Evaluating Ashley's Boston Marathon

Thursday, April 25, 2013 · Mike Davis

Lots has been discussed about the non- running surrounding the Boston Marathon and rightfully so the events far outweighed the running itself. However because I am a running coach, I have to move forward and start evaluating the race and my runner (Ashley). This past Monday, 7 days after the race I sat down with Ashley and we begin our evaluation of her race. Ashley had emailed me her splits for the entire race so I had already done some evaluating as well as math. Our goal going into Boston was to run 3 separate races, the first being 8 miles, with a goal of 62:56, the second race being the next 8 miles with a goal time of 61:20 and the final race being the 10.2 left with a goal of 76:15. All totaled she would run 3:20 race. I think both of us liked this strategy going in and are even bigger proponents after it was all said and done! When I added up her first 8 miles, her total time was 61:42 (20 seconds off), the second 8 miles was done in 63:12 (16 seconds off). Some might expect to see individual mile splits of pretty much the same mile pace thus the precision in her overall time for each race. However that was not close whatsoever as her mile splits varied between 8:05 and 7: 43 during that first 8 mile race. The second 8 mile race her pace varied between 7:34 and 7:47, so those were somewhat similar, but not consistently. So what did we take away from her individual splits versus our goal times for those individual races? The splits tell you more about the marathon course and the adjustments that need to be made. Not to embarrass Ashley but in that first race she had to stop and use a porta potty and that was a loss of 30 seconds. My direction to her was to run smart and use the 8 mile race distance to recover lost time from such things as potty stops, hills or other issues that might slow her down. Ashley did a fantastic job of following those directions and managed the entire 8 miles beautifully. Her patients as she ran each race within the race was disciplined and controlled. The second race, she was definitely more consistent with her pace but she had settled in at that point and was now just coasting somewhat. Exactly the way we planned and not a whole lot to think about but just move along. Race management is critical when the course has elevations that go up and down as much as Boston. We discussed quite thoroughly the course and how Ashley would run each hill and downhill. Definitely we were benefited by Ashley’s previous experience at Boston, but we also studied some other materials and preplanned each mile. Controlling your body, form and pace is critical to success on a course like Boston and probably most marathons in general. Boston has a unique course so runners have to be careful not to let the course dictate their running and that’s not always easy. Ashley certainly controlled herself and put herself in a position to succeed. So what happened? It would appear that at mile 22 the wheels fell off, but after considerable discussion we believe that around mile 19 she was starting to feel not so good and by mile 22 her stomach took control of what had been a great run! Getting severely sick was disheartening and pretty much ruined her ability to finish as she was ready too. Knowing what Ashley is capable of I have no doubt that she was ready to finish like a champion runner but instead she had to struggle to the finish line and accept that while still a champion that she would fall short of her goal. Most would be thrilled with a 3:51 finish at any marathon but we both know that Ashley is capable of 3:20. The first 22 miles proved that, but a marathon is 26.2 miles. What makes a marathon (distance) so special is that we can’t predict how it will go; we can only hope that through training we can prepare to succeed. Ashley and I believe that she was prepared better than ever before, but whatever caused her to get sick trumped all the preparation. Our post-race evaluation was not intended to dwell on the results but to utilize the results for the next marathon training. Because the first objective is to get back to Boston, we have a short window to get into another race and get Ashley qualified. The evaluation of data as well as our breakdown of the race gives us some great tools to prepare for the next marathon. While the uniqueness of the Boston course is something we have to keep in mind, we can certainly use much from Boston to prepare for other courses.