Folsom Lake to the State Capitol in Sacramento
7:00am, Sunday, December 5, 2010
Weather: Partly cloudy/sunny all day
Start: 48°, no wind, no rain
Finish: mid-50s, no wind, no rain
Training:
I had high hopes for a good run at CIM. For 15 months, I had averaged running over 70 miles per week. After doing some 5K training throughout the summer, I had a somewhat short training cycle for this race. I had 10 weeks of solid training at more than 80 miles per week, and then 2 weeks of tapering off the mileage for race day. The 10 weeks went flawlessly according to my plan with my weekly mileage at 82, 82, 85, 80, 83, 80, 86, 89, 82, 82, and then 65 and 28 (sans marathon) for the 2 taper weeks. Saturday was normally my day for my long run and 9x I had runs of 20-24 miles in length. I had good 5-6 mile LT runs ("lactate threshold" runs, about the same pace as a 10-mile race), medium-length MP runs ("marathon paced" runs, about 20sec/mile slower than LT runs), and tune-up races (10K, 10-mile, and a half marathon). Overall, I felt I was peaking just right for an optimum performance at CIM.
Garmin Info
Mile . Split ...Up ... Down .. AvgHR ..MaxHR
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01 ... 6:38 .... 0’ ... 54’ ... 150? ... ?
02 ... 6:50 ... 19’ ... 24’ ... 157? ... ?
03 ... 6:41 .... 0’ ... 36’ ... 157 ... 161
04 ... 6:45 .... 0’ ... 53’ ... 157 ... 163
05 ... 6:45 ... 14’ .... 8’ ... 157 ... 163
06 ... 6:46 .... 0’ ... 16’ ... 158 ... 161
07 ... 6:47 ... 39’ ... 40’ ... 157 ... 162
08 ... 6:52 ... 39’ ... 23’ ... 157 ... 162
09 ... 6:53 ... 33’ ... 22’ ... 158 ... 162
10 ... 6:43 .... 0’ ... 15’ ... 156 ... 160
11 ... 6:43 ... 51’ ... 92’ ... 155 ... 161
12 ... 6:54 ... 42’ ... 61’ ... 157 ... 163
13 ... 6:49 ... 16’ ... 31’ ... 156 ... 161
14 ... 6:44 .... 0’ .... 9’ ... 157 ... 161
15 ... 6:54 ... 11’ ... 14’ ... 159 ... 162
16 ... 6:46 ... 27’ ... 29’ ... 160 ... 163
17 ... 6:52 .... 0’ ... 36’ ... 161 ... 164
18 ... 6:51 .... 0’ ... 19’ ... 161 ... 163
19 ... 6:51 ... 16’ ... 16’ ... 162 ... 166
20 ... 6:50 .... 0’ ... 13’ ... 163 ... 166
21 ... 6:48 .... 0’ ... 11’ ... 165 ... 168
22 ... 6:54 .... 0’ .... 3’ ... 166 ... 169
23 ... 6:48 .... 7’ .... 3’ ... 168 ... 170
24 ... 6:48 .... 0’ .... 9’ ... 169 ... 171
25 ... 6:37 .... 0’ .... 6’ ... 172 ... 175
26 ... 6:34 .... 0’ .... 0’ ... 174 ... 179
0.28 . 1:36 .... 0’ .... 0’ ... 178 ... 179 (5:46 pace)
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Tot 2:57:58 .. 314’ .. 643’ ... 160.5 . 179 (6:47 avg pace)
Notes: HR monitor wasn’t reading correctly for the opening two miles so the data is conjectured. Also, the official difference between elevation loss and gain is -340’ (366’ start; 26’ finish), even though my Garmin registered -329’.
Official Results from CIM:
Bib #1248
Mile 5.9 in 39:28 (349th place)
Mile 13.1 in 1:28:51 (347th place, moved up 2 spots)
Mile 20.0 in 2:16:09 (322nd place, moved up 25 more spots)
Chip Time: 2:57:58 (246th place, moved up 76 more spots)
Gun Time: 2:58:06
246th overall out of 5,879 total finishers (top 4.2%)
193rd male out of 3,330 men (top 5.8%)
22nd out of 625 in M40-44 age-group (top 3.5%)
CIM is the most competitive marathon in the west (even though it has only a third the number of runners as the L.A. Marathon or the S.D. Rock-n-Roll marathon). CIM is the 5th most competitive marathon in the entire U.S. (only behind Boston, Chicago, New York, and Twin Cities).
PR by 90 seconds. Previous best = 2:59:28 at the Orange Co. Marathon on May 2, 2010 (but afterward I learned the OCM course may have been as much as 2/10ths short so I really wanted to run sub-3 at CIM to make sure I had a legit sub-3.)
Fastest Miles:
Mile 26 in 6:34 (flat terrain; 13 seconds faster than my avg pace)
Mile 25 in 6:37 (flat terrain; 10 seconds faster than my avg pace)
Slowest Mile: Miles 12, 15, and 22 in 6:54 (only 7 seconds slower than my avg pace)
Half Splits: 1:28:51/1:29:07 (16 second positive split)
Last 10K (mile 20 to finish) in 41:49 (6:40/mile pace or 7 sec/mile faster than my avg pace)... which interesting enough, was my goal pace for the entire marathon.
Age-graded calculator = 73.81%, my best marathon yet, but still less than the +75% marks I’ve hit for some shorter races (mile race in Aug at 78.1%; 5K in Sept at 75.6%; 10K in Oct at 76.2%, 10-miler in Oct at 77.4%).
Thoughts:
CIM is one of the absolute finest marathons I’ve ever run. Very well organized. Everything went smoothly… buses, a bajillion port-a-potties, great water stations, very visible mile markers, no snafus at all.
The course was wonderful. It’s a gentle rolling route mostly through open-air yards and fields speckled with trees adorned in fall colors. Very few turns. The hills are neither long nor steep, but any advantage of a slight net downhill is negated by plenty of rollers, more so on the first half of the course. Despite the hills, the course has less elevation drop than Boston and is certified as a course for qualifying for the U.S. Olympic trials (not that I can run within 30 minutes of that standard).
Really enjoyed the entire weekend with running friends. I flew up and back and split a room with a new colleague at CBU who was also running CIM. Great to hang out with him all weekend. Also enjoyed a great pre-race pasta dinner on Saturday with a big group of running friends in town for CIM. They ran some great, great races including some big PR's and some age-group podium finishes.
Afterward I was in a lot of pain... severe lower back pain. Riding the school bus up to the start (30+ minutes), I sat over the “wheel hump” with my knees up near my chest. I could feel my rear end cramping and I would shift and move to try to prevent that but the bus was crowded.
After getting off the bus, I didn't think any more of it... until late in the race. In the closing miles, I started feeling the twinges of glute and lower back pain, something I rarely feel when running. But I’ve strained my lower back enough in the past from lifting heavy objects that I know what this feeling is. But fortunately, my back never seized up... nor did I slow down... my fastest 2 miles were my last 2 miles.
But as soon as I crossed the finish line and started walking, Wow. OUCH! Serious back pain. Serious sharp lower back and glute pain. I could hardly walk (no exaggeration). I had to take baby steps. My legs (quads, calves, hammies) were fine... tired but not cramping. But wow, the back pain was really severe. It was all I could do to hobble through the finishing chutes, see some people, get some food, and then catch a cab back to the hotel. I'm really, really glad it didn't ruin my race. If I had stopped for any minor reason (tie a shoe, get water), it easily could've seized up then and I would've DNF'ed (seriously)... or added 30-40 minutes on my time walking the last mile alone.
My goal throughout my training cycle was 2:55 (6:40 pace). Until the last week before the taper, I realized that probably wouldn’t be attainable since my MP runs were averaging ~6:45. But right before Thanksgiving, I started hitting LT, mile repeat, and MP miles that projected a time faster than 2:55. So my goal was 2:55.
But on Sunday, in the opening few miles on the rolling hills, I could tell that pace would be too fast and I backed off some. I think from my splits, I paced it about as perfectly as possible for my fitness level on that very day... neither too aggressive nor too conservative. In fact, as I look at the splits in the race results, no one passed me in the second half of the course (well, a few did temporarily).
On Friday before I left for Sacramento, as I walked my son to elementary school, this conversation took place:
Me: “You know, in 48 hours I’ll be running my marathon. My goal for this one is 2:55. I think I can do it… it’ll be tough, but I think I can.”
Son: “I don’t think you’ll make it.”
Me (chuckling): “Really? Why not?”
Son: “Well, last time, you ran perfectly and barely got 2:59. I don’t see you progressing that fast. So I think something more like 2:57 or 2:58.”
Me (still chuckling at his analysis): “Oh you think so?”
Son: “Yeah.”
Well, now I wonder if he knows my running capabilities better than I do....
Thanks for reading.
A few pictures:
Pre-race dinner at Paesano's in Sacramento. The legs around that table ran 200+ miles the next day, including two 2:38's, one 2:42, two age-group awards, and five PR's. Seated left going clockwise: John L, Julie, Elisa, Susan, John H, Dan, Charlie, myself, and Laurent.
Over 8,000 runners dart out from the start line near Folsom Lake... 26.2 miles in the distance is downtown Sacramento and the finish line at the state capitol.
The route is a wonderful point-to-point course with light rolling hills from Folsom Lake to the state capitol.
Somewhere on the course.
Somewhere else on the course.
Somewhere else on the course.
Mile 20 is marked creatively by the appearance of a brick wall. Fortunatley, I had trained well, fueled up well, and paced the race well so I never felt "the wall" on Sunday.
Somewhere else on the course.
In mile 21, the course crosses this bridge on the American River, the last bit of uphill with only 5 more miles to go.
Running strong through the finish in a new personal best time.
Another angle of me at the finish.
Talking with my friends, John Hill (2:38) and John Loftus (2:42) who each placed second in their age groups at the finish line at CIM... of course, both of them finished, stood around for a while, went back to their hotels, showered, ate lunch, caught a movie, and then came back to greet me as I finished. And I appreciate them wrapping up in thermal blankets so at least they looked tired when they greeted me....
The creative design for the finisher's medal... a footprint with the shape of the state in it.
