A bit like Berlin

Yesterday I decided I would try to crack 3:20 knowing full well that I was probably going to find it difficult. Although the preparation had not been bad, I had not had done enough long runs to feel confident I would last the distance.

But then I thought, the heck, I'll do half in 1:40 and then just go for broke.

And I did, but not necessarily for the right reasons.

The conditions were perfect this morning. About 8 degrees at the start, a bit of breeze on the South Perth foreshore and along the freeway, in both directions, but otherwise they could not be faulted.

Got there early enough for an easy warm-up. The right ankle and lower leg felt like a brick and I thought this would hold me back. But in reality they behaved quite well in the run and I had very little joint issues, the odd niggle, but nothing I could not cope with.

The 3:30 bus powered away in front of me and I thought that was a bit silly as I had planned to sit in front of them and then latch on if I had to. The third k they did in 4:15 min/k!

Anyway, I did as I had planned but definitely went too fast in the first 5 ks.

At 14ks I felt my thighs going tired and I knew I was going to be in trouble later on. At that point I was averaging 4:40 min/k for a 3:25 finish (1:10 elapsed time). No bother, I otherwise felt good, slowed a bit and went through half at 1:39:17.

By 30ks I had slowed just a bit and was still spot on for a 3:20 finish (2:22 elapsed time). And then the stomach cramps started as in Berlin, but just a few ks later. And the odd stitch as well. At various times I had to walk and with the by then pretty heavy legs I found it very difficult to get into a rhythm again.

During one of those breaks the 3:30 bus powered past me and I just could not hang on.

The 405 was doing funny things today - HR at 171 at times (??) and on the way out at least, it was way short. In the end the discrepancy was only .5%, but on the way I was not sure whether I could rely on it. The 15 and 30k readings above were real time.

In the end I came in at 3:31:18, not fantastic, but ok in the circumstances. As earlier in the year I doubted I might run one ever again, I have no reason to complain.

I'm not sure what to do about the stomach cramps. In Berlin I had had some stomach issues before independently of the running, but not since. So I think it must be running related. In Berlin I thought I might have overdone it with the nutrition and I took only a couple of gels with me today on purpose so I would not "over-feed".

Really takes the fun out of doing a marathon.

Right now I don't think I'll do the C2S marathon, but rather the half and see whether I can improve the time I set last year - maybe sub-1:30? Eight weeks is just a bit short to prepare for it, especially as Rottnest is another eight weeks later. That is booked and not to be missed (I would have been really sore had my knee turned out bad and I could not run it - but now I am confident of having another fun run there).

Otherwise, legs are a bit sore, stood in the freezing pool for five minutes and had a snooze for an hour, but feel just fine.

Wonder what tomorrow's like ;-))