Sunday 22nd October 2017
My first marathon - Abingdon. I've loosely followed a plan and I've made sure that I've got plenty of long runs under my belt. My ultimate goal is sub 3 but let’s be realistic, it's my first attempt at this distance so I target 3:05 which was the London marathon qualifying time for 2017. It's a fast course so if everything goes to plan I may still get under 3. If not, I should still have a good shot at 3:05 so I can then try again in London.
How optimistic I was! I reach the halfway point and I’m really feeling the strain. In a show of my naivety I try and maintain my pace despite what my body is telling me. Experienced runners will say that mile 20 is the halfway point of the marathon and I learn this lesson the hard way.
My pace drops further as I go through mile 20. I'm losing 30 seconds each mile, 45 seconds each mile, a minute a mile. It only gets worse from here as the harder I work the slower I get. My last 4 miles are all 2-3 minutes slower than goal pace. When I thought this couldn't get any more painful I cramp up with under a mile to go and come to a complete stop. Countless runners overtake me as I pay the price for my awful pacing, barely able to move one foot in front of the other. This is pure damage limitation and I cross the line way behind target. My finish time is still respectable but it's a long way from target and the pacing was embarrassingly bad. Hitting the wall so far from the finish is no fun at all - and it’s for fun that we do this right?
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| See my pace drop off a cliff in the last 10km |
Monday 28th May 2018
I was nowhere near quick enough for London but I've been lucky in the ballot for the Berlin Marathon. Today marks day one of my sixteen week training plan. My failure last time has me more focussed than ever. Some people have the natural ability to just string a few training runs together and run a sub-3 hour marathon. These people are few and far between and I am not one of them. If I am going to do this then I am going to need to work bloody hard for it. I read a stat that fewer than 2% of those who run marathons will achieve a sub-3 time. This isn't going to be easy.
The plan I've selected has been put together by Runner's World. It can be accessed
here. There are some tough runs in there and I am wondering if I am capable of following it. One workout sticks out to me in week 2. It's 3 sets of 2 miles in under 12 minutes with a 3 minute recovery between each set. I know this is on the limit of my current fitness so I tell myself if I can do this workout then I can do all of the others and follow the plan through to race day.
Wednesday 6th June 2018
Week 2 and it's the day of 'the workout'. After a quick warm-up I find a tarmacked bridleway off the main roads. It's a hot evening, I've been at work all day and I do not want to be sprinting up and down a track with just my heavy breathing for company. Still, I remember why I'm here and I run my first 2 mile effort in 11:43. I know it's going to get harder and the second effort hurts but I manage it with 9 seconds to spare in 11:51.
The 3 minute recovery feels like it has barely started as my watch bleeps to count me down for the final effort. The first mile goes by in 5:59 and I'm only halfway through the last rep. I tell myself I've got just 6 more minutes of pain and then I can stop. A glance at my watch and my pace has dropped. I push through the pain and find some extra speed I didn't think I had, finishing the second mile in 5:57.
Ultimately it's meaningless - if I had run 5 seconds slower on the last rep it wouldn't have made a difference to my fitness. However, that 5 seconds has just given me the confidence that I can do this. I now have the belief that I can complete these workouts. The belief that I can run a sub 3 hour marathon.
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| Training seems to be working. My fastest Parkrun to date and a 1st place finish. |
Sunday 5th August 2018 - Sturminster Newton Half Marathon
My training plan includes a half marathon 6 weeks from race day. The target is to run it in under 1:23:00. It's a test of fitness and an opportunity to re-calibrate my goal of a sub 3 hour marathon if I don't race well today. It is HOT when I arrive and the race doesn't start until 10:30. Already the temperatures are well into the mid twenties and it's only getting hotter.
The race starts and I settle in to a group near the front averaging around 6:20/mile for the first 6 miles. My pace is OK but something isn't right - I'm finding this far too difficult and I'm not even halfway. I run close to the edge of the road, trying desperately to get what little shade is afforded by the hedgerow. It makes no difference as my temperature rises and rises. I'm not the only one struggling as every so often I catch another runner who has dropped down to a walking pace.
1:23:00 is out the window and I set my sights on 1:25:00. Almost as soon as I reset my goal I arrive at the bottom of what feels like Everest. 1:25:00 follows 1:23:00 out the window and I'm clinging on to try and force a 1:30:00 half as I head up a long hill with the sun beating down on me. The finish line comes as a huge relief as I stop the clock in 1:29:10. There's no way I could run another 13.1 miles on top of that in under 1:30. My 13th mile was an 8 minute mile and I was getting slower...
It was an exceptionally hot day on a hilly course but surely I shouldn't be so far off target when I've only got 6 weeks of training left? If I'm going to do this then I need to nail every workout between now and race day. Not only that, but I need to try and see if there is anything else I can do to give myself an extra 1%, 2%, 3% maybe 4% boost...
RACE DAY - Sunday 16th September 2018
Just under a year since my first marathon. I’m back toeing a marathon start line but this time it's different. I've spent hours watching videos and reading others accounts of how they finally broke the 3 hour barrier. I'm also coming off the back of an intense 16 week training block that ends with me feeling the most energised I've ever been. I'm amongst 45,000 other runners, ready to give everything I have to one monumental effort. Everything I have been doing over the summer has been leading up to this race. Don't mess it up Francis.
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| Chris & I just before bag drop. Check the Vaporfly's out! |
Although I was disappointed last year, my previous marathon attempt of 3:14 is just fast enough to see me put into the fourth pen from the front. There are still a few thousand runners ahead of me but had I been 2 minutes slower I could easily have ended up with that number being over 10,000. Yes the race is chip timed but a few miles at the start at 8/9 minutes per mile trying to make my way through the masses would surely put an end to any hope of hitting my target.
I get into my pen at 08:25. A full 50 minutes before race start but I don’t want to be part of the rush from bag drop to the starting pens. However, 50 minutes of standing still is not going to help my legs so I find a section of raised pavement in the middle of the pen and make it my seat.
A shadow cast by the trees from the morning sun means I’m getting chilly. With 20 minutes until race start I sacrifice my seat and move over to the right of the pen. I want to be on the right hand side of the pen because although the first kilometre or so is straight ahead, I've checked the route map and the first turn in the course takes you through a series of right handers. It's no coincidence that I find myself exactly on the racing line whilst I'm waiting for the starting gun.
09:15 and we’re off. The start time reminds me of Swindon Parkrun except this time it’s as advertised. We do the traditional break into a slow run before stopping again as the field concertinas. I cross the start line just over a couple of minutes behind the front runners and I hear the familiar sound of Garmin watches around me. I hit start on my own watch. This is it - 3 hours to get to that finish.
My plan for the first mile is to run it in about 7 minutes. This is 8 seconds slower than my goal pace of 6:52/mile but it’s important I don’t let my body build up an oxygen deficit at this point. I know my body won’t get a chance to recover if I post a 6:00 first mile and I'll have no chance of holding my pace when I get to the latter stages!
The field is far denser than I’m used to and I struggle to settle. In previous races I’ve wasted far too much energy in the opening stages from running round people so I know it’s better to be patient and wait for the field to thin out. I check my watch and there are times that my pace drops to 7:30/mile. I try and get the right balance between going too slowly versus wasting energy with accelerations and moving off the racing line to overtake. My first mile clocks in at 7 minutes exactly. Behind goal pace but this is all part of the master plan right?
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| This is 35 minutes into the race. I'm in the middle of the shot. Still not much space. |
I’ve started too far back. I’ve gone past a lot of people yet the pace I'm averaging is slower than goal pace. Without panicking I try to take a few more opportunities to get into clear air and pass other runners. This means going off the racing line. The long straight roads of Berlin help to mitigate my losses but as the road dips slightly ahead I can't see any gaps ahead, just a mass of runners. This race is not thinning out anytime soon!
All race markers are in kilometres and I’m working off miles. I miss the 5km marker so it isn’t until 10km that I get the chance to ‘calibrate’ my distance. I’m expecting that my watch will tell me I’ve run 6.2 miles before I reach the actual 10km marker on the course. This is because I cannot keep overtaking and still follow the perfect racing line. As I go through 6.2miles my assumption is proven correct.
The difference is a lot bigger than I anticipated. I hit 6.2 miles but the 10km timing mat is still a good distance ahead of me. I look at my time as I go through 6.2 miles on my watch and count a further 45 seconds of running before I hit the actual 10km point.
As 10km is roughly one quarter of the race I multiply the 45 seconds by 4 and from this point I set my sights on getting my watch to give me an ETA of 2 hours 57 minutes - 3 minutes under 3 hours. This should give me the buffer I need to run the 'extra distance' that I'm covering through overtakes and still get to the actual finish in under 3 hours! There would be nothing worse than getting to 26.2 miles on my watch in 2:59:59 and realising I still have half a mile until the finish!!
After an hour of running I am heading towards completing mile 9 and I open my second gel of the race. Gel strategy is important. I know I don’t have the ability to hold my target pace for 3 hours without getting extra carbs into my body so I have to be disciplined and stick to my plan of consuming a gel every 30 minutes.
I don’t like taking gels and I’m feeling strong so what if taking one makes me feel bloated? Something I’ve learned is there’s an art to taking gels. I used to take the gel in one mouthful to get it out the way but I now realise this doesn’t work for me. Imagine emptying a gel into a pint of water. It would sink as a big gloop. Now imagine emptying bits of the gel slowly into that pint of water. The gel would mix in much better right? The same thing is going to happen in my stomach. It takes me a couple of minutes to consume each gel but gone is the feeling of being sick when I take them!
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| Approximately 1 hour 15 mins into the race. Heading towards halfway. |
Half an hour later and I'm still going strong. My watch tells me that I’m expected to finish in about 2:59 as I go through the 13.1 mile archway. I look at my time elapsed and due to the extra distance I’m running I realise that despite being a minute up on my watch I’m actually 30 seconds behind target - my calculation from earlier was pretty accurate but it does mean I am going to have to run a negative split with the second half of the race being faster than the first.
I’m feeling strong and tell myself that I can put in another 13.1 miles at this intensity. I’ve been keeping an eye on my heart rate which has been hovering in the mid 160’s which gives me confidence that I can maintain my effort levels for the full distance. I up my pace ever so slightly to try and bring myself back on target as my heart rate rises into the 170’s and into the red.
20 miles in and 10km to go. My watch is telling me that I’m now expected to finish 3 minutes ahead of goal so if my maths has been correct then I’ve now cracked the deficit and I'm bang on target for the first time this race. I’m still passing runners but the field is becoming more spread out making overtaking easier. It’s warming up so I make use of the shade wherever possible, taking the opportunity at each drinks station to wet my mouth and chuck the rest on my head in an effort to keep my temperature down.
As mile 21 ticks past I am confident I can run the next 5 miles and I’m not going to hit the dreaded wall. I know my race is on a knife edge - I’m confident in my calculations but i don’t want to be the guy who ran a 3:00:01. I think of all the support I’ve had from everyone back home and those who said they would be tracking me. Harnessing these thoughts I dig deep and run my fastest mile split of the race at 20 seconds quicker than target pace.
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| After 2 hours 15 mins. Still maintaining my target pace, passing others who went off too fast. |
I see from my watch I now have 5km to go. One Parkrun. Two laps of Lydiard Park. I’ve got this. Or have I? I feel the twinge in my left leg as my hamstring starts to threaten me with cramp. I know my body well and I know that if I cramp up here I can add minutes to my final 2 miles. Minutes that will push me over 3 hours. I drop my pace to manage the twinge knowing I’ve got no choice. A drinks station is 500 metres up the road - water isn’t going to help me here (it’s sodium that my muscles need to stave off the cramp). For the first time in the race I grab a concentrated sports drink. It tastes horrible but almost immediately I feel the threat of cramp subside. Psychological or physiological I don’t care because I’ve just clocked my slowest mile of the race and I was in danger of failing right at the end. My body responds and I pick the pace back up as I run through the 41km marker (1200 metres to go).
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| Last push. This photo was taken just before I start to cramp. |
I turn a corner and the road straightens ahead. I can see Brandenburg gate. I look at my watch - 2:56. It feels like an age before I pass through the gate. I’m pushing hard but the noise from the crowd pushes the pain to the back of my mind. I’m looking ahead for the finish line. I still can’t see it and my watch ticks over to 2:58:30. I hear the commentator introduce the Kenyan national anthem for Kipchoge's medal ceremony just as I see the finish archway ahead. I’ve got 1 minute and it’s going to be close. I dig deeper still and pick up the pace, checking my watch every 5 seconds. When I get to 2:59:15 I realise for the first time in the race that I’ve done it. I’ve closed nearly half the gap to the finish in the last 15 seconds. I enjoy the moment as I cross the line, stopping my watch 23 seconds before it ticks over the 3 hour marker. That's it. I've done it.
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| Ignore the clock! Chip time was 2:59:37. I promise :) |
Suddenly, 16 weeks of sobriety, sweat and organising my life around running feels worth it. Those interval sessions on my own in the rain, those 20 milers in the middle of summer when I could think of 101 other things I’d rather be doing. But that feeling of being a sub 3 marathoner. It was all worth it.
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| Erdinger for every finisher |
Thank you so much to everyone who has been part of my journey. The support from my running club Slinn Allstars, all my running buddies, everyone who has joined me for one (or more) of my training runs over the past 16 weeks, my friends who sent me messages of good luck and congratulated me. Everyone who tracked me on the day. When you put all of that support together it definitely gave me a mental boost - a boost that I'm sure was worth more than those 23 seconds that saw me dip under 3 hours so thank you! Finally, thank you to Charlie for coming to Berlin to support me and for organising me nutrition over the final few weeks!
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| You can see where I cramp and my projected finish time rises to over 3 hours. Fortunately I recover. |
I was planning on no more marathon racing if I hit this goal. I couldn't see myself having the appetite for another 16 weeks training block like that. However, a couple of people have pointed out I've just qualified for Boston. We will see.....
Francis
