Six Weeks after the Virgin London Marathon
Post marathon (and post holiday) blues certainly kicked in for me after doing the London Marathon. After such a disappointing time and two gruelling 30 hour flights within a fortnight my sickness continued and I developed a chest infection. I went back to work but had to go home on my second day as I felt dreadful. When I finally got back to training it was really difficult to know how to play it. I’d planned 2 rest weeks, 2 intense training weeks and a 2 week taper. Instead I had 3 weeks of hardly any running, 2 weeks of hating running and 1 week of short but fast running interspersed with gym workouts.
Running Mojo Lost and Found
I lost running mojo and wanted to give up until my final week. I’d been dieting since London, which I know is not clever when training for a marathon but no way was I about to carry an extra 9 pounds of weight for another 26.2 miles. The weight dropped off quickly and in my final week of training I started going on the treadmill for a fast mile or two and then running home. I bought an Espresso machine for next to my bed and was having a shot of coffee before my 5am workouts and suddenly I was flying. Well my running mojo was back but I was so scared that I’d not done enough distance and contemplated switching to the half-marathon as I thought I could perhaps get a PB (as opposed to a DNF in the full marathon). I finally decided to go with my heart over my head and knew I’d be disappointed not to do the full so I lowered my expectations and went for it.
Carb loading
Having been on a diet I knew I had to ditch it for a few days so from Thursday I increased my carb intake and then my calorie and carb intake from Friday. Sunday morning, marathon day I couldn’t stomach much breakfast again so I had a bagel with cream cheese, a Nature Valley Peanut Butter bar and some Lucozade sports beans just before the race. I had water with electrolytes around the course and two water bottles on my running belt. I took for gels out but dropped one of them. Seemed I didn’t need it anyway!
Perfect Weather
Anyone who took part in the 2017 Christchurch Marathon would know how horrific the weather was so when I looked out to rain I was a bit worried but it was perfect. Light drizzle, cool temperatures and a bit windy at times. I decided to go for it. I started out fast (as I always do) and kept waiting to tire and slow down but I kept my pace even for quite some time. My mate, Paul joined me for a bit in the red zone and I was going very strong. When I got to mile 13 I decided I would switch on some music using my bone conduction headphones and Taylor Swift – Shake it Off came on. I was like a little child laughing away to myself and with a spring in my step. The guy next to me gave me a high five and I felt so happy. Paul joined me again to keep my spirits up and I was finding it a bit harder but managed to chat away and whinge about everything that hurt. When I went back to running on my own I turned to my music again and the B Positive Choir came on singing “Rise Up” and I did – it was so uplifting and I found my legs again. Basically, my pace didn’t dip loads and my slowest mile was 8:09 pace (every other mile was below 8 minute miles).
The End is Near
I knew I had less than half a mile left and I knew it was a definite PB unless I died or something! But I wasn’t sure how close to a 3:15 I was. I saw my friends Mel and Al and I was on fire. The crowd were cheering and then I could see the finish line. I was laughing, crying and sprinting; I was on cloud nine and felt like I had won gold. I saw Mel heading to the finish area and I ran over with my arms out crying and exclaiming how overjoyed I was. I then saw Paul and could’t have been more grateful for him running alongside me, particularly when I was starting to hurt.
My final time was 3:15:48 which I was and am still over the moon with but I can’t helped being a tiny bit annoyed as my average pace was 7:24 which should be a sub-3:15 but you always end up running further than 26.2 (more like 26.4). Oh well, it gives me something to aim for in Dunedin.
