2022 Ventura Marathon Race Recap

Some Ethan Running History

Back in 2020, my friend Tanner and I were discussing running, and specifically the race results for one of his old UCLA friends. His friend ran a marathon and got a time of 3 hours and a few seconds. Tanner helped educate me about how frustrating that must be because the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon was 3 hours. I had never paid any attention to any of those details when it came to marathon running, and I wasn’t familiar with the world majors or the importance of the Boston Marathon in the running community.

As we both began to run more during the height of quarantine, we gained a better understanding of the 3-hour barrier and marveled about what it would take to be able to accomplish something like that. We deemed most likely something we would never be able to do.

Even in May of 2021, we dabbled with the goal of trying to run what we called “7 for 7” which was 7 miles under 7 minutes per mile. We figured the goal would be challenging but doable. We both were able to hit that goal over the summer.

Once I moved to Chicago in August of 2021, I began running with the Heartbreak Running Company group in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. There I met some incredibly strong runners that had all done Boston in the past and were training for even faster Marathon PRs (like 2 hours 45 minutes). Running with this group of wildly athletic people made me question if I actually had what it takes to run a sub-3 hour marathon. I was holding my own during long runs with this group, which gave me confidence that I maybe could if I trained hard enough, even though their recovery pace was my upper-tempo pace at that point.

Path to Ventura + Some More History

In September 2021, I did the Ironman Santa Cruz 70.3. Coming off of that race, I felt confident in my aerobic fitness, and had been luckily admitted to the Chicago Marathon for that October. I decided to evaluate and test where I was in late September to see what time goal would be feasible for Chicago. My fellow Heartbreakers gave me the confidence to shoot for sub-3 (hours), even though based on my training and long runs I would be right on the borderline. The thought of holding a 6:50 minute per mile pace for a marathon seemed very ambitious.

I set the sub-3 goal then anyway but knew in my head that it was a stretch. When the race finally arrived, I had done some good marathon prep, but I wasn’t experienced enough to know that I had not done the critical workouts to actually access my abilities and feel confident about the time goal.

I ran the first half of Chicago pretty much on target, coming through the half at 1:30:22, so perfect timing if I could hit a negative split for the second half. The weather that day was tough, and I hadn’t put in the time on feet, so around mile 20, things fell apart. I remember feeling that I was pushing really hard, figuring I was faster than my target pace due to the effort, and then realized I had actually fallen almost a full minute per mile off pace, and into the high 7s :(

I finished Chicago in 3 hours and 6 minutes, but had a blast and felt like I learned a lot about racing the marathon itself, and how difficult it really is to run under 3 hours.

About a week after that race, I thought about how close I came to my goal, and with some more training and better weather, maybe I could hit sub-3.

I had run the Ventura half marathon when I lived in LA back in 2019 and knew the course was fast, so I signed up.

Pre-Raceday

I couldn’t sleep the three days before the race. This sub-3 hour goal and this race had been stuck on my mind for the entire past two months. I was obsessed and consumed with accomplishing my goal.

The feeling before this race was the opposite of Chicago. I had followed my training plan exactly and put in hours and miles of running. I used the Pfitz training plan which included many >60 mile weeks, topping out at 75 miles per week, and had hit some key marathon workouts to give me the confidence that I could hit my paces, which was now an average of a 6:40 minute per mile pace to finish close as I could to 2 hours and 55 minutes.

I laid in bed for hours waiting for my alarm to go off. I pictured myself standing at the start line, my race strategy, suffering through the final miles, and that feeling of flying through the finish line.

Race Day

Up at 3:30am, eat, bathroom, bus to start line at 4:30, start line at 5:30, shakeout, bathroom, warm-up, and then “go” at 6:30am. My plan was to use the 2:55 pacers as my gauge to come out conservatively, and then work my way to the pace group towards the middle of the race. There ended up not being 2:55 pacers, even though the event website said so…

With that plan blown to bits before I even started, I chatted with a few people to find a buddy to come out the gate with. I met Justin right before taking off, and we discussed holding a 6:45 to tackle the first 9 miles of the race, which had three 1.5 mile long climbs. Another guy was planning to join us but blasted away about 60 seconds into the race.

Start

Justin and I held our pace together perfectly through the first half of the race. We slowed a bit on the hills intentionally and then hammered the downhills to hit an average of 6:40 through 13.1 miles. I unfortunately didn’t get to express how grateful I was to Justin. He helped position me to succeed through the rest of the race. He raced smart, focused, and calm which I hope to someday emulate for a race-buddy in the future. Thanks Justin!

I had watched my heart rate through the entire first half, and once Justin began to start bringing up the pace, my heart rate started climbing into the 180s. I knew this wouldn’t be sustainable, put my ego to the side, and told Justin I needed to roll it back and let him press on solo.

Middle Ground

Now alone, I needed to mentally compartmentalize the race. My friend Tanner (mentioned above) would be jumping in at mile 20 to help pace me in through the finish. The fact that I had that to look forward to made the middle gap much more tolerable.

There were some very fast downhill sections between mile 14 and 19, and I knew I needed to hit those hard to maintain position for my time goal. I was hitting mid to low 6:30s, and even some 6:20s through those miles. The legs and mind felt fine through the bulk, with only a stomach cramp around mile 16. Luckily this wasn’t something that really hindered my performance, just annoying.

After some concentrated breathing and praying that pouring more Maurten gels into my gut would help, the pain of the cramp was overtaken by the inevitable pain of the later marathon miles.

The Final 6

Just as that pain was starting to set in, I hit mile 20 and found Tanner. Tanner had actually registered for the half marathon just to be able to jump on the course and come help me achieve my sub-3 hour goal. He played an instrumental part for the rest of the race to keep me going because I started paying for starting a bit faster than I intended to.

The course flattened out a bit for those last 6 miles. The cloud cover had fully broke, and it was warming up. I watched my heart rate start jacking up towards the high 180s. At this point, we were still in a good position to finish inside the 2:55 range, but I was fading.

I tried to hit every aid station to get water to drink and toss on myself to cool down. Tanner helped me focus on my breathing and gave me words of encouragement all the way through the finish line. A lot of it was “we’re almost there…the finish line is right there you can see it,” even though we were not almost there and we for sure could not see the finish line.

Even so, having a partner to help mentally focus on getting to the end was invaluable and probably saved my race. I really started to fade as my heart rate and body temperature climbed. I can’t thank him enough for coming out to run the last 10km with me, only 3 weeks post his own marathon (Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach).

As we paced together, we got some compliments on our matching Nike Tempo Next% shoes which was nice. I ran into the back of a half-marathon walker who side-stepped in front of me at an aid station as I was reaching for my cup… that really pissed me off in the moment. We passed the Koreatown Running Club (KRC) cheer station at mile 25 and saw some familiar faces.

Final Push

The pain of the final 5k was hard to describe. I had tried to imagine it and visualize it through training, but nothing can prepare you for how it really ends up feeling.

During the first half marathon (America’s Finest City in San Diego) I ever ran in August of 2018, I passed out at mile 12 when I started my kick. I’m still not totally sure what happened, but I think it was an electrolyte issue. During that race, I felt okay around mile 11, decided to turn it on and push for the final mile, and then I woke up in the ambulance. It was terrifying, frustrating, something that I think about often. It really shaped the how and why I run. I never want to end at the hospital instead of the finish line ever again.

With that in the back of my head, I watched my heart rate and tried to make sure I was pushing hard, but with control. This lead to my pace dropping a bit into the low 7 minute per mile pace, but I was happier to lose a few seconds versus repeat San Diego.

Mentally, I felt strong. I tried to embrace the suck, realize this is what I worked for and trained for, and try to savor the moment. It hurt, and I hit the point where I was kind of grunting through the pain and the feeling of throwing up the last gel I throttled down.

A friend drove up from LA to cheer, and caught Tanner and I at the final straightaway. He screamed “LET’S GO ETHAN”, quickly followed by “LET’S GO TANNER”, and then concluded with “LET’S GO BRANDON” (as a dumb joke) which led to laughs from the finish line crowd and the two of us in-between gasps for air with the last 100 meters to go.

With legs wobbly and feeling like bricks, I cruised through the finish line alongside Tanner for a finish time of 2:56:03.

Post-Race Thoughts

I was elated with my finish time, even though it was a bit off the 2:55 goal. It was incredibly satisfying to set and achieve a goal that only a year ago, I thought would be impossible. Aside from the amazing support of my Heartbreak teammates back in Chicago, Justin and Tanner during the race, there were several things I learned during my training that really helped me endure through the tougher moments of the race.

“Be where your feet are.” - Courtney Dauwalter

The quote from ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter on the Rich Roll podcast really stuck in my mind through the entire race. Focus on the mile I’m in now, where my feet are now, and nothing else. It really helped to not get caught up with the feeling of impending doom that comes as you get later in the race, and I could appreciate how I was feeling (even the pain) in the moment.

And then somewhat paradoxically,

“Just because it feels bad now, doesn’t mean it will later.”

Sadly, I can’t place exactly where the quote came from, but it really stuck with me through my long runs and this race.

All races have ups and downs, and this idea really helped me stay optimistic and realistic throughout the race. I knew that severity of the pain would ebb and flow, and to roll with that, and not overthink as the race progressed.

With both lessons together, it was easy to stay in the moment, evaluate and appreciate the pain, and maintain confidence through the finish.

What’s next?

Pray the Boston Marathon cut-off time is less than 3 minutes and 57 seconds.

Strava

Reddit x-post

https://www.reddit.com/r/AdvancedRunning/comments/t42rqk/race_report_2022_ventura_marathon_sub3/