Frankfurt Marathon - 26th October 2014

Dutchie

This is the first time I've got a chance to post my 'report' from Frankfurt.

Build-up had been hit and miss due to knee cartilage problems. I started training 12 weeks out using P and D program max mileage was 53 miles. The only PB i ran in the build-up was a 17.15 5k.

Anyhow traveled with 5 other lads from Kildare, them in flying form and me in more hope than expectation. My marathon PB is 2.58 from DCM 2013.

Our hotel was 15mins from the airport and located at the start finish area. With a beautiful meal inside us from the Italian 600m from our hotel (booked 3 months ago, so no queuing) we relaxed with a couple of glasses of wine and retired to the beds all ready for the next morning. Unbelievably i got over 8 hours sleep the lads over 9 hrs!
We got breakfast delivered and agreed to meet in the foyer at 9.40, race started at 10.
No bag drop, no queuing for toilets, just the perfect build-up.

Saturday was cloudy, 6-10km'h wind and 13-15 degs Perfect.
Only draw back were the corrals, very tight but we jumped in and were ready to go after our warm-up.

I actually started ahead of the other two and they passed me after about a mile. As other posters have said the Garmin was hit miss regarding pace due to high buildings therefore was relying on my splits through the 5km markers. I was constantly trying to rein myself back and not go too hard in the first 5 km. It felt effortless, the uphills were conspicuous by there absence. So far so good.
20.46 first 5km.
41.48. (21.02) 10km
21.03 15km. then i got a stomach cramp between 15-20 and had to take a quick pit stop to relive myself (not a pretty site).
I went through the half in 1.28.50 about a minute behind where i wanted to be but feeling great, best i'd ever felt at this stage in each of my previous 3 marathons.

I was taking drinks at every station (little and often) and a gel every 25-30 mins. At about 25km i took the first of my caffeine hits and I really got a bounce from it. 2.06.02 took me past 30km and i knew i was in good in shape. I decided to press on bit-by-bit and gradually increase the speed over the last 10km. The lift i got passing people at this stage was unreal, i felt like i was 'floating'.
As each Km clicked by i picked up and thankfully was going that bit faster. 30-35km took me 20.48 my second fastest 5km of the race.

I dug in then and tried to empty myself from 35km home.
35k-40k 20.23. My last mile was a 6.13 and i was flying (for me).
Into the hall and broke the beam in 2.55.44! delighted 3 mins off my PB.

All of us had done PB's 2.29; 2.37, 2.45, 2.55(me) and 3.05 (10min pb)

We were ecstatic. We all headed back to the hotel still in the gear over the moon.

I was last to have a bath, whilst the water was running i jumped on the scales- 87.3kg!

mmm 2.55.44 not bad for a fat b*****d! i thought.

ThebitterLemon

Dutchie wrote: »

This is the first time I've got a chance to post my 'report' from Frankfurt.

Build-up had been hit and miss due to knee cartilage problems. I started training 12 weeks out using P and D program max mileage was 53 miles. The only PB i ran in the build-up was a 17.15 5k.

Anyhow traveled with 5 other lads from Kildare, them in flying form and me in more hope than expectation. My marathon PB is 2.58 from DCM 2013.

Our hotel was 15mins from the airport and located at the start finish area. With a beautiful meal inside us from the Italian 600m from our hotel (booked 3 months ago, so no queuing) we relaxed with a couple of glasses of wine and retired to the beds all ready for the next morning. Unbelievably i got over 8 hours sleep the lads over 9 hrs!
We got breakfast delivered and agreed to meet in the foyer at 9.40, race started at 10.
No bag drop, no queuing for toilets, just the perfect build-up.

Saturday was cloudy, 6-10km'h wind and 13-15 degs Perfect.
Only draw back were the corrals, very tight but we jumped in and were ready to go after our warm-up.

I actually started ahead of the other two and they passed me after about a mile. As other posters have said the Garmin was hit miss regarding pace due to high buildings therefore was relying on my splits through the 5km markers. I was constantly trying to rein myself back and not go too hard in the first 5 km. It felt effortless, the uphills were conspicuous by there absence. So far so good.
20.46 first 5km.
41.48. (21.02) 10km
21.03 15km. then i got a stomach cramp between 15-20 and had to take a quick pit stop to relive myself (not a pretty site).
I went through the half in 1.28.50 about a minute behind where i wanted to be but feeling great, best i'd ever felt at this stage in each of my previous 3 marathons.

I was taking drinks at every station (little and often) and a gel every 25-30 mins. At about 25km i took the first of my caffeine hits and I really got a bounce from it. 2.06.02 took me past 30km and i knew i was in good in shape. I decided to press on bit-by-bit and gradually increase the speed over the last 10km. The lift i got passing people at this stage was unreal, i felt like i was 'floating'.
As each Km clicked by i picked up and thankfully was going that bit faster. 30-35km took me 20.48 my second fastest 5km of the race.

I dug in then and tried to empty myself from 35km home.
35k-40k 20.23. My last mile was a 6.13 and i was flying (for me).
Into the hall and broke the beam in 2.55.44! delighted 3 mins off my PB.

All of us had done PB's 2.29; 2.37, 2.45, 2.55(me) and 3.05 (10min pb)

We were ecstatic. We all headed back to the hotel still in the gear over the moon.

I was last to have a bath, whilst the water was running i jumped on the scales- 87.3kg!

mmm 2.55.44 not bad for a fat b*****d! i thought.

Great time.

You're my new (fat bastid) superhero

TbL

Burgman

Dutchie wrote: »

Build-up had been hit and miss due to knee cartilage problems.

broke the beam in 2.55.44! delighted 3 mins off my PB.

jumped on the scales- 87.3kg!

mmm 2.55.44 not bad for a fat b*****d! i thought.

Congratulations. Fantastic result. What height are you? (Incidentally, did you ever make any connection between the knee problems and your weight?) Regardless, you have plenty of speed and stamina too.

Dutchie

Burgman wrote: »

Congratulations. Fantastic result. What height are you? (Incidentally, did you ever make any connection between the knee problems and your weight?) Regardless, you have plenty of speed and stamina too.

I'm 6'2". I went to my physio after not being able to complete LSR about 6 weeks ago. He referred me to knee consultant in sports Clinic Santry. MRI showed damage to cartilage behind ITB on the side of the knee ( i never even knew there was cartilage there) Anyway consultant advised that the ITB was getting stretched thereby aggravating the cartilage during long runs because i was dropping my pelvis as the run went on. He advised to concentrating on keeping my form during long runs (common sense really). He also said i was suffering from FBS*

*FBS= Fat b******d syndrome

NameThatTune

Hi Everyone, does the Frankfurt marathon have official pacers?

Krusty_Clown

NameThatTune wrote: »

Hi Everyone, does the Frankfurt marathon have official pacers?

Yes, they do. Having said that, they don't seem to be quite as well organized as the Dublin crews.

NameThatTune

In what way are they not as organized?

Krusty_Clown

NameThatTune wrote: »

In what way are they not as organized?

2 pacers per time category. Didn't get into the starting corral on time. Didn't start together. Not as many time bands. Went out too fast. Crappy pacing gear. Having paced Dublin (and a number of other marathons) a few times, I've a pretty good idea of the amount of work that is invested in the organization of the pacers (by Kurt Godel and Hard Worker) and I just didn't see the same level of attention to detail or professionalism you get in Dublin. It's a fantastic race, and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone chasing an aggressive time, but I wouldn't go there specifically for the pacers. To be honest, you get such a strong field in the race that you don't really need pacers anyway.

opus

Thanks for all the good wishes, still in awe of the fantastic performances from the Irish gang at the run on Sun.

For myself it was the first marathon I've given a good lash at since the VLM two and a half years ago. Kicked off at a pace that would have knocked a few mins of my pb but alas faded after the 30k mark. Was fairly surprised that I got a time just under 2:56 in the end actually. In hindsight taking it handier early on would probably have been the prudent thing to do but where's the fun in that ☺

Most frustrating part was the difficulty getting a decent beer after the finish so much so that we had to have an emergency stop at an Irish pub on the way back to town from the finish area. Had a big feed later and just one or two more beverages. Lost Itziger cause of an early flight but gained Ciaran who took a cool hour of his marathon time!

Anyway I've set up camp in the former east Germany for the next week. Got out for a really nice 10k jog in the hills around my friends place yesterday & planning something a bit longer today to explore the other side of the valley.

Running wise have the 30 miler at the Eddie Murphy memorial event in mid-Nov & doing some pacing duties for a friend at an EOI marathon in mid-Dec. Will then be time to get cracking for Comrades & a trip to Boston in April which DrQ promised would be good crack!

yaboya1

DQ6 wrote: »

Thanks for all the support during the tracking guys... was really cool to go back and read through it all!

I love doing that. Reading live commentary and opinions on yourself. People trying to figure out why you've sped up/slowed down .

Well done on a fantastic run btw

Gavlor

DQ6 wrote: »

Thanks for all the support during the tracking guys... was really cool to go back and read through it all!

Welcome back!

Gavlor

DQ6 wrote: »

Hahahaha not back for long just making people aware of the new running forum!


Also delighted you're mate seemed to run ok under my name on a **** day...

I probably should have warned you in advance that he had never ran over 13.1 miles up until 2 weeks ago, only decided to chance the mara after the Galway half and has been on the beer every weekend since including Friday night last.

The freak went with the 3.50 pacers and finished @ 3.50.

psychozeb

What was peoples overall impressions with the race.Good ,bad or indifferent?

Itziger

psychozeb wrote: »

What was peoples overall impressions with the race.Good ,bad or indifferent?

Race was fine, only problem was my performance!

No, seriously, it's a well-run race. About the only thing I didn't like was the relatively twisty first 10k in the city and the fact that we ran very near the finish with 5k or so to go.

Otherwise, and I think the others felt the same, a fine race. Would recommend.

Emer911

My race report is here if anyone is interested...

Krusty_Clown

Anyone happen to notice that the route split into two, at the 7.5km and 39km markers, with just one of the route options (longer race line) having a chip mat? I took the long detour to hit the chip mat and couldn't figure out why it was there. Turned out that if you took the longer route you were consenting to make a donation to a Frankfurt children's charity (registered through your championchip). Seems like an unusual approach. Wonder if the elite runners went the long way?!

RayCun

That's bizarre.
Surely they should have had it the other way around - longer route for cheapskates - to maximise donations? Maybe put a bit of a ramp on the donation-free route? Donation route you get water in a bottle, other route you get a half-full cup of warm water. Don't make a donation and you have to run past a row of crying children. The possibilities are endless...

Itziger

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Anyone happen to notice that the route split into two, at the 7.5km and 39km markers, with just one of the route options (longer race line) having a chip mat? I took the long detour to hit the chip mat and couldn't figure out why it was there. Turned out that if you took the longer route you were consenting to make a donation to a Frankfurt children's charity (registered through your championchip). Seems like an unusual approach. Wonder if the elite runners went the long way?!

Yeah, I noticed that but so traumatized and dazed was I by that stage that I don't remember which route I took. Same thing happened in my last Half (also in Germany!!) but that time I definitely did the donation bit, but again it was a small effort and tiny detour.

Emer911

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Anyone happen to notice that the route split into two, at the 7.5km and 39km markers, with just one of the route options (longer race line) having a chip mat? I took the long detour to hit the chip mat and couldn't figure out why it was there. Turned out that if you took the longer route you were consenting to make a donation to a Frankfurt children's charity (registered through your championchip). Seems like an unusual approach. Wonder if the elite runners went the long way?!

I think I hit that mat alright - so does that mean you're getting hit for my 'donation'?
...sorry!