June 4, 2022 | Ojai, CA
Adjusted Chip Time: 2:59:50
I am sooooooo stoked to share my experiences at the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon! It was a crazy training block filled with highs and lows and a complete spectrum of emotions. I'll have future posts on the types of training I did to prepare for my first marathon, but for now, I mostly want to just highlight the race and the week leading up to it. Hope you enjoy!
From Left to Right: Zac (me), Trey, Carrie, Mitch
Race Day Fit:
Shoes: Nike Vaporfly NEXT% 2
Sunglasses: Oakley Sutro
Taper / Race Week
I gave myself a nine day taper for the event. With this being my first marathon / marathon training block, I relied a lot on information online to structure my workout routine, training nutrition, taper, and race day nutrition (I will hit on all of these throughout several blog posts so be on the look out!).
For my last big workout before the taper, I got in a 22 mile run at Lake Mary Road. I wanted to simulate race day conditions as much as possible, so I woke up at 5AM and started running at 6:30AM (the official race day start was scheduled for 6AM but since this is only a training run, I thought I would let myself have an extra 30min of sleep). In the morning, I had my planned meal for race day: coffee, a bagel, honey and sliced banana. I took Clif Shot Energy Gels (Mocha and Citrus flavors) during the run at miles 5.5, 10, 15.5, and 18. With this being my longest run of training, I felt pretty great. I followed the run with a 45 minute recovery walk, balanced meal of carbs and protein (oatmeal sludge bowl), Therabody leg compression boots, and 9+ hours of sleep. Needless to say, after a big workout, I was ready to taper for the race.
Taper week consisted of a lot of stretching, sleeping, sauna, Therabody compression leg recovery, etc. Pretty much every tool in my toolbox to get myself race ready. It is actually pretty crazy how after training for 20 weeks, you get used to running 50+ miles per week. So when you taper down to ~20 miles, your legs feel brand new. In addition to keeping the daily mileage short during the taper, I wanted to make sure to keep the runs slow, with a heartrate below 155bpm per the Maffetone Method.
In terms of taper week nutrition, I tried to eat a carbohydrate heavy diet. I primarily ate simple carbs (bagels, pasta, rice, bananas, oatmeal, honey) so my stomach would digest all of the food before race day. I wanted to make sure that I didn't have to make any pitstops during the race for the bathroom. Disclaimer: When I say that I ate a "carbohydrate heavy diet," I didn't eat a lot more calories than normal until the last couple days of the taper (around 3 days out from the race: Thursday night - Sunday morning). I just switched the fats / protein in my diet to simple carbs as the week went along.
Carrie (running the half marathon) and I planned on driving from Flagstaff to Ojai after work on Thursday (8.5 hour drive). But during our ride over, our friend, Nicole, said that she came down with COVID-19. We were planning on staying with Nicole and had no idea what to do, so we decided to stop at my friend Mitch's house in Torrance, CA (Mitch was also running in the marathon). After crashing on an air mattress, we made our way to Ojai, where we decided that we would sleep in the garage on a couple of mattresses, Nicole would stay in her room, and we would hangout in the backyard until the race. The average low in Ojai was 52 degrees at night, so sleeping in the garage was really no big deal. Sometimes when life gives you lemons, you gotta make lemonade!
Mitch and Trey drove up on Saturday to meet us at Nicole's. Besides going to the Expo/Packet-Pickup, we tried to stay off our feet. After packet pickup, we went back to Nicole's and moved the television outside so we could all play some MarioKart (my all-time favorite videogame) together! We had a nice pasta dinner (not huge, but not small) and played trivia. It was good to be with a ton of friends to keep my mind off any pre-race day nerves. Knowing we all had to get up early, we hit the hay pretty early, around 9:00PM.
Race Day
We woke up early around 4:00AM. Surprisingly I was able to sleep well throughout the night, despite all of the nerves and excitement surrounding running in my first marathon. We all took turns in the bathroom getting ready (washing face, brushing teeth, etc.). I made a pot of coffee and started cranking out bagels in the toaster for everyone. I had my typical race day breakfast of a bagel topped with honey and banana (TECHNICAL EXPLANATION: simple carbs for fast conversion to energy in the form of glycogen in the muscles and liver).
Mitch and I got a ride to the starting line, where I met Aidan, who was also attempting to run a sub-3hr marathon (sadly, he barely missed it with a 3:00:18.18). Once we got to the starting line area, Mitch and I ditched our jackets and sweats at the bag check (where we would get them back after the race) and went to the bathroom lines. Since Mitch was going for a 3:45, we were in different corrals and had to separate.
The weather was the perfect amount of cool with little to no breeze. And the race took place right as the sun was rising. It was absolutely beautiful! I stood next to the 3:00 pacers and the herd of other runners also attempting to break 3. With all of my nerves and not knowing much about running in a marathon event with so many other runners, I probably stood a little too close to the pacers, but I didn't want to get separated from them lol. Going into the race, I planned on using a negative split marathon (where you run the last half faster than the first) especially because most of the elevation gain of the course would come in the first 7 miles.
So I stayed with the 3 hour pacing group for the first 10 miles of the race. The pacers were so helpful! It can be tempting to take out of the gates super fast, but having people to help you control your excitement and stick to a pacing plan was really nice. And the pacers kept giving tips during the run: pour water over your head at aid stations to keep you cool, keep your shoulders loose, keep your elbows close to your body, keep your face relaxed, etc. I definitely left this race as a more knowledgeable runner because of them. If you are reading this M2B pacing team, thank you!!
I noticed around mile 7 that my watch distance was off-sync with the mile markers on the course. All of the other runners (including the pacing team) were experiencing the same differences. It wasn't until after the race that we learned that all of the runners ended up running a wrong turn that resulted in an extra ~.45mi. So like I said before, I tried to pick up my pace at mile 10, leaving the pacing group and tried to put myself on a course to hitting sub 3 even with the extra mileage.
A combination of training at elevation in Flagstaff and running downhill per the course profile really helped in getting to faster paces (around 6:50/mile). I felt super great the entire beginning of the race and didn't begin to experience any struggles until mile 19 where my legs began to feel pretty heavy, but even then I felt fine from a cardiovascular perspective. Because I felt so fine, I was really able to take in the beautiful scenery around the course: from the mountain range, to all the greenery, to the bands banging on their drums on the side of the road.
I had planned on starting to run after at mile 20, but due to the heaviness of my legs, I kept pushing it back farther and farther, telling myself in my mind "Okay Sutcliffe, next mile your really kick it into gear." Finally, at mile 24, I knew that I would have to start increasing my pace to get sub-3. I pushed hard those last two miles, and then with around .5 miles left, I let it all out. I ran so hard that my vision began to blur until fading into complete blackness and my hearing went silent as I sprinted through the finish, despite plenty of cheering spectators lining the streets.
Post-Race
Barely crossing the finish line without blacking out, I motioned my way through the finish corral to pick up my medal and a cup of water. I stopped and bent over at one of the gates to regain full consciousness. I was pretty worried that I was going to pass out, but after resting for a few minutes I was able to walk over to the group of supporters (Carrie, Trey, Nicole's mom and friends). We talked about our respective races and snacked on bananas/cookies/candy while we waited for Mitch to finish the marathon.
I was pretty upset that the times posted were saying that I finished in 3:02:26 since my watch said I finished in 2:59 and I knew that the course was off. I really wanted to bang the Boston Qualifier gong at the finish line, but I knew that I could talk to the race officials/race director to get the matter settled at a later time so I could still apply for Boston.
Mitch ended up finishing in 3:40 (beating his goal for 3:45), Trey finished the half in 1:40 (beating his goal to finish), and Carrie finished the half in 1:25 (beating her goal of 1:30 and putting her 3rd in her division // 10th out of 568 female runners // 48th overall out of 983). That being said, we were all super stoked on our performances!
We skipped the beer garden (everyone forgot their IDs) and went back to Nicole's house. After a biggggg post-race breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, hash-browns, bagels and fruit, we all took big naps on the couch.
I took a walk to shake out the lactic acid in my legs and to call my parents / Tess to give them a full recap of the weekend. I literally could not stop smiling as I walked with my medal moving from side to side across my chest. I was so proud I wore it all the way to bed that night!
After a good night's rest, Carrie and I drove back to Flagstaff. With that, it was time to rest and recover and start training for the IRONMAN in October
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