CIM2014: When slaying the dragon is just not good enough

In 2012 and 2013 I signed up for CIM and ended up not being able to start the race because of two different injuries. As a result of these two consecutives DNS, CIM became a psychological roadblock for me, and I told myself after the second injury that I would never sign up for that race EVER  AGAIN! Then this year I decided to run a marathon before the end of the year to try and salvage my racing season. However, no race other than CIM seemed to be working for my schedule. I am not overly superstitious, but it took  some time before I finally hit the registration button, knowing my heavy past with that race. The training cycle became about “slaying the CIM dragon”, as Multi22, one of the sub-3 forumites pointed out, and to stay healthy enough to step the start line. 

My overall training went fine. I ran a 1:26:47 half marathon 5 weeks before the race, which McMillan calculated as an equivalent of 3:02:38, but my workouts put me around 6:48-6:52 pace at marathon pace heart rate, which gave me hope that I had the fitness to go under 3hours. Only issue, I started to feel some left thigh ache the last two weeks before the race. This ache slowly faded in the few days before the race so I wasn't overly concerned about it. I flew to Sacramento on Friday, and hit the expo Friday afternoon. I got to meet Kim Conley, saw the BQ bell and the CIM wall where all the runners names were written.  

With Kim Conley

  The next morning I drove the course and realized then the rolling nature of the course, as there was virtually no flat portion between the start and mile 16-18. This worried me a bit knowing that I did not do my MP runs on hills, just some tempo intervals and hill repeats.

Short uphill at Mile1

Elevation profile, note the absence of continuous flat segments until ~ mile 18

I slept very poorly the night before the race and woke up at 3:30 without the alarm. I drank a bottle of Carboforce, ate two muffins with honey, showered and got ready to board the bus. I saw Dave in the line and we rode the bus together with his buddy from Seattle. Once arrived, I hit the portajohns right away to take care of business, after which I saw John Hill, who ended up running a blazing 2:38 that day. He  complained to me that he forgot his Garmin and was forced to run with a clunky set up with his phone. Had he told me so before hand I could have loaned him one, as I brought three with me being paranoid with technology failure...I then hung around the start area; it was surprisingly empty until maybe 10-15min before the race, at which time people started to congregate.

At the start, keeping warm about 45 minutes before start time

I kept my throwaway clothes until 10 minutes before the start and took care of business one last time in my empty Gatorade bottle, unbeknownst to people around me, thanks to my warm-up pants. I threw away pants, fleece and hat, lined up several rows from the front and at 7am sharp we were off.

Right away it felt difficult to reach sub-3 pace. I found myself surrounded by the 3:05 pace group. This was oppressing as I did not have much running space, and I thought that they had no business running that pace, as I clocked the first mile at 6:55. It was only after the second mile that I was able to detach myself from the group and get some breathing room. At that time I started to realize that the course was relentless. The hills were not bad or steep, but there were very little to no flat segments, once I was done with a short uphill there was a downhill that I needed to be careful not to hammer. This isn’t the type of course I am comfortable with, as I like to get into a rhythm, dial in marathon pace and forget about it. I focused on running the tangents, which sometimes meant that I was all by myself on one side of the road, while the pack of runners around me just followed the curves and the runners in front of them.

In the early Miles, in front of the 3:05 pace group

The first 5-6 miles were a net downhill and I was a few seconds over sub3 pace for these miles. However once we hit more even rolling miles with approximately equal up and downhills, my pace slowed down a bit and I started digging myself into a hole. At that time I was thinking that I should be going faster but the effort felt maximum for a marathon and I was afraid of blowing up in the second half. I had a small 10 oz bottle onto which I had diluted 5 gels and I used it to take “gels” at Mile 4, and Mile 8. I looked at my split crossing the half, and my Garmin showed 1:31:38. I then realized that it would be really difficult to get under 3 hours considering the deficit I had built. I took another “gel” at the half.

Around mile 14, I seriously considered dropping out. I told myself that there was no point in continuing, as I was going to beat up my legs for no reason. I had no interest in another BQ, nor in anything else than a sub-3 hour time, and it made little sense to finish. Then I thought of my kids, and that it would set a terrible example for them, as I always tell them to finish what they started. I also thought that I finally got a chance to start that race after two consecutive DNS, and that I owed it to myself to finish, just to put a closure on my bad history with CIM and finally “slay the CIM dragon”.

Once I made peace with myself and decided to finish, I felt better for another two-three miles. I clicked miles at a regular pace, focused on my effort than on the pace itself and started to catch up with some runners. Around mile 18 the pace began slightly more difficult to sustain. I kept plugging but it felt harder, even if I was still passing other runners. I took my last two “gels” at Mile 17 and 20 and threw away my empty gel bottle, just to feel more comfortable.

In the last miles, grinding towards the finish

At mile 21 we reached a bridge which is considered the last “hill” of the course. It wasn’t much of a hill but I passed several runners who were walking or jogging. Once we entered the city, the course was completely flat – finally – but at this point the legs became fatigued, with some muscle twinges on the left quad - the muscle area that had bothered me the last few days before the race, and on the right foot. My breathing became more labored, and the heart rate went slightly up, which was a clear indication that I was working on fat and that my glycogen was getting low. The last miles went by relatively quickly. I passed lots and lots of runners there and did not get passed. Around mile 23 I felt I still had a bit left in the tank but did not want to push harder because of the muscles twinges in my left leg and also because I felt I did not have much to gain at this point as I wouldn’t PR anyway. I still let it all go after mile 26 to close fast and blew past several other runners in that stretch. I crossed the finish in 3:02:26, with a 1min10 seconds negative split, glad to be finally done with that race.

Crossing the finish

Once I crossed the finish and got my sweat bag back, I looked around briefly to see if there was anyone that I knew, but I really had no desire to talk with anyone. I sat down on the steps of the Capitol and broke down in tears. I felt that I had wasted 5 months of training for nothing in return, and no improvement compared to last year. I was left considering why once again I wasn’t able to reach my long time goal. Maybe I wasn't in sub-3 shape - according to the McMillan calculator I ran at my fitness level. However my runs at MP heart rate indicated otherwise. Did I go out too conservatively in the first half? I don’t think so based on my HR values but I will never know what would have happened had I forced the pace to 6:50s. At any rate I wasn’t prepared for the rollers. I did some speedwork on hilly terrain but most of my MP runs were on a flat loop for logistical reasons. So while I might have been in sub-3 shape on a flat course, the rollers took more out of me than I thought because I wasn’t prepared for them. In addition, I did not do as much weight training as I did before OC in 2013, and I was also heavier for this race than I was before, which all combined to make it a more difficult race. I should be happy with running my second fastest marathon, with a decent negative split, but this isn't what I was looking for, and I will finish this report with this quote from a friend, who summarized well my race: 

“looking at your splits - it looks amazing and well executed. Being objective you must acknowledge that running 26 miles at sub-7 pace is insane. It really is you know. But I also understand the feeling that it's not good enough…”

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Split	Distance	Time	Pace	Average HR	MaxHR
1	1 mi	06:55.7	06:56	160	x-malfunction
2	1 mi	06:59.5	07:00	165	168
3	1 mi	06:52.6	06:53	165	169
4	1 mi	06:56.7	06:57	164	169
5	1 mi	06:58.7	06:59	163	167
6	1 mi	06:56.2	06:57	165	167
7	1 mi	07:00.5	07:01	164	168
8	1 mi	07:04.4	07:05	163	168
9	1 mi	07:07.0	07:07	163	167
10	1 mi	06:53.8	06:54	163	166
11	1 mi	06:54.1	06:55	164	169
12	1 mi	07:00.2	07:01	163	166
13	1 mi	06:57.8	06:58	161	166
14	1 mi	06:53.1	06:54	162	166
15	1 mi	06:55.3	06:56	162	167
16	1 mi	06:51.6	06:52	165	169
17	1 mi	06:51.0	06:52	163	166
18	1 mi	06:59.6	07:00	162	165
19	1 mi	06:57.1	06:58	161	165
20	1 mi	06:56.8	06:57	162	166
21	1 mi	06:59.4	07:00	163	167
22	1 mi	06:54.0	06:54	165	171
23	1 mi	06:56.0	06:56	166	169
24	1 mi	06:56.2	06:57	165	169
25	1 mi	06:52.4	06:53	166	170
26	1 mi	06:49.9	06:50	168	172
27	0.33 mi	01:59.3	06:02	173	180