Coach George's AdviceI’ve been talking to a lot of you about how to approach the marathon, and I’m finding that a lot of you are still not comfortable with the http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14432-2004Oct31.html "My entire focus was to run a smart race. The first few miles I felt were too slow, but thank God my coach held me back." - Mary Kate Bailey commenting on her 2004 Marine Corps Marathon victory Please note that she felt the first few miles were “too slow”. That’s exactly how the first few miles should feel! If the early pace doesn’t feel “too slow”, then that means that you’re running too fast and you need to slow down! At the 4 mile mark of the 2004 race, MK was 2 minutes behind the women’s leaders. She went on to win the race by about 4 minutes. http://www.bostontrials2008.com/index.cfm?cdid=10863&pid=10247 “Well, the first two marathons I ran, I followed the words of my wise coach, George Buckheit, “Start slow, finish fast.” Both marathons I ran negative splits and the second half of Rock 'n' Roll I ran a half marathon PR.” - Kristen Henehan commenting on her 2007 MCM victory and subsequent Olympic Trials qualifier at Rock n Roll Phoenix First off, please take note of the pairing of the words “wise” and “coach”. This is the kind of reverence that I would like to see from all of you please. Thanks. But seriously, Kristen played the ‘start slow, finish fast’ game perfectly in both of those races. And although she had not run many half marathons up to that point, she managed to run a half marathon PR in the second half of the Phoenix race! That’s proof that if you are patient early in the race, it is very possible to run extremely fast in the second half of the race. Here’s a link to a Runners World video where Kristen discusses both races (with additional commentary from her wise coach): http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/microsite/video/0,8034,s6-239-419-17,00.html?bcpid=1460849541&bclid=1463262292&bctid=1504332378 From the video: “Five of my teammates came out to Phoenix with me and we actually sat back from the pack. We started out much slower than the lead pack of women and along the way, we just started picking people off and as we were probably about halfway through, I looked at Lisa Thomas, who’s a teammate of mine and fellow Trials qualifier, and I said to her, “we can do this”. Sit back early in the race and then start to pick people off! The Kennedy Center (near Mile 10) is a good landmark to use as the point at which you want to start moving up through the field. Marathoners who have the discipline to start slowly, turn the late stages of their races into turkey shoots as they pick off those who started too fast. Don’t be a turkey! Be one of the turkey shooters! http://www.runwashington.com/archive0209/news/nov04MCM.html “Buckheit's most important role in Bailey's 2004 win was reining in her enthusiasm during the early miles of the race.” –Washington Running Report I found that one a little amusing. It just goes to show you that Mary Kate’s win had absolutely nothing to do with the coaching or training. You didn’t train for this year’s race? No worries. As long as you start out slowly, you too can potentially be a Marine Corps Marathon Champion. I’ll say no more about starting slow and finishing fast….at least until next week’s newsletter. Please heed my warnings and listen to my advice in your marathons. http://www.takoma.com/archives/copy/2008/01/ResolutionEvolution.html:
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start slow, finish fast approach, thinking that once you get behind your goal pace, you will not be able to catch up again. Earlier this week, my invaluable assistant Cheryl did some homework and came up with several quotes from past Marine Corps Marathon winners, and Olympic Trials qualifiers, Mary Kate Bailey and Kristen Henehan that I’d like to share with you.