Marathon Two

I ran the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon on November 9th. I finished in 3:56:54 which is 9:02 a mile. I finished 6th of 18 in the 55-59 age group and 72nd of 281 overall.

I'm really glad I did it as I learned a lot including the following:

• Maintaining a pace of approximately 8:45 a mile was easy up to around mile 18. After that my legs delivered less speed for the same amount of effort. I definitely need more 16 to 20 mile long runs to grow accustomed to the distance.

• I fueled with a gel at the start and every four miles. I believe that was the right amount of fuel but it was the limit of what my stomach could handle. I need to practice fueling long training runs on a regular basis.

• I wasn't able to maintain my pace the last six miles but the decline wasn't terrible. My pace ranged from 9:08 to 10:05 in the last six miles with only two miles over 9:30. Mile 26 was the worst but I didn't have a goal at that point; 3:55 was unattainable and sub-4:00 was assured.

I learned a lot that I can apply in the fifteen weeks I have until Tokyo. I need:

• Intervals to get faster. I'd like to get my half marathon time down from 1:48 to 1:43 in the next 15 weeks.

• Hills and weights to strengthen my legs to become faster and more fatigue resistant.

• Weekly long runs of 16 to 20 miles with the last 5 miles at a fast pace to be better prepared for the last 6 miles.

• Aggressive fueling on my long runs to get accustomed to taking gels.

Those steps should allow me to challenge my PR of 3:44:43 from 1983. The Tokyo course will also be more favorable with less climbing and cooler weather.

The goal of this whole project was to run sub-3:50 to qualify for Boston during the period 9/25-9/26. Something would have to go very wrong for me to miss that goal. The stretch goal is to run 3:25 by September 2025 and that seems nearly unattainable. When registration for the Erie Marathon opens I'll sign up. That's a flat race that falls in the qualifying window for both the 2026 and 2027 running of Boston. If I am able to run a qualifying time for the 55-59 age group I'll be able to run the 2026 race. Otherwise, I'll have qualification in hand for 2027. If I know I can't run 3:25 to meet the 55-59 standard, I'll skip Erie if I get a bib for Chicago or Berlin.

I took a look back at what I've done to see how I got here.

I started running in May with two miles a day. None of that was logged prior to June 1. Since June 1st, I've run 117 of 159 days which is 5 days a week. Total mileage is 778 miles. That's an average of 4.89 miles per day and 6.65 miles on the days I ran.

I had 17 runs of 10 miles or longer. That includes one 20-mile run, two 13.1-mile runs, two 12-mile runs, and twelve 10-mile runs. The 20 mile run was a broken-up trail run that didn't do what is needed for a long run. The lack of 15+ mile long runs was one of the biggest shortcomings in my training. I need to grow accustomed to 18 mile runs at marathon pace.

My average pace on my training runs dropped from 10 minutes a mile in June to 9:12 a mile in the month ending 10/8. Note that those paces include interval runs and hill workouts with rests between efforts. It is increasingly easy for me to hold a pace around 8:30 during my training runs as evidenced by the first 18 miles of the marathon.

The best measure of my improved fitness is a comparison of my 10-K and 13.1 times. I did a max effort 10-K on June 15th at a 10:23 pace. On November 2nd, I did a max effort 13.1 mile run at a pace of 8:15. That's 20% faster over twice the distance in a 20 week span. My marathon pace on 11/9 was 13% faster than my 10K pace on June 15th.

One of the most surprising things is how well I've recovered. I ate a ton of carbs before and during the marathon. Afterwards, I didn't have much appetite for a few hours but by mid-afternoon I was consuming calories at a rapid rate. My body was craving move food but at dinner I hit a limit and couldn't eat anymore.

I woke up Sunday morning with my legs feeling a bit sore. I went for a 6-mile run at a very easy pace and after that I felt back to normal. Keeping the glycogen stores stocked before, during, and after the races seems to be the key to recovery.

While my legs feel good again, they have lost the speed I had a week ago. I need to do some strides and intervals to get the "fast" back into them.

I was concerned a "training" marathon would leave me wrecked and unable to train for a few weeks. But that didn't happen, and I am much better positioned to train for Tokyo and Paris. I feel like I can really attack the things I need to work on now.

The Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon was great by the way. Very nice roads that are mostly free of traffic in a great rural setting. Aid stations were available every two miles. I would have liked a few more bathroom facilities as that cost me a couple of minutes. Otherwise, it was very nice. I'm glad I did it but I probably won't do it again as there are too many other options to run the same local marathon twice.