Trials Simulation Success at Kiawah

Goal:
13.1 Miles to Simulate the first 13.1 Miles of the Trials (1:18:30-1:19:30)

Actual:
2.5 mile warmup
13.1 Mile Race at 1:18:49, 3rd Place, $250
Splits:
01 - 604
02 - 609
03 - 607
04 - 603
05 - 602
06 - 605 - 39:55 (halfway)
07 - 609 (turnaround)
08 - 600
09 - 554
10 - 554
11 - 554
12 - 553
13 - 552
.1 - :39  - 38:54 (2nd half)
2.5 mile cool down for 18 miles

What's a better way to go into a race knowing that your ferritin level is now a 25?  I found out the results of my ferritin test on Friday afternoon - my strict regimen of iron supplementation and spinach paid off big time.  As soon as I read the results, I told myself:  You're back; no more excuses.   I wanted (and needed) to run a solid simulation run in the half for my own mental sanity.

As I noted in my blog last week, the plan was to run with Aaron for 5-8 miles, to stay relaxed, and to have as much fun as possible.  Of course, the main goal was to execute the same race plan I'd like to execute at the Trials, practice my fueling strategy, and check my fitness level so that I can set a realistic time goal.

After a good night's rest at the Kasa de Kahn in Charleston, Aaron, Mike, Jason, and I made our way to the Elite tent at the Kiawah Golf Resort, less than 25 meters from the Start Line.  The Elite Coordinator, Beth, was kind enough to invite my entourage into the tent, so I was fortunate to spend some time preparing with Jason Martin.  All the pre-race rituals went along as planned, although I will note that it took me literally 8 different tries to finally get the tightness of my shoe strings exactly right.

At the Start, I spotted Aaron and situated myself in front of him and on the side of the women marathoners.  I wanted to make sure that I didn't go out too fast, so I was in the second row of the elites.  The gun went off and Aaron let out his standard tribal howling sound to pump up the crowd.  I just smiled, knowing that I'll never have that type of personality to exhibit so publicly.

Within the first 800 meters, Lat Purser found us and situated himself in our little group.  Over the course of the next 8 miles, I effortlessly maintained a pace just above 6:00 minutes, talking with Aaron and Lat some, and just enjoying the scenery.  I took a Honey Stinger at mile 5 with some water to wash it down.  BY mile 8, Lat or I dropped the pace to 6:00 and Aaron let us know that he needed to drop back since he still had 18 miles left in the full.  We said our farewells, and Lat and I took off.

We picked up the next 5 miles all between 554-552.  Around mile 9,  I thanked Lat for running with me, curiously wondering why he was even hanging back with me at all.  He informed me that he had been sick the entire week and so running with us sounded a lot more fun than gutting out 13.1 miles solo.  The selfish part of me is happy that he got sick, because it meant that I had a running buddy for the entire race.

Lat ran right beside me the entire way, reported the mile splits, and encouraged me when I was hurting in the last mile.  He prevented me from running off course when I was too busy focusing on drinking water during mile 10.  He even stayed with me in the final straightway when I'm sure he was itching to just blast away from me with his sub-5 speed.

In reflection, I am extremely happy with how this race worked out for me.  I finished with a 3-second PR in the half and I felt really strong in the end.  I finished the second half of the race today over 1 minute faster than the first half.   My fueling strategy worked out quite well and I didn't have any GI issues before, during, or after the race.  I accomplished everything that I wanted to out of this race, and am excited to finish off the next three weeks of training before heading into taper mode.  All in all, I am confident that I can go into the Trials and start out at 610 pace and drop it from there to hopefully negative split.

I am very grateful for Lat and Aaron's company throughout the race, for Mike's generosity in offering us free lodging, and for the Elite Coordinator for granting me entry into the race.  It was a great experience to simulate the trials on a closed course with the same bottles that I'll use in Houston.

Simulation Run

Goal: 15 miles at Goal Marathon Pace (6:18) and learn how to eat Gel and Gatorade on the run
Actual: 15 miles at 6:11 average and choked down the Gel and Gatorade

Before I go into the details, it would be most appropriate to start this post by thanking everyone who came out to support me. Major kudos to Jordan Kinley, who ran with me the entire way, showed me how to pinch a cup of gatorade, explained the basics of eating Gel, and provided words of encouragement when my breathing was getting wacky. Not to mention four other huge workouts that he's helped me out with, I'm fairly certain I owe Jordan about 48 beers or so by now. A trip to Costco is in order. Shout outs also go to Billy Shue, Stephen Spada, and Justin Breland for jumping in with me for numerous parts of this workout. Finally, Mark Hadley and his son, Bryce, were the best water boys I could have ever asked for by jumping around to three different locations to ensure that we had gatorade or water every 3-4 miles.

I also cannot leave out the other Charlotte Running Club members that were out there for a run, who cheered my entourage on during difficult portions. It's so amazing how much the running community has transformed since Fall of 2008 compared to today. I feel like we are all part of a team, each of us happy to help the other succeed.

So now I need to start at the beginning. The night prior to this, I ate everything as though I would before my marathon in five weeks. I had a big spinach salad and then a nice bowl of whole wheat pasta with sesame tofu . Obviously in Minneapolis I won't have my own kitchen, but I plan on going to Whole Foods and eating something from the hot bar. If that fails, Olive Garden is always a nice alternative.

The next morning, I ate a bowl of oatmeal approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes before "start time" and drank tons of water. I hopped in my car to meet Jordan, Mark, and Stephen at McMullen. Steve and I ran around for about 9 minutes for an easy 1 mile warmup and I explained the course: to run to the Starbucks on Rea Road, and then run two loops around the big Church and back past the Starbucks until we looped back onto the course again. It would be a perfect 15 miles. The loops around the Church were hilly, located around miles 6-9 of our run. Soon, Jordan arrived and we started promptly at 7am.

Splits:
1 - 6:36
2 - 6:20
3 - 6:10
4 - 6:16 (taking a gu)
5 - 6:15
6 - 6:07
7 - 5:58 (uphill on Rea Road)
8 - 6:00 (downhill/flat near Starbucks)
9 - 6:02 (uphill on Rea Road)
10 - 6:02 (back onto the McMullen Trail
11 - 6:20 (taking a gu)
12 - 6:10
13 - 6:09 (1:21:40 half marathon split)
14 - 6:10
15 - 6:01

I don't want to bore you with an analysis of each mile, so I'll summarize the main themes.

1) Stay under control. We went out great for the first two miles - 636 then 620 - but then dropped to a 610. On race day, it is critical that I stay around 615-618 pace for those early miles so that I can run the 605-615 pace miles later and feel more relaxed. Also, even though today I felt great on the hilly portion of the run around miles 6-9 and dropped some 6 min miles, at Twin Cities, I'd rather not run 6 min miles until after the halfway point.

2) Eat gel slowly. I took the first Honey Stinger Gel too fast, but it didn't bother my stomach. I dreaded taking the second Honey Stinger and Jordan instructed me to take it slowly, even over the course of an entire mile, and I wanted to chuck that Gel onto the path and stomp all over it, but I didn't. I'm really going to have to will myself to take those things.

3) Stay relaxed. In miles 11-14 I started to tense, which affected my breathing. Given the fact that I will not have the luxury of Jordan coaching me how to relax, I will really need to focus on keeping my body relaxed so that my breathing will stay controlled during the final miles of Twin Cities.

4) Positive thinking. At one point, I really wanted to call it day at the 13.1 point of the workout. Come race day, I need to keep the end in sight and repeat the magical words that Jordan told me today: "Only 20 more minutes of running, only fifteen more minutes of running, etc".

5) Place gels in safe spots. Keep a Gel in my bra, but not on my hip. The one on my hip fell off after two miles and I was fidgeting with it from the get go.

In the end, I didn't have any bathroom issues (my stomach kind of hurt at the end, but it went away after I cooled down three miles), so that was a success. Obviously, I still need to run 11.2 more miles to get a marathon in, but this was a good indicator as to where my fitness stands and what my realistic goal can be going into the marathon on October 3.

Unfortunately, I am writing this 15 hours later, and I can't sleep because my stomach is growling so much that I had to get up to eat more food. Even though I feel like I consumed tons of food, apparently I miscalculated that one...Off to eat my toast and peanut butter with flax seed....

The day before the simulation run, I paced Meagan for a 5:30 third mile of the Greek Fest 5k