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Twin Cities Marathon - RunMarathon


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Minneapolis St. Paul, Minnesota
United States
TCM, Inc
50F / 10C
Overcast
Total Time = 3h 13m 53s
Overall Rank = 558/8129
Age Group = 22-29
Age Group Rank = 129/1045
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at 0415 and drank a protein/carb shake, banana, and a bagel. Got everything together and headed out of the house by 0500 to pick up my Dad. After picking up my Dad (who would set a PR of 4:16 later this day!) we headed down to the capitol grounds to park and catch the bus over to the Dome.
Event warmup:

Just walked around the Dome a couple of times. Did light stretching.
Run
  • 3h 13m 53s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 07m 24s  min/mile
Comments:

ChipTime 3:13:53
5k 19:52 -Felt great, was a bit too fast but not terrible.
10k 40:39 -Felt great, still a bit too fast but had trouble pulling back on the pace.
Half 1:28:08 -Still felt great and was pretty much right on with pacing.
30k 2:09:48 -No longer felt great! Actually, I started feeling pretty fatigued in my hammy's at this point and my pace slowed.
20m 2:20:37 -Was happy to only have 10k left at this point... they say that up to mile 20 is for amatures and given how I was feeling I would call myself an amature!
GunTime 3:14:40 --- Wow ~56 minute 10k for the last portion... completely fell apart for that portion of the race.

I definitely was over ambitious with my race given my previous 7 weeks of run training, but I was confident that I'd be able to make it to mile 20 and then gut out the last 10k. I now know how naive the statement, "gut out the last 10k," truly is!

I had a fun time for the majority of the run. I chatted with a couple of guys who were triathletes around Lake Harriet for a while which kept my mind occupied.

One of the guys caught back up to me around the 30k mark and stayed jogging with me through mile 24 or so. He knew I was hurting and he offered a good deal of encouragement and support it was pretty cool of him. He was using TCM as a training run as he was in his final weeks of peak mileage prepping for Ironman FL. Props to Dave Boss for being so cool!

Anyways, I would have really liked to pull off a BQ at the least, but I was cramping and truly suffering for those last miles and I don't think there was much I could do to change that given my early pace. I really tried to use the mental surge at the 23 mile mark knowing there was only a 5k left to push through, but each time I tried to lengthen my stride or quicken my run cadence my right quad and hamstrings cramped more severely.

At the end of the day, I finished my first marathon in 3:14 and there is no shame in that. Maybe I'll have a good opportunity in the next couple of years to put in some legitimate run training and try to break 3 again! But for now I'll keep my training focused on the FullRev in Cedar Point next Sept!
What would you do differently?:

Have a longer overall training period. Would be nice to hit 3-5 weeks averaging 60 miles per week to build adequate muscular endurance.
Post race
Warm down:

None. Just moving from one point to another in the finishing shoot 10 paces apart was a complete challenge!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I think the only way I could have hit 3 hours is if I had hit a much higher critical volume average for the training run up to the race.

I figure I could have had a better overall time had I paced more conservatively shooting for 3:10 (Boston qualifying) but the point was to push hard and see if I could hit my ultimate goal time.

Event comments:

The overall organization and course of this event was absolutely amazing. There were so many spectators and they were awesome to have along the entire route. Thanks to everyone who was out there cheering people on!


Profile Album


Last updated: 2009-04-21 12:00 AM
Running
03:13:53 | 26.2 miles | 07m 24s  min/mile
Age Group: 558/1045
Overall: 129/8129
Performance: Below average
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Below average
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2009-10-05 11:33 PM

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Regular
92
252525
Shoreview, MN
Subject: Twin Cities Marathon


2009-10-06 5:56 AM
in reply to: #2444515

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Elite
3687
20001000500100252525
Subject: RE: Twin Cities Marathon

Great job out there.  It's always interesting to read a report from people on the other end of the spectrum.  By that I mean the really fast guys.  It was a great day to run and I wish you all the luck in your future quest for a BQ.

2009-10-06 8:04 AM
in reply to: #2444515

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Champion
10742
5000500050010010025
Ames, IA
Subject: RE: Twin Cities Marathon
You're right.  We did have very similar races, except you were quite a bit faster.  That is a great first time!

Good luck with a BQ in the future and prepping for your Ironman next fall! 
2009-10-06 8:29 AM
in reply to: #2444763

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Champion
10018
50005000
, Minnesota
Bronze member
Subject: RE: Twin Cities Marathon

Great job for your first marathon!  You'll BQ next time for sure.  Congrats to your dad too!

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