running for my mind

Well, I don't really know what to say other than yesterday was not my day. I can try and come up with some contributing factors, but it all comes down to a roll of the dice on race day and it didn't pan out. 

I hung out with Josh at the start for about an hour. The weather was actually nice at this point and I thought that it was going to be a great day. I felt great. I was excited for a light drizzle. The night before my dad called to say good luck and I told him that I would be happy if the rain was like it was at the Salt Lake Marathon. However, I told him that I would not be too stoked if it was raining hard enough for the rain drops to bounce back off of the road. Unfortunately the rain was in the form of the latter for a good portion of the race. 

My goal was to hit a 6:45 pace through the first half. Then I could take the slight climb a little easier if I needed to and then pick up the pace if I felt good at the dam and down the canyon. I felt great up until about mile 10. For some reason in there I just started to notice that I was breathing a little harder than I thought I should be at this point in the race. I decided to not push the 6:45 pace and just back off a little until after the hill at mile 14.

Those few miles were tough on me mentally. I was having a hard time understanding why it was so difficult at this point. It just didn't make sense to me at the time. I had been worried about the hill because I had heard that it was relatively nasty, but it turned out to be a pretty easy climb. I had planned on slowing down quite a bit for it to reserve energy for after so that is what I did.

My legs were just too tired and I never got my pace back down below a 7:00 after the hill. I met up with Hugh at the dam (he was on his bike). I told him that I needed a couple miles at 6:30 to get my average back down. At this point I thought there was still a chance. But, a half a mile in the canyon I knew my legs just couldn't do it. The canyon turned out to not be as steep as I thought it was. I wish it was steeper. I feel like downhill is one of my strengths.

I didn't feel good in the canyon and I tried to stop for 5-10 seconds to shake out my legs here and there. Those brief stops helped and I would get a few hundred meters of sub-7:00 before slowing up again. I know my hydration and my nutrition was solid so I just couldn't figure it out.

I still finished with a PR and I am happy about that. I am frustrated and disappointed that I trained as hard as I did and for as long as I did and this was the result though. The weather conditions were tough. It was a tough race for me and I will have to qualify for Boston another time. 

I spoke with Tyler after the race and he told me that a 3:10 in those conditions is still something to be proud of. He said that I needed to remember that I likely took over 32,000 steps during the race and with soaked shoes, that is a lot of extra weight. I weighed my shoes and socks when I got home and they weighed in at about a 1/2 a pound more a piece than my dry pair. So, if I think of it that way, each one of my legs had to lift an additional 8,250 pounds by the end of the race. It is not a surprise that I got a little tired early. I wish I hadn't. I wish that this was a victory post of me saying how stoked I am to have gone sub-3:00 but it is not. 

So, back to the drawing board. I don't think my training will change much. I don't think I could have been more prepared physically. Another few months of hard training will only make me stronger, faster, and more mentally prepared. I will attack another 26.2 and I will be at Boston 2014!