Training for my first marathon

Today I have a long day at work babysitting an engine running through an automated test cycle - so I thought I'd kill some time by writing another blog post. I virtually didn't update this blog at all through my marathon training, so thought I might recap it, just to give some insight into what preparation it took to get me through my first marathon.

Marathon Training Plans
There are a ton of marathon plans available online, in books and magazines, catering for everyone from a first timer just looking to finish, to a seasoned runner wanting to achieve a particular time goal. I spent a bit of time looking around, one that caught my eye was the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) first timer's plan. The plan differs from many marathon plans in that it only involves 3 runs a week, with additional conditioning coming through cross-training. I liked the idea of this, as running 5 or 6 times a week is quite demanding, and I wanted to have time to do other activities that I enjoy, such as cycling. I was worried that it might be a bit light on miles compared with most plans, but after reading several good testimonials on various forums I decided to give it a try. See the FIRST programs here

The FIRST Program
There are actually two 20-week programs - one for first timers and one for experienced runners, they both use the same basic structure but the one for experienced runners has more strenuous speed-work, and builds the long run much more quickly. The three runs are:
Speed work - intervals of various distances at a prescribed pace, dictated by your 10k race pace. These were usually around 9-12km, with up to 6km of that being at a fast pace.
Tempo run - ranging in distance from 8km up to 16km, either at a constant pace (i.e. 10k pace + 10sec/km), or using a pattern such as 3km slow, 3km @10k pace, 3km slow
Long run - ranging from about 18km up to 33km (i.e. 20 miles), pace prescribed as planned marathon pace + xx seconds/km.

On top of that, you are to do 2 30 minute cross training sessions per week, I usually just did one mountain biking session of about 2-3 hours, and occasionally added a 5-10k run.

Me and FIRST
Initially I started out on the beginner's marathon plan, but after a couple of weeks I decided I didn't think it was pushing me enough, so I switched to the experienced marathoners plan. With only 2 half marathons under my belt, I was a long way from an "experienced marathoner", but I decided that if I could manage the runs at the paces set by the plan then it would be fine.

I probably struggled the most with the speed sessions, it may have partly been that it's difficult to monitor intervals of the order of 200-1200m using GPS, but often I wouldn't quite be able to make the target pace. After 7 weeks of the program, the O'Hagans 5k series started again after a break over winter, and I replaced the speed sessions with a weekly 5k race. In the first 3 races of the series I dropped about 20-30 seconds per week to bring my 5k PB down to 18:23 :)

The tempo runs were great, a nice combination of distance and speed. I usually managed to knock them out quicker than the required pace. I haven't actually raced a 10k, so I'd guessed my 10k pace to be 4:20/km based on a half marathon pace of 4:27 and 5k of about 4:00. Looking back, I suspect I should've started around 4:15 and I think I could possibly manage a sub-40 10k now.

The long runs were long. For the first few I started out around 5:30/km, but I found running at that pace my stride was quite poor and I would get sore knees very quickly, so most of my long runs were in the range 4:50-5:15/km, depending on length. I did find I started to run out of gas once I got around the 30km mark, which made me reasonably concerned about how I would handle 42km! Also FWIW, my initial planned marathon pace was 5:00 (for a 3hr 30 marathon), but later on I was working with a planned pace around 4:45 (actual pace was 4:38).

Weekly and long run distance for my marathon build up. Note week 19 is race week

As you can see above, my weekly distance varied between 35 and 63km through the program, which is really quite low for a marathon plan.

Injuries and Down time
I think one of the excellent things about the FIRST plan is that 3 purposeful runs per week makes you less likely to suffer injuries than running 5+ times a week and clocking up 70-100 slow kilometers. I didn't suffer any specific running injuries during my training, although I think I came close during the O'Hagans 5k in which I set my current PB - it was only a couple of days after a 33km run, and I got a sudden sharp pain in my hip near the start which almost made me stop, it disappeared shortly after and I pushed very hard over the last 200-300m, leaving my legs in a pretty sorry state for several days afterwards.

I had about 1.5 weeks off early in the program due to getting the flu, it was the first time I had gone an entire week without running since sometime last year, and my first sick day in 2 years at my job.

Life and Marathon Training
I found the demands of marathon training to be a lot less of an impediment to other parts of my life than triathlon training had been over summer. The Rugby World Cup was on during the last 2 months of my training and most weeks I went out at least once to a bar or one of the "fan zones" in the city with my mates to watch a game. I did my part in supporting the New Zealand liquor industry during those weeks, and I also had plenty of time to get to work on my cars, making good progress on some fairly major work I'm doing on the MR2 which I hope will be finished some time over summer.

Gear!
Fortunately I didn't spend nearly as much money buying gear or entering races as I did over summer, but I did add a few more shoes to my collection. I replaced my beloved fluorescent green Saucony Kinvaras with some fluorescent orange Saucony Kinvara 2s. The old ones had over 1000km on them and were starting to get quite worn on the soles, although with claims that the Kinvaras would only last 300km or so I was pleasantly surprised that one pair lasted me about 6 months of quite heavy use. I also finally got some nice trail shoes, the somewhat legendary New Balance MT101s. I haven't used them much yet, but they look awesome, are very comfortable and seem like great shoes, I might post up some detailed thoughts on them once I get a chance to really put them through their paces.

Two brilliant pairs of shoes, MT101 on the left and Kinvara 2 on the right

I did however blow a decent chunk of money on a new mountain bike. It's full suspension Norco with about 6 inches of travel front and rear, riding it has seen my bravery over jumps, drops and descents increase significantly, I love it! A group of us have been discussing a trip to Europe next year which will include the Pass'Portes du Soleil mountain bike race, nearly 100km of mostly downhill riding through the Alps, it looks amazing!

My steed after a particularly muddy ride at Riverhead

Song of the Day
This damn song! I listened to it several times the day before the marathon and it was continuously looping in my head for most of the first 20km or so! A classic from the Canadian rock band, Rush - Tom Sawyer, this one is a live performance with a nice little cameo from the South Park boys. Enjoy!

My First Marathon!

Finishing the Half Marathon in
Melbourne last October

Well, today I ran my first ever marathon. I’m going to start my story just over a year ago, when I ran my first half marathon in Melbourne. Having just completed the 21.1km, I was incredibly proud, but at the same time in awe of those who had undertaken the much bigger task of running the full marathon. I remember running the last section where the marathon and half marathon courses joined and looking at the marathon’s kilometer markers with big scary numbers on them like 36km - and just thinking I was so glad that I didn’t have to run that far! But somewhere, very quietly inside me, something said “I wonder if I could do a marathon?”. So moving ahead about 54 weeks in time, last night I was sitting on the couch, carb loading on pizza and beer (full disclosure: I only had about 2/3rds of the beer before feeling bad and stopping), and realising that tomorrow I’d be answering that question.

I was never going to get a lot of sleep, the 3am start to get down to the ferry, combined with pre-race nerves and anticipation meant I only got around 1 hour of sleep, in two short bursts (but got through a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory in between). I wasn’t too concerned, all the “big” races I’ve done in the last 12 months had been preceded with only 2-5 hours of sleep and it has never been an issue. Breakfast was coffee and 2 pieces of toast; between 5am and race start at 6:10am I had 2 gels and a bottle of Powerade, and went to the toilet twice...

My target pace for the race was 4:45 per km, for a time of 3 hours 20. I thought this was ambitious and expected I’d probably manage it for the first half but possibly fade in the second to finish somewhere around 3:25-3:30. I hit the 1km board around 4:30, and continued to put in similar splits for the following ks. To non-runners that 15 seconds per km might not seem like much, but I was still a bit concerned that I was going too fast.

Something you only ever get to practice during a race is the art of drinking out of a cup while running. It had been a while since I last attempted that and the first aid station at 4km left me covered in Powerade and choking. The second aid station came up pretty quickly and was my cue to take a gel, the plan being to take one every second aid station or roughly every 8km. By that point the field was already pretty spread out, I was running with a woman from the YMCA marathon club and we were holding a pretty consistent and comfortable pace, and I was feeling good.

Rounding the corner onto the motorway just before the bridge, about 13km in, there was a group of people playing those big Japanese drums - it was awesome! You really appreciate the support from the crowds, and people going the extra mile like that really puts a smile on your face. The harbour bridge ended up being a lot easier than I expected. The section up to that point is really quite hilly and I was surprised by how good my legs felt at the top of the bridge. The view was great, but there wasn’t a great deal of time to enjoy it! By now I was about 3 minutes ahead of my target time, and I think I made up even more time on the way down the bridge.

Top of the Harbour Bridge

I’d been drinking Powerade at every aid station, and as I came through Wynyard Quarter at about 19km I realised I was definitely going to have to stop for a piss. I didn’t really want to lose my pace buddy, but I also didn’t want to wet myself! The stop cost me about 60 seconds, but I still came through the half way mark at 1:37, 3 minutes up on my target. I was starting to think my goal time was looking more and more achievable.

Rounding the tank farm with the bridge in the background, 20km-ish

My 22nd kilometer was my fastest of the race, a 4:19 according to my GPS. I was still feeling good, but the long haul out to St Heliers was looking moderately intimidating! From about 27 or 28km, I knew things were getting bad because I was constantly looking for the next kilometer marker, and the next aid station. Going back over the GPS log, I had been consistently splitting in the 4:30s but from the 29th I dropped into the 4:40s. Somewhere around here I caught up to and passed the YMCA woman from earlier who looked to be fading at this point

On the way out to St Heliers, 26km-ish

I checked my time at 32km, just after the turn around at St Heliers and 10.2km to go - somewhere around 2 hours 27, on track to beat my target but now running on very tired legs. Took my 4th gel and switched from Powerade to Coke at the 33km aid station. As I now know, this is where the hard part of the marathon starts! I started catching up to people who had been reduced to walking, and an even larger number of people who were still running but had drastically slowed. Every now and then I’d feel my hamstrings or quads give a bit of a twinge, which was quite worrying as cramping would be disasterous at this point. I was also now entering uncharted territory, the longest I’d run in training was 33km and everything beyond brought questions of whether my legs could keep pushing me along, whether my battered knees would bring me a world of pain, whether I’d been fuelling well enough to avoid the dreaded wall.

36km, another aid station and I chugged back some more Coke.

37km, only 5k to go, should be less than 25 minutes now.

38km, should be less than 20 minutes. Can I keep running for another 20 minutes, that’s kinda ages.

Up the small hill to the Tamaki Drive/Quay St/The Strand intersection. Is that the 39km sign? Take another gel, aid station should be up here.

Top of the hill, come on legs, I think we’re going to do this. Where the hell is the aid station? My mouth feels so dry after that gel.

Running past Vector Arena - here’s the aid station, thank fuck! More coke, lots of cheering and support. There’s the 40km sign, and bunch of people from Max College for Fitness Professionals - I recognise the woman from the Albany Lakes series, run past with my arm out and high five all of them, awesome!

Pace is increasing, nothing drastic but I’m going to finish this bad boy strong! Through the Viaduct and past the 41km sign, watch says 3:11 - should be over in 5 minutes!

Must be close to the finish now, check the watch again but it’s only 3:13, still more than half a k left.

Coming out of the Viaduct and there’s fences everywhere, so many people around! Lots of cheering and encouragement, no other marathoners in sight

Looking up at the clock, just before the finish line

Turn a right hand corner and onto the final 100m or so! I can see the clock - 3:15:xx, suddenly it hits me that I’m about to finish my first marathon and to do so in a time that I never even dreamed of!

Arms in the air as I go under the finish gate, I imagine this might seem strange but I almost wanted to cry/almost did.

Staggered to the final aid station beyond the finish, 2 cups of water over my head, 3 down the hatch, inhaled a banana, more staggering, got my finisher’s medal along with lots of praise and a bottle of Powerade, which also went straight down the hatch in no time. Collapsed in the middle of Victoria Park and just lay there for about 20 minutes, relieved to be off my feet, feeling pretty smug and dieing just a bit.

Eventually I got up and went to claim my free beer, which turned into 2 free beers and a long sit down in a chair in the sun. Felt great - physically I felt completely shattered, was hobbling around like a gimp but just felt amazing.

Spent

Despite drinking at every aid station and everything I consumed after the finish, I lost 1.5kg, presumably in sweat, between getting up this morning and arriving home afterwards. Since then I’ve been working on recovering the 3,600 calories I burnt, trying to sleep, and alternating the one bandage I have between my knees and ankles to give the joints some compression.

Done!

So my official time was 3:15:59, 6 minutes short of a Boston Qualification for 2012. First half split was 1:37:02, second half 1:38:56. Finish placing was 125th out of 2,307 finishers.

During the marathon training I didn’t do any swimming but mountain biked at least once a week. From here I’m going to cut my running back to probably twice a week, get a lot more cycling in and get back into the pool. Next goal: half ironman (don’t know which yet)


Song of the Day
Some Japanese drummers, much like those on the course before the bridge