A few months ago, I started training to race-walk a series of marathons. As part of my training, I’ve been doing progressively longer walks each week. Last Friday, I walked 22.5 miles. This week, I was going to step up to 24.5 miles.
Last weekend, I started seeing
Facebook posts from friends who were running the Heartland Series. That’s a series of seven marathons in seven
days. Each race is in a different
state. They started in Ohio on
Saturday. The next five races were in
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The last race of the series was today in St.
Cloud, Minnesota.
I wasn’t playing that much
attention to the race calendar. I was
training to walk a marathon next weekend.
When I realized the Minnesota race of the Heartland Series was going to
take place the same day I was planning to do my last long training walk, I changed
my plans. Why walk 24.5 miles on my own,
when I could walk 26.2 miles in a fully supported race? I had to go two miles farther, but it was
like a catered training walk.
This isn’t the first time I’ve
done just the last day of this series. I
did the same thing in 2016. Back then,
the Minnesota race of this series was in Albert Lea. Since then, it’s been moved to St.
Cloud. That’s more convenient for
runners who are also doing the Summer Camp Series. That series is also in the St. Cloud area,
and it starts tomorrow.
Is it crazy to sign up for
three extra races during the last week of your marathon training? That’s basically what I did. In addition to today’s race, I’m also going
to do two of the races of the Summer Camp Series. I’ll rest tomorrow, do a marathon on Sunday,
rest Monday, and do another marathon on Tuesday. I’ll stay in St. Cloud the whole time, so I
don’t have to keep driving back and forth.
I’m staying at the same hotel
where I stayed for last year’s Running Ragged 20in20 Series, which was also in
the St. Cloud area. My room has a
kitchenette with a full-size refrigerator.
After arriving in St. Cloud yesterday, I immediately went grocery
shopping.
The course for this morning’s
race was a paved trail that follows the Mississippi River. Like all Mainly Marathon races, it was
multiple laps of a relatively short out-and-back. The out-and-back format serves two purposes. First, it gives all the runners opportunities
to see each other on every lap. Second,
it makes it possible to have one well-stocked aid station, since we keep coming
back to the start/finish area. Each lap
was roughly 2.2 miles. To complete a
marathon, I had to do 12 laps.
In my long training walks, I was
able to keep my average pace under 12 minutes per mile. That took quite a bit of effort, and I
usually felt wiped out afterwards.
Because I’m doing three marathons in five days, I didn’t want today’s
race to be an all-out effort. With that
in mind, I told myself I should be happy with a pace anywhere between 12:00 and
12:30 per mile.
A couple weeks ago, I walked 5K
as fast as I could. I think I overdid
it. Ever since then, I’ve had some sore
muscles. When my pace is 12:00 or
faster, I feel those muscles. With that
in mind, I started walking at a pace that didn’t cause any soreness. The pace felt brisk, but nothing felt
sore. I was surprised to see that I
walked the first mile in 11:33. I eased
up slightly, but still walked the second mile in 11:42. My third mile was 12:09. Not wanting to slow down too much, I picked
up my effort again. The next several miles
ranged from 11:57 to 12:06.
I can think of only two explanations
for why I started so fast. First, I took
a rest day yesterday. Lately, I’ve been
training seven days a week. Some days
are hard, and some days are easy, but I always do at least a few miles of
walking. Yesterday was a complete rest
day, and that may have been the difference.
The other possible explanation was the weather. It was only 58 degrees at the start. My summer training has been in temperatures
ranging from upper 60s to lower 90s. I
can’t remember the last time I went walking in temperatures as cool as 58.
During the pandemic, Mainly
Marathons has changed their aid station procedures. They don’t use any open cups. There was a table where runners could place
bottles with water, Gatorade, or their preferred beverage. If you needed to have a bottle refilled with
water or Gatorade, you took the top off, and a volunteer would refill it from a
pitcher while you held the bottle.
Nobody else ever handles a runner’s bottle.
Various snack foods were separated
into individual portions by volunteers wearing gloves. Then they were put in sealed plastic
bags. You could grab a bag as you went
by the aid station. Nobody else ever
touches your food.
I didn’t eat any solid food
during the race. I just drank
Gatorade. I didn’t feel like I was
drinking that much, but I was only a few laps into the race when I realized I
would eventually need to make a bathroom stop.
There were two port-o-potties next to the course. I waited as long as I could before I stopped. I finally stopped as I was finishing my 5th
lap.
After my bathroom stop, it was
tough getting back into the same rhythm.
It didn’t help that I was trying to get going on the only part of the
course that wasn’t paved. There was a
short section of dirt trail going to and from the parking lot where the aid station
was set up.
Whenever I went through this
section, I regretted not having gaiters.
I was afraid a grain of sand would get into the back of one of my shoes.
When I recorded my next mile
split, I knew it would be slow. It was
13:11. That was my slowest mile so far
by more than a minute. The bathroom stop
accounted for most, if not all, of the extra time. It seemed to take forever to empty my bladder. I don’t know where all that fluid came
from. I didn’t think I was drinking that
much.
In my next mile, I was able to
get back to my previous pace, but it now took more effort. As I finished the first half of the race, I
was almost on pace for 5:15. That was
the easy half of the race. The second
half would be more difficult.
By now, it had warmed up to
about 70 degrees. By the time I finished
it would warm up to 80. Thankfully, most
of the course was well-shaded. If we
were exposed to the sun, it would’ve felt much hotter.
My mile times weren’t as
consistent in the second half. Sometimes
I’d do a mile in 12:14 or 12:15. Then I’d
work to bring my pace back down to 12 minutes or faster.
It gave me a psychological lift
when I finished my 7th lap. Now I could
tell myself I had fewer laps left than the number I had already completed. That helped a little, but not much. I had to keep finding ways to encourage
myself. After eight laps, I told myself
I was two thirds done. Again, that
helped a little, but not enough.
After my 9th lap, I tried
telling myself I was three quarters done.
That didn’t do it. That was too
abstract. It helped more to say I just
had three laps to go.
I couldn’t actually think in
terms of complete laps. I had to focus
on half a lap at a time. I would try to maintain
my effort until the turnaround. Then I’d
keep up my effort coming back. That
worked. I got through my 10th lap.
Most of my long training
workouts were on a 2.25-mile loop. That
was just slightly longer than the laps we were doing today. My longest workout was 10 laps. I had already completed something roughly
equivalent to that, but I still had two laps to go. I continued to take them half a lap at a
time.
My mile times were getting
erratic. I had couple that were as slow
as 12:24. Then suddenly, I recorded a
mile time of 13:18. I found it hard to
believe that I could slow down that much from one mile to the next. I wondered if the heat was taking a toll on
me. To keep up my pace, I needed a fast
turnover. That took focus. When I’m hot and fatigued, I can have lapses in
concentration.
In my next mile, I tried to get
my pace back down to 12. I didn’t know
if it was fast enough. As I finished
that lap and left the aid station to begin my last lap, I saw my next
split. It was 11:23. I didn’t believe that for one second. I may have sped up to 12 minutes, but not
11:23. Now I was even more skeptical
about the previous mile being 13:18. I
no longer trusted the splits from my watch.
It's worth noting that we were
running under a canopy of trees. The
trees gave us shade, but they also prevented my watch from having a clear line
of sight to the GPS satellites. My watch
was probably getting location data only sporadically, and I was getting some
wonky splits as a result. At this point,
it didn’t matter that much. I just had
one lap to go. All that really mattered
was my official time at the finish. I
pressed on at the best pace I could.
I finished in 5:15:44. At the start of the day, I would’ve settled
for anything under 5:30. I was pleased
with my time, but I wondered if I would regret it on Sunday, when I race again.
The medals for this series are designed to link together to form a chain. Every runner who does at least one race in the series gets the top piece with the ribbon. There are separate pieces for each race, in the shape of each state. For runners who do the entire series, there’s an extra piece that goes on the bottom. Since I only did today’s race, I just have the top piece and the Minnesota medal.
Besides my T-shirt and medal, I
also received this plaque. This is for
doing 50 races with Mainly Marathons. That includes a 50K race, 48 marathons, and a
half marathon. I’ve also done a 5K race
with them, but races shorter than a half marathon don’t count toward these
lifetime awards.
There are always people walking some or all of the race at a casual pace. I didn’t expect to see other race-walkers. I saw three. One was an older gentleman who I didn’t recognize. When we were going in opposite directions, I noticed his pace was similar to mine. I passed him once during the race. In that lap, it took a long time for me to catch up and pass him. Another walker asked me if I’ve ever done the We Walk Marathon. I did that race in 2019. Until today, that was the last time I walked a marathon. The third race-walker recognized me from the Savage Seven series in 2019. As it turns out, he’s a race-walking judge. He complimented me on my form. He said I reminded him of European race-walkers. I’ve made some adjustments to my race-walking mechanics this year. Hopefully I’m getting more efficient.
Late in the race, I was noticing a blister on the back of my left heel. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was also noticing some pain in both of my big toes. When I took off my shoes, I saw some purplish discoloration under both of my big toenails. I had developed blood blisters under both of these toenails. They hurt, because the toenails kept them under pressure.
I had a similar problem once before. At first, I couldn’t remember when. Then I realized it was during last year’s Running Ragged 20in20 series. On the second day of that series, I was alternating between running and race-walking. I don’t remember what I did to prevent the same thing from happening in the future. I also don’t remember what I did to relieve the pressure. I may need to re-read some of my race reports from last year. Here’s what I do remember. The course for that race was the same one we’ll be using for Sunday’s race.
I noticed one other thing when I took my shoes off. Some dirt had filtered though my shoes and into my socks. I noticed this around my toes and my heels. That probably contributed to the blisters. I was glad I had leftover pizza from my dinner last night. I didn't want to put on shoes again any sooner than necessary.
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