Training Log Archive: fletch

Yay. more to come.
Splits from gps:
5km - 20:42
10km - 41:32 (20:50)
15km - 1:02:19 (20:47)
20km - 1:23:11 (20:52)
Half - 1:28:05
25km - 1:44:07 (20:56)
30km - 2:05:14 (21:07)
35km - 2:26:28 (21:14)
40km - 2:48:00 (21:32)
--> Finish - 2:58:13
2nd half 1:30:08

Had a very token warm-up before I started. It was enough to know that my legs felt relatively good, which was a pleasant surprise after a long day in the car yesterday. Nose was pretty blocked, but the first 15km or so got that cleared up alright and the cold from earlier in the week wasn't having any discernible effect.

Tired hard not to start too fast, but was still a bit quicker than planned. Right achilles was annoyingly sore and it stayed that way for a long time. Strangely, my left hamstring was sore early too, and stayed that way fora bout 15km, but then seemed to settle down.
It felt really cruisey through the early stages and the first five guys headed up the road and off into the distance. Or so I thought, but then the fifth one of them stopped getting away, and I was probably within 100m of him before finally catching him pretty much at the half way mark. I had actually intended just to sit on Michelle Duffield's heels for the entire race, as I knew she was aiming for 3hrs and was more likely than anyone else to get the pacing right, but by starting a little quick, I got a small gap on her. The gap seemed to stay relatively constant - you get pretty regular updates on this sort of thing on a course that goes out and back over 6km, then the other way over a 15km, and do the whole thing twice.

Still felt pretty good at half way, but the little rise past the port at 23 and 25km was enough to let me feel that fatigue was starting to kick in. Tried very hard at this point not to get too excited, as I accidentally threw in a little surge when I moved up to 5th. Had in the back of my mind to get to the last turnaround, then to try to lift for the final 7km home. Got to the final turnaround and I was really starting to feel the fatigue setting in. Breathing was still well controlled, but legs were feeling pretty empty. Tried to lift, but a glance at the watch told me it was going to be a case of limiting the damage rather than blitzing it home.

Michelle came past with about 2.5km to go, and I tried one last surge to go with her, but she had accelerated as well as me slowing down and it just wasn't going to happen. Have the slightest curiosity how this might have turned out if I had been able to run it in Mid-May (if I hadn't done the rogaine), as my training has been pretty hit and miss since then, but feel like I got it pretty close to right today.

To put it in a bit of perspective, I was about 4 minutes slower to half way than in my last marathon, and got to the finish line 25 minutes faster. Have to be a bit happier with that :)

Also nice not to embarrass myself after the local Athlete's Foot store were nice enough to get in touch and offer me a bit of support with some shoes for training and socks. Their running singlet chafed my nipples a bit, but probably no worse than any other top I might have worn today.

C • Nice job 10

Nearly better. Probably would have started today, but it would have been a stupid idea. Long drive back to Geraldton. Didn't manage to get out for a little loosener as planned, but did make it to bed at a reasonable hour. Lots of pasta for dinner. Nose has stopped running like a tap and thickened up nicely ;-)

On the improve. No way I would have been able to start a marathon today, but feeling a bit more normal by evening, energy levels starting to return to normal. That, or pseudoephidrine is doing it's thing well.

Worse than yesterday. Had a little nap in the afternoon when I wasn't needed to do anything on camp for a while.

Blergh. Woke up with a blocked nose and got progressively worse. Hooray for my body's regular response to upcoming races.

Snuck out for a run while the boys were on the shower shuttle. About 10 minutes warm-up, 5km at marathon pace, and a cool down. Legs felt really good once the right achilles settled down.