Marathon #2 & Random Ramblings

I know the marathon was run over 7 days ago now and have made no mention of it, but I figured most people who would read this have probably already read about my adventure somewhere else. In case you missed those, you will find a race report from Clarkey on both the Ausrun forum and the Coolrunnings forum.

 

So I suppose here I can post some alternate perspectives to those that I had previously posted, with 7 days to ponder the marathon aftermath its amazing how many theories and thoughts go through your mind.

 

It has to be said that my recovery from this race was not as smooth as that after GOR. In May I felt ready to run again on Tuesday. Unfortunately this time, immediately after crossing the finish line, my back decided enough was enough and brought me to a sudden and painful stop. So from crossing the line until probably Wednesday I had a significant limp. This was amplified by the rather sore right foot that really hit me on Monday morning.  By Thursday / Friday I was walking much better and generally the aches / pains had subsided.

The frustrating thing was that my muscles felt really good, so if the other problems had been absent I would have felt pretty good. So it goes without saying that I did not run all week. In fact I am yet to go for an official run since last Sunday.

 

I did however make my first appearance for my cricket club on Saturday, which I was not exactly bouncing around for, since first thing Saturday morning I got another back spasm which left me ginger most of the day. By 12.30pm I was feeling OK, we batted first, when I was in my back felt fine, running between the wickets was no problem. We bowled in the 2^nd innings and I was worried the action would cause me a problem, but I was OK. I bowled 4 overs, but there was no chance I could bowl again later as I cooled down I got steadily stiffer through my back.

 

Again, frustratingly, I feel worse now after 1 game of low grade park cricket than I did after 42.2km of running…..go figure. But it does highlight that the body can withstand anything that it has been trained to do, but ‘out of the ordinary’ activity is asking for sore muscles.

 

Back to running – so my first official run will hopefully be tonight, a very light roll along just to get back into the swing.

 

Marathon tales: (Some of the things that I really did not remember to mention in other ramblings)

 

Right from the start I had decided that I would not look at my watch too often. My theory for this was to try and mimic GOR when the markers were non existent. So early on I had little or no awareness of km by km splits. Apart from the 5km updates from the pacers and the fact that we should have been on 4m15s pace I did not know if we were steady or what. So it was with some surprise that I found several quick splits at sub 4.10. The change that I did make was to start looking at my splits once trouble started this is something I did not do during the Burnley half. I reckon this helped ensure I did not blow out further.

 

BTW – here are the km by km splits.

 

4.33, 4.12, 4.06, 4.09, 4.11 – slow start then quickly up to speed

 

4.07, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.17 – steady but gaining on the req 4.16’s

 

4.14, 12.29, 4.20 – missing 2 splits showed I was no looking at the splits when they went by…

 

4.19, 4.18, 4.20, 4.12, 4.10 – I think there may have been a few small undulations through this section

 

4.22, 4.15, 4.01, 4.32, 4.14 – obviously a marker out of place at 23km (but I didn’t notice)

 

4.14, 4.13, 4.15, 4.14, 4.21 – even splits holding strong

 

4.19, 4.12, 4.15, 4.25, 4.28 – to 33km OK, then it started to slide

 

4.20, 9.29, 4.52, 4.59 – obviously the CR’s at 35km helped km #36 but quickly backwards from there…

 

5.12, 5.53 – one really ugly km, then back under 5min/km – just….

 

The big difference I experienced was the pacing group; it has been pretty rare for me to have the same people around me for long durations. During GOR I had 2 runners with me at different stages, but never a group. In other fun runs, people move forward and back along the way. This time there was a group of over 20 runners for the first half, then with 10 or so sticking together for the 2^nd half, by the time I dropped out, there was about 8 runners left. Early on this did not cause any dramas, except at drinking stations, as everyone tried to find the right possie to grab a drink. Initially I dropped back a bit but as fatigue set in I was more determined to stay closer to the pace leader, so at least once I missed a drink. Trouble was everyone else had the same idea…..

Tired legs also nearly caused a couple of stacks as runners moved on their line etc. For me it provided a bit of distraction, I chatted to a couple of different runners, but given the pace, this was not a day for lengthy discussion. I often was at the back of the pack through choice, so this allowed me the option to move to the side protected from the wind if preferred.

 

Would I run with a pacing group again?? Probably not as closely, more likely would be to try a get 50-100m in front and then hold my ground, using the ‘fear of being caught’ mentality, but it would allow a bit more even and natural running space I believe. On the other hand, my next outing will be looking for a 2:55, so if the 3:00 guys catch me – then I am well behind so might use them to drag me home….

 

Did I take in much of the scenery? A little, but not much. With a close group it was not wise. When the road opened up a little I did have a look around. I have not spent much time in the area, particularly in the first half, so I didn’t have many familiar landmarks to look out for. I was pleased to see a decent number of people on the roadside; a big difference to the solitude of the GOR – if you like crowds then GOR is not for you.

There were a couple of places where the road took a big turn to the left giving a nice dose of headwind, again unexpected with lack of local knowledge.

I think I might drive down there one day just to have a look at the place I ran….

 

Now, what about my feelings towards marathons in general? Will I race more marathons? Yes, that is a given unless a 2:5X becomes wildly out of reach. Will I always race marathons or will I take a more relaxed approach. In this question I am convinced that I will enjoy running 42.2km even on days when I am not going for a pb. I know this because I have plenty of training runs, and two 4hr+ epics in particular, that far exceed the time it takes me to run a marathon, and I just loved being on the road for that length of time, despite the pain at the end….  So, I suppose that means I would be open to requests for pacing someone to their goal time at a marathon in the future.

 

Strategy for chasing 2:55 and below. Only time will tell, but for now my running won’t change. I will see how my pace and endurance changes with time. Remembering that this year is the first year I’ve had any consistency, even if it was only a Clarkey version of consistency. Another 3-6-9 months of the same thing might naturally bring extra pace and endurance. But if not, then I will have to look at ways to bring improvement. Common logic says more km, and I can concede this as a valid approach, after all many have succeeded using that method. Realistically, I am never going to be on the podium, so I have to balance the preparation with the required result. Even if I never race quicker than 3.03, there are plenty who don’t get even to that point, so I have no complaints and consider myself very lucky to have 2 good marathons under my belt.

 

But, perhaps surprisingly (or not so much), I am starting to look towards other events as my next challenge/s, perhaps events of greater duration or distance, where the completion and not the time is the main goal. In the back of my mind I have a belief that at roughly 5min/km (if that is the starting pace), I could run for a very long time, so the temptation is to test exactly how far that might be…..

 

There is an adventure race later in the year, all it would take is for someone to half indicate that they were keen, and I reckon I’d start working on my arms for the paddle leg of the race…..

 

What about my running for the rest of 2006? I still have my original goal to run 150 times for the year, and there is a reasonable chance that I will get to 1500km for the year, so that might be nice. I do like my training runs that last for about an hour, so I think they will become the bread and butter of my running. Plus, I found I enjoyed the speedier Yasso’s type sessions, so with the local reserve handy it will be a session I run regularly.

 

Time to get myself back into a ‘routine’, 29 more runs for 150, then after that it’s just bonus time.

 

A thought just occurred to me…. Would anyone consider a group run that starts in 2006 and finishes in 2007?? Now there’s a run worth considering!! (But in which year would you log the km???)

 

If you took the time to get this far then you probably deserve a little gem to take away:

“When someone does something that gets under your skin, remember they were probably not trying to piss you off”

So just take a breath and be the better person by walking away.