It was sore. Possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I finished, 4:28 was my time. A little slower than my goal, but I’m happy. Race report to follow.
Monthly Archive for March, 2008
3 days out from the race, and I’ve started carbo-loading. I used Energade Megaload for the Peninsula Marathon, and that worked out alright, so I’ll stick to what works.
Anyway, back to loading up those glycogen stores.
This Saturday, I shall be attempting my first ultra marathon, the 56km Two Oceans Marathon. I’m feeling fairly confident, but good race results and solid training allows me to be confident.
Some of the thoughts I have floating around in my mind:
- The last 14km are notoriously hilly, and that’s after running a marathon. How am I going to handle that?
- Going out too fast is a worry, as the first 28km is nearly flat. However, since negative splits are nearly impossible, it’s important to go out fast. So what pace do I run at?
- With that said, what time do I aim for? The best time I could hope for would be a 4:10 (4:27 min/km), so realistically I’m hoping to get under 4:20 (4:39 min/km). With a fairly hard second half, and it being my first ultra, predicting is hard.
- Wind. The infamous south-easter is well known in running circles for make life difficult when running down Chapmans peak.
- 56km!
As far as pacing is concerned, I got emailed this wonderful excel file* which gives you splits to aim for and is based on profile on the course. To achieve a 4:20, here are my target splits:
| Distance | Time (Split) | Pace (min /km) |
| 10km | 45:36 | 4:34 |
| 21km | 1:34:56 | 4:31 |
| 42km | 3:12:22 (1:37:26) | 4:35 |
| 56km | 4:20:00 (1:07:38) | 4:39 |
To prove that negative splits are difficult on this course, here’s a graph of my goal pace per kilometre (click for a larger version):
That would make a first half time of 2:06:30, and then a second half 7 minutes slower of 2:13:30.
Ok, so those are some of my thoughts, with it only being 4 days away, I’m starting to get nervous, and when I get nervous, I start searching for numbers to calm me, is that clear here?
*Attie Anderson developed the sheet based on splits run by Elizabeth McCaul and Garry Wilford
Yes, it’s been a while, but I interrupt this long break with great news. I finally completed my first marathon, which is an important step to completing an 89km ultra marathon, which is a mere 4 months away…
It’s been a month since I ran the race, but it’s still fresh in my mind, but not in my legs. The day before was extremely windy, and I went to bid dreading running 42km into a strong south easter. The race itself is flat, but add in the wind, and it can become hell.
I woke up on the morning feeling jittery but ready for the early (5:15am) start in Greenpoint. We were to run to Simon’s Town, which actually sound further than 42km. My goal was to run a 3:15 marathon, which required an average pace of 4:37, and it was definitely within my grasp. My goal was to set out at 4:35, and just try and maintain the pace. Ultimately, I wanted to get under 3 hours 20 minutes, as that would allow me to get a B seeding for the Two Oceans Marathon.
I woke up to the wonderful sound of still air, which was a massive relief. Looking at my splits, but you can see I was on target from the start, with a 4:40 for the first kilometre. All went well until I got to about 12km, and the wind picked up. We ran straight into the wind for the rest of the race, which was tough. Somehow, I just gritted my teeth, and held my pace. It did require a little more effort, but I was comfortable, plus the added bonus of passing people helped my ego.
A little sprint over the last 50m (for the crowds) had me finish in 3:13:49, so I was ecstatic. The finish was incredibly windy, and was not pleasant, but the feeling of finally finishing a marathon was one I’ll never forget.
Thinking back now, it was certainly tough, but I felt that I ran sufficiently within myself, and I could have easily plodded for a few more kilometres at that pace. I was very glad to have finished though.
See the route after the jump.
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