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Eugene 3/5ths Marathon!

April 28, 2013 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 50s, overcast

Comments:
Slept OK, but "pre-race fitful" - had dreams of missing the start, etc. Up at 0530, stretched things out. I was a bit worried about both feet: the L ankle and lateral foot, and the R heel - both "exit wounds" from Sonoma. I stretched 'em out a bunch yesterday, and again this morning before heading out. I ran a slightly longer way from my apt to the start, along the finish of the course. Got just under 3 mi of warm-up.

BIG focus of the day: FORM. Two main things:

1.) "Bow forward" - forward trunk at the hips.
2.) "ARMS" - NO SWIVZ, namely the L arm having a strong, compact swing.

I figured that, with those two things alone, I could run *pretty fast* without a taxing effort.

Deuced, did some warm-up drills and strides, and chatted with a few folks, then got in the corral at the start, under the shadow of the Hayward East Grandstand, a giant poster of Bowerman reading, "..the Power of the Run!" What a fun time!

Craig Leon, fresh of his 2:14:xx at Boston, was the starter. He mis-fired the gun like 3x, and then it finally went off! And so we went.

The field of full and half-racers got out relatively fast! TONS of women and slow-looking guys were in front of me, but I kept it easy, up a slight incline on Agate, heading south.

Took a Zyrtek this AM, but no inhalar. The pollen didn't seem too bad, but I did feel some chest tightness, early on. Oh well.

Just tried to keep form-focused and flow through the crowds. I like the BODIES of the half-ers, but they're SO much less efficient (e.g. like 15-25% more effort for them at my pace), that it can be bothersome: loud, slapping foot strikes, a lot of weaving around. Ughzies. Not bad though, today.

Hit a leisurely >6:00 first mile, which was JUST fine by me. Made our way south and nestled into a solid pace that hovered just under 6:00.

Took gels on the :25 and had an additional timer going as a "form reminder". Tried my darndest to be "compact": forward, feet beneath. Here's what I really noticed:

My left arm, in addition to swinging poopy-wide, also tends to have the wrist cocked/limp into extension. So not only did I work on driving the elbow straight down, but also keeping the wrist in neutral. Surprisingly - but not - I felt much more power with that straight wrist!

The breathing ALWAYS felt OK, all day - thanks to the Zyrtek, and breathing focus. Tried hard to yoga-breathe - get the breath deep-down in the abdomen. But I was constantly worried about the legs. They were WORN from Hardesty, for sure, and those first several miles, I was "waiting for the other shoe to drop", fatigue-wise, and the pace to fall way off. So I stayed very conservative.

Looped to the end of the Rexius trail (BGD ran down there the one time for the hunt - at the base of the butte), then back north, making our way back toward Hayward. That's when I felt THE DEUCE start to come on. Uh-oh.

I was stupid - AGAIN - last night and had some spicy stuff: this jalapeno dip stuff that was really hot! I deuced like x3 pre-race, but, here it was!

We got nearer downtown at mile 8 and I ALMOST stopped: a ran over to the porty john before waving it off and saying "AAAAH!" and I kept going. It did go away, only to come back again, then go away again. This kept on for another four miles...

Had a nice up-hill climb back to Hayward just before mile 9. Took my 2nd gel and felt like I was getting some energy. Had "some" carbs last night (tortilla and pop-tart) and another PB tortilla for breakfast, which helped.

Felt pretty good for a spell running past Hayward and down to the river. I passed the leading woman in the half, who was starting to "run tall". I gave her a quick form tip (what else is new? :-P) as I rolled past ("Keep the trunk forward!). Felt good rolling into 10, but the deuce urge returned. Ughs.

Over the bridge to the PRE trails park, where the half and full finally split, then I was alone! Huh. Really form-focused: "forward, compact! Arms!". Breathing was easy, and the stride felt OK, but I felt some stress in the L leg, so I worked the L arm and the "L pushes R". More bike path as we rolled into Springfield...

...and I finally couldn't hold it any longer. We were along the river, so I dashed off the path, down a 6' bank, deuced, grass-wiped, climbed up the 6' bank, and back on the trail. The 12th mile was a 6:35 because of that - not bad!

I had some self-doubts about my ability to do 17 miles. My "eyes are bigger than my legs" in training very often, but at that point, I knew I could have a strong, but controlled effort for the whole 17. Moreover, once I hit that "shitty" 6:35, I was like, "Fuck this - this is slower than a Chelanga long run, let's go!" So using only form, I turned it back on, determined to go <6 for the final 5 miles.

Rolled past the half mark, turning north, past Springfield HS. At that point, I was making a strong effort to THANK all the volunteers: anyone watching corners, and especially the police on the intersections. It was actually a HUGE mental boost to say, "THANK YOU!" and they responding! B-)

Hit the half at 1:19, feeling great. There was a guy about 100m in front (who got in front of me when I deuced) so I focused on him. Threw down a couple easy 5:5x and got onto Centennial heading back to Eugene.

This is sort of a tough section, since it's long and open, but the crowd support was consistently good! SO much better than Napa! More cheers, more "thank yous", and a strong pace.

Form-focused: trunk, arms, L pushes R. Took one last gel right before 15 and had to work up the I-5 overpass to be sure to break 6! Flew over the other side, feeling GREAT, knowing I only had two to go! B-)

Ran the road into Autzen, hit 16, then into Alton Baker for my last mile. Hit a 5:44 mile(!), then just focused on mechanics up a little climb into the park. The dude in front of me was coming back, but I didn't want to pass him: I didn't want to expose myself, then drop out - thought that'd be a DEHCK move, so I hung back as we got along the river. I spied the 17 mile mark and cruised in for a 5:49 last mile!

Took my jersey/# off right away, so I didn't confuse anyone. People knew I DRAHHPED though. Oh well! It was perfect for me!

Did a bit of jogging over the DeFazio Bridge back to the house, but otherwise walked. GUT rot hit hard! The gels weren't great (took all my oldest, shittiest gels, including a Hammer Gel leftover from Bandera '12!), but it's the Zyrtek that's killing my stomach. I need to take 2-3 days off it.

GREAT FUCKING DAY! I'm very, very pumped. I felt like ALL the speed came from form, alone. I thought A LOT about that chunk being like GG to Placer: mostly flat, some ups, and needing that forward, compact, power-stride. The effort was very controlled, very "easy", and I felt like a did an "above-average" job at being efficient.

Post-run:
- more soreness in the L calf. STILL long on that side, STILL loading it more, but slowwwly improving.
- gut rot!!
- L foot blister, with the Injinji socks. If anything, they were a little inferior to Drymax for me. To each his own!

The splits:
6:05
5:52
5:54
6:00
6:00
5:56
6:02
6:03
5:55
6:01
6:01
6:35 (DEUCE!)
5:54
5:54
5:59 (uphill, maybe a long split?)
5:44 (downhill, maybe short?)
5:49
----- 1:41:xx

Gotta make sure there's no "exit wound" for this run. Going to keep Monday easy, and stretch a lot. Maybe do a "steam" tonight or tomorrow. Still a little concerned about the L ankle, but we'll see...

Overall, feel great about the experience, glad I had the opportunity!