 | 6.52 | 7.04 | 14.07 | 92.28 |
| 3 | 163 | 6.35 | 6.54 | 20.42 | 90.23 |
| 4 | 164 | 6.56 | 6.55 | 27.38 | 90.30 |
| 5 | 167 | 6.59 | 6.55 | 34.37 | 90.42 |
| 6 | 166 | 6.40 | 6.53 | 41.17 | 90.08 |
| 7 | 165 | 7.21 | 6.57 | 48.38 | 91.01 |
| 8 | 164 | 5.58 | 6.50 | 54.36 | 89.24 |
| 9 | 164 | 6.44 | 6.49 | 61.20 | 89.16 |
| 10 | 164 | 7.01 | 6.50 | 68.21 | 89.32 |
Mile 1 Just feeling things out.
Mile 2 Right on pace.
Mile 3 Downhill.
Mile 4 Long uphill at north of park but also some downhill.
Mile 5 Some gradual hills. More up than down.
Mile 6 Downhill. Right buttock began to get tight somewhere in here.
Mile 7 Down 7th Ave. Got a stitch in here somewhere. Stopped at water station and made sure to drink 2 cups.
Mile 8 Downhill and decided to speed up to see if stitch would go away. It did.
Mile 9 Downhill for 1st half but then hit Westside Highway. Concrete. Hard. Me no like.
Mile 10 With 9 in the bag I was feeling good and thinking sub 1:30 was within sight. When I passed the 15k mark I was thinking, “Hey, that’s a 15k PR! And it was also a 12k PR a while back! And it will be a 10-mile PR in just a bit.” At 9.75 I realized things were not going to end well even if it was, by default, going to be a 13.1 PR.
Miles 11 – 13.1
Even though mile 10 was 7.01 I was already up to 7:10 at the end of it and quickly going in the wrong direction. Both my hip flexors had begun cramping and I couldn’t get any knee lift what so ever. I stopped at one point and a guy yelled to encourage me to use my arms. So I did. I was pumping them furiously for a while but my legs were still stuck in a shuffle. I’m actually completely surprised that my times for mile 11 and mile 12 were as fast as they were. Up through mile 10 only the odd person every once in a while passed me. In these 2 miles people were going by me constantly. That all changed, though, in mile 13. In mile 13 people were going past me like they were headed for a Who concert. I was in complete and utter agony. That I actually finished is testament to either will power or stupidity… or just the fact that there was no other way to go except past the finish line.
| Mile | Avg HR | Pace | Overall | Total | Projection |
| 11 | 160 | 7.26 | 6.53 | 75.47 | 90.15 |
| 12 | 155 | 7.40 | 6.57 | 83.27 | 91.06 |
| 13 | 137 | 10.53 | 7.15 | 94.20 | 95.04 |
| 13.1 | 130 | 1.58 | 7.21 | 96.18 | 96.18 |
The Medical Tent
Once I crossed the line and “relaxed” my right hip flexor went into full cramp. Some guys helped me to the medical tent were they lay me down and a nice lady jammed her thumb into my groin area as hard as she could while another one poured salt into my open hand and told me to lick it. Then they gave me some soup. After a while I stopped cramping and they kicked me out of the nice warm medical tent.
Verdict
Despite the painful finish it was quite a success. I wanted to find out how long I could hold 6:52 pace and I found out. And it was at the upper end of what I could reasonably have expected. (The swift decline after that was beyond what I expected as well… but, oh well.)
