Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Race Recap

Redemption. 

I planned on running this race since I'd had a horrible race at the Air Force Marathon in September.  You can read about that here:  Air Force Marathon Recap  I'd been sick for that race and wasn't 100% and it showed.  So when my running partner wanted to do another marathon since she knew she could do better, we had the training, and we haven't injured ourselves yet that we should go for it.  She found the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd.  7 weeks out from the Air Force race.  It was worth it.

We drove over on Friday, a 2 hour drive from Dayton, got ourselves settled in at the Hyatt (yards from the start line/finish line).  I'd made reservations at Buca di beppo which was close the hotel for dinner, since I wanted pasta night before the race.  I'd heard about the restaurant from former colleagues that it was fine.  It had the feel of a local Italian restaurant but I knew it was a chain, which was fine by me.  Spaghetti and meatballs were perfect. I have to say, I love Yelp and the feature of being able to make reservations from an app.

After dinner we headed off to the the Expo to grab our bibs and shirts.  We looked around the expo.  I was so good and didn't get anything.  Maybe it was because I was stuffed from all the pasta or I didn't really need anything but my wallet thanked me.  :-)  We did browse the different booths for the big races in the area for next year.  I have 13 half marathons to plan for.  See here if you're interested in the 13 13.1s in 2013 challenge.  Unfortunately, many conflicted with the Flying Pig marathon on May 4-5th.  Time for a little shopping after that at the mall nearby (can we say H&M? Yay!) then off for a nightcap a nearby bar, then off to bed. 

Race time:

Typical breakfast for me on race day, bagel and peanut butter with a half a cliff bar a bit later.  Then we packed up.  Dropped off our bags at the front desk then hung out in the lobby for another 20 minutes. Since Hyatt told me we would have a late checkout at 2 pm but when we checked in they said we couldn't.  But, we could store our bags and use the fitness room showers later.  Joy. Really, Hyatt?   No point in standing in the cold, about 35 degrees in the am, so we hung out with a bunch of runners waiting and getting more nervous.

Garmin paused when we stopped and lost satellite under a bridge 

so I'm not sure if I can use this time. 

Ok, fast forward.  Start time, great first mile or so with nice sized crowd. As my running partner said, this feels like a "real" race.  Sorry Air Force Marathon, but it was nice to have so many be people cheering you as you start off the race.  The first few miles were really crowded,  spent  time zipping around people, and got pretty warm.  I was regretting my choice clothes, since my long sleeved shirt had my number on it and so I didn't want to mess with it, ditched my gloves at least.  Once we got out of the downtown, I regretted not having them anymore.  We were going at a pretty good pace a little under 9 min per mile.  Went through the 10k in 1hr.

Around mile 10 I started to notice my knee a bit.  I tried to ignore it.  I didn't mention it to Carrie, since if it was spoken I'd notice it even more.  Passed the half marathon mark in 2:02, other than the knee feeling weird, felt great.  Then we passed through Butler University at mile 17 and that is when my knee was really not being happy.  It felt like it was going to give out every few steps.  Carrie moved ahead, which was our plan- well- to go at our own pace this time.  By mile 19,  we were out in a pretty lonely area.  I was thinking, will I be able to finish?  I've never dropped out of a race before? I can't call anyone!   Then it started sleeting hard little ice balls and it was cold.  My Garmin by now, was either off by a lot or the mile markers seemed to be off, since my watch out say it was a mile then 1/2 mile later the mile marker would be there.  Frustrating, since I wanted this to be done.

pain around 4b

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful.  I slogged through it, rain, ice and all.  I will say that my marathon mix on iphone made a difference.  It always seemed to have the right song at the right time (I'd put it on shuffle).  The last mile I ran to the Chariots of Fire theme.  It was the perfect way to end the race. 

I finished in 4:16.12.  21 minutes better than I had run at the Air Force Marathon 7 weeks earlier.  I'm totally happy with that time.  Carrie finished in amazing time of 4:04.

 Positives:

• well organized race
• (kinda)great running weather
• spi-belt worked awesome
• E-Gels by cranksports.com are amazing (no muscle cramps, lots of energy)
• PR by 21 minutes! 

Negatives:

• Hotel making us checkout early
• long drive after the race
• mile markers seemed off with my garmin
• knee pain

Overall, I'm very happy with this race.  Will I do it again?  Maybe.  That's if I do another one next year.  It was a ton of time to train for.  I could have never done it without my awesome husband who put up with all the weekends that I did my long runs, running for 3-4 hours then coming home exhausted and not wanting to do anything the rest of the day.    Now, it's time to rest up and hang out with the family!  Oh, and gear up for next year's challenge of 13 13.1s.

Injury update:  Took a week off, then attempted to run a 3 miler.  Knee acted up in the first 1/2 mile, hurting like it did in the marathon, then the IT band seized up.  Ouch!!!! I've never had IT band pain like that before- normally I just get a twinge.  I'm just so glad that it didn't happen in the race. That would have been horrible.  I'm not sure if my knee problem in the marathon was the IT band or not, since I never had pain on the side or above the knee.

Anyone dropped out of a big race before?
IT band pain?  What do you suggest?
Update:  Here's the course elevation if you are interested!

There was an area that you run under an overpass for a while and my garmin went a bit crazy- same at the end, I don't remember a hill there.

Marathon #2 training update

I've been so busy with training, soccer practices and work, I haven't had a lot of time to update.   

It's been going well.  Here was the original plan for another marathon

And here's the real training: 

Mondays had to be a rest day since both boys had soccer practice in different locations at the same time. Thursdays- I used to do spinning but decided family time is more important, Fridays- I run after work before getting the boys.   Sundays used to be my long run day but we have soccer games.

I apologize for the formating- I can't figure out what I did that makes the spacing weird with some of the weeks! 

Week 0 (right after marathon #1)

Monday: rest

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: spinning class (easy)

Friday: rest

Saturday: run 1.5 hrs (9 miles on trails)

Sunday: rest

 

Week: 1

Monday: spinning class

Tuesday: run 3 m

Wednesday: run 3 m

Thursday: rest

Friday: run 6 m

Saturday: rest

Sunday: run 7 m

Week: 2

Monday: rest

Tuesday: spinning class

Wednesday: run 7m

Thursday: run 3.75 m

Friday: rest

Saturday: run 14 m

Sunday: rest

						Week: 3 Monday: run 3 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: run 5 m Thursday:  rest Friday: run 3 m Saturday: run 16 m Sunday: rest
						Week: 4 Monday: run 4.5 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: run 5 m Thursday: rest Friday: plan on running 4 Saturday: plan on running 18 Sunday: plan on resting Week: 5 planning on doing... Monday:  3 m Tuesday: spinning class Wednesday: 7 m Thursday: rest Friday: 3 m Saturday: 10-12 m Sunday: rest Week: 6 planning on doing Monday:  run 3 Tuesday: easy at spinning class Wednesday: run 3 Thursday: rest Friday: rest (travel day to Indy) Saturday: RACE DAY Sunday:  As I said I would, I have played around with my nutrition on the run. I've decided that the e-gels from cranksports.com work for me.  I'm not sure I really like the flavors, but since the consistency is not so thick it's easy to suck them down  quickly.  Last week I tried the Cliff shots gel- yuck- I had to chew it!  No thank you! Plus I got a side stitch every time I had one.

How to train for another marathon 6 weeks after the first?

IMM, Marathon #2 in six weeks

1.  Hit the wall early in your first marathon or get sick the week or two before or both!
2.  Have a crazy running partner that signs up for another marathon 2 days after the first.
3.  Realize how disappointed you are on how you did in you 1st race, vow to do better on the next one.
4. Sign up with 7 weeks to spare for a marathon relatively close to you and during a cooler time of year
5.  Search for a training plan for a marathon in 6 weeks!
6.  Rest for about 4 days, then start with cross training, then 9 miles one week after 1st race.
7.  Foam roll like crazy.
8. Start training again!  Hal Higdon's multiple marathons plan seems to work.
9. Relax about it.  (You've already done this, now just relax and go with it!)
10.  Be smart and listen to your body.

So how am I doing on this crazy quest?  

1. disappointing finish in 26.2 √
2. partner signed up for Indy Monumental Marathon√
3. signed myself up for the Indy Monumental Marathon (or now IMM for the rest of the blog)
4. happy about the normal temps and distance from house with IMM √
5. found Hal's training plan √
6. Rested√
7. foam rolled out all the soreness√
8. training started this week ( Tues & Weds 3 miles each, Fri 6 miles, Sun 7 miles)
9. relaxing about it  (still working on this)
10. listening to my body √

So for those of you who actually are curious on how much more running I have to do... remember I have already trained 18 weeks for the first race, and 12 weeks before that for the Pig Half...so I'm going on 30 weeks of training...what's another 6 weeks? 

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6	Rest	2 m run	3 m run	4 m run	Rest	6 m run	1-2 hours√
5	Rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	6 m run	12 m run
4	Rest	4 m run	6 m run	4 m run	Rest	6 m run	14 m run
3	Rest	4 m run	6 m run	4 m run	Rest	6 m run	16 m run
2	Rest	4 m run	6 m run	4 m run	Rest	6 m run	10 m run
1	Rest	2 m run	3 m run	Rest	Rest	2 m run	Marathon

 I'm hoping that will be enough, I might bump up  the mileage for the 12 -16 miles a bit more, but depends on my schedule with kiddos on the weekends.  I remember that was one of the reasons we (Carrie and I) didn't pick the Columbus marathon which is at the end of October, back when we decided on doing the Air Force marathon.

What am I going to do differently?  

• Nutrition during the race- I have always used Clff Shot Blox but I found that I didn't eat as many as I should have during the race, since they were gummies and hard to eat on the run, so I'm going to experiment with gels. One of my coworkers gave me Crank Sports e-gel to try on a long run.  Have yet to try it but I liked what I saw on their website Crank Sports 
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before!  I drank a ton of water during the Air Force Marathon and I didn't pee until 4 pm after the race.  Yikes! 
• Rest more during training.  I tend to get 6.5 hrs a sleep a night, definitely need more.
• Take my vitamins! I don't know if I can avoid getting sick again, but here's to hoping! 
• Different socks- I had a nasty blister from socks (that I've worn on long runs before and never had problems with!- must be my callous- still dealing with Bob the blister)  

  

  Surprise! I thought my toe hurt!

  Warning, gross picture ahead!