Metz Marathon Oct 14 2012

Itziger

Ok, ok, I know there aren't many on here doing it, but I am! Attempt number 3 in my marathon career. Hoping to avoid the cramps of the previous two and looking to hit 3:10

If I could do a ClaraLara on it, I'd be a happy bunny by 12.09 on Sunday next week. Medium sized race with bottled water and fair profile, I believe.

I'll use this thread to post result, especially if positive.

career_move

Good luck...where is Metz? (too lazy to google:o)

Itziger

career_move wrote: »

Good luck...where is Metz? (too lazy to google:o)

Hehe, North East France, 45 minute drive from us.

career_move

How did you get on?

Itziger

Missed out on the 3.10 but got an 11 minute PB with 3.14. The day was miserable and looking at the results there's some awful positive splits in there. Legs got really tight and sore after about 24 or 25 k and I just avoided cramping. Overall quite happy. Start was messy - lost a minute due to narrow streets and slow runners in first 2 or 3 k already. In the end did 1.36 and 1.38 roughly. Will aim at 3.10 again next time round.

Thanks for asking anyway! Good luck with your own running.

career_move

Nice running there but seriously......you need to put a lot more effort into your race report

Itziger

Ok, I'll copy and paste this from elsewhere!


"He was in good shape" Yeah that was BEFORE the 42.2k!

Well for the first time in a marathon I was happy with the result. YaY! Not over the moon happy, as you'll see, but content. I'll start with the watch time - 3.14.05. Missed the bleedin 3.10 again but I'm getting closer and at least in this one I spent no time on the ground, a first for me. It's also an 11 minute pb.

The day was miserable; cool and wettish (that turned to very wet before the end). The start was a bit sloppy. After 2 km we were nearly a minute down on target. Not huge numbers but narrow streets and the usual dopes up near the front who looked like they were aiming for 5 hours. We decided not to worry about the time and the first half went without too much incident - we were still the minute down at half way. As ever, the fun started in the second half. By km 23 or so we eventually caught the 3.15 lads who were well up on their target. We thought about tucking in with em and like all decisions not taken, it turned out to be the right one. Soon after both of us felt the old hamstrings tightening. I thought, ok we won't be doing 3.10 as that requires a decent neg split but hopefully I don't blow it completely.

In the late 20's Andrew started to drop off the pace a little. I didn't push on, half cos I thought there was too much left and half cos I wasn't feeling great myself. He caught up and then we had one of the funnier moments of the race. "**** it, says I, me hamstring is jiggling. I can feel it moving around. It's freakin me" After a bit, I realised it was the back of my shorts which were well wet by then and were flapping against the leg! That actually settled me down as I felt I could deal with the tightness on its own. At this stage we were dropping about 15 seconds per km. Not exactly a disaster. Legs were aching now and then I had the first jab in the calf. The fact that it didn't develop into a full blown cramp is probably down to one of the following.. I took 4 (Yep, 4) salt tablets through the race, a banana, 4 gels and I was wearing compression socks. All that and the experience of the previous two told me not to panic. The warning cramp occurred twice especially, can't quite remember the exact distances.

The worst passage for me came at around 36 k. For 3 and a bit I was really struggling but I was able to keep the pace at about 4.50. Incredibly, I then got a second wind. When it came I thought, can I trust this feeling, am I actually feeling ok again? That's when I pulled away from Andrew for the last time - I actually put in a 4.35 and a 4.36 for last two full kms. With about 100mt to go, I saw a couple of friends and became dead emotional. I kinda sobbed for the last few metres.

So there you have it. I don't know what I can do to avoid the muscle problems in the future. I never did get the massages I promised myself. If I could find the time to fit in a good physio, I might feel better. Or maybe I just need to do more of the flippin things to get the hang of em. I am improving like
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career_move

Good stuff :D