After a tough 2020 without many racing opportunities, at the start of 2021, I would have never thought I would be able to race 16 times this year. For someone who loves competition, it was amazing to be back at the starting line of major races again. I wanted to recap the year from my perspective and take a retrospective look on the year for what went well and what I could learn from. First, a couple of key highlights:
What were some surprises of the year? First, running 13:48 on the track for 5,000m well surpassed my expectations. I had run a PR of 14:02 at the rabbit track classic in 2018. But in April of this year, I was just starting to really get fit again and during the Trials of Miles KC Qualifier, I pretty much PR’d in every split leading up to the 5k and had an amazing last lap to get 4th place. Second, after a somewhat disappointing track 10,000m in May, I made a decision to have fun and race the Vail GoPro Games 5k and 10k - a mountain/trail race at high altitude. I knew my fitness and speed were awesome, but I had not been running any hills. I wanted to do it for fun and enjoy the weekend with the family in Vail and just test myself in something that wasn’t too calculated. I ended up winning the 5k and coming in 2nd in the 10k to Joe Gray, which was a pretty great result. It inspired me to do a few more mountain races including a win at the Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb later in August. Third surprise was definitely the USA Club Cross Country Championships just 6 days after the marathon. The Fort Collins Running Club put together a team and it was a blast to race as a team and come away with a 14th place finish. I couldn’t run for a few days following the marathon and then ran in the final few days before the race. XC races always start so fast, but I did a nice job putting myself in the race but not at the front. I started in 81st place at the 1k and moved up throughout the whole race, passing between 4-9 people every kilometer and ended up in a very respectable 24th place - way better than I had expected to finish. What were the downsides of the year? Overall, it was a terrific year but there were certainly some bumps along the way. While 28:50 was a 10,000m PR on the track, I also knew I was in shape to run significantly faster. At the Portland Track Festival in May, I went through 5k in 14:06, and faded over the second half. So while you can’t really be upset with a PR, I certainly didn’t hit that one out of the park. Entering the year I thought it would be less likely to have track races cancelled due to COVID, so I set a stretch goal of making the Olympic Track Trials, which I thought would take around 28:20 (it ended up taking closer to 28:01). I didn’t get that close to achieving that goal, but I’m proud I took a crack at it and still came home with a new PR. Then, at the USA Mountain Running Championships in August, Joe Gray and I were side-by-side in the lead at almost 3 miles (nearing the highest point) in the 6 mile race, but I faded and made a small wrong turn on the downhill that added a bit of time and ultimately finished 10th place. In hindsight, I simply got too aggressive and too excited on the uphill, had a breathing issue and paid the price for poor race execution. In the race following, I DNF’d at the USA 10 Mile Championships on the road - my body telling me I needed to hit the reset button. Finally, the California International Marathon was both a great race and a disappointing race. I knew where my fitness was, and it was well ahead of when I ran 2:12:28 in 2017. As described in this blog - http://www.tylermccandless.us/blog/cim-recap, the race didn’t play out ideally like it did in my PR, and I just didn’t have the legs in the last four miles. My split at mile 20 was a minute faster than my split when I ran 2:12:28, and I was still on 2:11 pace at 22 miles…but that’s how hard the marathon is to nail, as I toughed it out across the line in just over 2:14. Ultimately, the 10,000m on the track, the USA Mountain Running Champs and CIM were three of my top goal races and I didn’t achieve my stretch goals, but also still ran pretty well. Having your best performance in your most important races of the year is challenging and it’s something I look to be working on accomplishing in 2022.
What’s Next?
You’ll have to read the next blog!
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There are a lot of words that can be used to describe a marathon - humbling, awesome, inspiring, heartbreaking, painful, glorious, etc. I’ve been running 1-3 marathons every year since my first CIM in 2010, and each one I learn a lot of valuable lessons from. There’s no other race quite like it because it is so hard to perfectly execute and it’s difficult to race more than 3 in a given year, so there aren’t many opportunities to get it right. Below is a little bit about the minor differences that can make or break a marathon race. As described in my last blog, my training had been pretty great and my build-up races were excellent leading up to this year’s race. The taper had gone well and the travel was easy. When the race started, I knew I had done everything I could to be as prepared as possible. But let’s first flash back to 2017 CIM when I ran my personal best, 2:12:28. That year, CIM was the host of the 2017 USA National Championships for the marathon - adding an additional layer of excitement. The weather was perfect and the competition was deep with a lot of guys at a similar level as me. When that race started, Parker Stinson jumped to an early lead but the rest of us 10-20 contenders put themselves in a big pack. I spent the first 19.5 miles doing no work and just being relaxed and focused on getting my bottles. At 19.5 miles, I made a big move and pushed hard, running sub 5 minute miles and breaking away with Kiya Dandena. I briefly had the lead at mile 23 before Tim Ritchie slowly pulled away to earn the victory and I took 2nd in a small negative split (1:06:20 first half, 1:06:08 second half). Essentially, the pace of the main pack was perfectly aligned with my fitness and then I raced the last 10k and was on the verge of winning that national title. In 2021, we also had nearly perfect weather. The race organizers also put a little extra incentive to break the course record and got a pacemaker lined up to take us through halfway in 1:05:00-1:05:20. My race plan was to go with the pacer and the lead group as I felt that 1:05 was a reasonable first half for my fitness. However, once the race started it felt like we were going a bit too quick early on. Photo cred: The Sacramento Bee During mile 2, I let the lead group pull a little ahead. When I went through mile 4, I was in a bit of no-man’s land with a split of 20:01 - the lead group had already put about 15 seconds on me. From miles 4-14, I focused on keeping a strong pace, focusing on being relaxed and as controlled as I could be. All of my splits were in the 4:57-5:07 range with a 5:02 average going through halfway in 1:05:56. The leaders were 1:04:50 and I was closing in on Milton Rotich. I caught Milton around mile 14 and we briefly chatted. He said there were 3 guys in the lead pack, I replied let’s be patient and work together and he agreed. We ran side-by-side through mile 20 (which was a sub 5 minute mile) but may have got a little too aggressive in pace when we were catching and passing CJ Albertson and Shadrack Biwott. Both Milton and I started to slow during mile 21 - 22. Sometime around mile 23 he had pulled away from me and I was struggling - my body was shutting down…the fairly typical marathon bonk. I had split almost exactly a minute faster through 20 miles than I did when I ran 2:12:28, but instead of running close to 5:00, I was running in the 5:30s those last few miles. Those last 3 miles felt like an eternity and I tried simply to run as fast as I could while I was slowing down. I faded back to 7th place by mile 25, but then ran really hard the last quarter mile to take back 6th place. I was a little bummed to have faded back to 2:14:10, but also proud that I never gave up when things got really hard.
After the race, I have never been so wrecked. At the post-race brunch I spent an hour just sipping hot chocolate, then managed to get a big plate of food…that sat in front of me, untouched, while I managed to eat only one grape. As my wife Kristin said, I went to a really dark place those last few miles and my body was pretty wrecked from it. Altogether, it was my 2nd fastest marathon, but not quite the final result I was looking for. The biggest positive takeaway was that I did exactly what my goal was: I stayed grounded and present during the race. I kept repeating, “What time is it? Now. Where am I? Here.” and the mantras of “Be Present” and “Be Grounded.” Ultimately some small differences in those first 20 miles likely made a big difference in those last 4 miles. I really only ran in a group behind people for about the first 2 miles. Other than that I was either pushing the pace solo or side-by-side with Milton. There’s definitely energy savings when you’re tucked in with a group. And I may have worked just a little too hard to 1.) catch Milton and 2.) catch CJ/Shadrack. In the miles from 13-20, I was 35 seconds faster than the 2017 year. Averaging 5s/mi faster in those miles may have been just a little too much for me. Now that the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials window is opening at the start of the new year, I’m already thinking and dreaming of the next (spring?) marathon to do. Thanks for following the journey to CIM 2021 and hope you’ll enjoy following the next season of training and racing! |