Run > Race

Lochaber Marathon 2010 race. I'm absolutely delighted with the way the race turned out. The plan was to run 7.50s most of the way and try and hit 3.25 but really I was just hoping for anything under 3.30. To surpass even the 3.25 is just great. I felt strong and pretty fresh the whole race. I even wonder now if I could have gone a bit faster in the last few miles but no complaints.

We started off as planned nice and steady for the first 3-4 miles, just under 8s. Andy pulled away a little bit but me and Ewan let him go and held back. The 3 of us then ran together between 4 and round about 8-9 when Stuart from Clydesdale Harriers joined our group. Some good chat with him and having 4 of us seemed to push the pace on nicely, definitely got a bit faster from that point on. He was aiming for 3.25ish too so we settled into a group taking turns at setting the pace. Hit the half way point in 1.42 and felt pretty comfortable.

13-17 passed along nicely with an average pace of 7.45. At this point we were passing quite a few other runners and we didn't get passed a single time after the turn. Sometime round about 17 or 18 Ewan upped the pace and we stayed with him at first, but when I saw we'd just run a 7.30 mile I decided not to try and go with him. I still felt good but with 8 miles to go I felt it was a little risky to up the pace by 15s per mile and risk burning out. So at this point we splintered; Ewan hit the front, Stuart and I stayed together and Andy suffering from cramp in his calves dropped back a little. Stuart was then quite reliant on me for pacing and timing so that kept me focused on the task in hand. We passed 20 miles in 2.34 and I knew that barring disaster sub 3.30 was guaranteed. Stuart started to struggle a wee bit, especially on the hill at Corpach but I felt fine so tried to encourage him as much as possible. He said to me to go for it and leave him at 23 miles - part of me felt I could step it up and chase after Ewan but I was glad of his company and so instead tried to keep him with me. Miles 23 and 25 were a little slower but he kept it together brilliantly when I could see he was suffering. Finally at 25.5 after the last wee climb he told me to go and so I sprinted off for the finish line. Legs were heavy in the last few miles but I did feel strong at the end.

So back in 1.40 and passing people all the way in was great. The training and the tactics of pushing harder in the 2nd half really paid off. I've never felt this good late in a marathon before. Ewan ran 7.30s from 18-26 to finish 2 minutes ahead - brilliant! Hopefully 3.15 is now a tangible possibility.

Split Summary

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1) - 1m - 7:51(7:51/m) - 139cal

2) - 1m - 7:52(7:52/m) - 141cal

3) - 1m - 7:42(7:42/m) - 143cal

4) - 1m - 7:35(7:35/m) - 142cal

5) - 1m - 7:51(7:51/m) - 143cal

6) - 1m - 7:51(7:51/m) - 142cal

7) - 1m - 7:50(7:50/m) - 142cal

8) - 1m - 7:50(7:50/m) - 143cal

9) - 1m - 7:49(7:49/m) - 142cal

10) - 1m - 7:40(7:40/m) - 143cal

11) - 1m - 7:47(7:47/m) - 142cal

12) - 1m - 7:45(7:45/m) - 142cal

13) - 1m - 7:44(7:44/m) - 143cal

14) - 1m - 7:37(7:37/m) - 143cal

15) - 1m - 7:45(7:45/m) - 142cal

16) - 1m - 7:44(7:44/m) - 142cal

17) - 1m - 7:43(7:43/m) - 142cal

18) - 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) - 143cal

19) - 1m - 7:40(7:40/m) - 142cal

20) - 1m - 7:42(7:42/m) - 143cal

21) - 1m - 7:37(7:37/m) - 142cal

22) - 1m - 7:39(7:39/m) - 143cal

23) - 1m - 7:48(7:48/m) - 142cal

24) - 1m - 7:37(7:37/m) - 143cal

25) - 1m - 7:47(7:47/m) - 142cal

26) - 1m - 7:29(7:29/m) - 141cal

27) - 0.28m - 1:42(6:06/m) - 36cal

Pace Zone Summary

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Pace Zone: 6:40-6:59/mile: 1.9%

Pace Zone: 7:00-7:19/mile: 9.5%

Pace Zone: 7:20-7:39/mile: 28.9%

Pace Zone: 7:40-7:59/mile: 36%

Pace Zone: 8:00-8:19/mile: 16.1%

Pace Zone: 8:20-8:39/mile: 4.1%

Pace Zone: 8:40-8:59/mile: 1.2%