Is a marathon in late June a good idea?

            When I first heard that the Challenge Triathlon series was coming to the US, I knew I wanted to be part of their first ever US event, and being in my home state of NJ it was a no brainer.   I quickly signed my husband (The other Cullen) and I up for a 2 person relay.  Often with these races you sign up months in advance and then suddenly 8 weeks out you are shaking your head wondering why you signed up to swim 2.4 miles , bike 112 (Brian) and run a marathon in the middle of the day in NJ summer heat.

            I was able to get in some long runs a few weeks out from the race, but in the end ask fellow teammate Jillian to do the swim portion.  As it turn out the swim was much harder then people expected with a strong current, Jillian came in to the Relay transition area and handed off the chip to Brian for the 112 bike leg (Swim: 1:18.31).  We had no idea what to expect from Brian’s ride as his longest training ride going into the race was 54 miles, I knew he could suffer but was not sure the extent he would go for a 112 ride.  During most of the bike ride I was out on the course with Brian Shea of PBN helping with updating the pro race via the Challenge Twitter feed.  This was a great distraction from sitting around in transition for hours waiting for Brian to return.  It was exciting out on the course following the pros and getting the splits between the packs, which at times I had to remind myself I still need to get back to transition and actually go and run a marathon.  The guys dropped me back off and went out on the run course to continue with the pro updates for Challenge. 

            As I sat under a tent waiting with the other marathon runners, it really starting setting in that I needed to make sure I was drinking and fueling to get ready.  I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, the sun was hot!  The pros started to come in off the bike and some super speedy age groupers.   I made my way over to the Relay transition and optimistically waited for Brian to return.  Bikers started coming in but there were a lot of us waiting.  Jillian and I were chatting and trying to guess when we might see him.  And then he appeared, I was so excited to see him and find out how it went, he just look at me and said get that chip off me, so I grab the chip said great job and went on my way.  In the end he pulled out a 5:37:47 bike split for 112 miles (average 19.9mph), super proud of my hubby for suffering for the team!

            I of course went out way to fast as I was so happy to finally be moving after sitting around most of the day, I started to click off the miles in the 7:25 pace area, I had planned on trying to settle in at about 7:45-7:50 but was not able to find my groove, so I just kept going with it knowing that this is a fatal mistake when running a marathon to think you can bank miles, but I decided to just see where I will end up.  The marathon course was flat as a pancake on a gorgeous Jersey Shore summer day, which meant the beaches were crowded.  I was prepared in my head for some dodging of people/children/beach chairs.  For the most part I found the crowd along the south part of the board walk very supportive; many people were sitting on benches and cheering the racers on, great crowd support.  In front of the casinos was another story, you were in a live video game dodging people, but sometimes listening to the comments of the people as you go by talking among themselves was priceless.  The volunteers were fantastic, they had so much energy and made sure at every aid station they would get you what you needed.

            My wheels started to fall off at about mile 13.  I knew I was in trouble since I still had the other half of this race to run.  Luckily since this was a long distance triathlon there was cola on course, so in my head I decided to go to coke at mile 16, which seem to help for a few miles.  Jillian jump in and ran with me since Brian was still MIA after his bike.  Jillian had fresh legs so that help, I was having visions of handing her the timing chip and taking a break.  Over the last half of the marathon I just watched my average pace slip further and further away, the miles in 7:40ish pace went to 7:55pace to in the 8 min area and eventually I saw a few 9s pop up.  I really could not complain about suffering as I was only running the marathon leg out there and many of the people around me were 130 plus miles into finishing 140.6!  I eventually finished at 3:33:27.  Lesson learned:  No marathons in the peak of Tri Season, the run takes too much out of your legs.  Run more then 19 miles in long training runs, even though a relay it still was a marathon –ALWAYS Respect the Distance!

Cold and Windy in the Deep South

When I was looking for a winter marathon I chose one based on a few criteria. A pretty walk-able city/town,  short flight from the NYC area, good weather and most importantly great places to indulge in food and wine pre and post race.   We ended up with 3 out of 4. 

Happy to be warm inside before the start 

Overall experience with the Charleston Marathon was excellent.  It is a smaller marathon, 5,000 runners between 3 events (5k, half marathon and full marathon).   The race had an 8am start which was an awesome treat not having to pull yourself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning; unfortunately a cold front came through during the night resulting in unseasonably cold and windy conditions.  As an endurance athlete living with asthma I try to avoid at all cost cold blistering windy conditions, cold air and asthmatic lungs just do not get along.   Before I left for Charleston I had thrown in a few extra warm gear items which came in handy on race day.  The race started promptly at 8am.  The first 8 miles you are running with the half marathoners which was awesome, as fellow NJ Tri Devil, Karen Whitaker, was running the half marathon distance.  It was fun to have a running buddy the first few miles together, but I did get slightly emotional while running and I thought about how awesome sport is in general that after 28 years of friendship we were running together and still chasing down dreams. As we ran side by side we both tried to ignore the fact that the wind was so strong. We felt like it was blowing us backwards and could not believe how cold it was.  We were both trying to be positive for the other person and confident in our heads that there is no way this wind can maintain for the whole race.  

I have heard before, from more then one person including coaches and friends (Melanie Fink and Brian Shea), DO NOT rely on your GPS while racing, but even armed with this information I choose to ignore it, apparently the GPS had the miles a little short (or the course was a little long, I like this alternative) as right away my mile time was buzzing on the watch before I hit the mile marker on course.  The miles were clicking off right at the pace I wanted, but as I learned later on the miles were clicking off at less then a mile therefore I was slower then where I thought I would be.  Due to some illness and a bout with my breathing a month out I knew my original goal had to be re-set, but when I saw the positive numbers on the watch I decided to try and go for it and get a little closer to the original number I had set.  With the conditions along the course I was hurting pretty bad, and the there were some very lonely parts when you are out there on your own.  Over the years in previous races when ever I knew I was going to see Brian (“The Other Cullen”) I would always have in my head what I was going to say to him, but I kept my mouth closed this time and actually listened, until he said to me I was on pace for a 3:22 marathon.  I almost stopped in my tracks.  Could it be the Garmin was wrong? I thought for sure I would be under 3:20 or just knocking at the door.  So this was disappointing as I was really hurting at this point and was not sure where I could dig from to keep it going.  So I decided to take another of my favorite new gels GU Salted Carmel and see what I could do the last 6 miles or so.  The wheels really started to come off and I had to dig down and find every positive self-talk in my head.  In the end I ended up running a 3:22:59, but I can honestly say I left nothing out there and that is what I had on that day.  Both myself and my coach Melanie Fink  are happy with the results given the fact it was a less them perfect training block, as it is most times for us busy age group athletes.

Wheels starting to fall off 

Nutrition:  Pre Race meal I had full fat Greek yogurt berry smoothie, plus coconut water and GU electrolyte tablets.  On course I carried a 10oz bottle of the GU electrolyte and took 4 GU gels over the course of the race.  I have been experimenting with a less sugar higher fat diet I think this still needs to be tweaked a little further, as Brian Shea (PBN) and I discussed a few other options that might be helpful next endurance event.

Done!

This was a great race and super fun time with friends that joined us for the weekend (including fellow Tri Devils Dave Howard, Karen and Mark Whitaker and of course my hubby, the other Cullen). I truly enjoyed the journey to Charleston and all the fabulous laughs with my hubby and good friends over great meals and incredible wine.