A Passion for Running

The Taper & Day Before

First of all the answer to Mike’s question. Tapering is the art of resting prior to a race. The longer the race, the longer the taper. There ’s been lots written on the subject and there are differing views on exactly how to taper. My suggestion is to google marathon taper(ing) and/or search on a website like pponline.

My taper for this race went well. I did very little of anything this past week other than two 20 minute leg-turnover workouts and one trip to the gym. Home life cooperated too. Christopher only woke up a couple of times the two sleeps leading up to the race and compared to my last half marathon, I did not have a lot of running around/work to do the day before! In fact, I had a relaxing afternoon yesterday switching the stereos in between Lori’s new (used) van and her old car. Christopher helped his dad.

Nutrition wise, I ate and hydrated well the past few days and had a big plate of whole wheat pasta before I went to bed.

Morning

One thing I’ve learned is that my strongest runs happen at lunch time and my body has a hard time running in the morning. So, this morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to see if I could trick my body into thinking it was closer to lunch by the time I had to run at 7:30 (it worked!).

I ate some yogurt with granola, strawberries and blueberries, drank down a big bottle of gatorade and off to the race I went!

The Race!

Conditions were 45F/7C with light rain. In other words, perfect for me. I heard people complaining it was “too cold” or “too wet” but all I could think was, “MAN, this is MY day”!

The full marathoners started their race at 7:00 and we began lining up immediately after. Then, the mayor of Edmonton gave us a little talk about how great our city was (election is coming up and it’s Edmonton’s 100th anniversary this year) and before you knew it, it was 7:30 and the countdown was on.

In my last race, I went out too fast and quickly lost my pacing because I planned on non-existent mile-markers which turned out to be in kms. An unfortunate thing since I did not know what my km pace should have been and I did not wear a pace band. What a mess that race was.

So, today was partially about not repeating mistakes. Today, I made myself a custom pace band based on a 4:45 minute/km pace. The idea being that on each km, I would know precisely how close I was to my pace. I also set my watch to beep every 4:45. The idea being that it would beep at each km marker - providing I was on pace!

So, how did it all work? In a word - FANTASTIC!!

I had planned on going out a bit slow but wasn’t phased at all when my first 2kms were EXACTLY on pace (my watch beeped at 4:45 as I stepped by the first and second markers!).

I was extremely pleased with this. I am not a great pacer but I was off to a terrific start with my pacing with those first two kms. All I had to do was keep running the same pace.

For the most part I was able to do so with a couple of “bumps” in the road. Around the 6th km, I had 1.5kms of gradually challenging uphill to contend with. I ended up 25 seconds slow at the end of the uphill. I planned on this since I knew I had to come back down the hill and, by the time I did, I was 25 seconds ahead of pace. After that, I had another km on the flat. That kilometer really screwed me up because by the time I got to the marker I was 30 seconds slow again? I thought to myself, “there is NO way that could have happened” and kept going. The next km was all uphill. I focused on not losing any more time. From that point on, the race was essentially flat.

As I logged km after km, my concern over those lost 30 seconds grew and grew. I just couldn’t figure it out and what was more, I started slipping a few seconds more each kilometer.

The 16th kilometer was the turning point where I found my second wind and settled into a faster breathing pattern.

At the 19th kilometer marker I heard a familiar, “go Marky”. It was Aaron cheering me on. He was a sight for sore eyes but I was too focused to say much. He asked about my time which I mumbled along with “I’m a little slow”. A few moments later I realized I’d gotten those lost 30 seconds back and figured they MUST have screwed up on a couple of the markers and the 19km one just set things straight.

I dug deep in the last two km, gained a few more seconds and crossed the finish line in what looked like 1:40:59 - exactly my goal time but I know the chip will adjust it a bit downward (I’ll let you know how much when I find out).

I’m really happy about a few things with this race:

- I trained well (especially all the crosstraining I’ve been doing)
- tapered well
- set out and implemented a SOLID race place
- paced myself exceptionally well

Perhaps most importantly, this race really sets the stage for my upcoming marathon in October. According to this race predictor, I am right now capable of running a 3:30 marathon. My goal for October is 3:36. Even though a LOT can happen at a marathon, today was a big step toward my next goal.

I suppose if there was one thing I wish I could have changed, it might be the fact that I was sort of alone out there. I missed Corinne (outta town), Tom (sick with the flu) and Aaron (knee injury) but it was great that he came out to cheer at the 19 kilometer. The positive side of running alone is that I had no one to push/pull my butt across that finish line - I did it on my own.

And what’s the best way to finish a race? To be greeted and congratulated by your wife and kids of course! Christopher had some big eyes watching his dad “the runner” arrive.

Afterward I took my little family for a big brunch at Ricky’s where I had coffee, pancakes (with strawberries & cream!), bacon, potatoes, eggs and toast (there’s the part of the report Dianna asked for!).

mmmmmmmmm……….

——————————————————-
Addendum: OK, I just checked and the results have been posted. I am right PISSED off! My time is listed as 1:41:05! The time makes absolutely no sense! I crossed the finish line UNDER 1:41 and certainly did not start RIGHT at the finish line so, if anything, my time should have been adjusted downward!

Argh! I don’t care what the hell those results say. My time was 1:40:59. I know it’s only six seconds but I don’t care!

On the good side, I was 27th out of 147 men in my age class and 87th out of 1018 finishers (top 8 %).

By FAR my best showing ever.