Marathon #4: Sugarloaf, ME

TL;DR: I ran the Sugaloaf marathon in Maine a couple of weeks ago in 3:47:30. Still haven't gotten around to run a drama-free race...

Preparation and pre-race

The training cycle for this one was once again hit-and-miss. The mileage was relatively fine compared to other races I have done, but it took me quite a while to recover from my Austin debacle. In the end, the training runs for this cycle were some of the slowest I had done in the past year. On a positive note, April was a pretty strong month distance-wise, and I was (very slowly) picking things up, but I then ended up tapering way too much in the first two weeks of May. All in all, I didn't exactly feel in the best shape possible.

In any case, even in that shape, the net downhill course (check out the elevation chart) was suggesting I could still potentially have a decent race and maybe even PR with a time close to 3:30. So, for the third time in a row, I decided to shoot for a negative split, and a 3:30 finish.

Sugarloaf Marathon elevation profile.

Before the race, I was trying to convince people to go camping in the mountains of Northwestern Maine, and one friendly outdoorsy soul decided to join me for that. We had a blast getting up there, doing a short hike the day before to warm up (and only getting lost a couple of times in the process), and me carbing up for the race with camp-grilled food (and potentially a beer too many). Fast-forward to 4:30 am of race morning when we quickly had to pack our tent up, and leave on time, me -- for my race, and my friend for her hike around Sugarloaf.

Before the wall

Just before the finish line.
"Pain is overrated..."

A little before 7 am I was at the starting line near Flagstaff lake, with several hundred runners about to race all trying to keep warm somehow. After the gunshot, I started off in a very controlled pace [4:54] [4:57] [4:58] [4:57] [4:59], not letting myself go and sticking to the 5:00 pace that I needed for my planned 3:30 finish. There were some quite nice views of the lake and the forest around it in this section, so I was just enjoying myself, careful not to let go too fast. Quite a lot of people were passing me, but I thought that for once I was doing a controlled race and would get back at them near the end. That same rhythm continued for quite a while [5:00] [5:02] [5:02] [5:03] [4:57] [4:58] [4:58] [4:59], and I was happy that I managed to lock in at the proper pace and keep going without a major effort.

At this point, it was time for the major hill of the course that lasted for some good 3-4 km, and I naturally slowed down [5:25] [5:10] [5:14], not only because of the altitude gain, but because it was also starting to get quite hotter. My heart rate definitely went up there and my calves took a beating from the uphill slope. That didn't sound like a huge problem, though: the rest two thirds of the course were only downhill, which meant a smaller effort.

I slightly let go on the next downhill section, hoping I could lock in at 4:50 for a good stretch of time. That is a pace that I feel quite comfortable with in training for long stretches these days, so it didn't sound like a huge problem. After some adjusting [4:57] [4:35], I did lock in [4:47] [4:51] [4:55] until the half mark, which I reached in 1:45:26. After a slightly longer aid station [5:00], I kept going around that pace [4:55] [4:54] [4:50] [4:51].

After the wall

Obligatory medal photo.

As you can guess from my finish time in the beginning of the post, I didn't manage to sustain that pace until the end. Which was a shame, since around this time (26-27 km in), I was already passing a lot of those folks that had gone fast(er) in the beginning, and thinking that for once I was in good control for the race. Not for long, though. I was getting tired around this point [4:59], and made the mistake to actually stop for an aid station [5:17]. This completely broke my stride and I had a hard time picking it up since then.

This time, the issue wasn't so much in cramping, just failing to keep pushing at a reasonable pace. I think the source of the issue is nevertheless the same as my prior attempts, but the downhill course managed to at least save me from the calf cramps. With a significant slowdown and walking breaks [5:18] [5:30] [5:45] [5:25] [6:22] [6:55] [5:11] [6:55] [5:03] [6:35] [6:54] [8:05] [6:45] [5:41] [5:08], I pushed until the finish line. Of course, the additional accumulated time in those slow last 15 km meant I was very very far away from 3:30 and the timer actually read 3:47.

All in all, this is my second best finish time, and the race was only a moderate disaster. So, there's some room for optimism. I think it is more than clear by this point that I need to focus on the long runs in training, and to leave more time between races in order to build up stable long-distance mileage. But other than that, the course and the area were truly beautiful and I'd definitely come back at some point in life. I didn't actually mention the race organization a lot, but it was spot on -- everything in place without excessive hype or spam, just a nice event for the runners. In any case, time to train for the next run in mid-July.