Bass Pro Marathon Miscellany

I don’t promise the best order or organization in this post, but this is pretty much my Bass Pro Marathon word vomit that I wanted to put out there so that I can look back on it!  My "real" marathon recap can be found here.

Professional shot from around the half of our unofficial sub-3:00 pace group

• Below are my Garmin split comparisons between Bass Pro (BP) and Prairie Fire (PF).  My Garmin had me running 0.22 farther at BP, which is consistent with my “bonus” jaunt (I was 24 seconds ahead of my pace band at mile 20, then I was about 55 seconds behind my pace band at mile 21 after my detour and correction).  The course split mats were in different locations on the two marathon courses, so the only official course splits I have to compare are a 43:16 first 10K at PF vs. a 43:06 first 10K at BP, a difference quite negligible (even more so considering I started closer to the line at BP).  BP had more elevation changes than PF, and when I look at those in comparison to my splits they make sense as well (for example, mile 4 had more downhill and mile 5 more uphill). As you can see, I closed a lot stronger at BP, which is how I like to finish marathons and made me quite happy!  9 of my final 12 miles at BP were in the 6:30s, and the miles that were not were planned as slower course miles due to inclines.  The final 2 miles on the course are also slower course miles, but I managed to keep them in the 6:30s (with a final 0.6 at 6:28), and that made me optimistic about what is to come!

The best I could splice this together!

• My other course splits at BP were 15K in 1:04:15, 25K in 1:45:50, and 30K in 2:07:15.  These are all correct since my error was between mile 20 and 21, and the 25K and 30K are PRs for me at those distances!  My previous PR at 25K was 1:50:16 (on a challenging course; I’d run faster in other marathons but without official timing mats), and I’ve never raced a 30K so that one was an automatic PR.

• Even though my official time doesn’t reflect it, I ran stronger at BP than at PF.  This was the opposite of what I expected, since PF was my goal race and I was running BP with PF on my legs - not to mention that BP is a more challenging course.  I think that it comes down to 4 reasons though:  1) cooler temperatures, with 38 degrees at the start of BP vs. 54 degrees at PF, 2) having someone to pace with for most of the race at BP vs. running mostly solo at PF, 3) the awful stomach bug that landed me at Urgent Care 10 days prior to PF vs. no illness close to BP, and 4) no pressure at BP vs. nerves at PF.  I paced very similarly early on in the two races, but I finished a lot stronger at BP (also funny because I didn’t feel as fresh at the beginning of BP).  At BP, I also adjusted for what I thought was a gel mistake at PF with my third gel being a different type that was saltier and may have resulted in a side cramp, so that may have helped too (I fueled exactly the same in both races otherwise, and had no cramps at BP).  At PF I was uncertain whether I had a sub-3:00 in me, while at BP I knew that I did, and it was more of a matter of whether I did or not again so soon.

• My family cheer crew was again amazing!  This time it was my parents, Jon, Albani, Thomas (brother-law), Christopher (nephew), and Samantha (niece).  I know having her cousins along made it more enjoyable for Albani, and sometimes I feel bad about taking her to all of these races, so I am glad she had the time of her life with her cousins as usual (even though afterwards when I told her that my favorite part of the marathon was hearing her yell “go mama!”, she told me that her favorite part was taking a nap, hahaha!).  Since this was a hometown race, Jon was able to navigate everyone to many locations on the course, including the start, around miles 6, 10, 13, 16, and 19, and the finish.  I loved seeing them all so much, and this is a huge benefit of running smaller marathons in familiar places!  They had a copy of my pace band so they knew when to expect me and how I was doing with my goal pace.  Here are my dad’s awesome videos!

On course around mile 10
On course around mile 16.5 with high-5 to Albani 
Finish
Awards ceremony

Thumbs up around mile 16.5

On course around mile 19 (no more pace group here)

• This was my third time running BP, and each time the course has been just slightly different for various reasons.  They moved the finish to a different location from 2010 to the more recent races, and this year they tweaked some of the later miles of the course due to construction downtown and around MSU.  All three years the weather has been similar, and I’ve had an amazing family cheer crew on the course.  The main difference this year was that I didn’t get the lead female bike (although this was my fastest BP by almost 5 minutes).  I sure missed the bike navigating the course just ahead of me, but I also knew going in that I wouldn’t have it since I knew that Kim was running  (and that was much better than thinking I might have it and not!).  I got comments here and there from spectators telling me my place, which was 3^rd overall female throughout the race.  I never had a chance at moving up with the first two ladies running 2:44 and 2:52, and 4^th finished in 3:32, so it was a very solid 3^rd.  Overall placings in a race are always so much about who shows up; I've run horrible times that won races, and I've run PRs that didn't get me on the podium, so I'm always more focused on my time than on place because it's more meaningful across events.  Although I can't say I don't have quite a competitive streak, the older I get the more it is all about being the best runner I can be.  You can't control anyone else's race, but you can go out there and run your heart out in a smart race.

Memories!

• When I came into the finish, the announcer said something like, “Sara Ibbetson finishing the full marathon; Sara was our women’s champion in 2010 and 2015”, which I thought was fun!  Jon got a clock shot by stretching his arm out into the finishing shoot and "photographing aimlessly" (his words).  I was impressed because I couldn’t even see the clock when I was coming in until I was pretty much at the finish line, due to spectators obscuring the view.

Clock shot 1

Clock shot 2 + screaming lady

• At the awards ceremony, the race director talked about this year being the fastest women’s race in this marathon (my hypothesis about this happening at both PF and BP is because the Olympic Trials qualifying window isn’t yet open for the 2020 trials, so women of that caliber are running slower marathon courses to win some cash instead of vying for standards and PRs).  She also said, “If you’d have shown me a list of entrants and asked me to pick the top 3 women, these are exactly who I’d have picked!”

Swag

• What I dislike about marathons comes after the race:  post-marathon insomnia!  It has to be an adaptive response; I figure my body is thinking that there is no way I’d have pushed it to the extent I did was unless my life was in grave danger, so it won’t let down to sleep in case the danger is still present.  I’ve experienced this enough that I try to proactively combat it, but this time around on marathon night I only slept about 2 hours in spite of the 3 Melatonin I took (on a normal occasion 1 knocks me out!).  After PF I managed 4 hours with Melatonin, while after both BP 2015 and Dallas 2015 I did not sleep a wink.  Next time I’m getting something stronger than Melatonin!  I took off work on Monday since I needed to use my “birthday holiday”, so I wasn’t as worried about it this time (I worked the day after PF), but then come Monday night I still couldn’t sleep!  I got about 4 hours that night, which as a 7-8 hour sleeper is minimal.  Tuesday night I was back to normal sleep, but let me tell you, running a marathon + 2 nights of inadequate sleep + daylight savings time + traveling for work Wednesday and Thursday = exhaustion the weekend following the marathon!  We went to a 7:00 movie on Saturday evening and I fell asleep in the theater (in a super loud IMAX 3D movie!), even after napping for about 90 minutes on Saturday.  Usually I can only nap, in super comfortable positions, when I'm sick so this was extreme.

• Overall, the Bass Pro Marathon has been good to me.  The race director and crews do a fantastic job, and you can’t beat sleeping in your own bed before and after a marathon (well, at least pretending to after!).  I plan to run it every year I can, although I’m not sure it will ever be my “A” race, and maybe it doesn’t need to be!

Let it go, let it go!

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't woken up multiple times in the middle of the night thinking to myself, "Why didn't you choose right?!?" in regards to my wrong turn in the Bass Pro Marathon.  I have a hard time letting things go sometimes, and this has been one of those times.  It's also why I've been quiet this week about Bass Pro (no 6 blogs like after Prairie Fire!).

I've told myself that I need to be extremely thankful that Scott yelled at me until I turned back to the correct course and that I still ran a sub-3:00 (what I wouldn't have given for this whole scenario when I ran a 3:01?!).  I've told myself that I need to let this be a confidence boost for my next marathon, because I know I can go faster and finish strong like I did (9 of my final 12 miles were in the 6:30s).  I've told myself that no race is perfect, and really everything else about this race went off without a hitch.  I've told myself to be thankful that I can run, period, and that I had the opportunity to run two marathons in four weeks and to walk away from them healthy and feeling great.  I believe all of these things wholeheartedly, but I am really struggling with forgiving myself for the error.

My after the race struggle has been worse than mile 24!

The area where I made the wrong turn is right by the Missouri State parking lot I park in as an adjunct professor, so after class on Tuesday evening I decided I was going to drive by it and figure out how I went wrong.  Once I drove to the area it was very clear how I made the mistake, and I drew my husband the diagram below to explain it.  In my mile 20 focus, I didn't even realize that the road split before the park, and running on the left side of the road I just continued in the left lane when we ran past the tree-filled median.  The correct race direction arrows (which were bright green as shown in the photo above) were on the far other side of the median and not visible to me.  I knew I was following old arrows when I went left, but they were the only arrows I could see at all.

*Not to scale, haha!

So I understand what happened, and I'd now like a do-over.  Too bad life doesn't work like that, huh?  Since I can't re-decide my route at Bass Pro, I guess the next best thing is to try to better my marathon time in Phoenix on February 25.  Maybe a blessing from this will be increased motivation during winter training?  Maybe a blessing is the confidence boost of knowing that I closed with a 6:37 paced final 10K and ran within 11 seconds of my PR despite running at least 0.2 over the course distance?  After seeing my splits, my coach said sub-2:55 for Phoenix should be my goal.  For now I will try to take a lesson from Frozen and let it go...

Because taking no chances means wasting your dreams: Bass Pro Marathon

Going into this marathon, I knew the risks involved.  I was exactly 4 weeks off of my first sub-3:00 performance at Prairie Fire, and trying to run 2 all-out marathons in 4 weeks is a trick.  I went into the race knowing there was a chance I’d fall apart, or even DNF, but there was also a chance I could net my second sub-3:00, so I took the chance!

Everything about the race was relaxed.  I picked up my packet on my Friday lunch break at work, with the race expo being 1.1 miles from my office!  I stuck to my typical routines during the week leading up to the race, including a super busy week at work that made me forget I was even tapering.  I was also so excited for Jamie’s marathon at Indianapolis Monumental, and for Missy and Ashley’s halves at Bass Pro that I really didn’t think about my race.  I ate at home and slept in my own bed on race eve – which is hard to beat!  I also had 5 amazing family members in from out of town (my parents, brother-in-law, niece, and nephew), in addition to my husband and daughter.

Marathon morning, I arrived at Bass Pro with my family, met Missy and Ashley for an easy mile warm-up, talked to many wonderful area runners pre-race, and reveled in the hometown feel of the event.  Standing on the starting line at PF, I was nervous and anxious; standing on the starting line at BP I was calm and relaxed.  I also knew at the start that I’d be racing for third, with Kim Reed and Camille Herron (100K World Champion) in the event.  Two very inspiring women who have netted several Olympic Trials Qualifying marathon times each!

Pre-race

Ashley, me, Missy - we rule the farm roads at 5 a.m. & McDonalds on race morning

I started the race with Scott, who was also gunning for a sub-3:00.  Scott and I ran side by side from the gun through mile 17!  We ran with some other men here and there, including one who was with us for many miles and also aiming to go sub-3:00 (he ran 3:00:08!).  From mile 1 on no one passed us, but we picked off many men.  The miles flew by and our pacing was excellent; Scott told me I was a metronome.  I was constantly comparing where I was at in the race to where I was at at the same point in PF, and it was always quite close, e.g., opening 10K of 43:10 at BP vs. 43:16 at PF; half of 1:29:38ish (based on mile 13 course marker, as there was no half mat) at BP and 1:29:40 at PF.  I also had on a course-specific pace band targeted at 2:58:44, or 6:49 pace exactly, based on a conservative start and adjusted for course elevation changes, and I was right where I wanted to be with it through the half.  I felt strong, despite more challenging elevation at BP compared to PF, but also not as fresh as I had at PF, and in the back of my mind I had concerns about running this with PF already on my legs.   I planned to enjoy the ride as long as it lasted though!

Running happy with Scott!

As we passed mile 17, Scott told me he needed to back off a little, and he did but barely.  I pressed on, but he was still pretty close behind.  I couldn’t see anyone else in front of me on the frequently turning course at that point - which was very reminiscent of PF! – but I was so thankful to have had Scott with me for so many miles, and I felt confident I could gut out the final 9 on my own if I needed to.

At mile 19, I was about 25 seconds under my pace band, so I did the math and figured that if I ran the rest of my miles at 3 seconds each under my pace band course miles, I could pull out a high 2:57.  I thought I could do that, and I was pretty excited at the prospect of another sub-3:00 and even a possible PR -- but I also knew that it wasn't over until it's over!  I've run enough marathons to know that I felt good enough at mile 19 to know that I was not going to bonk, but there is a difference between not bonking and finishing at 6:30 pace vs. not bonking and finishing at 6:55 pace.

The pace band

At about 20.5, we came upon Phelps Grove Park and a fork in the road.  I didn’t see any newly painted green arrows, and there was no one standing at the fork or anywhere near it.  I had no idea which way to go.  In the past, the race has gone left there, and there were several arrows going left (there are a lot of races in that area).  But someone had told me this week that they thought the course changes had us going right around Phelps Grove.  I hesitated.  I did a little back and forth dance at the fork.  I even said out-loud, "Which way?!".  I almost burst into tears from indecision.

The marathon is a metaphor for life in so many ways, and sometimes in life, we make split second decisions that change our lives.  At this point in my marathon, I made a split second decision that changed my marathon; I went left.

What felt like both a second and an eternity later, I heard Scott screaming my name and looked back to see him turning right.  I knew then I’d made the wrong call.  I had a huge shot of adrenaline as I turned on a dime and went back right.  Scott told me he'd yelled 3 times before I'd heard; he was a saint for continuing to scream at me, at a time I know he was hurting!  I picked back up with Scott and our other sub-3:00 seeker Kevin and berated myself.  They told me not to panic.  I was panicking (funny because I had been Miss Positivity for our group until then, shooting down their negative comments about falling off pace and telling them they were great!)!  I anxiously awaited the next course mile marker to see how much time I’d lost.  I came through mile 21 nearly a full minute behind my total pace band goal at that course mile, so realized that I’d lost about 1:20-1:30 or probably 0.2-0.25.  I was so angry at myself for making the wrong choice, and also worried that I wouldn’t even make it under 3:00 because the mistake.  I also started worrying that the adrenaline I'd just experienced would do me in prematurely.

I regrouped the best I could and pressed the final 5 miles; that was all I could do at that point.  I felt far better than I did at PF as I passed the final mile markers, but all I could think about was my error and what it had cost me.  I knew I was going to have to close strong to still get under 3:00, and I was worried about the final 2 miles and all of the incline in them.  And I was just so mad at myself.

One of my big goals for this race was to finish with a stronger 10K than at PF, and I ended up with a 6:37 average for the final 6.59 -- and I passed a lot of men in those miles!  A man I didn’t know ran me in from about 24-25.25 after a friend of his didn't want to be run in (!!), the female lead cyclist came back for me for about the final mile, and Missy and Ashley ran me in from around 25.3-26!  I was shocked and amazed that I kept my final 2 miles in the 6:30s, as I’d budgeted them at 7:00 miles on my pace band because I couldn’t even close strongly on them last year when I ran this as a training run.

Ashley took this while she & Missy were running me in, haha!  These girls were tough!

I finished in 2:59:04 – my second sub-3:00 marathon ever, coming 4 weeks after my first sub-3:00!  I was so very thankful to still make it under, but it was so bittersweet being 11 seconds (11 seconds!!) off of a PR, 5 seconds off of the 2:58s, and feeling that I would have run a high-2:57 without the wrong turn.  My Garmin had 26.59 for my distance, compared to 26.37 at PF, which had just as many turns.  Garmins will often read slightly over on correct certified courses (plus you don't typically run every tangent); the course is right and your Garmin is wrong, but this time I ran the wrong course!  I was 3rd overall female, and I wasn't at all close, but I also wasn't as far behind those women as I anticipated, which I believe also shows that this is not a fast course (they ran 2:44 and 2:52, while both have PRs in the 2:30s).

Garmin shot

However, I guess nothing is for certain, and maybe without that extra adrenaline and emotion from my wrong turn, I wouldn’t have closed as quickly in the final miles, and therefore not gotten the confidence boost of knowing I can improve my PR.  Maybe the error distracted me from the pain and enabled me to finish strong.  This can certainly be filed under “first world problems,” and although it was so important to me, I’m working to let it go (admittedly, after many hours of post-marathon insomnia asking myself – “Why didn’t you just go right?”!).  God has blessed me greatly with all of my races this season, and the perfectionist in me always finds what didn’t go right, but I also need to remember all that did.  Most of all I am thankful for the opportunity and thankful for being healthy through it!  I am so thankful for the support of my family, friends, and training partners.  It’s likely I wouldn’t have done either sub-3:00 had I not met Missy almost a year ago – she has been such an amazing support and I love her to death!

In true Sara fashion, there will be a few more Bass Pro blogs.  I’m glad I took this chance and accomplished a dream for a second time, but I also know that God’s plans are better than anything I can dream up on my own!  Onward!

Splits 1

Splits 2

Taper Deja Vu

Week of October 24-October 30, 2016

Mileage: 50, with a tempo workout, a set of strides, an impromptu double, a crazy speed workout, a bootcamp, some core work...and two birthdays!

My department is the best - and hilarious!  "Real runners don't age."

Monday - Business as usual with bootcamp (45 min.) + elliptical warm-up (25 min.).  The day before this I'd been zonked from running 3 times in under 24 hours (Saturday 8:00 a.m. shake-out, Saturday 5:00 p.m. 5K, and Sunday 5:30 a.m. 16 miler - see Sunday's notes here), so I decided that if I woke up still feeling exhausted I was going to skip bootcamp, but I woke up feeling great so the extra rest I had on Sunday was just what I needed!  This was my last chance to go to bootcamp before the Bass Pro marathon, so I'm glad it aligned for me to go, and I was also proud of myself for being open to not going if I needed an easier day (e.g., being less obsessive).

Tuesday - 7 base pace (7:20), with Missy and Ashley!  We are deciding on a name for our group - I named the group text "Competitive Women's Group", but Missy suggested "Slow Old Women's Group", which seems more fitting for me this week due to turning another year older.  Missy brought me an early birthday gift, including an amazing Underarmour winter running top, because she is the sweetest.

Wednesday - Happy birthday tempo workout to me!  The workout was 2 miles warm-up, 3 x 2 mile tempos with 0.5 mile recovery jogs between, and 1 mile cool-down.  Missy ran a tempo at the same time as me, although not the same workout, so we weren't together on the repeats, but it was nice to have someone else on the roads with me and we warmed up together and such.  This ended up being a confidence-inspiring workouts, as my 2 mile splits were 12:22 (6:11.5, 6:11.3), 12:11 (6:03.6, 6:07.5), and 12:08 (6:08.1, 5:59.99), and my average pace for all 10 miles even with the 4 miles of easy warm-up, recoveries, and cool-down mixed in was 6:39.  I was supposed to run the tempos at 6:15, and on the first rep that was what I was aiming for, and it felt so easy...well, maybe not easy, but a controlled faster pace, like half marathon pace.

Then the workout just flowed from there!  Towards the end I started thinking that maybe I could close with a sub-6:00 final mile, and I managed to do so by the tiniest of margins (I should have started the push for it a little earlier, because I was going up an incline when I decided to go for it)!  This was my final big tempo push before Bass Pro, and I felt really good about it.  It was brisk but not extremely hard.  It also made me want to race a half and a 10K so badly!  The workout made me feel like I could run 6:20ish pace for a flat half in cool temperatures, and I think I can run a 10K better than my last at 6:14 pace, since that was run at 70 degrees on a hilly course (e.g., conditions that I wasn't going to try for a PR in). 

So I asked my coach about racing the White River half on November 19 if I felt up for it.  I was sure that he'd say it was a bad idea, but he said that if I feel up for it then to go for it, provided that I don't do any more long races until the end of January, per our plan (but a 10K isn't a long race, so I'm thinking I could add one of those, bahahaha!).  So, I might get a go at a half in 2016 after all!  Or I might not even want to or feel like I have it in me after Bass Pro, which is totally okay too.  I am also (kind of) learning patience, and I believe that since my coach got me to this fitness level now, he can do it again in spring 2017 and I can go for a half PR then.  A couple of the ladies I've been training with are doing White River, so might as well ride down with them and go for it if I feel healthy after Bass Pro!

I also did a short core workout at lunch on Wednesday...would that be "Crunch"??  My medal from winning my age group at the Waddell and Reed half came in the mail on my birthday too.  I won my age group in 2015 there as well, and still find it humorous that I ran it as a base run this year and managed to place better overall (details here).

Splits

Because, for some reason Garmin Connect rounded this up, hahaha!

My birthday mail

Thursday - 11.1 total:  7.5 miles with 6 strides in mile 7 (7:31), with Missy and Ashley in the morning.  Happy birthday to Missy run!  We are almost birthday twins!  All three of us had hard Wednesday workouts, so it was nice to get in a relaxed conversational run.  AND it was sports bra running weather again, at least for me!  It's become a running (pun intended) joke that sports bra weather for me is long sleeve weather for Ashley, and on this run that was the case (it was 59 degrees and humid); I wore a shirt driving to meet, but then realized I definitely didn't want it when I got out of my car.

The day was SO beautiful that I did an easy second run in the evening, 3.6 miles (7:52).  This one wasn't on my schedule (sorry coach!!), but I wanted to soak up what will likely be my last chance for an after work run in daylight for a few months (!!!).  I am definitely going to need to schedule some lunch runs over the winter to get more daylight in my life!  

Friday -3.3 mile threasy (7:38) and a 25 minute strength workout focused on upper body and core.  No more leg strength until after Bass Pro!

Saturday - Crazy town 400s again; true deja vu to this taper week Sunday before Prairie Fire.  12 miles total with 2.1 warm-up, 20 x 400 m on the track, 2.2 cool-down. The 400s were run in 5 sets of 4 reps each, with 200 m recovery between reps and 400 m recovery between sets. The goal splits got faster each set, as the purpose of this workout is to generate leg-turn over without getting overly fatigued, and I assume also to practice negative splitting.   

My splits for each set were (I didn't do tenths of a second on each rep, but this is close):

Set 1 (goal 1:30, but I changed it to 1:29): 1:28, 1:28, 1:28, 1:28 - average 1:28

Set 2 (goal 1:28):  1:26, 1:27, 1:27, 1:27 - average 1:26.75

Set 3 (goal 1:27): 1:27, 1:27, 1:26, 1:26 - average 1:26.5

Set 4 (goal 1:26):  1:25, 1:25, 1:26, 1:25 - average 1:25.25

Set 5 (goal 1:25): 1:25, 1:24, 1:25, 1:23 - average 1:24.25
Average for all 20 was 1:26.15

 

For reference, last time I ran this workout, 4 weeks ago, I did (again, didn't do tenths of a second):

Set 1 (goal 1:30): 1:28, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31 - average 1:29.75

Set 2 (goal 1:28): 1:27, 1:28, 1:27, 1:28 - average 1:27.5

Set 3 (goal 1:27): 1:27, 1:26, 1:25, 1:26 - average 1:26

Set 4 (goal 1:26): 1:25, 1:26, 1:25, 1:26 - average 1:25.5

Set 5 (goal 1:25): 1:23, 1:25, 1:24, 1:23 - average 1:23.75
Average for all 20 was 1:26.5

Missy ran the first set beside me, and then rotated in and out of some of the others a few seconds behind me.  This was not her workout day, so it was really sweet of her to come out and help me on this one!  My main take-away is that 200 m recoveries are really short (about 1:00)!  Also I was really pleased to run a little faster than I did this workout 4 weeks ago; I felt that the workout 4 weeks ago was very solid for me, and today I paced all 20 myself (last time Casey led 8 of them) and it was 60 degrees (last time was 45).  I was also nice to check this one off!  I shouldn't have it again until February now!

Sunday - 6.5 miles shake out (7:24 ).  I only had 5 scheduled, but realized that 6.5 would get me to 50 miles for the week, so how could I not?  It was a gorgeous morning!

T-minus 7 days!  I don't think I'll have any taper madness this time (although I know I'll miss the mileage, as I don't run a whole lot next week), because I think this is just all bonus and even if I run a horrible race I'll be glad I tried and again thankful for the journey (and learn something for next time).  Marathon day is important, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that the training block along the way is even better.  I've made so many memories and I know that I'm exactly where God wants me to be.  Did you know that His plans are better than anything we can dream up on our own?!

What else to do 4 weeks after your marathon than run another marathon?!

I planned to run the Bass Pro Marathon as my 2016 B marathon even before I picked my A marathon!  I ran, and won, this marathon in 2015 and 2010, and both times I thoroughly enjoyed the race and running familiar streets.  I love the hometown feel, and there is a lot to be said for sleeping in your own bed the night before a marathon!

This race ended up lining up nicely with Prairie Fire, because being 4 weeks apart I knew I could use Prairie Fire as my longest long run for Bass Pro, I would have long enough to recover between the races, and also I would get a second chance at a sub-3:00 marathon if Prairie Fire didn't go well.  I think that I'll probably run Bass Pro every year I can from here on, but likely never as my A race because it's not a wonderful race for a good time.  The organization is A+++, but being a smaller race you are likely going to be running a lot of the race alone if you're running under probably 3:20ish, and even more so the faster you run.  The course is about as flat as you can get in the Ozarks, but still has around 550 ft of elevation gain, and also a million turns (a friend told me he counted 70-some from the course map!).  I lose rhythm turning so much, and also it's tricky to run all of those tangents so you inevitably pick up extra distance.  The final 2 miles of the race also has a lot of incline, so in those miles where it's already a struggle to stay on pace, you have to fight the elevation as well (even when I ran it as a training run in 2015 or when I've run the half I haven't been able to close with a fantastic final 2 miles; when I raced it in 2010 stayed on pace to the end, but I would have definitely had a better negative split sans inclines).

Since I got my sub-3:00 at Prairie Fire, I considered dropping to the half at Bass Pro, which was also a thought all along.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to run the full.  Although I would like to go for a half PR, the half course is also not amazing and I just had so much fun running this marathon both times I did it that I really want to do it again.  Plus, Prairie Fire wasn't painful enough to scare me away from another 26.2 within a month, so forward I go!

When I signed up for 2016 (with the early registration/first 100 entrants super discount, wahoo!), I also hoped I might have a change to win the race again.  However, our local Olympic Trials qualifier is also running this year, so I don't have a chance for the win.  She is fast, sweet, and humble, and I'm fine with finishing behind her; however, my main disappointment is that I won't have the lead female cyclist with me during the race like I have in the past!  I sure liked those cyclists along during those lonely miles.  But I guess after running about 20 miles alone at Prairie Fire, I know that I can do it again if I have to.  I know a couple of men who should be close to my pace so am going to try to coordinate when them, though.

My biggest excitement about this race is that my coach told me that he worked out the "magic" to get me recovered from Prairie Fire and hopefully hold my peak to try for another sub-3:00 at this one.  After last week's training went really well for me, he said he thinks I will be ready!  It may be greedy to go for this, and with Prairie Fire on my legs it could go really poorly --- but taking no chances means wasting your dreams, right?  So I am planning to give it a go, provided that the weather cooperates and I'm feeling it once I get out conservatively on race day.  I'm not worried about it, because this one is a bonus, but I am ready to have 26.2 miles of fun on November 6!

Finishing stretch photos - must get a similar shot this year

Trick or Trot 5K: Sweet 18s

I finally put together a solid 5K race!  In case you don't want to weed through the details below, the basics are that I tried to run around 10K effort and without looking at my watch, and ended up feeling really good and finished in 18:46 with some left in the tank.  After a very lengthy string of 19:0X 5Ks, even though I'd run under 19 in the second 5K of a 10K, I finally made it official!  The struggle has been real.

The Trick or Trot had a 5:00 p.m. start time.  I haven't done many afternoon/evening races, and the only reason I did this one was because I won a free entry, needed more 5Ks for my running club's Runner of the Year competition, and had a child who was super stoked to wear her Halloween costume early.  Since I've only run three afternoon races as an adult, I'm not sure on best way to handle all of the hours of the day leading up to the race, but this one was a perfect one to experiment with since it was a treated as a workout instead of a race.  5Ks scare me so much that I was thankful that my coach told me not to run it all out (isn't it crazy that 3.1 miles intimidate me more than 26.2?!)!  I was also glad to get the opportunity to give an afternoon race a try under relaxed conditions, as I've always been scared to run one as a goal race since I'm not used to them, but supposedly our bodies do better at running fast in the afternoon than in super early morning.  Even though I ran several second runs in the evenings during my last training cycle, they were all easy runs, so I just wasn't sure how I'd feel.

I slept in until 7:30 a.m. (glorious!), then did a 3 mile shake out run immediately followed by stretching, an electrolyte drink, and a sizable breakfast, taking advantage of that post-run window when your muscles are little sponges ready to soak up nutrients, carbs, and hydration.  I also donned some compression socks, which I wore around all day.  It was a good day for us to relax at home after being on the go the past two weekends (I can't believe the Prairie Fire Marathon was only 2 weeks ago!), which meant a lot of laundry, cleaning, Halloween decorating, etc. but nothing too strenuous and also some reading and legs up the wall time.  With the race starting at 5:00 p.m., I knew I'd start my warm-up 4:15ish, so I knew I didn't want to eat anything much after 1:00ish, and I had a light lunch around that time.  Some of my worry about afternoon races stems from not knowing what to eat/not eat all day leading up to the event, because I don't want to eat too much or too little and have problems because of it.

Albani wore her Darth Vader Halloween costume, so we had a fun time getting dressed!  I wasn't as festive since it was 74 degrees, but I did wear an orange sports bra and black shorts.  I also put my hair in two French braids, which I used to do in high school when I raced but never take the time to do for morning races now.

My sweet Darth Vader

Result of waiting around all day for a race

When we arrived at the race site, I could tell it was going to be teeny tiny, and when I picked up my packet I noted about 15 runners signed up on the registration sheet.  No worries, though!  This was a workout and I hoped it would be a fun run.  I accidentally set our car alarm off when getting water during my warm-up, and had to run over to Jon and Albani who were on the playground about a quarter mile away to get the car key to stop it, while people looked at me perhaps wondering if I was running away following stealing something from a car (once they looked closely at the car it was probably obvious that there was nothing good to be taken from it, however).

You guessed it - during my warm-up, when I take good running pics

When the gun went off, I found myself immediately out front running what I felt like was my 10K pace (6:10-6:15).  A look at my watch around the half mile confirmed that I was at 6:10 pace - perfect.  It looked like it was just going to be me and the lead car, which was kind of what I expected when I saw the small field.  The second half mile had a good amount of decline in it, so that made me speed up and my 1 mile split was 6:02.  This felt nice and 10K pace still, but I figured the rest of my race would be slower because I wouldn't have the decline in any other miles.

The lead car sped ahead of me after taking me around a turn, and I started worrying that the driver had taken me the wrong way or something, but then I saw him get out of the car and put a cone down in the road for the hair pin turn-around.  When I got to the turn-around, I saw that it was marked with a duck, meaning it was the turn-around from the Sertoma Duck Waddle 5K and also meaning the course would be accurate!  This was good news because I'd gone into this one wondering if it would be off.

I kept plugging along to a second mile of 6:01.  Well, at that point it was time to try for a finish in the 18s!  I knew the last mile would be tough to keep at 6:00 pace since I had to go back up the decline, and I was also thinking about how I would be running a 16 mile long run in 12 hours, but I hoped to do it in 6:10-6:15, and I ended up putting down a 6:09.  My finishing kick at 5:46 pace was enough for an official time of 18:46, although I didn't get my watch stopped for a few more seconds.  I won overall by over 5 minutes, which is a first!

Garmin splits

Jon gets the best finishing clock shots -
he told me it's because he "used to race"

Wahoo!

It felt really good to get this done, especially when it wasn't on my radar here!  I was planning to go for a time in the 18s at the Turkey Trot 5K next month, but if I actually try there I will probably run 19:0X, haha!  The downside was that this course wasn't certified, but since my Garmin read exactly 3.10 on the out-and-back course with only a few turns, I'm saying it had to be quite close, as the last time I ran an out-and-back certified 5K it read 3.11.  My all-time PR is 18:25 anyhow (I've done an 18:18 on an un-certified course, and also a 17:58 on one my Garmin had at 2.95 miles), so it's not a question of counting for that or anything.  Just happy to see the 18s as a 35-year-old!

The best part of the event was Albani winning the costume contest!  Her eye lit up so much when they handed her the trophy.  She was in my opinion the cutest Darth Vader ever.  She kept telling me that her trophy was way better than my medal, which was an accurate statement, but my 18:46 was also way better than my medal or her trophy!

Winner!

Celebrating with Hibachi

Now, I can really officially retire from 5Ks.

What makes one marathon faster than the others? Marathon training cycle comparisons

I started putting this table together during my taper week for Prairie Fire to show myself that I was the most prepared I’d ever been.  In some categories, it made me feel less prepared though...so goes taper madness! 

The biggest thing that helped me make the jump from Dallas to Prairie Fire was increasing my mileage, and the biggest factor from Bass Pro 2010 to Dallas and Prairie Fire was working with a coach.  The latter also helped me work smarter, not necessarily harder (although I worked plenty hard too!).  I’ve learned a lot about diminishing returns with training and the line between being well-prepared and over-trained.  I also don't quite understand how he does it, but my coach can give me a 60 mile week that I complete feeling amazing after, but if I piece one together I end it feeling exhausted.

All in all, the combination of things that made the biggest positive difference for me at Prairie Fire was:

• Higher consistent mileage.  Even though I didn’t peak as high as I did before Bass Pro, I ran in the 50s to 60s every single week for 20 weeks, aside from the two taper weeks prior to the marathon.  Bass Pro prep was more variable.
• Working with a coach.  He’s better at this than me!
• No “training marathon”.  This was something I worried would hurt me, having not gone the full distance before race day, but I think it was best (see statement about diminishing returns/over-training).
• Fewer super long runs (see statement about diminishing returns/over-training).
• More workouts in long runs.  Runs like the hardest workout ever and 10 mile tempo + 1 hammer paid the bills!
• More tempos and hill work, for more stamina/strength building.
• Less track work.  It’s not a 5K, after all, and I was amazed at how much speed came simply with mileage.
• Two-a-day runs for more endurance and recovery.
• Faster long and easy runs, because apparently you can run your easy runs too slow!
• Fewer workouts and more base pace running, which reduces my injury risk and ends up making everything faster due to more consistent running.
• Less racing, and no tapering/resting for most races, since that decreases consistent mileage.  I learned that I could race fine even if I'd run 10-12 miles and a double two days before the event, which wasn't something I'd done in the past.
• Not using ice baths and compression until the end of the training cycle so my body could better learn to rebuild without extra help early on.
• Strength training.  My legs feel far less beat up after long and hard efforts, so it’s worth it for that alone.
• Being more fit and eating more.  As I discussed here, I was overall more fit.  I wish I had body composition stats to compare, because I was very close in my weight for all of these races, but I think my body fat was lowest at Prairie Fire, while I also fueled myself the best during training for it.

	Bass Pro Nov. 2010 3:03:47	Dallas Dec. 2015 3:01:44	Prairie Fire Oct. 2016 2:58:53
Mileage average (20 weeks leading up to race)	55	44	56
Mileage peak	73	56	61
Tempos	Spotty, mainly raced and called it a tempo; one traumatic 8 mile tempo that I bombed	Moderate amount, including a 10 miler	Staple workout, including 4, 6, 8, 10 and several repeat tempo workouts such as 3 x 2 miles at tempo
Speed work	Nearly every Tuesday track workouts	Often, but not as much as 2010	4 track workouts, and a few fartleks on the road (overall less than other 2 cycles)
Hill work	Minimal	Most long runs were very hilly; 1 hill repeat workout	Most long runs were mildly hilly; 3 hill repeat workouts
2-a-days	No	No	1-2 times/week
“Training” marathon	Heart of America in 3:16 (very hilly course)	Bass Pro in 3:06	None
20+ milers	1.     20 2.     21 3.     22 4.     23 5.     26.2 (race) 6.     20 7.     22 8.     23.3	1.     20 2.     22 3.     20 4.     27 (race+) 5.     20 6.     23.1	1.     20 base 2.     20 workout 3.     22 - 18 base, final 4 at marathon goal pace 4.     24.3 base, with final mile at marathon goal pace
Long run pace (approx.)	8:30-9:00	7:25-7:45	7:15-7:35
Easy run pace (approx.)	9:00	7:30-8:30	7:30-7:50
Tempo pace (6-10 mile tempos)	6:45	6:30	6:25
Race in build-up (in the order raced)	5K 8K 5K 5K Marathon 5K 10K	5K 10K Half Marathon 10K 5K Half Marathon Marathon 5K 10K	10K 5K 5K 5K 10K 15K
PRs during build-up	10K (not certified) in 39:13	Half in 1:24:33 10K in 39:19	10K in 38:43 15K in 59:19
Cross-training	Sporadic elliptical	Strength bootcamp 2 times/week, with elliptical warm-ups, and sporadic swimming	Strength bootcamp 2 times/week with elliptical warm-ups, and extra core work
Illnesses during build-up	Bronchitis in August and October	Cryptosporidum parasite in August (took 6 weeks to get back to full strength)	Stomach virus 11 days prior to race, minor cold during build-up
Recovery techniques	Sporadic stretching, ice baths after most long runs	Daily stretching, ice baths after most long runs, regular compression sock wearing, sporadic foam rolling	Daily stretching, daily foam rolling, used ice baths and compression socks only in the final 6 weeks pre-race
Coach	No	Marshall	Marshall
Training groups	MSU speed work group	Saturday long runs with Jamie	Frequent runs with Missy; some with Casey and Kim
Diet	Vegetarian, excessive sweets on occasion	Vegetarian, clean, but still excessive sweets on occasion	Included fish, chicken, and turkey (generally just at dinner), but otherwise similar to previous vegetarian, clean and ate maybe 3 desserts in 20 weeks
Race day temperature	High 30s-mid-40s	Mid-50s-low 60s	Low 50s-low 60s
First half split	1:32:42	1:29:29	1:29:40
Second half split	1:31:05	1:32:15	1:29:13
During race fueling	3 gels, occasional sports drink but mostly water	2 gels, occasional sports drink but mostly water	3 gels, occasional sports drink but mostly water
Strategy notes	Aiming for 3:05 and overall female; lucked out and was able to pace with Julie and the lead cyclist	Aiming for 2:59 and pacing with Jamie, used an even paced pace band	Aiming for 2:59 or better, used a conservative start course specific pace band, ran the first 6.5 miles mostly with the 1:30 half pace group, then ran 20 miles alone
Place	1st overall female	2nd overall female	4th overall female (9th fastest marathon ever run by a woman in the state of Kansas, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th fastest were also run in this race)
Race day outfit	Nike tank with built-in bra and Moving Comfort shorts (started in arm warmers and gloves, took both off)	Nike tank with built-in bra and Underarmour compression shorts	Underarmour sports bra and BCG shorts (started in gloves for the first 5 miles)
Race day socks	Ironman brand	Feetures brand	CEP compression socks
Race day shoes	Asics DS Trainers	Hoka One One Clifton 1s	Hoka One One Clifton 1s
Number of toenails on race day	Probably 8	10!	9, but down to 8 shortly after
Pre-race panic	Moderate	Minimal	Extreme 5-6 days out but subsided to  minimal