LA Marathon - RunMarathon


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Los Angeles, California
United States
LA Marathon LLC
Overcast
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 3:30. Drank a cup of coffee and ate a bagel. Did some light ab exercises to warm up. Jumped in a hot shower and stretched. Dressed and stretched again. Bathroom trip #1.
Event warmup:

Dropped off at Union Station at 5:20 and got on the bus to Dodger Stadium. Arrived at Dodger Stadium at 6:10. Bathroom trip #2. Grabbed a cup of water and a banana. Light stretching...uh oh, Bathroom trip #3 (nerves started kicking in). Got to the corral (not sure which one?) at 7:20.
Run
  • 4h 44m 29s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 10m 52s  min/mile
Comments:

Prologue - I've been nursing a LCL strain 2 weeks before the marathon which hampered my training. When I did run I noticed that I started feeling pain in my left ankle (most likely from compensating for the LCL).

On the day of the marathon I felt pretty good. My LCL wasn't tender or painful to the touch, which it was the week previous. Nevertheless, my plan was to start SLOW and use the first 8-10 miles to warm up SLOW and to walk the major hills. Then I was going to ease into my training pace which was around 9:30-9:45 miles. I approximated that I was going to be able to do this till around mile 22-24, then I was going to just gut out the rest. My gameplan was to really ease into negative splits and just go SLOW SLOW in the beginning.

The first 4 miles started out exactly according to plan. Then I started feeling the tightness in my LCL. This got worse when I walked the big hill on mile 4. That's when I knew that I was in big, big trouble! I tried my best to relax and adjust my running to compromise with my knee. This definitely led to a compromised gait. From mile 4 - 13 I did my best to adjust to keep the tightness at bay, which I was able to do with some success. However, I quickly realized that my 10 mile warm up pace, would indeed be my race pace (one of the worst feelings in the world -- or so I thought).

Once I hit around mile 13 I started feeling muscle fatigue that I had never, ever felt before. Even in my training runs when I went to 18 miles and beyond, I wouldn't feel muscle fatigue until miles 16 and on. I am positive that this is because of my compromised gait. My quads were pretty much shredded and I have actually never had quad fatigue before. From mile 13 on, it was a constant battle to just 'put out fires' and try to access what was hurting and what I could do to mitigate that pain (when I realized that I would have to do this from mile 13 and on -- this was THE WORST feeling that I have ever had running).

I was able to gut it out with walking/running until I hit San Vicente and the home stretch. I must have been super tense because for some reason my biceps and shoulders were fatigued and cramping as well. Thankfully I had a ton of family and friend support and I used the last downhill descent to actually run sub 10 minute miles to the finish.
What would you do differently?:

1. Should have rested more on my injured knee to try and bring it more to 100%.
2. Never should have changed my gait on purpose.
3. Once knee started tightening should have tried using the Galloway method/ratio with my natural gait.
4. Drank more water and taken some salt at least at the halfway point (once the sun came out it actually got quite hot).
Post race
Warm down:

The post race area was a NIGHTMARE!

Here is my post race: Elation at the finish, grab space blanket, get medal, grab water, grab bagel. Start getting pounded by horrible headwinds as I am instructed to walk to the family reunion area which looks to be at least a 1/2 mile away. Start cramping and feeling very very cold as I start walking to the reunion area. With about a quarter mile to walk, the street is flooded with dozens and dozens of runners and spectators (its basically elbow to elbow for 2 blocks). I give up and decide to sit by a wall while I see people getting very agitated to the overcrowding. While I am sitting I see 2 people faint and another SRLA runner throws up by me in the bushes. Its too crowded and crazy!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Knee BUT I would chalk this up to being a rookie.

Event comments:

Overall the LA Marathon was unforgettable, especially being my first marathon. The course was challenging, but honestly not much to look at. The crowd support was pretty good, VERY AWESOME in some stretches for sure. Thankfully the weather held up, if it rained like it did last year, yikes (I was horribly cold at the finish). The finish area was a horrible nightmare.

For the race itself, I was shooting for a 4:30 although from my training I thought that I might even crack a 4:20, boy was I off. Nevertheless, through a bad knee and some fatally stupid decision making the one thing that was absolutely priceless was that I was taken to some real deep waters this race. I found out a lot about myself and what I could gut myself through. In the end isn't that what its all about?




Last updated: 2012-03-10 12:00 AM
Running
04:44:29 | 26.2 miles | 10m 52s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Bad
Actual measured distance on Garmin 26.77 miles.
Course: Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica (Stadium to the Sea). The first third of this course is hilly with the major hill at the 4 mile mark (I believe Spring Street). No other major hills, but a good diet of rolling hills the first third. The second third was mostly flat and the final third had a long (although not steep) climb starting at the VA Hospital and lasting for a few miles. San Vincente, the last 3.5 miles were a good decent until it flattened out on Ocean for the last mile. The weather started out cold, about 48-50 degrees, cloudy and not too much wind. By the halfway point the sun came out and I'm guessing that it was in the mid-50s, almost too warm? Once I reached Santa Monica it was very windy (as I had to run into a headwind for the last few miles) and although the sun was out, it was much, much colder.
Keeping cool Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 1
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Bad
Race evaluation [1-5]