Indianapolis mini marathon race report
I will preface this report with the following pertinent information.
This is my 3rd mini marathon in 3 years, the 2 previous I finished but with injury due to an IT band problem. I had some great training coming up on this race until about 6 weeks ago when things became spotty due to an illness that just did not seem to want to go away. 6 weeks ago I had to take a whole week off due to doctors orders. So I never really got my total training volume and my long runs back up to my schedule.
I had never before today run 13.1 miles without stopping, my longest run ever before today was about 7 weeks ago when I did a 10 mile training run.
My alarm went off at 4:45 and I jumped out of bed and hit the switch on the coffee pot so I could consume and eliminate my liquid motivation before the race, I also had my breakfast and supplement laid out so that I could get that down right away. Unfortunately, I fell victim to poor planning with the wrong order of operation and ended up wasting some hard-core eating and digestion time by cleaning and putting away dishes from the night before, plus dressing before I ate my oatmeal. The consequence of that was gurgling puke for the whole race.
The start of the race was predicted to be a chilly 50 degrees, so I dressed in my CW-X tights and my bike Jersey with Arm warmers. Then ate my Oatmeal and took my Reliv shake.
I left home at about 6:15 and ran walked the 2.5 miles to my corral (I started in K) When I got there, I stretched out and loosened up anticipating the start. I checked my BG (Blood Glucose) at 7:00 and it was 165 and then again at 7:25 when it had climbed to 226 so I pumped ½ a unit of Humalog to just knock it down a bit for safety sake.
It was about this time that I realized that I had forgotten to change the battery in my Heart rate monitor strap, so I was not getting an HR reading on my Garmin at all. I use HR to not only determine if I am running at the best speed, but also to determine if I might be having a BG problem. So I realized that I was just going to have to Hoyle it and make sure to fuel like clock work. NO missed Gatorade stops and a GU pack at 45 minutes and 90 minutes.
Close to gun time, people started jumping forward into the voids of the forward corrals. I used this opportunity to try to get forward as I had thought with seeding that I would be a lot closer to the front than K. It turns out this was a good move. I have no idea how these people got in the forward corals as I had a good seed time and some of the forward people were not even running.
So the gun signaled the start and we started moving more steadily towards the start. About 50 yards out people started running. As we were got to the start line, I looked down briefly at my Garmin to hit the start button and almost rear ended about 4 clowns who decided it was a good idea to not only stop on the start line, but to spread out for maximum effect to try and block the line.
They were not nearly cagey enough for me as looking up at the last minute; I faked right and then committed left to foil their plans of causing a pile up at the start. Heh heh
Finally I was running (hard to believe it took a whole page to get to this part)
I had a strategy to run the first mile at 9:45 and to progressively speed up through the end but I apparently felt a little better than that. I was running very relaxed and easy so my first mile went by at 9:37, so far so good. I hit the first water station and using my newly found pinch the top of the cup together and drink like from a bottle, I was able to completely drain the cup before the last trash can and score 2 pts, all with out loosing breath, spilling water all over myself or choking.
I picked up a little steam on the slight up hill on the White River pkwy and my next mile was 9:34. I tried to concentrate on my form, keeping my ankles relaxed, knees low and only picking my foot off the ground after I had totally completed my stride.
I was breathing easy and controlled, trying to picture various landmarks that I knew along the way and figuring what time I was shooting for to arrive at them. Mile 3 was a little slower and I was back to 9:37 but running very much with in my comfort zone. I hit the first Gatorade station and not a problem drinking every precious drop with out any stickiness.
Mile 4 was a 9:15 as we sped down Holt Road to go left on 10th towards the speedway.
Mile 5 was a little slower at 9:18 but I was particularly happy to reach this point without falling down in the ginormous mud puddle that is at the corner of 10th and Main in Speedway every year. Last year I jumped up on the curb to go around it on the inside misjudged and rolled through it instead.
On Mile 6, I did a GU pack just before we hit the tunnel to go down to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and did the last Gatorade for all the fuel I was going to get for the next 2.5 miles. No Gatorade or GU is to be consumed on the track. My pace was picked up a little bit to 9:16 overall running very steady and relaxed.
I hit the 10k mark at about 58 minutes, just a little slower than my personal best at that distance, I still felt great and as far as I could tell everything was going swimmingly.
Mile 7 on the track was a blistering 9:14 (notice I said blistering, that sounds fast) and again I was running loose and comfortable.
I had been running the tangents as much as possible and tried to stay to the inside line on the track to run shortest distance possible. (If you make a right turn and your next turn is left, you try to drift to the left at an angle to minimize your distance = tangent) At the end of the race, I still ran 13.28 Miles almost 2 tenths longer than the shortest route. I kept getting pushed inside and outside of the line by people going slower and faster or faster and slower. … You know, when they blast by you cutting you off and then slow down in front of you. Things happen so it is just part of sharing a race course with 35,000 other people. But I had an incident going through the water station just before mile 8 that I had to mention.
I had elected to forgo this water station as it was getting pretty dicey at this time with people making erratic moves stopping suddenly dodging in suddenly to grab a cup of water, etc... (Notice I said erratic not erotic) So I decided in the interest of speed and with a Gatorade station not that far away to stay away from the people getting water. Well about half way through the station, some lady cuts in front of me slows down and then drifts over to block my line to the outside. I’m like ok, I will just go to the in side, so I quickly filled the hole that was available to me (so that she couldn’t cut me off again) and she looks at me with this tude and says, “I’m trying to get over there!” I couldn’t help but shoot back, “Well, you didn’t seem to have a problem a minute ago!” Kind of reminded me of things that happen in the grocery…. But that is another story.
Mile 8 was also on the track and I was able to pick it up to 9:08. I’m thinking yeah baby, negative split, I can still do this in under 2 hours and who needs all those weekly long runs in their training program anyway.
Mile 9 and we are back out on 16th street headed home. I must have been starting to feel it a little by this time as I dropped back pretty significantly to 9:22 but when I hit the 15k mark I realized that I had a personal best at this distance 1:27:45 almost 4 minutes better than ever before.
Mile 10 down the home stretch and almost to the final 5k when things started to noticeably come apart. I started getting cramping and pain in my quads (obviously from an increased heal strike) and I realized that my stride had lost a lot of fluidity. My pace had dropped significantly again to a 9:34
Mile 11 I started having thoughts of I could stop and walk for a little as I definitely have a PB in the bag for this one and my stride was starting to feel very labored an mechanical. I was sick to my stomach, but I did another GU and washed it down at the Gatorade stop. I somehow maintained a 9:30 but it was really getting to be a struggle.
Mile 12 and I was starting to hate my life as my pace had dropped back to my slowest of the day at 9:45. I had planned to surge at the 11-mile mark and try to kick out 9-minute miles for the last 3.1, but my legs were not having any part of this plan and were making me miserable. If I had to guess, I would say that my HR never ventured above 133 for the whole race to I had a lot of headroom in that department, but I didn’t count on my legs committing mutiny. The bottom line is my core was obviously giving out and I was not keeping my form together any more.
Mile 13 I dropped off just a little more and fell back to 9:47. I was trying to lean in and get some kick at the end but I had nothing left in the tank, I was only able to pull an 8:08 pace out for the last tenth and no real sprint. But given my 2 previous finishes, this was still a PB and gives me something to beat in my next half marathon. Plus it is the one thing I had to do before considering entering a full marathon which will be on the books for this fall, as soon as I decide which one I am going to do.
Final results, I finished 10745 out of 35000 improved by 39 minutes over last year and 1 hour 24 minutes faster than my first attempt 2 years ago. My final average pace was 9:33 average and I feel good other than my quads are going to need a lot of stretching over the next few days. My Garmin time was 2 seconds faster than the official at the very end but dead on with the 5 and 10 mile splits. There was a big crowd at the finish line and I might have hit the button going under the arch instead of after I was on the timing matt. BG at the finish 148, I would have preferred 100-110 but not bad for flying blind.
I ran a little farther which probably explains the difference in official and Garmin pace. My Garmin showed me a 9:22 which I am sure is due to the extra .18 miles I ran.
All and all, I am happy with the effort under the pre training sickness circumstances and no HR thing.
I will preface this report with the following pertinent information.
This is my 3rd mini marathon in 3 years, the 2 previous I finished but with injury due to an IT band problem. I had some great training coming up on this race until about 6 weeks ago when things became spotty due to an illness that just did not seem to want to go away. 6 weeks ago I had to take a whole week off due to doctors orders. So I never really got my total training volume and my long runs back up to my schedule.
I had never before today run 13.1 miles without stopping, my longest run ever before today was about 7 weeks ago when I did a 10 mile training run.
My alarm went off at 4:45 and I jumped out of bed and hit the switch on the coffee pot so I could consume and eliminate my liquid motivation before the race, I also had my breakfast and supplement laid out so that I could get that down right away. Unfortunately, I fell victim to poor planning with the wrong order of operation and ended up wasting some hard-core eating and digestion time by cleaning and putting away dishes from the night before, plus dressing before I ate my oatmeal. The consequence of that was gurgling puke for the whole race.
The start of the race was predicted to be a chilly 50 degrees, so I dressed in my CW-X tights and my bike Jersey with Arm warmers. Then ate my Oatmeal and took my Reliv shake.
I left home at about 6:15 and ran walked the 2.5 miles to my corral (I started in K) When I got there, I stretched out and loosened up anticipating the start. I checked my BG (Blood Glucose) at 7:00 and it was 165 and then again at 7:25 when it had climbed to 226 so I pumped ½ a unit of Humalog to just knock it down a bit for safety sake.
It was about this time that I realized that I had forgotten to change the battery in my Heart rate monitor strap, so I was not getting an HR reading on my Garmin at all. I use HR to not only determine if I am running at the best speed, but also to determine if I might be having a BG problem. So I realized that I was just going to have to Hoyle it and make sure to fuel like clock work. NO missed Gatorade stops and a GU pack at 45 minutes and 90 minutes.
Close to gun time, people started jumping forward into the voids of the forward corrals. I used this opportunity to try to get forward as I had thought with seeding that I would be a lot closer to the front than K. It turns out this was a good move. I have no idea how these people got in the forward corals as I had a good seed time and some of the forward people were not even running.
So the gun signaled the start and we started moving more steadily towards the start. About 50 yards out people started running. As we were got to the start line, I looked down briefly at my Garmin to hit the start button and almost rear ended about 4 clowns who decided it was a good idea to not only stop on the start line, but to spread out for maximum effect to try and block the line.
They were not nearly cagey enough for me as looking up at the last minute; I faked right and then committed left to foil their plans of causing a pile up at the start. Heh heh
Finally I was running (hard to believe it took a whole page to get to this part)
I had a strategy to run the first mile at 9:45 and to progressively speed up through the end but I apparently felt a little better than that. I was running very relaxed and easy so my first mile went by at 9:37, so far so good. I hit the first water station and using my newly found pinch the top of the cup together and drink like from a bottle, I was able to completely drain the cup before the last trash can and score 2 pts, all with out loosing breath, spilling water all over myself or choking.
I picked up a little steam on the slight up hill on the White River pkwy and my next mile was 9:34. I tried to concentrate on my form, keeping my ankles relaxed, knees low and only picking my foot off the ground after I had totally completed my stride.
I was breathing easy and controlled, trying to picture various landmarks that I knew along the way and figuring what time I was shooting for to arrive at them. Mile 3 was a little slower and I was back to 9:37 but running very much with in my comfort zone. I hit the first Gatorade station and not a problem drinking every precious drop with out any stickiness.
Mile 4 was a 9:15 as we sped down Holt Road to go left on 10th towards the speedway.
Mile 5 was a little slower at 9:18 but I was particularly happy to reach this point without falling down in the ginormous mud puddle that is at the corner of 10th and Main in Speedway every year. Last year I jumped up on the curb to go around it on the inside misjudged and rolled through it instead.
On Mile 6, I did a GU pack just before we hit the tunnel to go down to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and did the last Gatorade for all the fuel I was going to get for the next 2.5 miles. No Gatorade or GU is to be consumed on the track. My pace was picked up a little bit to 9:16 overall running very steady and relaxed.
I hit the 10k mark at about 58 minutes, just a little slower than my personal best at that distance, I still felt great and as far as I could tell everything was going swimmingly.
Mile 7 on the track was a blistering 9:14 (notice I said blistering, that sounds fast) and again I was running loose and comfortable.
I had been running the tangents as much as possible and tried to stay to the inside line on the track to run shortest distance possible. (If you make a right turn and your next turn is left, you try to drift to the left at an angle to minimize your distance = tangent) At the end of the race, I still ran 13.28 Miles almost 2 tenths longer than the shortest route. I kept getting pushed inside and outside of the line by people going slower and faster or faster and slower. … You know, when they blast by you cutting you off and then slow down in front of you. Things happen so it is just part of sharing a race course with 35,000 other people. But I had an incident going through the water station just before mile 8 that I had to mention.
I had elected to forgo this water station as it was getting pretty dicey at this time with people making erratic moves stopping suddenly dodging in suddenly to grab a cup of water, etc... (Notice I said erratic not erotic) So I decided in the interest of speed and with a Gatorade station not that far away to stay away from the people getting water. Well about half way through the station, some lady cuts in front of me slows down and then drifts over to block my line to the outside. I’m like ok, I will just go to the in side, so I quickly filled the hole that was available to me (so that she couldn’t cut me off again) and she looks at me with this tude and says, “I’m trying to get over there!” I couldn’t help but shoot back, “Well, you didn’t seem to have a problem a minute ago!” Kind of reminded me of things that happen in the grocery…. But that is another story.
Mile 8 was also on the track and I was able to pick it up to 9:08. I’m thinking yeah baby, negative split, I can still do this in under 2 hours and who needs all those weekly long runs in their training program anyway.
Mile 9 and we are back out on 16th street headed home. I must have been starting to feel it a little by this time as I dropped back pretty significantly to 9:22 but when I hit the 15k mark I realized that I had a personal best at this distance 1:27:45 almost 4 minutes better than ever before.
Mile 10 down the home stretch and almost to the final 5k when things started to noticeably come apart. I started getting cramping and pain in my quads (obviously from an increased heal strike) and I realized that my stride had lost a lot of fluidity. My pace had dropped significantly again to a 9:34
Mile 11 I started having thoughts of I could stop and walk for a little as I definitely have a PB in the bag for this one and my stride was starting to feel very labored an mechanical. I was sick to my stomach, but I did another GU and washed it down at the Gatorade stop. I somehow maintained a 9:30 but it was really getting to be a struggle.
Mile 12 and I was starting to hate my life as my pace had dropped back to my slowest of the day at 9:45. I had planned to surge at the 11-mile mark and try to kick out 9-minute miles for the last 3.1, but my legs were not having any part of this plan and were making me miserable. If I had to guess, I would say that my HR never ventured above 133 for the whole race to I had a lot of headroom in that department, but I didn’t count on my legs committing mutiny. The bottom line is my core was obviously giving out and I was not keeping my form together any more.
Mile 13 I dropped off just a little more and fell back to 9:47. I was trying to lean in and get some kick at the end but I had nothing left in the tank, I was only able to pull an 8:08 pace out for the last tenth and no real sprint. But given my 2 previous finishes, this was still a PB and gives me something to beat in my next half marathon. Plus it is the one thing I had to do before considering entering a full marathon which will be on the books for this fall, as soon as I decide which one I am going to do.
Final results, I finished 10745 out of 35000 improved by 39 minutes over last year and 1 hour 24 minutes faster than my first attempt 2 years ago. My final average pace was 9:33 average and I feel good other than my quads are going to need a lot of stretching over the next few days. My Garmin time was 2 seconds faster than the official at the very end but dead on with the 5 and 10 mile splits. There was a big crowd at the finish line and I might have hit the button going under the arch instead of after I was on the timing matt. BG at the finish 148, I would have preferred 100-110 but not bad for flying blind.
I ran a little farther which probably explains the difference in official and Garmin pace. My Garmin showed me a 9:22 which I am sure is due to the extra .18 miles I ran.
All and all, I am happy with the effort under the pre training sickness circumstances and no HR thing.
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