Edinburgh Marathon done and dusted

This is the short story…

So after all my worry about my fitness before Edinburgh Marathon and my resetting of my goals, I only went and got a new marathon personal best and a London Good for Age (GFA) and Boston Qualifying (BQ) time.

This is the long version – stop and grab a cuppa before you start.

In all honesty my training in between Manchester and Edinburgh had felt like an uphill struggle, I felt very disappointed that I had not bounced back as well as I had last year between London and Edinburgh.  I had such high hopes of achieving a London Good for Age (GFA) time, but each time I laced up my trainers my stepped out, it turned out to be another disappointing run and it was really knocking my confidence.

So the morning of Edinburgh came around all too soon, I had reassessed my goals and said that I was happy with a sub 4 hour marathon, well sort of happy! It is safe to say that the weather matched both my mood and prospects, the rain has started to fall and it steadily got worse.  Sean was happy and looking forward to his half marathon, he told me to go off and find somewhere warm to wait until the start of my race ( I think I was killing is pre-race buzz)

Firstly I found shelter in a bus shelter, but soon got bored and thought I may as well  head to my starting pen and then there glimmer of light in the distance “Starbucks” sign shone out like a beacon. As I pushed through the door, the warmth hit me and the queue was small and free WIFI RESULT. Twenty minutes later after a couple of trips to the facilities and a full fat tall latte with a caramel shot I felt ready to tackle to walk to my pen and bonus the rain had stopped!

My plan was to set out and run 8:30 for the entire race, this should get me a 3:44:30 marathon time and a London GFA  – what is that I was meant to be going to a sub 4 hours, well yes but you know how it goes…… the 1^st couple of miles would be the determining factor.

As it was the I found my pace which was around 8:15 which was well ahead of my required pace, now here is the problem the rule of thumb with marathons is start slow and get quicker (this by the way had been my strategy at Manchester).  The worry with going to fast at the start is that you can blow up in the last few miles, really fall apart and up losing your race goal.

However I felt good and I decided I was not going to over think it, just go on feel and see how things pan out. As it was I was having  a really good run, feeling surprisingly strong and focused.  Before I knew it we were heading passed Musslebourgh Race course and off up to the BIG Stately Home, it was at this point I saw Sean coming back long towards his finish and I gave him a shout out and carried on.

Now this is a LONG stretch not a particularly bad part it is just a little long, the only hope on the horizon is that you often get to see the race leaders coming back the other way, which helps to take your mind off things. 

Head down and concentrated on each mile I was in, trying hard not to over think about my pace, how much further I had to go or if I would run out of energy. 

Before I knew it we were running in to the Gosford House grounds and I focused and made sure that I didn't drop the pace (which happened last year), so my plan was to work on catching the people in front of me to keep me going.  Passed the home and now back out on to the road and the end was really in sight and all I had to do was keep going.

As the final miles ticked by my pace did start to fall off to around 8:30 ish, which was the pace that I should have been running all along, so all was good. There was time banked and this was my safety cushion just in case my pace really fell away, in the later miles.

It was around mile 23 that I decided it was time to break out the emergency jelly babies, I slowed to a walk and crammed in jelly babies like a woman possessed and washed them all down. Using visualization technique I imagined the release of sugar being turned into energy and making it was down to my legs and powering them along. 

Mile 25 and unlike Manchester nothing hurt, I was tired but nothing really hurt, the crowds started to get thicker and then the heavens opened and the rain started, but I didn't care I was on target to finish under 3:45 and I just needed to keep going and if possible speed up.

My only grumble is that my garmin and the mile markers didn't seem to want to sync up, so as my watch clicked over to 26.2 miles I was still 0.24 miles away from the finish…….GFA was still on the cards but there was no taking my foot off the gas, I  had to keep going as we turned on the to the grass I could see the finish gantry and clock, time was clicking down and my legs where feeling really heavy but there was no stopping… my mantra “just keep going” “keep going!”

With a small raise of my hand I made it over the finish and my official time 3:43:28! Looking at my photos on the home stretch it’s easy to see how tired I was, tired but elated. As I made my way out of the finishers enclosure Sean was there waiting for me, a little soggy around the edges but a very welcome sight, he congratulated on my time and my finish.

My words to him “now I have achieved a London GFA and Boston Qualifier, I never want to run a marathon again!!” Oh yes and I did remember my bra ;o)

Stats

Edinburgh on my mind

Since my Manchester marathon Edinburgh has been on my mind; 

"will I get a good for age time, how can I change my training to improve my time by 2:30 minutes"

I developed my training plans and reflected on my experiences from last year and I hoped that my fitness from Manchester would sustain me through. I was aiming to change my diet to help drop a few pounds and turn me in to a fat burning machine, however with Madrid half marathon in the middle it is fair to say that my plans did not go according to plan.

In fact I have really struggled, struggled with finding my pace again after Manchester, struggled with having the energy to run struggled with running under 8:30 minute miling for any length of time and struggled with motivation.

To top that off last week I was floored with a sickness bug which started on Thursday  and I have only just started to feel better (Thursday), the only silver lining to that story was that it helped me to achieve my new racing weight, but it is not a healthy way to do it!!

Now  Edinburgh is on my mind and it's only 3 days and I really don't hold out much hope for getting a good for age qualifying   time for London or Boston which is sub 3:45 however I am going to still run.I am feeling much better and I am going to be using UCAN nutritional supplement that should help with to sustain my running during the marathon and just hope for a good run, I tried it this week just before my last set of reps and it worked well, just tastes usual (lets say!)

The big debate now is Garmin or no Garmin, part of me wants to wear the Garmin for the stat porn but will I beat myself up when I fall off the pace? Although one thing is for sure, this year I will make sure that I pack my running bra! 

Decisions decisions 

Trentham on Tour

Trentham on Tour

This was our motley crew the morning of our trip to Madrid Rock and Roll marathon, it has been a long time in the planning and it was finally here! There were 38 running the race and we had a number of supporters coming  along for the occasion.

  

Our flight passed without a hitch and we were in Madrid 2.5 hours after leaving the sunny shores of Liverpool Airport. Following a detour to the Metro station to collect our travel cards, which is no mean feat when there are forty people to keep track of, but our trusty Trentham on Tour T-shirts helped us keep together, we made our way to the hostel. 

With regards to the days before the race itself, there was an agreement that "what happened in Madrid stayed in Madrid" although having said that here is are the highlights

Hydration is important

Thursday: TOTs descended and caused chaos at our lovely hostel of the weekend, then we found a great Irish bar Blood Brothers which we drank dry of both wine, larger and very nearly rum, needless to say it was a 2:30am return to the hostel!!

Photo bomb

Friday: Morning Run, with a few die hard runners, even with a hangover they were ready for a run at 8am, the obliquity photo bomb!( photo). Expo, bib and t-shirt pick up via a unnecessary detour via the Zoo! Visit and re-hydration stop at the square and then finally the evening activities with far far too much red wine.

Bib pick up

Friday night

Saturday: Very much a quieter day  mainly due to my massive hangover, Sean and I had wander round Madrid and finally got served at the HARD ROCK Café and finally I started to feel like me again around 4:30pm in the afternoon. 

Some of the group had also managed to get tickets for a little game that was taking place locally ;o). For Sean and I it was back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of Trentham crew and more party games, but very much dryer and more civilized  than the night before!

Madrid the run itself

For some strange reason this year is have really become very lax in my research and pre-race prep, I had not looked at the course elevation, or even where the start and finish was. So when asked "where are we starting and finishing" I would waved my hand in the general direction of over there! But safe in the knowledge that as with any large scale race you know how to get to the start by following the masses and this was no different.

Green Army ready for duty

One of our group was going to be running in the 10k and was focused on getting a good time, so much so he left well before we made it down for breakfast to get in to his pen and also in the zone! As we wondered past the start we saw him and yelled like lunatics until he acknowledge us,  thus undoing all of his mental preparation (oh well), he still looked focus and was in a good position as the gun went off.  He also finished 35th overall and 1st Brit home.

Lets rock and roll

After we saw him off we wondered down to our own pens, this's is where we all got a little more split up but the majority of the army girls & boys were together. Once we we in our pen there was an attempt made to look for our missing friends, much to the joy of our fellow runners. 

someone embarrassed?

Once Jodie's cheeks had calmed down, we waited for the gun and then we were off....well we were eventually, you never really get over the line that quickly and with having both marathoners and half marathoners starting together there we over 22,000 people crossings the starting line.  We were all in high jinx, which was my downfall as 0.25miles into the race I fell over! I would like to say that I commando rolled and jumped back up unscathed but it would be a lie.  I did fall straight on to my knees and elbow which was an attempt to save both my face and my camera, oh my poor poor knees :o(

My race strategy had always been to enjoy the race, I was not going to time, with this in mind and my previous struggles with my performance since Manchester I had made a mental note to run with Emily and accompany her around the route (regardless to whether she wanted company or not!).  Both Emily and I could not understand why we were finding the 1st 3 miles so tough, were we that unfit? had the drinking taken that much of a told on our bodies? should we give it all up and find a bar?

Fortunately we there was a water station looming on the horizon so after hydrating it felt a little easier and we agreed that we would carry on to the finish as we were now already quarter of the way through the race and with mile 4 coming up shortly we would soon be third of the way through the race, which always helps.

Emily on the run

The rest of the race went with out a incident, especially as Emily kept highlighting all of the pot holes in my path to make sure I avoided these and remained vertical for the rest of the run.

We soon approached the end of the race and there is a cruel trick, they had something that looked like a  finish gantry which made you think it is within touching distance and the you have to turn right, now that is MEAN. 

After that disappointment the finish seems to take ages but it was approaching and both Emily and I enjoyed the crowd support and seeing our friends in the crowds lining the finish runway.   With a finish time of 2:18 it was a personal worse in terms of times but personal best in terms of enjoyment and have a fab run, thanks Emily.

So soon met up with the others for a team photos and hearing about how everyone's run had gone, not forgetting we still had some fellow runners out there both finishing the half and the full marathon.

Say Cheese Green Army on Tour

I went back to the finish straight to wait for Sean to finish and the others went off to find hydration and a much needed sit down, but they were soon back to see the others finish too.

Once everyone had finished we wondered back to the hostel for a quick shower and change before heading off for more hydration at our new found gem 'euro bar' . Later that night we had a celebratory meal at Italian buffet were Emily and I found out that the 1st 3 miles were all up hill, ah all makes perfect sense now! 

And after

It wasn't long until we were preparing for the journey back to blightly, interestingly the journey back was a lot more subdued that the journey out! Not surprisingly as there was a lot of very tired and possibly up hungover people, in addition to the realisation that the fun was over and we need to head off back to our lives and jobs :o(

 

Where next! LISBON

However one of the main topic of discussion was what next.....Lisbon 2015 watch out we could be very well on our way to see you