Rotterdam marathon 2011

donothoponpop

Good luck to everyone tomorrow, especially on the Erasmus Bridge return climb!

seanynova

anyone got any links to the live results?
cannot seam to access the on the official website.

dapope

2hrs 49mins 26secs according to my watch.

Very happy Conditions were very warm and it was a battle from 30km home.

Slogger Jogger

@dapope. Unreal. Fabulous running. Well done.

donothoponpop

dapope wrote: »

2hrs 49mins 26secs according to my watch.

Very happy Conditions were very warm and it was a battle from 30km home.

Awesome result! Does this mean you're a Flatlander from here on in?:D

dapope

donothoponpop wrote: »

Awesome result! Does this mean you're a Flatlander from here on in?:D

Don't worry. The hills are calling me

donothoponpop

dapope wrote: »

Don't worry. The hills are calling me

Glad- and slightly terrified!- to hear it. Enjoy the post-race beers!:D

KentuckyPete

I did 3:08:49 on my watch but I started the timer a little bit after the start line so I may be a 3:09 on the real results.

As "Popey" says the heat was tough (especially for us Paddies no doubt). Miles 18 to 24 are in a woodland park with few spectators so that's a real challenge.

3:10 was the target so V. Happy with that! Off to Paddy Murphy's soon...

Well done dapope - great performance. Any chance we could pool our results so the aggregate gives us both a sub-3?

Slogger Jogger

Pronator 2:46:38. Very warm by all accounts.

KentuckyPete

Sean Connolly 2:17:23

Speedy44

3:13+
Was looking for a comfortale sub 3 so I'm not a happy camper :mad:

KentuckyPete

Ended up with 3:08:51 on the official timer. Even better to break the 3:09

KentuckyPete

Speedy44 wrote: »

3:13+
Was looking for a comfortale sub 3 so I'm not a happy camper :mad:

Jaysus, sorry to hear that Speedy - your training put you well ahead of that. Chin up lad, the sub 3 is in there - the pain in the ass as it is it just didn't appear today.

Pronator

Happy enough with the result but us Paddy's are not used to the heat:mad: Very warm out there yesterday.

Don't want to come on giving out but I was a little disappointed with a few things around the marathon. The course itself is flat and very good, but drinking water from cups is simply a disaster when you are running. I lost time yesterday at each water station.

The expo was poor also. Its a matter of opinion but it would be interesting to get other peoples view.

For me Dublin is a better alternative.

Thanks to everyone who sent/posted messages of congrats.:D

Itziger

Had a 'mare meself. Was with Kentucky P till km 31 and then dropped back. At 35 was still only about a minute behind him (edit;make that 2) but began to cramp badly and finished in ...3.32 and a few seconds. The fockers rub salt into the wound on the results page by giving me the same net as gross finishing time!

My last 2.2 kms took me an eye-watering 22 minutes. In fact looking again, I see the last 7 took me almost 55 minutes!!! A tough first marathon.

pre

dapope wrote: »

Don't worry. The hills are calling me

thanks for helping me with my watch, great time aswell the conditions were unreal

pre

Have to agree with pronator drinking water from cups in an marathon is disasterous. I too lost far to much time trying to drink at these stations. From 20 k onwards just gave up on hydrating. Ran 2:54:05 in the end but was completely dehydrated at the finish. In total i lost over 11 minutes on the second half of the marathon after a conservative first half. Fair play to all who ran under those conditions it was energy sapping. Personally i think ill stick to dublin hydration is the key to every marathon or long distance event. I would recommend the course but not the set up.

jeffontour

dapope wrote: »

Don't worry. The hills are calling me

Stay away, some of us are trying to move up the rankings!

Great run at the weekend, fair play.

plumber77

The expo was poor also. Its a matter of opinion but it would be interesting to get other peoples view.

For me Dublin is a better alternative.

Thanks to everyone who sent/posted messages of congrats.:D[/QUOTE]


Would have to agree on the limited expo and water stations.cups are a disaster especially on a hot day like it was.Anybody know exactly how hot it was?did like the little yellow sponges they handed out though on the plus side.I would recommend Dublin to anyone as I believe its better allround.Rotterdam was definitely an experience though.did 3.27 in Dublin and finished in 3.56 yesterday.I knew the heat would be a factor so I set out at the start to finish under 4.some serious times bein posted here.fair play folks.

Speedy44

Itziger wrote: »

Had a 'mare meself. Was with Kentucky P till km 31 and then dropped back. At 35 was still only about a minute behind him (edit;make that 2) but began to cramp badly and finished in ...3.32 and a few seconds. The fockers rub salt into the wound on the results page by giving me the same net as gross finishing time!

My last 2.2 kms took me an eye-watering 22 minutes. In fact looking again, I see the last 7 took me almost 55 minutes!!! A tough first marathon.

sorry to hear that Itziger. When the wheels come off like that it really is a nightmare.

Well done on finishing though, they weren't exactly easy conditions were they :rolleyes:

Speedy44

dapope wrote: »

2hrs 49mins 26secs according to my watch.

Very happy Conditions were very warm and it was a battle from 30km home.

great job mate, very happy for you.

T'was a tad warm alright. I passed some poor lad out for the count at about 23mls, thankfully there were medics there attending to him.

Speedy44

KentuckyPete wrote: »

Ended up with 3:08:51 on the official timer. Even better to break the 3:09

great running in tough conditions KP, you've definitely got sub 3 in your sights.

dapope

KentuckyPete wrote: »

I did 3:08:49 on my watch but I started the timer a little bit after the start line so I may be a 3:09 on the real results.

As "Popey" says the heat was tough (especially for us Paddies no doubt). Miles 18 to 24 are in a woodland park with few spectators so that's a real challenge.

3:10 was the target so V. Happy with that! Off to Paddy Murphy's soon...

Well done dapope - great performance. Any chance we could pool our results so the aggregate gives us both a sub-3?

Well done on breaking 3:10. As you said the woodland park was a real challenge. You really had to fight to hold it together in there!

Sub 3 next KP

Itziger

Speedy44 wrote: »

sorry to hear that Itziger. When the wheels come off like that it really is a nightmare.

Well done on finishing though, they weren't exactly easy conditions were they :rolleyes:

Conditions were tough. I'd be interested in what people here think about hydration/salt and so on. I do not want a repetition of those cramps next time.

KP ran a blinder alright. Cool as a cucumber till about Km 25. Well certainly till halfway. There were hundreds passing us in first half. I'd say he passed the vast majority of them before finish line - VAST majority.

poskantor

Pronator wrote: »

Happy enough with the result but us Paddy's are not used to the heat:mad: Very warm out there yesterday.

Don't want to come on giving out but I was a little disappointed with a few things around the marathon. The course itself is flat and very good, but drinking water from cups is simply a disaster when you are running. I lost time yesterday at each water station.

The expo was poor also. Its a matter of opinion but it would be interesting to get other peoples view.

For me Dublin is a better alternative.

Thanks to everyone who sent/posted messages of congrats.:D

Did 3:07 on the day. Was happy with that given the training I was able to do. It was very hot on the day and got nicely burnt...par for the course being irish!;) Thought it was very well supported along the course and the cheers kept me going near the end!

Agree the aid stations were a bit of a joke, the water wasnt too bad, although their 'smart drinking system' is inferior to the bottle with sports cap option in my opinion, the cynic in me thinks they just went for the cheaper option and promoted it as being better. As for the Extran in cups...i'd challenge anyone to be able to keep pace and drink more than 50% of what was in the cups, which was not much to start with. Thought the expo was poor too would have expected it to be bigger, and having signed up for alot of races over the years thats about as poor as 'goodie' bags get. Decent t-shirt and...oh that was it.

On the whole, glad I did it but not sure if there's much to recommend about it other than it being a good spring flat option. I'd be interested if others disagree.

For me if someone was thinking of doing one marathon in the year Dublin is a no brainer...the organisation and support on the course is better, similar net gradient, and less travel costs...i'll be signing up:D

dapope

Background & Training
Dublin 2006 3hrs 01min 17secs. I remember it clearly, running up Nassau St. and the clock in the distance ticking over the magical 3hr mark.

Rotterdam was just another attempt to get back running. I'd tried before but each time broke down with injury. The plan was simple... make it to the start line in one piece! Training started back at the start of November slowly building up milleage from 35miles to 75miles at peak. I followed Jack Daniels Plan A. Achiles Tendonites at the end of December restricted training but managed to run 37:32 in the Aware 10km. Coming out of phase 3 of Daniels training programme and I was starting to see massive improvements. Ran the Carlingford half marathon in something around 1:17:30 (race was short). This had me in sub 2:45 shape. My left calf blew up 2 days later when I was out for a recovery run. Alot of patience and physio work followed but I made it to start line.

Full training log here.

Race Preparation
Flew over the Friday. Got the Expo out of the way. The weather was hot and forecast was for high teens. I sweat a lot and suffer from cramps so I started adding Nuuns or Zero's to my water. Spent almost all of Saturday in the Hotel hydrating and watching "The Wire". Late dinner at 9 o'clock and off to bed for an early night. Breakfast at 8 on race day and another 750ml of water with electrolyte mix. Walked to the start and dropped off the girlfriend who was in starting pen D. I was in pen C right up the front

Race Plan
After Carlingford it was to have a crack at sub 2:45 going out at roughly 3:52-55/km pace. Despite the poor final month of training I was sticking to that for the first part of the race and then seeing how I felt. I carried 4 ISO gels (8,16,24,32km) and one Powerbar gel I would take at half way depending on how I felt.

The Race
You'll Never Walk Alone. Canon. Boom. We're off!

I set off at a very relaxed pace. So did everyone. I was expecting a mad rush but not so. I settled into my pace straight away. First km was bang on. Second over the bridge was a few seconds fast but nothing major. There was a slight breeze so I tucked into a group at similar pace. Now and again I would step out to the side of the group to catch the cool breeze and then step back in. Out of the city centre there was very little shade from buildings so the sun was beating down on us constantly. Checking my current pace on the Garmin every few minutes for the first few km's I was cruising along at roughly 3:54. I was happy at this pace but would have liked it to have been down at 3:52 and feeling comfortable. Rather than forcing it I stayed around 3:55. The flat featureless Rotterdam course suited me. I was totally focused at this stage, just me and the Garmin, perfect. I went through half in 1:22:34 and over the next 2-3km I knew any chance of running a negative split and breaking 2:45 was out of the question.

“Now we gotta make the best of it, improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, **** happens, I Ching, whatever man, we gotta roll with it”

I took the Powerbar gel at 23km, deciding it was better to get it into the system in preparation for harder times ahead. Crossing back over the Erasmus bridge the music and support from spectators was amazing. I opened up a little and enjoyed the buzz of the crowd. Then I settled in and focused on what lay ahead. Approaching 30km my pace had drifted to almost 4min/km. I concentrated on keeping my form and close to 4min/km pace as possible. I was battling now. I took my final gel at 32km and every water station I was taking 4 cups of water pouring one if not two over my head and down my back. My legs were heavy and the pace was slowing. I knew sub 2:50 was there for the taking so I didn't panic. We were in the park now and the crowds had thinned. I didn't mind but it took its toll on a lot of runners. I slowed to somewhere around 4:17/km pace and was still passing people. I drifted out over 4:20 at km 40 and 41 so I had to dig a little in km 42 for a 4:06. Running up the home straight, eyes fixed on the clock above the finish, I pushed hard enjoying the final 200 metres smiling inside knowing 2:49:XX was now in the bag.

The Aftermath
I'm very happy with my result. 2:45 is there for another day. The conditions were tough and I was happy not to suffer from cramp or have any reoccurance of my calf injury. I learned loads from the experience. I learned a lot about training, managing expectatons during training and during a race, how to look after injuries and not allow them to frustrate me. It wasn't plain sailing by any means. I missed a number of weeks training over xmas and my final month training was very poor. I missed 3-4 long runs and a few quality sessions at PMP pace over this period. Daniels plan worked well for me but I will add a number of hill sessions next time to build up leg strenght for those final 10km.

Rotterdam Positives

• Flat course
• Good crowd support
• Starting pen C being right up front

Rotterdam Negatives

• Water stations
• Late starting time

And Finally
Girlfriend finished in 3:15:49. Target was 3:15 so happy days!

Splits
3:58
3:48
3:51
3:55
3:50 19:34
3:54
3:52
3:55
3:54
3:52 19:29
3:54
3:53
3:55
3:56
3:51 19:33
3:59
3:54
3:54
4:00
3:51 19:27
3:59 1:22:34 half
3:54
3:56
3:56
4:02 19:54
3:57
3:52
3:58
3:59
4:02 19:56
4:02
4:02
4:06
4:05
4:12 20:34
4:22
4:17
4:18
4:24
4:24 21:39
4:25
4:06
0:51 2:49:27 full

KentuckyPete

Right, this is a mega-long post and it won't be to everyone's taste (of the few who will see it) but I'm putting it up because
1. Months of training focused on a single race deserves some sort of post-event analysis
2. The race is fresh in my mind and now is the best time to record the experience
3. I've gained loads from shared stories and race reports on this site so I humbly offer this as a small return-payment

Race Preparation
This year I started training in December, ran the Clonakilty half at a measured pace (1:34:45) and set myself the target of doing the training to be able to put two of those back to back by Rotterdam 2011. The program target was 25 miles per week in December, 35 in January and 45 to 55 in February / March. A very rough week of training in deep snow in Denmark over the Christmas got me focused early. Raced the Waterford half and Dungarvan 10 in January and PB’d both races – 1:29:15 for the half and 66:10 for the 10-miler. Happy days, all set to move into the long runs through February. However, Dungarvan was more expensive than planned – a stiff hamstring got worse through the following week – so bad I had to stop running completely for a fortnight. I swam and cycled and got intense physio but lost a fair bit of ground – Rotterdam was hanging by a thread – another week of no running and that would have been it.

Itziger and I were due to do Rotterdam together (our plan had been to aim for 3:10) so his visit to Cork in the last week of Feb got me back on the road. An easy 16-miler with him convinced me that if I took it easy on the hamstring I could still make Rotterdam and maybe look for a 3:30 finish. However, as the mileage increased each week the hamstring, while not improving, wasn’t getting any worse. The modified program was very straightforward – no hills and no pace sessions. Nine steady miles on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, six on a Friday and the long run on a Sunday. A few times I started to add some speed for the last few miles of the long run and discovered the leg was still surviving. Maybe 3:10 was still possible?

Tergat had posted fairly extensively here last year on how to run the last four weeks of the marathon program – specifically on the need to start doing significant portions of the shorter runs at PMP. So, moving into the second half of March I started to try to run a lot of miles at 7:10 pace – 7:10 on the Garmin would mean around 7:15 in real time and that would be needed for 3:10 pace. As usual, trying to nail the pace was quite difficult - I ended up going too fast as often as too slow. However, the accuracy got better and the Sunday before the taper I ran 13.1 miles at 7:11 pace and felt like I could handle some more. I kept up the focus on 7:10 throughout the taper – always running at least half the session at PMP.

The Race
The main fret in the week of the race was around the weather getting too hot – it looked bad around Wednesday and Thursday and while Sunday still dawned sunny there was relief that the forecast was for a max of 21 degrees. That’s still fairly hot so I had the peaked cap, shades and white running shirt to be sure. Incredibly the Hilton hotel had no bloody porridge the morning of the race so I had to leg it up the street to another hotel to purchase the obligatory feed. Itziger and I hit the “D” pen at 10:00 and got to the front OK. The problem is that the Rotterdam version of the BHAA run a relay and 10km on the marathon day and incredibly there was a block of maybe 300 fun-runners plonked in front of us D-pen runners and behind the sub-3 gang in the C pen. As soon as the stewards stood back we legged it up through these and got to the back of C pen. I had to use all my years experience in the mosh-pit to do it but boy was it worthwhile.

After the obligatory (and slightly surreal) “You’ll never walk alone” in Dutch the gun went and the shuffle toward the start line got going. Last year when I was stuck way back in D pen and the first mile took 8:40. Much better this year, we got going immediately and recorded 7:17 for the first mile followed by 6:51 for the next one. We were going well and trying to find our steady pace. We considered hooking onto a club group (Itziger was keen!) but they were doing steady 6:45 pace and I knew from past experience how expensive that would be. The PMP training was standing me in good stead now and out past the Feyernoord stadium we began to roll the miles off close to the 7:10 pace. It began to feel hot out on the tarmac – hot enough to leave the race line and cross over the road to avail of shade whenever we got it.

Miles 1 to 6: 7:17; 6:51: 7:15; 7:06; 7:11; 7:00

I sped up at 6 miles as I planned to take a gel at 10km and would stop for a few seconds to walk while drinking. All went well and we continued the steady plod on to 20km. The pacing was working well and the road was open enough to run side by side most of the time. I felt good and it was great to have Itziger to exchange the occasional piece of conversation. Another speed up/ take a gel/ walk while drinking routine at 20km and we pushed on through half way. We thought we were just under 1:35:00 – exactly where we wanted to be.

Miles 7 to 13: 7:09; 7:07: 7:09; 7:09; 7:08; 7:11; 7:24

Now the fun started – the last 6 miles of a marathon are without doubt the hardest part of the race but the miles from 13 to 20 are where the real work gets started. It takes that little bit more concentration to stay calm and hold the pace and things that cause no bother in the first half, like other runners in the way or hopping a kerbstone, become a lot more annoying. The sun was getting hotter and I found myself taking on water at each station. As well as that I picked up sponges at every opportunity and doused the head and upper body. We finished the long stretch to mile 15 and turned onto the main road back to the bridge. This is where I had a new race experience:

I’d had conversations with another running buddy about the need to take salt tablets in the heat and he very kindly gave me some of his stash on Friday before I left. So I decided to take one at the 25km water station. Within a minute I had a fierce pain in my stomach – very sharp. The tablet should have been taken with more water I suppose. Worse again, we turned back onto the Erasmus bridge for one of the worse climbs of the day. I hung on to Itziger up the climb and told him I’d need him for the next few miles!

The buzz when you get back across the bridge is intense. All the crowds are there as you pass near the finishing straight on your way out for the second big loop. We went through an underpass at 16 miles where there was a percussion group really giving it socks – it gave a great lift and the stomach-ache began to subside. We were still going well – close to the 7:10 pace and even if it was taking more effort I felt like I still had something in reserve.

Miles 14 to 20: 7:11; 7:07: 6:49*; 7:03; 7:06; 7:08; 7:10
* think the Garmin got mixed up on this one

The twenty-mile mark is the key point in the marathon (well it has been in the three I’ve run anyway). At that point you know what you can and cannot do in the race. So as we wound up through 16, 17 and 18 I was tense and curious to see what sort of shape we’d be in. Through these miles the course is out and back so we could see the elites coming against us and I began to feel the heat was taking its toll. Again, speed up before the final gel at 30km and then into the longest loneliest part of the race – miles 18 to 24 are in a woodland park with few spectators and no music playing. It’s flat and there’s even a gentle downhill at one point but it’s tough tough going. At mile 20 Itziger dropped back a bit (we had discussed mile 20 as the point beyond which we’d probably be running alone) and I began to test what was left in the tank. Not much, as it turned out – the speed went to 7:05 direction but the effort was significant as the surface changed to cobble-lock for a few km. I caught up with a Dutch guy we had spoken with earlier at 25km and held with him for a good while before he pulled away again. I finally passed him definitively at 37km.

On to 35km and still 4km to go in the bloody woodland. I found now that if I took my mind off the pace at all I slowed down immediately. Mile 24 slipped to 7:14 for this reason. However, by getting back to 7:05 – 7:10 pace I was passing hordes of runners so that was a good focus. These runners had all passed us in the first half so there was great satisfaction in reversing the move. Emotions were high now – we passed a DJ blasting out “Born to Run” and I got a bit teary-eyed. 2km to go in the woods and I’m using every technique – reminding myself how hard it was to get here and how long it would be before I got this shot again, thinking about the support from my wife and kids, thinking about all the good luck messages last week, all that sh1te I’d been through with the injury and how I absolutely owed to myself to not let go now.

Finally 39km and we’re back in the city, crowds are building and cheering and I’m still nailing other runners every few metres. Mile 25 comes up – 7:07 and we’re back on track – I’m hurting all over but I know now I can hold the pace to the end and it’s time to empty the tank and get as much under 3:10 as possible. A super-efficient photographer took my picture and managed to hold out his business card to me by the time I ran past him. Down around the corner, less than 1km to go – plenty of noise from the crowd and the music is booming as I pass each 100m mark – though I’m emotional I’m still passing other runners and I feel strong. Now I can see the finish line 250m ahead and one more runner in front who had passed us at 10km. I open up to go for the line and I feel absolutely exhilarated as I sweep past the last runner about 20 metres out. Over the line, pump the fists and stop the watch. A small wobble and then the realisation that I beat 3:09 – class – 3:08:51.

Miles 21 to 26.5 (Garmin distance): 7:04; 7:04; 7:07; 7:14; 7:07; 7:06; 6:39 pace (for last 0.5 miles)


Post race Reflection
A bit early for this – I had to fly to the States for work yesterday and am still all over the place. Right up to the last few miles I was questioning my motivation for doing the race and then all was swept away in the last miles of exhilaration. I know I’ll do a lot more thinking over the coming weeks.

The program was excellent up to the injury – I never really was able to relax after that. I had some great runs in December and January where I felt on top of the world.

In order to go better I think I’d need to join a running club and do good interval sessions with other runners. I travel all week for work so that just isn’t possible at present. I’m very close to my McMillan maximum performance at 3:08 and would need to improve my short course running quite a bit to tackle the sub-3. Turning 47 next month means time is not on my side. However, I’ll run on for sure and will no doubt look at Dublin in the Autumn. For now a week or two of chill-out with the odd beer and some wifey time are on the cards for sure

Hard Worker

dapope wrote: »

And Finally
Girlfriend finished in 3:15:49. Target was 3:15 so happy days!

She is definitely capable of a sub 3. I'd say she learned a lot from Rotterdam.
We ( myself and the war office ) were delighted to get your results, considering the tough conditions. Make sure you get your entries in for Dublin.

Krusty_Clown

dapope wrote: »

2:49:27 full

Congrats dapope. Didn't realize you were running in Rotterdam, or I would have wished you the best of luck when I bumped into you a couple of weeks back (though I wasn't really up for conversation at the time!). Superb time by your OH too. A speedy couple!