Gansett Marathon, Part One

Even after the disastrous final 20-mile training run, I regained enough confidence to really think this was the one. I was ready to break my three-year old marathon PR. 

I rolled into Narragansett Friday afternoon with plenty of time to check in to the host hotel (across the street from the start line!), pick up my race packet, and go to the pasta dinner. The race start was 8 a.m. so I could comfortably go to bed at 10 p.m., get up at 6, and still have plenty of time to eat breakfast and stretch before the race. 

Nerves kept me from sleeping too well, but I was rested enough this morning. A weird thought hit me early on, "Did I carb-load enough last night?" and I started worrying that I was not properly fueled. So I drank a little extra soy milk, then had a bagel, then stuffed my pockets with energy gels and chews, and ate half a Clif Bar. I also drank a little extra Gatorade. By the time we started, my tummy felt a little weird. No matter, I thought, I will run it off. 

I set my iPod to play the Phish show from 8/16/2009 because its length is three hours and  three minutes - my goal time. We got the go signal, I started the show, and hit start on the iPod's stopwatch. 

I banged out the first mile in 6:36. Too fast! At the end of the second mile I was in the 13s. The third, 20s. We were running uphill and into the wind on Ocean Road, yet with every passing mile, I was gaining time. By the fifth mile, I was a full three minutes ahead of schedule, hitting that mark at 32 minutes, instead of the planned 35:05 (goal pace was 7:01). 

I kept telling myself to slow down and I kept not slowing down. Through miles six through 10, downhill to the Point Judith lighthouse and Block Island Ferry, I remained three minutes ahead. And damn it, I felt great. 

Along Galilee Escape Road, the wind was at my back and the sun was beating down in front of me. Suddenly it felt like it was 80 degrees and I started sweating heavily. No matter - at the halfway mark, uphill on Point Judith Road, I was still three minutes ahead hitting it at one hour, 28 minutes. 

By that point, I should have long before slowed down, but I kept thinking about how great it was to have such a cushion, so if I NEEDED to slow down, I could. Heck, by that halfway point, I had determined that I could have run 7:14 miles from there to the end and still gotten a PR! 

Instead, a dangerous thought popped in my deranged noggin: if I keep this pace, I'll run a SUB-THREE HOUR marathon. That's the dream! And it was WITHIN REACH!! 

And so I soldiered on, uphill to the turn off of the major roadway and onto a woodsy road that let back toward the Narragansett beach and the start line. 

In the middle of the first song of the second set, my ipod crapped out.  I was not upset about the lack of music - I can run fine without it - but I was pissed that my stopwatch was now gone. I had to gauge it on feel from there to the end. Some folks passed me in the 15th. I knew I was slowing down, but figured it was OK. I had that cushion!  

At the end of the first loop, 16.2 miles, I was in good shape and knew I had my 3:03 PR locked up. The second loop covered only 10 miles of the same ground and I knew I still had plenty of time to do it.

Nervous, excited, nervous, excited...

I have been alternating between nervous and excited all day.  In 60 hours, I will be running the Gansett Marathon.

I find I am more nervous now about the actual trip and making sure I am prepared. I bought some extra Gu packets today and tonight I will start packing.

The good news is that the weather should be perfect on race day - cloudy with a high of 60 and a low of 48.  The bad news is that there is a chance it may rain every day for my post-race Block Island vacation, which really sucks.

This is really it. Friday morning, I am picking up my friend, Lee, and we will be on our way.

The end of training

The last day of hill sprints (almost three weeks ago), brought welcome relief.

The last long run was anti-climactic and discouraging.

The last tempo run was disappointing.

The sudden boost of speed and spirits over the weekend did much to brighten my outlook on an ending that had become increasingly disheartening.

Even though I tried one more time to do a pace run (7:01) for my three-miler yesterday, I ended up going too slowly (7:12) from pushing through the wind.

Still, I had that renewed and hopeful spring in my step today as I did my last speed training session. It was a short one, so I wanted to make it count - four 400-meter (one lap) intervals on the track, each with a jogged lap afterward, bookended by an easy mile, for a total of four miles in around 30 minutes.
The speed intervals were incredible. The goal was 1:28 for each. My times were 1:25, 1:25, 1:25 and 1:23 (!). Each time, I got that old feeling from way back of being Superman, flying instead of running.

The race is Saturday and there are no more training runs of any substance in the next four days. Just three miles tomorrow and three on Friday.

And for the first time in more than two weeks, I feel as if I am ready. Really ready. Gansett Marathon, here I come.

A boost of confidence

For two weeks, I slogged along with flagging confidence and unsteady training. This weekend, it finally turned around. Yesterday, I ran a four-miler that was supposed to be at race pace (7:01) and I killed it at a 6:43 pace. While that seems like an accomplishment, going too fast on a pace run can be just as detrimental as going too slow. It could lead, as it has twice for me, to doing the first half of a marathon too fast and losing steam at the end. Today, was my eight-mile "long" run (it's not that long, but I was to treat it as my usual long run - comfortable and steady). I decided to take another shot at race pace, to really get it right. Up and down the hills into and through Garret Mountain Reservation in Woodland Park, I gave some extra effort on the inclines and eased back on the declines, trying to keep it the pace consistent. The whole time, I was singing along with the likes of Phish and Prince on my iPod, in order to keep myself and my breathing in check (the idea being that if I am huffing and puffing while trying to sing, I am going too fast). I thought I nailed it exactly. It felt right. To my surprise, I finished at 54:31 - a 6:49 pace. Too fast again. But if anything, this means that my starting pace at the marathon next week can be slower than what my body may instinctively want to do. As long as I take control of that, I can end up with a negative split and, possibly, a PR. One week to go and feeling much better.

Much needed rest day?

This morning I did not need to wake to my alarm because it was the one blessed day per week that I do not run, so I was able to sleep until 8 a.m.

When I woke, feeling refreshed, I thought to myself, "Ahhh, a much needed rest day."

Then I thought to myself, "Really?  Much needed?  I ran, what, 30-something miles this past week?"

And so I continued to beat myself up for a while and thought more about how I am so not ready for the Gansett Marathon, which I will be running in nine days.

In 20th-anniversary cassette news, I decided to digitize the tape recording of my 4/1/1992 performance by my first band, Another Sleepless Night, while getting ready for work this morning.  Next on the list is the Phish show from 4/16/92.

Running on empty

Ugh.  Today I attempted a short tempo run - 35 minutes, starting slow, building to 10K pace for a mere six minutes in the middle, then slowing back down again to finish. I felt as if I was pulling a sled of bricks while trying to run the fast part. It just was not happening.

Ten days until the Gansett Marathon and I am fizzling out.

On a positive note, I received my cassette player via FedEx on Friday and was happily converting Phish's shows from 3/21/92 (Chestnut Cabaret, Philadelphia, PA), 3/24/92 (Flood Zone, Richmond, VA) and 3/25/92 (Trax, Charlottesville, VA) over the weekend.

These shows include a very early version of "Weigh" and the soon-to-be-rarity "Take the A-Train" (3/21/92), an insane performance of "Brother" with Carl Gerhard providing a frantic trumpet solo (3/24/92), and the "white boys attack" bit in the vocal jam of "You Enjoy Myself" (3/25/92).  This was also part of the brief period when Jon Fishman's intro music was "Cold as Ice" instead of "Hold Your Head Up" and he played that strange sounding Bag-Vac instead of his usual Electrolux. The boys definitely sounded fiery in these performances, though that is no surprise - they were playing small clubs, but were on their way up.

The taper continues and I feel less confident than ever

With less than two weeks to go until race day, I feel like it is all unraveling. This is not the way I had hoped my training would conclude.  Last year, I felt strong, ready. This time, I was feeling better than ever right up until the final 20-miler. It was a bomb from which I have not mentally recovered. Physically, I guess I am doing alright - my four-mile runs have been at around a 6:45 pace and my 13-mile run on Saturday was at a comfortable but relatively slow 7:21 pace. I know I should not be targeting marathon pace on my long runs, but I feel like I need the work; like I have not sufficiently trained, despite all the effort I have put in thus far. Simply put, I am nervous. The Gansett Marathon on April 14 will be my sixth so I should be over this feeling, but the jitters keep on coming.