The Canberra Marathon has come and gone and five hours later I have signed up for the Berlin Marathon. Before I put the knee to the test, I just was not game to sign up for the latter, even though the flights and accommodation are already booked.
I came in at 3:32 (new PB) and even though I did not break the 3:30 barrier, I am quite happy with today's result.
Just when we left the apartment, it started to drizzle and that continued for a while until about one hour into the race when it really poured down.
Soon after though, it stopped and the sun came out. I got a bit concerned that the humidity would make the race more difficult, but there was a breeze and in any event it stayed quite fresh, so the entire race was very pleasant, if not quite ideal at the beginning.
I started out probably a bit too fast, consistently just under 5m/k, except for the stretch up to Parliament House. At the back of it though I had found my stride and really enjoying it.
That was despite the fact that the bottles did not want to stay in the fuel belt, except for the one on the side, meaning that I ended up looking rather dopey with two bottles in my hands and that fashion statement of a fuel belt only holding one bottle!
I stuck to my nutritional plan, if not slavishly, at least quite close. At just under 14ks I had to rearrange my
glasses in the back pocket.
After that Fred had apparently conked out! I could still switch screens but otherwise nothing seemed to move. Oh bother! Fortunately I was running with Jonathan (#327) who was also aiming at 3:30 and he was happy to give me the splits.
It took me about 45 minutes to figure out that I must have hit the start button of Fred and whilst it was still working it was simply not recording. Serves me right for having changed the screens to only show pace and time elapsed etc. D'oh!
Not that it mattered, as I kept to a nice below 5m/k pace and was in line to end up at about 3:28.
Apart from struggling a bit with those couple of hills and ramps on the last lap - and also losing a bit of time pulling Jonathan along - after all, he had helped me out - suddenly, at 38ks, disaster: spasms in the muscles just below the right knee on the outside and I was limping. With that I lost considerable time, at least 2 minutes on those four ks.
And combined with the other time lost, this made the difference between coming in at 3:30 or not.
Nevertheless it was a good experience. The knee held up (my orthopod has now deserved a postcard) and had it not been for those spasms, it would have been ok. The only other trouble I had were stiff calves in the last ten ks which made those little hills a bit more of a challenge. But again, that's ok.
Having started just that bit fast, I was not looking for a negative split, and came it an 1:45 and 1:47 - given the above, that almost counts as an even split.
I took some time walking in the pool and later today will have a dip in the spa and a sauna.
By Tuesday I will be up and (ok, not quite) running again.
Congrats to Epi and Clown for easily doing the Boston qualifying time. Well done, guys, you put in the work and got the return.
I came in at 3:32 (new PB) and even though I did not break the 3:30 barrier, I am quite happy with today's result.
Just when we left the apartment, it started to drizzle and that continued for a while until about one hour into the race when it really poured down.
Soon after though, it stopped and the sun came out. I got a bit concerned that the humidity would make the race more difficult, but there was a breeze and in any event it stayed quite fresh, so the entire race was very pleasant, if not quite ideal at the beginning.
I started out probably a bit too fast, consistently just under 5m/k, except for the stretch up to Parliament House. At the back of it though I had found my stride and really enjoying it.
That was despite the fact that the bottles did not want to stay in the fuel belt, except for the one on the side, meaning that I ended up looking rather dopey with two bottles in my hands and that fashion statement of a fuel belt only holding one bottle!
I stuck to my nutritional plan, if not slavishly, at least quite close. At just under 14ks I had to rearrange my
glasses in the back pocket.
After that Fred had apparently conked out! I could still switch screens but otherwise nothing seemed to move. Oh bother! Fortunately I was running with Jonathan (#327) who was also aiming at 3:30 and he was happy to give me the splits.
It took me about 45 minutes to figure out that I must have hit the start button of Fred and whilst it was still working it was simply not recording. Serves me right for having changed the screens to only show pace and time elapsed etc. D'oh!
Not that it mattered, as I kept to a nice below 5m/k pace and was in line to end up at about 3:28.
Apart from struggling a bit with those couple of hills and ramps on the last lap - and also losing a bit of time pulling Jonathan along - after all, he had helped me out - suddenly, at 38ks, disaster: spasms in the muscles just below the right knee on the outside and I was limping. With that I lost considerable time, at least 2 minutes on those four ks.
And combined with the other time lost, this made the difference between coming in at 3:30 or not.
Nevertheless it was a good experience. The knee held up (my orthopod has now deserved a postcard) and had it not been for those spasms, it would have been ok. The only other trouble I had were stiff calves in the last ten ks which made those little hills a bit more of a challenge. But again, that's ok.
Having started just that bit fast, I was not looking for a negative split, and came it an 1:45 and 1:47 - given the above, that almost counts as an even split.
I took some time walking in the pool and later today will have a dip in the spa and a sauna.
By Tuesday I will be up and (ok, not quite) running again.
Congrats to Epi and Clown for easily doing the Boston qualifying time. Well done, guys, you put in the work and got the return.
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1 comment:
Congratulations !!! excellent PB!
my cousin Andrew who lives in Zurich...did 4hrs 21 in his first marathon last week the Paris Marathon...sounds like Epi and Clown went extremly well
should give u lots of confidence for Berlin!
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