In case you haven't read it yet, I just posted a long race report of my San Francisco marathon (click here)
I know my race report's ungodly long, so here are a couple bullet pointers that summarize as well:
- SF Marathon: Gorgeous, well organized, and early (5:30AM start). Timed waved starts were awesome, and prevented gridlock. Perfect temps for marathoning the whole way.
- Golden Gate Bridge: Cold, wet, zero visibility due to fog, and yet totally awesome to be "doing the bridge." Definitely a memorable moment.
- Meeting Dean Karnazes the ultramarathon man on the bridge. He's the man, a super cool and friendly guy, and one of my heroes, having just finished the Badwater 160 miler about a week ago. I passed him, and we shouted out encouragement to each other. I'm a fan!
- Mile 13.1 - Pacing right on the money at 7:51/mile.
- Miles 14-18 - The last of the big hills, and I'm just getting faster.
- Miles 18-21 - Uhh...what do I now? Speed up and go for it, or slow down and not crash? I think I'll put off making the decision until later....
- Miles 22-25 - Hey! I feel great! Where'd the wall go? I'm having a blast! I've been walking by this point during my only 2 previous marathons. Too bad there aren't any spectators anywhere. No problem, I can start cheering for myself like a crazy person!
- Mile 25-26.2 - SPRINT FINISH...oooohh.....that REALLY hurt...I'm definitely going to regret that one tomorrow....but it was worth it!
- Overall: Great race. Super scenic, well organized, and totally worth the effort. Already planning to do it again next year!
And here are my Garmin splits for the more numerically-oriented.
Mile 1: 7:49
Mile 2: 7:47
Mile 3: 7:59 Micromountain!
Mile 4: 7:37
Mile 5: 7:50
Mile 6: 8:18 Uphill to the golden gate bridge
Mile 7: 7:38
Mile 8: 7:31
Mile 9: 7:48
Mile 10: 8:04 Uphill into Golden Gate Park
Mile 11: 7:08 Nice coasting downhill
Mile 12: 7:58 Bathroom break
Mile 13: 7:42 Feeling strong
Mile 14: 7:24 Slight uphill from 14-18
Mile 15: 7:34
Mile 16: 7:40
Mile 17: 7:20
Mile 18: 7:06 Net downhill from here!
Mile 19: 7:35
Mile 20: 7:30
Mile 21: 7:10
Mile 22: 6:42 Big downhill - and cheering for yourself definitely helps!
Mile 23: 7:23
Mile 24: 7:17 Flat to the finish!
Mile 25: 7:00 It's starting to hurt now
Mile 26: 6:50 Ok, it REALLY hurts now!
Mile 26.2: Thank god it's over!
Final results:
Final Chip time: 3:19:53, pace 7:38
Gun Time: 3:22:48
7.5 mile marker: 59:35, pace 7:57 / mile
1st half marathon: 1:42:48, pace 7:51 / mile
2nd half marathon: 1:37:05, pace 7:25 /mile
Big Negative split: 5 min 43 sec faster over the 2nd half. (27 sec/mile faster during 2nd half)
Overall Place: 185 / 4280
Men 30-34: 31 / 439
Age Grade: 62.8%
The San Francisco Marathon - Results
San Francisco, CA USA
July 29, 2007
Finishers: 4250, Males - 2805, Females - 1445
Male Winner: 2:25:57 | Female Winner: 2:43:41
Average Finish Time: 4:59:53 | STD: 0:58:10
Addendum 9/13 from dlgoldman on Runners World after I noticed that he too ran a 3:19 in one of his posts:
"I just checked your blog... and I remember you from the race! You were the only person that passed me late in the race. I remember that you really came on strong and seemed to be feeding off the crowd support. I tried to keep you on my radar after you passed me, but ultimately I had to let you go. Great race at SF, and I wish you all the best at Houston." - Thanks dlgoldman for the kudos - you made my day!
2 comments:
Hi Wills,
Thanks for sharing the metrics and the very enjoyable race report. You don't happen to have heart rates to go with your splits? I am curious, having run the marathon course myself, your race strategy and execution seem perfect.
I picked up the Pfitzinger book on your recommendation, read the first couple of chapters and I am really enjoying it. What training program did you follow for marathon's prior to Pfitzinger?
Sten
Hi Sten. I only use a Forerunner 201 (for now), so I unfortunately don't have any HR data. It felt really steady though, probably in the 150s most of the way until the last 6-8 miles, where I could bring it up a bit. I didn't work too much harder on the uphills.
Prior to Pfitz, I used an online NYC marathon intermediate schedule, but it definitely didn't work for me. This time, I stuck to Pfitz 18/70 pretty much 95-99% of the way, and didn't miss a single run in the last 16 weeks. I'll have a later post reflecting on the Pfitz program later, but it was the absolute critical change in my training causing the good results. Running the negative split was only possible because of Pfitz; I tried doing a negative split at the LA Marathon in March, but even with a super-slow 1st half (1:00/mile slower than goal pace!), I couldn't manage the 2nd half, so it worked out even WORSE than if I'd simply taken off for the first half.
Keep in touch!
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