Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Canberra Race Report

What sort of person graphs their marathon?

No answers please.

Here it is my pace over the 42.195 K's or 26.2 miles. First 5 K's 4:40 min/K ... tick. Drop it to 4:30 pace ... tick.

Ok, point "A" is 25 K's or around the turn to face the last lap. I averaged the time over the next 5 K's but at the water stop past the 28K mark, I stopped and walked whilst I ate my gel and washed it down. This would have added time and bumped up the average for those 5K's.

Point "B" 36K. I'm in a whole lot of pain as my calf feels like tearing. Might have been a cramp. My hamstring and quads twinge with sharp pains. I start thinking that I'm doing damage and will need a long recovery after this one.

Point "C" is a slow K due to the 35K water station, where once again I walk, drink a can of V and take my last gel. Then face the last 6K's.

At this stage, I was running with as much effort as I could put in for each and every step. I looked at my arm for the invisible inscription I use to dig deep (Clairie, it got me through). I drew upon all the times in training where I would push myself when I didn't feel like it. By my rough calculations, I needed to stay under 5 min/K to land at 42K around 3hr 16 min. If I could find something extra, I could reduce the minute I might be over my PB. It was one hell of a chase, but in the 30 minutes or so, I fell short by 25 seconds. Looking at my photos I noticed that I wasn't smiling much. Katy, I might not have looked happy but when I turned the bend around 40K and saw you shining in you costume in the distance it did lift me. I love what you did to cheer and how much it meant to so many many runners on the day.

I believe that when it gets hard in the end of a marathon, I am unlikely to get any quicker and holding speed is the best I can achieve. It's a theory.

The things I am most proud of and get satisfaction from in this marathon are:

1. Running the 3:10 race plan up to about the 30K mark.

2. Hold it together to achieve the pace I did for the last 6K's.

I came back from 2 marathons of 3:40+ to run a 3:16:32. I qualified for Boston and for 30K was running a New York qualifier. I went into this race positively with an ambitious goal. I might have chosen sub 3:15 and nailed it, but would wondered if I could have achieved more. This way, I might have sacrificed the overall time a little by running hard and aggressively from the start, but I have no regrets. I do feel the 3:10 .... not sure when .... but for the first 2 hours it was happening and it leaves me still wanting to do it all again. In fact for the first 30K, I was relaxed, comfortable and in control.

For now I will prepare for Warwick in under 4 weeks and use that race to lead into the next ones.

Canberra is over and I have a lot of relief.

15 Comments:

Blogger Tammy said...

What kind of person graphs their marathon? US!!! Only, you call that a graph? puh-lease.

Congrats on a stellar race! Is Warwick another marathon???

12:41 am  
Blogger E-Speed said...

You worked hard out there. Great job. So are you going to Beantown in 08? Would love to see you there!!!

Great race. Way to tough it out at the end when it would have been so easy to fade.

1:30 am  
Blogger Bolder said...

stellar performance.

outstanding chartsmanship.

CONGRATS on Boston.

nothing like some high altitude training before a big US race...

i'm just sayin'.

2:14 am  
Blogger Rob said...

Congratulations Tosaty. That was a very gutsy final 6K. It was a fantasic weekend. I really enjoyed sharing it you and Katy.

7:56 am  
Blogger Samurai Running said...

Hello Toasty

Your race sounded similar to mine in that I too felt I was cruising in the early kms but just hung on in the end to slavage the race and do a decent time all things considered.

I'm also proud that I could push thru that horrible feeling that came in the last 5 kms.

I bet your last 5kms split felt much slower than it actually was.

You did the right thing deciding to go for the 3:10.

Congratulations

5:49 pm  
Blogger Mat said...

That's a great effort you've put in there Toasty. Good on you for pushing on all the way to the end.

7:45 pm  
Blogger Tesso said...

Yep, you definitely had to give the 3:10 a go the way you've been running. And you'd better give it another red hot go GC don't you think. We all know you've got it in you.

What's the goal for Warwick? Sub 3:10 ... or something a little bolder :-0

8:23 pm  
Blogger Ewen said...

I see. 'C' is the problem! You needed bovine shorts. That would have done it.

9:15 pm  
Blogger D said...

Great job Toastman!!!! Hopefully I'll meet you and katy next year in Boston!!!! Katy is absolutely one of a kind!

1:13 pm  
Blogger Peterhorse said...

well done once again Mark! awesome time, just can't fathom having to run so fast for so long...press on, from the base you have and that experience, it's surely not far away!!

6:01 pm  
Blogger CJ said...

Well done Toasty - you did well especially hanging in there at the end when it gets really hard (believe me I know what it feels like!)
And totally agree with your coments about Katy - I know it certainly helped me seeing her out there!
And i can't believe you missed me out there - in bright pink and all!
Looking forward to catching up with you guys again sometime this year (promise) for a coffee!

9:18 pm  
Blogger massoman said...

superior effort toasty! simply outstanding.

1:55 am  
Blogger Runner Susan said...

Yay for Boston! You know Boston isn't far from Dallas, you guys should visit!

3:33 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hmmm...Boston 2008 could it be? I have some work to do if I am going to qualify so I can meet up with the rest of you. How can I pass up the chance for that kind of get together. Nice job and I am sure you will get that 3:10 in the future.

12:47 pm  
Blogger Ginger Breadman said...

You ran an amazingly smart race. To come from your past 2 marathons at 3:40ish, and pull this one off is really impressive. Understandedly, you'd have like to run faster, but you can only give it your best on a given day, and you truly did that. What a great race and great report - it took me forever to figure all those conversions into non-metrics! I thnk Katy has found a new profession as well!

3:54 am  

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