San Antonio Marathon (Race Recap)

As you have probably guessed by now, things didn't quite go my way on Sunday... in fact, they really didn't go my way at all. That said, I guess I have good and bad news for the followers of this BLOG. The bad news is that the race was pretty much a disaster. The good news is: that I wasn't a total idiot and saved myself from injury, so I will likely keep this fitness going (after 10-14 days rest/recovery) and refocus on a January or February race.... Leaving you with another month or two of blogging to follow! Aren't you excited?!

Where to begin? First off, I am not a huge fan of weather variations from year-to-year. While I had seen that the previous year, the San Antonio Marathon had been held under cool temp's in the 40's and 50's with a relatively low humidity, this year I awoke to an entirely different scene (more on that in a minute).
In short, I ended up having a few different problems on race day, which led me to one of my first major DNF's ever (I dropped out at Mile 21 of the race). I can pinpoint this result to two specific factors:
1. Lack of training in the final 4 weeks leading into the race due to ongoing injuries
2. High Humidity and increasing temps throughout the race

Let me start by saying, that I was extremely pleased with my progress in training until just after the Denver 1/2 marathon on October 9th. It was directly following that race that I made the biggest mistake that I could have in my training: I didn't rest! I should have taken at least 2-4 days completely off (if not an entire week) and given myself some recovery heading into the final weeks of training. After 11 straight weeks of 70-80 miles a week, I should have known better than to push it. Lesson learned.

Secondly, I need to do better research in selecting my races in the future. As I stated above, the previous year had been subject to nearly perfect running weather and the average temp/humidity in San Antonio in November led me to believe that I'd be racing in temps in the 40-65 degree range with humidity of around 45%.

While the temps did hover at around 60 degrees throughout the first 45 minutes or so of the race, the humidity was through the roof! In fact for the first 8 miles or so the cloud cover was probably only a few hundred feet off of the ground. I was completely soaked with sweat within the first half mile of the race. Later, around mile 10-12 somewhere, the clouds began to lift and the temps began to climb. Anyone, that knows me very well, knows that I have never done particularly well racing in hot and/or humid weather. I just don't handle it well.

Race morning, as I headed to the line it was quite apparent that it was going to be a humid race with significant fluid-loss, but it remained to be seen, whether the temps would rise out of the 60's before I finished the race. I prayed it wouldn't.

The one thing that I am very proud of myself for is for sticking to my plan. The plan was:
- run smart! 6 minute mile pace (or a bit slower) for the first 2-3 miles. I typically go out too fast, and I really wanted to stay under control. Rather than running 5:40's and settling in to 6:00 pace, I wanted to start at or above the pace and go the other way for once (This was particularly important at this race because the full marathoners started, and ran with, the 1/2 marathoner's thru 10.5 miles, making it very tempting to run too hard in the early stages of the race).
- Also, I knew that with the humidity I would need to drink at every aid station, take at least 3-4 gels, and even try to get a salt tab or two down.

Although my splits STILL aren't on the Rock n' Roll website (I don't think that they posted them, since I DNF'd). Here are the splits from my watch. You can see the explosion 10-11 miles in followed by the downhill slide, which really started at about mile 16:
Mile 1: 6:10          Mile 7: 6:03              Mile 13: 6:18               Mile 20: 7:41
Mile 2: 5:58          Mile 8: 5:59              (1:20:21 - 1/2)             (2:07:18 - 20mi)
Mile 3: 6:04          Mile 9: 6:02              Mile 14: 6:22               Mile 21: 7:41
(18:48 - 5K)          Mile 10: 6:11            Mile 15 & 16: 12:24    Dropped
Mile 4: 6:03          (1:00:52 - 10mi)       Mile 17: 7:19
Mile 5: 6:09          Mile 11: 6:15            Mile 18: 6:42
Mile 6: 6:07          Mile 12: 6:24            Mile 19: 6:58

Another big factor in the slow down around Mile 10-11 could have been due to the fact that that is where the full marathoners (black race bibs) split off from the 1/2 marathoners (green race bibs). While it was motivating to run through all of the dying 1/2 marathoners in the beginning of the race, it got real lonely, real quick, after the split. I was actually the 4th place full-marathoner at Mile 10, getting passed by one person at Mile 16.5 or so, and then not seeing anyone again until I was bent over on the side of the road in mile 19.

In retrospect, after having 4 weeks of injury I should have switched down to the 1/2 marathon and tried to race well in that. My fitness was there for that distance, even at a significantly faster pace, but not for twice the distance. Now that I have a great fitness-base and another LONG tempo run under my belt, I can focus on those longer runs/workouts throughout Dec/Jan as I get ready for another attempt at the full.

Here are some pics (click for larger versions) from the earlier part of the day... Most from Mile 10, the Brightroom pics from Mile 3 or 4. Notice how absolutely soaked I am!?

 So, thanks again to everyone who has supported me through this training by running with me, giving me advice or just plain wishing me luck. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading this and checking in on the progress. The journey is definitely not over! Stay tuned in late November/early December as I get back into training and try one more time and reaching this goal. Happy Thanksgiving next week! I'll be celebrating on the beach in Mexico... not training!