Below is part of an article on the run from the "Townsville Bulletin."
Marathon runner-up and Osaka resident Scott Brown, who at 45 years young competed in his third Townsville Running Festival, said he had eventual winner Revelian in his sights early on in the run.
"I watched his back for the first 15 kilometres, but he was so smooth, at every turn he got further in front," Brown said.
"And everyone who I passed along the way were yelling at me 'you can get him, you can get him', but I had no doubts he would win.
"I slowed down and he sped up I think, but I suppose finishing second isn't so bad for an old guy, I turn 46 next week."
That is just part of the story to feed the media frenzy now for you, my loyal 10 readers, I'll give the inside scoop.
I't may seem like I'm an ingrate to be disappointed with my result but you all know how hard I trained for this and it is all relative. I simply should have run faster and I know this race wasn't a true reflection of my ability. While I have to be honest and take pause with my goal of sub 2:30:00 I haven't given up on it. On the right day if everything comes together I just may give it a nudge. Still, for me it's not about time anymore I just want to run my best before my time runs out.
Yes, here they come, the excuses.
I was on sub 2:37:00 time right through the 25K mark taking splits at the first two 10K marks and one 5K mark but on the run out of the city it got kind of lonely, I was running by myself for the 1st two city loops too but there were people around and I could cheer and be cheered by fellow runners on the turn arounds there, but the almost 20K out and back gave
me some trouble.
Firstly I lost my sense of pace, secondly, I began to cramp up on both sides of the back of my legs and thirdly, my feet were burning up. I wore these really light ASICS flats that I had only done about 10K in before the race, while they did help me in the first 15K with speed they slowed me down in the end as my poor puppies took such a pounding, one that I haven't felt since my first few marathons. Might not totally be the shoes' fault maybe I just have to run more long runs in flats. Who knows?
At any rate I lost a good ten minutes on the last 15K. Frankly I could have/should have put in an all out effort but I was worried that this would have brought the cramps to a head and stopped me dead so I just did enough to get me safely to second place. A little "soft" of me I know. In the final analysis I'm not disappointed I ran this race, nor that I placed second to such a good runner as Oswald it is just it could have been so much better than it ended up.
Anywho, this is what I like about the marathon, there are no guarantees, of course you have to prepare but it will always require respect and lady luck to shine on the day. We just have to remain humble and keep on hitting it until it pays off, one way or another.
In all other respects the Townsville marathon is one of the best races I've been in and I recommend it to anyone.
Thanks too to my blogging friends your comments mean the world to me.
Some photos
I was wondering if you had been running alone, and if that affected your race. I guess that's a problem with running in a small race. Even in a race with 2,000, like I ran in Napa and Santa Barbara, I was alone a good part of the time. Maybe to run really fast times you have to run in big races.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the light shoes, as I am planning to buy a pair for my next marathon. May have to give that some more thought.
Hi Scott I was at a talk with Peter Maher a former canadian Marathon runner and olympic runner now runs a sports clinic in Cork.He said light shoes only work for short distance and the lack of support will cut your feet up for long runs.Keep the 2.30 in sight.
ReplyDeleteFirst, there's nothing "soft" about your time!
ReplyDeleteSecond, I think that you're probably correct - it's hard to self pace at a PB pace without someone to pace. However, you might as well get used to it for when you win cause I hear it's even more lonely out front ;-)
Third, maybe you could benefit from spending some of your prize money on some longer running shorts? It won't alter your pace, but it will help the spectators eyesight ;-)
Oh, and I should have also said, great photos! The more I see your photos from the Townsville marathon, the more I think I'll give it a crack one year......
ReplyDeleteScott once again congrats.
ReplyDeleterunning on your own is very hard, the legs seem to flow around so much faster in a pack!
Also if your running with other runners you don't tend to think about your own pain so much!
ON TRAINING
To run 2.30
as we get older we need to get smarter,I would recommend Marius Bakken to you,
coaching legend Renato Canova
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15473&PageNum=3
Says to improve you need to shock your body, this means not doing the same training week after week, it means doing sessions you have never done before.
I believe you can improve, a lot more, but I feel from reading your blog postings and reading between the lines, you have reached your limit on your current training methods.
If I can set p.b's at 49 with 17 years of hard training and racing behind me, smashing my best times from 7 years ago!
imagine what you might be able to do.
I think from reading one of your last blog posts on your marathon training, you said your tendons and muscles were killing you, this is not right, carry on training that way and you're be burned out way to soon!
Don't get me wrong 2nd place is figging amazing!
But I want to see you run 2.30 and have fun doing it.
All the best :]
Hi Scott. Enjoyed that honest assessment... Almost as much as the Townsville Bulletin one - obviously written by one of Tony Abbott's spin doctors ;)
ReplyDeleteKeep going for the 2:30.
Yes, those shoes look way too thin in the sole. As a priority, find some racing flats that have 'enough' cushioning for marathons. There was a good review in the latest R4YL magazine. Maybe even the Spira shoes Rick used in London?
On the training side of things, there's point of diminishing returns with high mileage (and danger of injury, staleness). Not sure what yours is, but maybe it's less than 200k a week. Maybe it's 140, or 150, or 160?
Also, take a look at the Marius plan. I bought it - was going to use it when I had plans to run another marathon. There's some good stuff in there, even if you don't follow it to the letter. Basically you develop your shorter distance speed and carry that with you as you build up the mileage.
The other thing would be to find a cool weather, bigger field, higher quality marathon. You've got the silver, now go for the 68th place in 2:33 or whatever.
Hi Scott,
ReplyDeleteAs we'd say in Cork -
Nice one.
Richard
I used to have shorts like that but my wife won't let me wear them anymore! Are you sure a cooler day would not have made a huge difference, not to mention a few more runners to pace off? Great race!
ReplyDeleteScott, yes Marius did give advice to someone wanting to use the 100 day plan for 2.30!
ReplyDeletethis was his advice:
2:30 Marathon Schedule
by Reto, Answer by Marius
Is it possible to use the 100 day marathon plans as a 2:30 marathon schedule or even faster ?
"Hi Marius I run the 10k in 31 Minutes. Is it possible to use the 2:45 Training Shedule for a 2:30 or 2:25 Marathon without more training but only faster speed? Or do I need more Training sessions? Gruss Reto"
Answer: Reto, you can certainly do this. It would work all the way down to faster times. But you do need to add some more runs in there in order to make it work 100 %.
What I suggest is to take the 2:45 schedule and add on average 2 runs weekly. These should only be easy runs of 45 minutes. The ideal is to use a periodization where you alternate this into "A" and "B" weeks. So that in the 2:45 schedule, in the Week 1 you add in these 3 easy runs of 45 minutes, but in Week 2 you only add in 1 easy run (and Week 3, 3 easy runs etc.) This adds up to 2 extra runs weekly on average.
What this does is to add natural variation to the total workload which is more and more important the faster marathon you train for. If this is hard, in practical terms with the A + B weeks, just adding two easy runs weekly every week + run the sessions slightly faster (or by heart rate - ideal) then you'll be set for your 2:30 quest and probably faster, based on your 10k time.
Kind regards,
Marius
Scott if you buy the plan you can ask questions on his wesite and he always answers them, you can train by pace or heart rate and it would be easy to adjust to your chosen level.
Hope this helps.
P,S, I recommend the Spira Competion shoes if you want light weight, flexible shoes that absorb shock very well, at 220g size 8,
ReplyDeletethey have small springs inside the shoe that are designed to absorb road shock.
Warning don't wear them at Boston as they are banned there!
Price is £ 79 pounds, or for the ultra light racer 195g £ 85
Well done Scott...
ReplyDeleteBUT...46 is young!!!!
Congratulations Scott. To think I knew you when you were just an ordinary Sunday runner instead of the elite performing multi-media star that you have become. It makes me fee l giddy. But seriously, you are my inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHi Scott,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations mate.
Who would have thought that Oswald would turn up to Townsville hey?
Reading your post reminded me that I've been thinking twice about racing flats in marathons. My pb was run in DS trainers at last years' Gold Coast, where I finished very strong.
I ran 18 seconds slower in Fukuoka and 50 seconds slower this year at the Gold Coast in my lighter DS racers. Obviously it's very hard to pinpoint one factor, but one thing's for sure - my quads felt much more smashed in those two races where I worse the DS racers than probably any other mara I've done.
Anyway mate, good to see your times improving. After spending so long chasing a sub 3 it's good to see that's disappeared in your wake now as you chase bigger and better things.
Yours in the long run,
Dave