Sunday, February 25, 2007

One week after the marathon

Amazing!

In December, I was marveling at finishing a little over 12 in Umstead in 1:50:06.

Yesterday, one week after posting a marathon PR at Myrtle Beach, I ran 12.6 in Umstead in 1:47:18.

So in the following months, I'll maintain weekly distances of 25-30 or better, continue to strength train twice a week, and cross train on "rest days."

Crossing the finish at Myrtle Beach



I would have settled for 3:59:59. I'm very glad I ran faster.

Finally!

I finished the Myrtle Beach Marathon on February 17 in 3:58:15 (gun time)/3:57:10 (chip time) - finally broke four hours!

Here are my pace splits according to my GPS:
8'43"
8'18"
8'19"
8'53"
8'29"
8'51"
8'56"
8'54"
8'56"
9'00"
8'57"
9'04"
9'04"
9'01"
9'01"
8'57"
9'01"
8'58"
9'20"
9'02"
9'03"
9'07"
9'09"
9'29"
9'16"
9'19"
9'00"

According to my GPS, I covered 26.47 miles. It took a minute to cross the start line, I did weave in and out of traffic quite a bit, and I took a short detour to pee in the woods once.

I got into a groove after mile 6, listening to the playlist I had created for my iPod, allowing the music to help me focus on my form and my breathing. As the splits show, a headwind and some distractions slowed me down on mile 19, but I got back into swing fairly quickly. I started to tire around 22, but I just relaxed and kept leading with my core. At mile 24, I started to feel a twinge in my left hamstring. I remember exclaiming out loud, "no, no cramp this time." Passing folks who were walking, stretching, or hobbling after that, I just doubled down and kept focused on form, listening to my music. When I saw the split at mile 26, I was ecstatic!

As my last post showed, I was running very well in December, covering 15 miles with relative ease. I had time to train properly for Myrtle Beach, so I scheduled longer runs to test my legs. I finished strong on my 17, 18, 20, and 22 mile runs and I recovered from them more quickly than ever before. So after my 20 mile run, I talked things over with my wife and registered for the marathon. We made it into a beach trip for the family.

I went into this event more confident in my ability to go the distance than for all previous marathons. It took six years, but I met my goal.

Now, should I even think of trying to qualify for Boston?