As you know, recently hit a big goal of mine — running a sub-three hour marathon. I managed to squeak in by 18 seconds, with a very tightly run race. I wanted to step back and look at some of the data to see how the race truly went so you could perhaps learn a bit from what I did.
On a macro level, it looks like I negative split the run, going 1:30+ in the first 13.1 and then 1:29+ for the second. But digging a little deeper, going mile by mile, you can see a different story:
Things that jump out at me from the image above:
* First two miles were slightly slower than I wanted to run, so I ran the next 2 a little more quickly than I had hoped. Net was the same, but not the way I wanted.
* Miles 5-12 were the fastest of my day, hidden in the “slower” first half because of those first four miles.
* My pee break almost cost me my time goal. I think my hydration was okay, but the cold and wet conditions meant I had a lot of run off.
* I ran a 6:34 mile from 25-26, and then 5:40 pace for last quarter mile.
* If I had run both at my average page of 6:49, I would have missed 3 hours by about 20 seconds.
Looking even more closely, it took me 1:25 to run the last .23 miles ( at 5:40 pace). If I had been running 6:49 pace, my time would have been 1:42, or 17.2 seconds slower…or exactly 3 hours.
The Importance of Execution
Given the conditions on the day (40 degrees, rainy, winds a steady 8-11 mph), and the fact that I was running my first open marathon in many years, I knew 3 hours was going to be close. I had trained to run 6:45 pace, but figured that 7-second per mile margin wouldn’t be easily taken on race day.
As the chart and brief analysis above show, I had to run 1.2 seriously hard miles at the end of my marathon in order to earn my goal. The only way this was possible was by following a plan that ensured I didn’t start too fast. On race day I was passing 2-3 people per minute once I got past mile 21…there were a lot of people fading out there. Some even had pacers, people not racing, but running in front to block the wind and ostensibly help the athlete make it to the finish in a set time (I think that’s illegal, no?).
Next Time
With the information above, I will be much better prepared for my next open marathon, should it ever happen. Here’s what I will do differently….
Training:
* More Consistent Running. I did a lot of cycling in the critical build up weeks, running no more than 4x a week. I might bump that up to 6x by adding some shorter skill runs.
* Harder Half Marathon Pacing. I didn’t really test my vDOT until 8 weeks out, and my resultant Half Marathon Pace was much harder. The mid week tempo runs I did at HMP, typically 6-9 miles of that work, was awesome quality stuff. I could have used more.
* More Core / Flex Work. I really got back into this in the last few weeks prior to race day, but I think it would be beneficial to do from the start of my marathon focus.
Racing:
* Better Seeding. I was maybe 15 feet back from the start line, but it took me 4 miles to get clear of the crowd so I could run my own pace. Next time I need to be more aggressive here.
* Better Early Pacing. I wanted to run 7:07s for the first 5 miles, but instead ran 7:08, 7:08, 6:53, 6:53, 6:49. I was _almost_ too aggressive early on, and I think the onset of fatigue around mile 23-24 was a result of this.
* Stronger Second Half. I was focusing on running the last 5 miles very well, but I think a macro focus of a stronger second half overall would be more useful. Mainly because I have the ability to run faster from miles 13 to 20, unlike when I fade after mile 21.
How else can I improve?
Hi, I'm Patrick McCrann. 
