Lehigh Valley Marathon - 7 September 2014 - Not the Race I Was Looking For

Allentown - Bethlehem - Easton, PA
3:51:35 Chip and 3:52:03 Gun
498/1065 Overall and 48/86 M40-44
Eighth 26.2 of 2014 and 19th career 26.2
Second PA Marathon

Earlier this year when I went looking for a candidate race for a maximum effort at the start of Sepember, the Lehigh Valley Marathon was one of three candidate races based having moved back to the Toronto area over the summer.  I ended up selecting Lehigh Valley as it worked best from geography and a date, not to mention it was not full once I got around to signing up. 

Race Plan.  As I had progressed through my summer training, it became increasingly clear that I was not going to see the improvements I was looking for.  I had not recovered nearly as quickly as I had anticipated from the North Force DC 50 and Hatfield-McCoy as well as losing time over the summer between moving and getting sick for a couple of weeks.  On race morning I decided to push it coming out of the gate and then reassess as the race progressed.

Race Day.  Race morning dawned sunny with temperatures hovering just above 60.  The race started from the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown PA.

Race Start in Allentown

The start was not corralled and it was fairly congested coming out of the gate.  The race bills itself for its net downhill and almost that comes in a steep hill just after the first mile.  I ran the first few miles strong but it quickly became clear that a BQ (a faint hope to start with) was clearly not in cards and even a PR would be unlikely.  After a couple of aggressive miles I decided to just take what I could get and dropped back to around 8:00/mile pace.  The course ran along roads and paved paths into Allentown.  At the 7 mile point the course crossed the Lehigh River and started to follow the Delaware and Lehigh Canal trail.  The canal trail was well pack gravel and was mostly in decent shape but there was a few muddy spots after rain the night before.  My left calf started to cramp up after about a mile or two on the trail which started to bring my times down toward 9:00/mile.  By the 12 mile point, I decided to stop and try stretching out the calf.  This bought me another few miles of good running.  The midway point of the course made a short out&back loop into Bethlehem PA before continuing on down the D&L trail.  By around the 18 mile point my legs informed me that they were done and I moved into salvage mode for the rest of the race.  At the 20 mile point I hit the only significant climb on the course on a road beside the river.  After the climb the trail was at least paved the rest of the way to the finish.  The last six miles probably averaged around 9:45/mile and I finally crossed the finish line in Easton PA at 3:51:35.  Link to Garmin Connect File.

Last section before crossing the Lehigh River into Easton

Bib Pick-up, Start, Finish, Bling and Travel.  The packet pick-up and expo were held in Bethlehem at the site of the old Bethlehem Steel Pant which was interesting.  Packet pick-up was relatively quick.  There was a small expo of local running shops and Runner's World Magazine (which is from the Lehigh Valley area) which I found rather crowded. 

Bethlehem Steel Plant

The start area was a rather barebones but was well supplied in the porta-pot department.  The finish festival was good, including a free beer, food and massage beside the finish line at the convergence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers.  The race provided  school transport back from the finish line to the start for those who had parked at the start.  Race bling include an averageT-Shirt, cinch gab and decent medal. 

I drove to the race from Toronto which was about a 6.5 hour drive.  I stayed in Allentown in order to be close to the start which worked well.

Final Thoughts.  My final result was not at all what I was looking for but it was what I got.  The race itself was fairly well organized but I do think if I was pushing to get a BQ, I would run a race without a gravelled section.  My summer training clearly had not been as effective as I had aimed for and I have to wonder if I made an error in fusing some elements of the Hanson Marathon Method into my program without the recovery and build up time after my June races.