| |
Main
Date: 04 Dec 2006 12:04:07
From: Doug Freese
Subject: race report: Columbia metric marathon 26.2k, Dec 3 (long)
|
From: "Tom B." <tom.banchy@gmail.com >
Subject: race report: Columbia metric marathon 26.2k, Dec 3 (long)
Date: Sunday, December 03, 2006 3:24 PM
> Man what a great day.
A great effort!
>So... at mile 3.5, I was alone, and the lead pack was now totally out
of sight. Only 13 or so miles to go. Well, wouldn't you know, I was
absolutely alone the entire rest of the way. >
For most road races it is rare to have no one in sight for long periods
of time. For many of my races I have had to run alone for 4-5 hours
with the only humans being the aid stations every hour or more. I'm used
to running solo in a crowd, did you find it harder mentally and/or
physically to hold pace without some body to focus on? For me and I'm
sure most others that end up in a gap, it is even harder when you're not
having a good day. ;)
-Doug
|
|
| |
Date: 04 Dec 2006 06:26:52
From: Tom B.
Subject: Re: race report: Columbia metric marathon 26.2k, Dec 3 (long)
|
Doug Freese wrote:
> From: "Tom B." <tom.banchy@gmail.com>
> For most road races it is rare to have no one in sight for long periods
> of time. For many of my races I have had to run alone for 4-5 hours
> with the only humans being the aid stations every hour or more. I'm used
> to running solo in a crowd, did you find it harder mentally and/or
> physically to hold pace without some body to focus on? For me and I'm
> sure most others that end up in a gap, it is even harder when you're not
> having a good day. ;)
I think I've got the right mindset to do these long solo stretches.
But it is a bit of a regret sometimes not to have a chance to find out
whether a crowd could psychologically tow me along to a faster time.
In the one ultra I did, I really liked the combination of solitude on
the trail, then joking it up and having a great time at the aid
stations.
In the "small pond" road races I usually run, the solo stuff is not
that uncommon for me. Lance will probably tag this as a cherry-pick,
but my first marathon was like this. Off the front at 2 miles, then
alone the rest of the way. Although there were 3 spots where we
rounded pylons, so I got a chance to see the whole field going the
opposite way.
The longest solo effort I ever did was with a group of 3 other buddies.
We biked the C&O canal towpath from Cumberland, MD to DC. These guys
were all good riders, so they dropped me like a bad habit after about 2
hours of pre-dawn riding in the dark (this was October, so not enough
daylight hours for the whole distance). The next 11 hours were solo,
just trying to keep pushing the whole time, only one 15-minute stop. I
kept picturing them standing around by the car at the finish, tapping
their feet impatiently, waiting for "the slow guy" to freakin' finish
already.
|
|
