Word had got around that the three-time Olympian was pacing the first 31k at 2:24 pace, and a lot of people wanted to ‘hop on the bus’.
By the time the crowds thinned out after a km or so, he was leading a pack of about a dozen of us. He hit the 5km mark in 17.16, and by 17.18, ten others had gone through. One trailed 3 seconds behind, after which there was a gap of more than 30 seconds to the next runner.
Did this mean I was moving away from my usual ‘by the watch’ approach, and adopting a ‘safety-in-numbers’ stance on the run? This was not the theory, but theory and practice are often worlds apart in the middle of a marathon.
At the recent Canberra Marathon, I’d passed through half way in 72.34, and come home in 73.39. Having recovered well and run a significant half-marathon pb in the interim, I’d wanted to head out and come home slightly stronger to nudge under 2:25 for the first time.
This left me slightly behind schedule at the 5k mark, with the pace being just under 2:26 pace. This wasn’t what I’d anticipated. Upon learning that Lee Troop was pacing at 2:24 pace, I anticipated that if I was running for a sub 2:25, I would be happy to be off the back, but within sight of this group, aiming to arrive at half way in around 72.10 – 72.15.
At 5k I wondered if the marker was accurate? Should I go out on my own, away from the safety of the group? Should I bide my time? Just as these questions started to appear, however, the group’s tempo seemed to lift, and we arrived at 10km in 34:20, 2 seconds ahead of 2:25 pace, but 12 behind 2:24 pace.
This saw me right where I wanted to be, time-wise, and I was happy running at this tempo in a decent sized group, with Lee Troop at the front, ‘driving the bus’.
Not long after this, however, Troopy mentioned that he had to dart off course for an emergency pit stop. We were heading down to the southern turnaround point at Burleigh Heads at the 15.5km mark, so he said he’d pick us up as we came back. I was happy to take the lead as soon as he left us, and put a minor gap on the group by the turn. Not long after though, while maintaining the same pace, I was surprised to hear a bunch of footsteps behind me. Lee Troop had rejoined us, and dragged a few of the guys up with him.
The 15km timing mat was a bit out of position, so that split was hard to gauge, but by the time we got to 20k (more accurately placed) at 1:08:26, we’d averaged 17.03 pace for the past 2 five km segments to have us on 2:24:30 pace. At this point the others had dropped off, with Darwin’s Peter Eason being 3 seconds being Lee and I, and the others further back.
My quads had already started hurting at this point, moreso than they usually do so early in a marathon, and my mind started wandering to discussions about flat courses like the Gold Coast taking more of a toll than undulating ones like Canberra, where the inclines at least provide some respite from the constant pounding that goes with flat concrete terrain.
Nevertheless, I was in a fortunate position. As it was only Lee and me, he was happy to run along at my pace, rather than being right on 2:24 pace, which he may have done if there had been others around running at that pace.
Halfway was passed in 72:15 (2:24:30 pace) and the 20 – 25km range was covered in 17:10 (just under 2:25 pace). It was not long after this that Lee Troop informed me he’d be pulling out at 26km with stomach problems. He was apologetic, but I was still in awe – a 26k ‘training run’ after a 29:25 10k is something that I struggle to fathom.
Nevertheless, I did start to waver at this point. I suddenly found myself on my own, starting to feel the burn, and running into a slight headwind. It’s not surprising that the 5km segment from 25-30k slowed to 17:17 (2:25:51 pace).Thankfully I caught sight of someone ahead around the 30km mark, which provided a great incentive to keep on task and up the pace.
As we crossed the bridge and passed the crowds at the start / finish area, I managed to pass him, and moved ahead to gap him immediately, buoyed by the great atmosphere on this part of the course.
Unfortunately the crowds can’t line the entire route, and a kilometre or so later it seemed we were, in comparison, running through a ghost town. Fortunately that cloud had a silver lining: with my stomach playing up, and not a port-a-loo in sight, the quietest section of the course afforded me an opportunity to find sufficient foliage behind which to complete the Schumacheresque pitstop which seems to be a mandatory part of the second half of my marathons.
Despite this, the pace in this 5k segment was a healthy 17.10 (just under 2:25 pace). I attribute this to the surge through the crowded area at the start, the aforementioned hasty nature of the pitstop, and the fact that I immediately tried to compensate for any time lost with a surge that would prevent the guy I’d passed a couple km before from re-gaining contact.
To be honest I forget when I saw the first runner (William Chebon Chebor) pass me on his way back towards the finish line, but doing the maths it probably would have been as I was approaching 35km, and he was getting close to 39.
At this point I knew I was still moving at sub 2:25 pace, but my quads were being smashed by each step and there were some big question marks developing as to whether I’d be able to hold the pace.
Just after the 36km mark, we crossed a bridge on Marine Parade, over the entrance to some of the Gold Coast’s famous canals, and turned right at the round-a-bout onto Bayview St where the U-turn at the northern end of the course lay in wait, a few hundred metres up the road.
I saw a couple runners (Scott Winton and Lyngkhoi Bining I think) turning left at the round-about on their journey home just before I reached it on my north bound run.
Heading this way, the trip seemed interminable. “How long to this bloody turn?” I kept asking myself until it finally arrived.
When it did, my spirits again changed - something which seems to happen more and more frequently as the kilometers accumulate in a marathon. This time, however, they changed for the better as I was now homeward bound. My spirits further soared as I realized I now had a tailwind (The northerly wind was only a gentle breeze, but nevertheless, it was good to now have it on my side, or more accurately, on my back! ) and as I realized I had opened up a sizeable gap on those behind me.
The 40km mark was reached in 2:17:10 (with a 5km split of 17:05 – 2:24:10 pace) which meant I was maintaining good pace, although feeling anything but.
I was agonizingly close here, but with my legs agonizingly agonized by 40km of relentless pounding. I tried to lift the pace, acutely aware that I didn’t want to come this far to drop off the pace in the final couple kilometers. However, marathons aren’t about things going to plan; they’re about managing things that don’t go to plan; and my mind immediately went from increasing the pace to managing the stitch that seemed to be my body’s way of saying “the pace isn’t getting any faster”.
While 40 – 41 seemed to be a struggle, the 41km mark marked yet another change as the crowds thickened and my stitch seemed to abate. I was able to muster a noticeable gear shift here and began to develop an increasing confidence that my first sub 2:25 marathon was going to come to fruition today.There was not much left in the tank to give thanks to the Coolrunning cheersquad that camped itself about 800m from the finish line, but I thanked them as best I could when I passed and concentrated on keeping the pace as fast as I could manage.
With about 500m left to run, the course left the Gold Coast Highway, and entered the race precinct. I’d scouted this area well, and knew that I still had a few hundred metres to run, to the southern end of the swimming pool, and around it, before finishing the final hundred metres again heading north.
I hit the 42km mark in 2:23:50 and was able to celebrate as I covered the last 195 metres, finishing exhausted in 2:24:30.
Well, that brings us to the end of the race. To those of you who’ve trudged through all the numbers I’ve spat out to get to this stage, I commend you…you’ve showed a stubbornness and determination that will stand you in good stead next time you’re flirting with the wall with several kilometers remaining in a marathon. At that stage, just remind yourself that you only to apply a fraction of the perseverance that you did to finish reading this report, and you’ll come home strong!
Jokes aside, I spend a lot of time looking at the numbers before, during and after a marathon. I find we can learn a lot from them. Examples of what’s to be learnt at these stages are:
Before:
Know your history. What is your marathon pb, and what times were you running in shorter events (10k’s and halves) when you did this? Online calculators ( eg: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm )
can help with predictions, but shouldn’t be considered ‘gospel’. Having a look at how other people around you convert can also be beneficial, but again, don’t look for any hard and fast 10k – marathon ratios. Probably a better indication is looking at the marathon times of people around you who have both similar 10k and half marathon times.
During:
Don’t get carried away too early on. If a negative split is good enough for Geb world record, it’s good enough for the rest of us. The best marathoners in the world don’t win their races with an “I’m going to go out hard and hang on” approach. They strategise effectively, and keep an eye on the splits they should be hitting to achieve their goal.
After:
Look at the splits for evidence of what went wrong, or to search for means of improvement.
The upshot of my race? Well, obviously I’m stoked to have achieved the goal. 72:15 exactly in both the first and second halves gives it a nice symmetry. 5k splits ranged from 17.02 to 17.17, which is a comparatively small range. Perhaps the first 5k should have been a smidgeon faster? Perhaps the fact that I ran the last 2.195k in under 2:21 pace (7:20 - 3rd fastest of the day behind winner William Chebon Chebor at 7.03 and 3rd placed Matt Smith at 7:19) indicates that I could have pushed for more a bit earlier in the second half.
I’m sure I’ll come up with a few more lessons learnt as the weeks pass. I’ve got plenty of time to sit at the drawing board before strategizing for my next marathon. Might even have a rest first!
Dave
