3:30 or bust!

bonaparte2

Good luck on Sunday.


I look forward to reading the race report ,

belcarra

Marthastew wrote: »

You do know the number 3 is VERY lucky, don't you?;)
I'm predicting a massive PB followed by lots of that beer and Spanish birds Anto was warning you about.
Have a great break;)

I'd settle for 3rd place overall so I suppose...!

I'll be wearing the bling out to every known bar of ill-repute in the city...surely some unsuspecting senorita will be dazzled by the shiny metal!?

belcarra

MisterDrak wrote: »

Good luck on Sunday...

Just reading your log there and see you were at Malahide park run last week. I finished just behind you in 12th in 21:00... A feel a bit of a smack down before Xmas, with all those marathon miles in your legs ...

I noticed that too from the log...we'll have to watch out for each other if you are running next week!

belcarra

Thursday, 15th November - 6.5km Recovery run
Just a few km to keep the legs turning over. Av pace about 5:40/km.
Ran in Kayano 16s tonight and they felt like blocks, as per all mys 4 pairs of them!:rolleyes: Kayano 17s feel so much better but they are nearly expired at this stage. Time to ask for new footwear from Santa!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|10/15|78.7
Total|215/320|3,061.6

irfrm

Best of luck, enjoy the race and I'm looking forward to hearing about a big PB (no pressure)

DigiJem

Good luck tomorrow, looking forward to reading all about it.

Micilin Muc

Good luck Belcarra - it's time to reap your rewards!

belcarra

3:26:42.
More to follow when Reuters get their ass in gear!

RacoonQueen

belcarra wrote: »

3:26:42.
More to follow when Reuters get their ass in gear!

Savage. Well done.

Chartsengrafs

Boom! You knocked a fair chunk off 3:30, great job.

outforarun

Fantastic time, sub 3:30 well whipped.
Looking forward to the detail. Well done.

claralara

belcarra wrote: »

3:26:42.
More to follow when Reuters get their ass in gear!

Savage well deserved and long over due! Delighted for you. Looking forward to the report

digger2d2

Well done John, time to change the log title

Marthastew

digger2d2 wrote: »

Well done John, time to change the log title

+1:)

ultraman1

well done j....

ray lanigan

fair play to you,well deserved:)

jcsmum

Fantastic! Can't wait to read the race report!

The_Boy_Wonder

Gret stuff JC. You got the reward for all those hard miles. enjoy the rest now!!

PDCAT

Fairplay and congrat's. Must be a great feeling to smash your target time.

average_runner

Well done on a great time. Well deserved.

irfrm

Well done on smashing 3:30, hope you down a few pints to celebrate. Looking forward to report

liamo123

Well done man...thoroughly deserved

Mr Slow

Great time, congratulations.

belcarra

Friday, 16th November & Saturday 17th November - Rest Days
Blah, blah, blah...I'll just skip to the serious stuff!

Sunday 18th November - 42.8km(!) Valencia Marathon
Lead-in to the race
October had proved to be my best month to date with 452km of training completed so I felt I was in a great position coming off the back of pacing the DCM. However, a lack of motivation/taking the eye of the prize meant that my taper was poor in terms of structure but I did manage to get a few good runs in before heading to Valencia. At the back of my mind I felt confident of breaking 3:30 but playing more heavily was that I might have not done enough for my A-goal of sub-3:20.

Because there are no Winter flights to Valencia from Dublin we had to travel via Madrid and drive across. We arrived at the Expo around 1pm but I was feeling the language barrier so skipped threw most of it pretty quickly. We had arrived just in time for the paella party though so a free tub of Valencia's finest with a bread roll and two pieces of fruit with a drink of your choice - water or beer (I chose water in a remarkable moment of self restraint!) and we were fueled up for the afternoon.

Sat evening myself and my mate headed along to the Valencia v Espanyol match at 6pm and afterwards went for a bite to eat. Unfortunately it was only on the way home when I realised I had nothing in store in my room for breakfast the next morning! A half-hearted recce of the local area failed to turnup a shop still open. So I decided to head to bed for a good nights sleep and deal with the issue in the morning...

Morning
I woke at 7am after having woke previously a couple of times throughout the night due to heavy thunderstorms. I expected the streets to be flooded but thankfully to my surprise they were just about drying out. Next thoughts turned to food and remembering last nights schoolboy error I managed to scramble together three Rich Tea type biscuits I happened to take with me from brekkie the day before and a mandarin from the goodybag. I threw down an energy gel also in the hope there might be enough to keep me going for the day...:o.

Another issue I was faced with was the absence of safety pins for my number. I had expected them in my goody bag but none there. I managed to find one solitary pin in my bag so I crossed my fingers there would be somewhere to get some at the race start.

Race Start
I arrived with about 30mins to go before the start and left in my bag. Luckily the girl that took it from me had three spare pins. Excellent I thought, one issue solved! Unfortunately the more serious issue was not to be fixed. There was no sign of food so I had to make do with my random carbs.

I moved towards the starting position and realised there were different waves for positioning (All started at the gun). I got a bit concerned when I spotted the 4:30 pacer ahead of me but then calmed a bit when I noticed the 3:15 pacer between the two of us! On the stroke of 9am we were off.
But then we were stopped again and were being asked to march backwards - we were in for a restart! After a lot of cajoling eventually we were all back far enough so that the race could officially start at the second asking at 9:07.

Start to 10km
The first 10km went pretty quick. Feeling good and the weather was about 15degrees. I had pre-planned to do a 10k-22k-10k strategy with the aim of getting progressivley quicker between segments. So I was happy when the av pace was staying around the 4:45/km for the first 6km or so. I found myself pushing on then a little however with the pace becoming closer to 4:40 for the next few km, but I wasn't too bothere about this.

10km - Halfway
The next section was probably the most boring section on the course as the neighbourhoods were non-descript and I guess we were just going out so that we could turnaround and come back home. This section remained strong though and the pace averaged about 4:39 along here.

Halfway to 30km
At the halfway marker I met the leaders returning approx 30 mins ahead of me. The sun was now much stronger and the public signs were showing 21-22 degrees. This worried me as I'm not very good in the sun, however my HR appeared to remain pretty steady at just 152bpm over this section so I seemed to be coping well. Around the 28km marker we passed through a couple of underpasses for the only really alt change of the day but this itself was very benign. However, as we left the underpasses behind I really noticed my GPS had been hampered by the loss of coverage so I decided to 'lap' my watch at the next km marker so that I was back in synch.

30km to the Finish
The agony really started around the 30km marker and failed to give up til the end. My lack of a proper breakfast meant that I was starving by now. Also, the sunshine was really beginning to take it's toll on me. I made sure to pass through every fire engine water shower as slowly as possible. I was beginning to fade though. I eased off on my pace for a few minutes to see if I managed to get any energy back but it wasn't helping. I plodded onwards, by now losing approx 30secs per km all the way to the end. The final 4km were something special though. There were huge amounts of supporters lining the streets and with 2km to go it was like a Tour de France mountain stage with only about two metres width of the road to run on. This managed to carry me towards the finish and then once we were in the last km I was familiar with the run-in to the finish line. At this stage I knew I was safe for sub 3:30 and with the pressure off I kept it going for a good close-out final split.

Taking note of such luminaries of this parish I tried to do a standout click of the heels as I crossed the line. I had in my head that the legs would be at hip height but in the end I was happy enough that I simply didn't face smack the mat! It's no Aimman jump or TRR windmill but at least I tried...!:pac:

Post-race
So, I crossed the mat in 3:26:37 which I was more than happy with considering the breakfast mistake and the heat in the second half of the race. I know I would have been very close to 3:20 though if either of those hadn't happened but I guess everyone has those kind of regrets & frustrations at the end of a race. Immediately after collecting my finishers (second!) goody bag there appeared what seemed like a mirage of an Amstel tent serving free beers. How happy was I when I got closer and realised it actually existed! It felt so great and refreshing after the water and powerade on the course that after finishing my first one, I just had to return for second offerings!

Later that evening i met up with Itziger in St Patrick's pub on Gran Via. He then took us into the old town to a couple of bars before scampering home to train up for his next marathon! Fair play to him he did a great time too of 3:13 or so.

Have to say I found everything about the race (ok, apart from the false start!) and the city to be top notch. Course was flat with only two underpasses that would count as inclines and even they were short and gentle. Registering for it at the right time costs less than €50 and you get 2 goody bags for those inclined with a t-shirt as well as a towel included. Oh, and did I mention the finish line beer??
If I find myself with a free November again I'd be very likely to go back!

Month|No. of Runs|Kms Run
January|29/31|405.7
February|24/29|365.6
March|22/31|310.0
April|21/30|277.5
May|20/31|252.1
June|2/30|47.4
July|16/31|189.7
August|22/31|290.6
September|21/30|366.6
October|28/31|452.9
November|11/24|120.9
Total|216/329|3,103.8

DukeOfDromada

Great run! Must give you great confidence for the next marathon to go for sub sub 3:20 considering you were able to run a 3:26 on empty and with the heat.

RacoonQueen

Jaysus just missed that for race report of the year. Savage running, well done.

digger2d2

Great stuff J. Reading about your pre race breakfast has me feeling hungry, two egg omelette in my very near future

Marthastew

Congratulations on your super PB, you worked hard all year so it was very well deserved.
Enjoy the recovery:)

beeduybe

Well done on the sub 3:30. Sub 3:20 is definitely there for you with another training cycle, a decent breakfast and some favourable weather.

DigiJem

Great report belcarra and congrats on the time, more to come off that for sure