Pig '04 mini-report

[Mike R.]

The conditions were not ideal. The rain that was supposed to
blow over Saturday night pushed into Sunday morning and it
was about 45 deg throughout the race. I noticed that my
hands were numb by mile 7 when I tried to eat something.
Grabbing cups of water/Gatorade became a two handed effort
toward the end of the race.

I had a 1:34:14 time at the half (13.1 miles) and did very
well until mile
22. By mile 24 my pace had drifted up into the low 8 minute
mile and stayed in the 8s till the finish. I had to
walk at least 3 times during the last 2 miles (that I
can remember).

According to my watch, I finished around 3:14:30 but the
official time is
22:1:34 and the website showed a chip time of 3:15:22. Many
other runners had commented on timing discrepancies
that were later corrected by 1 minute. As long as I
was in at 3:15:59 or less, I qualified for Boston! We
will start making plans for next April for the 109th
Boston Marathon!

My previous (and only) marathon was 3:35 so I managed a 20+
minute improvement. I credit a complete training program (no
injuries) and a well maintained base leading up to training.

Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the end of
a race? I was experiencing a pulsing sensation in my head
around mile 23. I'm not sure if it was the total focus
required to keep moving that blanked everything else out or
just the reduced volume of blood to my brain. I was so close
to a BQ that I pushed more than I would have otherwise.

Mike

[Donovan Rebbech]

In article <2f893550b14bf45b0dab2552edbe26df@news.teranews.com>, Mike R. wrote:

> Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the end
> of a race? I was experiencing a pulsing sensation in my
> head around mile 23. I'm not sure if

I had a teammate who thought he had 3 miles to go at the 25
mile mark (Boston). When he arrived at the finish, he had a
temperature and was possibly dehydrated.

I'm not sure what causes this sort of thing, maybe heat or
dehydration ?

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

[Joe Positive]

On Thu, 06 May 2004 12:41:06 GMT, "Mike R."
<mikerioux@yahoo.siht-evomer.com> wrote:

>According to my watch, I finished around 3:14:30 but the
>official time is
>3:15:34 and the website showed a chip time of 3:15:22. Many
> other runners had commented on timing discrepancies
> that were later corrected by 1 minute. As long as I
> was in at 3:15:59 or less, I qualified for Boston! We
> will start making plans for next April for the 109th
> Boston Marathon!
>
>My previous (and only) marathon was 3:35 so I managed a 20+
>minute improvement. I credit a complete training program
>(no injuries) and a well maintained base leading up to
>training.

Very nice work! If you don't mind, could you write a bit
about the training you did between your marathons that got
you that big 20-minute PR?

Karen

[Mike R.]

"Donovan Rebbechi" <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message
news:slrnc9kf7m.n58.abuse@panix2.panix.com...
> In article <2f893550b14bf45b0dab2552edbe26df@news.te-
> ranews.com>, Mike R.
wrote:
>
> > Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the
> > end of a race? I
was
> > experiencing a pulsing sensation in my head around mile
> > 23. I'm not
sure if
>
> I had a teammate who thought he had 3 miles to go at the
> 25 mile mark
(Boston).
> When he arrived at the finish, he had a temperature and
> was possibly
dehydrated.
>
> I'm not sure what causes this sort of thing, maybe heat or
> dehydration ?
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Of the two, it would have to be dehydration in my case. With
the rain coming down the entire race and the temps in the
40s, I was closer to hypothermia than heat exhaustion. Also,
with the cold rain, I found it impossible to tell if I was
sweating and how much. I was skipping every other hydration
point and taking mostly Gatorade (water with a gel).

Mike

[Mike R]

"joe positive" <joplus@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:05fl90dutja1cp2d1o9ovpi6e9eau5jhop@4ax.com...

> Very nice work! If you don't mind, could you write a bit
> about the training you did between your marathons that got
> you that big 20-minute PR?
>
> Karen

Thanks Karen. I am really looking forward to Boston. The
hard part is over and I hope to enjoy every mile next year.

Looking back, I doubt my interim training contributed much
to the improvement. What it did do for me was to maintain my
conditioning enough to avoid injury once I started to ramp
up the mileage again during my latest round of training. I
did run over the summer and fall but it was highly erratic.
I averaged 11 miles per week as a "base" and I did not run
at all for 3 weeks in August after my son was born.

I participated in three 5ks last fall and winter as well as
a triathlon in September. I used those performances and a
number of predictors to set my marathon goal for this
years' Pig.

Actually, my '03 time could have been better for a number of
reasons. It was my first marathon and I was being
conservative. I was injured during my training and never
trained beyond a 16 mile run. I completed only 270 of the
400 miles prescribed by the training program that I was
following
(http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm).

I used the same program this year and worked hard this
winter to meet or exceed my training goals. My next goals
are to introduce some speed work in my training, get my 5k
times below 18:45 and to continue to have fun.

Regards, Mike

[M1ahearn]

>> Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the
>> end of a race? I was
experiencing a pulsing sensation in my head around mile 23.
I'm not sure if <<

I ran the 1999 Pittsburgh Marathon with a friend who
finished 20 minutes or so in front of me. When I
finished, I found he had just been released from
medical. When we were walking out of the park back to
the car, he didn't recognize any of the finish line set-
up, including the highway overpass we ran under. He
swore it had all been constructed between the time he
and I finished.

Mike

[Becca]

m1ahearn@aol.com (M1ahearn) wrote in message news:<20040506100316.13347.00000915@mb-m06.aol.com>...
> >> Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the
> >> end of a race? I was
> experiencing a pulsing sensation in my head around mile
> 23. I'm not sure if <<
>
> I ran the 1999 Pittsburgh Marathon with a friend who
> finished 20 minutes or so in front of me. When I
> finished, I found he had just been released from
> medical. When we were walking out of the park back to
> the car, he didn't recognize any of the finish line
> set-up, including the highway overpass we ran under.
> He swore it had all been constructed between the time
> he and I finished.
>
> Mike

45° and rain are great conditions for getting hypothermia.
Most cases of hypothermia occur when the air temperature is
between 30-50° F and the victims are wet (either rain, being
in water, falling in water, etc.).

The numb fingers are also not a good sign. Neither is being
discoherent (may be able to attribute your memory loss to
that as well).

Glad you survived it!

Be careful out there folks! ~b

[Frank-In-Toront]

On 06 May 2004 14:03:16 GMT, m1ahearn@aol.com (M1ahearn) wrote:

>>> Anyone else experience partial memory loss toward the
>>> end of a race? I was
>experiencing a pulsing sensation in my head around mile 23.
>I'm not sure if
again, just spouting off, but i would put it to low glucose
in the blood. ...thehick