Dublin Marathon 2012

Last Monday I ran the Dublin Marathon as one of the 3:30 Pacers.  This wasn't a planned day out but an unexpected opportunity which I'm glad I took.  Being so soon after the 24-hr World & European Championships I was unsure if it was a good idea as the added responsibility meant I couldn't just go with how I felt on the day and would be required to run and finish as planned.  The brief was to finish in 3:29.30 and my finish time was 3:29.17 as per the official results so it was almost perfect.

Kildare Marathon 2012

The Start

Yesterday I paced the sub 3:15 pace group in the Kildare Marathon and although I wasn't looking forward to the responsibility it went quite well and I finished in 3:14.22.  Since returning from the 100K World Championships less than a month ago I haven't been feeling 100% and more than likely I'm still recovering from that race both physically & mentally.  It's the mental recovery that I was most concerned about as this was effecting my concentration which would also effect my pacing.  During a few practice runs I found that my pace was always drifting back to my 100K pace whenever I lost concentration and it was only during this Marathon that I managed to get back in the zone.  Maybe thats because I had the extra responsibility and wasn't running just for me.

It took a while before I started to get into the run but once I warmed up which was probably after 30K it felt like I could just keep going and was half tempted to run the a 10K race that started 30 minutes after I finished the Marathon.  I mentioned that idea in conversation and then a few others started talking about it so I changed my mind.

Approaching the finish.

Photos thanks to Peter Mooney.
Kildare Marathon Results.

Flora London Marathon 09

I arrived into London on Friday evening and shortly after booking into my hotel I started my carbo loading routine with a Pasta & Pizza meal before having an early night.  Remembering how busy the Marathon expo was last year I decided it best to head out to collect my race number and timing chip early on Saturday rather than rushing later on in the day.  Met up with Steven Seaton at the Runner's World stand and chatted for a bit before I did my numerous laps checking out all the stands at least twice which is one of my favourite things about Marathon running.

After an hour or so at the expo I headed back to my hotel via Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory where at last I finally had my chance to stand on the Prime Meridian.  This has been one of my things to do since I stood at the geographic North Pole and the point where all the earths lines of longitude meet so that's another job done.

Race Day can be quite busy and because the Pacing team were meeting quite early my day started at 6am to allow for breakfast in my room, a quick shower and time to check out of the hotel before heading for the first train to Greenwich at 7am.  Met as planned with the Pacing team at 8:30am and following a quick chat we were assigned to our starting areas and I then made my way over to the Blue Start and Pen 3 at Blackheath.  

With this pace and distance I can manage with a minimum amount of fluid and my pre race plan was to drink only a mouthful of Lucozade at each aid station spaced 5K apart to keep my carbohydrate stores topped up and not bother with the water at the 1 mile intervals but that plan was based on the original weather forecast which mentioned clouds and showers.  The day couldn't have been more different and as I made my way to the start line I was thinking on my feet and the original plan changed.

The day was a lot hotter than I expected and this is when experience pays off as I knew in advance how much fluid I would need based on the air temperature and after meeting a few of the runners that would be using my services I assigned one to supply me with Lucozade Sport at every aid station and another to get my water if required. 

 

The first mile was to be our slowest at 8:33 min pace and over the next 5-6 miles I made up the lost seconds by running at times of between 7:50 - 8min with the occasional slower mile of no more than 10 seconds over.  After the half way mark we had established a good steady pace following the race line and i was drinking at every aid station and sweating it out as quickly.  Some of the group were starting to suffer but at mile 20 there were still a few familiar faces and a few more runners that we had passed decided to join up with us.  We talked our way up to mile 23 and then dug in for the final push.

The support all along the course has to be seen to be believed but on the approach to mile 25 the crowds seemed to get bigger and louder and although I've done this race a few times I was still distracted by the crowd and I missed the 26 mile mark.  I was looking around and double checking my watch and then I heard the BBC announcer calling for a big cheer to welcome in the Runner's World Pacer and I then crossed the line in 3hr 29min 30sec which overall was 29 seconds ahead of time.  My average Pace for the race was 7min 59 seconds and you won't get much closer than that..

Meet the Pacers

Well its that time again and tomorrow I head to London to take part in the London Marathon as part of the Runner's World Pacing Team.  My mileage this week was relatively low with one short Tempo run of 5 miles at 6min30 pace.  I felt that I needed this short fast run to loosen my legs up and make up for not fitting in my usual long and semi long runs.  You will maintain endurance with some speed work but you won't build speed from endurance work.