I keep having random thoughts here and there about the marathon, and finally decided I should jot them down. I'm sure I will keep adding to this post in the next few days when the mood strikes me.
1. I've been sandbagging for a long time, but I just wasn't really aware that is what I was doing. It wasn't even really in training that I was sandbagging, but in actual races. To continue running at a certain pace for 26.2 miles takes guts. Plain and simple. Or you can give up somewhere along the way and say you know you will finish in however long it takes you to get there. That was the old Kathleen. She is no longer around, and apparently left sometime over the last few months. I think she is somewhere happily walking to a finish line, being sure to make friends along the way. I am sure I will run into her again one day, as she is a good person, with good intentions, but for now I've had to say goodbye.
2. My nutrition plan worked perfectly on Sunday. I had no stomach problems (besides a side stitch at mile 9, but I don't think that is necessarily related to nutrition) the entire race. I did not have to stop at the bathroom once, and I think my hydration levels were spot on. My plan consisted of one 20oz handheld bottle with 300 calories of my infinit run mix. I used this bottle for the first 12 miles. I took water from probably 2-3 aid stations, but relied mostly on the water mixed with my infinit. At mile 12, I switched out for a 10oz handheld bottle with 400 calories of infinit. I used this through mile 22, this time taking 1 cup of water at each aid station. The infinit was not so concentrated that I could only take it with water, so I was able to sip it along the way. Coming into mile 22, I make sure to finish off the last bit of infinit and handed the bottle off to my parents. I took a cup of water from each of the remaining aid stations, oh and the huge bottle from Doug that I took 2 sips of.
3. My Garmin 305 was off. That sucked. It was able to keep track of me in the desolate woods of Huntsville State Park, yet it did not know how to track me through Houston's inner loop. I am not sure when it got off, but I know by mile 10 it was about 1 minute off (~.07-.1 miles). In total, it says I ran 26.46. I know I swerve a bit, but not that much. I heard most people say theirs' were off as well, so it was not just me, but boo.
4. The point of #3 was to say that I looked at my splits last night and I only had one mile slower than a 10:xx pace. Mile #16 was 11:26, and that is where I stopped to tape my knees and take advil. That is just crazy because in any past marathon, I had not even averaged anywhere close to an 11:26 mile, and here on Sunday, it was my slowest mile of the day.
5. I finally do see a difference in my body composition. My clothes have obviously been fitting differently over the past few months, but I haven't really noticed it or felt any different. Until yesterday...I was looking at my pictures from the marathon and then pulled up my pictures from the Austin Marathon last year. Wow. I see it now.
Last year: http://asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=14533&BIB=H3410&LNSEARCH=1
This year: http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=27448&PWD=&BIB=5050
I want to just try to maintain where I am now. I tried to lose weight training for IMAZ last year and it is tough to do!
6. Oooh - got another. Toenail/blister report: Race was a success on this front! My feet are probably in better shape after this marathon than after any other long race I have done. I did not lose any more toenails, and my new fake one on my right big toe stayed on. I do have one blister on the top right side of my big toe, but it is very minor compared to ones I have had there before. Things I did the same: taped my big toe, wore my injinji socks (like gloves), put body glide on my arches, on inside side of big toes and generally on my other toes. Things I did different: coated my entire foot in aquaphor after using the body glide, cautiously put my socks on so as to not rub all the goo off, and ran 42 minutes faster. Now, which of these things do I think helped the most? Who knows! I'll try to keep doing them all. I also can't help but wonder if I had a real big right toenail if it would have been damaged or not. It will be months before a new one grows back, so I guess it doesn't really matter right now!
Last year's feet (notice lovely blisters on sides of both big goes, and second right toe is really just one huge blister...I won't post the "after bedroom surgery" picture of that toe):
This year's feet (doesn't the salon make an awesome fake right big toenail?):
1. I've been sandbagging for a long time, but I just wasn't really aware that is what I was doing. It wasn't even really in training that I was sandbagging, but in actual races. To continue running at a certain pace for 26.2 miles takes guts. Plain and simple. Or you can give up somewhere along the way and say you know you will finish in however long it takes you to get there. That was the old Kathleen. She is no longer around, and apparently left sometime over the last few months. I think she is somewhere happily walking to a finish line, being sure to make friends along the way. I am sure I will run into her again one day, as she is a good person, with good intentions, but for now I've had to say goodbye.
2. My nutrition plan worked perfectly on Sunday. I had no stomach problems (besides a side stitch at mile 9, but I don't think that is necessarily related to nutrition) the entire race. I did not have to stop at the bathroom once, and I think my hydration levels were spot on. My plan consisted of one 20oz handheld bottle with 300 calories of my infinit run mix. I used this bottle for the first 12 miles. I took water from probably 2-3 aid stations, but relied mostly on the water mixed with my infinit. At mile 12, I switched out for a 10oz handheld bottle with 400 calories of infinit. I used this through mile 22, this time taking 1 cup of water at each aid station. The infinit was not so concentrated that I could only take it with water, so I was able to sip it along the way. Coming into mile 22, I make sure to finish off the last bit of infinit and handed the bottle off to my parents. I took a cup of water from each of the remaining aid stations, oh and the huge bottle from Doug that I took 2 sips of.
3. My Garmin 305 was off. That sucked. It was able to keep track of me in the desolate woods of Huntsville State Park, yet it did not know how to track me through Houston's inner loop. I am not sure when it got off, but I know by mile 10 it was about 1 minute off (~.07-.1 miles). In total, it says I ran 26.46. I know I swerve a bit, but not that much. I heard most people say theirs' were off as well, so it was not just me, but boo.
4. The point of #3 was to say that I looked at my splits last night and I only had one mile slower than a 10:xx pace. Mile #16 was 11:26, and that is where I stopped to tape my knees and take advil. That is just crazy because in any past marathon, I had not even averaged anywhere close to an 11:26 mile, and here on Sunday, it was my slowest mile of the day.
5. I finally do see a difference in my body composition. My clothes have obviously been fitting differently over the past few months, but I haven't really noticed it or felt any different. Until yesterday...I was looking at my pictures from the marathon and then pulled up my pictures from the Austin Marathon last year. Wow. I see it now.
Last year: http://asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=14533&BIB=H3410&LNSEARCH=1
This year: http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=27448&PWD=&BIB=5050
I want to just try to maintain where I am now. I tried to lose weight training for IMAZ last year and it is tough to do!
6. Oooh - got another. Toenail/blister report: Race was a success on this front! My feet are probably in better shape after this marathon than after any other long race I have done. I did not lose any more toenails, and my new fake one on my right big toe stayed on. I do have one blister on the top right side of my big toe, but it is very minor compared to ones I have had there before. Things I did the same: taped my big toe, wore my injinji socks (like gloves), put body glide on my arches, on inside side of big toes and generally on my other toes. Things I did different: coated my entire foot in aquaphor after using the body glide, cautiously put my socks on so as to not rub all the goo off, and ran 42 minutes faster. Now, which of these things do I think helped the most? Who knows! I'll try to keep doing them all. I also can't help but wonder if I had a real big right toenail if it would have been damaged or not. It will be months before a new one grows back, so I guess it doesn't really matter right now!
Last year's feet (notice lovely blisters on sides of both big goes, and second right toe is really just one huge blister...I won't post the "after bedroom surgery" picture of that toe):
This year's feet (doesn't the salon make an awesome fake right big toenail?):
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