Berlin Marathon 30/9/2012

Dijigem in, 3:54:40 Well done Joan

3:28 for me, really enjoyed it. Felt strong all the way through, finally got the 3:30 monkey off my back! Well done to everyone, looks like some cracking times reading back through the thread.
Sorry to hear about your injury meno, hope you can get it sorted and get back on track soon.
Now....pub-shower-food in no particular order

Well done everyone. Sounds like a good night is in the makings this evening.

Sounds like a great day was had by all most - sorry to hear about the injury Meno .
Enjoy the celebrations!

That finish does look as dodgy as everyone says! Sky+'d off Eurosport - will watch later in week

I'm just home, didn't participate but it was amazing to look at from the sidelines. The German's really know how to put on a show. Great city too. Looking forward to running it next year.

Hi,

Dissapointingly, I made 2 unsuccesfull approaches to groups of guys/girls in the Oscar Wilde Sunday evening. Got a few funny looks when asking where they my new friends from the computer !

Myself and Rolex had a enjoyable few drinks with our own gang.

Back to work in the morning, sore legs and need sleep!

Hope everyone is recovering well. Some great times.

Think I saw Macinalli or else Vagga had 26.7miles on their garmins.

belcarra wrote: »

Think I saw Macinalli or else Vagga had 26.7miles on their garmins.

Not I *grumble*

Don't have a log but do have an urge to write this one up, just to help myself digest it and move on!

Lead Up:
I came into this race after a disappointing year. I’d upped my training in terms of both quality and quantity, but yet still felt I was going backwards!
Trained very well for Cork and had my worst ever marathon experience, a DNF. Rolled my training over to Waterford 4 weeks later for another sub 3:30 attempt. It was the wrong call; I wasn’t ready physically or more importantly mentally.
Waterford was another bad day and there I was 13 weeks out from Berlin, at my lowest ebb running wise and worse still- I had stopped enjoying it, the fun of running and racing was gone. After a lot of soul searching I decided to start a 12 week training plan which I had got from Vinny Mulvey.
It was a grind from the off, I had to quit on tempo sessions and cut short a 16 mile long run at 12 miles because I felt wiped out, I just couldn't do it! Had to make a call, ease up and go to Berlin and enjoy a trot around an historic city or keep grinding, or to use an oft used phrase in these parts HTFU!
I Kept going whilst trying to get to the bottom of my malaise…….What could it be……over doing things, low iron?- got a blood test done, my iron was fine but my thyroid was underactive. Not sure if that had anything to do with how I was feeling, I have to go back to the doc this week so time will tell.

I improved my diet, cut out the crap and alcohol. I lost 6kgs from my race weight for cork:D. I think this was a turing point- I was starting to turn the corner, I was hitting my targets during tempo’s and LSR’s. I was getting back on track, starting to feel strong again.
I did the 10 miler in the park as a tune up in 1:13 and felt comfortable and knew I had more in the tank. I tapered well and was Berlin bound! I felt I’d sorted the body as much as I could given the time frame, now the hard part….sorting my head out:rolleyes:.

On the recommendation from another thread, (cheers Tuguska), I bought and read a book called ‘Brain training for runners’. It’s not a light read but I found it very helpful in one aspect in particular- distinguishing between pain and suffering in a race or hard session. You can’t avoid the pain, but by accepting it and keeping a lid on it you can limit the suffering. This was another breakthrough for me, previously in training and races I didn’t know how to deal with it, I let the pain in too much and allowed myself to suffer more than necessary. I felt if I had known during Cork what I knew now I wouldn’t have had a DNF that day, some important lessons had been learned.

Prerace in Berlin:
Arrived late on Friday, straight to the hotel and went to bed. The expo and registration were huge and just as busy as you’d expect from a big city race, got everything sorted and didn’t hang about.
Went down to the finishing straight at the Brandenburg gate and visualized the following day. The nerves and excitement were building; I just wanted to get going. Loaded up on carbs all day having 4/5 small meals rather than having one huge load of pasta in the evening, which hasn’t suited me in the past. Stayed off my feet as much as possible and went to bed early for a very fitful nights 'sleep'!

Race day

Perfect conditions, the weather gods had held up their end of the bargin, now it was my turn.
Got to the start area early after a good brekkie. Didn’t feel as nervous as some previous race’s, I was determined to own it, I was ready. Got into a Q for the jacks which took half an hour, Stepped in to the porto loo, tried to resist the urge to look through the seat into the cest pit and failed, as I looked down my sunglasses fell from their perch a top my head into the filth below:eek: 40 euro down $hitter!

Jumped into the pen about a hundred yards back in the second wave, it was very busy, even taking the advice of sticking to the left had side. I got as close as possible to the 3:30 balloons and had a chat with some of the runners around me. BANG…off go the party balloons, wheelchair races, elites, 1st wave and then, a shuffle forward and 7 minutes later, I crossed the mat.

Mile 1-4

Relax, Breath and Cruise for the first half, this was my mantra. Man it was congested, the 3:30 balloons were drifting away from me a bit already, but I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught up in weaving around people and using up too much energy at the start as I’d done in New York last year. First mile went by in 8:34…. I started weaving:o!
Mile 2 was @ 7:50, better but still trying to keep calm and find some space to run my own race. It calmed down a bit and the balloons were coming back to me, a 7:30 for mile 3 warned me to calm down and I settled into it.
This was the first race I’d done with no mile markers so I’d printed of a pace band of my 5k splits to keep an eye on things whilst keeping the balloons in my sights. A 3:30 marathon would mean 5k splits of 24:53. First 5k split was 24:53! I knew I’d have to hit closer to mid 24’s to give myself some breathing space and allow for a slightly long course (ended up 26.56).

Mile 4-13

I managed to stay relaxed and conserved as much energy as possible. I also kept reminding myself to enjoy it, I high fived a few kids and took in the atmosphere.
The route was unremarkable, with few real points of interest, but the support was good and more importantly I was feeling good.
Hit halfway in 1:44:52, only 8 seconds inside 3:30 time, maybe I’d been enjoying it too much! Having not built up a cushion, I decided to quicken the pace a go for a negative split.

Mile 13-20

The miles were ticking by nicely. Having quickened slightly I was starting to pass a lot of people, which felt good. Reached the 17 mile mark where I’d really started to struggle in my last 2 marathons, I still felt strong.
My 5k splits had all been 10-20 seconds inside target pace. I’d taken a gel at 6, 12 and 18 miles, each time walking through the water stations while washing them down.
Mile 19 and I felt a worrying, familiar feeling- a stich in my left hand side. I’d started to get them over the last few months since Cork where I’d suffered from one which ultimately forced me to stop. $hit….not again. It was really sore but I had some experience of dealing with them now……don’t let the pain in, stay positive, I told myself, I spent the next mile breathing deeply and exhaling hard and long, the garmin beeped for mile 20 @ 7:40. My pace hadn’t slowed and the stich was under control. Time for the race to begin!

Mile 20-24

I was passing a lot of people at this stage, the crowds of supporters were getting bigger, the bands were getting louder and I was running faster 7:40, 7:38, 7:41, 7:46, 7:28. I felt I was being swept home, but I also knew I was now racing, we hit the first real set of corners since the race began, every time I rounded one I thought I was going to be met with the anticipated view of the Brandenburg. It was tough, I was starting to feel it, there was pain- but minimal suffering.

Mile 24-26

The crowds were starting to edge into the streets more to get a view, this narrowed the course a lot and I was struggling to get around people as I could feel my calves starting twinge with the twisting motion and direction changes. My pace slowed to a 7:48 & 7:57. But nothing was going to stop me, I turned the last corner and saw the Brandenburg, I knew that there was still a way to go to the finish from there but decided to just go for it.

The Grand Finale

Under the gates, calves on fire, big smile on my face. I remembered the bad experienced I’d had of late. I remembered how somebody on this forums (Krusty) I think, mentioned taking those bad experiences, bottling them up till the next time. Well the feeling of popping that cork while running that last stretch will live long in the memory. I ran on, one arm raised, fist clenched and then realized that a one armed salute, while running through the Brandenburg gate might be frowned upon! So I smiled at the cameras and tried to pass as many people as I could for a sprint finish.

Summery: 3:28:44 chip time. One minute negative split- 1:44:52 and 1:43:52
HR 85% Average. I was very happy and feeling like I could have gone a bit faster with less congestion, but that didn’t matter, for me this race was about the 3:30 monkey and getting back to enjoying running and racing. I’d worn a HRM for the first time since my first marathon, my heart rate was 1 bpm lower for this race even though I’d run it 56 minutes quicker which is a nice feeling of progression since I started running in 2009.

And yet here I sit with that familiar empty feeling, the feeling of loss. You know the one- so much invested, so much time and effort, so many emotions, and then it’s over. I had no thoughts of what I’d do after Berlin, I feel like I’ve been following a training plan all year, probably because I have!

Now, where is that race calendar thread…….is it too late for Dublin……ah $hit- registrations closed……..anybody got a spare entry!?!;)

congrats sideswipe. Excellent report and a great performance. Fair play to you. A 56 minute improvement in 3 years is amazing.