Tuesday, October 21, 2014

My 2014 Chicago Marathon post-mortem.

We're now more than a week out from the 2014 Chicago Marathon. My post-race pint of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Cookie Dough is long gone and I just finished taking seven days off from running. So, now that my head is a bit clearer than it was this time last week, what better time than now to examine why I did not meet my 3:05:00 PR marathon goal (I ran a 3:09:00)? Here are some of the reasons I came up with:

Pre-Race Pace Planning:
Pace calculators don't always work for me: Pace calculators seem to be spot on for me when the distance I'm converting to and from is somewhere between one mile to a half marathon. For some reason they fail me at the marathon distance. I ran the Chicago Half Marathon five weeks before the marathon and it predicted my fitness was at a 3:03:00. So, I thought a 3:05:00 marathon goal was actually conservative. The problem with those calculators is, I'm much faster at shorter distances. Maybe this Runner's World article could give some insight into why this is. The ideal height for a marathon runner is around 5' 6" and I'm over 6' 1".  Taller people overheat faster. Also, maybe I'm just built slightly more for speed than distance.

* Planned pace: I planned to run the first half of the race in 1:33:00 and the second half in 1:32:00. Knowing the information above, I should instead have planned for a pace on the first half that would have allowed me extra time (say 30 seconds) to use the bathroom as I always make at least one pit stop in the 1st half. So a 1:33:30 and 1:31:30 would have been a better fit, even assuming I was in 3:05:00 shape.

* Not learning from my previous analysis: In this pre-marathon post, I graphed the average of my marathon paces and identified six phases that I go through in my marathons. "Yo-Yo Paces", "Already Slowing", "Surge", "Calm Before the Storm", "The Wall" and "Kick". It turns out this was an excellent predictor of how my next marathon would go. For fun, I overlayed my Chicago 2014 splits onto the graph to see how my paces fit in the same six phases. That is, I didn't move the colors, I just used my 2014 Chicago paces with the same color-coded background:

My 2014 Chicago Marathon paces overlayed on top of my six typical marathon phases
As you can see, I still did yo-yo paces in the first 8 miles, and I did my "surge" one mile early at mile 13 instead of my typical mile 14, but not much of a difference. From then on out it was a typical race. I was able to hold pace until mile 20 when I ran a 7:10. I hit the wall at mile 23, 24 and 25 and then kicked at 26 and 26.5. So, it would seem that I ran a typical marathon for me with yo-yos in the beginning, a stupid mid-race surge and a desperate struggle to ward off the wall. Classic.

The Race:
* Wind: Although the temps were perfect, the 9 mph wind messed with my paces (and my mind) from miles 8 through 23. I should have backed off my pace slightly over those miles to account for the headwind and saved my legs some pain. I could have "made back" a minute or two over the last 3 miles with fresher legs and a tailwind.

* Hydration/Nutrition: Maybe my leg cramps (which I experienced in the last four miles) were attributable to a combo of dehydration and nutrition. However, I never felt nauseous during or after the race unlike last year, which is a positive. I will have to do more research into this, although this never seems to be an exact science.

* The urge to "surge": My legs got tight right after my fast 6:29 mile at mile 13. I was able to fight my tightening legs until mile 20, but they were never the same after I sped up needlessly at mile 13.

* Too many "stops": I stopped at least three times in the first half of the race (hi-fives, bathroom, HRM readjustment). Each time, after I resumed running again, I tried to "catch up with my mile pace" after stops. This also contributed to leg fatigue. I need to readjust my pace to account for the stops or else I'll burn up too much energy.

Training Mistakes:
* Did not do enough miles at a steady pace: One reason for my yo-yo paces is that yo-yo-ing is exactly the way I train. If I get too comfortable while training, I like to kick the speed up a notch to make things more interesting and push myself. This is a habit I need to break myself of for the next marathon cycle.

* Increased mileage too quickly, not enough adjustment time: I crammed in two 80+ mile weeks right before my taper. I never got used to the extra high mileage. Maybe if I had done two 70 mile weeks instead?

* Need more strength training, quads, calves: Once things got tough at about mile 21 and I started to cramp up - my quads and calves took over from my other running muscles which were fatigued. Then my quads and calves cramped - badly. I need to do more strengthening exercises focused on these areas in case I need them for when I dig deep next marathon.

Note: I did include my max long run of only 16 miles on this list. This is because I was able to run a 7:09 even during mile 22. If I had a noticeable collapse around 16, I might have correlated the collapse with only doing 16 mile long runs in training. But I didn't collapse until at least mile 22.

2014 Chicago Marathon Finish
Anyway, I now need to focus my energy to looking forward. I'll enjoy the next couple of months of running fewer, but faster miles. I have the Hot Chocolate 15k next month and will be gunning to top my PR performance from last year. After that, I will do at least one turkey trot. I hope to keep up with some decent mileage in December so I have a solid base going into my marathon training starting in January. To kick my spring marathon training off, I've registered again to run the "S-NO-W FUN" RUN with the Wurst Running Club Ever. I did it last year, and it's the craziest race/post race party, I've ever seen, and I'm pumped to do it again. I'm going to get there early to ski and spa for the day before the race.  In any case, I'm looking forward to an awesome winter of running!

20 comments:

  1. I'll say it again: I love your very thorough analysis. My shorter races always predict a faster marathon than I've been able to pull off as well. All the best with the rest of the year!

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    1. Thanks Marcia. I wonder why we both have "calculator issues"? Oh well, I just need to tack on three or four extra minutes when I convert my half marathon time to my full marathon time! All the best to you as well!

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  2. I love your analyses! I'll have to try and be more diligent about this type of planning - it was cool to see how you use this to craft your race plan, and then a post-mortem for your next crack at the event. Great job on the race!

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    1. Thanks! Yes, it will be interesting to see how many of these "lessons" I will apply to my next marathon. Half of the reason I post these analyses is for me to look at them a few months later to remind myself what I need to do to improve. Thanks again!

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  3. Love these analyses. :)

    What kind of marathon plan were you following? Hansons? Interesting how you didn't feel bad until 22 with only a 16 mile LR

    I also find that the race calculators are only accurate up to half marathon for me. I guess if all went as planned training and executing a marathon the time might be closer? (And the calculators don't take into account all the crap that can go wrong in a marathon lol)

    Yay! I'm the ideal marathoner height! Ha ha

    Interesting how your yoyo paced lOng runs also contributed to yoyo paces in the marathon. Your legs just do what they were trained to do! I am a big fan of finish fast runs. I'll do the first half of the LR at "easy" pace which gets slightly quicker as I warmup, and then settle into a steady GMP for the 2nd half of the run. I'm sure different things work for each of us and I can't imagine one let alone 2, 80 mile weeks!!!

    Can't wait to see what else is in store for your legs this fall!

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    1. Thanks! I was following my DIY plan which was a hybrid of the Hanson's plan (16 mile long run and training on tired legs), but I used the % of peak mileage from Daniels and his 3 week taper. I did not do any of the track work prescribed by either plan, and thus avoided injury, although maybe my fitness suffered?

      I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one whose marathon calculator is not functioning. Maybe I should look at Athlinks and do a sample of runners and see how their half marathon times correlate to their marathon times? You are correct that so much can go wrong in a marathon that the calculators don't include. I will need to tack on about four extra minutes to my predicted marathon time next spring.

      Congrats on being the ideal marathoner height, I'm totally jealous! :)

      I like your fast finish long run strategy. I will try to run at a steady, slow pace in the beginning then try to nail my marathon pace the last half of the run. Yeah, the two 80 mile weeks were kinda unplanned, I was in Boston during the week of the first one and just ran and ran whenever I was free. The second week was my highest mileage week and I reasoned (perhaps incorrectly) that I needed to top my "Boston mileage" or else it would have not been my highest mileage!.Oops.

      Here's hoping I stay healthy this fall and can grab at least one short distance PR! Thanks again for your support!

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  4. I'm with you on the too many stops. Ugh.

    Great analysis of your performance. You are so much more analytical about it than me! But I agree with you on the yoyo pacing. I worked hard on consistency, and I think that's what paid off for me, in spite of all my stopping.

    Great job tho!

    ~Wendy

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    1. Yeah, too many stops. I need to eliminate at least one of them next time! Thanks! Glad to hear consistency paid off for you! I need to work harder on consistency, I either need a coach or need to coach myself better when it comes to pacing! Thanks again. :)

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  5. your analysis is really impressive! it's amazing how much we think we know when it comes to this distance/race and then what we actually end up learning in the process (or after everything is said and done). it sounds like you still have a lot of fun running to look forward to through the end of the year, so I can't wait to hear all about it :)

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    1. Thanks Erin. You are spot on about thinking we know about this distance and then we get "schooled" and learn something on race day! Thanks!

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  6. Your race analyses are amazing. I've said before that I think this is one of your secret weapons when it comes to training. You really know how to hone in on the specific details that will help you improve. Cheers to some great fun races coming up for you in the next few months!

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    1. Thanks, I hope it will be beneficial for me to look back on this analysis for my spring marathon. Yes, it's time to have some fun races now! Thanks! :)

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  7. I really enjoyed this post, probably since I am very analytical about my running like you. I have never done any graphs, but only because I don't know how! I am in the minority, but the pace calculators were pretty dead-on for me this training cycle, as I got exactly my McMillan-predicted marathon time based on my last 20-miler done at race pace. Curiously, though, my 10K and 5K PRs do not match up with my performance at the marathon -- McMillan seems to think I can run much faster. Something to work on, I guess!

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    1. Interesting that the calculators don't work for you the other direction! I need to work on the above items and then maybe my calculator will be more accurate for the marathon! :)

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    2. Actually I just double-checked what I said (because I'm just that kind of person), and my 10K PR is almost dead-on to my marathon time. It is my 5K and half PRs that I have to work on getting up to speed. I'm running the Schaumburg Half in November, so who knows?:)

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    3. Interesting. My 5k, 10k, Half and mile times all correlate almost perfectly on the calculator. I am much slower than predicted on my marathon time. Anyway, here's hoping for 40 degree plus temps for Schaumburg Half in November. I registered and if I can shake off my sore ankle, maybe I'll see you there.

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  8. Now that I've actually completed a marathon, I want to focus more on beating previous times for other distances, like 13.1 and 10K. I don't really tend to analyze my times at all, but your post has really made me think. My next goal (I think) is to sub-2:00 in the half (current PR is 2:03), so taking a closer look at my performances is going to be crucial. Hope you had a great Hot Chocolate race today!

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    1. If you can keep some of your "marathon fitness" and are able to run a half/10k in the next few weeks, you should have a good shot at a PR. My one tip that has worked magic for me for half marathons is to do a large negative split. Hold back until about mile 6. You will pass lots of people and gain momentum and feel great at the finish! Good luck and thanks!

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  9. I loved this post and the overlay. It is very interesting and although my times are close to twice as slow as yours, i would be interested to see mine from my garmin. I normally only look at the maps to see how i cannot swim in a straight line! Congrats again on Chicago.. hope you PR'ed at HC

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    1. Thanks! Loved reading about your NYC Marathon experience. I just found out I can auto-qualify for next year, so I am seriously considering it. Anyway, I am going to post my HC recap soon so you'll be able to see if I PR'd! Thanks again! :)

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