Stability Through Motion

The target: 3:03:30 – or 7 minute miling all the way.

This seemed achievable based on the HM conversion and a comfortable 20 miler @ 7:05 miling 3 weeks previously.

Everything until that point in training had been fine and dandy, and I was pretty confident of keeping the 7s all the way through.

For those who don’t know/remember, I’ve been following the FIRST training schedules from the Furman Institute‘s book on the subject. This is based on 3-4 runs a week, never topping 40 miles, but crucially also 2 days of hard-ish cross training (biking mostly).
This has proven very succesful for me in shorter races, but the test was would it work for the aerobically more challenging 26.2 miles. So, to the …

…stats
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Mile – pace – (HR) – notes
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Miles 1 – 5
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1 – 7:03 – (154) – positioned quite far back as usual, but no problems despite the HM field setting off too.
2 – 6:54 – (159) – slight downhill, all going well
3 – 7:08 – (159) – uphill so not worried
4 – 7:09 – (161) – more uphill – sun is getting relentless.
5 – 6:48 – (162) – downhill after Luddington

Miles 6 – 10
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6 – 7:14 – (160) – uphill to Welford
7 – 7:09 – (161) -water stop here and saw the folks
8 – 7:11 – (162) – up steep Rumer Hill
9 – 6:43 – (162) – down steeply then towards the Greenway, flew down here
10 – 7:08 – (160) – steady, chatting with a Half marathoner on for his PB. Felt very hot by now.

Miles 11 – 15
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11 – 7.00 – (159) – still chatting
12 – 7.05 – (161) – HM separation point in town – things get lonelier all of a sudden
13 – 7:07 – (161) – fully into the second lap, uphill again
14 – 7:09 – (161) – still uphill gently
15 – 7:18 – (160) – struggling through Luddington a bit, had a scrap with a club runner who kept pushing me into traffic

Miles 16 – 20
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16 – 7:00 – (159) – downhill
17 – 7:19 – (160) – climb into Welford
18 – 7:18 – (158) – water stop in the village
19 – 7:36 – (157) – up Rumer Hill again, then down, amazingly slow considering – but no energy at all for the fast descent I enjoyed first time round. Started counting numbers to keep my head in the zone.
20 – 7:27 – (157) – really hitting me now, quads begin to ache – meet last supporters in bleary state. Really want to quit already.

Miles 21 – 26.2
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21 – 7:26 – (158) – on the Greenway, endless endless track, still catching runners but oh so slowly
22 – 7:28 – (156) – lonely as hell, quads painful, even lost the ability to count up to 100 here
23 – 8:05 – (152) – chat to 2nd lady who speeds off, but perks me up a bit, 1st and only toilet stop somewhere round here
24 – 7:59 – (152) – catch 2 other runners and we run together for a few
25 – 8:30 – (150) – Long stop for water, reach edge of town, good support, myself and Steve drop the 3rd runner push on in united pain
26 – 8:00 – (150) – too many corners, double backing over bridge – each corner causes more pain – legs just want to go straight
26.2 – 1:30? [unsure, forgot to stop watch as usual!] Steve amazingly sprints for the finish, I’m happy to see the clock at 3.12

The result: 3:11:43 chip time, a PB by over a minute, so not too bad given the blow up. Was that a blow-up? I didn’t walk ever, but did stop for periods at water stations, initially just to make sure I got the water down me in the heat, but then because it felt bloody good not to be running!

Oh, I should mention that I was 45th out of 850 finishers (1100 starters which indicates a high dropout percentage on a hot day). My highest marathon position ever. To be fair, most people seem to want to run the little marathon being held in London on the same day, and only 12 people ran sub 3 hours on Sunday, which tells a tale. The winner’s time was a measly 2:48, ahem, rather than the 2:05 at London.

Despite my dramatic slowdown it tells a story that no one caught me in the last miles, indeed i was still overtaking – so everyone was slowing. Overall I’m very happy, because it’s a very long time since my previous marathon, and I scraped a PB despite a terrible fade. The fade felt better simply because everyone around me was obviously fading too.

Analysis:
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Energy levels:
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Even at the start in the first few miles I knew I was not on for running 6.50 at any point. The jaded feeling I’ve had in training for the previous almost 3 weeks was still there – just no pep or zip or whatever. Did I lose the edge after the fast 20 miler? Over-training iron deficiency – possibly? It can’t have been just the uncomfortable conditions, because my quads have never caused so much trouble in previous marathons. They seem to indicate lack of miles, which points to the Furman plan.

Furman analysis
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I’m pretty convinced it can work, but think it would need more than the measly 30 miles biking I averaged to achieve 3 hr times. I’d need to double that, which would take up even more hours of training. I’d rather spend less time training, and more running, and am only worried about the concomittant higher risk of injury. On the plus side, the plan kept me focused, improved shorter racing times and caused no injury troubles (the pelvis was from bad posture at work).

Look at that HR too – way down in the last miles, obviously due to speed. I’ve never measured HR in a marathon before, so unsure what to make of it, but it’s not too high at any point, which might indicate it’s just me legs.

Fuel
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Fine – carbo loaded for 2 days with no ill effects. Can’t judge the effects during the race as I faded anyway, but took all my gels, was very attentive to water intake, so I felt like I got that right this time. 4 gels in total, one taken every 6 miles, and the last one was caffeinated. Stopped for water pretty much every water station, but didn’t lose too much time until I began to drink it seriously in the second lap. Doused my head and back with water at every one as well.

I don’t like to be alone
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On the psychological front I’ve had it confirmed yet again that I run better in company, if I can chat, than having to cope on solo stretches in a strung out group on long unrelenting roads/tracks. As soon as I was in a chatting group, things were fine – my mind picked up and I could ignore the inevitable muscle struggle. Those last miles would have been pure hell without Steve and Houston. I know they don’t fetch (had never heard of it), but thanks guys!

To the future – it’s all ahead of us!
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Brussels 2010? Will it be a sub 3 attempt, or should I target my still needed sub 3:05? Will I keep with Furman, or switch to higher mileage? Is there a middle way?! More thinking required. A week off running now, then target the local 10k race, and I’ve a month or so of bimbling around woods and trails before the next regime.