View Workout (Michael Grese)

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Suntrust National Marathon

March 26, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Finished 22nd overall and 3rd in my age group. Not quite what I was hoping for, but considering my training recently, it is about as good as I could have expected. My goals going in were top 20 and sub 2:45:00.

I ran my 1st mile near perfect b/c I promised myself I wouldn't run myself out of a race by going out sub 6 (like last time). After about mile 5 I began picking it up and was constantly passing people. I think between mile 5 and 13 I picked it up too fast though. I just did a quick pace check between miles 10-11 and it was a 6:07. I came through the half 1-2 minutes faster than I should have. The 2nd half of the race was pretty painful. I held onto a decent pace until about mile 17, but then I really started to feel it. Checking the last 6 miles I was well over 7 minute pace. I picked up a GU at mile 13 and didn't consume it until mile 26 because I did not feel like trying to eat anything. That was a big mistake, and it probably contributed to my falling apart late. In the last mile my calves tightened up and started cramping. Stopped for 10-15 seconds to stretch them out b/c it was really painful to run with my calves spasming. This was definitely the most painful run I have experienced.

Mentally I think the race went fairly well, not great. I never really felt like I got into the groove. Even at mile 5 I felt strained. Ideally, the first 13.1 miles should feel easy and the race should start from there. Instead I felt like turning right at the 13 mile mark and heading in w/ the half-marathoners. Thankfully I didn't give up b/c I remembered how terrible it felt when I dropped out in November.

With the injuries and poor training plan, I think it went fairly well. My legs were definitely the most limiting factor during the race. This is definitely a cause of not enough weekly mileage and not long enough long runs. The weekly mileage problem can easily be fixed by changing my shoes out before they break down. The injury last month killed any mileage I had b/c it caused a 2ish week setback. The lack of long runs was just pure laziness. I could have easily gone out for long slow runs even before I was injured. I just kept putting it off b/c I would have had to do it alone and in the cold. I need to be more discipline in the future.

So overall it was a pretty good race. I learned a lot from past and current mistakes, and I am confident that I can run below 2:45 if I get my training and pacing right.

Splits:
1mi: 6:44
10: 1:02:16 (6:13)
13.1: 1:21:39 (6:13)
20: 2:06:01 (6:18)