Pocono Marathon - Failed Redemptathon
So, I can't tell the Pocono Marathon story without starting in Boston so I hope you don't mind a little diversion first.
The past few years in Boston when hanging out in the Athlete's Village, I've actually been disappointed getting called to the starting line. The weekend is such a great experience that the race itself has become a secondary concern. This year I spent a lot of time during the weekend leading up to the race thinking about why I go back to Boston every year. The easy answer is that years ago I set a goal to make it back 10 years in a row. I liked that goal because if I reached it then it meant that I was able to keep a healthy lifestyle going for a long period of time. I also absolutely love training for marathons, but I really don't like racing them. These days the draw to go back to Boston every year is all of the people out here. Our annual reunions are *the* highlight for me every year. The energy in Boston is amazing and the race historic, but I really go back for Beerworks and the Athlete's Village. The race? Not so much. I thought about all of this enough leading up to Patriot's Day that if/when I requalified at Boston this year I was going to let everyone know that 2019 was likely my last time running Boston. It makes me very sad to "say" that out loud.
When I froze instead of requalify this year, I held back on sharing any of this. I want to leave the race on my own terms and was not ready to accept not being allowed to run the course one last time. A friend suggested that I should jump back out and run another marathon soon to requalify and after some soul searching I decided he was right. His suggestion was the smart strategy. My thinking was that I would mix cross training in with running as a way to simultaneously take the edge off of recovering from Boston and start preparing for triathlon season. It was a big blow when 4 days of biking during the in-between time led to progressively worse knee pain and not being able to support my own weight out of the saddle. I also intermittently felt weakness in the same spot of the knee when going up stairs. I was lucky that I could still run without pain and the Pocono Marathon was the impending goal so run I did. In the last couple of weeks of training weakness in the knee when going up stairs went away which gave me high hopes for being able to get back on the bike after the Pocono Marathon was done.
And now for the race report...
The race was 4 hours away from home so there was no reason to rush my travel plans. I got the carb load run in Saturday morning, leisurely packed everything that I needed and hit the road around 10am. I took my time getting there, checked into the hotel around 3pm and I started piecing together why the race director had sent email describing the official policy for canceling the race due to bad weather. There were a dozen large utility trucks at the hotel. When I checked in I asked the person at the desk what was going on and she said that there had been a bad storm recently and while it only lasted for 15 minutes that it was bad enough that some people were still without power 5 days later. Some forecasts earlier in the week showed a possibility for thunderstorms during the race and with the community still shell shocked from a recent weather event things were starting to make sense.
I went out to drive the course and made a couple wrong turns (or rather missed them) which clouded my perception of the terrain but it was crystal clear that there would be no flat running. Some of the downhills would be screaming fast, but whether it was a fast downhill section, "normal" downhill section or flat section that there were dozens of uphill wake up calls embedded within. Some of the uphills would be hard, others easy, but there were a lot of them. Cadence and running style would have to adapt frequently throughout the course. There wouldn't be many places where you could just lock into a groove and go except the downhills and even then I'd be constantly monitoring my speed and trying to hold back. It is hard to find a groove when gravity is pulling you down. It looked like a fast course if you were ready to take a beating with a really big uphill challenge from mile 21-23.
The next day on the morning of the race I got up early and was the first person at the school where the race started. The race website didn't say where to park, it only said to park where the volunteers tell you to. So, with no volunteers around I went to the parking lot with a bunch of port-a-potties. 45 minutes later some people showed up to set up the start line and I confirmed it was OK to stay there. Since everyone else was hanging out in the school beforehand, the port-a-potties at the start were barely used. This is the only race I've seen with more facilities than were needed. 15 minutes before the race start I got out of the car and did a half mile warmup and found my friend Sam about 10 minutes before the start. As soon as I walked across the start line, with Sam 20 feet away my lower back immediately seized up. I made it over to Sam, but I was having problems staying upright. I tried stretching, squatting down on the ground, etc. but it just kept getting worse. It hurt so much that I was having trouble breathing. Sam made a good joke that he has that affect on people, but the only thing that made it better was to walk away. After 50-60 feet of running and some stretching it let go. I had the same thing happen at Erie a couple years ago and it is some kind of stress reaction to racing. It hurts a lot, but both times now it cleared up before the gun/horn went off and didn't impact the race.
The plan was to get to mile 20 with a 7:10 average and then do my best to get to the finish with a safe BQ. I had 2 different virtual runner type apps on my watch. One set for a 3:10 marathon and the other set for a 3:20. For my age group the standard is 3:25, but we all know how that goes. The first 5 miles are rolling hills with minimal overall elevation change. I was going to run these by feel and was expecting them to be 7:30ish. I was very happy with how things went here. I was feeling comfortable and constantly working to hold myself back. The downhill parts were faster, the uphills slower but the overall effort felt comfortable. My HR was running a little high in the upper 160's but with the heat (64F) and humidity (100%) that didn't bother me too much and I knew when we got into the downhill miles it would drop. The challenge to this race was not going to be aerobic conditioning but rather how well you could take the hurt. Successful marathons for me typically average about 163-166 HR. The first 5 miles were 6:59, 7:02, 7:17, 7:13, 7:15. Perfect. At mile 6 we started going down the rollercoaster and I had Phil's comment about banking strength running through my mind. I was braking on the downhills, but tried to balance things and store some strength. At times it was hard not to lose control and go tumbling. They came in expectedly fast at 7:09, 6:54, 6:47, 7:19. These could have been a lot faster but I just kept thinking, "must store strength". HR was dipping in the the 150's at times. Perfect. The next 3 miles are net downhill, but not by much. There are just constant grade changes and some of them are steep! There was one short steep hill in here where I started thinking I could walk faster than run but it only took a minute or two. I was expectedly slowing down again but the hurt was also starting to accumulate and I started wondering just how bad miles 21-23 might be. These 3 miles came in at 7:44, 7:30, 7:41. I spent most of mile 13 thinking about the costs of finishing. I wasn't enjoying the race and it was clear that finishing would come at a high cost regardless of the finishing time. Around mile 12, I was exactly at 7:10 average and I was almost 5 minutes ahead of 3:20 pace, but I was also starting to slow down. In retrospect, the slowdown should have been expected based on the terrain but I took it as one more sign that I was starting to unravel a bit.
Throughout mile 13 I spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd be giving up by finishing. I spent a few days before the race thinking about DNS'ing in favor of USAT Clydesdale Championships instead. My knee was feeling good before the race, but would it after? If I walk off the course I probably can get back to bike/swim this week and race a triathlon in 3 weeks. I might still be well enough off to go to Clydesdale Nationals and if I'm not there is still a local race that many of my friends are doing. If I finish, none of that would be possible. I really enjoy swim/bike/run a lot. I don't enjoy racing marathons. Why should I finish this marathon and give up what I enjoy for something that I don't? And right about that time the finish line for the 13.1 popped into view as I rounded the corner. Yep, I'm done. I walked off and a volunteer told me to keep going. I let her know that I wasn't going to finish the marathon. She then turned to the guy next to her who was trying to hand me a half marathon medal and said, "No, he doesn't get one of those." Meh.
A few minutes later Sam came rolling through so I thought it would be nice to cheer him on. I ran with him for a bit to see how he was doing and then he was on his way to the finish. The busses back to the start were all held back until after the awards ceremony, so it was 1+ hours before I could get on a bus to the start. Unsurprisingly, there were some nice conversations with other runners on the bus and then it was time to start the drive home.
I'm fine with the way the race ended. My biggest disappointment of the weekend came after I got home. I've been rebuilding the bike, so now that I can get on it sooner I was anxious to get it finished up. I spent 3-4 hours in the garage finishing it up and took it out on a test ride. The bike feels fast right now! Unfortunately, as soon as I got out of the saddle to test my knee the same pain came back. I'll call the doctor today.
I don't know where this leaves things. I expect that I will likely run Erie in the Fall, but for now I want to get healthy and have fun with triathlon. I've been spending way too much time focusing on a race distance that I just don't enjoy. I want to get back to races being fun. I do plan on being back in Boston for 2019. I just don't know if I'll time qualify, fundraise or just go for Beerworks and maybe volunteer instead.
It was really cool before the race how much everyone wanted to support me. I really appreciate all of the well wishes and virtual cheering that was going on. I thought about all of you during the race and wondered if I'd be letting everyone down. It was a spur of the moment decision and one that I'm OK with, but part of me wishes I'd have come back out here and reported a completely different ending.
The past few years in Boston when hanging out in the Athlete's Village, I've actually been disappointed getting called to the starting line. The weekend is such a great experience that the race itself has become a secondary concern. This year I spent a lot of time during the weekend leading up to the race thinking about why I go back to Boston every year. The easy answer is that years ago I set a goal to make it back 10 years in a row. I liked that goal because if I reached it then it meant that I was able to keep a healthy lifestyle going for a long period of time. I also absolutely love training for marathons, but I really don't like racing them. These days the draw to go back to Boston every year is all of the people out here. Our annual reunions are *the* highlight for me every year. The energy in Boston is amazing and the race historic, but I really go back for Beerworks and the Athlete's Village. The race? Not so much. I thought about all of this enough leading up to Patriot's Day that if/when I requalified at Boston this year I was going to let everyone know that 2019 was likely my last time running Boston. It makes me very sad to "say" that out loud.
When I froze instead of requalify this year, I held back on sharing any of this. I want to leave the race on my own terms and was not ready to accept not being allowed to run the course one last time. A friend suggested that I should jump back out and run another marathon soon to requalify and after some soul searching I decided he was right. His suggestion was the smart strategy. My thinking was that I would mix cross training in with running as a way to simultaneously take the edge off of recovering from Boston and start preparing for triathlon season. It was a big blow when 4 days of biking during the in-between time led to progressively worse knee pain and not being able to support my own weight out of the saddle. I also intermittently felt weakness in the same spot of the knee when going up stairs. I was lucky that I could still run without pain and the Pocono Marathon was the impending goal so run I did. In the last couple of weeks of training weakness in the knee when going up stairs went away which gave me high hopes for being able to get back on the bike after the Pocono Marathon was done.
And now for the race report...
I went out to drive the course and made a couple wrong turns (or rather missed them) which clouded my perception of the terrain but it was crystal clear that there would be no flat running. Some of the downhills would be screaming fast, but whether it was a fast downhill section, "normal" downhill section or flat section that there were dozens of uphill wake up calls embedded within. Some of the uphills would be hard, others easy, but there were a lot of them. Cadence and running style would have to adapt frequently throughout the course. There wouldn't be many places where you could just lock into a groove and go except the downhills and even then I'd be constantly monitoring my speed and trying to hold back. It is hard to find a groove when gravity is pulling you down. It looked like a fast course if you were ready to take a beating with a really big uphill challenge from mile 21-23.
The next day on the morning of the race I got up early and was the first person at the school where the race started. The race website didn't say where to park, it only said to park where the volunteers tell you to. So, with no volunteers around I went to the parking lot with a bunch of port-a-potties. 45 minutes later some people showed up to set up the start line and I confirmed it was OK to stay there. Since everyone else was hanging out in the school beforehand, the port-a-potties at the start were barely used. This is the only race I've seen with more facilities than were needed. 15 minutes before the race start I got out of the car and did a half mile warmup and found my friend Sam about 10 minutes before the start. As soon as I walked across the start line, with Sam 20 feet away my lower back immediately seized up. I made it over to Sam, but I was having problems staying upright. I tried stretching, squatting down on the ground, etc. but it just kept getting worse. It hurt so much that I was having trouble breathing. Sam made a good joke that he has that affect on people, but the only thing that made it better was to walk away. After 50-60 feet of running and some stretching it let go. I had the same thing happen at Erie a couple years ago and it is some kind of stress reaction to racing. It hurts a lot, but both times now it cleared up before the gun/horn went off and didn't impact the race.
The plan was to get to mile 20 with a 7:10 average and then do my best to get to the finish with a safe BQ. I had 2 different virtual runner type apps on my watch. One set for a 3:10 marathon and the other set for a 3:20. For my age group the standard is 3:25, but we all know how that goes. The first 5 miles are rolling hills with minimal overall elevation change. I was going to run these by feel and was expecting them to be 7:30ish. I was very happy with how things went here. I was feeling comfortable and constantly working to hold myself back. The downhill parts were faster, the uphills slower but the overall effort felt comfortable. My HR was running a little high in the upper 160's but with the heat (64F) and humidity (100%) that didn't bother me too much and I knew when we got into the downhill miles it would drop. The challenge to this race was not going to be aerobic conditioning but rather how well you could take the hurt. Successful marathons for me typically average about 163-166 HR. The first 5 miles were 6:59, 7:02, 7:17, 7:13, 7:15. Perfect. At mile 6 we started going down the rollercoaster and I had Phil's comment about banking strength running through my mind. I was braking on the downhills, but tried to balance things and store some strength. At times it was hard not to lose control and go tumbling. They came in expectedly fast at 7:09, 6:54, 6:47, 7:19. These could have been a lot faster but I just kept thinking, "must store strength". HR was dipping in the the 150's at times. Perfect. The next 3 miles are net downhill, but not by much. There are just constant grade changes and some of them are steep! There was one short steep hill in here where I started thinking I could walk faster than run but it only took a minute or two. I was expectedly slowing down again but the hurt was also starting to accumulate and I started wondering just how bad miles 21-23 might be. These 3 miles came in at 7:44, 7:30, 7:41. I spent most of mile 13 thinking about the costs of finishing. I wasn't enjoying the race and it was clear that finishing would come at a high cost regardless of the finishing time. Around mile 12, I was exactly at 7:10 average and I was almost 5 minutes ahead of 3:20 pace, but I was also starting to slow down. In retrospect, the slowdown should have been expected based on the terrain but I took it as one more sign that I was starting to unravel a bit.
Throughout mile 13 I spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd be giving up by finishing. I spent a few days before the race thinking about DNS'ing in favor of USAT Clydesdale Championships instead. My knee was feeling good before the race, but would it after? If I walk off the course I probably can get back to bike/swim this week and race a triathlon in 3 weeks. I might still be well enough off to go to Clydesdale Nationals and if I'm not there is still a local race that many of my friends are doing. If I finish, none of that would be possible. I really enjoy swim/bike/run a lot. I don't enjoy racing marathons. Why should I finish this marathon and give up what I enjoy for something that I don't? And right about that time the finish line for the 13.1 popped into view as I rounded the corner. Yep, I'm done. I walked off and a volunteer told me to keep going. I let her know that I wasn't going to finish the marathon. She then turned to the guy next to her who was trying to hand me a half marathon medal and said, "No, he doesn't get one of those." Meh.
A few minutes later Sam came rolling through so I thought it would be nice to cheer him on. I ran with him for a bit to see how he was doing and then he was on his way to the finish. The busses back to the start were all held back until after the awards ceremony, so it was 1+ hours before I could get on a bus to the start. Unsurprisingly, there were some nice conversations with other runners on the bus and then it was time to start the drive home.
I'm fine with the way the race ended. My biggest disappointment of the weekend came after I got home. I've been rebuilding the bike, so now that I can get on it sooner I was anxious to get it finished up. I spent 3-4 hours in the garage finishing it up and took it out on a test ride. The bike feels fast right now! Unfortunately, as soon as I got out of the saddle to test my knee the same pain came back. I'll call the doctor today.
I don't know where this leaves things. I expect that I will likely run Erie in the Fall, but for now I want to get healthy and have fun with triathlon. I've been spending way too much time focusing on a race distance that I just don't enjoy. I want to get back to races being fun. I do plan on being back in Boston for 2019. I just don't know if I'll time qualify, fundraise or just go for Beerworks and maybe volunteer instead.
It was really cool before the race how much everyone wanted to support me. I really appreciate all of the well wishes and virtual cheering that was going on. I thought about all of you during the race and wondered if I'd be letting everyone down. It was a spur of the moment decision and one that I'm OK with, but part of me wishes I'd have come back out here and reported a completely different ending.
