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Berlin 2016: Back to Basics
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Best of luck on Sunday TRR. I know you are not the type to parade your confidence around the place :pac: but on this occasion your training has been superb from the daily updates on your log so you should hit the start line knowing you can do it
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London marathon 2014
2:35.03 (PB)
87th
Customary for me to do a marathon race report so I’ll throw up a quick one here. Obvious ommission to race reporting dates back to DCM13 where I had an awful day. In hindsight I was expecting too much from that race based on the training I had done. That blow up and subsequent torturous slog to the finish is the best thing that has happened to me in my recent running past. Provided the focus and drive to train to my best for my this marathon. I had a championship entry to London and it’s a marathon I love so I decided to give it a lash. I gave up the booze, paid more attention than ever to stretching, monitored my diet better than ever before. Nothing radical just common sense.
Training was good, actually it was excellent. I’ve ran London twice before and have picked up injuries both times so plan A was to get to the start line in one piece. I trained in 4 weeks blocks, 3 hard 1 easy. Some of the hard weeks were harder than others. I went with the flow and if one week I could push the mileage (up to 90) I would and the next if it felt like I getting close to an injury I’d ease off (back down to 70). Purposely concentrated on building aerobic base. Two reasons firstly it’s essential for a marathon and secondly it meant the absence of sessions would lessen chances of injury. My goal pace was 6 min/mile. Based on my shorter times the pace isn’t an issue it the aerobic power to keep it going. Long miles were key until March and then we hit some MP specific stuff. Nothing mental just runs 8-12 miles at MP. MP was always unintentionally quicker than 6 minute miles so I knew I was set.
Race plan was 59.30-60.30 for first 10 miles. Pick it up slightly and come through in 1.58-1.59 at 20 miles and then really push the last 10k. Goal was sub 2.35 but anything under 2.40 would be considered job done. I felt like with everything going my way I could run 2.33.30 but I mean I needed everything to work in my favor for a shot at this.
Miles 1-10 were fine but first 5 miles were a little fast (29.10), it is a fast part of the course but I wanted to be conservative rather than hitting those splits early on. Problem is I was starting with runners who were all 2.45 marathoners or faster so you can get carried away. I consciously slowed it back and went through 10 miles in 59 minutes dead feeling ok. Had a wobble at 7 miles for some odd reason, nothing serious but was in the back of my mind.
Miles 10-20 were a slog, 6 minute pace didn’t feel comfortable. Slightly faster (5.50-55) felt more natural but I could feel it tiring me at the same time if that makes sense. Was starting to feel tired, feet were blistering badly. Had another wobble around 17 miles. Nothing major but I had hoped to be feeling much more comfortable at this stage. Having said all that, mentally I was in a good place and was looking forward to trying to hold it all together. Hit 20 miles in 1:58 dead. Another 59 minute 10 miler. Knew I had a shot at the sub 2.35.
Miles 20-23 were tough I tried to push but started to cramp so just kept it steady at 6 minute mile pace. Decided I’d try to push last 5k if I could. Went through 23 miles in 2.16 dead. I knew I had 19 minutes to get to the finish and would need to speed up. I tried again but it just wasn’t on. It was quite warm, well I should say it felt quite warm as I’ve hardly seen the sun in the last 6 months and maybe I was a little dehydrated. Kind of resigned myself to not going sub 2.35 but the PB was still on so I gladly accepted this and decided not to take any more risks as didn’t want to have to stop with cramp and miss the PB or worse still add minutes onto my finish time.
Miles 23-finish: bit of a blur got a much needed shout from brianderunner around 24-25 miles. Looked up to see Big Ben reading 12.30. I’ve actually visualized that so many times on my long runs of late and it gave me a great lift. Then just before the 25 mile mark got a shout to say I was close to top 100. That was another major target before the race so I just forgot about the watch and concentrated and catching a couple of guys ahead and tried to get further ahead of the small group behind me. Got passed by a couple but caught a load. Hit the mall and I could see the clock on 2.34.40 said feck it and sprinted as hard as I could. Just missed the time by 3 seconds but zero regrets. No way I could have ran a second faster and if I had of risked it could have ended in disaster. Splits were 77.31 and 77.32. Positive split by 1 second ☺. Refu*kingsult!
Was in great form for the rest of the day as I felt I got the bad marathon experience of DCM out of the system and we had some craic in the coal hole. As usual meno stole the show
I was 4 months off the beer but the pints went down easily. Talking about booze, when I stood on the start line on Sunday I was 6-7 lbs lighter than I have ever been before on the start line of a marathon. It’s all down to giving up the booze! No **** Sherlock I hear you all say
It was something I knew I had to look at if I was serious about getting near to my PB. I’ve been racing since I was 10 years old and pretty consistently on the roads for the past 12 years so I’ve a few niggles that need to be watched or they lead to injuries and usually a couple of months off running. Recovery is also slowing down with age! Carrying less body weight and not suffering from dehydration the night after a few pints has had a positive impact on my well-being. I’ll have a few sociable beers for the next few months but will definitely be cutting back relative to before. And in a couple of months when I get a major new target I’ll cut it out totally again if I’m serious about running a PB.
Thanks for all the PMs, emails and texts. Much appreciated.0 -
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Savage time, well done. Great to see ya get the head down and be rewarded like that. I still have question marks in the back of my head re DCM 13. Felt it went terrible at the time but not too bad all things considering. DCM 15 or a spring marathon next year for me to put DCM 13 to bed. Nice to see you didnt have to wait as long 0
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Forgot to give Robinph a big thanks. He helped with sorting my number and even had the decency to pick it up from the expo for me so I could fly in Saturday afternoon. Much appreciated and I still owe you a few pints.AuldManKing wrote: »
We all know that you went Ninja on us, but can you give us an example of what a 'hard week' looked like.
Didn't go ninja. Just avoided the logs a bit. Too much jargon and BS that was annoying me so decided to go old school with pen and paper. February's training is attached. Numbers in circles are indicative of effort. 1 being low 10 being the highest. If I had a few 6+ days in a row I'd pull back no matter how good I was feeling. I've learned that the hard way!AuldManKing wrote: »
Also, 87th out of a gazillion people is phenomenal, but did you find yourself isolated at any stage as I doubt there were many around you?
Not really. If you have a look at results there were about 20 guys a minute behind me and about another 10 a minute ahead of me. Wasn't running with a group or any one person for longer than a mile after the half way stage but there was always someone around me. Sure in the last 7k I passed 40 odd people so always someone to chase, got passed by one person according to results page but I think there was another 2 so don't know how they calculate that.Chivito550 wrote: »Interesting comments also re the booze. While I personally wouldn't cut it completely out, I agree with your general comments, it can be a scurge to proper training if you let it, and it needs to be cut right down to a few at the weekend, at most.
Was in the same boat as you and I love having a social drink but I can really feel the difference not drinking. Particularly in my calf muscles the day after. A few pints and little niggles are evident, dehydration I guess.DukeOfDromada wrote: »Just wondering if you think running faster than MP during training might have contributed to feeling uncomfortable at 6m/m?
Wasn't a conscious thing and felt like MP effort so not really.Krusty_Clown wrote: »Do you think you'll stick with the same plan for the next one, or have you got some ideas about how you might see further gains? Love to see ya have a pop at sub 2:30 at some stage.
For me to run sub 2.30 I'd need to make massive changes. Mileage would need to be slightly higher, MP runs would have to be longer and more frequent. Would also need an additional session every week of something like 4 * 2 miles at HMP or similar. I'd love to do it but I know what will happen. If I had more money for massage and time for stretching I'd give it a shot but if you had of seen the state of me in the baggage area Sunday I don't know where the hell I could 5 minutes!Savage time, well done. Great to see ya get the head down and be rewarded like that. I still have question marks in the back of my head re DCM 13. Felt it went terrible at the time but not too bad all things considering. DCM 15 or a spring marathon next year for me to put DCM 13 to bed. Nice to see you didnt have to wait as long
If I had of ran 2.39 I wouldn't have ran London0 -
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