A Dugyot in the U.S.A.: 5:07:16

A few weekends ago, i finished the California International Marathon with a time of 5:07:16.

This is my third running of the CIM. My time was definitely nothing to write home about (although it IS something to blog about). At least it was faster than my previous showing of 5:07:42.

I do NOT have a litany of excuses for this; in fact i only have two:

1. In early August, i sprained my ankle so badly that i couldn't run for 3 weeks.

2. In mid-November, i came down with a nasty case of urinary tract infection (sepsis with bacteremia, if that means anything to the reader) and had to take it easy for a week.

Since the greatest predictor of marathon performance appears to be training history, my performance was pretty adversely affected. Here's my abbreviated training log for the 16 weeks preceding the race:

Week 1: 12.2
Week 2: 19.2

Week 3: 23.9

Week 4: 28.9

Week 5: 29.8

Week 6: 34.1

Week 7: 30

Week 8: 34.4

Week 9: 36.7

Week 10: 12.1

Week 11: 49.3

Week 12: 35.7

Week 13: 34.1

Week 14: 26.1

Week 15: 49.2

Week 16: 12 + race

That is a grand total of only 440.7 miles.

Only? Well, in contrast, when i ran Chicago in 2019 - a race in which i already felt woefully undertrained, i totaled 460 miles over 16 weeks. In two races i ran prior that (New York and Big Sur), i accumulated 560 miles each. These are very significant differences. According to Gemini/Google, i barely logged enough mileage for a "novice," i.e. to finish 26.2.

It should be pointed out that the decrease in volume was mostly intentional. After my sprain, i decided to do some "load management," i.e. take days off when i felt like i was pushing it too hard. To wit, some weeks i would only run 4 days, and over the entire training cycle i did almost zero speedwork. Looking at it that way, i probably should be glad that i even did half-a-minute better than the last one.

At any rate, despite this depressing postmortem analysis, i continue to plod forward. In January, i will be doing the Dopey Challenge at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend. It's something i've been wanting to do for years, and i am pretty stoked. In that broader context, this CIM was essentially "just another long run." Particularly given my troubles, i didn't really want to push myself too hard and injure myself again before this big event.

I unfortunately cannot catch a break. Every time i train for a marathon, i have to deal with some setback. Every. Single. Time. But then again, that's how it goes. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Race Notes:

(Not many thoughts on this one that i haven't expressed before, but here are a few random ones):

1. The expo is now at the Cal Expo. Lots of vendors, but there was no wall of names (or maybe i just didn't see it?).

2. There seems to be a new (to me, since i hadn't noticed this before) bus option that leaves as late as 6:30 from Granite Bay. This is great because i didn't have to wake up as early as previous years. Gianina drove me over to the Safeway and walked with me until i got on the bus. Additionally, since the bus gets to the event so close to the start time, there is no need to stay in the bus (no opportunity anyway, since they dropped us off close to the porta-potties and then drove away) or seek shelter from something like a VIP tent.