It's comforting to hear that you had troubles, too... Misery loves company, right? (Even across various training / skill levels!)

I was so so SO "trained up" for my first sub-4, but it wasn't happenin'. I held pace through about 15, then the wheels came off.

Love love LOVE the 2009 / 2010 finishing times plot. I was trying to do something similar, but my Mathematica programming skills are very limited. Fortunately, my Mathematica SALES skills are not! :-P