25 April 2010

MarieC

the very best of luck for Sunday peckham

shels4ever

Best of luck for Sunday.

misty floyd

Peckham wrote: »

Wed: 8 miles with 2*1 mile @ 10k pace (6:06 & 6:01). The rest were all at 7:40ish pace.

I did something similar myself on the final taper week. A great little session. Sharp couple of miles to know your fitness is there (check) and comfortable miles to relax and enjoy (check).

Salty Dog

Flights ok now ?

Peckham

misty floyd wrote: »

I did something similar myself on the final taper week. A great little session. Sharp couple of miles to know your fitness is there (check) and comfortable miles to relax and enjoy (check).

Yes, it was a nice little session and I spent most of my time enjoying having gotten to this stage where I feel I can give it a good shot on Sunday, without having niggling injury worries or worse.

Had to take the foot off the accelerator on during the quick miles - could easily have clocked each of them around 5:45 or less!

Salty Dog wrote: »

Flights ok now ?

Am flying Cityjet, who are running a full schedule today. So hopefully will be okay. Ferry ticket will be in the back pocket in case I need to make a dash to the port in case of any last minute hitches!

tisnotover

all the best Peckham, looking forward to the report !

Gringo78

All the best on Sunday, hope the ash clouds block out the sun.

RacoonQueen

Best of luck Peckham, can't wait to read your report.

pgmcpq

Best of luck - you are due !

heffsarmy

Good luck Peckham on sunday, have no regrets bust the sub 3hour, your well able, when things get though run faster, all the best.

Peckham

Thanks for all the well wishes. Very nice to read through them.

Despite all the worry about travel, my flight actually took off 15 minutes ahead of schedule with a grand total of 18 people on the flight! Very comfortable journey over.

Went straight from the airport to the expo, and registered and pick up souvenir hoody and tshirt. Are all marathon expos the exact same? With the exception of the scale of it, there was nothing to differ it from Dublin.

Relaxing 4 mile run this morning at 8:45/mile pace. Feeling pretty relaxed, bar a little strain in the left hip, which I should be able to stretch it out during the day.

All that's left is to drink lots of water and eat the carb-loading tea brack that I brought with me.

misty floyd

Nice one, you can relax and enjoy things now. 15 people on the flight! I'm surprised with that. Again, all the best.

Peckham

Full race report and self-indulgent analysis to follow tomorrow, but in the meantime here's what I've just posted in the London Marathon thread....

Race went well, pacing was perfect (except my impressive 5k world record). Got the fuelling right, and conditions were excellent. Legs just wouldn't respond when I tried to kick on at 20 miles, and I started going backwards. I knew from about mile 23 that it was game over on sub-3....and just tried to enjoy it all.

Amazing experience. Am not sure the TV can do the crowd support justice. It's just one constant tunnel of noise pretty much the whole way round, and makes you feel like an elite.

Feeling pretty positive...there'll be other days....

...now it's time to catch up on all the boozing that I've missed.

misty floyd

Well done Peckham. Enjoy the buzz over the next few days, especially the beer related one tonight.

Best hobby ever.

Krusty_Clown

Glad you enjoyed the experience. Looked like a great atmosphere. I'm very envious. Enjoy the beers!

Slogger Jogger

Well done Peckham. I've been there.. in the going backwards in the remaining miles so I know exactly how you feel. Looking forward to reading your full report.

BeepBeep67

Well done Peckham atmosphere looked fab on TV.

theboyblunder

glad you enjoyed the day pekham - looked great on the telly.

tisnotover

well done Peckham, atmosphere looked great on tv, enjoy the beers and looking forward to reading the report, onwards and upwards !

asimonov

Well done Peckham, it looked like there was a fair headwind for the second half of the race.

Salty Dog

Great effort Peckham. Saw a few bits and pieces and it looked amazing. Very envious.

Well done again. Enjoy the beers

Sosa

Peckham wrote: »

Full race report and self-indulgent analysis to follow tomorrow, but in the meantime here's what I've just posted in the London Marathon thread....

Race went well, pacing was perfect (except my impressive 5k world record). Got the fuelling right, and conditions were excellent. Legs just wouldn't respond when I tried to kick on at 20 miles, and I started going backwards. I knew from about mile 23 that it was game over on sub-3....and just tried to enjoy it all.

Amazing experience. Am not sure the TV can do the crowd support justice. It's just one constant tunnel of noise pretty much the whole way round, and makes you feel like an elite.

Feeling pretty positive...there'll be other days....

...now it's time to catch up on all the boozing that I've missed.

You have the right attitude towards it,so you didnt get sub 3....so what,theres always a next time.
I already have myself ready for a possible near miss also,and if it happens,i will just try harder to get it the next time.
Well done !

Peckham

I’ll admit that I went into the London Marathon slightly cynical about the reputation it has, thinking that it was yet another over-hyped English sporting event (in a similar vein to the FA Cup Final). However, having run it I now agree with what another runner pointed out to me during the race, that it’s one of the biggest street parties in the world. If one sight I saw was to sum it up it was the pub that we passed in the first mile of the race, which despite it being before 10am on a Sunday morning, was noisier than the loudest Dublin pub on a busy Friday night, covered in bunting and balloons and with about 50 people on the pavement and hanging out the windows....all dressed in elaborate pirate outfits. Very surreal. If it had have been the final mile of the race I would have assumed I was hallucinating.

The London Marathon is a unique experience. Of that there is no doubt.

Expo
I went to the expo on Friday evening, on my way into London from the airport. Don’t really have much to say about the expo, as it was pretty bog standard ... think Dublin expo with twice as many stands. Quality of official souvenir merchandise was pretty good, and I bought myself a polo shirt and hoody.

Pre-race
Arrived at the start at about 8:30 for the 9:45 start and went straight to the Good For Age pen. Facilities were excellent with a huge grass area to sit out on, stretch and warm-up, people walking around handing out bottles of water, a marquee (which we all crammed into when it started to rain), plenty of toilets. Due to the rain I stayed in the marquee right up until it was time to go to the start line. Shame that it rained, as it would have been nice to jog around the grass area and warm up properly. Instead, at 9:35 I dropped my bag off and headed to the start line with a little jog en-route. 10 minute wait on the start line with some rather annoying DJ bloke blabbering away , and then we were off. I was across the line after about 30 seconds.

That was the Red Start, but I’ve read that the Blue Start was a complete shambles, with pens spilling over into each other, and people unable to get into their designated pen.

Race
Main thing that strikes you about the race is the crowds along the side of the road. They are everywhere, and they are so loud. Two points that really struck me were coming around the corner at Cutty Sark (where I was spotted on TV), and again onto Tower Bridge. Had a big smile on my face on both occasions, and really sucked in the atmosphere. Again coming along from mile 23 into the finish the noise is really powerful, and if it wasn’t for the crowd I probably would have stopped running. In the final few miles you go under Blackfriars Bridge which is a stretch of about 200 metres with no crowd, and you really notice the difference that makes. A real struggle.

My race went really smoothly except the slightly puzzling inability to kick on when the time came. Had niggling concerns going into the race about a strain in the left arse cheek. This meant I was very conscious of pace over the first few miles, and tried to ease myself into it. At a few points during the first half of the race I felt it was going to cause me problems, but it turned out to be nothing. The first half of the race I was just ticking off the miles, and cruising along quite nicely. I wore a 3:00 pace band and was using this as my guide, so knew for the first half of the race that I was on target and assuming I could kick on when I needed, I could come in at 2:59 or 2:58. So, the plan for the first half was to stay nice and relaxed and keep as close to the dotted red race line as possible. Also, I took water at every second water station (so, every two miles), and consumed gels at miles 8, 16 and 20.

Warning bells started ringing at about mile 14 when the quads started to feel a bit heavier than they should at that point, but I kept with the pace. At about mile 18 I hit a bit of a low point, but started focussing on each individual mile. It was around then that I saw my time starting to drift and I was moving close to 7 minute miles. I tried not to panic and just put the head down with (mis-placed) confidence that I could get through the miles and push on.

Plan was to kick on at 20, but when I got there I knew that realistically I didn’t have 6 x sub-6:45 miles in my legs. I tried and tried to push on, but it didn’t happen. At 23 I knew the game was up and my thoughts switched to ensuring I could keep moving and get in under 3:10. In the final few miles I even started calculating whether if I started walking at that point I’d make 3:10. As it turned out I didn’t start walking as the crowds really helped push me along.

Turning into the Mall with about 200 metres to the finish I picked the pace up to see if I could squeeze under 3:03, but made this decision a little too late and it didn’t happen.

Post-race thoughts
So, why couldn’t I push on at mile 20? Having thought about this a bit over the past 24 hours, I’ve settled on it being one of two things, or a mixture of both:

1) Not enough miles at PMP. My longest PMP set was 6 miles, and that was over 2 months ago. Apart from that, I just had sessions of 2 miles reps at PMP and a 4-3-2-1 session as prescribed by Tergat. What I missed out on was long runs with fast finishes and long runs with 12 or 13 miles at PMP.

2) Going to Twickenham on Saturday. The friend I was staying with over the weekend suggested that we go to the Wasps-Bath rugby match in Twickenham on Saturday evening. I thought it was a good idea as it would be seated and would take my mind off the marathon. However, we walked to the game...and home again (a total of about 5 miles), plus a bit of standing around. This was a mistake. And although I didn’t feel it in my legs, I’m sure it impacted on the performance.

Two easy things to fix. Solid base will stand to me into the summer and can have a shot at Berlin.

Apart from that, the only thing left to say is thanks for the support and messages. The thought of people following me through the Facebook application actually kept me going at times and I was conscious that people would be analysing my splits so I made sure to hit them!

If you have the opportunity to do London, take it. It’s a special experience.

5k splits attached.

misty floyd

Great report Peckham. That sounds brilliant, I'd love to get that opportunity one day.

The LSR's with (for me) 10miles PMP were a massive benefit. Pity about the injury and not being able to hit them. It sounds like you left everything on the roads of London and despite setbacks you were brave enough to go for sub3.....you can't do more than that. Well done.

Salty Dog

Great report Peckham.

30 second delay on the gun is pretty good - did you have much hassle getting that close given the time you left the tent ? Not sure which start area I saw on the box but couldn't help thinking that it'd take an age just to reach the start line.

Did you find this race tougher than your 3 hr Dublin from a few years ago (sorry can't remember when it was) ?

Sounds like you're already geared up for Berlin.

Well done on the race.

kennyb3

peckham, you know you didnt run to your best due to injury and your points above yet you ve only 3 mins to find, i ve no doubts you will. great read, thanks.

Peckham

Salty Dog wrote: »

30 second delay on the gun is pretty good - did you have much hassle getting that close given the time you left the tent ? Not sure which start area I saw on the box but couldn't help thinking that it'd take an age just to reach the start line.

Did you find this race tougher than your 3 hr Dublin from a few years ago (sorry can't remember when it was) ?

The Good For Age start is at the front of the Red Start, and they don't let the masses behind into that area until about 5 minutes before the gun, so all the good for age people probably cross the line within 45secs of the gun. Those further back were taking 10minutes+.

Race was different to Dublin 2008. Both were tough, but in this one I felt I was fighting from earlier. In Dublin I was still able to push from a mile out, there was no chance this time.

theboyblunder

great report Pekham and great attitude. Fair play to you for not blaming them in the report - but the injury, wind and heat cant have helped!

Enjoy the rest and best of luck in Berlin

ronanmac

Fair play, Peckham, interesting race report. Hard luck on missing out on the sub 3, it's obviously there to take though. Roll on Berlin!

heffsarmy

Great race report, no sub 3 this time, but when you do conquer sub 3 it will be all the sweeter. My mate done the marathon was aiming for 3.15 ended up 3.43, he suffered like Dermcu from 18miles on.