2013 Outer Banks Race Report

Nov 18, 2013 by Greg Fowler

On November 10, 2013, I ran the Gateway Bank Outer Banks Marathon.  This write up is a report on my performance.  I trained using the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.  You can find summaries of those workouts here.

If I can find some time, I may do an additional report on the actual event.  Two thumbs up is the short version on the event, though.

Finally There

At 7:10am on Sunday, November 10, after 16 weeks of focused training and no less than 77 workouts, I was finally at the starting line for the Outer Banks Marathon.  Despite only four hours of sleep before the race and waking at 4am (had to eat and then catch the shuttle to the start), I actually felt good and ready to run.  The air temperature was about 50 degrees and the forecast was perfect.  I removed my “donation” pull over and laid it on the ground beside the starting corrals.  At 7:20am, the elites started and thirty seconds later, my corral was off and running (no elite corral for me :-)).

I’d trained to run the race at a 7:49 pace, and I really wanted to make sure I didn’t start too fast.  If there’s one lesson I keep learning the hard way over and over again, it is ‘Do not start too fast!‘.  If I could hold the target for the first twenty miles, I’d try to run the last six at a faster pace.  Thanks to my GPS watch, I could see I was too fast about the first half mile, so I slowed down.  I hit the first split at 7:47.

After a faster second mile at 7:42, I worked a little harder to slow it down.  Third mile, 8:00.  That put me right on 7:49, I see sawed up and down for a few miles, but through mile seven, I was right on track.

I had a problem, though.  This early in the race, I expected to still be feeling good having to dial it back as in my last few training runs, but I was struggling.  My heart rate was too high for this early, and I was having to push too hard to keep my goal pace.  This was not good.  We weren’t even to the off road section yet, where I expected to have to give extra effort.

As we entered the off road section at around mile ten, I was still hanging in there, right at a 7:50 pace.  The first two miles of the dirt road, didn’t seem too bad.  The ground was pretty firm, but fairly undulating.  The scenery was nice.  I managed 7:54 for mile eleven and 8:08 for mile twelve.  At about mile 12.5, we turned off the dirt road onto the real trail section.  It was straight up a short, steep hill, then up and down hills for about a half mile.  I didn’t think it was all that much different than the Harbison Forest trails I run occasionally.   We exited the woods and my mile thirteen split was 9:19.  Ouch.  Overall pace per mile had slipped to 7:58.

Doing the Math

Now, I’m not a math genius by any means, but I knew this meant I’d have to run around 7:40 miles the rest of the way to meet my goal.  I tried to ramp it up a bit.  Mile fourteen was 7:42.  OK, not bad.  Mile fifteen was 7:44.  Not horrible, but I still wasn’t finding a groove, though.  Mile sixteen proved to be a struggle at 8:15.  I gave one last super effort on mile seventeen for a 7:50, but that was the last I’d even come close to goal pace.

Mile eighteen was 8:15, and I officially hit the wall during mile nineteen, coming in with an 8:55.  After that, I just resorted to ‘just finish’ mode, running as much as possible but having to walk every so often.  I felt terrible.

The most brutal of the last six miles was mile 23, which included the bridge.  I had an awful 11:14 for this mile.  After that, I did manage to close with increasingly faster miles of 10:28, 10:20, and 9:28.

My official finishing time was 3:42:30, an 8:30/mile pace.  Believe it or not, this was a PR for me by 5 minutes and 10 minutes faster than my spring marathon this year.  I was 14th of 76 in my age group and 125th out of 1,112 overall.

Official results can be found here: http://www.precisionrace.com/outer-banks-marathon-results/

Here’s a chart of my split times.  The blue line is the actual times. The dotted line is the goal, and the red line is the pace average.  Unfortunately, this chart follows a similar pattern to my other marathons.

Conclusion

So what happened?  How did I end up 17 minutes off my goal.   That’s quite a miss.   I wish I knew. I did run less and did run faster.  After all, it was a PR.  Am I happy with that?  Honestly, no.  It is a character flaw, I guess.  Mr. Malcontent.

My training success seemed to indicate I’d be much closer to the goal.  I really expected to be on track the first twenty miles and then possibly struggle to a 9 minute pace over the last six miles, if I hit the wall.  That would be a 3:31-ish worst case.

My best explanation is the long trip up the day before (complete with broken down car and emergency car rental at the Fayetteville, NC airport) and lack of rest the night before really hurt more than I expected.  I suppose the extra effort required on the trail section didn’t help, but it wasn’t any worse than the hills around my house where I trained.  Everything else seemed to be on track – training, weather, nutrition.  Maybe I’m just slow.  Who knows.  I guess stuff does happen.

So what’s next?  Not sure about that, either.  I’m contemplating the next move.  I do know, however, I will NOT wear a Batman shirt for my next race.  What seemed like a fun idea at the time turned a bit annoying by the end of the day as I received way more than my share of Go, Batman!, along with chants of the old TV show theme song and one old guy pointing out his Chuckie T high tops with Batman logos.  It was fun high-fiving the little kids, though.

POFIFOTO!

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Week 13: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Oct 21, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week thirteen of sixteen of my Outer Banks 2013 marathon training. I am following the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.

To review past weeks, click here.

Short version: Very good week. I hit all targets (4 weeks in a row!), including the last and toughest twenty miler of the training.

For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Wednesday and Thursday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts: 4 kick laps, 20 minutes non-stop freestyle, 4 kick laps.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Sunday

Looking ahead at the week’s family schedule, I decided to knock out the track workout on Sunday again.  This week’s workout was 10 x 400m at 1:32 with 400m rest intervals.

Results:

• 400m #1: 1:30
• 400m #2: 1:31
• 400m #3: 1:28
• 400m #4: 1:26
• 400m #5: 1:28
• 400m #6: 1:29
• 400m #7: 1:26
• 400m #8: 1:28
• 400m #9: 1:26
• 400m #10: 1:22

Grade: A+. Very solid workout. Probably pushed a little too hard on the last one.  Might explain my sore foot this week.

Run workout #2. Tuesday

This week’s tempo run called for eight miles at a 7:49 pace, two miles shorter than last week’s ten miler but the same pace.

Result: Really solid run.  Felt easy.  Pulled off negative split and finished in 1:01:30

Grade: A. That’s a 7:39 pace overall.

Run Workout #3. Friday

This week’s long run called for twenty miles at an 8:04 pace. That’s five miles farther than last week’s 8:04 target run, which I ran at 8:01.

I viewed this run as the final dress rehearsal before show time.  This meant I followed the nutrition and fueling plan I will be using for the race and day before.

When I walked outside Friday morning, I can’t say that I was very confident.  The temperature was 70 degrees and the humidity was close to 100%.  If you’ve read these posts,  you know I’ll whine about the weather’s affect on me.  I have learned that I struggle on 70+ degree days with high humidity.  So, I knew this was going to be a long morning and probably hurt.

I intentionally dialed it back a bit on the first half, so I could have a good shot at the usual negative split goal. The weather also helped with that.  A few times I felt like I’d sped up only to see 8:15 or 8:22 pop up on my watch for the split time.  At mile ten, I was in a decent spot, though, with an 8:06 pace.

For miles eleven through seventeen, I hovered around the 8:04 mark average, and managed to bring my overall pace down to 8:05.  When my watch beeped after mile eighteen, I felt for sure I was still doing OK, but the mile split read 8:16 and my pace was still 8:05.  So, now I faced a decision.  I could pack it in and not get my fourth straight week of green and end the twenty milers two for five.  Or I could dig deep and give the effort that will probably be required at the end of the marathon to meet my goal.  I decided to dig.

I did my best to ignore the pain.  At mile nineteen, my watch beeped.  7:48.  I pressed the button to see my overall pace.  8:04.  One mile to go,though. Got to beat 8:04 to keep the average, I thought.  I kept pressing.  Lots of pain now.  Time seemed to be standing still.  My watch finally beeped.  7:59.  I quickly hit stop and then pressed the button to see the overall pace.  8:04.  Whew.

Grade: A. 20.06 miles in 2:41:48.  My fastest twenty miles ever.

Week Thirteen Summary

Very happy with the week.   Meeting the twenty miler target was big confidence booster.

Here’s a graphic showing hit or miss on the workouts throughout the training. For the tempo and long runs, I included mileage and pace targets (not including the easy warm up and cool down miles for the tempo runs). The actual pace result is in parentheses:

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week fourteen.  The taper begins!  The workouts are still tough, but mileage is reduced to under twenty-five miles this week, instead of the thirty mile ballpark.

Run #1: Track work. 8 x 800m in 3:08. 90 second RI between each.  Yuck.
Run #2: 1 mile easy warm up, 5 miles @ 7:19/mile, 1 mile easy cool down.
Run #3: 13 miles @ 7:49/mile.

Cross Training: Swim – 3 x (1 length fast, 1 length slow; 2 lengths fast, 2 lengths slow;  3 lengths fast, 3 lengths slow; 2 lengths fast, 2 lengths slow; 1 length fast, 1 length slow) with 1 minute rest interval between sets.

 

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO!

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Week 10: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Sep 30, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week ten of sixteen of my Outer Banks 2013 marathon training. I am following the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.

To review past weeks, click here.

Short version: Excellent week, accomplishing all three runs.  A cold front blew through last weekend, sweeping summer away (I hope!).  The cooler weather made a big difference in my ability this week.

For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Wednesday and Thursday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts -4 lengths easy; 3 x (2 lengths easy, 2 lengths fast, 30 seconds RI); 6 x(1 length easy, 1 length fast, 15 seconds RI).  A really short work out.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

Yep, Monday track time  This week’s workout was a new one, 2 sets of 3 x 1200m in 4:47 with 2:00 rest interval.  Had a four minute rest interval between sets for a total of 6 x 1200m.

Results:

• 1200m #1: 4:46
• 1200m #2: 4:44
• 1200m: #3 4:47
• 1200m: #4 4:46
• 1200m: #5 4:45
• 1200m: #6 4:43

Grade: A.  Maybe A+.  I took care to ease up on the first couple, hoping I could finish faster on the last ones.  It worked.

Run workout #2. Tuesday

Up until this week, all the tempo runs had been a mile or two easy warm up, followed by two to six hard miles, then an easy mile or two cool down.  This week, seemingly out of left field, the plan called for 10 miles at a 7:49 pace.  Seemed quite a jump.  I can’t remember the last time I did a mid week double digit run, either.  This run worried me for three reasons.  The first was the just mentioned big jump in mileage at a pretty aggressive pace.  The second reason was my schedule.  I had to violate one of the main principles of the program which is not running back to back days.  Unfortunately, with two cross country meets this week, I couldn’t figure out another way.

So, I set out at 6:15pm Tuesday night with the third worry – impending darkness.  Now I run in the dark a lot, but I stay in my neighborhood, where it is safer.  For a 10 mile run, though, I rarely do the neighborhood because that is four laps and too many hills.  For the tempo RLRF workouts, I’ve tried to balance the hills.  So, I headed out of the neighborhood with an hour of daylight left and my reflective gear.  Don’t know if it was the attention to nutrition and hydration during the day, the new gels I was trying or the cool weather, but this was one of my best runs yet.  I did the 10 miles in 1:17:15.

Grade: A+. That’s a 7:42 pace for the ten miles.  It was also a negative split.  I average 7:46 on miles 1-5 and 7:39 on miles 6-10.  I was 7:45 through nine and pushed it on mile 10, coming in at 7:13 for the last mile.  That will lower the average a bit.

Run Workout #3. Friday

This week’s long run called for 15 miles at an 8:09 pace. After last week’s disappointing 20 miler, I wanted to redeem myself and finish up strong for a great week. I set out at sunrise to almost perfect running weather, low 60’s and comfortable humidity.

As usual, besides meeting the time goal, the secondary goal was a negative split.  I had not been too successful with this on the long runs.

Grade: A. I started out a bit fast, and after five miles was on an 8:07 pace.  I slowed it down a bit on the next five and with five miles to go, I felt great and my overall pace had slipped to 8:10.  Time to turn it up a bit. I ran the last five miles at a 7:55 pace, including stepping down 7:57, 7:55, 7:54 on the last three.  This gave me 2:01:38, an 8:05/mile pace for the fifteen miles.  Also met the negative split goal.

Week Ten Summary

This week was a good confidence booster, especially the ten mile tempo run at 7:49.  If you recall, 7:49 is the marathon target pace.  This was the first double digit run at that pace, and I did very well.  Still a long ways to go, but it felt great to pull it off, especially the day after a tough track workout.

Here’s a graphic showing hit or miss on the workouts over the past ten weeks. For the tempo and long runs, I included mileage and pace targets (not including the easy warm up and cool down miles for the tempo runs). The actual pace result is in parentheses:

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week eleven:

Run #1: Track work. 1000m in 3:56; 2o00m in 8:14; 1000 in 3:56; 1000m in 3:36.  400m RI between each
Run #2: 1 easy mile, 5 miles @ 7:49/mile, 1 easy mile
Run #3: 20 miles @ 8:19/mile.

Cross Training: Swim, of course: Kick 4 lengths; swim 20 minutes; kick 4 lengths

Big concern this week is the twenty mile long run.  I haven’t met goal on the last two twenties, and I’d really like to meet this one.

 

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO!

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Week 9: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Sep 23, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week nine of sixteen of my Outer Banks 2013 marathon training. I am following the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.

To review past weeks, click here.

Short version: Disappointing week.  Bad news was I came up short on the track workout and the long run.  Good news was it was my fastest twenty miler yet, just a bit short of target.

For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Tuesday and Friday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts – 10 x (2 laps with 15 seconds rest); 4 kick laps; 10 x (2 laps with 15 seconds rest).  I did the laps at a medium effort, I guess.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

Yep, Monday track time  This week’s workout was 2 x 1600m at 6:31 with 60 seconds rest interval followed by 2 x 800m in 3:08 with 60 seconds rest interval.

Results:

• 1600 #1: 6:19
• 1600 #2: 6:20
• 800 #1: 3:15
• 800 #2: 3:15

Grade: B-. Not happy with this workout at all.  After two really solid weeks to end the first half of the training, I wanted to kick off the second half on a good note.  I had two problems here.  The first, and probably biggest factor, was I did a terrible job of hydrating and fueling during the day.  I sat in a training class at work all day and did not follow my usual eating and drinking routines.  Once I went out too fast on the 1600s (problem number 2), the lack of proper preparation showed, as I hit the wall on the 800s and could not make myself go.  On the positive, this was a good reminder of the importance of proper nutrition, even for a work out.

Run workout #2. Thursday

A Wednesday cross country meet meant I had to push my tempo run to Thursday.  This week’s tempo run was six miles just like last week, but there was one more faster mile.  So, after one mile easy, I needed to do four miles at 7:19, then have an easy cool down sixth mile. With Monday’s preparation problems still fresh in my mind, I made sure I did much better during the day Thursday.  It showed:

• Mile 1: 9:12
• Mile 2: 7:13
• Mile 3: 7:12
• Mile 4: 7:10
• Mile 5: 7:03
• Mile 6: 9:23

Grade: A. That’s a 7:10 pace for the four hard miles.  It was also a negative split and a step down (each mile faster than the previous).  The second half had more downhill, but it was still a very good workout.

Run Workout #3. Saturday

This week’s long run called for 20 miles at an 8:19 pace.  That’s two miles farther than last week but at the same pace.  This was the third of five 20 milers during the training,

Grade: B.  This run was a struggle from early on.  I knew by mile seven that the last thirteen miles would not be fun. About mile fifteen, with the sky sunny and the temperature around 75 degrees,  the wheels started getting pretty wobbly.  Then, with three miles to go, I was still on track, but, unfortunately, it was crash and burn time.  The last three miles were 8:34, 9:21, and 9:00.  I finished in 2:49:06, an 8:26 pace.

Week Nine Summary

Very disappointing week after the last two outstanding weeks.  I was reminded of the importance of nutrition and hydration, even in training.   I also have some work to do on my long run nutrition planning.

Here’s a graphic showing hit or miss on the workouts over the past eight weeks. For the tempo and long runs, I included mileage and pace targets (not including the easy warm up and cool down miles for the tempo runs). The actual pace result is in parentheses:

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week ten:

Run #1: Track work. 3 x (2 x 1200 in 4:47 w/2 min RI), 4 min RI between sets
Run #2: 10 miles @ 7:49/mile
Run #3: 15 miles @ 8:09/mile.

Cross Training: Swim, of course.  4 lengths easy; 3 x (2 lengths easy, 2 lengths fast, 30 seconds RI);6 x(1 length easy, 1 length fast, 15 seconds RI)

Going to be a another tough week all around.

 

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO

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Week 8: BQ Training with Run Less Run Faster

Sep 16, 2013 by Greg Fowler

Here is my report for week eight of sixteen of my Outer Banks 2013 marathon training. I am following the 3:25:00 Boston Qualifier plan outlined in the book Run Less Run Faster.

To review past weeks, click here.

Short version: Very good week.

For the long version, keep reading.

Cross Training. Tuesday

Successfully completed the two prescribed swim workouts – swim 25 minutes continuously. Did them both on Tuesday.  First was at lunch, then I went back to the gym after work with my son.  Not sure if both in one day is cheating, but that was the best option for me this week.

Grade: Pass

Run workout #1. Monday

You should know by now, if it is Monday, it is track time.  This week was two sets of 6 x 400m at a 1:32 pace with 90 second rest intervals. There was a 2:30 rest interval between sets.  That’s a total of twelve 400’s.   The weather was mid eighties, but the humidity was very comfortable.

Results:

• 400 #1: 1:22
• 400 #2: 1:25
• 400 #3: 1:21
• 400 #4: 1:27
• 800 #5: 1:23
• 400 #6: 1:22
• 400 #7: 1:22
• 400 #8: 1:27
• 400 #9: 1:25
• 400 #10: 1:27
• 800 #11: 1:27
• 400 #12: 1:24

Grade: A. After completing these in an average 1:24 vs. a 1:32 target, I was worried I may have overdone it.  I ended up with some soreness in my hamstrings, but since I was able to meet the other two workouts, I guess I was OK.

Run workout #2. Wednesday

No mid-week cross country meet meant I could stay on schedule for my runs.  This week’s tempo run was six miles.  The first two miles were easy warm up, followed by 3 at a target pace of 7:04, then a one mile cool down.  The low humidity was still hanging around:

• Mile 1: 9:12
• Mile 2: 8:53
• Mile 3: 7:01
• Mile 4: 6:58
• Mile 5: 6:54
• Mile 6: 9:23

Grade: A. Ended up with a 6:58 pace for the three hard miles.

Run Workout #3. Friday

This week’s long run called for 18 miles at an 8:19 pace.  The fastest 18 miles target to date (week 5) was 8:34, and I did that one in 8:30.  Started out about 7am, and it was 75 degrees.  The humidity had crept up again (90+%), and I knew I would be at my heat index limits for speed by the run’s end.  I had a good first half, around an 8:15 pace, but as the day heated up, my pace started to slip a bit.  Still managed to make the  time goal and came in at 2:29:43, an 8:18/mile pace.

Grade: A-.  Met the time, yes, but didn’t accomplish a negative split.

Week Eight Summary

Nice to have back to back really good weeks.  I can feel and see real progress in my abilities.  There’s finally definite hints of fall in the air, and I’m looking forward to the great running weather that is just ahead.

Here’s a graphic showing hit or miss on the workouts over the past eight weeks. For the tempo and long runs, I included mileage and pace targets (not including the easy warm up and cool down miles for the tempo runs). The actual pace result is in parentheses:

Up Next

Here’s what is in store for week nine:

Run #1: Track work. 2 x 1600m in 6:31 each with 60 second rest intervals, followed by 2 x 800m in 3:08 with 60 second rest intervals
Run #2: 1 mile easy, 4 miles @ 7:19/mile, 1 mile easy.
Run #3: 20 miles @ 8:19/mile.

Cross Training: Swim, of course.  10 x (2 lengths, rest 15 seconds); 4 lengths kick; 10 x (2 lengths, rest 15 seconds)

Going to be a tough week all around: Running & family/work schedule.

 

Stay tuned and POFIFOTO!

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