Run > Race

Spur-of-the-moment first marathon - 3:22:29 ... how did that happen?

Well, I had a long run planned for today, but it was such a beautiful morning and I was feeling pretty good and I had a Manchester Marathon entry - so what the hell? Why not run it and see how far I could get? With only 10 days of training after the injury, no distance in the legs, no nutrition plan and a fastish run yesterday, I wasn't likely to finish. But if I kept at a steady 8:15 - 8:30/mile, it probably wouldn't do any harm. The decision was made an hour before the start.

Somehow running in a pack makes everything easier. I was putting in no real effort but found myself hitting 7:30/mile. Then there was a problem at mile 2 - a little thigh strain that I'd noticed yesterday, and it gradually got more intense till by mile 4 I thought I'd probably need to retire really early. But I tried easing off a little and shortening the stride. And then the 3:15 pacer and his tribe came thundering past, and I was distracted for a while seeing if I could keep them in sight. I did for several miles, and the strain gradually disappeared.

And I found myself comfortably churning out the miles, rewarding myself with jelly babies, taking on plenty of water, a couple of gels. And the pace stayed the same - all the way up till around mile 17, when I found myself slowing. Never hitting the wall, but definitely feeling the lack of distance training.

Maybe because I hadn't planned on doing this, it took the pressure off. I wasn't worried about the time, just keeping the cadence and the heart-rate consistent - but when I got to the line, 3:22:29 was better than I could possibly have expected. 3rd in my age group ... and this was a qualifier for an England team (the top 5 qualify) to run the Chester marathon in the autumn. So it looks like I'll have to run another this year - how am I going to plan my training now?

Split Summary
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1) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 145/150bpm 107cal 7.97/8.25mph
2) 1m - 7:30(7:30/m) 147/154bpm 109cal 7.99/8.41mph
3) 1m - 7:28(7:28/m) 141/144bpm 103cal 8.04/8.31mph
4) 1m - 7:29(7:29/m) 138/144bpm 100cal 8.01/8.41mph
5) 1m - 7:28(7:28/m) 138/143bpm 100cal 8.03/8.2mph
6) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 142/146bpm 102cal 8.12/8.35mph
7) 1m - 7:28(7:28/m) 143/151bpm 104cal 8.04/8.54mph
8) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 143/151bpm 102cal 8.13/8.35mph
9) 1m - 7:25(7:25/m) 142/149bpm 101cal 8.08/8.29mph
10) 1m - 7:26(7:26/m) 142/145bpm 99cal 8.07/8.29mph
11) 1m - 7:25(7:25/m) 142/147bpm 98cal 8.09/8.41mph
12) 1m - 7:26(7:26/m) 143/147bpm 98cal 8.08/8.2mph
13) 1m - 7:23(7:23/m) 142/147bpm 96cal 8.13/8.6mph
14) 1m - 7:30(7:30/m) 144/147bpm 99cal 8/8.52mph
15) 1m - 7:34(7:34/m) 142/145bpm 98cal 7.93/8.2mph
16) 1m - 7:32(7:32/m) 142/147bpm 96cal 7.96/8.27mph
17) 1m - 7:37(7:37/m) 141/145bpm 92cal 7.88/8.1mph
18) 1m - 7:43(7:43/m) 142/145bpm 93cal 7.78/8.08mph
19) 1m - 7:59(7:59/m) 140/145bpm 89cal 7.52/8.01mph
20) 1m - 7:53(7:53/m) 140/143bpm 88cal 7.62/7.78mph
21) 1m - 7:56(7:56/m) 141/145bpm 94cal 7.57/7.76mph
22) 1m - 8:11(8:11/m) 141/144bpm 95cal 7.34/7.68mph
23) 1m - 8:17(8:17/m) 143/148bpm 102cal 7.25/7.74mph
24) 1m - 8:08(8:08/m) 145/152bpm 106cal 7.38/7.72mph
25) 1m - 8:23(8:23/m) 144/149bpm 107cal 7.15/7.37mph
26) 1m - 8:25(8:25/m) 144/148bpm 107cal 7.14/7.39mph
27) 0.35m - 3:17(9:26/m) 147/178bpm 43cal 6.36/7.35mph