The Plan (Part 1 - Race Strategy)

To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift ~Steve Prefontaine

So here we are...

It's less than 3 weeks out from the Marquette Marathon and our attempt to qualify for Boston. All of the intensive training and hard work is behind us. Now it's time to focus on creating the best race day plan possible.

Being my first marathon, I felt obligated to do a ton of research. There were a surprising amount of variables to consider. A lot of opinions, think-pieces, formulas, data-points, graphs, horror stories, and guides to success.

Bottom line, there is no magic formula. Every single individual is different. What works for you, will likely be different from the person standing next to you. It takes a lot of trial and error and experimentation. Since I have had only a few short months to prepare, I'm going with the approach that stands the greatest chance of success on race day. There are no guarantees though. There is no perfect. There are only guesses, assumptions, and probabilities. The goal is to weigh all of the available inputs and information in order to put together a strategy and plan that stands the best chance of realizing our marathon potential.


Race Strategy

I have reviewed the course elevation profile (numerous times). I have tried to read every existing Marquette Marathon race recap/report. I have reviewed every strava run along the Marquette Marathon route.

I know where the uphills are. I know where the downhills are. I know where is shaded and areas that are exposed to direct sunlight. I'm aware of which tangents to focus on.

The goal is to qualify for Boston. That will take a time faster than 3 hour 10 minutes 00 seconds for myself, and 3 hours 40 minutes 00 seconds for Christine.

I have focused training at a marathon pace of 7:04; which results in a 3:05:17. This allows myself a maximum buffer of 4:43 (there are additional considerations, but for simplicity of this post I will ignore detailing them).

I have broken down this race into three segments; the first 10 miles, the second 10 miles, the last 10K.

Miles 1- 10

The single most important goal in the first few miles is to start slow. Slightly slower than goal marathon pace.

There will be a lot of adrenaline flowing at the start line. We will be feeling strong and refreshed after a three week taper. The natural reaction will be take off at the gun and push the pace because your legs feel so good. It will also be our first run in fall-like conditions (hopefully!). But the goal here is to start out slow and ease our way into goal marathon pace.

The first 10 miles should feel controlled and with minimal effort.

C	J	Elev
8:26	7:15	9 ft
8:27	7:16	24 ft
8:22	7:11	-25 ft
8:18	7:07	-61 ft
8:17	7:06	20 ft
8:23	7:12	-55 ft
8:10	6:59	-52 ft
8:18	7:07	9 ft
8:11	7:00	-1 ft
8:11	7:00	-32 ft

Jason time goal: 1 hour 11 minutes 13 seconds (7:07 pace)
Christine time goal: 1 hour 23 minutes 03 seconds (8:18 pace)

Miles 11 - 20

This is where we go to work.

The long gentle downhill occurs from roughly mile 10.5 to 16. The fundamental question to consider is whether we want to bank time, or bank energy.

In my opinion, banking time is a ridiculous notion in the first half of a long distance race. It seems there are few marathoners that miss their time goal by small margins. Come mile 23 or 24, a few dozen seconds banked by taking downhills aggressively won't make much difference with respect to your time goal, whereas you may have depleted some much needed fuel. I think conserving energy is most important here to be as fresh as possible to attack the later stages of the race.

That said, I'm not advocating the most conservative approach to this section of the course. I think our pace should be ~12 seconds faster during the downhills; letting gravity do the majority of the work, while not overdoing it. We've practiced a fair amount of downhill running this training cycle; focusing on form, stride cadence, and body positioning.

The downhill ends at mile 16 as the course heads into downtown Marquette. Here, the course hugs Lake Superior and stays flat for 5.5 miles. Our effort level should be increasing a good amount as we try to maintain here. Goal pace for mile 16 - 20 will be 5 seconds below MP.

C	J	Elev
8:14	7:03	-29 ft
8:14	7:03	-111 ft
7:57	6:46	-136 ft
8:00	6:49	-112 ft
7:52	6:41	-129 ft
8:01	6:50	-86 ft
8:06	6:55	-31 ft
8:11	7:00	-6 ft
8:13	7:02	-9 ft
8:10	6:59	-3 ft

Jason time goal: 1 hour 09 minutes 08 seconds (6:54 pace)

• Cumulative time goal: 2 hours 20 minutes 21 seconds (7:01 pace)

Christine time goal: 1 hour 23 minutes 03 seconds (8:05 pace)

• Cumulative time goal: 2 hours 44 minutes 01 seconds (8:12 pace)

Miles 21 - 26.2

Last 10K of the marathon. This will be the toughest segment and ask for our maximum effort level. Achieving our goal will likely come down to our ability to dig down and push ourselves during this portion of the race.

This section is where dividends payoff from long run fast finish workouts; which we unfortunately hadn't been able to complete. It's tough to simulate or prepare for the last 10k of a marathon without that type of workout. So there are unknowns here. But, I remain convinced we have the fitness to handle it.

Back to the course; there are two hills of note. One is during mile 22. It's about 100 feet; immediately followed by a downhill of the same length. The last hill is a gentle incline over the last mile of the race.

I'm most concerned about the mile 22 hill. From all accounts, the slope isn't too bad, but it's in the perfect position to throw you off rhythm. Using the downhill will be critical in regaining pace.

From there, it's 3.5 flat miles until the last finishing hill, where anything left in the tank will be used to get to the line.

C	J	Elev
8:15	7:04	2 ft
8:56	7:45	95 ft
8:21	7:10	-86 ft
8:19	7:08	-11 ft
8:25	7:14	2 ft
8:45	7:34	74 ft
1:45	1:30	42 ft

Jason time goal: 45 minutes 25 seconds (7:19 pace)

• Cumulative time goal: 3 hours 05 minutes 46 seconds (7:05 pace)

Christine time goal: 52 minutes 46 seconds (8:30 pace)

• Cumulative time goal: 3 hours 36 minutes 47 seconds (8:16 pace) 

To be continued...