This is going to involve some perhaps weird introspection and navel gazing.
According a friend/acquaintance Kevin Beck who writes the rollicking, often acerbic blog “Beck of the Pack” running blog, a successful marathoner should be able to run a marathon at roughly equivalent levels as other distances.
At one time I could, running 10K and half marathon at 32:50 and 1:13 at altitude, and followed by a 2:34 marathon. So just slightly off a calculator prediction. However, that was decades ago. Since turning 60 I have run under 1:20 three times for the half marathon, and the equivalents for those would be in the mid 2:40s (2:43 for the 1:17 I did in 2019). And this year’s rather ordinary 1:21 would be low 2:50s if I was on board the successful marathon train. I have not been able to break 3.
Fail?
I now have friends and acquaintances questioning my validity as a runner because not only am I not close to an equivalency for shorter distances, I have been unable to break 3 hours in my past four attempts.
Weather has been A factor in all four of those races, particularly of course while running the infamous Boston Nor’easter of 2018, where I could only manage a 3:12 (and big positive split) into sustained 20-25 mph wind and rain.
Grandma’s last year was warm (60s) and humid and we never had the benefit of a tail wind. Cross winds mostly, resulting in 3:02. This was my first marathon cycle since 2018, and I didn’t get that rolling until March/April of 2021 following a year of cutback (40-50 mile weeks) while coming back from an injury and taking it a little easier due to little or no in-person during the first year of the COVID pandemic. I held sub 3 pace (barely) through about 22.5 miles but couldn’t hold it together once we got into the city where there were a lot of turns. I had online and in-person friends questioning my race that day. “I thought you/he could do better.” Nevertheless, I won my age group.
Fail?
Boston this year was the best of the bunch, both performance-wise and as an overall experience. We had perfect 40-50s temps, but a light headwind of 6-8 mph the entire way. I kept it (reasonably comfortably) under 3 hour pace through 24 miles. It was the 25th mile that got me. As we rounded by Fenway and the giant Citgo sign, that wind picked up substantially, I say to 15 mph. So while I kept the effort the same my pace slowed from 6:50s to 7:20. The result was a 3:00:18. I crossed the line with mixed feeling. I ran with just a 1 minute positive split, on a course and day when most were in the 5+ minute range. I just had one off mile, which effort-wise was not off, I just slowed due to the pesky wind on that stretch.
And last week was last week. I ran better than any of my three previous attempts, steady and in control through 23 miles. Yeah it was getting harder after 20, but 7:00 was not bad and I was confident I would hold that. Nope. The wind was my wall. Hats off to the dozens of runners who could and did hold the pace to finish under 3.
So I’m a bit perplexed and downtrodden. This was a good effort, at 85.7% age grade on a bad day, that’s a 2:22 equivalent. Nevertheless, it still feels like a failure of sorts because I did not get the job done.
And got my ass kicked in the age group department as well, finishing more than 3 minutes behind a competitor who DID manage to hold onto race pace through the gale and rain over the final 3 miles.
Here’s a bit more about that. Who was that guy? I did a little sleuthing and a little more. Very surprising results. He (Jeff) ran a 3:19 in 2018, and 3:07 at Boston in 2021 (hot and humid), but Indy was an 8 minute PR. That’s huge. I also found a smattering of other results for this 64 year old (same age as me), and he did have a couple ultras (50 milers) but other race times well behind what I have been consistently doing, so 19s for 5K, low 40s for 10K, and high 1:29for the half. Congrats to that Jeff! And he’s going to be a force to reckon with next year once we turn 65.
My 3:01 was the third fastest Men’s 60-64 time in Indy’s 15 year history. But it was 2nd place on a day I would have been certain that anything under 3:05 would probably win!
Fail?
Although some friends might think so, I don’t see that as a failure at all. I did not meet my time, but competitively I ran a good race. Jeff just ran better through the finish. You cannot control what others do, especially in a big mass event where you often do not even know where they are out on the course. Moreover, in a marathon even if you are an elite, you still have to run your own race for that day.
So I’m coming up short. Some friends have said that maybe I should consult “more successful” age group marathoners. As if they’d help!
I think I’m doing the right things, with a mix of consistent mileage with requisite long runs and workouts, including marathon pace. Could I increase to 80 mpw? Or would that be too much? Should I add in more marathon pace, say 10-12 miles in a 20 miler? Or is that too much? Those are some of the things I’ll try to sort out over the next 6-8 months, before my next marathon build.
In the end, I don’t count any of these as failures, I just did not break through.
rrunnin234 