2010 Recap - Fox Cities Marathon

I felt very mentally prepared for this race after having been through the Madison Marathon and it's heat and my poor race plan. However, my body wasn't simulating training like I was expecting. I had a goal time of 03:45, which I didn't quite get: my Community First Fox Cities Marathon Events 2010 - Community First Fox Cities Marathon results

It was cold in the morning, around 30 degrees. The race order was backwards compared to the Madison Marathon, where they sent out the half marathon runners first, then the half walkers, then about 45 minutes later the marathon runners. The course and race was very well put together, everything was in place for a good race.

Once the race started I couldn't get my heart rate where I wanted it to; it was mid 160's right out of the gate. In my long training runs I would come out nice and easy with my heart rate around 150-155 bpm for the first 5-6 miles. Then I would move up to 160 bpm for the bulk of the race or if that felt good ratchet up to 165 bpm near mile 20, then give it all I had the last couple miles. I was able to accomplish this a number of times in long runs and feel good during and after, but for whatever reason my heart rate wasn't cooperating. I kept slowing down and my heart rate would drop a little but never enough. So I made an executive decision, 165 beats was now 155 beats. I mostly made the decision because I was passed by the 04:20 pace group and I wasn't even to mile 5. So instead of falling back more I stayed behind the 10 minute mile group until around mile 10. That was a point of some frustration because I knew I was faster but for whatever reason I able to replicate my long training runs, and I wasn't going to finish a marathon in which I ran the whole time and only beat my Madison Marathon time by 20 minutes when I was forced to walk a portion of that race. So I passed that group on a hill and keep chugging along. I felt like I was picking up the pace, my heart rate wasn't moving much, every once in a while it would hit 170, then I'd back down.

Things went well until at mile 22 while I had a cramp in my thigh. I swore. . . stretched a little and it went away, so I continued. It was a 4 mile run where I felt I was on the borderline of cramping again so I had to be aware of keeping my legs feeling 'loose'. The last couple miles were very tough, I felt I was slowing, my heart rate was dropping but my body couldn't go any faster. It's a strange feeling. I told myself I wasn't going to walk and kept going. The last mile I gave it all I had, it felt like I was running 6 minute miles, but it was significantly slower than that.

Through all the ups and downs of that race and how different one mile could feel from the next or the previous; I ran just over 4 hours and averaged just over 9 minutes miles for the whole thing. If you look at my splits, I ran an even race despite how different things felt as time went on.

Lesson learned: you have to be ready to adjust on the fly, and don't wear a newer pair of shoes that differ greatly from your old pair. I can't blame the heart rate oddity on the shoes, but I can credit some of the cramping and how much my feet hurt.