2013; Eat my dust Meno!

Oh God...I'm mildly embarrassed about what is about to come... :cool:

For anyone with a life and or family commitments and or a job and or a training session planned for today, please skip to the vital statistics at the end which tell the important details without numbing the mind!!


A long time ago, in a log far away, a wise man once said to me...

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Ha! The thought of you running a marathon!

...and I thought ‘Well, you krusty old clown, I’ll show you!’ And so began my career in distance training.*

Training
8 months later, I completed the Connemara Marathon in 4:28.xx and had the most wonderful introduction to marathon running. 6 months after that I ran DCM in 3:53.xx and loved every minute of it. I knew I had caught the bug. Caught off-guard on the post-marathon high, I ended up signing up for the Donadea 50k which I ran 5 months later, followed swiftly by the Connemara Ultra last April. After Connemara, Berlin was the big goal. Having finished so strong in DCM the previous year and knowing that I had a lot of love and a teeny bit of luck with the longer distances, I decided I wanted to break 3:30. So with no relative basis and no evidence to back up my ability to do so, I was going to be looking for a 24 minute PB – an arbitrary goal based on a popular round number.

I hadn’t really thought about what training plan I was going to follow so when God some guy who thinks he’s God , offered to give myself and Digs a wee bit of guidance , we were delighted to accept.

And so began the summer of sadistic training. It started with a 5k/10k program and then into a 14 week marathon training schedule. Some of the sessions scared the bejaysus out of me so I took to not looking at the plan for a given week until after a glass of red wine every Sunday evening. There were some really tough runs, some really good runs, long and short, fast and slow. All together though, training went swimmingly – the good runs were confidence boosting but the bad runs even more so. We dug in and did what we were told advised. (I still think, however, that I could do with sharing with God my definition of ‘easy’ as I’m not sure what dictionary he uses in that regard!)

So – a great 14 weeks of training – with X miles (TBC) – and with X MP miles (TBC) – saw us to the start line of the 39th Berlin Marathon.

Goal Time
As I said, the original plan was sub-3:30. Why? It wasn’t reflective of anything I had achieved or trained for – it was just a pretty round number that everyone seems to want to aim for. So why not!

As training was going well, there was a regular revision of training paces and goal paces. I refused to let myself get too caught up in this though, as only time would tell. There was a discussion pretty early on that 3:20 was within my grasp so we adjusted training pace down a little and kept on plodding.

After the Longford Half, there were quite a few discussions about realistic goals; as well as ultimate ‘good-day’ and ultimate ‘bad-day’ results. It was at this point that I admitted to myself that I knew I could run 3:15 (in Berlin) and would be gutted if I didn’t. Another week or so passed and we decided that 3:12 was achievable so we settled on a goal pace of 7:20. I then ran a 10 mile PMP session and averaged about 7:05.

After this, the final goal time was agreed upon and remained at 3:10 (absolute dream). At no stage, despite my ‘winding-up’ of a certain person was I going to attempt anything below 3:05. As discussed, this would have meant going for it from the very start. I hadn’t trained for that and it could have completely blown up in my face and left me with a 3:25 or slower. So the pace bands were printed and the 5k splits were set evenly at 22:31.

Saturday 29th September...nearly there!
We arrived in Berlin good and early on Saturday morning and went straight to the expo to collect numbers and have a feed of pasta. Then we headed off to our apartment. I have to say it was a great idea as we had a little kitchen, so we did some shopping and didn’t have to worry about heading out for dinner or getting breakfast the following morning. After a power nap which was more like a mini-hibernation, we headed out for a very very easy 20 minute jog. I had been worried about my legs not reacting well to the flight so this was an effort to get the blood flowing and everything felt good. Our timing was great as we managed to get down to the marathon course and pretty much see the entire field of inline skaters racing around the 36k mark. We got a couple of pizzas, plenty of water and some other snacks and just chilled in the apartment with our books for the evening. Then we ate, laced timing chips onto runners, attached race numbers to singlets, filled gel belts and hit the hay at about 10pm.

Sunday 30th September...finally!
The alarm went off at 6am. Two slices of toast with Kerrygold and homemade jam and a cup of Lyons tea (definitely not Barrys – excuse my awful faux pas in my earlier post!) – I felt like I was at home and about to head to the Phoenix Park for a run!

As we were heading towards the start line, I got quite emotional. And I panicked. If I was already this emotional when I was excited and raring to go, what the hell might happen if I hit a low spot. You’ve all (well, many of you) have seen me break down in snot bubbles mid-run so I wasn’t ruling out the possibility of this happening mid-race. I was so worried that I considered just having a good cry to get it out of my system. Luckily though, it passed. Not before I realised how much I had vested in this race. It was a huge deal to me and I would have sold a limb (not a leg!) for a guarantee that it would go according to plan. We had a bit of a warm up in the corral before I dumped our extra layers, bid adieu to Digs and moved a little further forward. We were in corral E (3:15-3:30) so I wanted to be sure I got a good run out. The atmosphere before the start was incredible. There were people from all over the world all around me and everyone was in great spirits enjoying the music and the crowds. A couple of guys noticed my pace bands and asked me how I was feeling and whether I was going to hit my target so I just smiled through my watery eyes and responded with an “I hope so!” I really hoped so! With that the countdowns started for the various races and within minutes we were off. As advised, we had lined up on the left hand side of the road which was far less congested. I was over the line in just over a minute and it was game on!

To be quite honest, the next 3+ hours are quite a blur.

I’d been warned (i) not to weave, (ii) to get myself on that blue racing line and stick to it and (iii) that it didn’t matter if I was a minute or two down at the first 5k marker. So with all this in mind, I set off as focused as hell and not knowing what the next 26.2 miles might have in store for me.

I passed through the first mile just under 7:20 so although I was down on time, it wasn’t as bad as I had allowed for so I relaxed into it. I gradually got the pace down to about 7:08 and was bang on target going through the first 5k (22:13). The crowds were still pretty congested at this point and I was passing a lot of people. I was concentrating on the 3:15 pacers which had started in the wave ahead of me and I just wanted to get by them and their enormous entourage. I took a gel at the 6 mile mark and a couple of sips of water. I managed to get by the 3:15s around the 10k mark which I passed in 44:10 (for a second split of 21:57). I hadn’t noticed speeding up on this one so when I went through with about 60 seconds in the bank I knew everything was looking well once I kept it steady. The crowds had thinned a little at this stage and it was very comfortable. I had pretty clear view of the blue line and it was handy enough to run it. I tried to fall into step with a few people but I couldn’t seem to find anyone running my exact pace and I was conscious of not falling into step with somebody and unwittingly losing precious seconds. I’m usually a big Garmin/time checker but I wasn’t at all this time around. I glanced at the average pace the odd time if I felt I was slowing or if somebody passed me but I was keeping it really steady – I think it stayed at 7:04 for pretty much the entire race. The only time I actually checked the time was at the 5k splits. I knew God and a couple of friends and family were keeping an eye so I didn’t want to give anyone a heart attack by being too much ahead of or behind planned pace.

I had managed to pick up a Dutch guy who was running the blue line to within an inch of his life at my pace so I stuck to him like a bold child on a lead. I passed the 15k mark at 1:06.28 (for a third split of 22:18) so I was back on track with my previous 60 seconds in the bank. I couldn’t believe how strong I felt and I had a little moment where I thought about who or what I would kill first if this race didn’t go according to plan. I had a blast of spoilt-child syndrome during which I was thinking that I bloody well deserved to run the race I had trained for and it was going to be feet-stomping, door-slamming, OMG sooo unfair if I didn’t get what I wanted out of it. I quickly copped on and realised that wasting energy thinking about/like that was useless and I cut it out.

Passing the 20k mark at 1:28.57 (for a fourth split of 22:29) I couldn’t believe how quickly and seamlessly the MILES were passing! I went over the halfway mark in 1:33:53 (18 seconds slower than my HM time in Kildare in May) and I was feeling absolutely savage. I had a big smile on my face and could not believe how strong I felt. At this point, my Dutch guy, who’d gone from showing me the way on a lead, to being my silent paced companion, completely fell off the pace. It was like he got to half way and just blew up (?) / gave up (?) Within a matter of seconds, he was nowhere to be seen. It was an awful shame. I felt like I was leaving a friend behind;he hadn’t appeared to be struggling but I just had to keep on trucking. Things started to change pretty dramatically in the crowd from this point. A few people went flying by – obviously having gotten to half way feeling strong and deciding to go for it – each and every one of whom I passed again within the next 5-10k. And the rest of the crowd just seemed to start losing it.

I was keeping it really steady and just passing people one after the other. I went through the 25k and 30k marks at 1:51.21 and 2:13.25 respectively (for fifth and sixth splits of 22:24 and 22:04). I was aware of my ability and history with regards to negative splitting and thought that I would run a negative split here. I was however, unsure as to when I should or could push on for this. Seeing as I was on target for my 3:10 with about 90 safety seconds banked, I decided to remain sensible – my pacing had been spot on to this point, my goal was in sight and one bad move could ruin it all.

With 12k to go, it was too early to push. So I made the prudent decision to hold it. I was still passing so many people and I went through the 35k mark at 2:35.28 (for a seventh split of 22:04). It was a little fast but the crowds and the atmosphere were really picking up. The end was in sight. I had been thinking from the 32k mark that I’d go for it at 35k. At that stage, my body had taken that decision out of my hands. I was staring to tire – the legs were getting sore and the kilometres were getting longer. I started to look at my watch a bit more and was surprised to see that the pace wasn’t actually falling. I knew that the negative split wasn’t going to happen but I also knew that I didn’t need it. We were talking about running a negative split when we were talking about being a minute or two down at 5k, which hadn’t happened.

Instead of thinking about time now, I started concentrating on taking the women down one-by-one – and so I did. I’d pass one and pick out the next. I think I made a good 15-20 places in the female field in the last 7k. I managed to hold onto the pace somehow, which was great for the confidence. I think the 39th kilometre was the longest I’ve ever run! Eventually went through 40k in 2:57.59 (for an eight split of 22:31). This was my slowest 5k but it was bang on (to the second!) of the pace I had planned from the outset.

By now, the dreaded stitches in the abs had started. I think I may have had a bit more to give in the legs but the core was having none of it. I got a shout-out from a couple of Irish guys who recognised the Sportsworld singlet which gave me a bit of umph. Turning the final corner and seeing the Brandenburg Gate was awesome. I had been warned that the finish line was another bit beyond the Gate so I knew not to sprint off like a bat out of hell just yet – haha, I say that like I could have “sprinted off”... Running up the finishing straight was like nothing I’ve ever experienced – the noise, the crowds, the adrenaline – amazing! I could see the clock was at 3:09.xx and I knew if I put the head down, I could go under it before it hit 3:10 which would have meant the job was well and truly done!

As promised I compromised my sprint finish for a replica of Coach’s windmill... the hilarity of which I did not appreciate until I saw my finisher’s video... bleedin morto wha?! Another thing which has proved to be beyond hilarious is the fact that I didn’t stop running for quite some time...everyone around me crossed the finish line and keeled over... I, on the other hand, weave my way through people for about 5 metres until I run right out of the shot again whooping and waving my arms like a maniac... Now I definitely stopped at some stage but I have no recollection of those seconds... All in the name of an entertaining finish eh?!

So that’s my story – all for a chip time of 3:08.07 :D – a time with which I am delighted and a time which, had it been suggested to me 6 months ago, I would have laughed in the face of. A PB of about 45 minutes since DCM last year which, to be quite honest, is just ridiculous!!


I of course have to say a big thank you to TRR, without whom, I can honestly say there is no way I’d be sitting here today with a marathon PB anywhere near that – I refer to my earlier comment of our varying definitions of ‘easy’! Not only was there a lot of time and effort wasted on myself and Digdig’s training, the poor thing had to listen to a whole load of non-marathon-related tripe. You enjoyed it really though didn’t you?!

I also have to give a big ole important mention to the one and only pain in my eye that is Digs! In fairness, we got each other through a tough summer of training, racing, aches, tiredness, etc – but he never let my glass of red wine, or the tin where the chocolate lives, go empty...without which I really wouldn’t have had the energy to train like I did..


*(Nothing like an out-of-context quote to get people interested eh?!);)

Results
Chip time:3:08.07
Gun time:3:09.52
Rank: 2183
Female Rank: 84
Category Rank: 17
[/B]
What an absolutely brilliant day and race - the crowds, atmosphere, support etc was all phenomenal. I LOVED IT!

The only thing I'd change about the entire day was the fact that Meno didn't run. I can't really claim the chicking this time around. Although I think I deserve to cash in on Brian's odds in some respect seeing as I (in the nicest possible way) have totally kicked his marathon PB a5s..!!


Random...(for me own records I suppose!)
(I stopped at every second water station at most and had 3 gels and a couple of mouthfuls of powerade throughout - it was all pre-emptive thank God - the only time I was actually dying for a drink was at the finish line)

TRR wrote: »

CL, put up the finishing link Feckin' deadly

Well seeing as I put my body through the hardship...

http://mysports.tv/default2.asp?r=F2068&e=BM12M&n=Orna++Dilworth&nt_s1=00:00:00&ct_s1=09:01:44&nt_f=03:08:07&ct_f=12:09:51&nt_s2=00:22:13&ct_s2=09:23:57&nt_s3=00:44:10&ct_s3=09:45:54&nt_s4=01:06:28&ct_s4=10:08:12&nt_s5=01:28:57&ct_s5=10:30:41&nt_s6=01:33:53&ct_s6=10:35:37&nt_s7=01:51:21&ct_s7=10:53:05&nt_s8=02:13:25&ct_s8=11:15:09&nt_s9=02:35:28&ct_s9=11:37:12&nt_s10=02:57:59&ct_s10=11:59:43&nt_s11=03:06:36&ct_s11=12:08:20&k=25kclose&ks=100752183&l=EN