The irony of hindsight
"Son, I've said it once, twice, a thousand times, so I'll say it again.."
*Andrew braces himself for another Dadism*
"Life is the only subject you get the test first, and the lesson later."
My Dad loves that line, and if I had a dollar for everytime I've heard it, I'd be retired at 31. Behind the cliche, it's so damn true and spot on though.
I read through an old notebook from the last 18 months a few days back. From the original inception of my intentions to commit to the marathon, to this past summer where I did my best to work well with high humidty and new venture into parenthood.
For awhile I really questioned if I trained correctly. Like any competitor when the outcome is far off from the intention, you're naturally forced to sit and reflect. Ok, what went well and what went terribly wrong?
After 4 months of reflection, I was patient with where my thoughts took me after that rough go in Morgantown. A few thoughts that maybe might help for the next go, or for somebody finding themselves in a relative situation.
For my non running nerds, "MPW" = miles per week. I averaged a lifetime high across 90 days of 38 mpw. Like most of you all out there, we aren't paid to do this. Life balance is very real, so 70 mpw for my spot in life just doesn't add up.
After such a big blow up the last 9 miles, like most, you believe, "ahh I should have done this or that more." Those thoughts resided until the last few weeks. I trained for the hills, humidity, and kept my leg speed fresh with semi regular interval sessions. Most importatnly, I was consistent. So what the hell happened?
4 weeks out from the Marathon, I was in Charlotte visiting family, a few joined me on the trails too. There was a weekend racing adventure at the local Whitewater Center. An Olympic training ground too for athletes. First up, a 4 mile night trail run with headlamps, easily one of the coolest running moments of my life. Followed by the next morning, a hot and humid half marathon on those same trails. I felt like a wild animal on the hunt during the night run, it was insanely beautiful and I closed strong. The next morning, the hunt turned on me.
To my surprise, the trails were very technical, switch backs every tenth to quarter of a mile, and the humidity in Charlotte, 3rd week of August, yeah, not for me. I cramped very bad the last 5k and essentially gimped in. I was pretty wrecked from about 2 miles in, I just coulnd't get into rhythm. I under estimated how much of a toll that race took on me. I got back into training the next day, and hit another 40 mile week. Within the next week and half, I had a full blown sinus infection and it lingered into Labor Day weekend, all while trying to keep the mileage up.
We're now 12 days out from race day, and my 9 mile run on Labor Day, felt rough. I didn't think much of it, but as the week progressed the sinus infection lingered and finally dissapated about a week out. The last week before the race, I ran a few easy 3-4 milers just to keep the blood flowing.
The weekend of the race, was HUMID. I've joked about this, I have no Meditteranean blood in my DNA, and my Northern Europe bloodlines favor to be a cold weather runner. I ate a huge steak the night before, right in line with my diet, but this steak size was definetly more of a post race indulgence. I had a big salad and sweet potato too. Same diet, but I failed to be mindful of how much I was putting in my GI, waking up at 3am to get oatmeal and coffee in my system too. I was asking a lot in a short window.
The next morning, my stomach was a sour, and restless. I barely made it 70 miles South to Morgantown without having to make a stop. Before the race, my stomach was off too, I still ignored the severity of it. Well, I couldn't hide from it anymore as I barely made it into the stall at mile 12. Let's put it this way, I lost everything. Not trying to be funny, but GI issues are a tough reality that racers can encounter. This was my first time too, never had to stop in any race before. By mile 17, I was full in bonk mode, fighting off bad dehydration, stumbling my way into the finish, barely.
My biggest take aways I've stumbled onto recently, 4 weeks out from your big race, keep in mind how much intensity you've brought to the training block. Too many big efforts can indeed leave you wasted. Supressing the immune system, as I experienced, is a real thing. Don't jump into a race that isn't coorelated to the type of racing you'll be doing. A technical trail half marathon race prepping for a road marathon, didn't coorelate well with where I was at in my training build up. Would have made for a fun adventure earlier in the year. Be mindful of what you put into your system 24-48 hours from race morning. It can come back to haunt you.
Happy Racing and Happy 2019. Chase down some big goals and keep it fun, we're all learning a bit more each day!
Much Love,
Andrew
*Andrew braces himself for another Dadism*
"Life is the only subject you get the test first, and the lesson later."
My Dad loves that line, and if I had a dollar for everytime I've heard it, I'd be retired at 31. Behind the cliche, it's so damn true and spot on though.
I read through an old notebook from the last 18 months a few days back. From the original inception of my intentions to commit to the marathon, to this past summer where I did my best to work well with high humidty and new venture into parenthood.
For awhile I really questioned if I trained correctly. Like any competitor when the outcome is far off from the intention, you're naturally forced to sit and reflect. Ok, what went well and what went terribly wrong?
After 4 months of reflection, I was patient with where my thoughts took me after that rough go in Morgantown. A few thoughts that maybe might help for the next go, or for somebody finding themselves in a relative situation.
For my non running nerds, "MPW" = miles per week. I averaged a lifetime high across 90 days of 38 mpw. Like most of you all out there, we aren't paid to do this. Life balance is very real, so 70 mpw for my spot in life just doesn't add up.
After such a big blow up the last 9 miles, like most, you believe, "ahh I should have done this or that more." Those thoughts resided until the last few weeks. I trained for the hills, humidity, and kept my leg speed fresh with semi regular interval sessions. Most importatnly, I was consistent. So what the hell happened?
4 weeks out from the Marathon, I was in Charlotte visiting family, a few joined me on the trails too. There was a weekend racing adventure at the local Whitewater Center. An Olympic training ground too for athletes. First up, a 4 mile night trail run with headlamps, easily one of the coolest running moments of my life. Followed by the next morning, a hot and humid half marathon on those same trails. I felt like a wild animal on the hunt during the night run, it was insanely beautiful and I closed strong. The next morning, the hunt turned on me.
To my surprise, the trails were very technical, switch backs every tenth to quarter of a mile, and the humidity in Charlotte, 3rd week of August, yeah, not for me. I cramped very bad the last 5k and essentially gimped in. I was pretty wrecked from about 2 miles in, I just coulnd't get into rhythm. I under estimated how much of a toll that race took on me. I got back into training the next day, and hit another 40 mile week. Within the next week and half, I had a full blown sinus infection and it lingered into Labor Day weekend, all while trying to keep the mileage up.
We're now 12 days out from race day, and my 9 mile run on Labor Day, felt rough. I didn't think much of it, but as the week progressed the sinus infection lingered and finally dissapated about a week out. The last week before the race, I ran a few easy 3-4 milers just to keep the blood flowing.
The weekend of the race, was HUMID. I've joked about this, I have no Meditteranean blood in my DNA, and my Northern Europe bloodlines favor to be a cold weather runner. I ate a huge steak the night before, right in line with my diet, but this steak size was definetly more of a post race indulgence. I had a big salad and sweet potato too. Same diet, but I failed to be mindful of how much I was putting in my GI, waking up at 3am to get oatmeal and coffee in my system too. I was asking a lot in a short window.
The next morning, my stomach was a sour, and restless. I barely made it 70 miles South to Morgantown without having to make a stop. Before the race, my stomach was off too, I still ignored the severity of it. Well, I couldn't hide from it anymore as I barely made it into the stall at mile 12. Let's put it this way, I lost everything. Not trying to be funny, but GI issues are a tough reality that racers can encounter. This was my first time too, never had to stop in any race before. By mile 17, I was full in bonk mode, fighting off bad dehydration, stumbling my way into the finish, barely.
My biggest take aways I've stumbled onto recently, 4 weeks out from your big race, keep in mind how much intensity you've brought to the training block. Too many big efforts can indeed leave you wasted. Supressing the immune system, as I experienced, is a real thing. Don't jump into a race that isn't coorelated to the type of racing you'll be doing. A technical trail half marathon race prepping for a road marathon, didn't coorelate well with where I was at in my training build up. Would have made for a fun adventure earlier in the year. Be mindful of what you put into your system 24-48 hours from race morning. It can come back to haunt you.
Happy Racing and Happy 2019. Chase down some big goals and keep it fun, we're all learning a bit more each day!
Much Love,
Andrew
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