Nashville Marathon Recap

Originally published October 2023

This past weekend I ran the Run Nash Marathon - my 10th marathon, in my 8th state, and set a new PR.

Training for this marathon was the first time that I worked with a running coach and I’m so glad I finally made that choice. Working with a coach let me set specific goals and have a dedicated plan for those goals. The coaches I worked with had also previously run this race so they had knowledge of what to expect and what to specifically prepare for the race.

Let’s talk race recap a bit then at the end of the debrief I’ll explore a bit more on things that I learned from training.

Race Recap

The week prior to the race things were looking good, weather wise, but as it got closer to race day the temps just kept climbing. On race day it was 70 to start off in the morning and got to 80 over the course of the race. The heat was the biggest hurdle for me and many other runners on Saturday.

Race morning, 5AM wake up! I started off the morning with a banana and some stretches to get my body going. I made it to the venue about an hour before race start which was more time than I needed to be there. I wasn’t quite sure the size of this race so gave myself the time I would for a big race, but an hour was way more than was needed. I spent that hour walking, jogging a bit, warming up my hips and reviewing my race plan.
Pre-race runners hang out in the baseball stadium which was a great location for the morning. It had plenty of bathrooms, lots of space to warm up, and was easy to locate.

Based on how my training had gone I was crossing my fingers for somewhere around a 3:40 finish (which would have been a huge PR for me). With the way the weather was shaping up I knew that would be a big challenge, but I had hopes. I lined up in the coral with the 3:45 pacer even though I had my own race strategy mapped out I wanted to be start with people running a similar pace as me to start off strong. Already at 7am it was warm so I knew that I would have to adjust as I went through the course.

My race strategy was to basically play a game over the course. During my training I had one long run format that I really liked which was a few miles easy, a few marathon pace, back to easy, a few half marathon pace, and I really enjoyed that. I took that same playing with pace kind of strategy to this race. I liked this strategy because it kept the race interesting and also helped me to connect with my body throughout the morning to check in on how I was doing.

The first 3-4 miles I took easy, there where a lot of the hills so I just took it as a warm up which was definitely the right strategy. Miles 1-6 ran through downtown Nashville and then took us out towards Shelby. This section of the run was my favorite. There were minimal hills out of downtown and Shelby is just such a beautiful area to run through.

Through about mile 14 I was doing great. It was warm, yes, but I was managing the hills in a smart way, had strong pacing, and just felt so good. My nutrition strategy was working out which was such good feedback. For nutrition I ended up using Maurten gels and Tailwind. The plan going into the race was to have a gels every 4-5 miles and then I had my partner set up with extra nutrition if I needed it, I needed it. Somewhere around mile 12-13 I realized there was no way I could rely on the aid stations for anything during the race. They were very unprepared for the heat, I passed the 12/13 aid station and they had no water or Gatorade set up and couldn’t keep up with what the runners were needing. So I made the decision that when I saw my partner at 14 miles to grab my water bottle with Tailwind in it. Smart choice.
Once I passed my partner and friends around that 14 mile point is where the race started getting more challenging, mostly due to the heat.

At that point we ran along the river heading to the Cumberland River Greenway. Leaving that Broadway area was the worst hill of the day but I took it in stride and got it done.

Miles 16-about 24 were pretty isolated out on a river trail and had us just baking in the sun. I knew I needed to listen to my body if I was going to finish standing. There was also 1 aid station for about 8 miles of the race at the hottest point which I just couldn’t believe.
This stretch of the race was nice and flat, it really was just the relentless sun and increasing temperatures that was the most challenging. My nutrition strategy here was really to just listen to my body and having Tailwind was very helpful. I was able to get in both water and nutrition at the same time. I pretty much just took my strategy as whenever I felt I needed it to take in some hydration, this ended up being about every 2 miles. Around mile 18 I started taking the race in 2 mile chunks just watching my pace and taking in fluid as often as I needed it. This is the hottest race that I have ran so far and I knew I needed to adjust my strategy and my expectations.

I have never, even on a long training run, had to take in that much fluid (I probably should be but adjusting nutrition is still something I’m working on). A few points my legs felt a little weak and I knew I needed to not push super hard. I needed to listen to my body and that it would be worse not finishing at all than than finishing with a slower time than I hoped.

Around mile 24 a little bit of shade finally was on the course and I knew I had a PR in sights still but not the time I hoped. A little aside here, I had set really high expectations for myself and even in the days prior to the race had to do some serious reflection. While I wanted a big PR I also knew it would be a hot day and just simply to celebrate running and to not be disappointed with myself. I didn’t want to walk away from the race disappointed in my time, I wanted to walk away so happy that I get to do this amazing thing I love. Ok back to it, coming into the city was such a brutal final lap. They take you all the way around the baseball field the most complicated way, I think just to mess with you. Once I saw that finish line though and my time I knew I had 2 minutes to make a PR happen and there was no way I was going to let myself down. I dug so deep and picked up my legs and brought it home for a new PR!

3:58:43

Race Reflection & Things I Learned This Time Around

A runner is who I am, it is what I love and it it what drives me. I do it for the love of the sport but also I do it to achieve hard goals. This race was no different. I did some self talk prior to the race about what would happen if I didn’t hit my goal and that definitely helped me at the end of the day. While a small part of me is disappointed that my time wasn’t better, mostly because training was so good and I knew I had more to prove, I was actually really ok with how the day turned out. I’ve been thinking now for a few days like am I actually disappointed and just pushing it down but no I’m really not.

Would it have been nice to truly show off my training? Of course. But I am so happy with my performance. I managed the hills in such a smart way, I grew my race day nutrition, I listened to my body, and it was just so hot. There’s nothing I can do about the crazy things that happen on race day I can only control my attitude.

A big takeaway for me is how my body felt. This is the least amount of pain I’ve been in post-race, the least amount of pain I felt during a race, and those are huge takeaways for me. In the past I have struggled physically the last few miles, but I felt so strong all the way through the end of the race. Even now a few days out from the race and I have gone on 2 easy runs which actually felt so good. My body handled this race and recovery now better than it ever has before. For me those are huge takeaways.

What did I do differently for this race prep? What did I learn? Going into this race I have been confidently vegan for over a year, which resulted in me having more confidence and understanding around my nutrition throughout training. I was way more focused this time around on what I was eating and when. I ate for recovery and fuel over anything.

I was utilizing running nutrition during runs way more often and experimenting with different strategies to find what worked best for me.

While I didn’t prioritize strength training I was adding it in more consistently. Whenever I had free time I would incorporate bits of strength training which likely helped with my recovery.

I was doing a lot of cross-training. In addition to my running schedule I was getting on the bike at least once a week and swimming about once a week. It was nothing super crazy just some easy work but it probably had a big effect on recovery and increased performance.

I started running fast. I stuck to my training plan and embraced the uncomfortable work. I showed up and proved to myself I still have so much room to grow.

At 10 marathons in you would think I would already know it all, but I continue to learn so much. I improve every training season. I show myself that I have even come close to my peak yet. I still have so much room to grow and so many more races to enjoy.

and many more to go!