Mountains 2 Beach marathon tips? (running Ventura next weekend which is similar course)

[Patrick Clark]

Hey GGRC,

I have Ventura marathon coming up next week and I believe the course is VERY similar to M2B in that you start in Ojai for first ~8ish miles and then descends down to the beach.

Any tips or advice on a downhill course like this as I know lots of people ran M2B before. This is only my 2nd marathon that I've trained legit for, my previous was CIM many a year ago. Shooting to BQ and training went well.

Course Links

https://venturamarathon.com/event-info/#info-marathon

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/1601027995/

-PC

[Amanda Knudsen]

Best preparation is to come to the bar crawl. 

Sent from my iPhone

--
http://goldengaterunningclub.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Golden Gate Running Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to GoldenGateRunnin...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Robert Wong]

Hi Patrick,

This is my favorite marathon course to run, wish I could run it with you next week (hmm what am I doing next week ...).   

Here are my previous race reports: 2014 2015 2016 2017

Here are suggestions:

1. I hate waking up early to catch buses to the start of the races. If you are staying in Ojai great.  If you are staying in Ventura/Oxnard you can get dropped off near the start by avoiding the main road into Ojai and it only takes 20 minutes.

2. Follow a pace group.  The locals do their best for crowd support but it's a lonely race.  They have a 3:02 group which given the latest BQ cut-off they will probably run a little more aggressive or at least a pack will splinter off early.

3. The bike path for the downhill has a lot of camber.  Look for the flattest portion to run on.  If you are feeling something in you hips turn a little to the right or left a little to try to stretch it out while you are running.   You will also appreciate some of the scenery that you miss by looking forward.

4. Run the tangents.  There are a lot of twists and turns.  And if you run it well you should be a little short on your GPS.

5. Watch out for the divots from missing reflectors in the middle of the road around mile 15-20.  Watch out for the metal post in the bike lane before an intersection.

6. After mile 19-20, you will go from 2% to 1% drop in grade.  That will feel really hard.  Stay as long as possible with the pace group or it will get really lonely.

7. It also gets warm at the end.  Make sure you get fluids/electrolytes in early.

Also for places to eat, I would recommend Cafe Fiore if you pasta the night before and the Aloha Steakhouse which is near the finish for the post-race. 

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

-- Robert

[Patrick Clark]

now THAT's some intel. Thanks Robert! Will check out those race reports.

Since 3:10 is my qual time, I'm looking to walkway with a 3:05 and anything faster is gravy. 

I think I'm going to stick with the 3:07 pacer for first 10k just to keep me disciplined and "auto-pilot" out of the gates especially since the hills are in first miles, then once downill hits try start to pass them up to maybe hit a 1:32-1:33 half split, and hopefully be able to negative or even split the back half. Given my relative inexperience marathoning, want to err on side of starting slower so I don't implode the last 5k.

-PC

[Robert Wong]

Yes, if you are trying for a 3:05, I would definitely start with the 3:07 pacer for the first 10-15k.  It's hard to say when to pick up because you will find it hard to maintain pace at the end when it flattens and how much you want to bank on the downhill vs. conserve.

-- Robert