I ran the Houston Marathon yesterday, finishing in a time of 3:26:24.
The omens were bad when I boarded my flight to Houston, scheduled to depart at 6:10 am on Friday the 13th. From my window seat as we waited to push back, I could see heavy rain blown by strong winds. I checked the seat pocket and noted that I was on the infamous Boeing 737 Max 8 jet, now back in service in the US.
But the flight went well, other than a rough takeoff and a bit of turbulence, and we landed in Houston both early and intact. I decided to take this as a positive indication for the weekend.
[obligatory note here: I actually do think that the Max 8 jets are probably the safest aircraft out there at this point, given the level of scrutiny given to them before they went back in the air]
After landing, I grabbed a cab from IAH to my hotel. As an aside, one of the few things I don't like about Houston is the lack of public transportation to/from the airport. I always like to take public transportation when possible - both for environmental reasons and because it's a cool way to experience a different city. When you take a cab, you are separate from the city; when you take a bus or train, you're in the city.
It seems like most major cities at this point have at least a specialized shuttle service or express bus that will take you directly from the airport to downtown. But not Houston. The only offering was a regular bus that would take 60-90 minutes to get to downtown. A trip that long would be cutting into precious Chipotle carb-loading time, so I sucked it up and grabbed a taxi.
So essentially, when given a choice between the environmental high road or Chipotle, I chose Chipotle.
***
For the Houston expo this year, we were asked a week in advance to choose a 15 minute timeslot for attending the expo. Each 15 minute timeslot had a maximum capacity of 500 people. I had selected 9:30 am on Saturday but was able to swap that to 2 pm on Friday pretty easily once I landed. Nobody checked my information or my timeslot once I got to the expo, so it seems that the timeslots were request and not strict requirement.
In years past, Houston has given out one race shirt at the expo and then a second shirt when you finish. This year, they changed that - I received a nice bag at the expo, and then a shirt and a glass mug after finishing the race. Which was cool - before I was never quite sure which shirt was the official race shirt (answer: both of them).
As an aside, it seems that race shirt practices really vary based on region of the US. On the east coast, you get your shirt when you attend the expo, and can exchange it there. On the west coast, you get your shirt when you attend the expo, but can only exchange it for another size post-race.
And then there's the middle of the US, where you get your shirt after finishing the race (unless you're the Houston of prior years, where you did both). I guess one of the benefits of a post-race shirt practice is that you have to buy slightly less shirts.
***
The rest of the weekend pre-race was pretty boring, as it should be before a marathon. I did a four mile shakeout on Saturday (up from my normal two miles) and bought more Chipotle as well as some sunscreen. The weather on Saturday was great for racing (45 degrees) but the forecast was trending warmer for Sunday, and sunscreen was the one thing I hadn't shipped to myself.
I experimented with a different taper this time. I've had a taper schedule that worked well for years, but I've found that my recent neurologic issues get worse with more rest. At Chicago, I used my standard taper, and my legs felt very fresh but really really stiff. So this time I didn't taper quite as much, with some subtle increases. A 5K tempo 10 days out became 4 miles, and 12 miles moderate 7 days out became 14 miles with the last 4 at marathon effort. I also ran a mile or two more each day than I have in previous tapers. My legs felt fantastic during my Saturday shakeout, which were a sign that I made the right changes to my taper. Of course the true test would be on race morning.
***
For my neurologic/dystonia stuff, I'm currently on a medication called carbidopa/levodopa that I'm supposed to take every 5 hours (can shorten this to 3:30), which usually seems to last about 4 hours after I take it. I'm supposed to take it when I first wake up, and then every 5 hours after that. It takes about 20-30 minutes to kick in - giving me a fairly small window of when it works. I also have to take it 30 minutes after eating or 2 hours before. So it's a bit tricky planning this around running a marathon.
I ended up going with the following on race morning: I woke up at 2:45 am, took the first dose, and went back to bed. Then I woke up at 4 am and ate breakfast. After that, I did my stretching and then went for an 8 minute shakeout around 5:30 am. Came back to the hotel (conveniently located 3 blocks from my corral entrance), used the bathroom once again, and then grabbed a little baggie with a few tablets of the C/L (I only take one tablet, but wanted extras in case I dropped one) and headed over to the corral. The race started at 7:01, and so I took the next tablet at 6:30 am, hoping that I had hit the timing right. And then I entered my corral.
I've run Houston twice before, but this was my first time in the A corral. Honestly, it wasn't much different from the ADP corral. I saw signs for various pacers, and decided to seed myself behind the 3:35 group, and then plan to chase down as many pace groups as I could during the race.
At around 6:55 the A corral was moved into place behind the start line, elites, and ADP corral. There was a fresh set of portapotties available for last minute use there - a very nice touch by the Houston organizers (though I suspect the primary purpose of those portapotties was for the elites during their warm-up - we were now standing in what was their space).
The race started at 7:01, but I didn't cross the start line until around 7:05. Despite my best efforts, my legs were awfully stiff and awkward the first few miles - a combination of standing still, the darkness, a fairly strong tailwind, and being surrounded by many other people - all of which are triggers for my neuro issues. But I knew this would be the case and I'd just have to be patient - the good thing about marathons is that there's a lot of opportunity to make up time. And sure enough after the first 10 minutes my legs loosened up and I was able to start really running.
***
I ran this race by feel as I always do, not looking at my watch. I generally have two racing marathon plans.
-One is for when I'm feeling sure of my fitness and the weather, and am willing to take risks for a top performance - that plan is basically very easy for the first mile, careful for the next 5-6, and then lock into a hard rhythm, hopefully starting to hammer around 20-21.
-The second for when the weather or my fitness is uncertain - in that case I run cautiously for the first 16 and then plan to pick it up the last 10 miles if I am able. This is a safer strategy that can still result in a really good performance, since 10 miles is enough space to really make up time if I am feeling good then. And if I'm not, or if the weather has worsened, then I'm still set up to pull out a decent performance.
It was 58 degrees when we started, and the forecast was for temperatures to rise during the race, so I went with the second plan. At least it wasn't very humid, and the forecast was for overcast skies and a brisk breeze, both of which would help with the heat.
***
Once my legs started working, I began to slowly reel in the 3:35 and then 3:30 groups. The 3:30 group was massive, and I was stuck behind them, unable to pass, around mile 7. I knew that the race would get less congested once the half-marathon split off at around 7.5, so I just backed off on the effort and hung out there until I had space to pass.
By mile 9-10 I was feeling really good - my gait felt strong and smooth and I was starting to roll. I opened up a bit but decided to not push it too much. And this ended up being a good decision as around mile 14 the sun came out and I started to wilt a bit. I think if I had trained in the summer the weather would not have been too much of a factor. But it's hard to train in 20-30 degrees and then race a long race in the mid-60s, and bright sunshine above wasn't a great combination with light concrete underneath.
Fortunately a bit later the sun went behind the clouds and I felt a bit better. I kept pounding the water, refilling my water bottle every second water station. I had a bit of a salt craving and belatedly realized I didn't have any lemonade roctanes on me (those are heavily salted), so that was a mis-step. My Maurten gels would have to do.
Around mile 18, we turned right and started what seemed like a very gentle and extended rolling downhill that would take us all the way to the finish. Old me would have loved this and rocked the heck out of it. But current me had neuro issues that were starting to act up, and it felt like I was going to trip over my own feet on the downslopes. The slight climbs were great, and I could reel in many people going up. But as soon as we turned back downhill, it became a battle again not to trip. And since more of this part was down than up, I spent a lot of time trying to run as fast as I could without falling. Oh well, it was what it was.
About this time, it was really starting to heat up, to around 70 degrees according to Weather Underground. It actually was not as bad as I expected - we had cloud cover again, and also a stiff breeze from the east that was cooling. My main limiter here was not the temperature or the headwind, but my own two feet. It was frustrating, in that aerobically and muscularly I think I could have gone faster - I just couldn't get my own feet to cooperate. In particular, my big toe on my right foot was clenching, making it very hard to roll through my gait on that foot. But again, it was what it was, and I just had to work with what I had.
***
The final 1200m was through downtown Houston to the finish. When I ran the half-marathon, this part took forever and felt awful. But this time it felt pretty good. Most likely because I wasn't maxed out aerobically. When we passed the 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile marks, I tried to kick (I had plenty of energy to do so), but the dystonia was in full bloom, and so I really couldn't go any faster. But hey, I got to the finish and crossed it, and that was a good thing.
****
Splits were:
Mile 1: 8:47
Mile 2: 7:58
Mile 3: 8:07
Mile 4: 7:49
Mile 5: 7:42
Mile 6: 7:45
Mile 7: 7:38
Mile 8: 7:55 (stuck behind 3:30 pace group)
Mile 9: 7:39
Mile 10: 7:45
Miles 11-12: 15:15 (7:38)
Mile 13.1: 8:42 (hit at the half marathon mark instead of 13)
Mile 14: 6:56 (actually .9 mile)
Mile 15: 7:36
Mile 16: 7:41
Mile 17-18: 15:36 (7:48)
Mile 19: 7:54
Mile 20: 8:04
Mile 21: 7:51
Mile 22: 7:49
Mile 23: 8:02
Mile 24: 8:05
Mile 25: 8:02
Mile 26: 7:59
Last .21: 1:44
Overall, I'm happy with it. The time by itself was a new lifetime personal worst for the marathon distance. I came here hoping to run faster than I did at Chicago, and instead I ran 2 minutes slower. At the same time, Chicago was in perfect weather while this race was a bit warm, so I think this was ultimately a much stronger performance, and an indication that things are trending in the right way.
As for the legs losing coordination at the end? I was disappointed but not totally surprised. My understanding is that long duration hard exercise can burn out the carbidopa/levodopa early and shorten the duration of effectiveness (that's been reported by other people with neurological issues running with it), and I'm guessing that's what I experienced. The good news is that I was approved for a longer lasting version of this medication called Rytary, and hopefully that won't have the same issue.
Either way, I knew this race wasn't going to be an impressive performance - I just wanted to test things about, see if I had improved, and execute a marathon well. I accomplished all three and felt like I ran the best race I had in me today, given where I was fitness and neuro-issues-wise. So I'm happy with it.
Other notes:
- I used to use caffeinated GUs in all of my races, but I've found that caffeine seems to aggravate the neuro issues now. So I swapped to Maurten gels for this race. I thought they worked well and I'll probably stick with them for the foreseeable future.
- I did do some last minute heat prep for this race, including overdressing for most of my runs in the last week and doing two sauna sessions. I think they helped somewhat. I also wore my sunsleeves/arm-coolers. They look ridiculous - "why is she wearing arm-warmers when it's hot out" but they really do help with cooling, especially if you splash water on them.
- I really really liked this course, and hope to return to this race when I'm in better shape. It's just as fast as Chicago, I think.
- I flew United to IAH instead of Southwest to HOU (Hobby) this time. Though I really like Southwest, and prefer Hobby airport over IAH, I also really liked how United basically has a flight to DCA every 2 hours from Houston. I was booked on the 4:40 pm flight home but managed to get onto the 2:20 pm flight. Which meant I was home exactly 8 hours after finishing the marathon. It was nice to get home at a decent time, order a massive amount of tacos, and eat them in my own kitchen with Brian and my cats before going to bed.
- United also offers an inflight magazine (Southwest has stopped). I don't care about peanuts or crackers on the plane, but I have this bizarre love for inflight magazines. I especially love looking at the back sections with all the route maps and airport diagrams. Everybody needs a hobby, I guess.
- Also regarding flying, I've decided I've become a real fan of wearing n95 masks when flying, now that it's semi-acceptable. It's not necessarily about the virus avoidance (though that's a plus). It's also that I find that the flight is much less dehydrating and I feel much better after the flight when I wear the n95. I suspect this is because airplane travel is dehydrating due to the continual exhalation of moist air and inhalation of very dry air while in flight. The n95 is uncomfortable and awkward, but it ensures that I inhale moist air, with the result that I feel better post-flight. And it's definitely not as hard on my asthma to wear the n95 in the air as it is when I'm on the ground.
- I ended up on an Airbus 319 for my trip back to DC. After the luxury of the Boeing 737 Max 8 on the way out, with its fancy neon lighting and usb charging ports, the 319 felt very domestic.
- What's next? About a week of easy pool-running, yoga, and junk food, and then returning to running with some hills. I think I'm probably not going to do another marathon this spring; instead I'll focus on shorter stuff and fixing my gait (I'm back in neuro PT now).
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