Race: ING Georgia Marathon
Location: Atlanta Georgia
Date/Time: Sunday, March 25, 2007, 7:00 AM
Weather: Sunny, 7:00 AM - 56°F, 86% humidity. 11:00 AM - 78°F, 39%
humidity, 1 mph winds
Web Site: http://www.inggeorgiamarathon.com
This was the first marathon I've run since The Boston Marathon in 2005
<http://tinyurl.com/yjnpyr>. After Boston I ran 3 ultras (two 50Ks and a
50-miler). After learning that Atlanta would have new marathon in March
sponsored by ING, I decided to go into training specifically for this
event. This would be the first marathon that didn't require out-of-state
travel. The 24-week training program for this marathon began in
September. I followed the training plan as outlined in the book
"Advanced Marathoning" by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. I've been
following the same program for several other events.
Unlike my training for Boston, this time I did not develop any
debilitating injuries (tendonitis). I tweaked the Pfitzinger plan to max
out at around 65 miles per week, eliminating one of the recovery days
for a day off. The rest of the plan was followed pretty closely, with
the appropriate long runs, VO2 max, tempo, and 2 tune-up 10K races (plan
called for 3).
Weekly mileage:
68, 40, 51, 62, 56, 48, 56, 63, 59, 51, 41, 44, 47, 47, 50, 53, 48, 55,
56, 58, 60, 50, 61, 43
Weekly long runs:
10, 14, 15, 17, 13, 17, 17, 18, 19, 13, 19, 20, 18, 16, 13, 22, 18, 17,
17, 21, 20, 16, 11, race
Several days before the race I was feeling really drained, not getting
much more than 4 or 5 hours of sleep per night. I was also losing my
confidence. Hey, aren't I supposed to be feeling great during a taper? I
went to the expo on Saturday with my wife and daughter. I got my number
and chip and sort of moped around for about 15 minutes before deciding
to leave. Something about being surrounded by all those giddy ultra-fit
runners was really getting to me. I guess I really enjoy the training
for an event more than the event itself. So with that in mind, I figured
I'd get this marathon out of the way so that I could get back to
training.
The race starts at 7:00 AM. My plan was to use MARTA (Metropolitan
Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), which would get me 2 blocks away from
the start/finish area, thereby no worries about driving and parking.
According to the MARTA schedule, catching the 5:38 train gets me to the
station near the start at 6:02. That would give me plenty of time to hit
the porta-potty a few times and get some PowerAde, etc. When they say
"5:38" that sort of implies that the train is fairly punctual. The
schedule did not say "Oh, around 5:30-ish or whenever the conductor
decides to put down his newspaper." The train finally showed up 16
minutes late, only 4 minutes ahead of the next train. Sheesh, I could've
slept another half hour! So I finally find my seat on the train with
lots of other runners and even a few guys that looked like they've been
riding the train all night. As we get closer to the start of the race,
the train gets more and more filled with runners until it was standing
room only. As we're leaving the next-to-last stop you can hear the
engines rev up, but no motion. The conductor said someone was leaning on
one of the doors and that the train would not move until they moved away
from the doors. After 10 minutes the train still wasn't moving. Finally
the lights went out. At this point we are under Atlanta, so it's almost
completely dark. Now, I didn't think I was claustrophobic, but I could
feel the anxiety in me increasing. After a few minutes the conductor
opened the doors and about half of us got out. It was only an extra 2
blocks to the start, so I was outta there.
By then it was already 6:35. I needed to make my way to the gear check
area and the porta-potties. Fortunately I already had a 24 oz PowerAde
in my waist pack. Good thing, because I never saw any water or PowerAde
near the start. By the time I got to the porta-potties it was 6:45 and
the lines were huge. There was no way I could start without relieving
myself. Thank goodness for the chip. They started the star spangled
banner just as I was getting close. Unfortunately the singer did not
choose to sing all 4 versus. By the time I was out, it was 6:59. I was
forced to line up with the 6-hour walkers. OK, so this is a good way to
keep from starting too fast. With ~5,000 marathoners and ~10,000
half-marathoners, the start was packed. We just stood there for a few
minutes after the gun went off. I crossed the starting mat about 5
minutes later.
I don't remember a whole lot about the race, which is probably a good
thing since this report is already too long. I carried a 24-oz bottle in
a waist pack. My plan was to refill it every 4 to 6 miles. When I got to
the 4 mile water stop I saw the sign the said "PowerAde Station ahead."
Great I'll finish off what I have and load up with another 24 oz of
PowerAde. That should hold me until 10 miles. As I passed the water
station, I didn't see any PowerAde. Soon it became apparent that there
wasn't any PowerAde. I still had some in my bottle so I guess I could
fill up at 6 miles. Same deal at 6 miles. I asked someone if I just
missed it again. He said that they was no PowerAde on the course. In
fact, they were completely out of PowerAde until I got to the 17 mile
aid station. Everybody was [censored] about this throughout the course. On
a day that ended up with a record high 87F, they had no PowerAde. Anyone
with a finish time of over 4 hours was really going to suffer out there.
So after training for 4 months with PowerAde, specifically for this
event, I had to come up with a different hydration/electrolyte strategy.
I had 3 Succeed! Capsules, I took 1 at 10, 15, and 20 miles. At some of
the aid stations they were handing out ClifShots. I grabbed several of
those. The calories and sodium that I would have gotten from PowerAde, I
replaced with water, Clif Shots and S! caps. I filled up my 24oz bottle
around every 4 or 6 miles. So I believe I got plenty of fluids, carbs,
and electrolytes. I had to stop to pee at around 8.5 miles, then again
more than just pee at the halfway mark, which is why lap 14 was a 9:48
mile.
I maintaned a steady effort throughout most of the race. I slowed down
to run and talk to a co-worker around half way, then picked it back up
when he had to stop at an aid station. I saw Piedmont Donald at around
18 - 20 miles. I sprinted ahead of me to get my picture. That was fun
and uplifting. Even though my pace wasn't increasing, simply holding, I
passed a lot of runners in the last 5 miles. I recall being passed by
only 1 runner. I suspect a lot of this was due to the lack of
electrolytes on the course. I saw many walking wounded in the last 5
miles. Some electrolytes might of helped some of those folks.
My results
Overall: 427 of ~5,000
Age Group Men 50-59: 30 of 396
Here are my timing chip checkpoints
10k 51:38
Half 1:49:58
20M 2:48:36
Finish 3:41:24
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my performance. The hilly course,
warmer than normal conditions and bathroom break slowdowns probably
accounted for 5 to 10 minutes. The fact that I was 6 minutes away from a
Boston qualifier makes me wonder how I could have done on a flat course.
Oh well, I'll get it next time. Probably Chicago in October.
Here are the mile splits:
Mile Time Avg HR
1 8:02 134
2 8:19 138
3 8:11 141
4 8:08 142
5 7:54 141
6 7:58 141
7 8:38 143 (uphill)
8 8:05 142
9 8:36 140
10 7:52 143
11 8:12 144
12 7:56 143 (downhill)
13 7:55 144
14 9:48 142 (potty break)
15 8:02 138
16 8:20 145
17 9:19 145 (uphill)
18 8:23 145
19 8:06 146
20 8:19 147
21 8:20 147
22 8:14 148 (downhill)
23 7:51 150
24 8:32 152 (uphill)
25 8:54 153 (uphill)
26 8:15 155
27 1:55 156
--
Phil M.