Wineglass Marathon Analysis

I've been thinking about what was different about the Wineglass Marathon versus my previous marathons that contributed to the good performance.

Certainly one important factor is that it's the fastest course I've run. It's a faster course than Clarence Demar, the site of my prior PR. The Demar course, like Wineglass, is net downhill. But the Demar course has a steep downhill over the first 10k, followed by some rolling hills and several significant climbs. The most memorable of these is a short but very steep climb out of a cemetery in the 24th mile.

Myrtle Beach could be a fast course except for the wind, which hits you in the face as you run up Ocean Ave for the middle 10 miles of the race. Disney can be a fast course, but I've only run it as my first marathon or as the latter part of the Goofy Challenge, and at a time when I was recovering from injury.

Wineglass has a gentle overall decline to it, with some mild rolling hills and a couple climbs that are not bad at all. The weather was perfect the day I ran it, with no wind and temps starting in the high 30's and ending up near 60. Everything was setup - environmentally at least - for a fast run.

But I think the course and weather were not the most significant factors. Here are the split times of my four fastest marathons:

What seems to stand out about the Wineglass splits is what happened in the second half of the race. Instead of getting slower, as I did on the other three marathons, I got faster. And it's not that I went out in the first half a lot slower at Wineglass than the others. In fact, from miles 6 to 15, I was running fastest at Wineglass.

I remember in the second half of Wineglass feeling strong but waiting for the fatigue to manifest itself in my quads and glutes as it had in my other marathons. But it never really did. I felt strong all the way to the end, so strong that I cranked out the last 10k at an 8:09 per mile pace, much faster than I expected to be running at that point. After the race I was of course wiped out,  but this time my quads and glutes were very sore but OK, and it was my calf muscles that gave me problems with cramps.

I think the difference is that this year I've been pretty much injury free all year, except for missing a couple of days over the summer. The training this past year has included 3 marathon training cycles, each with 3 50 miles weeks in them. That's a lot of miles in the bank, and a lot more than I've ever had in the runup to a marathon.

My training was also conducted more carefully. On the pace runs (usually Saturday) I would try to run at least at the goal pace or a little faster. The course I ran on Saturday included substantial hills as well. On Sunday I would run easy on a flat course, my new favorite course being along the water in Newburyport. It got to the point that I was pounding out the pace runs fairly easily, even with the hills, and completing the 20 mile runs without being completely wiped out.

So in the end, I think it was the steady training all year that was the most significant factor.