Post Race | Boston Marathon Build: Episode 8

My Boston Marathon experience has been hard to process. A new personal best of 2:07:04, and another consistent 7th place finish at a World Major Marathon. Something to be proud of for my Boston Marathon debut. Yet, it is hard not to hyper-analyze what I could have changed for an even better result. This episode highlights raw conversations post race with Conner Mantz and friends. It also dives into what I do to decompress and recover from a marathon, and what goes into choosing the next one.

Thank you to Cadence for sponsoring this docuseries. Hydration and fueling are a big part of my prep for racing Boston. However, the recovery post marathon has been just as important. I’ve been crushing the Cadence Sleep Sachet as well as citrus cans to keep my hydration and recovery on point. Check out more about Cadence here: https://dub.sh/cadence and use the code CLAYTON for 10% off.

Thank you to Stryd for powering the data for this episode. Pouring over the data of my marathon has been very insightful. We can see where my calf cramped, how I responded, rallied, and faded again as the right leg tightened. Plenty of positives as my overall power for the marathon hit a new all-time high, and an equal amount of excitement seeing where I can improve. Check out more about Stryd here: https://dub.sh/1woumEm

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ClaytonYoung

Strava:
Boston Marathon – https://www.strava.com/activities/14244296234

ASICS Shoes:
Workout/Race Shoe (Metaspeed Sky Paris) – https://dub.sh/mmVpU5z
Daily Training Shoe (Novablast 4) – https://dub.sh/fc8DfBr
Easy Mileage Training Shoe (Nimbus 26) – https://dub.sh/wcPtqdO
Long Run Shoe (Superblast 2) – https://dub.sh/fzNVIu6

0:00 Intro
1:02 Post Race Thoughts with Conner Mantz and Jared Ward
3:24 Easy Run talking Race Recap with Conner Mantz
8:47 Brunch at the Young Home
10:34 Massage with Jake Carluccio
11:46 Why a break?
12:33 Family Vacation – Clearwater, Florida and Disneyland
13:13 Family Hike

Directed by Andrew Storer

#Boston #BostonMarathon #MarathonTraining #Athletics #Running #Cadence #DailyDiscipline #ClaytonYoung #MarathonRecovery

I could say that, you know, I had another consistent day, which, you know, consistency is part of the game. Like, if I can continue to be consistent, it’s just a matter of time before I have a breakthrough. But, like, it’s hard not to look at, you know, what happened at mile 20 with the calf cramp and think, okay, how could I have mitigated that? How could I have ran through that? And, you know, how could I have pushed a little bit more instead of kind of getting tactical over that last three or four miles and maybe been able to, you know, lock up sixth place and maybe close on fifth place, even with my calf cramp. So, yeah, a lot of thoughts about, like, coulda, woulda, shoulda. But, I mean, that’s what makes any athlete an athlete, is just this constant strife for, I guess, perfection, greatness, right? Dude. I’m good. My calf is super tight. Don’t ask me to run right now. And don’t look at my feet. I have some giant blood blisters in there, yeah. Just a little more humid than anything we’ve done. Oh, interesting. I don’t know if you noticed that, but, like, I was really sweaty. Yeah, like salt everywhere. Yeah. And so, like, I think that just led to more blisters. And, like, I don’t get blisters almost ever in practice, but almost every race we do is at a humid climate. So, I could not believe the amount of cheers I heard of, go Clayton. It was reassuring, because I’m like, oh, he’s still in the pack, that’s good. He’s with me, and then I look back and I don’t hear it, and I’m like, oh, crap. It’s tough, but also. Give me your breakdown. I mean, you were there for 20 miles, so. I know. We’ll start at 20 miles. I tried to, I tried to catch John for a little bit, and then I was like, no, like. Yeah. The goal is the podium, and I was just like, if I go with him, I don’t know if it’s the right move. He looked strong, man. He did. And we knew how fast he could be. Right. From Chicago and his Strava. Right. I wish I would have gone with him, because I think, like, I go with him and I blow up, I think I end up fifth. I go with him and, like. You pretty much had top five secured. I had top five secured, and if I go with him, I think my chance of getting second, like, increases dramatically. I was just, like, thinking about all the times I visualized this in training. Yeah. Like, I kind of looked to my side, and they’re both right on me. They started, they started speeding up, and, like, I couldn’t. Yeah. It was like I was just pushing so hard into the ground. Yeah. And my legs were just not giving me anything back, and so I just watched, you know, them duel it out. Yeah. The finish line, and. Yeah. It was just tough. How many seconds ahead of you were they? 4. I think it was really, really cool to see Conner finally put together a race that merited what I’ve seen in practice. You know, I’ve been saying this for a long time, but I think that, you know, he, you know, we haven’t seen the best of Conner Mantz yet in a race, and I think he finally was able to put it all together in a way, in a race that, like, he could fully be satisfied with. And it was really cool to, you know, hear his post-race interviews and his talk. Obviously, he would have loved to kick it in with those guys and, you know, take second or have a shot at the win, but, but I think ultimately it was really cool to see him, like, satisfied with, with not only a training build, but a race that he, he was able to put together. And I sat behind him for, like, 20 seconds. I was like, I’ll give myself 20 seconds. Yeah. Of just, like, breathing, going into this headwind, and then I swung out wide, and I surged really hard again. All right, stay on left side of this car. Once again, it was like, this is too smooth. Like, it was kind of like we were anticipating… a move… The move, right? Yeah. Like, you got through three of the four hills. Yeah. Yeah. And I could, like, I don’t know how you felt going into the hills, but I was like, I was like, okay, this is it. Like, yeah. I was kind of feeling anxious and nervous. Yep. But I was like, all right, just get through these hills, and it’ll be good. My, my thought was, like, okay, I need to make it to the top of the heartbreak, and the race will start there. Yeah. How do I match every move to there? And I was so worried about the hills, like, yeah, you saw me, I moved to the front. Yep. Just be ready for the move. Yeah. You know, wait to, to kick, like, a thousand to go. And I really regret that, because like, I don’t know if it would help my place, but it would have helped my time. Yeah. And you’d have been a 204 guy. Yeah, that would have been nice. Like, I would have been a 206 guy. Yeah, exactly. It doesn’t matter, but it does, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the thing I think about too. It’s like, had you moved sooner, you break 207. Yeah, but it’s like, oh, it’s Boston now. Like, it’s not about time. Even look at the years, like, Rup ran, like 209. Yeah. Yeah. Fairly similar. Yeah. I would have thought you would have ran at the second pack going through in, like, close to the 62.30. Yeah. But there wasn’t a second pack going that fast. It was it was just weird how everybody went with their pack. Yeah. And how many people, I was also surprised at how many people dropped out early for my pack. It’s fun to, like, end on a note like that, you know? Yeah. After, I don’t know, for me, my build was pretty flawless. Yeah. Once you hit Houston. Yeah. But I think, looking back at it, it would have been a mistake for you to hold back. Yeah. Like, let’s say you come through in, like, 63. Yeah. And you run the same time. Yeah. You’re kicking yourself. Yeah. No, for sure. You’d be like, I’m flying by everybody. Yeah. I do think I could have maybe hung out in the back of the pack a little bit more. Yeah. But then I think about it and I’m like, I avoided… Bottle traffic. Yeah. Like, bottles this marathon were way easier than New York for some reason. Oh, yeah. Well, it’s because our pack was smaller. Yeah. Like, in New York, I think it was, like, 20k. I got in, like, 30-something place. Oh, yeah. Maybe it wasn’t that far back, but… That’s true. It was such a slow race that everybody was in it and everybody was feeling good, so everybody was surging. Right. And I just felt like people were nicer this go around the bottles. Yeah. But I think, ultimately, it was really cool to see him, like, satisfied with not only a training build, but a race that he was able to put together. But I can’t help but look at that and think, okay, this is the biggest gap that I’ve had behind him since his debut marathon, you know. I’ve got to, yeah, like, continue to figure out how to close that gap. What are you thinking about for the fall? It’s a fun time, but, yeah, I was definitely going the wrong way. I don’t know if, like, I had, like, a little bit of a bug or just, like, my social battery was just totally zapped from all of the appearance stuff. I don’t know. I gotta figure that out. Yeah. That’s one of my things that, like, I love doing it and it’s a lot of fun. Guess where we’re going. We’re first going to… Which state do you think we’re going to? You’ve been to this state before. Utah? That’s the state we’re in, not Utah. It’s in Florida. We’re going to Florida. I think these next couple weeks are just all about mentally decompressing so that I can mentally focus later. To be honest, like, we live just such a strict scheduled life for just months on end that letting that schedule go and mentally focusing on other things for a while is important. So, yeah, I try to, like, recover and get, like, the right nutrition in and do my PT and massages and physical therapy, but, like, I don’t mentally think about it because it’s time to let it all go. Ashley and the girls and I have never been on a vacation by ourselves, which is kind of crazy to think about, right? And when we do travel, it’s usually always race related. So, it’s kind of nice to just have a trip planned after a race where I’m pretty much forced to take a break because my body’s so sore and to just focus on, like, just being with the family for once. Been trying to image my Achilles for a long time. Yeah. And I’ve known the person that was in charge of it. Her name’s Camille. And she essentially later told me, she’s like, your Achilles is so messed up. And I was like, thanks. Yeah. So, now what? No. Yeah, now what? Yeah, tell me something I don’t know. Yeah. We’re gonna change this angle a little bit. Oh, wake you right up, huh? Yeah. If I do run Worlds, there’s a chance that maybe I double back and chase an American record at, you know, Valencia, or maybe I go run New York again. Or I just go and, you know, chase the American record at Chicago as well. So, and just focus on that. So, a lot of good options. I don’t know exactly which one I’ll choose yet. But, you know, after day two, three, it started to loosen up. I kind of like to just take each day at a time. And if I feel like I want to run, I run. If I don’t, I don’t. You know, it’s the week not to stress about running at all. Stay up late, eat whatever, run whenever, if I want to. And, you know, that mental and physical break, I think, is what kind of gives me the motivation to kind of get back to it. Like, you start to crave routine, you start to crave motion, and you start to crave purpose and setting goals. And, um, yeah, you kind of almost need one to appreciate the other. I’ve obviously been really happy that I ran 2:07:04, you know, almost a minute PR, feeling strong, like, about that. Jenna, you brought Lola. That’s cute. What the? Well, we are going to have to practice doing a bun for your performance. Consistency is part of the game. Like, if I can continue to be consistent, it’s just a matter of time before I have a breakthrough. But there’s definitely a point at which you have to move on. And that may be as simple as putting another race on the calendar or starting to train or run for the next race, whatever it may be. Okay, how do you say hello in Tokyo? Or, I mean, in Japanese? How do you say hello in Japanese? I don’t know. I think it’s konnichiwa. Is that how are you? That might be how are you. Started off really strong the first part of the marathon. And then right after the calf cramp, like, my back kick of my left foot starts to cheat in. Despite the calf cramp, you still ran fantastically well and were able to manage the mechanical strains such that it would have only really made a one-place difference in the end and a likely sub 2.07 performance. You’ve only gotten better and better. Thus, with this additional info and your compensation patterns to help optimize a bit more, you should be very excited about what’s to come.