4 days later, we settled on the New Orleans marathon. We chose it for a few reasons, it was far enough away where we could chill and get back into shape, it was in NOLA which neither of us had been to, and it was an east coast race which allowed us to reduce vacation time taken.
Not long after we chose the race, I talked Matthias into coming. He had planned to do his first half marathon in jan/feb since i convinced him to sign up for a half ironman (having never done a tri and not knowing how to swim when he signed up) and thought NOLA fit in perfectly. From there, I sent an e-mail out to a bunch of folks gauging interest. During the same time frame, my DRINKmaple crew had a few e-mails going out regarding a marathon in arizona and other west coast locations. i might have dropped the idea of NOLA (or it was already floating, i can't recall 100%) and it sort of took off. a week later we had roughly 10-13 people going. It didn't take long, but we soon had Julia interested. First, she was coming to cheer and eat, then she said she would do the 5k (ok, so i lied, there was no 5k, tee hee), then she said she would do the 10k. next thing you know she is signed up for her first race since high school and first half marathon ever. ahhh, i love positive peer pressure.
I generally gain 20-25lbs over the winter and run a whopping zero miles. I really wanted to make sure I put in a solid effort, mainly to start my triathlon season off strong. I was just sick of spending the first 2 months of the season dropping the 20-25lbs i had gained over the winter. I knew i wanted to improve my run this winter and the only way i was going to do that was to run often. i decided to set a goal, run 80 days out of the next 100 days. day 1 was december first. I also realize my limitations, that is, i just don't hold myself accountable, that and i'm lazy. so i decided to make a fb group and invited a bunch of like minded individuals that would keep me socially accountable. the grew started with a few people. there were no rules, you could set your own goals, but a lot of people really jumped on the 80/100 bandwagon and off it went.
you can see my training log here
my thought process is quite simple. i believe that volume = success in the marathon world. not just any volume. coming from a triathlete background i believe that complimenting cycling, overall fitness, and a strong core results in success. my best time in an open marathon had been 3:40. my pr in the ironman marathon was only a handful of minutes more. that could be 1 of 2 things. 1) i run INSANELY well off the bike, or 2) i am leaving a lot of time on the table in my open marathons.
i personally feel it's a little bit of both. my plan was to run often and slowly increase volume weekly. i did not do any specific speed work. almost all of my runs were of descending pace (negative splits) or even splits as close as possible. i rarely went out hard and slowed down for the latter part of the run. i also DO NOT believe in long runs. over my career (as an athlete and professionally) i have yet to see/find/feel the benefits of the long runs (runs over 15/16 miles). i personally feel that one is better off running 8 miles 5 times a week, than it is to run 5 miles 4 times a week and do a 20 miler on the weekend. i firmly believe in what i call "aggregate running". with that said, i did one 15 mile run. it was on the treadmill before work. I did it 3 weeks out from the marathon. the primary reason was because i wanted to get a larger volume in that week and i was out to NH on friday so i wasn't going to be able to put in any decent volume. overall, i put in 12 weeks of training. 4 more weeks than i have ever trained in past.
fast forward to race week. i flew into NOLA on friday and met with julia, we rented a car and got to the house where we shortly met up with ben, brian, and i got to meet nora. the house was nice, it had a rustic feel to it, yet was quite modern. it was also equipped with an outdoor, heated, saltwater pool.
julia picking up her first race bib since high school
matthias picking up his first half marathon race bib
after picking up the bibs, i found my way to purchase my obligatory race pint glass. by this time we were all getting slightly hangry and decided to wander the big easy to find food. it took a lot of yelping, a lot of walking but we finally settled on a specialty cheese shop that sold some craft chocolate and honey. the food was pretty good, solid choice and exactly what i needed for lunch pre race. we finally made our way home, relaxed a little, probably ended up in the pool and then all went our separate ways for dinner. julia, matthias, and i found our way to Peche and had a little of everything. the star at this restaurant is the whole grilled red snapper and no doubt, the smashed sweet potato, it was to die for. don't get the oysters, they are not as good as new england oysters. afterwards we hit up whole foods to pick up breakfast items. we bumped into the maple crew there and snapped a group photo.
that's a solid looking bunch!
we came home, talked a bit of running and what not and head to bed. i set my alarm for 4:30am (yeah, i know, it's not an ironman) so i could eat food. i had some almond yogurt with granola and dried cherries. i also drank 8 oz of kombucha, a banana, and a bottle of suja juice. i went back to bed. and just laid down and relaxed. my alarm rang again at 5:45. i immediately got dressed, went out and chugged a can of stumptown nitro cold brew. i had another half of a banana and just wasn't feeling like eating anymore. i went on to increase my power to weight ratio and we called and uber. unfortunately there were 6 of us (jay, tim, and ashley left earlier to get to the race earlier), so that means 2 of us had to sit in the trunk.
brian and i getting cozy in the trunk
the crew minus jay and timmy
i walked with folks and we exchanged our good luck hugs etc when they got to their corral. i worked my way up to what became the front of corral 2. i stood in the cold for a good 10 minutes, watching my HR fluctuate between the high 70's and low 90's. i could tell i was a bit nervous at times. the national anthem was sung, she did a great job and the first waves were off. i had never been at the front of a wave before, but next thing i know, i was at the front line of corral 2. my good friend brad callow once told me years ago that "you can always make up time, but you can never make up energy". that has something i have held near and dear to my heart and race day planning. the idea is that if you run a perfect race, your first half time should be the same if not a hair bit slower than your 2nd half. ie; a perfect 3:30 race would be 1:46 first half, 1:44 second half. my goal was to run 3:30. i knew/felt i was in 3:15 shape, but i'm also realistic that a lot can go wrong and shaving 25 mins off a PR is pretty unheard of. not to mention i have bigger aspirations this year, this was simply to have a good time with friends, tick off another state, and getting a pr was just the cherry on top.
as the gun went off i caught myself for the first 50 yards keeping up with folks. i immediately knew this could only mean that i was going too fast. i checked my watch. sure thing 6:47. i gut checked myself and slowed down. one by one, people who looked much slower than me started blowing by me. by mile 1.5 i was near the back of the 2nd corral. by mile 1.75 i could see corral 2 distancing me and by mile 2 i was being overtaken by the corral 3 folks. am i really running this slow, or is everyone going out too fast. i kept asking myself that. i checked, rechecked, and then checked my watch again.. nope, i was on pace.
as the gun went off i caught myself for the first 50 yards keeping up with folks. i immediately knew this could only mean that i was going too fast. i checked my watch. sure thing 6:47. i gut checked myself and slowed down. one by one, people who looked much slower than me started blowing by me. by mile 1.5 i was near the back of the 2nd corral. by mile 1.75 i could see corral 2 distancing me and by mile 2 i was being overtaken by the corral 3 folks. am i really running this slow, or is everyone going out too fast. i kept asking myself that. i checked, rechecked, and then checked my watch again.. nope, i was on pace.
my pace/goal was to run an 8:05 pace for the first 13 miles. coming out to 1:46ish. from 13-16 i would pick up the pace to 7:50 to even out the 5 seconds lost by going 8:05. from 16-20, i would pick up the pace a little more to 7:45. from 20-26.2 i give myself 2 options. 1) go all out, it's 10k, race it as that. 2) run 20-22 at a higher pace, then let loose at 24-26.2 if you are close to any time goals.
racing with friends is great. i saw timmy and jay at around 3.75ish as they were coming the other way. we exchanged waives and quick words of encouragement. by the time i had reached the turn around and made my way back 4.5ish miles were already banked. at mile 5.5 ish i saw ben. he was rocking his head phones and in the zone. he looked good, i called to him, but he didn't hear me. not long after that, when i was at around mile 6.5-7ish, i saw matthias and julia. they both looked great. i also saw kate, then demello and they were looking strong as well.
i was feeling strong, i kept checking my garmin to keep my pace in check. at around mile 8.6 i felt my left calf tweak. it was a sharp pain, middle gastroc. felt like the fascia between the two bellies tore. it was not good, but i figured i wasn't limping and would either run it off, or completely blow up. i let it go, took some salt and next thing i know i was at mile 13, still feeling strong. at the turnaround, i saw kate again and i also caught a glimpse of kimball.
from 13-16 i decided not to up my pace too much, i moved to try and hold a 7:50 or slightly below pace. i felt comfortable the whole time. i started to use gu in addition to my water and gatorade intake at each aid station. miles 13-17 were quite uneventful. they followed the western border of the park. once i finished mile 16 i decided to up the pace a little bit. i found a few folks that i caught up to, hung with for a second and decided to leave since they couldn't pace and were running 30-45 second pace swings. i think for most people mile 17-22 were the most difficult. the course was the most exposed here and there were some overpasses etc, making for mini "hills" perse. i caught timmy running the other way when i was between 18 and 19 miles. he was looking strong (apparently not feeling strong though) at around mile 20ish (after the turnaround) i saw kate, then john, then lynn who screamed to me that the 3:30 pace group was right in front of me, then kimball doing the kimball shuffle.
i knew the 3:30 pace group was not far ahead, i thought i was running a 3:30 pace and they were going fast. especially when they were a whole .5-3/4 mile in front of me at the turnaround. i decided that since it was mile 20ish i only had a 10k to go and would drop the pace and try to catch them. i was in quite the dilemma though, do i drop down to a sub 7 pace and risk blowing up before i caught them, or do i say more conservative, trust that i will catch them and drop only to a 7:30. that indecisiveness is the reason my pace was a 7:38 that mile. after that mile i was feeling strong and decided to go a little faster until i caught them at 23.4ish miles. from there i hung with them for a few seconds. the group, which was 30 strong at first dwindled down to the 2 pacers and 4 others, 2 were barely hanging on. the pacers had gone out too fast and blew everyone up. their pacing was terrible. i pushed onwards as i was feeling great. i decided that i had a chance of running 3:25 if i held my pace. i wanted to finish strong and run hard, but i also didn't want to shred my legs. i opted to find a good balance at the low 7's which i held to the finish. the last 1/4 mile i decided to just let loose and run a tad harder. i was able to find a good stride with little effort. my favorite quote was "go MAPLE, you're killing it....." followed by "ooooh shit, and he's doing it with the MANBUN!" as the crowd erupts in claps, cheers, and laughter. in the end, i crossed the finish line at 3:25:13 (garmin) and 3:25:57 (offical time). i had set a new pr, by over 14 minutes and i had run a 5 minute negative split. my final 5k time was sub 22 minutes and my final 10k time was sub 45 minutes.
i dropped to sub 6 to cross the finish line. not because i was chasing a time, i stopped looking at my watch, but because i was feeling good and i wanted to put an exclamation on my race. i finished, was greeted by julia, matthias, nora, and brian. we shared some laughter and comments and waited to cheer on ben. one by one my friends crossed the finish line. it was really great to see folks finish and share stories, struggles, and more laughter.
from 13-16 i decided not to up my pace too much, i moved to try and hold a 7:50 or slightly below pace. i felt comfortable the whole time. i started to use gu in addition to my water and gatorade intake at each aid station. miles 13-17 were quite uneventful. they followed the western border of the park. once i finished mile 16 i decided to up the pace a little bit. i found a few folks that i caught up to, hung with for a second and decided to leave since they couldn't pace and were running 30-45 second pace swings. i think for most people mile 17-22 were the most difficult. the course was the most exposed here and there were some overpasses etc, making for mini "hills" perse. i caught timmy running the other way when i was between 18 and 19 miles. he was looking strong (apparently not feeling strong though) at around mile 20ish (after the turnaround) i saw kate, then john, then lynn who screamed to me that the 3:30 pace group was right in front of me, then kimball doing the kimball shuffle.
i knew the 3:30 pace group was not far ahead, i thought i was running a 3:30 pace and they were going fast. especially when they were a whole .5-3/4 mile in front of me at the turnaround. i decided that since it was mile 20ish i only had a 10k to go and would drop the pace and try to catch them. i was in quite the dilemma though, do i drop down to a sub 7 pace and risk blowing up before i caught them, or do i say more conservative, trust that i will catch them and drop only to a 7:30. that indecisiveness is the reason my pace was a 7:38 that mile. after that mile i was feeling strong and decided to go a little faster until i caught them at 23.4ish miles. from there i hung with them for a few seconds. the group, which was 30 strong at first dwindled down to the 2 pacers and 4 others, 2 were barely hanging on. the pacers had gone out too fast and blew everyone up. their pacing was terrible. i pushed onwards as i was feeling great. i decided that i had a chance of running 3:25 if i held my pace. i wanted to finish strong and run hard, but i also didn't want to shred my legs. i opted to find a good balance at the low 7's which i held to the finish. the last 1/4 mile i decided to just let loose and run a tad harder. i was able to find a good stride with little effort. my favorite quote was "go MAPLE, you're killing it....." followed by "ooooh shit, and he's doing it with the MANBUN!" as the crowd erupts in claps, cheers, and laughter. in the end, i crossed the finish line at 3:25:13 (garmin) and 3:25:57 (offical time). i had set a new pr, by over 14 minutes and i had run a 5 minute negative split. my final 5k time was sub 22 minutes and my final 10k time was sub 45 minutes.
i dropped to sub 6 to cross the finish line. not because i was chasing a time, i stopped looking at my watch, but because i was feeling good and i wanted to put an exclamation on my race. i finished, was greeted by julia, matthias, nora, and brian. we shared some laughter and comments and waited to cheer on ben. one by one my friends crossed the finish line. it was really great to see folks finish and share stories, struggles, and more laughter.
seeing these two finish with such great times was a really awesome feeling. i wish i could have been there to scream at them as they crossed as they did for me. it was just awesome hearing about their race experience. just love it when people lose their race distance virginity.
lynn finished, then stayed in the gates and chatted with mark and me until kimball finished. that's what friends are for!
kimball post race, he's had better days. lol
making our way to get clothing bags, happy crew!
after hanging out a little bit i was starting to get stomach pains from the lack of food. i worked my way home alone (2 mile walk) and it was really nice to just reflect on what got me to the finish line.
thank you matthias for all those times you got on the bike with me when you didn't want to, thank you for all those times you got out and ran with me, at my pace, despite your heart rate being in the 190's. thank you for not complaining once, even though you have every right to.
thank you matthias for all those times you got on the bike with me when you didn't want to, thank you for all those times you got out and ran with me, at my pace, despite your heart rate being in the 190's. thank you for not complaining once, even though you have every right to.
thank you julia aka "fisheater" for making sure i was well fed pre and especially post race. i'm know to travel for races and gaining 5lbs, but now, when i travel with you, i will be known to gain 10 lbs.
thank you to the DRINKmaple crew. from summertime century rides, to bricks, to the billion e-mail chains that end up costing me hundreds to thousands in race fees, to the awesome family of like minded individuals that opened their arms and brought me in. thank you for allowing me to be part of this great group.
thank you brad callow, chad vest, robin seila, sofia and her husband (i'm not going to refer to you unless you speak more in social settings, keith), and julia stoner for all your support and encouragement throughout the process of this race, it definitely means a lot. thanks to maureen for the 6 pack challenge, i'm sure the extra core workout helped me during the race worthy of a shout out. thanks to bethany for asking me a billion questions, which require a billion answers, which helps me reinforce why i train the way i train. thanks to all my dog walkers, you guys make my life so much easier!!!
big ups to the "did you run today" formerly secret facebook group and everyone in it. i made the group to make myself socially accountable. thanks to ya'll, it was fitting that i completed my goal of running 80 days out of 100 days and that the 80th day of running came on marathon day. there were moments (many of them) that i didn't want to run. there were moments i wanted to run 2 miles, or 5 miles when i ended up running 5 miles and 10 miles. it was you guys, posting your daily morning runs as i was still on the treadmill. it was you guys, who posted your evening splits while i was just doing a warmup run before climbing. it was you guys that i put in more miles than i ever had.
thank you to the DRINKmaple crew. from summertime century rides, to bricks, to the billion e-mail chains that end up costing me hundreds to thousands in race fees, to the awesome family of like minded individuals that opened their arms and brought me in. thank you for allowing me to be part of this great group.
thank you brad callow, chad vest, robin seila, sofia and her husband (i'm not going to refer to you unless you speak more in social settings, keith), and julia stoner for all your support and encouragement throughout the process of this race, it definitely means a lot. thanks to maureen for the 6 pack challenge, i'm sure the extra core workout helped me during the race worthy of a shout out. thanks to bethany for asking me a billion questions, which require a billion answers, which helps me reinforce why i train the way i train. thanks to all my dog walkers, you guys make my life so much easier!!!
big ups to the "did you run today" formerly secret facebook group and everyone in it. i made the group to make myself socially accountable. thanks to ya'll, it was fitting that i completed my goal of running 80 days out of 100 days and that the 80th day of running came on marathon day. there were moments (many of them) that i didn't want to run. there were moments i wanted to run 2 miles, or 5 miles when i ended up running 5 miles and 10 miles. it was you guys, posting your daily morning runs as i was still on the treadmill. it was you guys, who posted your evening splits while i was just doing a warmup run before climbing. it was you guys that i put in more miles than i ever had.
special thanks to ben gebo. brother, you are such an infectiously positive human being. so much so, that i think you are on psychedelics, like.... all the time. which is highly possible i guess. lol. i'm pretty sure i could sell you the idea of running a marathon through syria as long as i smiled whilst doing so. acadia, savannah, and now new orleans.... iceland 2017 for sure! i still technically owe you a marathon of your choice and i am highly contemplating vermont....
i'm sure i'm missing a whole bunch of people. it's 1:30am and i really wanted to get this RR out before i just gave up and skipped it all together. i apologize if i missed anyone. you guys all kick ass. and honestly, if you don't want me to forget you on my RR, just come to the race and run with me! haha.
total tally for new orleans training:
i'm sure i'm missing a whole bunch of people. it's 1:30am and i really wanted to get this RR out before i just gave up and skipped it all together. i apologize if i missed anyone. you guys all kick ass. and honestly, if you don't want me to forget you on my RR, just come to the race and run with me! haha.
total tally for new orleans training:
dec 1st - feb 28th.
80 days run out of 90 days
95 runs in 90 days
80 days run out of 90 days
95 runs in 90 days
(not including marathon on 90th day)
345 total miles run
4.37 miles per day run
3.67 miles per run
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