Dubai Marathon Preparation and Race
January 24, 2014
Warning! This is
going to be a very detailed and bor-ing report of my marathon prep and race! It
is a reference for myself and …. You’ve been warned!!!
Last year when my friend Kirstin
came all the way out from Chicago to run the marathon and I was the mere spectator,
the itch to run a marathon after a more than 10 year hiatus came to me. Even my
friend joked, “I came ALL the way out from Chicago to run this thing, and it is
in your backyard.” True, true. Not only that, but my running group, the Dubai
Creek Striders, basically caters all their fall/winter runs to the Dubai
marathon, so there is NO excuse there. As the year went by, I got more and more
determined to run it and even though hadn’t formally announced it, had it in my
head that I was going to do it. After my trip to Tanzania and I came back a big
oaf from all the eating I did after climbing Kilimanjaro, I was ready. I gave
myself monthly goals… September I would ease into getting back into shape,
which was a lot harder than I thought because I had a hard time re-adjusting to
the heat. Then come October, I would be more conscious of my eating and build
up my training till race day.
Training Monthly Schedule:
·
October – Run with the “slow” social group and
then Ram’s group, over 6 min/km to 5:45 min/km
·
November – Run with middle group, Brian’s group
at 5:30-5:45 min/km
·
December – Continue with Brian’s group but wean
into Graham’s group, 5:15-5:30 min/km
·
January – Run with Graham’s group (which was
more like 5:00 – 5:15 min/km) and under
Again, this doesn’t make sense to
any non-Creek Strider, but it was all fairly strategic. Basically, Graham’s
group were primarily aiming to run 3:30 marathons and Brian’s group was more
around where I was, 3:45 marathon time, but darn him, he went away on holiday
for what seemed like forever, and then it was either go to the slower group or
challenge myself and go to the faster group (where was the in between??). I
initially did the slower group then went to the faster group, which helped me
as a confidence booster because I more or less kept up! Yay! All and all, I
pushed myself harder than I would normally, so thank you DCS!!
Training Daily Schedule (over a 3-month period of time):
Sundays: Tempo run on treadmill (every 5 minutes inc either incline
or speed) for an hour. Then strength train at the gym and do core/ab stuff
(planks, etc).
Mondays: Swim with Dubai Masters Swim Club (DMSC) – competitive
interval swimming.
Tuesdays: Interval run workouts! I think this made the biggest
difference with my success at the marathon. When we met after the marathon, we
realized most of us got best times, so something must be right, right? The
intervals were loooong intervals, usually by minutes (5 min, 7 min, 10 min, 12
min, 15 min, 10 min, 7 min, 5 min OR 15, 20, 30 minute run at different paces).
All and all, it was basically running hard for awhile, a change from the LSD
(long slow distance) we get used to as endurance runners. Thanks to Phil Clarke
and his coaching and leading these groups! I dreaded them all day Tuesday, but
felt so great afterwards. Again, one of those ‘tough but feel good’ things.
Wednesdays: 2-3 months out I was just doing my own boring runs
around Safa Park on my own, 3-4 laps, about 9-12 km. Then some people from the
DCS were doing 15km in the mornings and I joined them, much more fun to run
with other people! Then would do again some strength training usually at home.
**Note; I read somewhere that we should practice running on tired legs.
So basically the Tuesday night intervals were from 6:15pm to about 8pm. Then
the Wednesday morning long runs were at 5:30am to 7 am. Indeed a quick
turnover! I might as well have slept in my running clothes! But after a few
times doing that, my legs were less and less tired. So I felt that really
helped.**
Thursdays: This varied if I was working or not because when I work
Saturdays I get Thursdays off, but if not, I’m working. So when I WASN’T
working and was off, normally did FlyWheel spin class early in the morning,
sometimes Hot Bikram yoga (HBY) or pilates, and another swim with the DMSC. Or do swimming first then pilates or spinning
later. Sometimes all 3 of those, but usually 2. If I WAS working, would do the
spinning before work and then go swimming after work. Sounds nazi, but it was
manageable.
Fridays; The looong endurance runs! To be detailed later, he he.
Then Hot Bikram Yoga – which I felt REALLY REALLY helped with the recovery from
the runs!
Saturdays: If I was working would just do stair climbing up and
down the Index Towers (80 flights) for an hour after work. If I wasn’t working,
would do swimming in the morning, and try to do stairs. Overall, I was mostly
working Saturdays Dec and Jan, so was just doing the stair climbing.
Phew! So yes, 7 days a week of
exercise, BUT all different things. 4 days a week of running, one tempo, one
interval (speed), one medium distance, and one longer distance.
Training Weekly Schedule:
Here is a breakdown of the longer
runs:
12
weeks out: 24 km
11
weeks out: 25 km
10
weeks out: 26 km
9
weeks out: NOTHING (had a course that weekend)
8
weeks out: 29 km
7
weeks out: ½ marathon RACE (Dubai
Creek Striders ½ marathon!)
6
weeks out: 30 km
5
weeks out: 33 km
4
weeks out: 30 km
3
weeks out: 34 km
2
weeks out: 26 km
1
week out: 16 km
MARATHON!
January 24, 2014
Last 2 weeks:
·
2 weeks before (tapering): Mostly the same, but
took out the Monday tempo treadmill run and strength training and also took out
the stair climbing. Still did swimming, intervals (was catered towards the
marathon) and the long Fri run and yoga afterwards.
·
1 week before (tapering): Friday did the 16km
run and yoga, Saturday nothing, Sunday nothing (NO treadmill tempo run or
strength training, actually slept in!!), Monday swam, Tuesday did 6-7km easy
run, then nothing till race day. Imagine – so much rest! I was almost beside
myself with NOT exercising! Almost felt like my legs atrophied, ha hah.
Also, really made a point of
RESTING!!! The last week got around if not more than 8 hours of sleep a night, and that week before around
7-8 hours of sleep. Was AWESOME and felt again, sooo rested and relaxed.
Nutrition:
With eating, more or less ate
fairly healthy the 3 months before the marathon. But before one gets too
impressed, there were definitely times when I cheated big time, but they were
never really that bad of cheats and quickly got back in it. Ate fairly healthy
during the week (quinoa raw salad!), and weekends would lighten up a bit.
I think I mentioned before that
the last few months, I had some motivation for the marathon but also because I
just don’t think it sits well with me anymore, but I have (mostly) been dairy
free! The biggest feat was giving up cheese because loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove
cheese! That was one of my first words in Serbian, which I pronounced like
“seal.” Heheh. So that was a big o
change. My meals were basically overnight oats (oats with buckwhat, various
seeds (including chia), nuts with water or some kind of almond or rice milk or
mostly water. You put a little more liquid in it and basically it absorbs all
the flavors of the nuts, oats, and seeds, put it in the fridge overnight, and the
next morning it comes out this delicious filling breakfast, which I also add
blueberries and cinnamon. Yum!), lunchtime usually vegetables with some kind of
protein (plain roasted chicken breast, lentil dishes, bean burgers, etc), and
because I was getting home so late from all these sporting activities, my
‘dinner’ was usually a veggie juice (apple, spinach, parsley, celery, beetroot,
carrot, cucumber, zucchini, lemon, ginger)… and umm.. maybe not so healthy but
delish, I small couple of tablespoons of tahini mixed with honey, he hee.
Weekends I admit I wasn’t too too strict, you still have to enjoy the pleasures
in life, so I enjoyed that, but tried not to get too unhealthy.
2 weeks before in preparation for pre-marathon
week as it is advised to GAIN 2-3 lbs. Soo… they say to start of the week with
high protein and go to no protein, and then start off low carb then ONLY carb
the 2+ days beforehand. Sooo… after so much healthy eating, it was actually odd
to ONLY eat bread and pasta. And because I am ‘dairy-free’ (NOT good before
running especially, it said to create mucous and inflammation in the body)
those 2 days before the marathon it was just plain spaghetti or pasta with
light tomato sauce.
No Pressure Approach – Gizmos:
When I think back to my
Cincinatti Flying Pigs Marathon, my last best time at 3:41, I remember just
running without a watch (I think?). I started running with the Oak Park Runners
Club, and being that it was my 2nd marathon, felt more prepared and
basically had one of those AWESOME races when everything went right (despite
the hilly course) and dropped almost 20 minutes off my previous time. Being that
I was so close to Boston qualifying (back then it was 3:40), I Nazi trained for
the Chicago marathon – home court advantage, my home city, I had nothing to
lose, right? Well, I got nazi about timing every mile and had one of those
bracelet things (back then, no Garmin’s
- this is 2002, haha) that tracked you to get a 3:40. Anyhoo, long story
short I was ‘off’ the pacing they suggested, and I just mentally checked out
and was done. I think physically I was okay, but just mentally wasn’t there – I
finished a 3:48, which I was disappointed in. Then came the London Marathon
which was a disaster from the beginning and got my worst time (PW – Personal Worst)
at 4:20. So my last memory was putting too much pressure on myself with
timings. So now it’s 2013/2014 and EVERYONE has a fancy Garmin… when I was
running, everyone’s watches were beeping and buzzing and it was almost amusing.
I decided to NOT put too much pressure on myself and NOT even buy one, to stick
to my little ‘ol Target $40 Timex watch. With everyone pacing around me during
long runs and intervals, I could more or less figure out my pace. Come
marathon, I was going to ‘run how I feel.” People thought I was crazy, but
whatever. So I started my watch, hit the 10km watch, saw that I was wee bit
behind pace, then picked up the pace and come ½ marathon, was still a wee bit
behind what would be between 3:40-3:45 marathon.
After the 1/2 way mark
Then I realized I accidentally
pressed “stop” instead of “reset” and …. There you have it – back to my
original plan of “running how I feel.” So after the ½-way point, I literally
put myself in what I called “cruise control,” a pace I could maintain and still
be strong and off I went.
My "cruise control" - no stopping me!!
Here were my splits:
1st 1/2 marathon : 1:48:56
2nd ½ marathon: 1:49:05
Then:
10km:
55:08 – 5:31 min/km
½ marathon:
1:48:56 – 4:51 min/km
30
km: 2:35:23 – 5:13 min/km
Finish:
3:38:01 – 5:09 min/km
Avg pace: 5:10 min/km
At about 28km
Lo and behold, I think it’s close
enough to say it, I almost negative split! That is UNHEARD of in marathons,
UNHEARD of!!! I mean my last leg to be the 2nd fastest???! Even I’m
shocked at that, ha ha.
Soo… again, VERY pleased!!!
Near the finish
Post-marathon blues… and recovery:
Well, there is a TON of
information about preparing for a marathon, but there is not as much about the
blues that we suffer from afterwards. Months of anticipating and preparation
are gone, and now, even though I have a couple of things ahead, I’ve been feeling
the blues. Talking to other runners, this is TOTALLY normal. What has been the
hardest part is that the whole week after I’ve had this gi-normous appetite!
OMG, all of a sudden so many foods I have eliminated from my diet are screaming
at me, and as before I had the will power to say “NYET,” this time around I’m a
victim (hellooo cheese!). So of course feel blah because I’m eating more and
exercising less… and because of all the recent rest (tapering) for the
marathon, feel like I lost all my muscle mass and again, legs atrophied. Sigh.
Here have been the 2 weeks after the marathon so far:
Friday, Jan 24th: MARATHON!
Saturday:
Eat pretty much all day, no exercise
Sunday:
No exercise
Monday:
Swim
Tuesday:
9km ‘recovery’ run where I almost felt as sore as the marathon! It was tough!
And was even sore after, although after the swim, I was feeling pretty good.
Sigh.
Wed:
SLEEP IN and rest, no exercise
Thursday:
Swim
Friday:
Run 18 km with the group and then do Hot bikram yoga…. Usual stuff I’ve been
doing for months and months. But why did the little ‘ol 18km feel like I was
running with weights on my legs? It was tough, again. And I hardly putzed
through the HBY class. Sigh. All these things are slightly demotivating.
Saturday:
Rest, no exercise. Still had heavy appetite L
Sunday:
Set my alarm to do a little run, buuuuuuuut, rolled right over and decided it
was better for me to sleep for an extra 1.5 hours. OMG, I have NOT NOT done a
run or planned exercise in almost a year. But really, hadn’t gotten good sleep
the last week and felt I needed it, he he.
Monday:
Spin class in am, Swim in pm -> finally feeling almost normal, blues going
away…
Tuesday:
“Intervals” – FINALLY felt like my legs were normal again, we started actual
sprinting stuff versus these long fast intervals, this was 2 min x 2, 4 min x 6
min, and back to 2 min x 2 min -> 5km to 10km pace. Eek! Realize how much I
DON’T have speed, but overall, finally feel good! Yay!!
Wed:
Run EASY, about 15km.
Thurs:
Swim
Fri:
Wadi Bih!!!
Sat:
REST
Summary:
Overall,
as you (well, I see because I don’t know if anyone would wanted to read
something so detailed about bor-ing ‘ol running, he he!) see, lots of training
and dedication. Sometimes in life we can get by with things when we don’t
prepare, but marathons is NOT one of them. I think ALL that I did REALLY got be
confident. I wasn’t really that nervous
how I usually am before races because really, I did absolutely everything I could
to prepare. I didn’t skip or miss any important work-outs and really did
everything right. I remember at 36km I started to feel a niggle of a cramp at
my foot…. Then went to my calf. I remember thinking, “noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
This is NOT happening, stay strong!” And kinda tried to change how I ran which
helped (and thank you compression socks!). It happened again just a km or two later,
but I really fought it mentally and somehow made it through. Really, the mental
strength was the key to the success. So as I wasn’t running with a watch, I REALLY
had NOOOOOOOOOOOOO idea of where I was. No joke. I mean, I was passing people
at the end, although felt I had slowed down a lot, but still had 3:45 in my
head. When I started approaching the finish line and saw 3:39 something, I
literally was in SHOCK!! I couldn’t believe it!!!! I crossed that line
sooooooooooooooooo happy! Finished strong and with a FINAL time of 3:38:01, a
time I NEVER NEVER NEVER dreamed of, it was sooo rewarding!!! I maybe thought
if all goes well, I could MAYBE finagle a 3:40 if “all the stars were align”
but even less than that was crazy! Then with that time, I qualified for Boston,
again, a feat I didn’t think I could ever do, it was a sweet victory!
Soo… if all goes well, I will be Boston Bound 2015!!!!!
My fave pic of them all!!!
Am I smiling here? hehe - At the finish line :-)
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