Lessons Learned

Probably more than a few people are wondering why run a summer time marathon? Add to it, this was a marathon basically in the south so one would only have expected it to be hot and humid, right? I couldn't agree more. Truthfully, I was on the fence about doing it for weeks. My decision to run it only came the week before hand.

Basically, there were some things that I wanted to try out and only by racing could I do it. Let me explain it a little differently. Yes, I could have tested all of my ideas during a long training run but with nothing on the line, I wouldn't go into it with the same intensity. The same desire to push through the difficult sections. Effectively, I am saying I learned the most when I give it my all and this only comes out during my races.

There were a number of things that I was testing.

• Running a summer time marathon
  
• Drinking more water and electrolytes during the race
  
• Using running shorts vs. compress shorts
  
• Running in a singlet vs. a tri top
  
• Not using calf sleeves.
  
• Different Gels
  
• Running a marathon with limited training preparation
  

Being the software profession one of the first things that a developer learns is one shouldn't make more than one change at time. Making multiple changes makes it much harder to determine what worked and for that matter what didn't work.

That's a good lesson to keep in mind but making minute changes for a marathon are more difficult because of the preparation time. Changing only one attribute would mean elongating the entire testing process or it would mean running marathons more frequently. Neither option really works well for me.

So I was left with making several changes during one test and hoping for the best.

Basically every marathon that I have done, I ran from the perspective go as fast as possible. To do this, I always choose a flat fast marathon. This time I wanted to try something a little different. That's why I choose a race that was tough and thus pushed any idea of running fast out the window.

The Hatfield and McCoy marathon fit the bill. The course was hilly, mixed terrain, and uncertified. And did mention it was expected to be hot and humid. Why else would they have aid stations at every mile starting at mile one. In addition, their web site clear states "This is not a Boston Qualifier". Although, I guess, I technically proved this statement to be incorrect since my time from Saturday's race will have qualified me for next the Boston marathon next year.

Drinking during race has always been a struggle for me. Usually most of the water spills from the cup when I grab it. Then, there is the sloshy water feeling in the stomach. I never liked that feeling. Saturday, the weather was expected to be hot and so I was determined to drink often which I did. Never once did I get the sloshy feeling but then I was sweating like I was setting in a sauna. Maybe the water was empting out as fast I was drinking it or maybe I just wasn't getting enough water from each cup. Probably, there was a little of both happening.

Since I returned to marathoning, I had used compression shorts. And recently, I had switched to wearing a Tri top during the race. I liked the compression aspect but I wanted to see what would happen without the compression and Tri top. I had selected the CRC gear and the Brooks shorts because they had pockets for carrying my Gels. I had no issue with the gear itself but the black color wasn't the "hottest" of ideas.

I wore my singlet on the outside of my shorts so each time in order to access the pockets, I had to reach back and pull up the bottom of the singlet. I'll probably consider putting the bottom of the singlet inside the shorts next time.

Normally, I wear my calf sleeves because I feel it helps with return blood flow, keeps the muscles firm, and prevents cramping. Man, do I wish that I had them on Saturday. I skipped wearing them because of the heat. Definitely, this was the wrong decision to make.

Gel-wise, I went with the Strawberry-Banana over the chocolate. The Chocolate even on a hot day, I have to squeeze it out. The Strawberry-Banana came out like water. Actually, the taste better as well.

The last bullet point was marathon training. Often when putting all of those miles, one has to ask one's self is it really worth it? Do the hard workouts really help?

For the Hatfield and McCoy marathon my marathon training consisted of 1 x 18, 20, and 22 mile runs. Otherwise, I just ran easy miles and raced some 5ks. I didn't even increase my mileage beyond what was added for these 3 long runs.

With all of this said, what did I learn? Well, the first thing that I learned is that like most people I don't handle running 26.2 miles in the heat and humidity very well. The Hatfield and McCoy marathon will likely be my first and last summer time marathon at least one in the south. Maybe a marathon in Alaska might be worth trying or the North Pole.

Otherwise, I took away a lot of good notes which I am already looking to incorporate into my fall marathon plans.

 

 

Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner