Race Report: Detroit Marathon

Finally, about a month later, I have time to think about how the Detroit Freepress Marathon went on October 18th, 2009. Final time: 4 hours, 7 minutes, and 11 seconds. Am I happy with this time? Hell yeah! I would have been happy with anything near 4 hours; truth be told, I was much more concerned with finishing strong and relatively pain free than finishing fast. I consider myself a triathlete much more so than a runner, so I consider my runs (no matter how long) a part of the training for another event.

So first thing is first, what happened over the course of 26.2 miles? Here are the stats:

1. Average pace per mile: 9 min 27 seconds. This is a great pace for me. I averaged about 8:30s for the half marathon at the end of the Lonestar Half Ironman, and though that was half the distance, it was also following a run and swim. Thus I think I can probably bring that time down on my next marathon, but I’m pretty happy with that for a first. See the graph below for the times at each mile marker.
2. Standard deviation in mile pace: 23 seconds. So what the hell does standard deviation mean? Basically, this is how closely you kept to your average mile time. Many people tend to come off the gun sprinting, then have to walk the final six miles, making their pace range dramatically (a high standard deviation). A standard deviation of 23 seconds means that my pace ranged from about 10 minutes to about 9 minutes, so relatively steady. In contrast, for the 13.1 described above, my first 4 miles averaged 7 minutes and 20 seconds (fast) while my last averaged around 10 minutes 20 seconds (the opposite of fast). Runs with this much pace variation tend to be painful (or very very hilly), so I try to keep it as even as possible until the end, then pick it up with whatever I have left. You can see on the graph that mile three and four are largely responsible for the standard deviation; that couldn’t be helped, as mile three was straight up a hill and mile four was straight down.
3. … and indeed, I did have something left at the end, and posted a sub 9-minute mile for mile 26. I find that it is so much better to have a good final time and a kick ass last few miles, than a great final time and a painful and depressing last few miles, so I always try to run more conservatively until the conclusion of the race.
4. Unfortunately, somewhere around mile 10 the arch of my foot started hurting pretty badly. I decided to run through it, but now feel pain in the arch, the tendons on my toes, and my achilles tendon of my right foot.
5. Also of note, I was able to run for 1 mile with one of my personal athletic heroes, Todd Crandall. Todd started Racing for Recovery, a nonprofit organization “with the mission of preventing substance abuse in … individuals and offering a positive alternative to those currently battling addiction.” The “positive alternative” of which Todd speaks….triathlons!  Todd struggled for 13 years with drugs and alcohol before finding that Ironman distance races gave him an alternative to a life of heavy drug use. He holds a half-Ironman tri every summer (in which my bad-ass wife finished 3rd in her age group last summer), as well as 5 and 10ks throughout the year, and is the subject of the book “From Addict to Ironman” and the documentary “Running with Demons,” which chronicles Todd’s completion of the ultra-endurance triathlon totaling 318.6 miles.  Much of my work for my Master in Public Health  revolved around substance abuse and addiction; hence, Todd’s book and work revolve around two of my favorite subjects: triathlons and addiction recovery. I hope to cross paths with him numerous times in the future.

And how did the training break down:

1. First of all, compared to triathlon training, marathon training is not very time demanding at all. I averaged 5.3 hours per week, SD= 1.7 hours, meaning I put in between 3.5 and 7 hours a week, total, for everything, stretching, lifting, and miscellaneous swimming and biking. To top it off, ALL of my weekday runs included the 3.5 mile run from work to home. This run takes about 45 minutes door to door (including changing clothes, leaving the office, etc.); the bus ride home from work also takes about 45 minutes. Running home form work three times a week thus let me get in 10.5 miles for free, without taking time away from my wife and daughter. Since I cant quite swim home (or bike home in the snow), switching to triathlon training will be a much greater demand on family time…. uh oh….
2. I was going with Hal Higdon’s program for Novice runners, as I mentioned in an earlier post, with two weeks building and one week backing off. A mileage graph for this type of  training should look like a wave with greater distance from 0 as you move to the right. This is more or less what my mileage looked like (see right). The few weeks that should be higher mileage and weren’t were the week that I was sick (week 13) and unfortunately missed a long training run, and the week that my daughter was sick (9), and I happily missed a long training run.

I thoroughly enjoyed this marathon, and I hope to do many, many more in the future. Next race???? I’m not quite sure. I would like to do another marathon, but they do leave you feeling pretty tired and beat up,  and aren’t generally recommended en route to a long distance triathlon. Maybe a half marathon or a few mid-distance triathlons will be next.