Marathon - 3:54:03
Yesterday was the Loch Ness Marathon in Inverness. I ran this marathon 3 years ago without properly understanding the training required and blew up quite spectacularly at 18 miles (at which point you reach two steep and long hills), plodding home a couple of seconds under 4:30. In Edinburgh this summer I crept below 4 hours, but the wheels came off at 20 miles in the stifling heat there too.
So for Loch Ness I was hoping for better things and ideally a time close to 3:45. Balanced against 10 months training solid training behind me and a couple of decent half and 10k PBs in the last month, was the fact that for a variety of reasons my weekend long-runs had suffered in the lead-up to the run. On the day I set off at 3:45-4:00-ish pace with a colleague from work who I ran the whole distance with. We ran a pretty solid race, keeping as steady a pace as was reasonable on a fairly undulating course. The scary hills from 18-20 miles came and went without too many problems, and I even felt confident enough to mention at 20 miles that the wheels were at least still half-on. The weather was difficult - very, very wet in large parts - but I would take that any day over the heat from the Edinburgh marathon. In the last mile my legs began to tighten quite noticeable, but only to the extent where I couldn't speed up for any great distance, rather than the feeling of just wanting to stop which I had experienced in my previous two marathons. Indeed, apart from a couple of calls of nature I didn't come close to needing to stop, which for me was a small personal victory. And so it ended with a 3:54 - not the 3:45 I had been hoping for, but sub-4 nonetheless.
Overall I think the time is a fair reflection on my training. I knew I was in better 10k/half shape than marathon shape, but I also knew I should be able to finish a marathon in (relatively) comfortable shape for the first time. A few minutes quicker would have been nice, but if I had run the first 20 miles at a slightly quicker pace I am quite sure I would have paid for it in the last few. And a PB is a PB, so I'm not complaining.
Quick reflections on the year. From a standing start at the beginning of 2006, I've managed all of my year's goals - sub 50 for the 10K (45:05 and 42:35), sub 1:45 for the half (1:47 and 1:39:02), and sub 4 for the marathon (3:57:58 and 3:54:03). I've enjoyed the training. I can judge paces in training with or without a watch. I'm beginning to notice differences in my performance - running sub-8 pace in training runs is becoming relatively easy compared previously. And I believe I've now got a decent base of steady running behind me now from which to build towards better times.
I'm probably going to steer away from the marathons for a year or so and concentrate on the 10k and half. Although more painful in some ways, I do prefer these distances and on the basis of my times so far I probably have more aptitude for them too. But the training regimes aren't hugely different from marathon training, and I will be aiming to build on my current 50/60 miles per week to 60/70 in the next cycle. So if I do concentrate on 'shorter' distances for a while, I expect it won't particularly be to my detriment for the next time I attempt the marathon.
I think the next target will be to run a half marathon and 10k in consecutive weeks in March of next year. I need to devise a training plan, but its looking like steady running until December, building to a new high weekly distance and also averaging a slightly quicker pace per mile than previously. From then it will be the Jack Daniels 10k training plan with two or three quality sessions per week. Next targets - sub 40 for the 10k and sub-1:30 for the half. Both ambitious, but both achievable I believe if I put the effort in and hit the appropriate balance between pushing myself and not over-training.
Marathon photos to follow if any are available.
Couple of great runs to mention. Mike with an 8 mile PB, and Andrew with a simply fantastic and thoroughly deserved 2:57:08.
So for Loch Ness I was hoping for better things and ideally a time close to 3:45. Balanced against 10 months training solid training behind me and a couple of decent half and 10k PBs in the last month, was the fact that for a variety of reasons my weekend long-runs had suffered in the lead-up to the run. On the day I set off at 3:45-4:00-ish pace with a colleague from work who I ran the whole distance with. We ran a pretty solid race, keeping as steady a pace as was reasonable on a fairly undulating course. The scary hills from 18-20 miles came and went without too many problems, and I even felt confident enough to mention at 20 miles that the wheels were at least still half-on. The weather was difficult - very, very wet in large parts - but I would take that any day over the heat from the Edinburgh marathon. In the last mile my legs began to tighten quite noticeable, but only to the extent where I couldn't speed up for any great distance, rather than the feeling of just wanting to stop which I had experienced in my previous two marathons. Indeed, apart from a couple of calls of nature I didn't come close to needing to stop, which for me was a small personal victory. And so it ended with a 3:54 - not the 3:45 I had been hoping for, but sub-4 nonetheless.
Overall I think the time is a fair reflection on my training. I knew I was in better 10k/half shape than marathon shape, but I also knew I should be able to finish a marathon in (relatively) comfortable shape for the first time. A few minutes quicker would have been nice, but if I had run the first 20 miles at a slightly quicker pace I am quite sure I would have paid for it in the last few. And a PB is a PB, so I'm not complaining.
Quick reflections on the year. From a standing start at the beginning of 2006, I've managed all of my year's goals - sub 50 for the 10K (45:05 and 42:35), sub 1:45 for the half (1:47 and 1:39:02), and sub 4 for the marathon (3:57:58 and 3:54:03). I've enjoyed the training. I can judge paces in training with or without a watch. I'm beginning to notice differences in my performance - running sub-8 pace in training runs is becoming relatively easy compared previously. And I believe I've now got a decent base of steady running behind me now from which to build towards better times.
I'm probably going to steer away from the marathons for a year or so and concentrate on the 10k and half. Although more painful in some ways, I do prefer these distances and on the basis of my times so far I probably have more aptitude for them too. But the training regimes aren't hugely different from marathon training, and I will be aiming to build on my current 50/60 miles per week to 60/70 in the next cycle. So if I do concentrate on 'shorter' distances for a while, I expect it won't particularly be to my detriment for the next time I attempt the marathon.
I think the next target will be to run a half marathon and 10k in consecutive weeks in March of next year. I need to devise a training plan, but its looking like steady running until December, building to a new high weekly distance and also averaging a slightly quicker pace per mile than previously. From then it will be the Jack Daniels 10k training plan with two or three quality sessions per week. Next targets - sub 40 for the 10k and sub-1:30 for the half. Both ambitious, but both achievable I believe if I put the effort in and hit the appropriate balance between pushing myself and not over-training.
Marathon photos to follow if any are available.
Couple of great runs to mention. Mike with an 8 mile PB, and Andrew with a simply fantastic and thoroughly deserved 2:57:08.
posted by edinburghrunner at 10:48 pm
2 Comments:
A PB is a PB just like you say! Congratulations on a steady paced race. When the wheels are still on at 20 miles life is good.
Keep up the improvements! I like those 10k / half marathon goals you've set.
Well done :-) Maybe one day i'll be able to work up to a full, half kills me still :-)
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