In my humble opinion...

Looking back on marathon day, a strange sensation usually comes over me. Contrary to the excitment and elation I was told to expect, I found the what I felt was somewhat anti-climatic. I don't mean that in a bad way however. After a bit of reflecting and some internal contemplation, which went something like this:

Left Shoulder: "So you finished a marathon. How it feel?"

Right Shoulder: "It was fun. Missed my goal time by 10 minutes. Kept pace for the first half of the run. The next 10km was not great, but the last 10 was awful. I thought I could have pushed harder near the end, but the legs and the mind just didn't listen."

LS: "Did you ever close to 42km in your training?"

RS: "Only 32, but pre-race tapering is suppose to ..."

LS: "Ok, how long were you able to sustain goal pace in your training?"

RS: "About 16km, but afterwards I looked like death was able to tap me on the shoulder expecting to collect..."

LS: "So what makes you think you can run longer and faster than you've trained for?"

RS: "ummm.... Red Bull gives you wings?"

... I realize I just wasn't ready for the time I had in mind. In a way it is strangely comforting, there is no silver bullet; no short cuts. You get on race day what you gave the 3 months prior. Sure, the taper helps. Proper nutrition and perfect racing weather may give you that extra 3 or 4 minutes, but really that's it. By race day, the result *should* be somewhat anti-climatic. The work is done. Short of sheer disaster, stupidity, or Red Bull actually giving you wings, your time should be your *realistic* goal time, +/- 5 minutes.

No offence to the Running Room marathon clinic's training schedule, but IMHO, the goal time that accompanies the schedule is how should I put it .... optimistic.

So, did I ...

... not run fast enough during training?

Yes and no. I certainly need to do more speed work and better quality tempo runs. But for that to happen, I need to make sure I remain injury free, especially the calves and the achilles. As for the long runs, I think I actually ran those too fast, especially the start of those runs.

... not get enough miles in?

Sort of, but it was more about not being about to push pass the tiredness in my legs around the 35km or so. Lungs were decent, and even the muscles wasn't at it's threshold point, but the legs... the bone and the tendons and the joints, they just wouldn't go. I need to figured out how to run when I was tired.

Yeah but how to fix? Then the previous conversations with Master Jedi comes roaring back...

Me: "You pass me on that uphill like I was standing still. How do I run uphill faster?"

Master Jedi: "Run more uphills"

Me: "You pass me on that downhill on Burrard Bridge like I was standing still. How do I run downhills faster?"

Master Jedi: "Run more downhills"

From this, I've concluded that:

a) Dave passes me like I'm standing still pretty much whenever he wants

b) To do _FILL_IN_BLANK_ better, do more _FILL_IN_BLANK_

All this rambling has lead me to the following post-first-marathon training philosphy:

* Run less on pavement and more on grass, trails, and gravel. This is mostly to try to reduce the stress on my calves and achilles, which are literally and metaphorically my achilles heels. So I can ...

* Run faster. Do the Wednesday RR runs and chase some windmills (aka fast kids), and aim to start a weekly track session early in the training cycle.

* Run longer. Not necessarily more miles per week, but more miles per run. Learn to run on tired legs by making short runs longers and long runs longer. 12km is the new 10km. Run on Mondays after the long runs on Sunday to get use to running on tired legs. Take advantage of the summer weather (summer weather in Vancouver, I made a funny) and get on the bike more often to tire out the legs while minimizing impact, especially on off days.

How well will this work? No idea, but I guess that's why it's call a trial (of miles). Verdict expected Thanksgiving Sunday...