Seattle Meltdown

Well ug. This one will require some reflection. I arrived at the start optimistic for a good race. My training had gone to plan, I’d completed every workout as prescribed and I’d continued my five year injury and sick-free streak. My previous PR was 3:57:xx. I felt a good stretch goal was 3:50 and a super stretch goal was 3:45. After a nice pep-talk with fellow triathlete Laurie, I stepped out of the car into the rain and headed to the start.

Sure, it was cold and rainy as forecasted, but I waited ‘till the last minute (literally) to toss an old pair of sweats so I started actually nice and warm. I went out strong and a bit ahead of pace as planned. The Seattle Marathon course is really hilly late, so I knew that even if I negative split the effort, the pace would suffer in those hills. The miles ticked off one by one between at a pace of 7:30 and 8:30s. Perfect!  High-fives to Laurie on the out-and-backs kept my spirits high. I even hit a half-marathon PR at 1:50, woot!

Then, trouble in paradise. I’d planned to take a gel at miles 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 as I’d done in training. I didn’t see any gels by mile six, so I took the lone packet I had carried with me, hopeful to grab another by the time I hit mile 9. No such luck. I didn’t see any GU until mile 14 and by then I was waaaaaayyyy behind on my nutrition and starting to feel it. I started to slow down a little, then I got cold, then I got tight, then I got colder, tighter and progressively spiraled downwards ‘till it was simply GAME OVER. The 3:40 pace group slipped away, suddenly I was running a 9:30 instead of an 8:15 with what felt like the same effort and BOOM, I learned what it was like to hit the wall. I walked a bit which only made matters worse as I was soaking wet, it was raining sideways and did I mention I was reaaaally tight?

The last few miles entailed a bit of running to try to get warm, a bit of walking to ease the tightness, then rinse and repeat ‘till I stumbled across the finish line. My most valiant effort at that point was to make a beeline to my dry clothes bag so I could get dry and to try not to cry. I was successful at the former…

Lessons Learned:

• Yeah, pack more GU Jenn. D’oh. D’oh. D’oh. It’s always the simple things.
• I think I went out too fast. Sure there are hills late, but I should have limited my early efforts to 8:25s, not 8:00. Which leads to the next lesson…
• Run with a pace group. The 3:40 pace group came up from behind me and I ran with them from miles 11 – 15. That was pretty cool! I will certainly look to run with a pace group in the future as there was a lot less energy expended just following the feet in front of me.
• Laurie rocks!  And, by the way she is most pleased with her race. Congrats!!!
• I hate being cold. Actually, I didn’t need this marathon to confirm that. As I type, the temperature in the house is set at 75-degrees and Mark is sweating in his underwear while I’m wrapped in a blanket. I’ve been pretty lucky with the weather in my previous two Seattle Marathons but if finally caught up to me today.
• My Ironman coach, Coach P. advises me that running a standalone marathon isn’t really helping me in my Ironman marathon. So, why this race? I need to either have a GOOD reason to do it or I need to do a marathon where the weather is WARM! Mark suggests Hawaii… hard to argue with him.

And now, for my next trick: Five weeks of NO STRUCTURED TRAINING per Coach P. I see lots of Bikram (hot) yoga in my future! After five weeks of sweatin’ and bendin’ I just may be warmed up enough to venture outside again!

All in all, my favorite quote still rings true. “Someday I will not be able to do this. Today is not that day.” ~Unknown.     And for that, I am thankful.

*** Anatomy of a Meltdown  ***