3:29:48
Happy, all things considered.
Never felt 100% in the lead up, and after discussion with Rob we decided to take it out a bit slower than planned. Try not to hit the wall.
The weather was OK, clear for the first hour, warming up to about 20 and a very humid. Then sprinkled light rain on and off, cooling things down a little. The breeze did come up a bit and was tough for 30-35k area, but at a couple of key points the wind was behind me.
We started out first 5k in 22:51 - a little fast, then purposely settled back to 4:45s for the next 15k. I knew I was struggling a bit with the pace by about 17k. Breathing and effort felt fine, les felt dead, no energy. I upped the sugar intake, glad to have packed 2 gels in addition to a packet of snakes. I'd dropped behind Rob at that 19k mark, but the gel seemed to help and I returned to 445s for the next 4k. Halfway was 1hr40, Garmin was readig a couple of hundred m further than the corresponding km markers. 24-30k I slowed to 4:55 pace, and again dropped behind Rob. In this time I must admit to thinking of stopping early and giving it away. I told myself to get to 32k and decide then.
Rob kindly slowed up for me and we ran the very tough 30-36km section together. This was the stretch where I walked both previous years and it was thanks to running with Rob that I managed to push through, albeit in 5:05-5:10s.It was at this point I decided I'd finish no matter what.
Rob pulled away again at 37k, and at the 38k marker I walked a little due to quad cramps, took 4 snakes with a bit of water, and got set in to save sub 330. I thought I should have enough time in the bank to do this easily. 5:45/5:26 to get to 40k. Rob had pulled 300-400m ahead, but I was surprised to see him stopped nearly at 41k. Both his calves had cramped and he just couldn't run.
I briefly stopped to walk with him, but with sub330 in the offing I headed off again. I had less than 7 minutes to finish the last 1.2k. My left quad cramped up, but with a bit of a hobble I just ran in under 3:30.
It's crazy that 3 weeks ago we both finished 32k full of running, only a couple of minutes slower than we did 32k today, but today I was stuffed. I suspect if Rob hadn't kindly held back at my pace in the middle sections, maybe he would have finished pre cramps developing.
Nonetheless, PB, sub330 on a pretty poor preparation leaves me feeling happy. Lots of work to do to get to my 5 year plan of sub 3hrs ( this was year 3) but I remain confident, especially if I dont let my fitness slip in the spring as I have the lasdt 2 years. Trekking in Nepal should help prevent that.
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4 comments:
Congratulations on the PB!
Well done for toughing it out, and good on Rob for helping you persist. Just reward for sticking at it.
I am surprised though as I thought you had another 10-20 minutes quicker in you...
All the best with the awesome Nepal plans and hope we both can achieve our sub 3 goals by the 5th year of trying.
Its a goal that has eluded many good runners for years on end from what I have read of eastern states blogs, and as we know its a race where a lot of things have to go right for the target to be achieved.
Well done on the run. Always good to see how marathon runners are going.
Plu
Well done epi!... and Rob. Sounded like things were a bit dicey at a couple of stages there which considering the distance is understandable for sure.
As tb said, mucho respecto to Rob for helping you through it.
Have fun in Nepal!
Well done on the PBs despite all the adversaries (cramps, sick days etc). Marathon is an animal and unlike other distances, nothing is guaranteed and things actually seldom clicks during marathons. I am sure the training will bode well for shorter races this year.
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