This morning I just did a 20 minute walk. I'm still pretty beat up but I feel better than yesterday. I did a few things that should help the recovery process. Right after the race I ate my recovery bars, then had a massage. I took an ice bath, then a cold shower. Then I took a nap and elevated the legs. I also rubbed an ice pack along the legs last night. I will take it easy and see how my body feels. Based off of past experiences, I should feel significantly better by Wednesday.
As far as the race was concerned I feel I did pretty well. But looking back I realized what played a major factor in my lack of fuel at mile 23. During my lunch with my family I noticed that I had salt on my face. Many of you know that this is salt that is lost from the body and a clear sign of dehydration. This usually NEVER happens on my runs and if it is there it is a BAD sign. Well I had it at the end of the race and I definitely know how to fix this for next time. My long visit in the port 'o potty didn't help in the dehydration area either.
The run was fun and planning for the future, I believe I will do marathon training once a year in the fall as part of periodization(See Arthur Lydiard) training. In the Spring I will participate in the HARRA series and run the shorter events. These races fit my temperament and the marathon training will only help me for the season. In the Fall I will go back to marathon training and working on my base again. Somewhere in there I'll take some time off and enjoy being an average Joe again. Then it will be back to work again and so on and so forth...
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6 comments:
Electrolyte risk was my thoughts about this race when I saw the forecast.....
Since last couple weeks has been reasonably cool running - the body looses the heat acclimation effects and gives up electrolytes a bit more freely - then first couple times running in the heat the sweat is very salty until it is trained again to hold on to the electrolytes. I imagine lots of people were having that issue because of how the weather was before and during the race.....running in sweats before the race to force a little acclimation helps...that's my opinion...fwiw...currious is Sean Wade gives you different feedback..
I wouldn't worry too much about all the salt on your face. I was the same way at the end of the race. It was very dry out by the end of the race and sweat evaporated much faster than normal, leaving behind a nice crust of salt.
The last 3-4 miles were hard for everyone. It was getting warm, the north wind made running through the Galleria hard and the hills on Allen parkway never help. Even Merga lost about 10-15 sec a mile on Allen Parkway. In fact, if you look at a lot of the 2:45-3:00 runner's split time at the half-way point, you will see a lot of runners bonked really hard. You still had a negative split between the first 13.1 and the last 13.1. I don't recall seeing anyone else around your time group do that.
The last 3-4 miles of the marathon will always be a pain. It is a real art to be able to prepare for and pace the race to be able to hold on to your pace on Allen Parkway. Just look at the big picture. Your second half was faster than the first. With the wind and warm temps, you really can't ask for a better result.
Enjoy the days off and be sure to eat all those foods you stay away from when training. I am getting a bag of donuts this morning to celebrate my recovery.
See you on the trails.
Andrew
Guys,
Those were pretty thoughtful comments. Keep them coming. I could learn a lot off of you guys.
Andrew,
Thanks for stopping by. I respect your insights into running, so feel free to drop any particular tidbit of knowledge you may have.
Sometimes I may appear to know a little about running, but remember I'm still a relative newbie compared to you guys.
The graphic results on the Houston Marathon website has a very useful new statistic - how your position changed from 30k to finish. You passed 8 runners and nobody passed you. Also, looking at your paces over the segments given, you ran about as flat a race as you can imagine. Very, very well-managed race.
Take a look at my graphics for contrast. I had an 8 minute positive split, thus slowed down quite a bit, but was passing people like crazy from 30k to the finish.
Great race and race report. The other guys said it all... you really have to take time, I guess, to see how you performed compared to those around you that ran in the neighborhood of the same time.
See ya back out on the roads soon!
Thanks for another perspective Steve.
Sam,
I saw your half result and that's a pretty respectable time. Also it seems like you are running the times you set for yourself these days.
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