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Looking at the Garmin data, my paces for the 5 mile splits in Tralee were:
6:30, 6:41, 6:31, 6:44, 6:51, (6:45)
which in isolation doesn't tell you all that much because of the hilly nature of the course. It is clear that I did slow down after mile 15, though I already knew that before I even looked at the numbers.
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Before the start there was plenty of banter on the front row, but I do remember one exchange rather clearly:
"John (meaning John Griffin), what time will the winner come in today?"
"2:55"
"Ooooh! I feel a surge of adrenaline coming on" (Joe O'Connor, to general laughter)
"I'll watch the winner come home the winner in 2:55" (John Griffin again, under his breath).
I did not pay much heed to the remark at the time, but I wonder if John already knew that he wasn't going to finish the race.
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I saw the leaders on both out-and-back sections, and the leader, Julio Castro (who I had spoken with very briefly in Sixmilebridge last November when he won the marathon there) looked very comfortable. I was stunned when I heard he had not won and wondered if something strange had happened. That was, until I saw the name of the winner. Peter Mooney (who I had the privilege of talking to before the race) is a marathon runner of savage ability.
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After the race I went shopping before going home. As I passed the sweets aisle I almost started gagging at the mere thought of eating chocolate, which is utterly alien to me. Usually I would expect to be craving sweets after a marathon, but all I could think of was salty food. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but I wonder if there was some electrolyte imbalance, and if my cramping issues were related to all that.
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My second half of the marathon was about 4 minutes slower than the first. Following the rule that every minute too fast in the first half costs you 2 in the second, had I run 90 seconds slower to the halfway point I would have gotten a 2:53:xx time.
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At the start I had noticed a runner, Derek Griffin, because he looked fast and because his top was partly orange (and don't I know that an orange top stands out). He took off with John Griffin but I passed him at mile 16. I spoke to him for a while at the prize ceremony. It was his first marathon and he should have been able to run about 3:00. Instead he ran the first half at about 2:45 pace, and ended up with 3:16 (ouch!). He very closely matched the 2-minutes-for-every-one-too-fast mention in the above paragraph.
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I keep looking at the M40 winner's trophies on the mantelpiece and I have to keep pinching myself. I still can't quite believe I walked home with those trophies.
Well done Thomas. I love reading this Blog. I train a lot on my own (aiming for 3:10 in Cork with a view to the elusive sub-3:00 in Dublin), reading your ramblings makes me feel a bit less nuts! Excellent writing and running!
ReplyDeleteJohn
Do you have the HR readings for the race? Normally you post them after races so I do wonder if you didn’t run with one this time. It'd be interesting to see how Tralee compared with your previous marathons.
ReplyDeleteFrom your splits and description of the race it's suggests you went out too fast, but really not by much at all. The cramp was clearly a bit factor in slowing down, without this your negative split would have been much less. Whether going out too fast was the cause of the cramp one can't say but it's likely to be a factor.
Cramp is something that has set you back before so would be worth looking into resolving. Fatigue is clearly the dominant factor, but perhaps you were also low in certain minerals.
I've just finished reading "The art and science of low carbohydrate performance" and there is chapter specifically about minerals and suggests that lack of magnesium can be the culprit rather than the usual electrolyte suspects. The book suggests using a month course of slow release magnesium tablets to get your stores back up.
Robert, I did run with my HRM and the data is available here. As usual, the HR strap misfired during the first 2 miles, after that it looks ok.
DeleteMy HR was perfectly in line with expectations, usually in the lower 160s but it inevitably fluctuated a bit with all those hills. I averaged about 164 (about 86% of my max), which is fairly standard, there was no real drift and it all looks perfectly fine.
Thanks for the link to the race he data. I find that my polar HR strap can misread in the first couple of miles of run if I don't wet the contacts just before the run.
DeleteThe lack of signs of HR drift past the first few miles suggests that went out a tad fast and were a bit too fatigued too maintain the intensity of the first half. No doubt the cramp was a factor in this.
Your previous marathon races you had a higher average HR, which could be age showing an effect or simply that your fitness has evolved so that your heart is much stronger, even more so than other aspects of your fitness.
Great race report and ramblings. Those hills between 10 and 15 miles are brutal: they sap away your glycogen stores and leave you with 11 tough miles. The last hill up into The Kerries is not much of a hill (I run it pretty much everyday) but after 21 miles it must seem like it's never going to end.
ReplyDeleteI had planned on making Cork 2014 my first marathon but I think I'll do Tralee instead - the benefits of a hometown marathon and all that. Do you think you'll do it next year?
Once again, well done and great to see you slogging it out and hanging tough. Many congrats on your well deserved trophies!
Stazza
Thanks Stazza, and thanks for your support on Saturday. Just knowing that someone was rooting for me was a great boost in itself.
DeleteThat hill up to the Kerries had not looked like much in the car, but it sure felt tough on the day, I thought it was never going to end. I haven't decided about next year yet, but I am tempted to defend my M40 titles, alright.
quick question . would the lack of long runs in your training (20 -22 milers) have played a part in the cramping after mile 18 ? .. you have high weekly mileage but no weekend long run?? well done on the time .. pm
ReplyDeleteWho knows - I don't think so, and the reason why I didn't do any more long runs in the last 6 weeks or so before the marathon was that I needed to recover after overdoing it; I think I was on the verge of overtraining and had I not dialled it back, the result would have been a lot worse, not better, but nobody knows for sure.
DeleteMy next goal race will be a long ultra and I'll do plenty of long runs (i.e. marathons) in training for that.
Connemara 100 miler?
DeleteAwesome! You have come a loooong way since I first tuned in to your blog.
ReplyDelete8)
Nice looking trophies - not the typical dust collectors that are usually awarded.
ReplyDeleteAgree that a more salty pre-race (evening before) meal would reduce the cramping risk (popular with 6' runners) - I remember having Chinese with extra salt one warm year and had no problems.
Update the date on your marathon PB Thomas! Now 2011!
ReplyDeleteGreat racing on a difficult course
ReplyDeleteDioralyte the morning of the race. Works for me! Well done
ReplyDelete