Fredericton Marathon

April 10th, 2022

Katie : How do you feel about your marathon training so far?

Me : I'm going to fucking crush it.

Was that hubris, or a level of confidence even baked in reality? Only time would tell... history had unfortunately shown that the wheels often come off over 42.2km.

[If you don't care about training or Keto diet, skip to the race header]

TRAINING

The thing is that ever since Nora was born in September, running was put aside in favour of parenting. Months of no running or exercise between October and February had not been kind to my aerobic capacity. I had gained significant weight, and was not in any kind of running shape - in fact only a month earlier, on March 10th, I had yet to register for the deferred (and paid for) marathon because I didn't know whether I could cover the distance. 

I started running again on January 31st, and I thought to myself that maybe I should find myself a marathon plan. Went to the running room, and purchased:

Running: The Complete Guide to Building Your Running Program by John Stanton

..Flipped to page 358 "Complete a marathon in 3:45" and back-filled my Garmin calendar with all of the runs and expected paces. It turned out that the plan I was following was 18 weeks, and I was starting on week 6. I figured if I tried to follow a 3:45 marathon training plan, maybe it would give me the necessary wiggle room to complete it in my goal time. My goal at the marathon distance has been 3:57:26 since that gigantic shit-show of a race the 2018 Legs for Literacy. Wouldn't it be cool to shave an hour off my marathon PR?

So I start to train for this thing, and I noticed that I needed to skip a few of the "easy" mid-week runs to let my body properly recover from the load. At some point I weighed myself and topped the scale at 202 lbs - which is the heaviest I'd been, ever. 

I believe we all have a governor in our body/mind/soul that alerts us when to course-correct. Sometimes it comes in the form of that voice in your head telling you that something's off. Seeing that scale exceed that 200 mark was a smack in the face, I started dieting the next day. I don't know much about dieting and macronutrients, but my in-laws had started the ketogenic diet and had had big successes with it, so on February 24th, I started the Keto diet. 

The Keto diet is a very low-carb diet. If you've ever heard of "hitting the wall" in a marathon it's because your body ran out of glycogen (carb storage). 

That first week on the Keto diet was an interesting one: I lost 9 lbs (mostly water retention), and I hit the wall on a 6km run, and again during the subsequent 3 or 4 runs. The first two weeks of Keto were difficult - I was running slowly, and had zero top speed.

Three weeks into Keto, and I had started feeling like I was back to "normal" - I completed a half marathon without walk breaks, water, or nutrition - and I had essentially "caught up" to the marathon training plan that was outlined for me. Brimming with confidence, I registered for the Fredericton Full that night. My pace was a 6:44/km, but for whatever reason that did not deter me.

For the entire months of March and April, I was extremely accountable to the training plan I had committed to - typically heading out at noon on most days, and waking up early on weekends for the long run. My schedule revolved greatly around Nora's nap times; if I didn't take advantage of nap times, I might not get out at all. Katie was encouraging, but also made sure that I was accountable - she did a lot of research and preparation for Keto-friendly meals for me.

LAST WEEKS OF TRAINING AND RACE DAY PREP

As the marathon dawned closer and I began to taper and carb load, one important question remained; what are my race goals? 

For one part, I have done 90% of my training in ketosis - surely carb-loading would give me some extra race-day pace. I also completed the last 8 weeks of the training plan at the pace zones and distances outlined in the Running Room's 3:45 plan. Garmin, however, is suggesting that based on my VO2 Max that I could aim for a 3:32. That's all well and good, but that seems unreasonably fast.

The primary goal for me is to get a good race in, I would also hate to go out too aggressively only to walk the last 10km and miss the 4h mark. The primary race goal is to cut one hour from my current PB. That number is 3:57:26.

Maybe I just take it easy on the first 32km, and then run a 10k time trial?

Further, there's only a few things that could go wrong that would really throw my race off. 

1. Chest Pain: In previous marathons and long runs, I sometimes get these really bad chest pains - they are related to fatiguing and cramping muscles related to supporting the arm swing. The first time I had these, I thought I was having a heart attack. These are mentally very distracting.
   
   
2. Nutrition: If the stomach turns sideways on race day, it would likely prevent me from achieving my goal.
    
3. Heat: I don't do well in hot weather, in fact I was unable to complete a 10km run at "race pace" 4 days before the race day.

As a side note, I was 24 lbs lighter on race day than when I started training. 

FREDERICTON MARATHON

Part 0: Pre Race

May 8th, 2022

It's a bright and sunny morning in Fredericton, not a cloud in the sky - temperatures are a cool 2°C, but the sun's rays are nice and it doesn't feel so cold. After a 6:30am breakfast I started prepping to head out to the race. When you're packing a baby, time flies by - you actually have less time than you think you have. 

Katie, Nora and I drive out to the Queen Square and walk over to the race area and meet up with Mario (brother) and deliver his race bib that we picked up the previous day [Mario is running the 10k] - I also take several pictures with the Amherst Strider group - a huge contingent made it out to Fredericton. 

Katie told me to wear the t-shirt, because I would feel more comfortable during the race, and I would warm up quickly once I start moving. (Katie is once again correct - so far she is batting 1.000% at crew chief recommendations). 

I make my way to the start corral, and see somebody that I was really hoping to see. One of the pacers for the 10km run, Stan Sarty. Stan was the very first person who encouraged me to run back in 2017. He used to post motivational videos on the Mountain View Runners Facebook page, and he stands out as one of the great people who've influenced my running journey. He came over to say hello to Nora and Katie, gave me words of encouragement and advice, and then he went back to his pacing responsibilities. 

I rubbed Nora's head for good luck. Mario and I moved our way in the starting corral near the 2hr half marathon/4hr marathon pace bunnies, since we both wanted to have a somewhat controlled and easy first few kms of the race before taking off. 

Part 1: Dusting Off the Cobwebs

National Anthem.

Gun.

Go.

We slowly make our way to the starting gate and off we go running. Mario and I were running with the rest of the pack, maybe a bit slower than our surroundings. I was in no rush to speed up, as I have another 4 hours of this, and Mario trusted me to start things off in a controlled pace, he would take off once he was comfortable. We were sitting comfortably behind the 5:41/km pacers. Quentin of the Amherst striders also pulled up to me to say hi, and ran with us for about a half km.

At 1.5km is the only "hill" of the course as we get onto the Westmorland Street Bridge, both Mario and Quentin take off on the uphill. 

Now I'm flying solo. 

Everybody else that I know who is running is either much faster, or much slower than my goal. Time to make friends.

I decide to continue following the 2h half/4hr marathon pacers for the first bit. They were running slightly faster than my goal pace, because they banked about 20 or 30 seconds of walking at each water station. As I'm running in this pack, I hear two french-speaking individuals who are both running the marathon and I start conversation. Marc and Marie-Belle are both from Moncton, both aiming for approximately a 3:55 marathon, and they essentially have the same race strategy as me.

Perfect.

My new friends started picking up the pace, and dropped the pacers (and me) at around 6km once we hit the wooded, hardpacked crushed gravel trail. At approximately the 7.5km mark there was a water station and the pacers both started walking for their planned break, this is when I made my decision to leave the pacers and the group behind and catch up to both Marc and Marie-Belle. 

I averaged a pace of 5:36/km for the first 7.5kms.

Part 2: Merry Friendsmas

At this point I checked my watch for a pace check, and I notice an InspO that I had taped to my wrist. 

An InspO is a small piece of tape with a message, reminding you of an important piece of information. Mine said "Relax, you can do this". Key word is ~ relax ~

Periodically through the race, I would look at the InspO, and it would reset my mental state to where it ought to be.

At this junction, I upped my pace and caught up to my newfound friends within a few minutes. I run with them for a several kms and kept the same pace, which felt sustainable. They followed for a few kms as we went off the trail and across the appropriately named Bridge Street bridge, that crosses the Nashwaak river. We then turned right through an aid station and back onto a narrow 5km out-and-back trail that followed the river. This section was a bit tricky. We were encouraged to stick to the right hand side of the trail so as not to impede runners making their return trip, but at the same time some of the half-marathoners had gone out too fast and were slowing down - who do I follow? When do I pass? 

On the out portion of the out-and-back, I saw a few fast Amherst Striders (Victor, Alison, Amy) who were gunning for ~3h30 marathons. "Woo! Go Striders!". On the way back I see a few groups Tanya, Danielle who are wearing "Snailed it!" shirt (with the picture of a snail), Myrna, Greg, and Sue, Rick. I use the same, timeless chant "Woo! Go Striders!"

Side note: I need to come up with better catchphrases.

Between the 7.5 km and 15km points, I average a 5:22/km pace

Part 3: Feels Like a Million Bucks

By 15 or 16km mark I pick out these two half-marathoners to follow (Kate from PEI and Silvia from Tracadie) who are running at a good clip, we are all working together and picking off those who started too fast. At this point I am still feeling FANTASTIC - Silvia is communicating with me in french, and Kate is mostly silent - I don't know if I'm annoying her with my chatter (lol), or she could be focused on herself. With about 3 or 4 kms left in the half marathon I'm shouting with encouragement, "We're pumping out 5:20s like it's nothing!". The three of us caught up to the 3:55 marathon pacer (and group of around 6 people) and I slowed a bit to start running with the 3:55 group as we're crossing the Fredericton Railway Bridge. 

I see Ken Mackenzie who is taking pictures of the Striders.

"Hi Ken" as I whizz by.

"Aw shoot, I didn't see you coming, ill get you on the way back"... as he snapped this picture.

I might have said something to Kate and Silvia about finishing strong but I don't remember. Kate took off for her sprint finish while Silvia stuck it with our group and we pass the halfway point to start the second loop at 1:56:41 (gun time).

At this point, I took a moment to do an internal check and see how well I was feeling. It may have been adrenaline, but I was feeling super fresh at this point. (It still blows my mind thinking about it the next day)

Somewhere between 5:20/km and 5:30/km pace seemed to be the sweet spot for me, so rather than stick with the pacer, I left him in my dust, working with Bob from Moncton, and another guy who I don't remember his name. 

Coming back up towards the Railway Bridge, Ken was able to snap several pictures of Bob, myself and (yellow singlet guy).

Between 15km and 24km I average 5:25/km

Part 4: Fishing

At 24km, we head back out onto the hardpacked gravel trail for round 2. I saw two guys, 200m ahead and I make it my mission to catch up to them. Within a minute I caught up to them and we have a brief conversation, this is around the 25 and 26kms.

- This was probably the most important point in the race for me -

One of the two guys said: 

"You look good man" 

"You guys look strong too!"

"No, you look REALLY strong"

I felt strong. For whatever reason, what that guy said really resonated. He had probably seen a bunch of runners at this point, and to say those comments he probably meant it.

After I passed them, an old saying popped into my head from Alan Theal (Amherst Striders) 

"I'M GOING FISHING"

fish·ing

/ˈfiSHiNG/ 

 

1. the activity of catching fish, either for food or as a sport.

"the area is renowned for its excellent deep-sea fishing"

2. reeling in a slower runner

"the second half of a marathon is ideal to go fishing" 

I must have fished around 10 to 15 runners between the 26km and 32km mark. Every time I passed somebody, there was somebody new in sight. I'm not talking about walkers who had hit the wall, I was passing runners - many of them ended with sub 4h results.

At the 30km mark, I did another check. I'm still feeling incredibly fresh, which honestly did not make sense to me. 

How is it that only 3 weeks prior on my long run with Annie, I was running a 6:00/km pace, and needing to walk and slow down, but today at the 30km mark, my heart rate is at 145 bpm at a 5:20/km pace, and I have zero soreness??

Between 24km and 32km I averaged a 5:24/km pace.

Part 5: Halfway Point

There's a running adage that I read somewhere. The halfway point of the marathon is not 21.1km, but rather 32kms. At 32km I started feeling some soreness on the bottom of my feet, and in my hip flexors, and I slowed down a bit to 5:30/km pace for the 33rd and 34th km. Maybe this is the wall?

Between the 30 and 37km marks, it is a trail out and back. I got to see a lot of the fast runners who were just making their return trip. The sun had properly come out, and temperatures warmed. For the last hour, I started sweating as the sun was beating down on me. To the point where I was deliberately running on the shaded side of the trail. There were a few people that I witnessed stopping and walking - as the course was starting to get warmer, those who had not properly hydrated were feeling the effects.

For a few of the runners, I shout:

"Great job"

"Keep it up"

 "Almost there"

"You got this!"

"Good looking!"

Good looking?!? Maybe I'm the one feeling the effects of exhaustion and dehydration?

It was around the 30km mark that I noticed my mouth was dry and my stomach was feeling woozy from the sugar of the Gatorade (which I took all water stops, and sugary gels at 16km and 30km). After this point I only drank water, and I also took a second cup of water and dumped it on top of my head, which was super refreshing.

The 33.5km was the turnaround point for full marathoners. It's one way to the finish line after that. 

Decelerate to an almost walk...

Turn around the pylon... 

Start running...

Sounds easy right? 

WRONG. 

It was single handedly the toughest part of the entire race. My hips were so tight that they could just not do this simplest maneuver effectively.

After the turnaround, I pass a young guy with big headphones. His name was Barrett. I assumed he would be like every other person I passed for the last 10km and I would drop him like a bad habit - but this guy was different, he sped up behind me and started chatting. He had the goal of going sub 4 hours, and this was his first marathon.

I told him that he is way under 4h pace if he kept it up. 

He and I would trade spots from that point until the very end of the race, both overtaking many runners along the way. 

As we are returning from the out and back section, there is literally an ambulance on the trail tending to a runner. I hope it was nothing serious. We got around the ambulance by running off the trail and kept going. No point in getting in the EMT's way.

Between 32km and 36km I averaged a 5:23/km pace

Part 6: Mission Accomplished

With 6km to go, I had a pretty good idea that I had my goal time in the bag. I probably could have pushed the pace to 5:10 from this point on, but I wanted to just take it all in. 

With about 3 kms to go, it sunk in that I was about to accomplish the greatest athletic feat of my life, and I had a mini ugly cry (better now than at the finish line). At the last water station, I dumped a bunch of water on my head  and wipe my face clean.

I hear a familiar voice "Great job Nick, you look strong - I might have to hire you as a pacer." It was Stanley, and that lifted my already high spirits even higher.

Back over the Railway bridge for the final time, where my brother shows up to run me in to the finish (about 1km to go). As soon as I see him, I let out this loud adrenaline-fueled Viking war-cry. I accelerated for the last kilometer. I asked Mario if Katie and Nora were there, and he said that they were somewhere. During the straight, all I cared about was spotting Katie and Nora, and waving to them. I did not even notice, nor cared that Barrett had sprinted by me. I spot my family, wave to Katie and Nora, my parents, and my mother in law Janet, and then turn my gaze at the finish line to book a stellar finish to top off a near-perfect race. 

Barrett beat me by 1s on gun time, but I have a faster chip time, so I'm claiming victory. 

Experience > Youth

Between 36km and 42.5km I averaged a 5:16/km pace.

I crossed the line at 3:50:22 chip time. That's a marathon PR. 
According to my Garmin and Strava - the second half of this race was my fastest ever recorded half-marathon. That's an unofficial half marathon PR.

Part 7: The Mentee and His Mentors

After the race, the first people I see are Vanessa, and Diane Trites (of the Motivate to Move podcast) who wants a gross, sweaty hug and to congratulate me. 

Next is my family who all came down to congratulate me. Mario and I posed with our medals. I am crouched because my hip flexors no longer work.

Next is Ken MacKenzie who walked over with a huge smile, shook my hand and congratulated me on the amazing job - he even got me a 42.2 bumper sticker.

Kraig Colpitts from Moncton (who podiumed his half-marathon age group) came over to congratulate me as well.

Then Victor and Victoria (of the Striders) cross the line together and I head out to congratulate them with a big strider group, high fives all round. 

Kate from PEI (the half marathoner) had stayed at the start/finish and went out of her way to congratulate me.

Myrna from the Striders approached me and told me that in her heart she believed in me, and knew I could do it. Myrna is a huge reason why I joined the Striders.

Shortly after the race, I got texts from John, Annie, Daniel, Becky, Chris, Sue, and several others who all independently looked up my result online and congratulated me for absolutely crushing it. 

This was such an amazing day, and it meant so much to me to be able to share the day with my running mentors and biggest supporters. From family parent and brother, to my mentors and friends from my days in Halifax, Sackville and now Moncton - thank you! I'm sure that I'm missing some details and important people, but I just wanted to thank all of you for your support and kindness and love. 

Finally a big thank you to Katie who has been there throughout the journey, kept me accountable and supported me for months and years of running. Without her, this would not have been possible. And Nora, you might never remember this race, but I thought of you whenever the race got tough and it made everything easier, thank you for being there on my big day. Love you both with all my heart.

I'm sure there are words of wisdom that I could extract from this journey and condense the experience for you, the reader. You've gotten this far, it's only fair that you get something from it.
Here goes:

• Make friends along the way, those who are genuinely happy for you will help you succeed. 
• Enjoy the experience.
• Believe in yourself.
• Work hard, AND smart.
• Learn from your mistakes.
• If you want to lose weight, run 600km and don't consume carbs.

P.S. I would like to thank Terry and Jo for their amazing hospitality this weekend. Jo went out of her way to get me a light breakfast and share some knowledge that she learned from her siblings (athletic coaches).