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"I just wanna drink beer and train like an animal"
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Build up My last marathon was what could be regarded as a total failure. I didn't respect the distance, trained like a dumbass and blew up supremely at 18, coming home in 3:16. I pretty much swore off marathons after that as it was such an unpleasant experience. I continued to run w/ varying degrees of dedication but in the past year have stepped the training up a notch.
I started to have some good results over the spring and summer w/ a 16:41 5k and a 27:50 5mi being the highlights. Both of these predicted a pretty decent marathon time so decided to give the distance another shot. I wanted a flat and fast course as I had no desire to run Dublin this time. Berlin wasn't an option when I was signing up so I decided on Budapest - with the added bonus that I'd been there a couple of times (both work and fun) so had an idea of the city and it's layout.
Approached a member of the club about getting some coaching help as I knew from past experience that this was important. Started a slow but steady build up over the summer, bringing the milage up and building strength (endurance would be a major weak point in my running!) Did a bunch of very consistent 60 plus weeks of pretty easy running. Hit the Nat HM in 1:19 and the Frank Duffy 10 mi in 59:00 so knew the strength was coming along. I kept the head down, trial of miles/ miles of trials and ran the Athlone HM in 1:18 and that was a big confidence booster.
I had a few niggles along the way but thankfully Ecoli kept me healthy and on the road w/ rubs/ treatment etc... The coaching I was receiving was absolutely invaluable as well as I was told to back off when I didn't always want to and was running each day w/ a purpose. Rolled into the taper in good form and looking forward to the day.
The Race: Uneventful travel w/ the family- stayed in an apartment w/ in a hotel so that was pretty comfortable especially w/ a young child. Woke on race morning around 5 (race at half nine
) and had a bowl of weetabix/ banana/ coffee/ beet shot. It was about a mile walk down to the start at Hero's Square so set out around 8:45 and was delighted I didn't have to wait around the start area very long. The hooter blew and we were off. I started super slow (on purpose) and hilariously my Garmin (which has never given me problems before) started to play up. Spent the entire first mile trying to fix it. Eventually sorted it but my splits a re/were a bit messed up on it. First mile around 6:40 perfect.
The next few miles I just settled in. It was about 16 degrees and a bit humid at this point- was sweating a good bit with the humidity but was also very very comfortable. I should point out here that the course is completely stunning. Passes or goes over three UNESCO World Heritage sites so was enjoying the scenery. Everything was good -at the HM hit 1:24:06 so was very happy with that. Figured I had lots in the tank.
The temp had started to rise at this point and the sun was really coming through the fog. I took water at every station (only a few sips) but felt hydration was going well etc. At around 14 I think I made a crucial error. I was feeling good, the day was starting to heat up so what did I say ? **** it I can run a quicker HM than 1:24. The next few miles were probably too fast. I ran at least 1 6:07 and a few 6:11-6:13. Average pace was working on the Garmin so I know from miles 14-22 I had worked down to an avg pace of 6:21 a mile (2:46 pace). Was seriously psyched though as I figured I could at least hole 6:20's for the last 6 or 7 miles. By that point though, the temp had rise to 20 plus
We hit Margaret Island (the Budapest version of Phoenix Park) and ran miles 19-22 here. This is where the sun started to hurt. Could feel hydration issues kicking in and had the awful experience of starting to overheat and being able to do very little about it. Was literally running water station to water station at this stage. Was pulling three cups per station- dumping the first two over my head and drinking the third. Managed to hold things together through 22 w/ a 6:29 but seriously started to leak time on 23 w/ a 6:49.
24 and 25 were the toughest miles of the race for me. Kept telling myself I only had 5k to go but it didn't really matter- There was no shade from the sun at this point and it was just sapping my energy. I continued trying to relax and just running station to station but tbh I knew I was in a bit of trouble. Did quick calculations and thought the sub 2:50 was pretty safe if I could just hold 6:40's or so- focused on that. Still managed only 6:50's at this point.
The finishing section seemed to go on forever. Didn't really realize the sub 2:50 was gone until 800m to go or so (garmin was still showing a pace of 6:28 per mile which is just enough) pretty annoyed when I found out it was gone but sucked it up to finish decently. Crossed the line hot and tired in 2:50:39. Good for 27th place overall.
Aftermath: On reflection, I'm happy w/ this. It is a 26 min pb. I finished a marathon where I didn't completely blow up and I placed well. I wish I could have gotten the sub 2:50 but it just wasn't the day for that. Pretty sure I ****ed myself up a little bit pushing too early (i.e. mile 14- 18 or so) but I guess you gotta go for it sometimes! The thing I'm most happy about is the next day, I woke up and literally the first thing I wanted to do was pull on my running shoes and run. I took 2 days off after it but ran 20 mins yesterday and was already thinking about how I'm gonna build off this- big time.
Huge thanks to TRR, Ecoli and anyone else who ran with me or gave me advise during this training cycle. I'll be lining up at a race shortly to kick your ass in the near future 0 -
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It was great to follow your progress during this training cycle. Really opened my eyes to the potential of aerobic 'easy' running.
Well done on a great performance, the conditions will give you back some minutes next time out.
I do however think your over playing the role of the coach
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RunningKing wrote: »It was great to follow your progress during this training cycle. Really opened my eyes to the potential of aerobic 'easy' running.
Well done on a great performance, the conditions will give you back some minutes next time out.
I do however think your over playing the role of the coach
Hehehe...Yeah I'm loving the aerobic stuff myself- actually feel like I'm setting myself up for some really big improvements w/ the gained aerobic base/ strength.
That being said I ran three long races (10 mi, HM, HM ) quite hard in the build up. I'd put those efforts and overall training effect up against many of the sessions that Daniels et. al. lay out- I think those 3 races were crucial to the plan and probably ended up being in place of some of the longer MP style efforts others do. Not saying which is better in the overall scheme but "racing into shape" suits me best0 -
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Oh- and just wanna note in the log that since the race I have had a completely ridiculous appetite- for like the last 9-10 days. Literally eating all around me. My o/h made muffins on Sunday and at last count I've consumed 11 of them between then and now....wtf???:D:D:D 0
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