Frankfurt Marathon 2017

Just signed up for this on 29th October. Anyone else doing it? Or done it and have any useful tales please?

Comments

  • I will be joining you Telstar.

    I haven't done it before.  It will be my 2nd flat marathon. (done Zurich last year in 3:34 and 2 mountain marathons since).

    Being nosy: How is your training going and what is your goal?  I am looking at 3:30 but am still transitioning to flat running having run a mountain marathon (Davos - Swissalpine K47) at the end of July.  Currently finding it hard to pickup speed and it is still too warm here for my tastes.

    I need to sort out accomodation -  any tips anyone?  My biggest concern at the moment is getting there - I live in Switzerland, the main railway line going from here to Frankfurt is interrupted until the 7th October at least - might have to drive or fly.  Will sort that out closer to the time though. 
  • Hi Hazelnut, good to hear. I am also looking for 3:30. I haven't run a marathon for a couple of years due to Achilles problems and have done under 3.20 a few years ago.

    Only decided recently to do a marathon and Frankfurt looks nice and flat! I'm doing about 30 miles per week now, did a 17 miler at the weekend and all seems ok.

    There seems to be plenty of accommodation near the start bizarrely according to Expedia. I would have expected it all to be booked up. I am London-based, flying in Saturday lunchtime.

  • I did it last year. The course is flat and crowd support is good, at least in the city centre where the same roads are used several times (which I found a bit boring to be honest). Spectacular finish in the Festhalle also. 

    Frankfurt is a big finance and trade hub so there is no shortage of hotel rooms in the weekends when there are no business travellers. I stayed in a cheap hotel called Excelsior near the central station which was excellent value for money. Only one stop on the metro or S-bahn to get to the start or maybe around 1k to walk.
  • Thanks for the tip SS, will look into it.

    I might be watching you disappear into the distance then Telstar.  I got my confirmation mail yesterday - my start number is F2760, i am in Block 3 titled "Stadt Frankfurt".

    I am on a similar mileage at the moment myself doing quite a bit of speed work and increasing my long runs to get used to continously pounding the roads again for 2 hours and beyond after spending weeks of ambling up and down trails for hours at a time.  
  • Thanks for the heads-up SS.

    Just got my confirmation email yesterday,  also in Stadt Frankfurt.

    How's the training going Hazlenut? I got a 20 miler done at the weekend, last 5 at marathon pace, so pretty pleased with that. I'm just trying to balance not pushing the mileage too hard now as the Achilles is feeling it. A couple of sports massages have helped.

  • Might see you there then Telstar.  I will probably head towards the back of the pen, I don't want to get caught up in a mad scramble over the first few km. 

    Training is going ok - was a bit off-colour last week but I was due a cut-back week anyway.  I had planned to do that this week and amble around the last hill race I was planning for this year but I will drop that in favour of a long run (27km starting with 9 at HM pace). 

    In general my speed endurance has been improving nicely over the past few weeks.  

    I've booked accomodation in a hotel called "Dormero" which is on the race hotel list on the marathon homepage.  (99 € for a double room (OH is accompanying me..) and not too far from the Festhalle. 

    It looks like the main railway line to Frankfurt will be fixed by the marathon fortunately. 
  • Yes Hazelnut, reckon I may be lurking towards the back of the pen as well. Mind you, I see there is a 3.29 pacer so I may try to stick with them. I've only tried to run with a pacer once (admittedly a 3.15 one) but it didn't end well!

    Glad to hear the training is going well.

    I am in the Marriott hotel which looks like it's very close to the start.

  • Evening all, I've just registered after a couple of days of contemplation so I'll be looking at flights etc tomorrow. I'm not really aiming for a time as this part of the build up to a 50k ultra in December and training has so far got me to 18 miles so I'll probably fit a couple of 20 mile runs in before I taper, 4.30 would be a decent time however.

    This'll be my fifth official marathon (excluding an ultra) and my third overseas after Amsterdam in 2015 and Sydney last year. Looks like a good course so I'm looking forward to it already!
  • Nice one Matt, also looking forward to it now.

    I did a 20 miler yesterday and that's my last (very) long one. Aiming to do 14 miles next week and focus on a bit of speedwork.

    I got my PB at Amsterdam. Great course and marathon. Hopefully Frankfurt is just as flat!

  • Much has changed since I entered the race and unfortunately I picked up an injury a couple of days later, I did manage 20 miles yesterday so I'm confident I'll get around Frankfurt but I have a feeling it won't be as comfortable as I would like. Flights and hotel are all booked so I'll be there one way or another but seeing how things go over the next three weeks I may yet choose not to run.
  • Did my last long run yesterday as well - 35km. 

    Have a HM on Saturday - will behave and not race it too hard but practice a nice steady marathon pace over the distance. 

    Hope you make it to the start line Matt, good for your confidence to get the 20 miles done despite your injury.
  • My plan for last weekend had me doing 14 miles with the second half faster. I managed 8 min/mile pace overall so bang on target for 3.30 finish. We'll see...

    Glad you both completed last long run, as you say Hazelnut, good for the confidence.

    I am going to do a bit of speedwork over the next week and maybe 10 miles on Sunday. But having run my last 2 marathons injured I am determined to get to the start line in good shape. There's not a great deal we can add to what we've already done at this stage I reckon.

    I do need to stop eating so much though, am constantly hungry!

  • And how are you doing?  Less than 3 days to go.. :# 

    Just been getting my pieces of paper together (old-fashioned I know), booked my trains etc. 

    I did my HM in 1:42:40, set off far too fast on the initial slightly down bit and paid for it later (slightly up bits..).  Really need to make sure I don't do that in Frankfurt.  Coming as it did 6 days after a 35km and 2 days after a 6 hour hike I wasn't expecting miracles, my PB of four minutes faster on that course was done off a HM plan and fully rested. 

    Have a good journey to Germany. 

    The weather for Sunday doesn't look too good I'm afraid...  rainy (can cope with that ok), 11-13 degrees (don't want any warmer than that), windy (boo - don't like that at all...) 

    My nr: F2760  I will be wearing more or less the same as in my profile picture though without the rucksack and different shoes.   Almost certainly a red buff on my right wrist.  The chances of seeing each other are pretty slim but who knows.  If you want a meetup then let me know via PM - would be nice.
  • Sorry Hazel, just seen your post today, had a hectic few days up to the weekend.

    I just looked up your result from your race number, well done on 3.37! Are you pleased?

    The weather wasn't too bad i thought, in fact i was getting worried, before we started and the sun came out, that I had no sunscreen on! Temperature was fine and the occasional wind kept me cool.

    It didn't stop the wheels coming off at 30K though! All going well till then but ran out of energy, despite 2 gels and bananas on the course, and got home in 3.42 having done the first half in 1.44, as you can see from my splits - i was race no 8307.

    I decided to run with the 3.29 pacers but they were going 10 seconds per mile too quick i thought. Someone told me afterwards that they are aiming for 3.29 gun time which would figure as it took over 3 minutes to get over the start line. Anyway, a lesson learned. I should have just stuck to running my own race at 8 minute miles!

    I thought i would be more disappointed but i'm actually quite pleased with it. I haven't run a marathon for 2.5 years though recurring achilles and plantar fasciitis and the best thing yesterday (and now today) is that all was fine, just have the usual aching quads.




  • Great runs there! Despite poor training and even pulling a muscle on the warm up I got round very comfortably in 4.35, I had planned on 4.45 pacing at 10.40 per mile which worked for one mile and then my Garmin battery died so I ran the remaining 25.2 miles with no idea how fast I was I was going! I planned to just stick with the 4.44 pacer as far as I could keep up and then just try and hang on but in the end I broke away from the pacer along that long street with the trams running next to us and speeded up for the last four miles finishing with a negative split. Overall a great experience and a well organised race, I'd do it again next year if I'm not tempted by Dublin or Ljubliana!
  • Well done Matt, I've never managed a negative split in 10 marathons!

    I agree it was well organised and great experience. Having all the bag drop, finish etc in a building right beside the start works really well.

    If you're tempted by another German marathon, I've done Berlin and Munich. Both good in their own ways - Berlin is a huge field but an amazing experience.

    Good luck with your ultra.

  • My post was a bit close to the event - sorry..

    Great results from both of you.   

    Hope you got home without too many delays, I was lucky that my train home wasn't affected by the storms further north and east stopping all rail traffic there.  My train was supposed to have been coming from Hamburg but started in Frankfurt instead.

    I am pleased with 3:37, my PB from my only other road marathon is 3:34 and I was expecting around 3:45.  I started to struggle as of 30km and did not enjoy the last 7km at all.   I didn't notice how much I was sweating due to the wind and got quite dehydrated towards the end and had to visit every water station.  I tried using gels for the first time in a race situation (I had been practicing with them in training) but couldn't take one as of 30km.   Hydration and fuelling is something I need to work on. 

    I found the wind quite strong in places especially the gusts around those big bank buildings.  The temperature was ideal.

    I'm pretty tired today but DOMS is a lot less than I was expecting - I even made it out for a gentle 5km recovery jog at lunchtime without too much discomfort.   After my first road marathon I didn't run for 5 days and it hurt then.  Will take it gently the next few days.

    I have my eye on Berlin and Munich Telstar - thanks for the tips.  Not sure about my marathon plans for next year yet as I have my eye on a mountain marathon mid-October 2018 and I didn't much enjoy training for Frankfurt in the summer heat this year.  I might well do a road marathon in the spring instead.   Need to decide fairly soon to get signed up (ballot for Berlin).

    General stuff:

    I was suprised how few issues I had with crowding - the first couple of km were pretty full but that was good to prevent me from setting off like an idiot - after that I always had enough space to run as I wanted. 

    The organization was very good - no queues for the loos if you went to the ones inside the Festhalle complex, very fast start number and baggage processing, efficient water stations etc.   

    On the downside it took a while after crossing the finish line to get my hands on something to drink which I needed badly - the finish is inside then you go back outside and through the (longish) medal collection queues to get to the refreshments. 

    Can't say anything about shower / changing room facilities as I went back to my hotel (15 mins walk away).

    The course was a bit boring, but I am used to scenic Switzerland, the crowd support was good in the city and in the residential areas.

    I stayed in the Domoro hotel which was convenient located for the start/finish and the train station but had the disadvantage of the railway line next to it - closed window and earplugs helped with that though.  I didn't do much checking on prices for alternatives - we had a room for 99€.
     
  • Errm sorry for barging into your finish line fotos Telstar.. You were right behind me :D
  • Haha, that's hilarious Hazel! Just noticed that I am lurking on a couple of your finish photos as well!

    Very impressed that you were straight back out for a recovery run, I reckon it will be the weekend for me.

    Reflecting more on my race, I need to get the crucial last 10K sorted. I have done it before - in 3 out of 9 previous marathons I ran pretty much equal splits including a 3.19 in Amsterdam. I think I just hadn't done enough overall mileage this time (3 or 4 runs per week and max weekly mileage of 35 miles) and only 2 20 milers.

    I am doing Paris next in April, so have 23 weeks to go...  

    Other reflections from me on the race: I did find it very congested for about the first 10K. Crowds in the city were good though and I thought the drinks stations were excellent. Running round the some of the same streets at the end as we had at the start was a bit disappointing but by the time I get to the last 7K of a marathon, it's difficult to get too excited about anything other than the finish line!

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