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Long Beach Marathon - Run


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Long Beach, California
United States
RUN Racing
62F / 17C
Overcast
Total Time = 4h 57m 35s
Overall Rank = 1570/2763
Age Group = 35-39
Age Group Rank = 160/229
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3am and prepared race nutrition and hydration. Made peanut and butter toasties and packed bananas to eat at the race site. Took the train in which came early so I had to run to get on before it left, ugh...

Sipped on 12oz bottle of Zippfizz until 5:30am.
Event warmup:

Chatted with Tim (WaterDog) from BT about the race. (Really nice to have met you man!) :) After parting ways do our warmups I did my dynamic movements warmup routine and some brisk walking to the start line and back where I was warming up.
Run
  • 4h 57m 30s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 11m 21s  min/mile
Comments:

Felt some pain (which I learned after the race was a blister) on my left big toe at miles 2-5 and adapted to it being there and forgot about it. The 4:30 pacer was going for a positive split so it's a good thing I ran with them at the start. It felt humid the early miles! >.< RPE was 7/8 but HR was in the high 140s which is around 90% LTHR O_O. Since RPE felt in the 7/8 range breathing-wise I decided to stick with it.

I also had some minor chest pain that shot through front and back which I never felt before so I eased my effort and focused on breathing well until it went away. This occurred about 4 times before mile 20.

The hill climb from mile 13 to 17.5 sapped all the power I had in my legs and I hit the wall at 21 forcing me to run until both quads seized on up me and walk.

I had a plan but threw it out when I got to that hill at 17.5 - 18. Plan B was to make it to the finish and finish sub-5:00 no matter what.
What would you do differently?:

Get more run training volume, more ST for quads, more hill work. Forget pace since and go by HR and really easy RPE early and stick with that the first half to two-thirds the next few marathons I race in. Perhaps bring some salt pills for the later miles.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around for about 15 minutes and stretched. Ate some post race food provided by the race. Drank Endurox R4.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Maybe the humidity the first 4 miles which made my HR spike up 10bpm higher than desired @ RPE 7/8. I guess I went out too hard the first half despite my Jeff Galloway Magic Mile pacing strategy at a conservative 4:20 finish.

In other words, spent way too much time in Zone 4 during the entire race (check mile spits in my log). I may also consider bringing salt pills for the last miles of my next marathon to minimize the cramps in my quads that late in the race.

Event comments:

I'll race this event again to get a new PR and be smarter about my pacing early on.




Last updated: 2014-07-29 12:00 AM
Running
04:57:30 | 26.2 miles | 11m 21s  min/mile
Age Group: 159/229
Overall: 266/2763
Performance: Average
Posted in my log. :)
Course: Mostly flat course. Longest climb is a long gradual from 13.17.5. Some short ones before and after that but not many.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2014-10-13 9:57 AM

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Master
2759
20005001001002525
Los Angeles, CA
Subject: Long Beach Marathon


2014-10-13 11:13 AM
in reply to: #5059327

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Alpharetta, Georgia
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Long Beach Marathon

Awesome job! It's funny how things just randomly hurt during races when they never do otherwise.
You nailed my goal time, glad someone did yesterday

2014-10-13 11:41 AM
in reply to: #5059327

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Champion
5345
500010010010025
Carlsbad, California
Subject: RE: Long Beach Marathon

Great meeting up with you before the race Roland and I will also be back next year. I need to keep my "Beach Bum" status going.

This was your first marathon so it is hard to say what caused your issues out on the course. The first half was definitely more warm and humid than the second half when a nice ocean breeze kicked in. The second half of the course is a bit more technical than the first half so managing pace and effort can be more challenging.

Great job on running a smart race (Especially re-evaluating your goals during the race) and making it happen.

See you next year if not sooner. (I should go look and see what other races you are running)

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