GO BEYOND YOUR ORBIT! - CHEVRON HOUSTON 2025 MARATHON RECAP

I am still on cloud nine about the Chevron Houston Marathon 2025! Six days have past and I have been keep replaying the race miles playback on my mind, and asking was it truly only "my day that day" or were there other training reasons that contributed to this dream race performance that finally paid off in one of the harshest weather conditions that day in Houston. 

What is the baseline of my running journey? A total 0 sports background, started running at the age of 39, and raced first marathon San Diego Rock n Roll in June 2014 with no training and finished 6:09:00. Working full time, plus side gigs and consulting work, supercommuter, and someone who definitely does not enjoy pitch black early runs at all. Just a mother runner who loved endurance aspect of running, and focused on how to build endurance for the past 10 years. 

Year 2024 started with the Dubai Marathon, in fact one of the fastest fand flat marathon in the world. I was not in perfect shape as my target A race was April 2024 Revel Mt. Charleston to run a PR. Dubai was very warm even in January, but I was still able to run a Sub-4. The year definitely started with a strong boost of that race. After taking minimum a week to 10 days complete off from running and any physical activity for recovery, April training started. However, within 4 weeks of training, I had tripped over a concrete pothole and developed 4cm baker's cyst. A roadblock... Rested and waited until I fully feel recovered with no potential further breaks in training. That obviously meant: scratch the A race of 2024. This is the hardest decision as a runner and thinking like "what if it will all work out?" That is a definite "No!" for me. I am risk taker but always "calculated risk." Running is my hobby, and I want it to be long term with no unnecessary pressure of performance. If not this year, there is always a next year. 

Tip #1: Remember why you are running and why you are racing! Unless you are an elite runner, and do this sport as your occupation, we do not need to cause self-induced running pressure for ourselves. We do not need to justify ourselves to society, or to our running community why it might be best for us to skip a scheduled race. In May, I restarted regular trainings and this time my eyes were on one of the smallest but fastest downhill races called Sundance to Spearfish Marathon in South Dakota. The training cycle, endurance, Yasso 800s, tempo runs, marathon pace runs, long runs with downhill training were so perfect during the training block of 20 weeks almost. But the race started so wrong from the beginning! Poor sleep for weeks due to work travels, 13 hours of flight from California to South Dakota, dropped Vo2max level the moment I land into the city. High elevation sickness kicked in, the heat reached to 87F towards the second half and for the very first time in the past 6 years I hit the wall and started walking. A very terrible race compared to my expectations: 4:09! How do you recover from it? 

Tip #2: Assess the race conditions and trust your training that was built over a period of time. Brush it off and refocus for the next race. Erase the bad memories after learning what was done right and what was done wrong at your race.  Don't dwell on poor performance.

Tip #3: In spite of the feeling of redemption race urgency, give importance to post marathon recovery. Don't run the next day or the day after. My rule of thumb has been always 7 full days of break at a minimum. If I do not have other races in short period of time, even full 14 days recovery is the best for our body that we tortured during the 26.2 miles. Not only physically but mentally, for long terms benefits, we owe good rest and recovery to our body and mind. I had only 6 weeks after South Dakota race to the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October 20. With a week off. only 5 more weeks of reverse taper training and only one long run and mostly easy runs and recovery.

Tip#4: Sleep well. Sleep more. Sleep a lot! Not just during the race week, not just two weeks before but our performance really relies on solid good healthy sleep. Race week I had started feeling boosted confidence. My mind was clear, forgot about the former race, and fully focused on positive experience with no specific time pressure but "just do well to forget the former race motto!" However, I had another bad flight and sleep issues when I arrived at my Toronto hotel Saturday at 1am. In spite of the challenges, Toronto race with a time of 3:54:19 was a game changer for me signaling that if I stick to my standard conservative race strategy, I could do really well, and my endurance was in good shape. 

Tip#5: Importance of slow... really slow long runs! There is a lengthy post about this strategy...WHY SHOULD WE RUN SLOWER LONG RUNS TO RUN FASTER? – KD ENDURANCE. Except workout/MP included LRs, almost all of my long runs were about 10:30 pace or slower like 11:00 pace!!! Proof via #strava. I am the slowest runner in our local running groups, and literally, the turtle at the back. I start 11:00 pace typically, and do progression runs mostly. My marathons exactly mimic similar strategy and mostly end with negative split.  Long slow runs are recommended to be at least 1:30 or 2 min per mile slower than the target marathon pace. 

Tip#6: Add slow-training marathons to boost mental stamina! Only two weeks after the Toronto Marathon, I ran Istanbul Marathon at 4:18 as a training run prepping for the Houston Marathon 2025. After Istanbul marathon I took one week fully off time from running, and had only 10 weeks training block for Houston. I did similar runs in prior races and in 2019, I ran Athens Marathon as slow-training marathon 4:45, and 7 weeks afterwards, I BQ'ed at Mesa Marathon with 3:47!

Tip#7: Mileage is the king of endurance running! Mileage has compounding effect! You might not see the results in the very short term, but adding days, weeks, months, years, you will switch a button one day. 10 weeks training mileage for Houston: 24, 42, 51, 50, 40, 60, 67, 45, 30, only 10 miles the race week.

Tip#8: Set aggressively realistic marathon pace and VISUALIZE that time all the time! I have looked at the marathon pace chart, and pivoted from a prior aggressive time that was based on a downhill course.  I had Toronto as good guidance what I was able to do with poor sleep, and Houston was very similar to Toronto, and had no downhill advantage. I had to start conservative as usual and do not speed up more than what my pace needed at least until mile 18-19 at least. 

Tip#9: Tempo/Steady state runs are the secret sauce! One of the runs that I never liked doing it before. But, looking back to 2024, with the support of my local running groups and awesome pacer friend Saul, I was able to run minimum 2-5 miles of tempo runs with ease. That boosted confidence even more, and the week before the race I knew that HOUSTON was going to a different race for me!

Tip#10: Carb loading was the secret weapon of my race day! True carb load. 8-10gr per kg weight. I tracked 4 days every food I ate and minimum 525 gr carbs Wed through Sat. Lots of smoothies, candies, rice, bagel, spaghetti, and pizza. My rule was every single day I had to eat minimum 525 gr. of carbs and literally I never saw "the WALL!" :-)

HOUSTON RACE MILES CHATS

Pre-race: I stayed downtown Houston only 1.2 miles from the race start area. I had to walk solo around 5:30 am to a nearby hotel to stay warm since it was about 33F (18F feels) and windy weather. Here is exactly what went through my mind:

"Gulsum, why are you doing this? You cannot even standing straight in this wind, and looks like another bad weather race is about to start. I have no idea how the heck I will race. This weather is really not good." 

"Dude! This is my 31st marathon. I am supposed to get used to this thing. But every start line always feels like a new journey and new journey of excitement!"

"Ok, we are now leaving for the start line. It is about show time, and you went to bathroom, so no stomach issues. All conditions are good. Just remember the pace. What would be the worst-case scenario Gulsum? You would just run a training run! :-)"

1-7: Wait what? Mile 1 and my heart rate shows 178! That is not possible! Lets wait the next mile.. Nope.. it is getting higher to 192! Ok. Most likely I wore the HR band on top of the arm sleeve and now it is not working. This is exactly what happened in South Dakota.. Oh boy! Another massive disaster coming up! Ok Gulsum, forget it. I do not feel my heart beats that way so move on. Ignore completely! Hello #2 what is going on at mile 4. Where did this come from? Wow! No way.. I do need to use bathroom. Lets wait another mile, maybe it will go away! No way on earth it is going anywhere. I eyed a porta potty and a green door lock immediately. The moment I saw it, jumped in it. Well.. I had to remove my gloves first cause it was freezing and I was not even able to put the shorts down! lol! Well over 1 minute wasted but it is what it is! It maybe helped the HR but nope! 

8-13: This is the part where I literally lost the sense of feelings on my fingers. It was cold and windy! Why didn't I wear my thermal gloves and picked a fancy glove instead! I was holding a handheld water bottle as a habit since I ran in warmer weathers. After dropping the water bottle twice due to the gloves, and literally being frozen, decided to throw away the water bottle. Running hands free was a really nice boost to my form. 

14-18: Wait a minute is that half time clock correct? I was running only pace based and never looked at the time until the half time. Wow.. Things are looking pretty solid Gulsum, but let's see if you will see the wall around mile 17-18.

18-20: I cannot believe what is happening now. I do feel so strong and was not sure if the watch was correct especially if the HR was wrong, how come pace would be correct analogy! :-) I happened to ask a runner that we were running side by side and he was definitely in a mood that I could ask pace question. He said: "8:10!" I said "Thanks!" and decided to be careful and slow down. 8:10 is not your pace Gulsum! Slow down and remember there is 8 more miles! Right now, all you worry about is to keep running consistent 8:35 and I do not any more than that from you! Stick to it till the finish line!

20-26: This is it! Remembering all family and friends who are tracking me at the moment, and felt the excitement more and said: "Finish string Gulsum! All those tempo runs now paid off!" Till though I had no idea about what the time was. All I knew my paces were good!

0.26: I cannot believe it! A stellar finish! I went beyond my orbit just as Houston deserved!

I immediately called my sister and asked her about my official time. When she told me "3:49:12" I started the ugly cry saying that "I Boston Qualified!" Even though the prime target from the beginning was just to improve 3:54 Toronto flat PR time, and Sub 3:50 was a Golden Goal, it was never the end goal. 

WHAT I DID NOT DO

• During the race not even once, I did not look at the time. I knew what pace I was supposed to run and only glanced if I am on the target pace. After mile 19, it was tempting to look the time, but convinced myself that "If you look at, it will confuse your mind. Just keep running based on the pace and feel. Do not distract yourself with a marathon time or BQ pressure."
• Did not engage in excess social media 7 days before the race and fully focused on the race mood and attracting positive vibes and thoughts.
• Did not skip any long runs, nor tempo runs.
• Did not force my body to run when it was in pain and needed to have extra day of rest.
• Did not do any stretching, nor sauna. (But we should.... This particular cycle I had limited time and logistical challenges.