Indianapolis Monumental Marathon Performance Review

Performance Review ...

3rd Annual Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

November 6, 2010

Indianapolis, Indiana
8th Marathon Completed

• Well prepared - I was ready for the course which was very flat. Often simulated the small rolling hills at the end in my training runs.  Also, drove the course several times the day before and nothing surprised me during the race.  Surprisingly pretty course - I had no idea Indy was this nice.
• Well conditioned - Coming off of the Top Of Utah a few weeks prior, I was still in pretty good shape.  During the training period I ran a personal best Half-Marathon at Kansas City and felt faster than ever.  Core conditioning was good - I was doing about 800 crunches and 400 push ups per week.  Felt as strong as I had ever felt before a marathon. Thought I could run a personal best.
• Travel - Drove about 8 hours to Indianapolis, IN.  Got into town on Friday.  Stayed at the Hampton Inn downtown, which I had stayed at before on baseball trips, so I was familiar with the area.  Really didn't have to move my car a lot - everything you need is right there.
• Pre-Race - Drove the course probably 5 times.  Ate okay, but not great - pizza on Thursday, but fairly normal on Friday.  Tried to carb-up a little at Subway & Cracker Barrel.  Cracker Barrel was not a good choice, probably won't do that again.  Walked across the street on Friday night to Conseco Field House to watch the Indianapolis Pacers play the Milwaukee Bucks.  This was my first NBA game.  Pretty underwhelming.  Got good rest and stretching.  Packed gear bag and laid out clothes the night before. Tried not to drink too much water after about 2pm.  Good strategy - didn't have to stop during the race.
• Packet Pick-Up - Well organized and plenty of volunteers.  Very easy to find in the Indianapolis Convention Center.  Good expo with guest speakers, which I didn't listen stop and listen to.  Expo was about 4 blocks from my hotel which I used as my pre-race day walk to loosen up.  Pretty typical expo - nothing special.
• Race Day - Cold front moved through and it was a chilly 25 degrees at the starting line.  The Indianapolis Convention Center was a block from the start so several runners used it to warm up.  Walked over to the starting area to drop gear bag about 20 minutes before the start. At the Gear Check Tent, there were numbered lanes according to your bib number.  All of the lines were pretty long and there was one volunteer managing 2 or 3 lines each.  It literally took until about 2 minutes before the starting gun to get through the line.  Pretty stressful.
• Gear - Debated on shorts or tights.  Went with tights and worked well at the start - I wasn't cold, but wished I had shorts at about mile 20.  Two undershirts and grey t-shirt.  Could have used one less undershirt.  Stocking cap and gloves.  Probably overdressed a little - but I remembered freezing my a-- off at the Mississippi Blues Marathon in January and didn't want that same experience.  New shoes - I had only used them once or twice in training runs.
• Pace - Started too fast again.