Did a full marathon in Ishikawa prefecture today. Ishikawa is on the sea of Japan, a beautiful, mostly rural place about 6 hours drive from my home here. We went to this area because it has a lot of hot springs and me and the family were able to stay over night at a resort there.
On Sunday morning I went out to the the start by myself leaving the family still eating breakfast at the hotel. It started at 9, although the wind was strong it was otherwise perfect weather, not a cloud in the sky.
This is a very small marathon by Japanese standards with only about 400 people doing the full marathon, nevertheless well organised, picturesque course out and back with rolling hills none much above 35%.
I set off feeling great stayed with the top 20 leaders almost up till the 30km mark and then everything fell apart. My first 5km split was 20:31 and I kept under 22:00 right up until 30K but my legs just gave up the ghost. By 35kms the poor old pins were "swimming in a sea of lactic acid", (always wanted to write that ;) ) and I walked/ran Galloway style to the finish.
I know some of you are going to say I'm an idiot and it was never an option to to run a fast PB after doing a fast half only the week before. But nobody has ever accused me of being running smart ( I used to think "lactate threshold" was something you carried your pregnant wife across) besides I had convinced myself that the rules didn't apply to me and I kept repeating "Rob the Runner"'s last comment like a mantra: "You're on fire" "You're on fire" You're on fire."
Well as I sit here something is definitely "on fire" but it's my calves and ankles. Anyway not disappointed with this for one thing I didn't drop out like I wanted to on many occasions and I toughed out the last 10kms like I haven't done before in a marathon. So it's a lesson well learnt and I did survive.
No more racing for the next 12 weeks I'm going to relax a bit and train like a mad man to PB in Townsville come August. Thanks for your continuing support.
Photos, the day before the marathon and today limping into the finish with Casey, my son, showing his old man how it should be done.
Almost forgot. Finishing time 3:23:32
Oh man! What a bugger! You must be disappointed. Not that 3:23 is anything to be other proud of. Never-the-less the Half PB is very strong evidence that you have very fast marathon incubating, almost ready to hatch. It is just a matter of time and LONG runs.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought lactate threshold was when your breast feeding wife's supply had been exhausted.
ReplyDeleteI am going to stop short of calling you an idiot. Something gentler like brave fool? ;-)
It was always going to be hard backing up the next week-end for another big PB but did you really need to start the first 5k at 2:53 pace?
As long as you have learnt from the experience then all is not lost. It all makes for great reading I must say. Hope our paths cross when you get to Oz later in the year.
Oh to have a blowout and run 3:23! I'm sure the PB the previous weekend was well worth the pain this weekend, though it may not have seemed it at the time.
ReplyDeleteMust've been cool to be running in the front pack of 20, it always looks so good on the maras we see on TV.
Oh, and I wouldn't call you an idiot either. Or I wouldn't put it in bold print like you did ... only because I don't know how ;-)
Happy recovery. Hopefully see you later in the year in always perfect Qld.
Hey mate, lucky you didn't embarrass yourself by running such an "enthusiastic" race in Canberra... old folk like Rob, Eagle and Spody would have finished ahead of you ;)
ReplyDeleteDid Spody give you some pre-race tips? He used the same tactics (3:08 turned into a 3:18).
Your other big mistake was just missing the palindromic time of 3:23:23. Well, that's about all I can think of in the way of continuing support. Rob, Robert Song and Tesso are the ones you can turn to for advice on how to run a decent marathon ;)
I love that report, Scott! Sorry to say I had a little chuckle about calves & ankles being "on fire"!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on a great time...3:23 is fantastic & 'idiots' don't run that fast!
How about the blossoms on the cherry(?)tree...so beautiful!
This post made me laugh out loud! Not about your running, but some of those lines are gold! I think it was still a great run- I am glad you aren't disappointed because it sounded like you were just testing yourself. Good work!
ReplyDeleteStill sounds like a good time to me. You should be proud of those last 10ks - I imagine it would have been pretty easy to stop at that stage. I am envious of those blue skies - all we have had here in NSW is rain, rain and more rain!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that my "gritty" ending to Canberra inspired you, but that may be a stretch!
ReplyDeleteWell done on getting through a tough one to still get a great time. I'm coming to realise (after my 3 mara's) that they're all learning experiences......