Flying Pig: Lessons Learned

When it was all said and done, I was not too pleased with myself after the Flying Pig. Sure, I ran a personal best, but it felt far from it and I was not satisfied with the race. The year before, when I ran Green Bay, I felt absolutely elation when I crossed the finish line having run all 26.2 miles and I still had energy in the tank. I wanted that feeling again and Cincinnati did not provide it.

So what went wrong?

For starters, my goal time of 4:30 was completely and unrealistic. I should have tampered this once I realized how much faster it required me to run. My goal of my next marathon will be much more reasonable: 4 hours and 40 minutes.

I started too fast. My first mile was very slow, in part, due to all the people traffic. The first few miles were fine but then I got cocky. My pace started to push 10:00 min/mile.

I felt good! The air was cool. The cloud cover was deceiving. The energy of other racers was high and euphoric. I was going to shatter my PR!

I should have known better, especially from all the long runs where I petered out after running too fast out of the gate and not having enough energy to get home.

By mile 16 I was slowing down ... and still had 10 miles to go! By now, the sun was blazing and the air was much hotter. The clouds had disappeared. Runners had gone silent and the mood was one of survival.

In short: I did not pace myself well and fell into the all-too-common trap of running a race I could not run.

As it turned out, my training plan was not right one for me. I followed plan from the Strava website/app that is based on McMillan Running. I'll talk more about this in a later post. Suffice to say for now, this was a 12-week where each week was a combination of easy runs, long runs, and speed intervals. Come race day, I believe this plan hindered my endurance because it did not prepare me for the distance, because it assumed I could conquer the miles. By the end of the 26.2 miles, I was hurting and could already feel my legs screaming for mercy.

Preparing for a marathon is more than just running. What I wanted to do but was never disciplined enough to do was cross-train. This means doing core exercises, upper, and/or lower body workouts, walking, or some other activity. Sure I played some golf (always walking 9 or 18) on non-running days (and even on days when I ran) but this sport is hardly what one would be considered "cross training."

Diet is another significant part of the equation. I wanted to lose 10 pounds for the race. I lost about 6. Close but no cigar. During my 12 week workout plan, I had moments where I closely watched what I ate but I also had a lot of "loose" moments, meaning I fell victim to my sweet tooth's voice and the wrong mentality of "I'm running 4 days a week, I can eat what I want."

In sum, a lot went wrong in the weeks leading up to the race and all of this only added fuel to the flames of the weather and hilly conditions of the race. Hopefully, I can learn from these experiences.