Surf City 26.2

The Surf City Marathon was on February 7, 2016.  Leading up to the race I had a solid 20 week training program consisting of 50 miles per week.  Spending two days a week on the track going fast, my run form definitely improved as I move away from my ultra shuffle.  My pacing also improved as I held a solid 7:20 avg. through mile 14 in my attempt to qualify for Boston.  Mile 14 on the course is headed back on the PCH before turning around to do another out & back on the beach trail.  This section of the course gets dehydrating from the ocean sun and my engine went redline with my heart rate spiking, my legs cramping and my pace taking a nose dive as I started to unfold hitting the wall at mile 18.  After this occurred, it was no mans land until the 3:30 pace group picked me up to bring it home for a brutal 3:29 finish.  Looking back on my training log, you get what your trained for.  My long runs were perfect 16-18 milers at pace but I lacked inserting the 20-22 milers in the build up.  My other item was diet, I ate healthy but weighed in at 175 where as my ideal marathon race weight would have been 160.   In summary, building into that longer 20 mile marathon pace long run & achieving race weight are the two key improvements I will pursue to succeed at my next Boston attempt.  The back third of the race is all about efficiency so coming in lighter is definitely more efficient and with diet just as important as training, I think that is the side of the equation where my next change will be.  Looking at the Strava results, I had a lot of company with other people going for 3:15 hitting the wall at the same time and finishing with the 3:30 so this is a common stepping stone in getting to that next level.
http://www.strava.com/running-races/2016-surf-city-marathon