The Chronicles of Tom Gertin

The Marine Corps marathon I ran this past Sunday was a great success. I am entering the recovery phase with a great sense of accomplishment. I completed the marathon in 3 hours, 29 minutes, and 31 seconds. Not too shabby. More importantly, with the help of family and friends I reached my goal of raising over $1500 to support people with disabilities!

start of the race

It was snowing the day before the race, fortunately it warmed up a bit for race day. I was prepared for the conditions with pants, under armour, gloves, and a beanie. I am still debating whether the pants were too much clothing or not. I started the race near the beginning of the pack, in the past I have started in the middle. The first part of the race had a decent hill, after that it was pretty flat until the end of the race. I was doing awesome during the first half of the race, if I kept the pace I could have run the marathon in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Unfortunately I started running out of gas and had to slow down for the second half of the marathon. I don’t know if I like starting near the front, because a lot of people started to pass me after the halfway mark. Even with the crowd, support and the Washington Monuments around me, my strides shortened. Crossing the George Mason Memorial Bridge to reach the 20-mile marker was one of the hardest parts. After the bridge I felt that all my energy stored were depleted, so sheer willpower carried me through to the finish line.

The marines did an excellent job of organizing the race and making sure everything went smoothly. It wasn’t noticeable to me that so many people were in the race, making it the 5^th most popular race in the US. It was great connecting with my fellow runners after the race in Charity Village.

My plan for the next few weeks is to rest a lot, and that includes eating a ton for Thanksgiving!

What is tapering?

No it has nothing to do with a tape worm. It is basically just resting before a marathon. No this doesn’t mean sitting on the couch for three weeks and eating potato chips. During the tapering phase it is good to run a few days a week, but those runs should be shorter and slower than usual. A diet high in protein is good as well.

It is important to rest your body before and after a marathon. Several experts say that this is the most critical part of training.  2-3 weeks is recommended for tapering. During your training you are elevating the distance of your long runs every week. This type of endurance training depletes glycogen, enzymes, antioxidants, and hormones. I think of tapering as filling you tank to full before the big race!

In my first marathon I tapered for three weeks. It ended up working out well. This time I am going to experiment tapering for 2 weeks. Part of the reason is that I want my last long run to be 21 miles, at the rate I’m going I will run a 20 mile long run this weekend and the following weekend will be my last long run of 21 miles. A well thought out plan will lead to a rewarding marathon.

Recently I got new running shoes. The shoebox says that years of research on fit, ride, comfort and biomechanics, and an almost frightening obsession with every last detail go into these shoes. That makes me happy : )

My new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11 shoes

When I first started running I didn’t think too much about running shoes. In fact I wore these ones that I bought for less than $30 bucks at Marshalls. Eventually when I progressed to the point where I could run more than 14 miles, I started noticing towards the end of my runs I felt pain in my lower back. I shrugged it off, dismissing it as one of the costs of being a hardcore runner.

My old shoes

Then at the Virginia Beach convention center the day before the 2010 Rock and Roll half-marathon Brooks had a cool carnival-themed display area with games and prizes; they also measured peoples’ gaits. Before this I didn’t even know what a gait was. In humans gait is the way locomotion is achieved using human limbs. Different gaits are characterized by differences in limb movement patterns, overall velocity, forces, kinetic and potential energy cycles, and changes in the contact with the surface (Wikipedia). The guys at Brooks measured my gait with a slow-motion camera while I ran on a treadmill, way cool. Turns out I am a mild pronator.

So they recommended a stability shoe like the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10, which I bought. The grey area of the sole is the medial post, and is made of a denser material. This provides greater support. Training with there shoes turned out to be one of the best things I did to improve my running. My form improved, my efficiency improved, and my back pain almost completely disappeared. Now a year later I have the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11. Another weapon in my arsenal to help me tackle the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon!