Post Marathon Reflection

All the marathon talk in the last week post London has been around Mo Farah's debut in the event with a 2:08.21.

Just reading the BBC website about Farah...

"Mo Farah finally struggled for answers"
"Farah's 2 hours 8 minutes 21 seconds on his London Marathon debut on this sunny Sunday morning may have seen him finish down in eighth place, not just among the elite also-rans but more than a minute off Steve Jones's 29 year old British record and almost four minutes off winner Wilson Kipsang.

To be fair to the author (Tom Fordyce) he does go onto put the performance into some perspective talking about the hype that was built up around Farah and an admittance that actually he didn't do much wrong.

The early pace in the race meant Farah, running sensibly in the first 6 miles, found himself cut adrift and forced into pushing hard in the second quarter.  The tracking tool (where there is no hiding!) shows the section between 20km and halfway was the quickest section of the race.   Slowest section between 35k and 40k.   I think most marathon runners can relate to those stats!  Oh and he messed up a few drinks stations.....

I'm sure Farah will be disappointed but for many people to write him off then really I think they need to take a reality check....

Only the great Steve Jones has run quicker than Farah from a GB perspective and this performance puts Farah as the fifth quickest performance on the list of British men's marathon times and breaks the English record held by the great Charlie Spedding.  

In reality the field at London was one of the best assembled and Wilson Kipsang is world record holder, course record holder at London and more significantly in his 9th marathon.   His debut in Paris in 2010 shows 3rd place in 2:07.13.   Other than a 3rd place in the 2012 Olympic Games where he ran 2:09.37 Kipsang has an exemplary marathon record which includes the World Record mark set in Berlin in 2013 where he ran 2:03.23.

Let's hold the verdict on Farah as a marathon runner once he has done a second or third marathon.  And for all those people who have a view on Farah but have never run a marathon before put your money where your mouth is.  Lace up your running shoes and go out there and bang some miles out in preparation for a marathon and see how you do in your debut 26.2 miles.  

I've had some time to reflect on my own Marathon in Manchester and definitely feel there were some learning points that will springboard me to a quicker time.

1.   Training and the build up - no major changes needed just more of the same, avoid injury and just tweak the mileage up a little.

2.    The race - again no major changes just quicken the pace by a few seconds a mile and keep the pace consistent.

3.   Final stages - really only struggled in the last two miles.  Mentally I was strong but physically I was on the edge.   A few more long runs in the bank and some specific marathon pace work should help.  I was running from just before half way to about 24 miles with Emily Wicks who went onto record 2:38.21 exactly a minute in front of me.  That's almost 30 seconds a mile taken out of me in the last 2.2 miles.  

4.   Race Nutrition - think this is where I made errors on the day.   I didn't feel in control of my nutrition.  Carried a couple of gels which I used as planned.  I then missed the first official gel stop on the course then relied on the product provided later by the organisers which was shot bloks.  I've never used them before, they were difficult to chew and not something that I would use in future.   That was an area I was complacent with as I have never had a problem with gels affecting me.   That said I don't think it made too much of a difference to me but to make the small gains you need to look at all aspects.

Ultimately I would like to master the marathon distance and whilst as runners we are never happy with our pb (there is always more to come off!) I would be more than satisfied with a marathon pb of under 2:34.   That's a good five and a half minutes away yet so I know I will have to work hard to get there.   

Marathon performance of London for me has to be Steve Way.   Check out his highly entertaining blog here... http://www.steveway.co.uk/

Manchester Marathon - The day I joined the Sub 2:40 club!

You reach a point in your marathon build up when you know the work is done and you cant really do much more.  The miles have been logged and the preparation is done.  The start line cant come soon enough and the taper becomes a drag, every niggle is a race threatening injury, every sniffle is man flu and the doubts convince you that you are losing fitness every day and you just need one more run to be ready! 

Actually I felt some of the above but it wasn't over consuming.  There was an air of calmness in my taper.  The last week's runs were planned out and each run went to plan including a few short runs at marathon pace where I tuned in easily to the intended pace of 6-06 per mile (2:40 marathon pace!).

Manchester is a great marathon to do.  The location at Old Trafford was easy to get to and plenty of parking etc so all those pre race issues were easily dealt with.  To the start line.....

Today...we race!

The legendary Ron Hill started us off.  Ron has run 115 marathons.  112 of which have been under 2:50 and has a best of 2:10.  He is also famous for his long running streak of running every day since December 1964.  He is a true running hero and still looks amzingly fit!

I only came out for a paper!

The first 10km of the race went according to plan.  Holding myself back I completed the early miles in 6-01, 5-59, 5-59, 6-05, 6-02 and 6-02 clocking 37.41 for the first 10km going through in 39th place.  The race was going perfectly at this point and despite a headwind the times were going in my favour.
10 miles in 60-10 I had picked up 8 places into 31st.   It was a case now of keeping this pace going and counting down the miles.  I felt comfortable and had the leading lady in my sights.  Just before halfway I caught the leading lady Emily Wicks and we ran together then for the next 10/11 miles.  I seemed to have found someone who was banging out an even more consistent pace than I could and despite a "quick" 5-50 mile at Mile 14 we set a consistent pace around 6-05 minutes per mile.

20 miles was logged in 2 hours and 23 seconds.  Over a minute ahead of my recent pb over 20 at Locke Park.  Now it was down to the business end.  This is where the doubts can come in and you wonder at what point in the next six miles is it going to go from comfortable to not so comfortable down to downright horrible! 

Mile 21 - a solid 6-02 we were going well still and managed to gain a place or two.
Mile 22 - 6-12 and it was starting to get tough.
Mile 23 - 6-16 this was crunch time.  My running partner of the last 11 miles was pulling away from me.  She went onto win a a solid 2:38.21. 
Mile 24 - 6-21 starting to think about the finish.  This was getting hard!
Mile 25 - 6-24.   Legs were aching.   The stadium was just in sight!
Mile 26 - 6-35 and the slowest, hardest mile of the whole race....

Finish - 24th overall in 2 hours 39 minutes and 21 seconds.   In my pre-race vision I would savour this moment.....its been a long time coming. Ive put the work in now I'm going to enjoy it!     In reality my effort had been a real tightrope job...I wobbled as I crossed the line and spent the next ten minutes emptying the contents of stomach unable even to keep the bottle of water the finish marshall's gave me!   It was certainly the worst I had ever felt at the finish line of any race !

I might look like I'm smiling but I'm not!




Ian Bloomfield - Vet 60, 2-44 and UK Record holder!

Do I want a massage, a coffee or just a lie down!
 

So that's another marathon done and dusted.  The marathon is more than just a one off race.  The real battle is getting to the start line in one piece and not falling off the tightrope that is the high mileage.   Now the dust has settled I'm over the moon with my result and even more chuffed that at this moment In time my 2:39.21 sits pretty at the top of the UK rankings for Vet 40 to 44.    


Manchester - you were fab!  Highlight of the day was most definitely the youth choir who belted out... "I predict a Riot!....I predict a Riot!" as I ran past.   That was the most surreal and amazing experience of the day!   

I'll sit and enjoy watching Mo run next week at London but I'll be keeping an eye on those vet 40 to 44 times! 



Thirsk 10 and Negative splitting!

I can count the number of times I have enjoyed the feeling of a negative split on one hand!  I just don't tend to do them.  I would like to but I always think that maybe I'm just not that kid of runner. 

Thirsk 10 on Sunday I had a game plan.   First three miles or so fairly steady then pick up in the middle section and finish strong.  Negative splits are so far out of my conscience I didn't even consider this. 

Thirsk 10 has been in my race diary now for four years. 

2011 - Finished in 58.01.   2nd half was two minutes and twenty five seconds slower than the first half.  A fast first half turned out to be too fast and the last five miles were a painful experience with splits of 5:41, 5:49, 6:00, 6:09 and 6:30!   Ouch!  

2012 - A much improved Thirsk 10 performance in the middle of marathon training with a 27:52 first half and a 28:04 second half  gave me a solid 56:06 which remains a Vet 40 pb.  Missed out on a negative split by 12 seconds but it was a solid run

2013 - In great shape for this but the weather defeated me (and most of the field apart from Alyson Dixon who effortlessly cut through the wind I recall!) in the second half.   1st half of 27:56 was followed by 30:13

2014 - a first half of 28:23 was followed up by a second half of 28:09 (Yes you read that right - a negative split of 14 seconds) gave me 10th place overall in a time of 56:31.    Splits were:  5:43, 5:43, 5:41, 5:39, 5:37, 5:31, 5:39, 5:42, 5:35, 5:40. 


All smiles pre race!



The business end!

The race itself was great.  The windy first few miles was just a case of tagging onto a group, realising they were slowing a bit too much and then moving onto the next group.  The final group I settled with were some way ahead at the start but I caught then at around 3 miles.  This was the last big group and the rest were individuals in the distance.  I decided that being at the front of this group and pushing the pace from the front would be better rather than running behind and having them dictate the pace.  After a couple of miles of this there was only three of us pushing each other along at a nice steady pace.  Michael Joyeux (Quakers) was on his way to a storming personal best and did his best to drop me at the turn into the "lane" but I managed to stay in touch and we both managed to drop the third runner in our "pack".   I was more than happy to put some space between us to allow me a clear run home.  The "chimp" on my shoulder was telling me to take it easy and think big picture but had MJ come alongside me in the final 200m I would have found it hard to not give it my all!

Michael Joyeux has an excellent and informative blog called Run Michael Run! its well worth a read and I get a mention #consistency #outofreach #experienced !!!  Its always great to hear about someone who clearly loves his running and is making some great progress!

It's just under 2 weeks now until the big one.  Manchester Marathon.  The work is done now and I've just got to trust in the taper gods to get me through and on the start line in one piece.  




           

 

Taper Time

The three weeks after the Pocklington 10 were always going to be a make or break phase of this marathon build up.  After the enforced three week easy block as a result of sciatica the marathon build up would be one of a balance between catching up on lost time and making progress towards the goal whilst balancing on the knife edge of marathon training.

I must say that the last three weeks have been the best three weeks of training for some time.  A 66 mile week which included two decent quality runs and a nice steady 22 miler was followed by a 60 mile week with the Locke Park 20 being the highlight.  This was topped off by the biggest week of my build up which was a 74 mile week that included two decent interval based sessions, a long tempo at marathon pace followed by a 20 miler.  I actually feel good after the three week block, not over tired but Ive definitely lost that feeling that I am making up for lost time.

This is my third marathon build up in recent years and all three have been different.

Marathon 1 - Sunderland - 15 week build up averaging 62 miles per week.  Max week 80 miles in week 8.  No injury issues but peaked too early, not enough consistency in my long runs and not a great focused build up.  Outcome - hit the wall at 23/24 miles and finished in 2:46.29.

Marathon 2 - Chester - 17 week build up averaging 63 miles per week.  Max week 82 miles at Week 8.  Struggled with hamstring pain weeks 13 to 15.  Decent build up and a decent run that was hampered by hamstring pain most of the second half.   Outcome - a solid run and a pb of 2:43.42.   

Marathon 3 - Manchester - 19 week build up averaging (to date) 56 miles per week.  Max week of 74 miles in Week 16.  Injury issues weeks 8 to 10 meant reduced mileage.   Feeling totally back in the game now and raring to go.  Don't feel overtired and full of confidence going into the three week taper.   Outcome - ????

The difference between the first two and the current build up is length and mileage.  I have taken longer as a build up and not done as much mileage.  The peak mileage has been considerably later and Ive been fortunate that (touching wood!) the injury issues have been earlier in the build up to allow recovery.  Time will tell if this is the right build up or not!

Race wise the big one was the Locke Park 20 mile race.  20 miles of a park with two bridge crossings per mile, two or three sharp corners and a 180 turn isn't everyones cup of tea but it was a great experience and all credit to my club New Marske Harriers for putting it on.  My time (which was enough to win the race) was 2 hours 1 minute and 22 seconds.  This worked out to be sub 2:40 marathon pace which was a real confidence booster ahead of Manchester.  It was also an overall pb (my last attempt at 20 was in 2000 where I ran 2:05.23 in Stafford - a terrible run!) and a Vet 40 Club record which has stood since 1998. 

My splits (as the race was also chip timed for the record) were:

5:54, 5-53, 5-55, 5-57, 5-59, 6-00, 5-59, 6-02, 6-01, 6-01, 6-00,6-02. 6-04, 6-03, 6-05, 6-10, 6-12, 6-18, 12 -45 (last two miles). 

Link to the full report and a rogues gallery!

http://www.new-marske-harriers.co.uk/index.php/road-running/road-reports/777-locke-park-20-9th-march-2014-report

Pocklington - job well done!

Today's race was never going to be an all out affair.  I toyed with the idea of doing the race as a long run and wondered how disciplined I could be to do an 8 or 10 mile warm up then "race" at marathon pace.  In the end the wind that greeted us decided my tactics.  I would do a four mile warm up followed by the 10 mile race followed by a four mile warm down.  I decided that I would have an easy start with the first few miles with the wind helping then "see how it goes".  The Manchester Marathon is my A race and these races are just part of the build up.

Race aims were simple:

1.  Get through the race with no injury issues.
2.  Keep each race mile at marathon pace or quicker (6:06 minute miling).
3.  Try and run the second half as close as possible to the first half.

After a steady start the first five race miles (after a 4m warm up) were completed in a nice and steady 28:46.   The second half a positive split with 29:53.   The four mile cool down was a nice steady affair making it a total of 18 miles at an average of 6:15 per mile - job done!

So back to the aims:

1.   Yes got through all fine which was a big relief after the last few injury ridden weeks.
2.   Yes - all race miles under 6:06 miling - a bit close at times in the second half due to the wind!
3.   A 67 second positive split.  Did I mention it was windy?

8th overall and 1st Vet 40 was a bonus!



Back in the game it seems!