Berlin Marathon - 30 Sept 2012

Blogging isn't exactly my favourite thing to do, so I'll let the pictures desribe my latest marathon, the 2012 Berlin Marathon. My preparation was excellent. There were no injuries, no missed training sessions and plenty of good training runs. Conditions on the day were pretty good so all was set for me to go out for another crack at that elusive sub 2:40!

 



 

Unlike most marathons, this one never felt easy at any stage. It's possible that I was feeling either the effects of a little too much site seeing in the week leading up to the race or perhaps I'm simply slowing down due to age (nearly 45).

Pretty much from the get go I knew that I would have to dig deep in this race. The km splits were slower than I'd hoped for, the heart rate was higher and I was simply working harder than I had planned. In saying that, I'd come along way and I wasn't about to go home without having a red hot go at my sub 2:40 goal. It simply came down to trying to relax early on and concentrating on my form, hoping that a second wind would set in after 10 miles or so as it often does.

Still concentrating hard here. It was feeling much tougher than my face suggests.

Starting to breath deeply far too early! Went through 1/2 way in 80:02.

Followng the adidas line and chasing the orange man! Perfect tangent running here. Right on that middle stripe. Gotta be happy with that!

No more help from my orange friend!

Still following the adidas triple lines!

This must be the longest most painful straight! The Brandenburg Gates are behind me but the finish line just never seemed to arrive.

Running Ugly! - Not much more to say!

Slowing in the last 2.2 km's (could only average 4:03 pace).

It really hurt - my face ain't lying!

It's finally over! 2:41 exactly. Gave my all, left nothing on the course. My second fastest marathon ever after 2:40:43 in April.

The Sponsors advertising!

Splits:

0-5 km's - 18:49
5-10 km's - 18:56
10-15 km's - 19:07
15-20 km's - 19:00
20-25 km's - 19:05
25-30 km's - 19:07
30-35 km's - 18:53
35-40 km's - 19:11
40-42.2 km's - 8:52

Smiling now!

 

 

Still smiling!

 

 

 



 

 Craig Lambert, Chris Dwyer, Mo Alkhub, Stephen Bodnar, Myself

 

 

Enjoying lagers @ Tiergarten - The Rewards!



Rotterdam Marathon

I recently ran a marathon PB of 2:40:43 in cold & very windy conditions in Rotterdam. Whilst I trained well, I actually put the result down to finally recognizing the power of good recovery!

For 5 years I was entrenched in the Lydiard philosophy of "miles make champions". Missing training just seemed like a soft option to me. There would be times when stubbornly I would run through intolerable pain, or at ungodly hours even though deep down I knew I just needed rest. In Dec last year I injured my hamstring for the umpteenth time. Out of necessity I backed off my training from around 140 km's pw to around 90-110. With no "A" races on the radar until Rotterdam in April, I reduced the number of hard sessions each week, cut out the intervals for a while and focused on the long runs, the weekly tempo run and a few strides here and there. Most importantly though, I forced myself to take a day off most weeks.

I've been fortunate to have received guidance from 2 great coaches in Barry Magee & Sean Williams. I've also read just about every running book I can get my hands on along with running forums like Letsrun etc. However, perhaps the most valuable piece of advice I needed was presented to me earlier this year when I read the line "recovery is training". Pretty obvious stuff I admit, but I probably wasn't ready until then to accept it! I now place the same level of importance on recovery as I do on actually running. This includes things like:

1) Getting a weekly massage;
2) Getting physio / chiro treatments instead of allowing niggles to go untouched;
3) Taking a day off when I need it; and
4) Accepting my age and modifying my program by eliminating doubles / reducing the number of hard days and being selective about when I take on speedwork or intervals that has always placed so much stress on my body.

Not only have the physical benefits been tremendous, but I believe the mental aspect has been even more important. Just by being fresher, I am less intimidated by the hard sessions for a start. I can even look forward now to the odd day off and not even think about running. I know that after a day off I'm pumped and eager to get back into action and I usually put in a nice session as a result.

Some things take a while to sink in and admittingly it's only been through trial and error that I have learned to accept the simple fact, which is: "Recovery is training". The adaptions in our body occur not when we run or race, but afterwards when we rest.

My next "A" race will be the Gold Coast Marathon in July. Prior to that I'll be doing a tune-up Half Marathon in Canberra on 20 May.