The Dorney Marathon: How I ran 2:28 off 75km a week
With one of my main targets for 2021 being to break the record riding and running the national Three Peaks, I wanted to set myself a running-focussed goal to act as a stepping stone in the lead up to the record attempt in June. Discussing plans with Coach Brad in January, we decided that a marathon would work well. This would give me about 10 weeks of training, just enough time to build up from the 30km a week or so that I had been running previously. Not having raced a marathon since I was 18, I was confident that I would be able to better my time of 3:23. However, I didn’t have a clear goal other than to get a time that would give me a ‘good-for-age’ entry to any events I might want to enter in the future.
A few key stats in the 10 weeks prior to the race:
Mean weekly training time: 14.5 hours
Mean weekly TSS: 717
Mean weekly run distance: 74km
Mean weekly run time: 6 hours
Mean running pace 4:55 min/km
Peak weekly run distance 89km
Longest training run 45km
Mean weekly bike time: 8.5 hours
Number of days completely off: 0
One of the highlights here is that most of my time was still spent on the bike, and that the vast majority of miles were run at a very steady pace. A typical week for me would include 3/4 1 hour easy runs, 1/2 short running sets, such as fartlek or pyramids, and then either a long slow run or some long marathon pace work. This was on top of the bike training. As I had been out of the running game for a while, most of my training was based on feel and time rather than distance. The odd exceptions were the marathon pace intervals where I was trying to hit time-specific targets. Generally this works well for multisport athletes.
To cut a long story short: I got quite fast, quite quickly. I’m sure that all the riding over the last couple of years must have helped; that and losing the 5kg that I had put on since eating my sorrows away post-GBDURO with marzipan. The week before the race, I had a call with Coach Brad and we decided that we would target a sub 2:30, something that only two months ago seemed worlds away. The training runs evidenced the possibility of achieving this, yet I still had no idea how it would play out once I got going. One significant distraction was that Meg and I had just bought our first house on Monday and we were still trying to work out where everything was from the move. Luckily I had put my race kit aside so I knew where to find it. I went for the DHB Aeron short sleeve run top and Aeron run 5” liner shorts, which were essential as thigh chafing has always been a problem for me and so a liner is a must. I also got myself a pair of ridiculous Nike Alphalfy Next% shoes second hand from Ebay. These were obscenely fast, although they did give me blisters, but on balance it was worth it.
The night before race day we loaded up on pasta and Rawvelo drink mix to pre-hydrate and were in bed by 9. I slept surprisingly well and was up at 5 getting my first coffee in for three weeks (all about those marginal gains). Not long later we were at Dorney lake and pinning our numbers on. A pre-race poo, a handful of ProPlus and a Blueberry and Hibiscus Rawvelo gel later and we were off. It was a rolling start and I wasn't anywhere near the front so spent the first few km gradually passing people. It was a typical windy day at the lake so I did my best to settle into a bit of a pack, but after 15km or so it broke apart and I was on my lonesome. I let the leader take a 30s gap on me and held it there. Still feeling really strong, the HM was split in 72:45 and the pace was held comfortably upon starting the 4th and final lap. At this point, however, I started to up the pace by a couple of seconds per km and try to claw the leader back in; succeeding in slowly winding him back and reducing the gap to around 20s with around 7 km to go. It was at this point that things started to get progressively harder at an alarming rate. I struggled to hold the pace and, with 5km to go, I entered limp mode; stomach cramps started yet I was confident that if I kept going I would hit the target. 3km from the finish I was passed by two runners who flew past and I was only able to hold onto them for 10s or so before my legs gave out. I stuck at it and mustered a tiny bit of energy for the finish but I was truly empty. Collapsing on the ground at the finish line and endured 5 mins in a shivering state in the medic’s tent… Some things never change.
The point at which it started hurting…
My immediate thought following the race was how short it felt; I’m used to racing for multiple days at a time so a few hours passed in the blink of an eye. Other than that, reflections were mixed: I had hit a good time that I had no right not to be over the moon with, but I was still a little bit annoyed by what felt like a monumental drop off over the last 5km. I was kicking myself for not taking a third gel when entering the last lap; I had carried it with me but just didn't fancy it as there was only 35mins or so left. It didn’t take long, however, for these feelings to subside and the proper joy to set in. Closer inspection of my data file showed that the bonk wasn’t as bad as I had thought and that I “only” dropped 20-30s per km and lost myself around 2 mins overall. One discrepancy which got to me was the fact that my Garmin measured the distance 350m long. As the course was certified it was more likely to be an issue on my end, but that was over a minute that my pacing was off by, so I was glad that I had a bit of a buffer. Is this a normal thing?
These last few days I have been thinking a lot about what's next for me. I have really enjoyed my running over the last few month, both in the variety it brings to my training and the events themselves. My goals for 2021 remain unchanged: the Three Peaks record and then GBDURO. I will also try to include some other races here and there and may get back into some ultra running. The question that still remains is how fast could I go in a marathon with some more time allocated for specific training? Who’s to say, only time may tell.