Running a 1/2 marathon less than seven days after completing an Ironman seems a bit dumb or insane. Probably somewhere in between. This plan actually came to fruition in late April.

While talking with a friend we were trying to come up with a plan for me to run a fall marathon. I knew running a marathon just a few weeks after IM Chattanooga, say for example, the Hartford Marathon wouldn’t give me enough of a rest and give me the opportunity to have a chance to Boston qualify. They were interested in running Smuttynose and it would make sense for me to run with them. They found a marathon at the end of October that is fairly local and would give me enough rest to have a chance to BQ. This race is the Loco marathon and is scheduled for the 26th. They weren’t able to run Smuttynose with me on October 5th but it gave me a chance to see what my fitness level was three weeks out from the Marathon.

Last week following my IM on September 28th was basically full of as much rest as I could get. For the first 7-10 days after an IM I don’t really sleep or eat consistently. I didn’t get home from my flight on Monday night until about midnight, Tuesday I picked up a friend at the airport and wasn’t asleep until 1 AMish. On Thursday I did go for a five mile run but I was up late. However, I did sleep well. Then on Friday night I played Soccer and again didn’t sleep well. On Saturday my friends were throwing a party and even though I wasn’t out late I didn’t get to bed until about 11 PM for a 4:30 AM wake-up.

Race Day:

On Sunday I woke up about 4:30. My body was sore from Soccer on Friday night. In fact my body hurt more on Sunday morning than it ever did during the week. I took a few nasty hits Friday night and my back was pretty sore, My calf was still very tight from Sunday’s race, and I wasn’t feeling 100%. I had my normal pre-race meal, 2 Ensure’s, Oatmeal, & Coffee. I also had a Powerbar about 60 minutes before the race.

I met my friend Amanda and her friends to get my bib and t-shirt. With Smuttynose you have to now get your bib the day before. However, I learned that morning that they were letting people pick up their bibs. For people coming out of state and races this short you can’t require us to pick up our bibs the day before. I get it for the marathon, 70.3, and 140.6 distances. You can say doing this makes it less hectic on race day which is true, it’s really for the town to make extra money. You are asking us to get a hotel nearby. For distances less than a marathon I won’t sign-up for it if you require this in the future.

I lined up for the race about 5 minutes before the start. I was stuck near the back with the 8:30 pace group. I was able to stretch a bit because I needed to run back to my car and put a bag in it. It was fairly chilly at the start so I wore a long sleeves winterish pull-over. I would later learn I was a bit overdressed but it wasn’t that bad. I carried one GU with me.

My race strategy was to see how my body felt. I knew my quads were feeling about 85-90% but I wasn’t sure what would happen later on in the race.

Mile one was very hectic. I couldn’t just go and pass a ton of people I needed to let the race happen. It does take a lot of energy to zig zag around. You can see from my numbers below that I ran the first mile at 8:42. For much of the first mile I was averaging close to about a 10 minute mile but it opened up around 8/10th’s of a mile. Mile two was still pretty busy but I was able to run much more freely.

Miles 3-10 went by pretty fast. You are running the first seven miles along the shoreline. The course is flat overall. I think around mile 7-8 there was a respectable hill taking a turn off of the beach. You head into a neighborhood for miles 7.x to mile 10. It is shaded and families are out.

Once you get back onto shoreline around mile 10 you had some headwinds but it felt overall flat. The last mile I noticed my heart rate a little higher than I wanted. I could tell I was getting tired. I ran with a guy from miles 10-12. We pushed each other and eventually he passed me in the last mile. My legs just weren’t strong enough to hold on.

This was a great race and based on my time I am feeling pretty good about my marathon at the end of the month. But not sure if my legs will be able to hold on to a BQ pace for the whole distance. We will see….

My numbers….