Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
2012 Marathon thread
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
Well done Jason
Tek-twas only a matter of time before you smashed it fella and today you smashed it in style.Enjoy getting pished mate
Hope your head's not too bad today
Didn't get round to watching Snowdonia coverage last night as the beer got the better of me
so watching ot now as i've a day off work.
What a beautiful marathon Snowdonia looks, absolutely stunning in places.
Think i've seen jason a couple of times as well assuming he has the same colours on as his profile pic ????
mace- yep, blue and white TROTS vest, distinctive green shorts, blue shoes
. It is a cracking race- tough as nails, but great atmosphere and scenery. Back for number 5 next year
I can't walk very well today....
Tek - Brilliant stuff mate
Hope the hangover isn't too nasty today!
----
9.75 miles @ 10.01 for me today. Felt pretty tough going. Fitness has dropped a lot in the past few weeks I think. Which actually gives me pretty of cause for optimism.
Frankfurt 2012
I reached the start-line this time with a feeling of anticipation and confidence, rather than the usual dread and sense of impending doom. It was cold – it had snowed a little on Saturday, and although the day was bright and sunny, it was no higher than 2C. I joined the bins with a sweater on top of my MacMillans vest, and stood shivering for twenty minutes, surrounded by everyone else in jackets, snoods, and leggings. I was going to throw the sweater at the start, but I knew it would get pretty cramped so with ten minutes to go I lobbed it over the fence, and seconds later started to shake uncontrollably. A lot of guys were laughing at me, until someone asked where I was from. I shouted my reply in my best Gerrard Butler voice – “Spar-ta!”
I had given myself a long talking to the night before, and decided 8.35mm pace was going to risk a blow-up, so decided on the 8.45mm pace band. I took one last long stare at it as we marched up to the start-line, and then we were off. Predictably I had to weave around a load of runners who had picked the wrong bin, and when I passed the first 5k marker I swore – the Garmin read 3.26m, and I spent a fair amount of the next few miles extrapolating the extra 0.15m, with Berlin’s “extra” 0.75m fresh in my mind. “Stick to the blue line” I kept saying.
I went through the next few 5k markers at fairly even splits, the average pace box on the Garmin settling around the 8.38mm mark for most of the first half. As I went through I checked the HR – it had just nudged 80%max, so I knew I had plenty left in the tank.
In my head I kept repeating two mantras – “lift, lift, lift” to get my feet off the ground quickly (a tip from the triathlon camp), and “core, core, core”, to make sure I wasn’t slouching, and keeping upright to breathe as deeply as possible (Gobi tip).
I concentrated hard to maintain pace and hit mile 20 in under 2h55, and a smile spread across my face – as AGF had predicted – I knew I had bagged a sub 4. I resisted the temptation to up the pace, all the time telling myself “next mile” – it was easy to be patient, as by this time I was ghosting past hordes of fading runners.
By now I was recognising signs of glycogen depletion – mental maths conversion of km / m was slowing down, and I felt dizzy – so I took sip of gel from my bottle every kilometre, swilling it around my mouth (I had reached stomach overload point so I couldn’t take more).
At mile 24 I latched onto the back of one of the relay runners – they were doing 10.55k each – but after a few hundred metres my left calf was twitching, so I gave up on him and eased off. Finally the Messe Tower came into view, with about a mile and a half to go, and it dawned on me that I could just break 3h50 – cue an 8.10mm finish, ending with flashing lights and a red carpet inside the Festhalle.
3h49m40s. Small negative split 1h55/1h54.
Sore knee to match the sore head today!
Thanks everyone for your congratulations.
Here's the splits for mace et al.
1) - 1m - 8:33(8:33/m) - 153bpm avge - 165bpm max - (72%)
2) - 1m - 8:33(8:33/m) - 155bpm avge - 160bpm max - (73%)
3) - 1m - 8:25(8:25/m) - 156bpm avge - 163bpm max - (74%)
4) - 1m - 8:15(8:15/m) - 158bpm avge - 163bpm max - (75%)
5) - 1m - 9:30(9:31/m) - 159bpm avge - 166bpm max - (75%) don't remember going to sleep here...GPS glitch I think
6) - 1m - 8:51(8:51/m) - 161bpm avge - 166bpm max - (76%)
7) - 1m - 8:34(8:34/m) - 164bpm avge - 170bpm max - (77%)
8) - 1m - 8:22(8:22/m) - 164bpm avge - 170bpm max - (77%)
9) - 1m - 8:32(8:33/m) - 164bpm avge - 174bpm max - (77%)
10) - 1m - 8:42(8:42/m) - 165bpm avge - 170bpm max - (78%)
11) - 1m - 9:22(9:22/m) - 166bpm avge - 177bpm max - (78%) P stop
12) - 1m - 8:36(8:36/m) - 169bpm avge - 177bpm max - (80%)
13) - 1m - 8:44(8:44/m) - 170bpm avge - 178bpm max - (80%)
14) - 1m - 8:37(8:37/m) - 172bpm avge - 177bpm max - (81%)
15) - 1m - 8:46(8:46/m) - 173bpm avge - 179bpm max - (82%)
16) - 1m - 8:44(8:44/m) - 174bpm avge - 180bpm max - (82%)
17) - 1m - 8:50(8:50/m) - 177bpm avge - 181bpm max - (83%)
18) - 1m - 8:46(8:47/m) - 176bpm avge - 181bpm max - (83%)
19) - 1m - 8:51(8:51/m) - 178bpm avge - 182bpm max - (84%)
20) - 1m - 8:40(8:41/m) - 181bpm avge - 185bpm max - (85%)
21) - 1m - 8:45(8:45/m) - 181bpm avge - 185bpm max - (85%)
22) - 1m - 8:55(8:55/m) - 181bpm avge - 185bpm max - (85%)
23) - 1m - 8:54(8:54/m) - 182bpm avge - 187bpm max - (86%)
24) - 1m - 8:32(8:32/m) - 184bpm avge - 188bpm max - (87%)
25) - 1m - 8:55(8:55/m) - 183bpm avge - 186bpm max - (86%)
26) - 1m - 8:09(8:10/m) - 187bpm avge - 195bpm max - (88%)
27) - 0.41m - 3:23(8:11/m) - 191bpm avge - 199bpm max (90% to 94%)
Tek - average 80% ?
would you run it differently with the benefit of hindsight ?
so didn't you look at HR at all before half way ?
Thanks Jason - great run in Snod!
mace - 81%, although I'm not sure it's a useful number over 26 miles
. I did look at the HR all the way (although I had decided to ignore it if it was "bad") - ran to pace, not HR, the fact that it stayed under control was a confidence booster. In hindsight I think I could have nudged 3.45, but with the way my knee is right now, I'm glad I didn't try.
Great run Teknik. My average marathon HR is about 172 - 175 so probably much the same. Would you recommend Frankfurt marathon then? What sort of course is it?
Glad I'm not doing New York, worrying about a hurricane is on a whole different level!
HM4 no word but I guess it just stays the same or goes away!
F
Nice report Tek. In my first marathon hitting 20 miles in good shape and under 3 hours was a better feeling for me than actually crossing the finishing line because that was the point I knew I was going to finish and get sub 4 hours.
Tek,
Well done & great report.
(((Fiona))),
Hope it does go away.
Tek - good write up and race strategy played out.
Tek - brave call to ignore HR if it's "bad"
especially if you're training revolves around it. I wasn't that brave in my only race to date but i guess it's something that comes with experience. Glad your HR went well and take care of the knee.
jason - i'm not surprised some of them downhills looked more brutal than the uphills
. Out of interest, how much of the race was off road ?
F: Frankfurt was good - everyone I know who ran it PBd. It's all tarmac, closed roads, very flat, well organised, not overcrowded, but I guess my opinion is driven by the result - Berlin is bigger, with bigger crowds, more bands on the roadside - but September can be very warm, which is why I plumped for October and Frankfurt. Running in 1C to 2C meant the HR stayed low!!
plus I got to wave at Patrick Makau (there are quite a few out-and-back bits)
Sounds great Tek, could be one for next year. I did Berlin in 2009 and it was torrential rain!
Hope the recover goes well jason. Are you cutting back for a few weeks or is there another marathon on the horizon?
F
What has everyone else got lined up for 2013?
Jason,
My races for next year are going back to the usual, 2.5 miles in May, 5 miles in June, 5k in September & club championship 10k in October. There's hopefully going to be a fair few parkruns done also.
Teknik, I love the report...especially the Spar-ta bit at the beginning. You were pumped. We have a couple of similarities. I started to get muscle cramps and had to ease off a bit. These started earlier for me. However I read in a book that these occur when you are on/just above your threshold in a marathon and its yours bodys way of keeping you on check. So whilts its possible that you could have gained a few extra minutes to say 3:45 you were pretty close to your threshold. This just goes to show how great you paced it.
The second is the knee thing. I had a sore knee afterwards. Turned out to be ITB. A week or so of foam roller sorted it. I have a theory that this is partially due to the hadd training. As we both trained mostly at 70% then the gait/stride pattern/stress is slightly different to that at 80%+ - hence the stress to the ITB. This is why I plan a decent 8-12M weekly run 80% to try and improve this side of things. ( My theory is probably flawed )
Jason, next year I have brighton and Berlin booked and planned. I Also have 2 Half Marathons in March - Warwick And Silverston. Warwick is undulating and will be a MP/progression Run after a 7 mile warm up and Silverston will be eyeballs out to help determine what my MP should be.
Lots of Cross training with JD jnr in Folly Farm Adventure Park for me today and 6.38m recovery run tonight- legs starting to feel normal again
AGF I think you're spot on again...HR was spiking up when I picked up the pace at the end, so I guess the lactate went up with it; the knee must be ITB. I agree with you about the lack of sub-LT (Hadd), although I did switch to P&D and did the LT runs (higher HR but much shorter) as well as the mara-pace finishes to LR's (at 80%)...it was a bit sporadic, I admit - so I think I'll pencil in a weekly sub-LT run this time (won't be able to handle two).
[Sorry all for the mumbo jumbo]
Glad you had a nice day with junior, Jason
, and that the legs are feeling better
F I would have much preferred the rain!!
HM have you signed up for Insanity yet?
---
Mulling over the plan now. I think I'll go back to slow base training, with one weekly leg stretch at 80%. January I'll join the club for Half Mara training (basically a race every Sunday, flat out from 6m building up to 11m) then aim to mueller my Half time. If that goes well, I'll find a flat April / May mara and aim for a faster mara time.
If not, I'll just go back to Halstead and collect the sub4 they owe me
A quick recovery jason.
Love all the post race analysis!
VLM for me
then must plan something in autumn, I enjoyed Amsterdam and there are direct flights from Inverness so might go for that. I ran Berlin after 8 weeks of no running so may be good to try that one with some decent training through the summer. Also Inverness half in March and a 10 mile Turkey Trot on 9th December. There is normally a half in February that I do between two RAF bases but the date is not out yet.
4 miles easy last night then tonight 7 miles with 6 lots of 1k at 15k/hr and 200m recoveries. Should really go and stretch.
F
Lots going on as usual!
I tried my first run post Amsterdam last night, and I must say not good. Still far from well but I know its a long journey ahead. There will be lots of slow running for the next few months whether I like it or not.
Plans for next year......Inverness Half again in March, Pairs again in April, The Devil O the Highlands Footrace in August and Berlin in September..........Robbing a bank very shortly!!
Hopefully with some TLC I will be fully recovered to start training again properly in December.
Tek,
Not yet. I want to get back running a bit first.
----------
Good luck with everyone's plans for next year.
Kaz/Fiona. FYI if you do decide to do Berlin....
Berlin Sold out in its original registration period in 3 hours. However some tour operators have places left..
However it is expected that placed will come free again. Link and text below
http://www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com/en/news-and-media/news/2012/10/25/sold-out-40000-runners-registered-for-the-2013-bmw-berlin-marathon-within-three-and-a-half-hours.html
SOLD OUT: 40,000 runners registered for the 2013 BMW BERLIN MARATHON within three and a half hours2012-10-25
Registration for the 2013 BMW BERLIN MARATHON is closed. The participation limit of 40,000 was reached after three and a half hours.
Several tour operators still have some bib numbers left.
All pre-registered receive an email with a personal code and have to perform their final registration between November 5th and 9th (Paps test, any desired extras).
On November 16th information will be provided (via website, Facebook/Twitter and newsletter) on how many spots in each of the three categories will be open again for registration.
On November 17th at 6 p.m. those remaining spots are open again for registration.
blimey