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October 03, 2005

Twincities 2005 Marathon

I ran the 2005 edition of the Twincities marathon yesterday. Going into the Marathon I was definitely under prepared as I had only 3 weeks between my 1/2 Ironman and the Marathon. I only got in one long run and never built in the base miles I truly needed. With that said, I had a goal of 3:45.

As I came through the 1/2 Marathon mark, I was holding a 8:42/mile pace which put me on track for a 3:47 finish. By mile 18 I had started to slow to a 8:54/mile pace and a 3:54 finish. By mile 21 the body blew up and I moved to a 11:00+/mile pace and my ambitions were blow.

Though I could not quite accomplish the time I wanted, I still had a great marathon. The pain (physical and mental) during the last 6 miles I dealt with well. I was determined to finish and I was able to pick myself up and start moving. The key difference between the pain yesterday and other struggles was that I had acute pain in the balls of my feet and my right knee. Pain that I had not known before.

Here are my official results:
overall place: 3544 out of 8177
division place: 368 out of 693
gender place: 2499 out of 4701
time: 4:16:51
pace: 10:02
10k: 55:26
pace: 8:56
half: 1:54:17
pace: 8:43
20 mile: 2:59:27
pace: 8:58

In retrospect there are a couple of things to evaluate this off-season... First, for most of the season I focused running with a toe-strike vs. a heal-strike gait. This put a lot more strain on my calves and I definitely had a calf break-down during the marathon. I need to revist my gait and spend some time strengthening core muscles. I also had a lot more soreness in my abdominal muscles that I thought I would. I need a focus on core strength as well.

So here is my list of off-season goals:

1. Maintain my weight between 155 - 160
2. Increase core strength
3. Focus on sport specific muscle strength
4. Improve flexibility
5. Ensure a good cycling pedal stroke'
6. Continue aerobic base through non-impact sports
7. Regroup mentally and relax and have fun

Posted by kermisch at 11:10 AM