[ger664]

Training
Athens is not flat or cool, but it is run over the original course taken by the first marathoner Pheidippides, so all my training was done on hills with long runs while on holidays on the Algarve. Training went extremely well and I found a new found love for hills.
As I sat on the tarmac in Shannon on Friday Morning I was extremely happy with how I had prepared for this Race. Tomorrow was to prove otherwise.

Expo
Got to Athens late on Friday evening after a long day travelling, herself indoors is eager to go and see the sites the next day as she is really into all this Greek stuff. I am not keen on a long day on my feet so I agree to some sightseeing the following day after I pick up my Bib from the expo which is 5 Minutes walk from Hotel.
Early rise on Saturday after breakfast check for race acknowledgement and to my horror its is not in my bag and neither is my watch so much for preparation. No panic, find an Internet Cafe and printout a new one and should be able to pickup a watch at the Expo. Go to hotel reception and get directions to nearest internet cafe, hop on Metro (all runners received a free travel pass for all public transport for the weekend on arrival at the airport) get out at wrong exit and spend next hour trying to find said internet cafe.
Herself rings me to know how long I would be so I start to explain my predicament, to which she replies there is a Computer and Printer in the hotel lobby, and access is free to all hotel residents. Okay so Homer hops back on to the metro back to the hotel and gets said printouts.
Expo was heaving when I got there pickup my bib and chip but had to fight through crowds to get the Addias shirt. Good ploy to get all the runners go through the expo, but the narrow halls made it quite an uncomfortable experience.
Along the way could not find any stands selling watches, pickup shirt (worth the trouble to get it) and left the expo to return to the hotel. Still had not picked up a watch but herself had itchy feet so I would just have to pace myself without one tomorrow.
Back to hotel and hit off with herself to see the Acropolis’s Museum. On the way find a street trader selling watches, so after a bit of haggling I purchase an Analogue watch for €5. On to the Museum for mandatory sight seeing before making my escape back to the Hotel for some relaxation and a lie-down.
That evening a quick 5 Minute walk to Italian for some Pasta. Portions sizes had been small so far in most restaurants so I ordered 2, when quizzed by waiter as to why I explained and he duly obliged with a large plate of pasta, turned out he was running it as well.
Back to hotel get everything ready for the morning set alarm for 4:45, Hotel staff are laying on Breakfast for us at 5:00 as last Bus leaves for the Marathon start at 6:30am.

Race Day
Alarm goes off at 4:45 and I surprisingly have got a good nights sleep. Get dressed and catch elevator to Roof Top restaurant (which has a spectacular view of the City) to read the following, Dear Guest Please be advised that clocks will go back by One hour at 4:00 AM to 3:00 AM on the 31st of October 2010. So Homer goes back to the room to catch another hour’s kip.
Second time of asking up at 4:45 AM new time dressed up for breakfast. Start strong cup of coffee to move bowels, I suffer from colitis and if I do not move before the race start I will have a guaranteed pit stop during the race. Have my usual big breakfast and set off for Bus to start at 05:30. The majority of the guests are running the marathon so the hotel is buzzing.
Hats off to the Greeks for organisation, they bussed 12000 runners to the start (45 Min drive) in one hour with the minimum of fuss.

At the start found a very quiet area at the back of the warm up track with changing rooms and seats. Sit down for the next Hour or so and chill out. Just before getting changed bowel duly obliged, was quite amazed that queue for Porto loos was only 3 or 4 deep. Got changed and head back to bag drop off point, on leaving the area notice a sign for Elite & CISM runner’s only. Absolute mayhem at bag drop off point and the usual deep queues at Porto loos for the mere mortals.
About 15 minutes before the gun, get into the correct corral for start. There is a good buzz around the place now and DJ is thumping out the music. Few speeches from organisers and the first wave Elites and CISMs get the gun at 9:00 to balloons and Ticker tape, 5 minutes later were off and I make a mental note of the time on my new €5 Garmin as I cross the mat.
Its a very pleasant sunny morning and the first few K's are not so slow. This is my first Wave start and I think Dublin really need to start doing it.
The Greek population took to this event and really embraced it. The support along the way was massive with waving of flags and shouts of bravo. I passed one Greek runner at 5K dressed in costume with no footwear,it takes barefoot running to a new level. Below is a picture of him at the 30 K mark.
After 2K I notice the thin blue line, this is obviously the shortest route to take along the course so I proceed to stay as close as possible to it. My plan for this race is a sub 4, get to halfway in 1:58 to 1:59 climb to the 30K 2:55 to 2:56 and then do the last 12K in an hour (downhill section).
A group of 20 pass me at 15K with one sporting a big Blue Balloon, I assume they are the 4 hour pacers so I try to tag along, after about a K I let them go as the pace is faster the 5:30/K. I get to half way on 1:54 this is faster then I wanted so I decide to take the next 2K @ 6 minute pace.
After passing 22K I look and my new Garmin and it has stopped, well u get what you pay for. From this point on I will just have to go on feel. Now we are half way through the climb and its has got noticeable hotter and several runners have stopped or are walking.
We receive sponges every 5K so I stuck one in my pocket, also I can run and carry a bottle of water in my left hand. This really saved me as I was able to use this and the sponge to keep the ill effects of the heat away. We get to the last 400M of the climb which is very steep and there is an overpass on the road which is full off supporters. I get to the top without having stopped or walked once since the start of the climb, my hill training really paid off. Once over I put the shoe down all the way to the finish.
I felt like **** around the 38K and I put in a recovery pace K and then I spot the Big Blue Balloon up ahead, so I dig in and catch up with them. There is only 2 guys at this point and I ask them are they the 4 hour pacers, one replies in an American accent no they are not. I enquiry as to why he is wearing the balloon to which he states to attract some women, clearly it was not working. As I pass the 40K I am felling much better and I make a final push for the finish.

The finish
The finish of a marathon is a special experience but the finish in Athens in the original Olympic stadium is up there with the birth of my children. Coming down the last K the route passes a tree lined avenue to the east of the National Gardens. The crowds are quite big here and the support is fantastic, its downhill easy to run but my quads are in bits but I keep pushing, on entry to the stadium I see a clock for the first time since halfway it is 3:56 which makes me 3:50, next you see the stadium its self and the rush of adrenaline in my veins pushed me flat out to the finish of 3:51:25 and a PB.

Post Race
Collect my Medal. Now this medal is the best Medal I have every got. Its twice as thick as your standard medal and its in the shape of the stadium itself. Hand back my timing chip, only quibble I have with this event is that no cable ties supplied so you have use your laces, so at the finish bending over and untie your shoes to get the chip off is painful.
Go for the massage and shower, meet herself get some photos, and off to an Irish Pub for a Steak and some pints of the black stuff to celebrate.

I really enjoyed the challenge that this race presented to me. You will get out of a race what you put in and the bigger the challenge the better the reward.

I would advise anyone to skip Dublin and run this at least once.

[misty floyd]

Forgot to add these race reports. Taken from my previous two training logs: (Everything in its right pace and 12 weeks of DCM training (A sub 3 attempt)).

What got me here
I suppose this all started at around mile 19 of DCM 09. I worked my ass off for that race and that sinking body shut down feeling was something I never wanted to feel again. Investing so much into one race for it to fall apart like that was hard for me. I had to fix it.

Training
Hiding at my desk in work the week after DCM, I came across this thread (Improving for next time) and some posts by Tergat. It was time to make things simple and address the endurance problems I had in my two marathons (Belfast 09 3:40:?? and DCM 09 3:25:??). No more weekly racing guys in the club during tempo sessions. I completed two marathon specific runs per week and lots of easy miles in between. I’ve attached my training plan again. I really enjoyed training this time around, no injuries and lots more energy. I also dropped a few more pounds which was a bonus. I ran a 10m race 4 weeks before the marathon in Craughwell (great race) and finished strong with 62min 12s. This, and confidence in my training, confirmed for me what several people had suggested....go for sub3.

Race Plan
I made up my mind to go for a negative split. I always perform better when I do that and I thought it a safer approach plus I felt confident about that. Starting off with ~ 7:00 m/m for the first couple, reach half way at around 1:31:00 and take it home at 18m. I was confident of this, why not.

Race Day
I woke up and felt no butterflies, no worries. It was like any morning getting up for work. I just got it done. I went for breakfast and scoffed strange tasting muesli and 3 slices of bread. I said goodbye to my girlfriend and got into the D pen pretty early. It was windy, which I wasn’t worried about but it did make things colder having to wait around. It was nearly time and we were treated to “You’ll never walk alone”. “Boom”, the canons went off and it was time to go....finally.

The Race
I punched the watch at the mat and started the weaving. Despite being at the top of the D pen, there were lots of slower runners. I missed the first km so I didn’t get to check my pace band but my watch did beep at the first mile: 7:18. That’s ok; I expected that, so I continued at a similar effort. Still avoiding people, I missed the 2km mark.

You know when you are driving your car over the speed limit (e.g. the roads on the way to Heuston?) and out of nowhere, a transit van is parked on the side of the road or a garda with a speed gun? ..............“Beep”, mile 2: 6:07 Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! I hit the brakes. Ok man you’re an idiot but you’re in control here. I didn’t panic, it’s a long race. I thought about it for a bit and thought that the plan of ~6:50 – 6:55m/m would be important now. I couldn’t take the chance of eating into those vital glycogen reserves especially now that I had made a withdrawal so early.

I followed that up with a 6:59. Miles 3-18 were like an LSR for me. Not in terms of effort but the way they past uneventful like, lost in my thoughts, thinking about how I felt and what my pace was like. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. I did start talking to a guy that I had spotted at our hotel. “Are you Irish?” I asked. A Kilkenny man, going for the 3. He asked me if I was on for it and I said “about a minute behind....that’s alright”. I was surprised with myself that I talked to anybody but I also noticed how easy it was to talk. How easy 6:50m/m was compared to the PMP miles in training. For these 15 or so miles it was just a case of getting the job done. The wind at points was tough and trying to shelter, I found myself running a little slower than I wanted. So I took wind quite a bit. Again, no panic, this is part of the race. I got a shout at around miles 12&13 from my GF and a mate from the club. I smiled and thanked them, that was great. I was enjoying it.

Splits mile 4 - 18:
6:54/6:52/6:47/6:52/6:50/6:57/6:51/6:40/6:53/6:52/6:58/6:51/6:39/6:48

During lots of these miles, any km marker I saw, I would check my stopwatch and check my pace band. The font was too small and it was pissing me off. It was a total distraction. When I did read things correctly, I seemed to be 60 – 70 seconds behind sub 3 up to mile 18. My half marathon time was 1:31:04, just 4 seconds outside where I wanted to be.

Like most of my LSR’s that ended with PMP miles, I went into mile 18 not knowing how it would feel. It felt ok.

18: 6:41 / 19: 6:39 / 20: 6:39 / 21: 6:44

So 20 came and went and I didn’t feel it, not that I feared it. I started to see people walking and I was overtaking lots and lots of people. I felt great doing this. Mile 22: 6:34 and it was starting to hurt. Not a shutdown, more of an all body ache. I saw two people puking sub 3 on the side of the road and tons of dutch people shouting encouragement. I didn’t need any. In the past I needed it but I was in the zone....kind of loving it in a weird way.
I got so fed up looking at the watch and trying to work out what I was behind sub 3 that I just dropped that plan and decided to run to the end as fast as I could...what more could I do. This was the case from mile 18 really.

Mile 23: 6:47 and mile 24: 6:46.

I knew I was close but serious work to do and I remembered what Tunguska told me to read 2 minutes before I left the house the day before the race. He told me to read a piece from Jack Daniels book. If you are struggling, increase the pace. I wanted to see how that felt. I put the foot down. Within 300m I came across a sponge stop, grabbed one and some water went down my nose. Increasing the pace like that felt horrible and I think the water gave me an excuse to drop that faster than fast pace. I just couldn’t do it, my body was screaming at me.

My left quad started to tighten and I feared it could pull me to the side of the road if I wasn’t careful. I could only manage Mile 25 at: 6:51. That tightness kind of went by kicking my ass with my heel (if you get me). Mile 26: 6:40 and with teeth grinding and arms pumping the last half mile (26.5 on garmin) was at a pace of 6:06 m/m.

I think I knew at mile 24 that the sub 3 was gone but it wasn’t really until 200m to go that I looked at the watch and knew it wasn’t there. “Go Andy”, I heard my GF say. I crossed the line completely overjoyed. I ran a damn solid race.

3:00:30

Afterthoughts:
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a bit of regret about the 31 seconds. The second mile? The wind? Should I have worked harder on earlier miles to go slightly under 6:50m/m? Should I have taken the 4/5 people advice on this log to run even splits? It’s funny when you get a time like that. Everyone’s reaction is like the reaction people have when watching you’ve been framed type clips of people falling. I feel like I have to say, “Relax, it’s ok I’m delighted”. That’s my time and nobody can take it from me. Nite nite DCM.

Sorry for the ramblings. Its good getting this out of the head and I’d recommend posting a race report regardless of a good or bad experience. Thanks to everyone for posting on A/R/T especially in the logs. They are a huge benefit to read through, and figure out what might work for you. The good wishes and advice are also priceless. It was also great to put some faces to names in the Irish bar that night and great to hear of so many great performances.

Almost Everything in its right PACE

[misty floyd]

DCM 2010

12 weeks leading to race.
I wasn't happy with things on the lead up to the race. 7 weeks ago, throwing my toys out of the pram, I had serious intentions of packing it in to try to enjoy my running again and relieve the headache that is 'sub 3'. So I was bullied into doing it by fellow boardsies on this log Then onto the Dublin half marathon and things were starting to click...I got an ok time of 1:24:45. I did struggle home for the last couple of miles but for the most of that race I felt stronger than I had in training since the Spring. Sub 3 was back on the agenda.

........and then it was off the agenda when on the final week of taper I got a flu/cold and a stomach bug. To avoid stress, I accepted 3:05 would still be worth going for and I'd be happy with that. For reasurance I asked Tunguska at the expo if I'd blow up trying to stick to the sub 3 pacers. He comfirmed what I thought and said no. Sub 3 back on the agenda. I got a pace band from Krusty and got good advice about pacing. Being sick that week meant I wasn't worried or stressed as I had nothing to loose. I was ready for the bad news of not making it. The bummer of that last week was not getting the confidence you get from those final few runs when you really have to work to slow down. Still, I had decent training in the bag and I trusted it.

The race
The plan was simple: stick to the sub 3 pacer unless the wheels came off. I was positioned about 5meters from one (Jason) when the race started but by the time he crossed the line and I did, he was already running away from me. Down to O'Connell street, he was maybe 100m ahead. My first mile was 6:57 and I was happy to do my own thing and run my own race. I was glad I had that pace band as I would use it a lot over the next while.

The miles ticked off and I checked my time against the split time on the pace band. The ~6:50 pace felt alright. My legs felt fine and my sinuses were feeling good...finally.
I did this stupid thing a lot throughout training and even in the race yesterday, I kept comparing how I felt during training and during Rotterdam and feeling a little pissed that things were way easier back in April. Today, I'd carry on regardless and what will be will be. Job to do.

Every so often I'd look up and see the pacer baloon about 40-80m ahead. It was nice to see he wasn't pulling away from me. I was doing my own thing but its a great reasurance. Then his baloon burst when it hit trees in the park. Sh1t!! Up popped a '3.00' sign, lovely.

The amount of support I had was fantastic, not to mention the crowds out there.....unreal. Met a mate to give me gels, my gf, some of her family, my family and some of my friends all out to cheer me on. It was great. Going by the club and got another lift from everyone. I met Kaymin in the Park and it was good to see him.

The crumlin road was a bit of a drag for me. It was starting to hurt at this point. I was checking all of the split times against my watch and I knew I was going to be under for the first half. I didn't see any of the auto lap mile splits, but I used the average pace window. I was around 6:46 or 6:47 and I knew it would have to be this to allow for the longer distance the garmin records. Crossing the half way point and I was under by about 20-30 seconds.....I can't remember exactly. EDIT: turns out I was 1:30:03. At 14miles I hit a low point. I started thinking about how sore I felt and how far I had to go, how better I felt in Rotterdam. My body wanted to ease off the pace and it was only at 14m! I snapped out of it and started saying to myself 'relax, relax'. I also did that thing of rubbing my index fingers with my thumbs, supposed to help with tension in the shoulders ? but it was a distraction and I tried to think positive thoughts. Next thing I know and I'm flying along, feeling good again .

There was a big group formed up ahead around Jason and every time they got near crowds (supporting), he would raise the 3'00 sign and the crowd would go mental. I wanted a bit of that so I decided to slowly try to catch up. I finally caught up at around 18m and I would stick to that guy like glue. As soon as I caught him, I really felt like I could do it. I ignored the pace band and watch and switched off. I might have switched off too much as I stepped on a bottle that was still full and nearly done in my ankle. It was sore for a minute but I got lucky. Being in this group was just excellent. To be able to switch off is such an advantage and the crowds cheering was brilliant.

20-22 mile, tired but still going well, a nice rhythem, fueling was going well, no niggles and best of all no negative thoughts. By mile 23 and I was dying for the miles to chip away. At this point i felt a bit ill but my legs were not letting me down and seemed to be doing what I wanted them to do. Nice feeling that. Jason said to us a few times that we were at '2:59 low' pace so I started thinking about how much I could fade and still get away with sub 3......best to stop thinking and stick to him. Man, it was tough. I mean seriously, it was like my legs were working but I wasn't in control of them. It was weird, like a motor turning over, I was just moving forward, still at the same pace but kind of out of it. At mile 25, I thanked the pacer for doing the pacing job. He assured me I'd get it and said its supposed to hurt. Anyway, we were about to get to the front of trinity and he kind of took the foot off to gather people "are we still on?" ..."yep your well on mate, your gonna do it" he said. I turned the corner by Trinity and my family/friends spotted me. I let out such a load roar at them with closed fist "YEEEEAAAAHHHHH". I don't know what came over me, I just knew I had it and I was so happy. Coming down to the finish and I saw the clock with 2:58?? on it, I didn't give a **** about sprint finishes or anything and just shouted my head off for the last 50m, waving my arms and trying to get the crowd going. Not that they needed it. Amazing feeling, I don't give a sh!t I shed one or two tears right after finishing. I did it.

2:58:59

[MREGAN]

Causeway Coast Adventure racing Round 2 Bangor Co. Down

http://acunamatadaar.blogspot.com/

[Condo131]

This report appears on-line here.

Last Sunday was my 27th consecutive Ballycotton. It’s one of the key races that I look forward to each year. Nevertheless, I’ve NEVER been happy with my runs there. It’s probably primarily because it comes at a time of year that I’ve rarely prioritised as a key period, and I reap the rewards of that strategy – you can’t have your cake and eat it.

Training for the last few weeks was supplemented by a lot (in my terms) of bike work, measuring several race courses. Each of three separate days took between 6 and 11 hours on the bike. Not great prep for Ballycotton, but there’s only so much time to do these weather dependent things. Other than that, I felt in reasonably good form, with sub-70 as the declared target. In Dublin last October, I’d gone through 10 in 72:31, so 70 should have been well within my capability, but I wasn’t confident.

The article title? The first bit is obvious, the second will become so as you read this – I was accompanied by my daughter, Aoife, who runs with Crusaders AC, in Dublin. The final piece relates to an unwise (in hindsight) wager I made, a few months back, with Trevor O’Neill (St. Finbarr’s) - the loser was to buy the cream buns.

Ballycotton day came and it was off to 9:30 mass and a handy parking spot, relatively close to the start/finish. After that it was a case of swanning around the place, savouring the atmosphere. I reckon there are few places like Ballycotton on race day, with a real buzz about the place...everyone pumped up and raring to go!

The couple of hours weren’t long going; there was the mandatory visit to Race HQ, the local primary school, to renew old and no-so-old acquaintances, and see what Ballycotton gear was on offer, (Are you like me? A lot of my ‘best clothes’ consist of Ballycotton 10 jackets, hoodies and jumpers. God only knows what the neighbours think of all this! I’m happy in my gear, though). “Hmmm...that’s a lovely jacket Johnny Walshe has....can I have one of those?” “Those ones are special! You have to have run thirty Ballycottons before you can have one of those!”, she says, probably thinking “That’ll sort him out”. I reply “Good, I’ll have one in three years.” Her jaw drops, and then a smile. I think Johnny’s special jacket is unique, so I won’t hold my breath.

After that, it was off to the annual Eagle AC group photos on the church steps at 12. This is always a good-natured moan, with late-comers being barracked and heckled as they make their last minute dashes, looking red-faced for the photos. Then it was back to the car, change the gear and try to do some of the usual warm-up ritual, even though we were over an hour away from start time.

We managed to cajole our way through the barriers to get near the start. On the way through I was collared by Michael Joyce who mans the PA for the day. A quick interview about my 27 consecutive Ballycottons ensued – please God I’ll line-up again next year. “Any chance of a plug for C-Team?” I ask, so we’re off again into a commercial for this year’s C-Team squad in the Cork City Marathon Relay. [If you are a Cancer survivor, or know someone else who is, we’d love to have you run with us on June 6th – just make send me a PM.]

It was cold enough, but I’d brought a bin liner to keep me warm and was I glad. 1.30 came and starter Dan McCarthy gave us the usual notice – none! Down the road without any problems – no trips or clips. Next thing Aoife flies by. “Hiya!” and she’s gone. No way I can match that pace. “Hopefully I’ll catch her in the later stages!” Coming up to the mile, Joe Roche comes by. “What are you aiming for?” “70” I reply and he does a bit of a wide arc, indicating that I should come alongside. He’s already 3 metres ahead and going faster, so I tell him to “Go ahead, I’m happy with this pace.” I’m not really, I’m tight as guitar string all over and 10/15 secs per mile off my pace. I think it’s a case of do your best. First mile is 7:16.

Meantime there’s no sign of Trevor. Hopefully he’s behind. Two miles (14:21) and I’m passing a few, but more are passing me. Normally I wouldn’t be bothered, as my strategy is to hold off a bit until 5M and push on when I hit the long straight at about 5.5M or so. This time, I’ve been working from the start – Can I hold on? Three miles (21:29) goes by. I hate the 4th mile – windy narrow road and poor surface. 4 miles (28:49), with the fifth in 36:02. Thoughts of 70 are now probably wishful thinking – it’d need a 34 second half, but what the hell, I ain’t gonna give up that easily.

As I said, I’d been working (too) hard, but upped the effort a bit and started counting off bodies passed/passing. 6 miles (43:20) and I’d made a net loss of 20 places. Two of those were the Rising Sun duo of John O’Riordan and Jimmy Murray. I’d been chasing down John for some time but Jim, who is enjoying a new lease of running life, came by and brought John with him. At this stage I was working pretty hard, drawing on my stamina and endurance and started making ground. 10k went by in 44:53. Passing the water station at 3/7 (50:34), I’ve made up the net loss of 20 from the previous mile. The Rising Sun duo are in my wake.

I always find the 8th mile tough and long, and this was no exception, but I was still hoping to spot Aoife up ahead. 8 miles went by in 57:38 – that was a better mile. “Compose yourself for the battle ahead”, the hill looms. The first quarter mile of the hill is the worst, so it’s generally a bad idea to go at it “hammer and tongs”, so I go hard, but not all out. 9M goes by in 64:59 and I’ve made a net gain of 47 places since 5M. Still no sign of Aoife. I hit the 1k to go mark in 67:41 and figure “4 minutes”, giving it pretty much all I could. 100 to go and the clock is reading 71:50. I give it everything I can and come home in 72:08 (dunno where the extra 10 secs in the official gun time came from). A look back, after I finish, and the Rising Sun duo must have been hanging on to the back of my Eagle singlet - they're only a few metres behind.

I finished knowing that Aoife (70:12) had beaten me for the first time – it’s been coming but I’d hoped to keep her at bay for another little while. No such luck – I’ve lost the household bragging rights! At least I was sure that I’d left Trevor in my wake! My hopes were swiftly dashed when I spotted him a fair bit up ahead, chatting with his Barrs colleagues. So I was buying the cream buns after all - They’re in the garage and I’ll give them to Trevor next month. Who says I’m a sore loser!! LOL

Later on Sunday night, after hearing Aoife had taken my scalp, John Desmond sent me a text “The King is dead, long live the Queen!” I responded “The King is alive and kicking, but the Queen now wears the crown.”

Roll on Ballycotton 2012!

[opus]

Background

Running for ~1.5 years, this was my forth marathon, previous best time was 3:18 in Berlin last Sept. I followed the P&D 12 week 55 miles/week plan with a target pace of ~4.25/km aiming for a time in around 3:10. After running a better time that I expected in the Ballycotton '10' & then a little faster again in the Mallow '10', the McMillian running calculator was suggesting I should aim higher. There was a 2:59 pacer in Leipzig so I decided to roll the dice & try and stick with him as long as I could & hoped that if things went wrong I'd still be able to make it in under 3:15.

Pre-race

Didn't have a great trip to Germany, an accident on the autobahn & lots of Easter holiday traffic meant it took me an hour longer than normal to make it to my friends house. Was pretty knackered when I got there so was looking forward to a lie-in on Sat morning. Unfortunately their three year old was meciless & called me at 6:40am! Took a train to Leipzig to pick up my number, there were ~800 entered for the marathon so it was pretty relaxed. Picked up the souvenier running top for €12 which was pretty good value. Had a bit of a stroll around Leipiz & stuffed my face in an Italian resturant along with a few beers (non-alcoholic of course!).

Race

Got a lift to Leipzig on Sunday morning, no problem with parking & we caught a tram which dropped us right outside the marathon hq. Ate an energy snack 30 mins before the start & did a bit of a warm up jog. Was able to watch the start of the in-line skating half-marathon which was one lap of the city centre course, the marthon being two laps of the same course.

After that it was time to get in the start area so I spotted the guy who was pacing 2:59, he was holding a few ballons at the start & had the time on the front & back of his singlet. I was standing right by the sign that said 2:59 & must admit I did have a few moments of self-doubt wondering what the hell I was doing there! I'd guess there were around 80 or so people in front of me. Lot of speeches ensued, looked like some local dignatries were dragged out but eventually it was time to get going. There was a count down from 10 & then the guns, all three of them, went off.

The guy pacing must have walked up the side of the other runners before the start because when I went to look for him, he was already around 25m in front of me so my first km was run faster than I wanted to catch up with him. Once I was in tow things settled down, there were ~20 people in the group. Aid stations with all sorts of stuff popped up every 5km with a water station in-between them so you were never too far from a drink. It was plastic cups for the water which were a bit ackward to handle. I had four of the GU gels in my belt which I planned to take at 8, 16, 24 & 32k with an extra one in the pocket of my shorts just in case, as well I'd planned to take a drink at every water station.

Everything went fine & I felt pretty comfortable as we passed the half way stage to start our second lap of the course. At the back of my mind I knew that half way in a marathon isn't 'til 20m so I wasn't counting chickens just yet. By now our group had dwindled to around 15 runners. We passed through 30km and still things were ok, at this stage we'd caught and passed a few other runners, was thinking it must be tough for them when the pacing group went by particulary if they were aiming for the sub-3 time.

Things stated to get tough for me around the 38km stage, around three people in the group obviously felt good so pushed on and a few more fell off the back leaving four of us running with the pacer. It was around then that I started to struggle, it wasn't a huge drop off but I could see a gap opening up that I wasn't able to close. Thought I'd slowed down a lot more but when I checked the Garmin times, it wasn't as dramatic as I expected. But still the effect was the same I was being slowly dropped. The next five km were pretty tough & was wondering if maybe I should have taken the spare gel as a boost but deicded it was too late at that stage.

As the pacer was aiming for 2:59 figured there was still a sporting change of making it sub-3 so was anxiously waiting for the finish line to get into my sight. Eventually I turned a corner & there it was in front of me! My watch said 2:59:30 so that gave me one final burst of energy. The other three in the group were just crossing the line but the pacer stopped & stated shouting back at me, as well there was a screaming commentator who was encouraging me in German cause I was the last person who had a chance to come in under 3 hours so made one last big effort to get to the line. Pressed the stop button when I heard the beep on the mat & was amazed to see 2:59:50 on the watch, I'd made it!

Took a few mins to recover but then I tracked down Christian (the pacer) & thanked him in my pidgin German, of course he turned out to speak perfect English! Met up with my friend & drank a bottle of slimfast as seemed the quickest way to get some nourishment into myself.

Splits were:

10 km 00:42:30
1. Halbmarathon 01:29:29
2. Halbmarathon 01:30:21
Zielzeit (Netto)02:59:49

Garmin track is here.

All in all very pleased with how it went, I took a chance & it paid off. The P&D plan worked very well for me so I'm going to try it again for Berlin next Sept but will stick to the pace I train for this time. One thing I can definitely say is that the miles I put in last year have made a big difference as five mins after the race I felt fine as opposed to feeling near death when I finished in Cork last June!

Roll on September

[Oisin11178]

You can pick me up off the ground now if you want. Thats just amazing. I need more details mate about your training and what your 10 mile times were. Usually 99.99% precent of guys who decide at the starting line to go for a goal fall apart.
Edit
Just looked up your times for mallow and ballycotton. Not surprised you got sub 3.

[opus]

Originally Posted by Oisin11178

You can pick me up off the ground now if you want. Thats just amazing. I need more details mate about your training and what your 10 mile times were. Usually 99.99% precent of guys who decide at the starting line to go for a goal fall apart.

Being totally honest, I was a bit surprised myself as well

Wish it was as dramatic as deciding on the start line but actually it was the week after the Mallow '10' that I decided to chase the sub-3 pacer so I changed the training paces slightly for the three weeks before Leipzig. The first time I admitted it to anyone was at Sonia O'Sullivan's training camp for CCM two weeks beforehand when she asked everyone to write down their marathon goal time, actually writing it down made it more concrete for me I think.

The training plan I followed was the standard P&D 55 mile/week plan that I photocopied from a book that someone left lying on a shelf at work. Followed it fairly rigorously, for the LSR's that didn't involve any MP running, I split them into three running the first third at MP+20%, the middle third at MP+15% and the final one at MP+10%.

[tHE vAGGABOND]

How many times have I visited this forum, and never seen this thread until today

Shows how effective stickies are

[Woddle]

Originally Posted by tHE vAGGABOND

How many times have I visited this forum, and never seen this thread until today

Shows how effective stickies are

It probably should be a sticky in training logs. Going to move it and I'll leave a link here for the next week.

[Cork boie]

been reading these and found them a great help to me soooo........

brief history;
46 year old male, running since 2007, 4 marathons now run...
paris 2008- 4.50.xx.....knee went after 3 miles,basically hobbled around
chicago 2009- 3.44.32....
berlin 2010- 3.30.52....scrapped bq here.
boston 2011- read on........

followed my trusty hal higdon plan, advanced 18 week . tempos and fartlecks tend to injure me so i do them sparingly, i just shovel extra miles on......got a virus week before race and went to doc to get antibiotic...
didnt run at all the last week....
arrived boston sat 4pm, did expo sunday morn, collected bib, got suckered into buying some gear, as you do, .....went to finish area to take pics and soak up atmosphere...great buzz around the place......getting nervous now......
set alarm for 4.45 am sun morn.....woken up by mobile at 4.20am.....friend wishing me well.....grumbled thanks...... back to sleep......
up 4.45 am, breakfast of bagel,yogurt,banana,coffee.......got the t to boston common to get the shuttle buses to start area at hopkington....stepped out of the t staion into the biggest que i have seen since standing in a field with a couple hundred other ejits waiting to use the one usable portaloo left at the "trip to tipp" gig back in the day.....took me an hour to get on a bus and then another hour journey to hopkington....huge athletes village.....drinks,energy bars,massages available.....found a quiet area to chill out and try and stay warm....munched a bagel and sipped water.....nervous now......time to go to start pen...check gear, gels, laces, garmin.....garmin?...wtf?....my 405 was dead,maribh,deceased,not friggin working.....tried everything, reset, hard reset, violence,cursing, to no avail....the bloody thing decided to stop working.....you couldnt make it up....ok, ok, dont panic, think......i have no pace bands, no watch.....there are no pacers at boston....how to pace myself....ok, i'll calculate from time on clock as i pass start line and at each time station from then on....a pain in the ass but it would have to do....hoping to do 3.20 ish.....wave 2, corral 4, and we're off!...
the first bit is uphill and then a good bit downhill.....no need to dodge or weave here.....runners are really motoring.....decided to get into a nice easy stride and not push it early on....****e, forgot to look at time at start!!.....ah the hell with it......run as you feel......weather was sunny and pleasant if a little muggy.....got to 13 m iles feeling good...no idea what time or pace i was doing.....felt like shouting out, anybody going for a 3.20 ish time....can i tag along please....at wesley college the noise was deafening.....hoards of girls screaming, signs with kiss me.....saw one particularly tempting sign...." free bj"......hmmmmm.....sorry luv..aint got the time...gulp down a gel.....mile 15.....starting to hurt....sweating profusely....mile 16.....feeling sick, dizzy.....the hills are getting relentless now....stay focused....ignore the pain.....i know heartbreak hill is coming......mile 17....another godamn hill...mile 18.....people are passing me in droves.....jesus that guy looks bout 70 and he just flew by....mile19....mile20...hurtin bad....dont stop....keep going..force down another gel....mile 21.....turn a corner and there sits EVEREST!........heartbreak hill finally shows her face....it aint pretty......jesus, this thing looks like a down hill ski run at kitzbull.....how the feck am i to scale this....grit teeth and begin the ascent.....dont stop, dont stop,...maybe a little rest would be good....yeessss my precioussss.....a rest would be niceeee....yessss...it hurtssssss...jus a little resteeesss...out, damn you!..begone!..........i struggle on and even try to pick up the pace....mile 22....marshall shouts 3 miles to go buddy!.???.....if i had the energy i would have ran back to the guy and told him to move down the friggin road!......mile 23.......mile 24.....dog
tired.....mile 25....mile 26.... where is the finish line ?......turn a corner and praise the lord.....try and up the pace...probably looked like a drunk kangaroo......remember to smile for cameras......and.........yesssss!!!!!!....
never ,ever, felt as bad after a run......can hardly talk....keep moving through finish area...collect medal....collect bagel and water....so distracted nearly ate medal and wore bagel around my neck.....remember eying a marshall with an empty wheelchair......found a quite corner and slowly changed into dry gear......felt a little better after about 30 mins....still no idea what time i did......got on t to accomadation where i looked up finish time on pc............................................3.47.43.. first half at 8min mile pace...last 10 miles my times collapsed....
..left boston airport that evening, 8.50pm flight home ......feelin good..just dissapointed about time but hey......i ran the boston marathon.!!!!!

as i write this i am already looking forward and intend to do the dcm...funny how quickly you forget the pain, eh ?.......looking back the virus took it out of me more than i thought it would......but theres not much you can do at that stage is there ?.......i thought a 3.20 ish time was on based on a 22miler at 8min pace i did 2 weeks before race....i felt good and strong after it.....i had done 10 milers and halfs at 7.10 pace feeling good after each.......looking at my training log i noticed i missed 9 days through various injuries and 10 days through illness.....maybe that told in the end ...i dont know....but im good to go again!.....bring it on!
hope you enjoyed this rambling account of my experience.......
cork boie

[Marthastew]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your report, I imagine it was the virus that affected your time, however you were so lucky to make it to Boston (first qualifying then recovering from the virus). I was lucky enough to make it to Boston last year, nowhere like it to run a marathon. Well done, congratulations

[Cork boie]

thanks marthastew ...........wasnt sure i should post my race, as the race times in other posts are fantastic but hey, for all my fellow grinders out there, never give up !!

[Oisin11178]

Originally Posted by Cork boie

thanks marthastew ...........wasnt sure i should post my race, as the standard in other posts is fantastic but hey, for all my fellow grinders out there, never give up !!

very funny report, enjoyed reading it

[baza1976]

Originally Posted by tHE vAGGABOND

How many times have I visited this forum, and never seen this thread until today

Shows how effective stickies are

I was just going to post the same comment