This was a bitter sweet race culminating 5 months of intense training with the Gilbert Gazelles. Throughout the past 5 months I had stuck to plan of 4-5 runs a week and really picked up intensity starting thanksgiving around 11 weeks leading to the race. I had started logging 5 runs and kicked up the distance. Also came with a slew of injuries starting from planar fatia then calf and then in early december had piroformis that lasted through race day. But through it all, taking physiotherapy, daily foam rolling, icing, strectching I had managed to work through it. I had some good long runs at pace, my target was 4 hrs (9:09 min/mile) and had found a good group to do that with in the gazelles on the long runs. Particularly had good training in January and followed the training schedule to the word.
Come race week, i did the carb load of 300 calories extra per day for 5 days. I also drank a bit more water and drank more starting 48 hrs to race day. Also took a deep tissue massage and took epsom salt bath day before the race. I did everything i could to be ready and healthy on race day.
Race day - 90% humidity from 7 to 9, and then drops to 60-70%. Temperatures start at 58, and gets 65 by 11, and 70 by 12. All in the temperature was going to be good with cloudy skies and only humidity was the concern. All my training weeks were in 40 degree temperature and mostly low humidity, so temps were higher race week, but mostly concerning was the humidity. Austin course is a tough hilly one, 3 miles uphill, then 3 miles downhill, mile 6-10 is flat, miles 10-12 is hilly, then there is gradual 1-2% gradient to mile 17 or so. Starts to level down and mile 18 is downhill mostly till the end.
My race plan to target 4hrs was run 9:30 pace first 5k, then run 4-6 even effort no speeding up protect the knees on steep downhill and overall run 4-10 at goal pace. Then cut back 10-14 to a bit slower and then get back on even effort 14-19. Around mile 20 catch a pace group and coast to the finish line, and hope to get to 4 hrs finish time.
Race day I wore a banyan compression and a loose t-shirt on top. I was on target first 7-8 miles, I had passed 4:10 group at mile 2, and had picked up a pace at comfortable effort. I had some slowing on mile 9, but picked up mile 10, which was a tough mile. because the 4:10 group passed me and I was not able to keep up and I noticed i had sweated a lot. I felt out of strength and out of gas which was weird because I never felt like this in any of my training runs. I felt my body had run out of electrolytes. I then had walk some of the hills, drink 2 cups of gatorade every water stop. I had reached 10 miles in 1:34, and I reached 13.1 in 2:08. At mile 10 itself I knew my race was over in terms of goal time since I was having heavy heart beating and ears starting to pop. Then all it was about surviving and dedicating to finishing and focusing on all the sacrifices we had to give so i could train at those crazy early morning hours and honoring dad on his 80th bday that was on Feb 13. Still till mile 15 i was able to hit 11:30 min/mile pace with some walking for the cramps and pace 4:25 passed me. On great northern stretch i did more walking and then we reached mile 17 or so at the highest elevation. My cramps continued and around mile 18 i got some muscle spasms on left calf and right lower quad above the knee. I thought at that point to just walk/limp to an aid station and call it a day and get a ride back, thats how bad it was. I walked through it for 3-4 mins and then the spasms went away, so i could actually run and I focused on all the positives and dedicated to finishing and being thankful that I was able to race. I has spasms and cramps and walked when I had them, made some adjustment and ran when I could. I had mile 22 onto duval which is my fav part of the race. I again dug deep as I was already more than 4 hrs into the race. It took me about an hour to finish from there.
I survived this race and finished my second marathon and for that I am grateful. I know I had a goal time of 4 hrs and it took me an hour more, but I learnt how to face a tough situation and keep positive, work through the problem and make the best of the situation and focusing on all the sacrifices that we had made so I could be there at the starting line of the marathon. There will always be another chance to set my PR, I don't know when but If I have a chance to complete and cross the finish line of a marathon no matter what time, its always a big achievement.
Now when I start to analyze why I had the electrolyte depletion so early on, I have been running in Austin humidity for three years so this should not have been such a problem so early on.
I can only think of the following reasons
1) I drank too much water starting 2 days from race, probably more than a gallon and I may have come into the race with depleted electrolytes
2) I also took ibuprofane before race, a lot of articles say dont take since it intereferes with kidney function (http://www.runnersworld.com/hydration-dehydration/how-much-should-you-drink-during-a-marathon)
3) I should have tossed the outer t-shirt earlier to avoid over-perspiration
4) I should plan and adjust according to race day, given that it was going to humid first 2 hours and get dryer later on, I should have been very conservative for couple of hours. That may mean I could not hit my goal, but I may have been able not too far from it maybe 15 mins slower, but still a good time.
So to do next time
1) Train with salt tabs and electrolytes, learn how to take them while in training, maybe over the summer I can give it a try
2) Drink according to thirst and take sports drink that have salt and potassium
3) Dont read crazy internet articles about nutrition etc, ask the coach and just use common sense,
4) Improve half marathon times to below 1:50 to get a real shot at running under 4 hours, thats realistically is the path to sub 4-hour marathon, just look at gazelles calculator for benchmarks for various distances for target marathon times.
Come race week, i did the carb load of 300 calories extra per day for 5 days. I also drank a bit more water and drank more starting 48 hrs to race day. Also took a deep tissue massage and took epsom salt bath day before the race. I did everything i could to be ready and healthy on race day.
Race day - 90% humidity from 7 to 9, and then drops to 60-70%. Temperatures start at 58, and gets 65 by 11, and 70 by 12. All in the temperature was going to be good with cloudy skies and only humidity was the concern. All my training weeks were in 40 degree temperature and mostly low humidity, so temps were higher race week, but mostly concerning was the humidity. Austin course is a tough hilly one, 3 miles uphill, then 3 miles downhill, mile 6-10 is flat, miles 10-12 is hilly, then there is gradual 1-2% gradient to mile 17 or so. Starts to level down and mile 18 is downhill mostly till the end.
My race plan to target 4hrs was run 9:30 pace first 5k, then run 4-6 even effort no speeding up protect the knees on steep downhill and overall run 4-10 at goal pace. Then cut back 10-14 to a bit slower and then get back on even effort 14-19. Around mile 20 catch a pace group and coast to the finish line, and hope to get to 4 hrs finish time.
Race day I wore a banyan compression and a loose t-shirt on top. I was on target first 7-8 miles, I had passed 4:10 group at mile 2, and had picked up a pace at comfortable effort. I had some slowing on mile 9, but picked up mile 10, which was a tough mile. because the 4:10 group passed me and I was not able to keep up and I noticed i had sweated a lot. I felt out of strength and out of gas which was weird because I never felt like this in any of my training runs. I felt my body had run out of electrolytes. I then had walk some of the hills, drink 2 cups of gatorade every water stop. I had reached 10 miles in 1:34, and I reached 13.1 in 2:08. At mile 10 itself I knew my race was over in terms of goal time since I was having heavy heart beating and ears starting to pop. Then all it was about surviving and dedicating to finishing and focusing on all the sacrifices we had to give so i could train at those crazy early morning hours and honoring dad on his 80th bday that was on Feb 13. Still till mile 15 i was able to hit 11:30 min/mile pace with some walking for the cramps and pace 4:25 passed me. On great northern stretch i did more walking and then we reached mile 17 or so at the highest elevation. My cramps continued and around mile 18 i got some muscle spasms on left calf and right lower quad above the knee. I thought at that point to just walk/limp to an aid station and call it a day and get a ride back, thats how bad it was. I walked through it for 3-4 mins and then the spasms went away, so i could actually run and I focused on all the positives and dedicated to finishing and being thankful that I was able to race. I has spasms and cramps and walked when I had them, made some adjustment and ran when I could. I had mile 22 onto duval which is my fav part of the race. I again dug deep as I was already more than 4 hrs into the race. It took me about an hour to finish from there.
I survived this race and finished my second marathon and for that I am grateful. I know I had a goal time of 4 hrs and it took me an hour more, but I learnt how to face a tough situation and keep positive, work through the problem and make the best of the situation and focusing on all the sacrifices that we had made so I could be there at the starting line of the marathon. There will always be another chance to set my PR, I don't know when but If I have a chance to complete and cross the finish line of a marathon no matter what time, its always a big achievement.
Now when I start to analyze why I had the electrolyte depletion so early on, I have been running in Austin humidity for three years so this should not have been such a problem so early on.
I can only think of the following reasons
1) I drank too much water starting 2 days from race, probably more than a gallon and I may have come into the race with depleted electrolytes
2) I also took ibuprofane before race, a lot of articles say dont take since it intereferes with kidney function (http://www.runnersworld.com/hydration-dehydration/how-much-should-you-drink-during-a-marathon)
3) I should have tossed the outer t-shirt earlier to avoid over-perspiration
4) I should plan and adjust according to race day, given that it was going to humid first 2 hours and get dryer later on, I should have been very conservative for couple of hours. That may mean I could not hit my goal, but I may have been able not too far from it maybe 15 mins slower, but still a good time.
So to do next time
1) Train with salt tabs and electrolytes, learn how to take them while in training, maybe over the summer I can give it a try
2) Drink according to thirst and take sports drink that have salt and potassium
3) Dont read crazy internet articles about nutrition etc, ask the coach and just use common sense,
4) Improve half marathon times to below 1:50 to get a real shot at running under 4 hours, thats realistically is the path to sub 4-hour marathon, just look at gazelles calculator for benchmarks for various distances for target marathon times.
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