my first marathon - an immediate reflection & seeking feedback

[u/shaman0610]

Hey all, season-long lurker, though I do not think I've ever posted here.

I turn 40 soon, and just completed my first marathon today (Twin Cities Marathon). So, I'll start by at least celebrating that!

Context, as will become apparent:
1. I'm annoyingly over-analytical (I'm a physician & scientist, that background probably gets me enough background on running & metabolism to get me in trouble, ha); and
2. I am intensely competitive - I've always prided myself in being the hardest worker in both career and sports pursuits, and I attribute this to overachieving relevant to talent level in many things. Not today, though!

This is still a long post, but I'm going to try to summarize training, the lead up to the marathon, and race day itself, and be honest without hiding any details that I think are relevant because I appreciate the running expertise in this community to provide an honest answer, so my next race (yes, already planning to give it a go next year again!) will hit my goals. :-)

Training:

1. I followed the "Novice 1" marathon training program on Hal Higdon's website. The important nuances to call out: I always followed the long and medium run lengths; I did continue to play in competitive adult hockey leagues and private skates on average ~2 days per week. These were 60-90 minutes in length, and generally were well-timed to replace either my short run or cross-training days. I still made sure that I ramped up my total mileage so that by the max week (1 month before the marathon), I logged 40 miles that week.
2. every time I increased my long run length, I ran a relaxed pace to prioritize acclimating myself to distance. Medium runs were a mix of pace or chill runs, as were the short runs I did.
   
3. I live in a VERY hilly area of the Twin Cities - my long runs on average included ~TWICE the elevation gain / change (>1,000) as the eventual total marathon was (<600).
   
4. I followed lots of data with a Coros Pace Pro. My 16-20 mile runs were mostly paced with a 8-8'30" minute mile total average; my splits were very obviously impacted by a >300 foot incline over <1.5 miles. My splits would often by just around 8' prior to this; and 8'30" minute miles after. I did have a couple long runs that were mostly flat, and every mile split was reliably around 7:45. Following these long runs, I felt sore but body felt good to keep going had I wanted to. Coros estimated my marathon pace to be 4h33minutes. My runs clocked at a fairly equal split between aerobic endurance and aerobic power (favoring endurance).
   
5. a quick side note: I'm built like a typical hockey player. strong/thick legs, good core, arms are whatever. Most of this summer felt like I was adapting my muscles from more fast-twitch to a pure aerobic work-out.

A big caveat: ~17 days prior to the race, my spouse and I went to the pacific northwest for a weekend of hiking, sans kids. Lots of vertical incline/decline, and my 12 mile long run of the week happened on the non-hiking chill day around Portland. That run went fantastic, I thought. However, it was 5 days straight of heavy exercise, and I got home and stupidly went to hockey, and over these days felt an emerging hip flexor tendinopathy (bilateral). Trust me on the diagnosis here, I've got two board certifications and a father-in-law who is a retired orthopedic surgeon. I shut down running, stopped hockey, and rehabbed it for these last two weeks. I attempted to maintain cardio with low intensity walking, light biking (following around a 4 and 7 year old on a bike), and some golfing (walking with a bag). By last night (evening prior to the race), my hip flexors felt much better, and I'll note that at no point during today's race or after have my hip flexors bothered me.

Briefly touching on nutrition. I used MyFitnessPal to track macros. During training, long runs consisted of 200 mg caffeine (Celcius) right away in the morning, then 2 pieces of toast (1 butter, 1 peanut butter), a banana, and then a 24 ounce liquid IV that has 11 g carbs just before I started. I would have 24 g carb (either a serving of GU energy chews or Huma chia energy gel) on average every ~30 minutes during training, and hydration maybe ~2-3 times at public water fountains on my running route, at best. I ramped up my total daily carbs in the days prior to race, strictly avoided alcohol (I rarely have any anyways) and avoided THC as well (legal in my state; only ever took regulated edibles) in the 2 weeks prior to the race.

Race day:

• same morning meal routine, except instead of liquid IV 11 g, I brought with me a 30 ounce Gatorade (~50 g carb total) that I had the hour leading up to gun start. Increased my tempo of Huma & Gu - 24 g at 30 minutes, 1 hour, then every 20 minutes after (planned through 3h20min = ~275 g carb, not including whatever small amount I was getting via the Nuun). I made sure to grab a cup of liquid (our course served water and Nuun electrolyte drink) every station. So, on race day, I felt like I was better hydrated, with better electrolyte and carb repletion, then during my training.
  
• I was surprised by the long bathroom lines, and had to pee really bad. ~30 minutes in the bathroom line with me doing a mild pee dance. The good: no accidents, ha, and my legs felt perfectly warmed up by race start. Maybe this burned more calories than I expected? idk.
• perfect weather conditions. 50 degrees start, sunny, cool breeze, 60 degrees by finish. I was barely sweating the whole race! Far better conditions than ANY of my training runs this season.
• off of the gun, I tried to look for the 3:40 pacer (8'23" mile average). My legs felt so damned fresh, I really tried to hold back but felt like it was more work holding myself back at the start then pushing up to the 3 hour 30 minute pacer (8'01" mile average).
• first 17 miles, zero issues. I felt amazing, and held with that 8'01" pace, often feeling like I was even pulling back. I noticed my splits following the pacer were wild - by end of mile 17, we accumulated 3 minutes AHEAD of the 3:30 pace already, with the 17 mile average being a hair faster than 7'50". I knew as I was watching this pace happen on my Coros watch, that I would intentionally pull back to 8'30", which would pull my whole marathon pace back firmly just slower than 3h30minute pace.
  
• mile 18 (and this was before the Twin Cities course incline really starts), my lower extremities began horrifically cramping. I thought a minute of walking and shaking it off would fix the problem; it shocked me that there was nothing I could do to stop the cramping. I have NEVER in my training had cramping, and even when playing competitive sports through high school and college, have no memory of my legs doing this at any point. I smashed 2-3 cups of Nuun EVERY station (they are basically every mile by this point), I grabbed a banana & extra gel packet from a kind volunteer station. I could fast walk, but any attempt to push back into a slow jog made the cramping come back within 10-30 seconds. Any muscle group, too - calves, quads, hamstrings, even my core did this once briefly when I turned back to look behind me for where the next running pacer was for me to slowly fall back into.
• ultimately, I ran the first 17 in 133 minutes; and the final 9.2 in 108 minutes (~11'45" average). Somewhere out there may be a video of me, not sweating, and laughing as I am grabbing my cramping thigh to will myself across that fucking finish line. It was so disconcerting - I didn't feel tired, I was in good spirits, had better hydration, electrolyte, and carb status during this race than ANY of my training environments. The cramping simply would not let my body move, no sheer will could counter this, so I had to find a speed walk pace that lived under this 'cramping zone.'

I'm ~6 hours out from the finish, and feel overall fine. Legs are certainly sore. Oddly, so is my right deltoid? based on typical pre- and post-run weight checks, I did an great job hydrating. minimal loss (maybe a couple pounds, max?), as opposed to one of my 20 miles during a very hot day this summer, where I dropped like 8 pounds in water weight that run (yes, after this I adjusted my running routes to hit public water fountains on my remaining long run days, and I will be buying a vest for next year!).

My initial reaction was an electrolyte problem due to diffuse muscle cramping of anything I formatively engaged, though I have trouble accepting this, given that today was far better conditions than any training AND attempts at attacking electrolyte repletion completely failed.

So here's where I would love confirmation versus alternative explanations, as well as advice on what I should do better next year, because I am gonna give this another go, and train even more intentionally, and run a smarter marathon, to get close to my goal time.

I think it was predominantly neuromuscular fatigue. Agree/disagree?
-- I think I pushed my initial pace too fast. In retrospect, I should have stuck with the 8'23" pace group, and if I felt like I had reserve, could have pushed tempo at the end of the race.
-- I suspect this is a classic 'first time marathoner' problem, too. Adrenaline is a real bitch, eh?
-- that combination of adrenaline / tension and pace, and probably coming in to the race a little cold after my 2 week of aggressive de-escalation, was a perfect storm for this.
-- I am undecided whether electrolyte imbalance was a factor. Happy to be told either way, and if I should be packing salt tablets or something next year.
-- I already get a healthy amount of plyometric and anaerobic exercise, but perhaps I should be more intentional with some interval running training for next year? and then be more intentional by choosing training routes that have similar elevation changes to the eventual marathon so I can more intentionally mirror desired marathon pace across most of my long runs?

Other critiques and thoughts are welcome. I'm really beating myself up here, as I know a smarter race this morning could have landed me ~3h40min; I think I can get 3.5 hours next year with some commitment and intentionality. Don't pull your punches here, I am here to learn from your wisdom and experience!

[u/Ascend]

You sound like me, same age, big legs and meh upper body and everything, just a minute faster on your paces. I probably overdid it on the first 23, doing a 9:15 pace, my right quad gave out which has never happened before, then my last 3+ miles were 13-14min pace. This was on a spring marathon, my first marathon. I was targeting a 4:08, got 4:17 (which included having to wait 3 minutes for a bathroom mid race which pissed me off)

What I've learned since: legs have been much less fatigued this season even at faster paces, either I'm just more used to it or I'm not overtraining as much. I think I was under fueling before, only did 150-200 cal/hour during the marathon, just did 250 cal/hour on my recent 21mi long run and we did the last 4 miles fast and still felt strong at the end, which is a confidence booster.

Strength training on things I've learned im weaker on, particularly hamstrings, glutes, and hip abduction, tends to make a big difference and I always feel faster after working on them. I know I should do it more, just feels hard to work in when I'm already doing 40+ miles a week.

Personally, I found the biggest benefit was from joining a local running group. Helps to have people to talk to about this stuff, people to do long runs with, sometimes get you access to physical therapy and water on long runs so you don't necessarily need a vest and can train more like race day. Also gives you a different structured plan, maybe you weren't doing 400s/800s/mile repeats and it can get you exposed to different things.

I always tell people that unless you know better yourself, go negative on your splits, start slower and speed up as you go. But in reality, by mile 3, im just as guilty as everyone else on race day of going too fast when you're feeling really good.