Re: Race report: Vancouver Marathon.

Congrats on the race - big improvement even if not quite as big as you'd
planned.

Correct pacing is so important - next time you'll get it right...(that
goes for me too)

Anthony.
"Kaz Kylheku" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

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I said:

On May 5, 2003, I wrote, in article
<[email hidden]>:

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Ran the Adidas Vancouver International Marathon on Sunday, my first
marathon, and my second race. I finished in 5:05:12. Nothing

cramped

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up, I didn't hit the wall. I just ran and ran.

I ran it again yesterday. This time, I finished in 3:55:53

(unofficial

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mat-to-mat time from my chronometer).

Another year of serious running, another Vancouver Marathon.
The bottom line: 3:19:01.

I owe a lot to my supporters: my friends Jim and Rachel, parents and
Mr. Samuhel.

I started training in January and quickly built up to a 60 mile per
week base which I sustained until a three week taper. I ran long every
week, and jumped up to 22 miles in just three steps or so, and stayed
there.

I continued doing track workouts in my spikes, as I have been since
last June, and ran the marathon in Asics Gel-Magic racers. That was
quite something else; my feet were stinging through the second half. I
discovered that racers are particularly unforgiving on downhills. You
can't be careless with your form at all..

I adopted a different running form back in March as a result of meeting
an elite runner on one of my track workouts and copying the guy! I run
with a forward lean and backward kick, which involves the calves and
quads in forward propulsion. I also use my torso a lot more. I no
longer run ``tall'' with a ``shuffle''. I switched my entire 60 mile
weekly volume to that style, cold turkey, and that was hard. I
developed some injuries that I had to work through, but persistence
paid off.

I know I have a faster marathon in me, but it just wasn't meant to be
today. I hit the half marathon in 1:35 something, but then my splits
elongated and that was that. It's going to take more experience to know
how to pace properly. In this marathon I practiced the art of sticking
to a planned pace as exactly as I could, which worked for more than
half of the way. I took every single mile split, continuously
monitoring and adjusting my pace. It was a very technical race, in
which I basically took one mile at a time as a thing in itself. The
trick is choosing a planned pace that is realistic, and not just with
respect to the training, but also the conditions on race day.

Suppose I had chosen a 7:25 pace instead of trying to chase 7:15. I
might have managed even splits and that would have given me a better
time than 3:19, which is 7:36 pace. Even so, I tried to be careful. For
instance, I shot out a 7:00 mile at the start, but right away
considered that to be ``15 seconds in the bank'' and slowed down.