Six days on from the Canberra marathon and like a tough pregnancy/birth I have almost forgotten the pain. The story started immediately after the Melbourne mara last October. I had just run 3.39, my slowest result of four attempts. I was on the phone to the Tuckman. The Tuckman lives in the capital and during our conversation we set our sights on both of us running P.B’s at the Australian Running Festival on April 15th 2012.
To get from my slowest to fastest was going to take something different to how I had trained in the past. So I spoke to a fairly reasonable runner friend about putting together a 12 week program for me and Tuckman to tackle. He did just that and from mid January we were running with purpose every time we stepped out the door. That fairly reasonable runner won Oxfam 100km yesterday in a record time. Yeah he goes ok, so we were obviously pretty confident he knew what he was talking about with this program.
The program was amazing every day was different. There were speed sessions, cruisey recovery runs, marathon pace kms and the hardest but most important runs were the long runs. In the past my long run was just about covering the distance. This time I was introduced to the long run/fast finish. Eg. 34km might look like first 24km at 4.50 – 5.10 per km pace. Then the last ten at marathon pace ie: 4.25 per km. They were just plain hard work. But the beauty of it was every hard run was followed by an easy day.
I found that after four or five weeks my fitness levels had gone through the roof and the excitement started to build. The goal of sub 3h10m was becoming a bit more realistic.
On race day everything was in place. Tuckman and I had spent the previous day on the couch punting, watching footy, carb loading and hydrating. Tuckman’s far better half Fairley works 3 minutes from the start line. So after our day of rest we also had the luxury of a toilet each for the last minute preparation of the temple. As it turned out my timing on that aspect of the process was out by a mere 26.5km. More on that later.
On the start line we were super excited. There was handshakes and hugs between the two of us and a pretty strong belief that a good day lay ahead. My race plan had me going at 4.24 per km so when I went past the 1st km marker and saw those exact digits on the garmin I felt like the gods were on my side. Tuckboy moved away from me after about 4km. It was never our intention to run together. Both of us enjoy getting into a chat free solo zone. Running together can sometimes give you too much to worry about, it’s enough to battle your own demons.
I found myself hitting it like a metronome as we circled Parliament House. Julia could have popped her head out but must have had other stuff on her plate. Went past the Aboriginal Embassy, Tony Abbot came to mind, it’s amazing what goes through your head on the run. Although I don’t like to chat too much I do take notice of who is around me. There was a guy and a girl running near me that just wouldn’t shut up. It was slightly amusing, slightly annoying. I overheard the guy’s life story and found out that he was debuting as a marathoner. I was confident he would quieten down, at the latest, in the 30’s but I couldn’t wait that long. I tacked on to a fit half marathoner who was going a bit quicker than my plan but she dragged me away from the over-talker.
Ten km went by in 44 minutes and all was well. The course had quite a few hills in it. They weren’t heartbreak style but as you did a couple of out and back loops, these hills kept appearing. They did take a bit out of me but nothing to cause great angst or panic. At each turnaround I was able to give and receive a shout out with the Tuckman. He had hyper extended his knee just seven days ago and went in mildly concerned that all the hard work was going to be wasted. But when I saw him about the 17-18km mark he looked well in control and on the way to a smashing.
Everything was travelling well for me but for one concern. Each time I took on sports drink I got a bit of grief in the guts. If I didn’t take on the electrolytes I risked hitting the wall later on. But the immediate risk of crook guts could be a disaster. What to do?
I went away from the sports and started taking on water and for a few kms I felt that things had settled. However things can change in a matter of steps and at the 26km things went from zero to a hundred in seconds and I had to find a toilet. At the time I was on a main road with people everywhere, not a toilet or even a tree in sight. I was in trouble. Then like an oasis in the desert I spotted my only possible chance. In the distance was a group of trees that might just work. I prayed that it not be a mirage. So at 26.5km for the first time in my running career I stepped off the course and into the Pits. Formula One teams would be happy with the time spent, I was back on track in the blink of an eye-ish and had avoided the need for the Decastella sponge. The k between 16 and 17 took 4.38.
From that point I pushed a bit and got back into a great rhythm. I was relaxed and hitting sub 4.30min kms without too much hurt. Kms started to disappear as I slid past the 30km mark kind of hoping my body wouldn’t notice that this is when things get hard. At the final turn around I could see the Tuckman just ahead of me. I thought with a bit of a push I it might be possible to catch up to him but I was there to go under 3.10 and didn’t want to risk blowing up. If I just held it together, the ball would be in my own court. Plenty of time to catch up later.
All through the last ten kms I was waiting for my pace to drop, I was waiting for it to get horrific. That’s just how marathons are meant to be. But the program we had gone through was brilliant. With 4kms to go I knew sub 3.10 was in the bag. It was still hurting but I was able to enjoy the last stretch. Approaching the finish I looked at my watch and everything was freakin’ beautiful. I crossed the line in 3 hours 8 minutes and embraced the Tuckman who had crossed in 3.07. This was our premiership.
Now the only real issues are……Where am I going to find an extra 8 minutes and, are there any trees at 26.5 on the Melbourne course?
