I registered for the Oshkosh Marathon for a few reasons. First, I couldn't beat the cost. I got a 50% off deal from Groupon for the marathon. Second, it fit into my work schedule and my personal schedule, and it is close to home and wouldn't require me to travel or stay in a hotel. Lastly, two years ago while training for the Whistle Stop Marathon, I did a lot of my training runs on the Wiouwash Trail, as the marathon was a trail marathon and fell in love with the scenery on along the trail. The Oshkosh Marathon has a 7 mile stretch of of the trail as part of the course, which was enticing.
Training for This Race
I created a strict, specific, 16 week training plan leading up to the April 24th race. My training was going great initially. But, then came my first hurdle. I some how, some way, injured my neck on January 25th. It put me in the Emergency Room. I took a 2 week hiatus from running to allow, what my chiropractor called, a compressed disc to heal. I finally got back to a normal running routine on February 9th. At that point, I made some minor adjustments to my training plan and began following it very loosely. I was actually probably very smart about my training. I followed my training plan with workouts, but was flexible with what I did on a day to day basis. I knew what I needed to achieve throughout a specific week, but made my day-to-day decisions based on how I felt, my personal schedule, and other various metrics. But then, on March 31st, I had a 10 mile tempo workout, which I ran on a treadmill. I felt great afterward and went to work that night. I made the decision to do a "back-to-back" running day and run a 6 mile "easy" run the morning after work. I finished it, but noticed a "niggle" in my left calf throughout the run. It never hindered my run, but I noticed it. It got tighter and tighter throughout the run, but finished. I biked the next day, hoping to work out the soreness. I then attempted to get back out for a run on April 3rd. I wasn't able to get further than 2.46 miles. At this point the race was 3 weeks out. I knew that if I was going to be able to not only run the race, but finish, I would have to be smart with my calf and not force anything. I made a couple more attempts at running on both April 5th and 6th, but ended with the same results. I felt good for about the first mile, then noticed my calf tightening up, and would just bag the run all together. I took my second two week break from running, this time during my peak training weeks. I finally was able to get back to running on April 15th, just about a week out from the race. These two "injuries" really changed my goals for the race.I will say though, I really took away two big learning points this training cycle. First off, on the Endurance Planet "Ask the Coaches" Podcast, one of the host's favorite running workouts was an "over/under" run. The concept is simple. You take your goal race pace, then run a mile at 10 seconds faster and alternate that with a mile at 10 seconds slower than your goal pace. Basically, I would run a mile or two warm up, and follow that with 4-8 miles alternated at a 6:40 pace and 7:00 pace. The workout is challenging and never really gives you a slow recovery. I fell in love with this workout and will definitely use this again. The second learning point I took away was the idea of having a flexible training schedule. Basically I knew the 2 or 3 key workouts I wanted to achieve during a weekly training cycle, but would plan out my cycle literally in 2-4 day stretches. in the past, I would follow my training plan to a "T." This would get difficult and frustrating. But making these adjustments made my life less stressful and allowed for my body to adapt and recover. If I wasn't a complete idiot that one day which caused my calf to tighten up. I completely blame myself for "injuring" my calf, due to just being stupid.
Prerace
The entire week or two leading up to the race, I had been checking the weather forecast. The forecast was not promising. All week there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms and cool and breezy. The night before the race, the forecast was the best I had seen. There was a slight chance the rain would hold off until the afternoon. I was ecstatic with this. Not that I would have any control over this, or let this get to me mentally, but let's just be honest, no one likes running in the cold ran...let alone thunderstorms.The Friday before the race, we brought the girls to a Brewer's game with some friends of the family. I did something that I don't think I have ever done....drank alcohol within the week of a major race. I had three beers! I guess, at this point, I had the mentality that I was not going to be setting any personal records at this race, just based on my training. I chose to have a few brews to enjoy the company and have fun. I thought, what's the worse that could happen at this point? Three beers would not dramatically impact my race, 36 hours later.
On Saturday, I was on my feet way more than I would have liked to be, but again, oh well, life is life. I had to take care of filling in several holes in our yard and planting grass in those spots. I also made it down to the race expo for my packet pick-up. The process was actually very smooth, I credit that do the smaller size of the race. That evening, I had a baked filet of tilapia with a sweet potato and a salad for dinner. I drank a lot of fluids throughout the day and finished the day with my traditional cup of chamomile tea before bed. I was able to get to bed right around 8pm and watched a little of the start of the NHL Playoffs.
I woke up when my alarm went off at 4:30 and was on the road by 5am and got to the race site by 5:30...exactly as I planned. I just chilled up until about 6:20ish, which is when I stated doing some of my favorite dynamic movements to help loosen and warm up before the race. The weather outlook was just about perfect. Temperatures were in the upper 40's with overcast skies. The rain looked like it was going to hold off for the morning.
Nutrition Plan
In every single previous marathon I have run, I have had some sort of breakfast. Whether it be a Powerbar (way back when), toast with peanut butter and honey, or a sweet potato. For this race, I chose to try something new...to not eat a damn thing. All I had before the race was coffee and a few swigs of water with a tablet of Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz. My fueling free morning seemed to work, as I never really got hungry before the race.The days leading up to the race I took my standard dosage of 4 servings a day for 4 days leading up to race day of Race Day Boost. As far as my race plan, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible. I first took two capsules of Anti-Fatigue Caps one hour prior to the start of the race, then I carried 4 Hammer Gels with me, along with a few additional Anti-Fatigue Caps. My plan was to take a gel at or around miles 5, 10, 15, and 20 and take an additional 2 Anti-Fatigue Caps around miles 10 and 20. I ended up taking a gel at 5 and 10 and 16. At that point my I never really felt like I wanted to take an additional gel, but also felt like I needed something. So at about mile 21-22, I forced about half of my last gel down. I also took two Anti-Fatigue Caps around mile 13. My body started craving something sweet, but not a gel, around mile 23. So, I took an orange slice from an aid station, and it tasted so good. I also took about three cups of Gatorade from 3 separate aid stations from the remaining 4-5 miles of the race. I felt good, all around, just wasn't digging the gels at that point in time.
Equipment
New Balance 890v5 ShoesSLS3 Compression SocksNike Running Shorts
Hammer Nutrition Race Singlet
Sleefs Arm Sleeves
TomTom Spark Cardio+ Music
Miles 0-10
As
I mentioned above, my training was inconsistent at best leading up to
the race, so my expectations were curbed. I really didn't have any
specific goals other than not to embarrass myself. I set a wide range
of times for a finish goal. My range was 3:00 to 3:30. I figured I
should have no problem finishing within that time window. So at the
start of the race, I really just wanted to take it intentionally easy
and just get into a groove that I could sustain for at least 20 miles.
Once the race started I did my best not to get sucked into the rush that
happens at every race start. I knew that still went out a bit too fast
and did my best to pull myself back. By mile 4, I had the inkling that
I probably had been going too hard. My heart rate at this point was in
the mid to upper 160's. I slowed up a bit, but also tried not to look
at my watch for time and distance as I just wanted to run based on feel
for at least the first half. As I continued to pass mile markers, I
continued to see my heart rate in the 160-165 range. I decided to just
do my best to try and regulate my heart rate the best I can and just
keep the fact that this was a 26.2 mile race and not anything less. 
Miles 11-20
Miles 21-26.2
By the time I got to mile 20, I was still just going mile to mile with short walking breaks. My legs were destroyed by this point. I again didn't want anything to do with a gel, but knew I needed the calories. At mile 21/22 I forced about a half of a gel down the hatch. I knew that I didn't get nearly enough calories, so I started to take Gatorade from the water stations. The flavor of the Gatorade tasted great and wasn't exactly what I would have preferred, but they went down great. At about the 23 mile mark, I grabbed an orange slice, and let me tell you, it was the best damn orange and it hit the spot. After getting to mile 24, I just kept telling myself, "2 more miles...15 more minutes." I just kept pushing till the end. I finished the race in 3:17:53, 18th place overall, and 3rd in my age group.
Post Race
After the race, I got to hang out with my buddy from Winnebago. I haven't seen him in what felt like years. But it was great to catch up with him after a race. He ran the half marathon after working all night. After sticking around for a bit, I headed home to try and take a nap before work. Yup, I had to work third shift the night after a marathon.
