Training Log Archive: devil

The marathon I entered instead of the 6FT - so in honour of that I got out the gramps army kit for the run. Was going to carry gels in a waist belt but decided against it at the last minute and went for holding them in my hands robw style. Met Nick at the start and we decided to go with the plan of aiming for sub 2.45 and running at about 3.50 min/k pace. We went very steady off the start and then spent the next few km passing everyone who'd done the big sprint then died. Constable frogga kept popping up all over the place around parliament house, and I had to explain to Nick why people kept shouting 'devil' at us. It was hard to get an even pace as there are quite a few little climbs even after the big one round parliament house. I started taking on gels at 10km, then another at 15 and 20. I think this was too much as my guts started feeling a bit tight around about then. We went through the half at about 82 min (I missed the actual point) which was pretty much on schedule and I was feeling good. After the start of the second lap it seemed that nick was going well and the pace seemed to lift a bit and I dropped from running next to him to behind. Round here we overtook the lead girl and a rather errant bike that was meant to be leading her. Lost contact with nick at the 30k drinks where I had my last gel then stopped for a moment to grab another. I kept nick in sight and turned 100m back at glenloch. I knew I'd slowed a bit but the little inclines around glenloch and over the lake meant that my speed wasn't so consistent. The last 5km or so got pretty hard - the lack of road running was starting to show so I was quite pleased that I was still managing to keep close to 4 minute kms. Got overtaken by 3 runners towards the end but couldn't lift to go with them. I was very relieved to see frogga and robw directing me up to telopea park - I suspect I was not looking to flash at that stage. A bit disappointed not to get under 2.45, but still a 13 min improvement on 2007 which I'm happy to take.

C • nice 11