I'll be heading across the ditch with my mate "Oldman" for a second crack at the Christchurch Marathon on Sunday where I hope to improve upon my PW of 2:55 there back in 2008. Regardless of how the race goes it will be interesting to see how the city has been rebuilt since it was devastated by the earthquake in 2011.
Unfortunately we're only heading over on Friday and back after the race on Sunday, so won't get a chance to see much. A quick look at the city on Friday afternoon and a short day trip to Akaroa on Saturday is about all we will manage. Looking forward to it all the same.
I picked this race because the course is flat and I prefer cold climate racing (10 degrees or less is ideal for me). As luck would have it, unfortunately the weather forecast at this stage is for wind, rain and around 14 degree temperatures. I haven't had perfect marathon conditions since Melbourne way back in 2009, so it is a little frustrating, but heck what can you do. As always you just have to focus on dealing with whatever conditions are presented in a sensible manner and with a positive mindset. I had to laugh a little today though. Oldman is a lot more regular than I am in paying respects to our creator, so I cheekily asked him if he could put in a good word for me. Not long afterwards I get a text reply saying he did his best but the lord said my name wasn't on file. A fitting reminder for me to show my face at church more often. Apparently my blue sky cathedral isn't deemed acceptable.
Whilst I'm no doubt unworthy, I'm still putting in a special plea to the weather gods to embarrass the weatherman. Please, just this once! :)
And of course to Oldman and those racing, I hope you enjoy the event, run fast and smash your goals for the race.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
SMH Half Marathon
Solid hit out today at SMH 1/2. 76:32. 2nd M40-49. Despite living in Sydney, I've always preferred the Canberra 1/2 to this one and have never done it before. Glad I finally had a crack, but still prefer the Canberra event.
Tough undulating course with very little opportunity to get into a groove. Still a sound run off marathon training leading into Christchurch Marathon in 2 weeks.
It's great to be back racing again now that the weather has cooled down. Other than the Tokyo Marathon in Feb (PB 2:39:40), I've only raced twice since November last year. Today and the Mothers Day Classic last Sunday (4 km's in 12:51) at Parramatta Park.
Definitely not my usual marathon preparation leading up to ChCh, having raced a 1/2 two weeks out and running the distance 3 weeks out (42.2 last Sat in 3:04 hours) in training. A couple of light weeks now and will be lining up for marathon #15.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Taper Time
In just over a week, I'll be back racing for my first outing in 3 months. I'll be heading over to Tokyo to run the new 6th Major . I've never tried a marathon this early in the year before and I must say that it hasn't been easy preparing in the warmer months. The preparation has been uninterrupted, which is nice, but certainly hasn't been easy. I've had some great sessions and some crap ones. Typically once the temp gets above the mid 20's and / or the humidity is high, I pretty much know in advance that its going to be a slog. I just don't handle these conditions well at all. Recognising my weakness, I've just run these sessions to heart rate and don't even look at the pace on my garmin.
Leading up to this race I've loosely followed an old school Lydiard periodisation approach, with an emphasis on quality longer runs in particular. There's been very little in the way of VO2 interval sessions, but plenty of hills early on, a weekly strides session and weekly tempo session or marathon paced session up to 25 km's. All in all, I'm pleased with how I've prepared and am now just excited to get out and race again. It's always great fun to combine my love of travel and running. I haven't been to Tokyo before so am excited to see a new place. It's even more exciting to be bringing my girlfriend Samantha along. For me there's nothing more motivating than having her there holding onto my grandfathers old stetson hat at the race start / finish.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
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!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Toronto Waterfront Marathon
The Toronto Watefront Marathon was #10 for me. The race was held on what I would describe as a mildly undulating course. I quite liked the course in fact. No real steep sections, but plenty of opportunity to use different muscles, hence avoiding repetitive use of the same muscles like you do on a flat course. It's a loop course that heads west for around 13 km's before turning around and heading back east, with a couple of deviations and then turning back to the west with around 6 or 7 km's to the finish. The conditions were mild, but extremely windy. The wind was from the west. Heading out I'd estimate the winds were around 25 km/h, but these picked up well above 30-40 km/h for the final 7 km's, which certainly made the going tough for a marathon finish.
Coming into the race with only 7 days recovery from the Chicago Marathon, I was well aware that I'd be entering unknown territory. The quad pain had eased up by Friday and by Saturday I was feeling in reasonable shape.
My race strategy was to run to heart rate, and totally disregard pace. I did manage to avoid looking at the watch timer, although I did glance at the km splits when I heard the beep. Pretty much from the first km, I felt heavy in the legs. Aerobically I was feeling fine and it was hard to refrain from picking up the pace. As I previously mentioned, I knew this wasn't q day to go after PB's. Control, control, control was very much the order of the day. I wanted to use this marathon to get feedback on running to a planned and structured heart rate schedule.
Without going through every detail of the race, I will divide it into 3 stages:
Stage 1
West bound 13 km's or so into the wind. In order to stay within the target heart rate zone, I was only averaging 4:00 km's. I was feeling very relaxed and just hanging in there for he turn so I could run a little more freely with the wind behind me.
Stage 2
With the wind behind me, I was regularly doing around 3:50 - 3:55 km splits. I was still maintaining the target heart rate zones, but running a little slower than I would've expected with a wind like that behind me. Right up to the 35 km mark, I was still feeling good and ready to work hard for the final windward bound section.
Stage 3
The wind was really strong and it was tough to hang around the 4 min km pace. I really enjoyed this final run to the finish though. There was fuel in the tank and I was able to run strongly all the way to the finish. I passed at least 15 or so runners in the final 7 km's and this is always good motivation. My right leg was cramping a little with 3 km's to go, but I ran through it and evn managed a 3:47 final km into the wind and slightly uphill finish. A guy snuck up behind me with around 400 metres to go. We toed it side to side for about 300 metres and I got him by around 15 metres over the final 100 m sprint.
All up, I ran a respectable time of 2:47:35, with splits of 83:29 & 84:06. Fairly even paced and better than the 2:50 time I would've been satisfied with.
Official splits from the website were:
10 km's - 40:01
1/2 - 83:29
30 km's - 1:58:29
35 km's - 2:18:18
40 km's - 2:38:59
Overall place was 56th & M40-44 Age Category - 8th.
Splits from my watch were as follows:
1. 3:47 (133)
2. 3:51 (147)
3. 4:03 (147)
4. 3:52 (148)
5. 3:57 (149)
6. 3:57 (150)
7. 3:57 (150)
8. 3:56 (152)
9. 4:04 (151)
10. 4:02 (153)
11. 3:57 (150)
12. 3:58 (153)
13. 3:58 (153)
14. 3:52 (153)
15. 3:55 (153)
16. 3:56 (155)
17. 3:50 (154)
18. 3:49 (155)
19. 3:44 (157)
20. 3:52 (157)
21. 3:50 (158)
22. 3:54 (159)
23. 3:52 (159)
24. 3:54 (161)
25. 3:54 (159)
26. 3:52 (159)
27. 3:54 (160)
28. 3:51 (161)
29. 3:50 (162)
30. 3:50 (162)
31. 3:53 (162)
32. 3:58 (162)
33. 4:00 (162)
34. 3:58 (164)
35. 3:55 (167)
36. 3:59 (166)
37. 4:01 (166)
38. 3:59 (168)
39. 4:09 (168)
40. 4:07 (168)
41. 4:09 (167)
42. 4:02 (170)
42.650. 3:47 pace (172)
Coming into the race with only 7 days recovery from the Chicago Marathon, I was well aware that I'd be entering unknown territory. The quad pain had eased up by Friday and by Saturday I was feeling in reasonable shape.
My race strategy was to run to heart rate, and totally disregard pace. I did manage to avoid looking at the watch timer, although I did glance at the km splits when I heard the beep. Pretty much from the first km, I felt heavy in the legs. Aerobically I was feeling fine and it was hard to refrain from picking up the pace. As I previously mentioned, I knew this wasn't q day to go after PB's. Control, control, control was very much the order of the day. I wanted to use this marathon to get feedback on running to a planned and structured heart rate schedule.
Without going through every detail of the race, I will divide it into 3 stages:
Stage 1
West bound 13 km's or so into the wind. In order to stay within the target heart rate zone, I was only averaging 4:00 km's. I was feeling very relaxed and just hanging in there for he turn so I could run a little more freely with the wind behind me.
Stage 2
With the wind behind me, I was regularly doing around 3:50 - 3:55 km splits. I was still maintaining the target heart rate zones, but running a little slower than I would've expected with a wind like that behind me. Right up to the 35 km mark, I was still feeling good and ready to work hard for the final windward bound section.
Stage 3
The wind was really strong and it was tough to hang around the 4 min km pace. I really enjoyed this final run to the finish though. There was fuel in the tank and I was able to run strongly all the way to the finish. I passed at least 15 or so runners in the final 7 km's and this is always good motivation. My right leg was cramping a little with 3 km's to go, but I ran through it and evn managed a 3:47 final km into the wind and slightly uphill finish. A guy snuck up behind me with around 400 metres to go. We toed it side to side for about 300 metres and I got him by around 15 metres over the final 100 m sprint.
All up, I ran a respectable time of 2:47:35, with splits of 83:29 & 84:06. Fairly even paced and better than the 2:50 time I would've been satisfied with.
Official splits from the website were:
10 km's - 40:01
1/2 - 83:29
30 km's - 1:58:29
35 km's - 2:18:18
40 km's - 2:38:59
Overall place was 56th & M40-44 Age Category - 8th.
Splits from my watch were as follows:
1. 3:47 (133)
2. 3:51 (147)
3. 4:03 (147)
4. 3:52 (148)
5. 3:57 (149)
6. 3:57 (150)
7. 3:57 (150)
8. 3:56 (152)
9. 4:04 (151)
10. 4:02 (153)
11. 3:57 (150)
12. 3:58 (153)
13. 3:58 (153)
14. 3:52 (153)
15. 3:55 (153)
16. 3:56 (155)
17. 3:50 (154)
18. 3:49 (155)
19. 3:44 (157)
20. 3:52 (157)
21. 3:50 (158)
22. 3:54 (159)
23. 3:52 (159)
24. 3:54 (161)
25. 3:54 (159)
26. 3:52 (159)
27. 3:54 (160)
28. 3:51 (161)
29. 3:50 (162)
30. 3:50 (162)
31. 3:53 (162)
32. 3:58 (162)
33. 4:00 (162)
34. 3:58 (164)
35. 3:55 (167)
36. 3:59 (166)
37. 4:01 (166)
38. 3:59 (168)
39. 4:09 (168)
40. 4:07 (168)
41. 4:09 (167)
42. 4:02 (170)
42.650. 3:47 pace (172)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Chicago Marathon
What an amazing experience! In the days leading up to the race you would hardly have known that a marathon event was about to take place. There was very little signage around the city and not much in the news either. However come Sunday the city was abuzz with marathon fever. I believe 45,000 people entered the event and 1.7 million people lined the streets of Chicago. The marathon had literally taken over the city. Having never experienced a marathon this big before, I was simply blown away with the excitement. It was probably the most enjoyable marathon I have done so far.
Up until the night before the race, I was unsure about even finishing it. I was very concerned about the forecasted heat and also feeling sore in the hips. Having only landed in the city on Wednesday evening, I still hadn't adjusted to the time zone change and only slept 5-6 hours max in the days leading up to the race. I also overdid the sight seeing and walked upwards of 10 km's each day looking around the place.
The weather forecast was predicted to be 14 - 20 degrees between 7:30 am and 10:30 am, with high humidity and clear skies. I've never raced well in these conditions before so on Thursday I decided to enter the Toronto Marathon, which takes place on 16 October. I spoke to Sean about this before I left and he agreed it wasn't a bad idea. When I got to Chicago, I decided I really wanted to start the race and just do 1 hour at marathon effort and then jog back to the start / finish. I settled on this plan for race day , however the night before the race I heard that heavy winds are predicted for Toronto, albeit with much cooler conditions. This got me thinking all over again and I reverted to the original plan of doing the whole race. I decided that I would need to make sure I am extremely well hydrated and maximize every opportunity during the race to keep my core cool by splashing water over myself.
I was rooming with my mate Craig Lambert. We were up early for a light breakfast and after getting ready we caught a bus to the start. We had planned to catch a cab, but 40 odd thousand other people had the same idea. Luckily plenty of buses were available. We got to the race start area a little after 6 am, dropped our baggage off and headed over to the A corral. The minutes ticked by quite quickly and before you knew it the race was underway.
Due to the warmer conditions, My pacing plan was to run to my heart rate, so I wore my heart rate monitor which I haven't done since my first marathon in 2008. I wanted to keep my heart rate below 150 for the first few km's and not more than the mid 150's up until 1/2 way. There after I hoped to just hold the pace or preferably negative split. Based on this strategy I hoped to go through 1/2 way in under 81 minutes and take it from there. The following heart rate splits were taken from my watch, which show actual versus target. Actual on the left and target on the right. As can be seen, I overdid it a little early on, then settled in okay but couldn't hold on over the final 6 km's or so. My pace slowed as no doubt my glycogen supplies depleted and my hips became extremely sore in the final 10 km's. I was actually feeling fine throughout the whole race but had very little in the tank after 36 km's, when the bodies preservation mechanisms kicked in and forced me to slow down. The initial 30 km's or so offered pretty good cover with buildings etc, but the final 12 km's were tougher in open skies and increasing temperature:
Goal pace 1-3 km's - 3:53
1 - 136 / 144
2 - 147 / 144
3 - 152 / 146
Goal pace 4-11 km's - 3:51
4 - 153 / 150
5 - 153 / 150
6 - 154 / 150
7 - 155 / 151
8 - 156
9 - 156
10 - 155
11 - 156 / 152
12 - 156
13 - 155
14 - 158
Goal pace 15-29 km's - 3:49
15 - 159 / 156
16 - 159
17 - 158
18 - 157 / 157
19 - 156
20 - 157
21 - 157
22 - 159 / 158
23 - 159
24 - 160
25 - 160
26 - 161 / 159
27 - 160
28 - 161
Goal pace to finish - 3:47
29 - 161 / 163
30 - 161
31 - 161 / (3:47) actual pace in brackets
32 - 160 / (3:51)
33 - 161 / 164 (3:46)
34 - 161 / (3:52)
35 - 161 / (3:50)
36 - 162 / (3:51)
37 - 160 / 165 (4:04)
38 - 156 (4:10)
39 - 158 (4:12)
40 - 157 / 166 (4:13)
41 - 156 / (4:15)
42 - 154 / (4:24)
43 - 158 / (4:12 pace)
It is noted that my watch recorded 43 km's instead of 42.195 km's, hence it is probably appropriate to add around 3-4 seconds to each km.
All up I ran a time of 2:44:35, which is over 3 mins off my PB and my 4th fastest time in 8 marathons that I have raced. I placed 233rd and 12th in the M40-44 category. To be frank, I'm very happy with this result. Considering the conditions and knowing that I did this one off my lowest training mileage (averaging only 110 km's per week, I have no complaints.
The plan is now to also do Toronto. I've never before considered such a thing and would've considered 2 marathons in 1 week crazy, but I'm here, I've entered and I have no goal races coming up, so I may as well give it a crack.
Prediction for Toronto is much cooler, 8-12 degrees but strong winds are forecasted. This will be a first. All previous marathons have been in either still conditions or moderate winds at worst.
I iced my sore hips straight after Chicago and this did help. My quads were extremely sore the day after and still sore up until Thursday.
Training for the week has consisted of:
Monday - Rest / walking around New York City
Tuesday - 3 km's in 19:30 - very painful on the quads
Wednesday - Rest / walked around NYC
Thursday - 5.5 km's jogging in a little under 5 min km pace
Friday - Pool 20 mins, which included 6 x 30 secs hard deepwater running without floatation.
Saturday - Jog 20 mins in a little under 4:50 pace
I'm writing this blog in the dark laying in my hotel bed. Power to the building has been gone most of the day. Race starts at 9 am. Alarm is set for 5 am and I'll have a bagel with honey before going back to sleep for a bit and then heading off to the race start. It's blowing big time outside and I'm hoping the weathergods are feeling nice.
I'll wear the chest strap again, but plan to write the heart rate numbers on my arm this time so I don't forget them again. If the wind does howl as predicted, I think it is prudent to run to effort and not even look at the km splits. If I can resist the temptation I might even turn the speed/timer details off.
Up until the night before the race, I was unsure about even finishing it. I was very concerned about the forecasted heat and also feeling sore in the hips. Having only landed in the city on Wednesday evening, I still hadn't adjusted to the time zone change and only slept 5-6 hours max in the days leading up to the race. I also overdid the sight seeing and walked upwards of 10 km's each day looking around the place.
The weather forecast was predicted to be 14 - 20 degrees between 7:30 am and 10:30 am, with high humidity and clear skies. I've never raced well in these conditions before so on Thursday I decided to enter the Toronto Marathon, which takes place on 16 October. I spoke to Sean about this before I left and he agreed it wasn't a bad idea. When I got to Chicago, I decided I really wanted to start the race and just do 1 hour at marathon effort and then jog back to the start / finish. I settled on this plan for race day , however the night before the race I heard that heavy winds are predicted for Toronto, albeit with much cooler conditions. This got me thinking all over again and I reverted to the original plan of doing the whole race. I decided that I would need to make sure I am extremely well hydrated and maximize every opportunity during the race to keep my core cool by splashing water over myself.
I was rooming with my mate Craig Lambert. We were up early for a light breakfast and after getting ready we caught a bus to the start. We had planned to catch a cab, but 40 odd thousand other people had the same idea. Luckily plenty of buses were available. We got to the race start area a little after 6 am, dropped our baggage off and headed over to the A corral. The minutes ticked by quite quickly and before you knew it the race was underway.
Due to the warmer conditions, My pacing plan was to run to my heart rate, so I wore my heart rate monitor which I haven't done since my first marathon in 2008. I wanted to keep my heart rate below 150 for the first few km's and not more than the mid 150's up until 1/2 way. There after I hoped to just hold the pace or preferably negative split. Based on this strategy I hoped to go through 1/2 way in under 81 minutes and take it from there. The following heart rate splits were taken from my watch, which show actual versus target. Actual on the left and target on the right. As can be seen, I overdid it a little early on, then settled in okay but couldn't hold on over the final 6 km's or so. My pace slowed as no doubt my glycogen supplies depleted and my hips became extremely sore in the final 10 km's. I was actually feeling fine throughout the whole race but had very little in the tank after 36 km's, when the bodies preservation mechanisms kicked in and forced me to slow down. The initial 30 km's or so offered pretty good cover with buildings etc, but the final 12 km's were tougher in open skies and increasing temperature:
Goal pace 1-3 km's - 3:53
1 - 136 / 144
2 - 147 / 144
3 - 152 / 146
Goal pace 4-11 km's - 3:51
4 - 153 / 150
5 - 153 / 150
6 - 154 / 150
7 - 155 / 151
8 - 156
9 - 156
10 - 155
11 - 156 / 152
12 - 156
13 - 155
14 - 158
Goal pace 15-29 km's - 3:49
15 - 159 / 156
16 - 159
17 - 158
18 - 157 / 157
19 - 156
20 - 157
21 - 157
22 - 159 / 158
23 - 159
24 - 160
25 - 160
26 - 161 / 159
27 - 160
28 - 161
Goal pace to finish - 3:47
29 - 161 / 163
30 - 161
31 - 161 / (3:47) actual pace in brackets
32 - 160 / (3:51)
33 - 161 / 164 (3:46)
34 - 161 / (3:52)
35 - 161 / (3:50)
36 - 162 / (3:51)
37 - 160 / 165 (4:04)
38 - 156 (4:10)
39 - 158 (4:12)
40 - 157 / 166 (4:13)
41 - 156 / (4:15)
42 - 154 / (4:24)
43 - 158 / (4:12 pace)
It is noted that my watch recorded 43 km's instead of 42.195 km's, hence it is probably appropriate to add around 3-4 seconds to each km.
All up I ran a time of 2:44:35, which is over 3 mins off my PB and my 4th fastest time in 8 marathons that I have raced. I placed 233rd and 12th in the M40-44 category. To be frank, I'm very happy with this result. Considering the conditions and knowing that I did this one off my lowest training mileage (averaging only 110 km's per week, I have no complaints.
The plan is now to also do Toronto. I've never before considered such a thing and would've considered 2 marathons in 1 week crazy, but I'm here, I've entered and I have no goal races coming up, so I may as well give it a crack.
Prediction for Toronto is much cooler, 8-12 degrees but strong winds are forecasted. This will be a first. All previous marathons have been in either still conditions or moderate winds at worst.
I iced my sore hips straight after Chicago and this did help. My quads were extremely sore the day after and still sore up until Thursday.
Training for the week has consisted of:
Monday - Rest / walking around New York City
Tuesday - 3 km's in 19:30 - very painful on the quads
Wednesday - Rest / walked around NYC
Thursday - 5.5 km's jogging in a little under 5 min km pace
Friday - Pool 20 mins, which included 6 x 30 secs hard deepwater running without floatation.
Saturday - Jog 20 mins in a little under 4:50 pace
I'm writing this blog in the dark laying in my hotel bed. Power to the building has been gone most of the day. Race starts at 9 am. Alarm is set for 5 am and I'll have a bagel with honey before going back to sleep for a bit and then heading off to the race start. It's blowing big time outside and I'm hoping the weathergods are feeling nice.
I'll wear the chest strap again, but plan to write the heart rate numbers on my arm this time so I don't forget them again. If the wind does howl as predicted, I think it is prudent to run to effort and not even look at the km splits. If I can resist the temptation I might even turn the speed/timer details off.
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