Hartford Marathon 2nd BQ attempt

Back in the spring I ran Bayshore going for the BQ. I missed by 16sec thanks to a GI pit stop from eating too much the day before. Lesson learned and so I toed the line in Hartford for attempt number two. My legs however just weren't there. I ended up doing 3:26:40 when I needed sub-3:25. I gave it everything I had though.

It was chilly waiting for the start but for the race it was close to perfect. Leading up to it I had run better training times than in the spring. I nailed a Half four weeks prior so I felt confident going in.

We got started and I went out conservative at 8:00-8:05 for the first three miles. I always do better in any race when I start slower and then drop down and go. I eased down to 7:45-7:50 range but it seemed like my legs were exerting too much effort for this early. Everytime I looked at my watch I was around 8:00 pace and I'd have to push a little to get back down which I should not have had to. That wasn't a good sign.

I hit the half and while I always like to negative split, my legs had felt like they'd already gone 20M. I was two minutes behind pace. I knew it was in jeopardy based on how I was feeling. At this point I decided I'm not going to look at my watch anymore and just run as hard as I can to the finish. I ended up negative splitting but I didn't have enough.

I'm disappointed but at the same time I'm not unhappy because I know that while I didn't have the legs under me I still ran as hard as I could and gave it everything I had.

I have to figure out what I did wrong in my training. I don't know if I overtrained, should I not have run the Half all out four weeks ago, I just know why my legs weren't there. Thanks for reading.

I'm not so sure you did anything wrong in your training. Sometimes with these marathons, it just isn't your day, and maybe it wasn't for you on Saturday. But its certainly wise to go back and review and reconsider.

You've come so close - I'm sure you've got that BQ in you soon. Rest, reflect, relax and in a week or two start thinking about what your next step might be.

Sorry I missed you - I saw a guy who looks a lot like you at one point in the out-and-back to South Windsor, and actually screamed out "hey Alex" to him, then realized a few minutes later that if it had been you, you would have been running at a sub-3:00 pace at almost 20 miles, so knew I was mistaken!

Hang in there.

Congrats on an excellent run, Alex. Don't sweat it as like Michael said, sometimes it just isn't there that day, but I'd say you ran an good race. Now rest up and recover.

Alex, so sorry to hear that you missed it. I thought you were a lock this time around. You're surely going to get your BQ soon so just enjoy the journey and it will be that much sweeter when it happens.

Alex, sorry about the BQ miss. I share the frustration of not knowing why, the freaky marathon distance. Recover well, you have plenty of time for Boston 2014.

Sorry you just missed Alex. Still, a race to be proud of given the negative split. That BQ is right there, and when it comes, it will be even more satisfying!

Sorry that you missed it! It sounds like you gave it a great effort though, and who knows why some races turn out better than others? You definitely are close. I wouldn't over analyze it. You are going to get there!!!!

Alex, I too know the pain of the narrowly missed BQ. I was 44 seconds shy last spring. Keep training, re-evaluate what you did right and wrong and go out and get it the next time around. As long as you stay healthy, no reason you won't hit the number sooner rather than later. Great job gutting it out when the legs weren't completely there!

Hey, first of all, congrats on a fine effort. I'd say maybe you went out a little too conservative since it seemed like you finished real strong. Not sure about your leg issues, but a real hard all out half may have had something to do with it? Were you real sore for a few days after the half? Anywoo, patience is the key to this marathon thing as I'm sure you already know, you'll nail it sooner than later most likely.

Michael Enright wrote:Sorry I missed you - I saw a guy who looks a lot like you at one point in the out-and-back to South Windsor, and actually screamed out "hey Alex" to him, then realized a few minutes later that if it had been you, you would have been running at a sub-3:00 pace at almost 20 miles, so knew I was mistaken!

Hang in there.

Thanks Michael. What did you wear? I had on the usual red singlet and hat but I had arm warmers as well.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Congrats on an excellent run, Alex. Don't sweat it as like Michael said, sometimes it just isn't there that day, but I'd say you ran an good race. Now rest up and recover.

Thanks Michele. Just want to figure out if it was just a bad day or if I caused the bad day with my training. I am going to enjoy the rest and recovery.

T Miller wrote:Alex, so sorry to hear that you missed it. I thought you were a lock this time around. You're surely going to get your BQ soon so just enjoy the journey and it will be that much sweeter when it happens.

Thanks Tim. You're definitely right that when I hit it it'll be that much sweeter.

Jerry wrote:Alex, sorry about the BQ miss. I share the frustration of not knowing why, the freaky marathon distance. Recover well, you have plenty of time for Boston 2014.

Thanks Jerry. The marathon is definitely a race that takes many many attempts to get it down.

Dave-O wrote:Sorry you just missed Alex. Still, a race to be proud of given the negative split. That BQ is right there, and when it comes, it will be even more satisfying!

Thanks Dave. I will be more jacked when it does come.

carleenp wrote:Sorry that you missed it! It sounds like you gave it a great effort though, and who knows why some races turn out better than others? You definitely are close. I wouldn't over analyze it. You are going to get there!!!!

Thanks Carleen. I have a habit of over analyzing everything to death. Still enjoyed it though.

mul21 wrote:Alex, I too know the pain of the narrowly missed BQ. I was 44 seconds shy last spring. Keep training, re-evaluate what you did right and wrong and go out and get it the next time around. As long as you stay healthy, no reason you won't hit the number sooner rather than later. Great job gutting it out when the legs weren't completely there!

Thanks Jim. I'm going to just keep plugging away.

fostever wrote:Hey, first of all, congrats on a fine effort. I'd say maybe you went out a little too conservative since it seemed like you finished real strong. Not sure about your leg issues, but a real hard all out half may have had something to do with it? Were you real sore for a few days after the half? Anywoo, patience is the key to this marathon thing as I'm sure you already know, you'll nail it sooner than later most likely.

Thanks Steve. I have to get it into my skull about the patience thing. Always a hangup for me.

I was just a little over-dressed, as usual for the cold.

I had on my bright blue baseball-style wicking cap, tights, shorts, and two layers on top (for the first 9 miles or so).

At about 9 miles, I was getting warm on top, so pulled off my pullover and chucked it in some bushes (I managed to retrieve it yesterday - right where I left it!).

I was worried that the tights would get hot, and in the middle miles I was thinking about the logistics of getting out of them and chucking them, but kept going (too complicated, and not hot enough at that point). I was glad I kept them on - since I was out there a long time and growing fatigued, I was getting a little chilly in the last ten miles or so, and was happy I had them!

Congratulations regardless of the time that you wanted to post. In reading your report at the beginning I clearly didn't expect you to negative split...but hey, you put the watch away and look what you did. Awesome second half! Some days you have it, some days you don't....you had a little of both.

dot520 wrote:Congratulations regardless of the time that you wanted to post. In reading your report at the beginning I clearly didn't expect you to negative split...but hey, you put the watch away and look what you did. Awesome second half! Some days you have it, some days you don't....you had a little of both.

Thanks. I did the best I could and at the end of the day that's all that matters.

Alex, first congrats on giving it all you had!

I can tell you that I still keep learning from all my races & training even though I've been at it for 6 years now. I know we're all different, but for me I've learned the hard way to not race all out a month or so before my goal marathon race. I did it in 2010, & had my best race ever for the last 10 miles of a 25K (the plan was to go easy for the 1st 5 miles.) I ended up bonking my marathon with over-trained symptoms (one of many.) That's why this time I ran the Hartford Half at goal marathon pace instead of racing it.

Well Alex between missing a BQ at Bayshore (which I wish we would have been able to make to meet you) and now missing at Hartford I'm sure it is not a great feeling. What does stick out to me in this report is that you gave it 100% and to me that is something to be way proud of! You could have packed it up at the half when you were 2 mins. off pace. But nope what do you do you dig a little deeper and you run faster in the second half.

I really don't think you really did anything wrong. I might have rethought running the half all out and downsizing it to MP pace just to see how that felt for a half. I won't say the two marathons weren't spread out enough. Then again maybe the lesson learned is that it is not wise for you to run two marathons so close together with such high intensity training and hard half. I won't call it overtraining just a matter of fine tuning your training an race calendar. Trust me I have been there and have also ran races were my legs felt dead.

No doubt in my mind that the BQ comes in your next race. I feel the wise thing to do is have that race as late in the spring as possible which will allow time to rest and get the last 2 near BQ out of your mind.

Great race and great effort Alex!

Alex, it took me about three years of getting closer and closer to a BQ before it actually happened. The good news is that you are so close, that it won't take much to get over. It is a bit frustrating as you know, but I am sure that it will happen for you soon. Congrats on your race, if you left it all out there, that is all you can ask for.

Keep your chin up, set another race when you have recovered, and go at it again. Good luck and continue to perservere!

Alex, seems like a tough year running this year, coming so close in the spring and then having this issue this time. I'd be interested in what you wind up concluding might be some causes. I do not think a half full out four weeks out would have made your legs this way unless you didn't recover enough. Last yeat I ran a marathon and the first 4-5 miles were ten seconds slower than I wanted and I had the same feeling as you - it seemed too much effort to get to the planned pace. All you can do is adjust but unfortunately the BQ time doesn't. Find a good weather spring marathon and go for that after some good rest and recovery. COngratulations on still coming so close.

Dave P wrote:Alex, first congrats on giving it all you had!

I can tell you that I still keep learning from all my races & training even though I've been at it for 6 years now. I know we're all different, but for me I've learned the hard way to not race all out a month or so before my goal marathon race. I did it in 2010, & had my best race ever for the last 10 miles of a 25K (the plan was to go easy for the 1st 5 miles.) I ended up bonking my marathon with over-trained symptoms (one of many.) That's why this time I ran the Hartford Half at goal marathon pace instead of racing it.

Thanks Dave. It's a continuous learning cycle.

Schuey wrote:Well Alex between missing a BQ at Bayshore (which I wish we would have been able to make to meet you) and now missing at Hartford I'm sure it is not a great feeling. What does stick out to me in this report is that you gave it 100% and to me that is something to be way proud of! You could have packed it up at the half when you were 2 mins. off pace. But nope what do you do you dig a little deeper and you run faster in the second half.

I really don't think you really did anything wrong. I might have rethought running the half all out and downsizing it to MP pace just to see how that felt for a half. I won't say the two marathons weren't spread out enough. Then again maybe the lesson learned is that it is not wise for you to run two marathons so close together with such high intensity training and hard half. I won't call it overtraining just a matter of fine tuning your training an race calendar. Trust me I have been there and have also ran races were my legs felt dead.

No doubt in my mind that the BQ comes in your next race. I feel the wise thing to do is have that race as late in the spring as possible which will allow time to rest and get the last 2 near BQ out of your mind.

Great race and great effort Alex!

Thanks Martin. Looking back I realized I never really recovered from Bayshore. I almost immediately went right back into training mode. Plus I passed last year's total mileage in August. So I think all of that plus running the Half all out cooked me for this. My legs are still fried so I know I overdid it. Another lesson learned.

jon c wrote:Alex, it took me about three years of getting closer and closer to a BQ before it actually happened. The good news is that you are so close, that it won't take much to get over. It is a bit frustrating as you know, but I am sure that it will happen for you soon. Congrats on your race, if you left it all out there, that is all you can ask for.

Keep your chin up, set another race when you have recovered, and go at it again. Good luck and continue to perservere!

Thanks Jon. I know I'll get it just have to keep learning as I go.

JohnP wrote:Alex, seems like a tough year running this year, coming so close in the spring and then having this issue this time. I'd be interested in what you wind up concluding might be some causes. I do not think a half full out four weeks out would have made your legs this way unless you didn't recover enough. Last yeat I ran a marathon and the first 4-5 miles were ten seconds slower than I wanted and I had the same feeling as you - it seemed too much effort to get to the planned pace. All you can do is adjust but unfortunately the BQ time doesn't. Find a good weather spring marathon and go for that after some good rest and recovery. COngratulations on still coming so close.

Thanks John. As I menioned to Schuey I realized it was a combo of things I did. Not recoverying really from my spring marathon before going back into training mode, a lot more miles overall this year, and going all out for the Half probably finished it off and left me with minimal left. At least now I'll recover properly.