Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wayne Qualifies for Boston!
My Chicago Marathon report
A few days ago, October 10, 2010 (10-10-10), I finished the Chicago Marathon in 4:00:38 (a 3-minute PR) and qualified for Boston. This report is divided into three parts: (1) some details on how one qualifies for Boston, (2) my training during the preceding year, and (3) a description of the race itself.
How to Qualify for Boston
Most runners know that one has to have finished a previous marathon within a certain maximum time in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon. They may also know that the qualifying time depends on both age and gender. However, some of the finer details are not so well known. These are a few of those details.
(1) For purposes of qualifying, the chip time (net time) is used. This is extremely helpful, as it usually takes several minutes to reach the starting line. At Chicago, it took me about 5 minutes.
(2) The age which is used is the age on the date of the Boston Marathon one will be running, not the age when running the qualifier. That means that one might be 59 when running the qualifier, but still be able to use the 60-year-old qualifying time as long as he is 60 on the date on the Boston Marathon.
(3) There is a time window of about 18 months preceding a given Boston Marathon during which one can qualify.
(4) An extra 59 seconds is allowed. That means that the qualifying time for 60-64-year-old men is really 4:00:59, not 4:00:00.
I ran marathons in 2007 and 2008, hoping to qualify at 3:45, which is the qualifying time for 55-59-year-old men, but never did better than 4:03. However, I had figured out, back in Spring 2007, that Fall 2010 would be a good time to try to qualify, since I would get a 15-minute advantage. The reason I know this is that I found a note I wrote in the back of one of my running books saying “First Boston Marathon at 60+ will be 4/2012. Can qualify 10/2010, 3 1/2 years from now.”
My birthday is June 1, so the first Boston Marathon at which I will be at least 60 and can use the 4:00 (actually 4:00:59) qualifying time will be April 16, 2012. Counting back 18 months, I could qualify with this time after late September of this year. I was considering the California International Marathon in December until my younger daughter decided to get married on October 17. This meant that I had to run the qualifier on the last weekend of September or on one of the first 2 weekends of October, in order not to have my training interrupted.
I decided to try to qualify at the 2010 Chicago Marathon, which was on the second weekend of October. It is flat and fast and is near sea level. The only major disadvantage is that it can sometimes be hot. It fills up quickly, so I registered as soon as I could, back in February. The Chicago Marathon has seeded corrals, somewhat like the qualifying waves at the Bolder Boulder. I was able to qualify for the C Corral with a 1:45 recent half marathon time. That way I wouldn’t start off surrounded by slower runners at the start. In some previous marathons, it has taken a mile or more to break free of the crowd. This way I could start off at my own pace.
Training for the Chicago Marathon
Wanting to leave as little as possible to chance, I emailed Scott in September 2009, asking for a personal goal coach who would tailor a training program for me in order to help me reach my goal of a 4:00 marathon in Fall 2010. I requested a “numbers person,” since I like using quantitative data. Scott suggested Adam St. Pierre, an exercise physiologist at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine and a Fast Forward coach. He has now been giving me training schedules and feedback for a whole year. During that year, I have had no interruptions in training of more than a couple of days. I have had to do some juggling, but I don’t think I have actually missed a scheduled workout since last November. During much of that time, I have been away, in New Zealand, Texas, or California. Luckily, I have been able to avoid spending time time at sea level since July. I have found that, after a week at sea level, running at Boulder altitude feels harder than normal for about three weeks. During the last few months, I have been able to do some workouts with Fast Forward. Mostly, though, I have trained alone, since the Fast Forward workouts did not fit into my plan. During the year, my weekly mileage increased from about 30 to 60. I did 8 long runs of from 3 to 4 1/2 hours, with a maximum distance of 25 miles. I sometimes ran 6 days a week and occasionally ran twice in a day. I ran some races, including two half-marathons and two 10-Ks, but these were not goal races, and I didn’t taper much for them. In spite of the increased mileage, I had no injuries.
The Race
To finish a marathon in 4 hours, one has to run at an average pace of 9:09 per mile. My race plan was to try to run at a steady 9:00 pace, which would allow for a couple of minutes for toilet breaks, water stops, and so on. I would carry 4 gels and take one every 50 minutes, the same as on my long runs. I would watch my heart rate and effort level in case I had to slow down, but not try to go any faster than planned, until the last few miles, no matter how good I felt.
I wore a Nike watch, to manually keep track of the mile splits and a Polar RS200SD combination heartrate monitor and speed-and-distance monitor. I spent some time during the week before the race, calibrating the footpod accelerometer speed-and distance sensor. I think the footpod gives a steadier pace indication than a GPS.
Here is a table of my mile split times, with average heart rates:
1 8:59 140
2 9:04 147
3 8:55 149
4 8:49 149
5 8:53 149
6 9:10 149
7 8:50 148
8 8:57 148
9 9:01 147
10 9:03 145
11 8:58 144
12 9:05 145
13 10:17 143 (Includes a 1-minute toilet stop)
14 9:02 147
15 8:56 148
16 9:05 149
17 9:15 148
18 9:16 149
19 9:05 150
20 9:15 153
21 9:18 153
22 9:33 153
23 9:38 154
24 9:43 157
25 9:34 159
26 9:12 163
26.2 1:46 165 (Heartrate 168 at end. Average pace for last 0.2 mile: 8:50 . Pace crossing finish line: 7:18)
Time for first 13.1 miles: 1:59: 01. Time for second 13.1 miles: 2:01:37. Positive split of 2:36.
According to the Polar footpod, the distance was 26.53 miles. This is an error of only about 1%.
My wife Chris and I stayed at the Sheraton, which is a short walk from the race start. I got to my corral in plenty of time. There were lots of people who were late in getting to the seeded corrals, and they were jumping over the fence to get in, which looked kind of dangerous. During the first half of the race, the pace felt very easy, and I ignored all the people around me trying to go faster than me. By the end of the race, most people were slowing down, and I passed a lot of people. I just tried to keep at my planned pace. It started to get tougher after mile 15 or so, but all the way up to mile 20, I could have gone faster if I had wanted. I took one toilet break around mile 13. There was no line. My daughter Michelle was following my progress on a website and calling Chris with updates. Michelle got concerned when she saw me slow down because of the toilet stop, because she didn’t know what was going on, but was relieved when she saw me get back on pace. The website got updated every time I ran over one of the electronic sensors. These were placed every 5 kilometers and at the half-way point (13.1 miles).
I took all 4 gels at the times I had planned. I brought my own ones (Clif Shots), since I didn’t much like the Accel Gels that they were giving out, and besides, there was only one place where they gave them out, at around mile 17. I took 2 gels with caffeine and 2 without. I drank at every aid station, except the last few, and I managed to jog through, rather than walk, so as not to lose more time than necessary. They also handed out wet sponges to help us cool off. The last 5 miles were really hard. It was also getting hot, and there was no shade, unlike in the earlier part of the race. The temperature started out in the high 60s, but was probably around 80 by the time I finished. I slowed down a bit around mile 22, because I was afraid that my legs might cramp. I have gotten leg cramps in the later part of previous marathons and I then had to slow way down, walk, or even stop. This time, it was kind of a balancing act, trying to run as fast as I could without cramping. However, after slowing down for a few miles, I recovered enough that I could pick up the pace for the last mile. I kept mentally calculating whether I could finish in 4 hours. About 6 miles out, I figured there would be no problem if I could keep the same pace. About 3 miles out, I figured I would need the extra 59 seconds, but I could still make it if I could keep the pace at around 9:30 or so. About one mile out, I knew I could make it if I could pick up the pace a bit. Those last few miles were the hardest running I have ever done. I kept thinking about the entire year that I had spent preparing for this moment. I didn’t want to have to start over and do another continuous year of training like the previous one. I said to myself “Pain is temporary, pride is forever.” But it was tough, really tough. I even found myself trying to tell myself that it was OK if I didn’t make it, because it was so hot.
As I crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch, and I knew that I had made it under the Boston qualifying time by about 20 seconds (but I had needed those extra 59 seconds). Michelle and Chris didn’t know about the extra 59 seconds, so they thought I had just missed qualifying, but they had figured it out by the time that I got though the finishing area and found Chris. It all had worked out, and I had made my goal, but there was not much margin for error. I’ll run the 2012 Boston Marathon, but I don’t yet have a goal time for that race. My next goal is to do sub-1:45 for a half-marathon.
Wayne Itano