Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
The LONG LONG road to Rotterdam
Options
Comments
-
-
4 hours 07 minutes! Absolutely Delighted!!
:D:D Full report to follow tomorrow!village runner wrote: »I cant see how you can enjoy the day in Rotterdam. Go on prove me wrong.
Mission accomplished!village runner wrote: »But you come accross that you know it all so my advise to you is stick to what you are doing and i will enjoy reading your report. You are heading for a day of hell. And quite honestly you deserve it.
WRONG! :rolleyes: I never hit "the Wall"!0 -
-
-
4 hours 07 minutes! Absolutely Delighted!!:D:D Full report to follow tomorrow!
Mission accomplished!
WRONG! :rolleyes: I never hit "the Wall"!
First of all - well done, great run
am delighted you got around safely and enjoyed it.
To be fair to village runner - if I rememvber rightly you did change your methods after village runner posted and stuck more runs in....think it made a difference
0 -
Advertisement
-
theboyblunder wrote: »To be fair to village runner - if I rememvber rightly you did change your methods after village runner posted and stuck more runs in....think it made a difference
True. It was more the arrogance and condescending nature of the posts that I had a problem with. Many others offered advice in a less patrinising way which I was only glad to receive and it helped a lot. Anyway water under the bridge now.
Don't know how I'm going to make it to the airport today. I can barely walk:eek: 0 -
-
-
-
Ok now that I've settled back home for a few hours its time to try rehash the experience as best I can.
The week leading up to the marathon was nerveracking. I was really pumped and ready to go about 4 days before the race but I had to try keep the adrenaline at an appropriate level, which I managed to do until the day before the race when I was a bag of nerves!
I met brianderunner randomly in the Irish Pub watching the Munster game and then went and got a monster feed after that. I was reasonably relaxed again, but not for long...
Woke up the next morning absolutely sh1tting a brick. I had to force feed myself my breakfast as I had no appetite whatsoever. After a long struggle I managed to stuff 4 slices of toast, 2 slices of cheese and 2 slices of chicken into my stomach.
So anyway off I went to the changing facilities near the start line. I arrived nearly 90 minutes before the start of the race. I was going to be fully organised for this. I wasn't going to train for 5 months and do something stupid like risk missing the start of the race (like that poor unfortunate soul who showed up 20 minutes late to the Dublin Marathon last year!).
I had double-checked everything before I came over. Nothing was going to go wrong, I wasnt going to forget anything. Wrong. I had set up a 4 hour marathon playlist for my IPod, and charged it up fully before leaving Dublin. I listen to it on the plane over, only silly me I completely forgot to turn the stupid thing off, and as I reach for my IPod 1 hour before the race I notice the battery is at a critically low level. SH1T. Now I'm in a pickle. I decide to save the remaining battery for the second half of the race, and try out this whole "sampling the atmosphere" stuff that everyone seems to go on about quite a bit.
So away we go! The start of the race is very crowded and I found it very tough to get into a rythem over the first 2 km's which I covered in 12 minutes on the dot, well outside a pace that would be needed for sub 4. It was at this stage that I realised that Sub 4 wasnt really on for me. I was on 4.13 pace at this stage, so the I developed a plan to try run each Kilometre under 6 minutes. If I ran one in 5.40 then fantastic, but under no circumstances was I to run any slower than 6 minutes! By following these tactics I felt I could get quite close to 4 hours and if I had it in me at the end then I could push for it. Basically the plan was to narrow the gap slowly and economically.
There was enough going on to keep me occupied as I let my IPod have a rest. The crowd was fairly vocal at times and there was good music every once in a while. However when I came towards 6km I got a bit concerned that I still hadnt passed any water station. I asked some random Greek's did they know when we would be passing it, and they said they were wondering the same thing... the only conversation I had with anybody throughout. I simply cant talk and run at the one time. Its a killer!
Ah here we go, a sign saying "DRINKS 200m". Finally!!! Except in Rotterdam 200m doesnt actually mean 200m! It was more like 500m!! Why would they do that to us!?! Its the greatest form of torture! I may not be a Haile or a Paula but I certainly am not THAT slow that I would cover 200m in 3 minutes!
I got over it though and knew what to expect for the rest of the race.
My mind then went back to the recent thread on boards about MP3's in Connemara, and everybody going on about engaging with the crowd and all that stuff. So I thought, sure I'll give this a bit of a go, why not! So I see this girl, about 6 or 7 with her hand out waiting for somebody to High Five her. So over I go and go for the High Five only for her to pull her hand away in completely embarrassing rejection and a weird look to accompany it. Felt like a right tulip. Right enough of that, back to the centre of the road and focus of the running. The crowd had their chance for a bit of banter and they BLEW it!
I managed to keep a very even pace throughout the first half of the race and came accross the mid-way point in 2:01:47. So I had pulled myself down from 4:13 pace to 4:03:30 pace. The plan was working, if I could keep that level up I could yet get close to 4 hours. I knew I wasnt going to break it, but I was confident that I could get within a few minutes of it.
After 1 hour and 50 minutes enough was enough, the IPod was woken up. I was passing a very boring spot with absolutely nothing going on, so it felt like the right time for it. And boy did it give me a boost.
My hydration methods for the race were simple. Water and gels. I wasnt chancing any of this Extran stuff. Best to stick to what I know (though I did accept a Banana off some randommer from the crowd towards the end). I took the gels every 45 minutes and it gave me a much needed boost when i really needed it at aroun 2.15. I found that time quite tough mentally, as I knew I had still so far left to run and had no idea what may or may not be ahead of me.
I started to notice at this stage that I was struggling to break 6 minutes per Km's at some stages. During the first half of the race I was doing 5.40-5.45's, now I was doing 5.50-5.55's and the occasional 6. It just gradually got harder and harder. Nothing dramatic at all, just very very gradual.
I never hit "The Wall" though. There was never at any point where I felt in utter agony and that I wanted to stop. My mind didnt go into depression of anything like that. Mentally I was right there (for the most part), I just physically couldnt quite keep up the same pace as I had earlier. I gave it a good go though, and only at around the 35km mark did I start to drop below 6 mins/km.
It was at this point that I saw the first Irish flag of the day, to which I shouted at the top of my voice "COME ON IRELAND, GO ON IRELAND", to which the randommer in the crowd screamed back identical sentiments. It was a good buzz indeed but nearly gave myself cramp in the process. Got way too excited, back to the job at hand!
Around 35-36 km was when the race reached its toughest for me and then after that it started to gradually get easier (though perhaps my split from 35-40 wouldnt agree, see below). The last 3-4 km was an incredible feeling. It was at this stage that I knew I was going to finish, and finish in a time I could be very proud of. At this moment on comes Teenage Wasteland by The Who. Its amazing what some songs can do for you! I started to get very emotional. Was close to tears of happiness, but managed to hold myself together.
I really picked it up the last 2 kilometres and was full of energy for a final sprint to the line. In I came in 4 hours 07 minutes 35 seconds. I had given it everything. I was very proud of myself and how the whole race panned out for me. The amount of people I passed at 35k onwards who were walking was astonishing. The fact that I felt (relatively) good at this stage was a testiment to how I prepared for and ran the race and I gave myself a little pat on the back.
Later that evening I went to the Irish bar and met brianderunner, Robinph, Moycullen1, KentuckyPete and Misty Floyd. Great craic was had, and a half dozen pints of Murphys were guzzled in the process. It was great to meet up with everyone (though very bizzare experience hearing everybody introduce themselves by their Boards usernames).
So today I am in an absolute heap. I can barely walk. Climbing the stairs is borderline impossible, but it was worth every second of it.
I'll take a good week or two off any sort of running now and have a think about what I want to do next. A part of me wants to focus on 10km's for the next while but I wont make any decisions too soon.
A few extra stats:
Net split times (difference)
5 Kilometer 28:56 (28:56)
10 Kilometer 57:43 (28:47)
15 Kilometer 1:26:26 (28:43)
20 Kilometer 1:55:12 (28:46)
Half marathon 2:01:47
25 Kilometer 2:24:26 (29:14)
30 Kilometer 2:54:01 (29:35)
35 Kilometer 3:24:12 (30:11)
40 Kilometer 3:54:59 (30:47)
I covered the final 2.195km in 12:36, which was 5.44-5.45 pace. Delighted that I managed to step it up at the very end.
My first half was done in 2:01:47
My second half was done in 2:05:48
A positive split on just 4:010 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
rainbow kirby wrote: »Sportsworld 5-miler on 16 May would be well timed for you, and you'll get a good PB out of it because the course is pancake-flat.
Nice one, thanks. Have never actually done a 5 miler before but based on my 5k and 10k times perhaps I could target sub 36 mins.
Wont do any running until next week anyway. Take a full week off after the marathon.0 -
-
Brianderunner wrote: »Lay off the chips and start eating pasta and you may even break 4 next time!
Cant promise anything with regards to that. I've never seen what the fuss is with pasta. One of the world's most overrated foods. So terribly bland. Really not very nice at all.:D 0 -
Advertisement