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Wetdog said:
Good luck to those running the Melbourne Marathon. Look forward to hearing your experience!
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Was brutal.

More later... need a shower and sleep now after a long day.
 
As per MB, was brutal!

I had 3:30 pacing duties, and it was such a great experience, people happy to chat and ask questions, and you feel more like you’re running to support others rather than for yourself. But that wind and direct sun meant being really careful to take on enough fluids and making sure everyone else did. We crossed the finish line at 3:29:18 gun time, with pretty even splits throughout. Would definitely do it again, able to use the MCG players change rooms and showers straight after was a nice bonus!
 

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Ok so my day.... 2nd mara after doing the same event in 2016 in 3:40ish. Have done a lot more running since then and was confident I was going to be significantly better than that. The question was by how much.

Thought 3:10 was a reasonable goal (approx 4:30 min/km pace) albeit perhaps slightly ambitious. If I could get anywhere near or under that I'd have been over the moon but was thinking 3:15 was very doable and sub 3:20 would be worse case scenario.

As it is I ran 3:21:44 - a funny thing. A massive improvement on 2016 but still leaving me feeling slightly disappointed.

I got to 30km around the 2:15 mark which was right on target pace of 4:30 min/km but that last 5km had been hurting a lot and was the slowest to that point in about 23:30 (4:42 average). I knew at that point, and probably 5-10km earlier if I'm being honest, that I was going to battle to come in under 3:10 but was confident that I could hold around or just under a 5 minute average pace from that point and be somewhere either side of 3:15

Unfortunately that final 12.2km was in 5:29 average pace. Most of those kms were slightly over/under 5:00 min pace but I had a few where I just had to walk for fear of complete melt down.

I got through km 31-34 in 19:33 (4:53 average) but was almost at the point of pulling out then. Legs were wobbling, head was spinning and the heat was getting to me. At some point during km 35 I slowed to a walk. At that point I was pretty gutted as I couldn't see myself getting going again and imagined I was walking in the last 8km. Happy to say after probably 2 minutes walking I gained enough composure to get going again and finished the km in a slow 6:53.... however I managed a bit of a fightback going 4:50, 5:07, 5:03, 5:16 over the next 4 kms and with 3-4kms to go still thought I had a sub 3:20 in me. However 2 more shorter walk spells were to come as I just couldn't hold up. The legs felt like they were going from under me. The 40th km was about a 5:45 and while I got through 41 and 42 slightly under 5 min kms again the walk stops had done the damage and those few minutes walking pushed me out beyond the time I was hoping to come under. Didn't miss by much and the conditions were tough enough that in hindsight I shouldn't be too disappointed. More or less all the guys from my running group blew out from their target times from between 10-25 minutes.

The lap of the G wasn't as good as last time as I really struggled to the line and more or less went straight to ground after I passed the finish line. Had wobbles badly.... blurred vision. Could barely walk. As soon as they sat me down under the G I was falling asleep (passing out??). A bloke from my group plus another guy were filling me with fluids and trying to keep me awake: in the end they got medics and wheelchair and took me to medic area and monitored me for a while. Had heaps of fluids all day and even more after but still pissed dark brown in shower at about 5 hours later. They basically monitored me for 30-45 minutes before I had the composure to be gathered up by friends and leave of my own accord. No diagnosis of anything particular but I guess some heat stroke and dehydration??
 
Wow MB, that is quite a read and congrats on toughing it out given the obvious physical duress you were under.

I had 4 mates all going for sub 3 (and based on training they were all more than capable, and had sub 3’d previously). End result for all 4 was 3:08 (after a 1:27 first half), 3:14, 3:18 and 3:31. All suffered big time. Reckon your effort was bloody impressive. That sun and wind was energy sapping. I did see the first aid treatment area under the G, it was packed, didn’t know you were one of them. Saw one poor bloke in the gutter on St Kilda Road on the final push north and he was lying on his side vomiting everywhere. He had a couple of people helping him. Tough day, really similar to 2016. Over my 9 MM’s I reckon the weather has been favourable about 50% of the time.

Anyway well done, a marathon hard earned and much respect for grinding that one out.
 
Thanks Jonnoo.

Yeah my 2nd half was exactly 12 minutes slower than the first - 1:34:47 v 1:46:47. Doesn't surprise me at all that others were suffering and fading too. At the time I was really disappointed that I couldn't hold a better second half time, even with the expectation it would be slower to some degree.

But like you I had some friends of similar or better ability than me who also faded badly after solid starts.

1. Aim was 2:55 - finished 3:08
2. Aim was 3:02 - finished 3:20
3. Aim was 3:15 - finished 3:41

Not sure I love the mara enough to do them year after year so I guess the disappointment is partly to do with feeling really confident I can do a better time but not knowing if I can gather the motivation to put in the work to do any/many more and prove it. However in terms of this particular race I know I spent all I had and putting it in context with the results of others in the conditions is still a pretty good effort.
 
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Seeing those people in the gutter being attended to is really confronting actually. I remember the previous time in 2016 it really shook me as I had a ways to go still and was in unfamiliar territory. I hadn't even considered those types of consequences going in to the race. I was more prepared for it this time but I must admit my walking sections were in part from a fear of face planting myself without any control. Didn't like doing it and who knows how I would have held up if I didn't but my gut was telling me I just had to take the break.

Obviously it doesn't matter where those people have an episode but my heart aches for the poor buggers who go down right outside the ground with the finish line so close.
 
Amazing, MinerBoy. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats. You did very well. Sometimes the conditions just don't suit and you need to re-adjust your expectations.

Why don't they hold the MM a month or 6 weeks earlier? Much less likely to get hot windy conditions.

They should host it on the weekend before the finals start.
 
Wetdog said:
Amazing, MinerBoy. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats. You did very well. Sometimes the conditions just don't suit and you need to re-adjust your expectations.

Why don't they hold the MM a month or 6 weeks earlier? Much less likely to get hot windy conditions.

They should host it on the weekend before the finals start.
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Thats actually a pretty good idea to hold it in that week off before the finals. I've never run it but surely the impact on the G is minimal.
 
Milang_Panthers said:
Thats actually a pretty good idea to hold it in that week off before the finals. I've never run it but surely the impact on the G is minimal.
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Hmmm hard to say. That's a heck of a lot of people on the ground over the course of the day with the matting tracks and scaffolding finish line area etc.... I thought the timing was a good idea too but now you've mentioned the actual traffic on the oval I think the impact actually might be reasonably significant.
 
MinerBoy said:
Hmmm hard to say. That's a heck of a lot of people on the ground over the course of the day with the matting tracks and scaffolding finish line area etc.... I thought the timing was a good idea too but now you've mentioned the actual traffic on the oval I think the impact actually might be reasonably significant.
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Yeah that was my only worry. Of course you could hold MM earlier than it currently is but it would mean giving up having the finish on the MCG, which is probably the main draw card.
 
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My dream marathon atm is Adelaide Marathon finishing on the Adelaide Oval (my favourite place in the whole world). They hold it in May but obviously its a much smaller race and everyone runs along the astroturf around the outside of the ground so no impact on the field of play.

Just need people to stop having weddings whenever the race is on so i can actually run it :p
 

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To put it bluntly I had a pathetically horrible day. Basically was with the 4 hour group at 18km, then it felt like someone pulled the plug on my energy for 10km. Then took a tumble heading towards the underpass on the shoulder that I damaged earlier in the year (came through largely unscathed). No amount of consoling will make this feel any better to be honest.

The only consolation apart from MM finish #6 is that I'm back on the horse next week in Auckland, and I managed to get the Comrades entry lodged (less than 10000 spots remain barely 48 hours after entries opened). Now I just have to run the qualifier which is now a sub 4:50 as opposed to a sub 5:00 (or a sub 5:40 50km if it gets that far). Again I'm looking at trying to get sub 4:20 and conditions across the ditch next week appear to be more favourable.
 
stmookeyj said:
To put it bluntly I had a pathetically horrible day. Basically was with the 4 hour group at 18km, then it felt like someone pulled the plug on my energy for 10km. Then took a tumble heading towards the underpass on the shoulder that I damaged earlier in the year (came through largely unscathed). No amount of consoling will make this feel any better to be honest.

The only consolation apart from MM finish #6 is that I'm back on the horse next week in Auckland, and I managed to get the Comrades entry lodged (less than 10000 spots remain barely 48 hours after entries opened). Now I just have to run the qualifier which is now a sub 4:50 as opposed to a sub 5:00 (or a sub 5:40 50km if it gets that far). Again I'm looking at trying to get sub 4:20 and conditions across the ditch next week appear to be more favourable.
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Sorry to hear that.

Sometimes it doesn't matter what anyone says to you after a bad running experience. You just need to get back out there and the rest will take care of itself!

Good luck in Auckland. Let us know how you get on.
 
Bit better in Auckland, getting in at 4:34. Kept up with the 4:15 group for about 24km but a combination of the short backup from Melbourne, a horrid night's sleep the night before (2 hours, had to get up early to pack up room and get to the ferry on time) and the many rolling hills/bridges that comprised the first 17km or so took a toll. Weather started out a bit ordinary (drizzle at the start, sunglasses fogged up early) but turned out to be a reasonably nice day.

The qualifier for Comrades is now secure (still in G pen at this stage, that qualifier reduced from 4:40 to 4:35 with the overall time reduction to 4:50 from 5:00), so it's fun next weekend at Point to Pinnacle and rest for a while until resuming training on January 1. Still to formalise the schedule for next year but it's looking like something similar to this year (Wangaratta Half, Port Macquarie Breakwall Buster which is a half+10+5 in the one day, Canberra Ultra, Wings for Life, local River Run). Was half thinking about doing Rotorua which is on a Saturday then backing up for Wings for Life in Melbourne but the flights would have made this logistically impossible (a 5PM arrival in Melbourne, then having to get from Tullamarine to Kooyong in a couple of hours in time to check in). It's an UP run again this year with a bigger field (25000) so everything's going to be put into it to the extent where I'm giving up playing footy for a year at least.
 
Completed last Half for this year last week and setting up my event calendar for next year. I’m have decided that at 47 it’s now or never to do a full marathon. The half is just too “comfortable” for me. So I signed up for the full San Fran marathon in July. If it goes to plan, then I will do next year’s NYC full as well. I’m basically not going to race anything less than a half anymore.

I also plan on doing more trail based half’s. These are definitely more intense than road races.

I am cranking up regular weekly kms. I was doing around 50-60kms. Now I’m hitting around 80kms.

I love running so much! It’s not even about the PB’s anymore (although they are great to get). I cannot go to sleep at night without having run during the day. I have run every day this year. Outside running is obviously the best, but I will hit a treadmill for 5k to get my running fix.
 
Now that Point to Pinnacle is complete for another year (2:55, not that the time is a concern for me, former Lions player James Polkinghorne was just outside 2:00) time to look at next year. Got most things planned until July.

FEBRUARY 24: Wangaratta (waiting to see if the full is able to be used to upgrade Comrades seeding. If so I'll enter the full, if not I'll enter the half)
MARCH 10: Port Macquarie Treble Breakwall Buster (21.1, then 10, then 5, hopefully this year I won't have an unscheduled stop that cost me 10 minutes in a porta loo and all momentum in running)
APRIL 14: Canberra Ultra (HOPEFULLY THEY SEND US THE RIGHT WAY THIS TIME!)
APRIL 28: Either doing a pair of half marathons on the same day with a Gold Coast half marathon based around Robina in the morning and the Twilight Run around UQ that night, OR the Cairns Marathon being run for the first time (they've had marathons in Cairns before, but they were part of a 3 marathons in 3 days event).
MAY 5: Wings for Life (more practice on motorways, more important on the UP run as the bulk of the first half is run on motorways instead of on major roads)
MAY 26: Rocky River Run (Half Marathon, last substantial run before Comrades)
JUNE 9: Comrades UP RUN (Durban-PMB)
JULY 7: Gold Coast Marathon

The second half will largely depend on how/if the qualifying procedure for Comrades changes further. Next year they're allocating 7000 spots for novices (1st time runners) but they have to run the Q time before entering where the other 16000 (just how we'll fit on the PMB roads is anyone's guess) at this stage simply have to enter and qualify later. If everyone has to qualify before entering I'll probably look at doing all 3 of Perth City to Surf (which was the first day of Qualifying this year), Sydney (definitely doing the half in any case and if it's still the normal entry procedure I'll only do the half) and Melbourne (looking at finish #7). Won't be doing Auckland next year because that's a week after Melbourne and I doubt I'll be able to back up for 2 in 2 weeks.

Did consider doing the Darwin City to Surf (12km, June 2) on the way to Comrades but the footy fixture put paid to that (Eagles vs Dogs in Perth, now looking to book flights from Brisbane that Sunday with a long stopover in Perth before heading to Cape Town for a couple of nights). Was considering doing Rotorua on May 4 then backing up for Wings for Life but the lack of flights that get back to Melbourne without having to panic about making WFL (earliest arrival into MEL is 5PM, have to be registered in Malvern by 8PM, consider that I'll have to clear customs, head into the city, either use a locker at Southern Cross or check into an inner city motel, then head to Kooyong station and walk a couple of kms). Will be entering the ballot for Tokyo yet again and will also consider doing Queenstown. Will be looking at other OS marathons around NZ or Asia for 2020.
 
Podcasts.... does anyone listen to them while running (or driving)?

Throw your recommendations in, running related or otherwise.

I'll start with:-

  • Inside Running podcast
  • Howie Games

What else have you guys got?
 
Inside running is the best.

Runners Chats is pretty good too - Melbourne focus, S02 E16 with Tegyn Angel is a good listen.
 
Hit the trails for the first time (in a race) today. Signed up for 45k but they give you the option to drop back to the 15 or 30k at anytime if you want which was good as most of us are doing a 46k race in 2 weeks time, so I dropped back to 30k when the temp got above 30 degrees before 10am. So much fun i dont know how im going to ever do a road marathon again to be honest.
 
stmookeyj said:
APRIL 28: Either doing a pair of half marathons on the same day with a Gold Coast half marathon based around Robina in the morning and the Twilight Run around UQ that night, OR the Cairns Marathon being run for the first time (they've had marathons in Cairns before, but they were part of a 3 marathons in 3 days event).
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I can confirm that I'll be heading north to Cairns, on the advice of others who feel getting the kilometres in one hit would be easier to manage.
 
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