I wrote this blog post on the plane back from the Berlin marathon four months ago…… just got around to submitting it!
what a lovely race it was…. flat, beautiful city, perfect warm temperature (although many did complain it was too hot, I guess I’m solar powered!) and fairly well organised… I say fairly well, as I had only two gripes:
Gripe #1 not enough toilets! I know this is the case in so many marathons, but the lack of provision was noticeable… if it weren’t for a friendly clump of trees near the start I would have been caught out badly on the course….
Gripe #2 a 20 minute wait at the finish to collect our medals, and all of us were suffering!
on a POSITIVE note (and getting to the point!), my finish time was 3:50 which was respectable considering I only did one long run of 20 miles, and even that was with a break of half an hour after ten miles due to the fact I fell over on vauxhall bridge! With proper training I only normally do 15 minutes faster, so why did I do ok despite lack of training?
By sticking to a schedule there are three possible outcomes…..
either…. the schedule is perfect for you, you train beautifully and run a great race…
or…. the schedule is too intense for you and you get injured 6-8 weeks before the race…
or….. the schedule is too long and you peak too early (normally 4-5 weeks before the race) and so even despite a taper you end up on the start line too tired…..
the fact that 6 weeks before the marathon i normally feel in perfect form for running the race makes me think that my normal marathon training schedule must be too long for me, making me peak too early and be on suboptimal form on the day….
so the moral of the story is….. the trick to a good strong marathon is not to go hell bent on a massively punishing schedule but to time your training so you peak on marathon day, not a moment sooner….
