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Abingdon Marathon 2018 race report:
Way back in December last year, I entered Snowdonia Marathon as my Autumn 2018 goal. It remains my favourite marathon of all time, and I will certainly return to it; however, the heat of London 2018 put paid to any hopes of a fast time (3:00:00…), and so I decided to do Abingdon instead. I was motivated, enjoying training and able to steadily increase mileage. Since London, I have run 15 70M+ weeks, 6 80M+ and peaked at 87M. For long runs, there have been 13 20M+, including 2 x 24 and a 23. I followed all 15 BAC sessions, really enjoying these longer tempo sessions – a real foundation of each week’s training. For the three weeks leading into the race I really focused on eating – primarily stopping overeating after dinner. I felt lean and ready to race.

The weather looked pretty ideal, with temperatures from about 8C and misty at the start, not much wind, through to about 13C and sunny by the end. The 9am start really helped in this regard. If it had started at 10.30, a la VLM, there would have been a lot more running in the warmer weather. I had a nice chat with Jooligan – I had forgotten how tall you were! We agreed it was a great day for it. Sorry not to stick around for a beer in the end.

Manual split on mile marker, garmin pace, mean mile HR, peak mile HR
Mile 1 – 5: 6:40, 6:34, 145/156
6:06, 6:07, 154/159
6:22, 6:25, 151/161
6:27, 6:29, 152/158
6:21, 6:26, 155/158
The race begins with 300m around the track. In retrospect, I positioned myself slightly too far back. This resulted in more overtaking than necessary early on, and I missed a group that would have been very useful to run with. I was surprised my first mile was 6:40, I was hoping for 6:20-25. I then overcompensated with a 6:06 second mile. Whoops – although it is downhill. I wonder about the impact of this. As you’ll see above, the garmin pace wasn’t as severe as this – I should perhaps have had this likelihood in mind.

Miles 6-10: 6:17, 6:18, 156/161
6:28, 6:29, 157/162
6:25, 6:26, 156/161
6:22, 6:22, 155/161
6:27, 6:25, 156/160
I did then manage to settle into a nice rhythm of about 6:26s once we were on the quieter roads and paths. I had my planned gels at 5, 10, 15, 20M, with a whopping 100mg of caffeine in each. I had used these on three key training runs so was confident they’d work well for me. That sat well and I seemed to remain focused at alert. They are the larger variety that contain liquid. As I wasn’t thirsty, I didn’t take any water in on the course.
Miles 11-16: 6:10, 6:16, 159/163
6:22, 6:27, 157/161
6:15, 6:18, 158/161
HALF WAY: 1:23:32
6:30, 6:26, 160/163
(15 & 16 – missed the mile marker) 13:08, 6:33, 160/165
At mile 10 you enter the business park for the first time. It takes a lot of flak for being boring, but I don’t mind it – reasonably attractive for a business park, wide, quiet and good quality roads and I had the genuinely unexpected excitement of seeing my wife and daughter. They didn’t travel up with me so it was a real surprise and boost. My HR went up and I definitely sped up for the next mile. Probably not a good thing! I went through half way in 1:23:32. Whilst this is obviously too fast for an even paced 2:50, the last two miles of Abingdon are probably the slowest of the lot (twisty, underpass of doom, marginally uphill, a few kerbs to negotiate). I felt reasonable at the half way.
Miles 17-20: 6:30, 6:32, 161/165
6:25, 6:26, 162/165
6:32, 6:32, 163/167
6:25, 6:29, 163/166
I was managing to run about 50% of the time with someone else – but only ever one person at a time. It was frustrating to not get into a group, as I feel this can help so much.

Miles 21 – finish: 6:34, 6:38, 163/166
6:34, 6:37, 164/166
6:40, 6:41, 165/168
6:43, 6:42, 166/168
6:59, 7:04, 167/169
(last 1.2M) 8:47, 7:03, 166/168
FINISH: 2:50:26
As I crossed the 20M point, the sage advice of my father in law came to mind: twenty miles is half way. I thought this with probably 50% smile and 50% grimace on my face. The gradual degradation in pace is, sadly, clear from that point, although 6:31m/m for the last 0.2M. Hardly hitting the wall, but it really was all I had left at this point. I had my final (emergency) gel at 23M and was working bloody hard by this point. Some runners were coming back to me, although some were overtaking. It is not easy through town, with a few twists, pavements and, of course, the underpass of doom. I was mentally a bit soft, and looking back, should have realised that even with two miles to go, I had enough in the bank to make sub 2:50 if I just maintained 6:45s. But my maths failed me. My breathing became very loud in the last mile and the final 300m round the track was like running through treacle. Not looking forward to these photos!
I did my standard collapse over the finish line. The marshals there (and throughout the race) were excellent at looking after me, although I had no interest in the squash they were offering me. After a few minutes of lying down recovery, I managed to collect my t shirt and medal and staggered over to find the family. Understandably, toddlers have no interest in any sympathy for a recent marathon finisher, but did give me a kiss before eyeing up the Mars Bar in the goodie bag.

For the last couple of miles, I had a tinge of failure in my mouth. This slightly detracted from the immediate enjoyment and achievement of the last lap and finishing the race. My wife quite rightly pointed out it was a 1:01 minute PB. Ultimately, I did run a PB and am, therefore by definition, in the shape of my life. I want to take pride in the race, but also a big training block. As I’ve said before, I do love the training, and in years to come, won’t care whether I run a few seconds quicker here or there, especially for an arbitrary time target. A period of reflection is now helping with this.

Questions: how can I go sub 2:50? The weather was perfect on Sunday, and I fear London in 2019, with a very late April date, could be warmer again. Especially for someone training at 5am most mornings. Has the build-up block been too long? Should I race more in the build up? Or would the ability to run with more people in London be sufficiently helpful? I would genuinely appreciate a wide range of views from the thread – there is a wealth of accumulated knowledge between us.

Split Summary
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1) 1.02m - 6:40(6:34/m) 145/156bpm 97cal 9.13/9.33mph
2) 1m - 6:06(6:07/m) 154/159bpm 93cal 9.8/9.96mph
3) 0.99m - 6:22(6:25/m) 151/161bpm 91cal 9.35/9.83mph
4) 0.99m - 6:27(6:29/m) 152/158bpm 93cal 9.25/9.6mph
5) 0.99m - 6:21(6:26/m) 155/158bpm 92cal 9.32/10.79mph
6) 1m - 6:17(6:18/m) 156/161bpm 90cal 9.52/10.46mph
7) 1m - 6:28(6:29/m) 157/162bpm 92cal 9.25/9.68mph
8) 1m - 6:25(6:26/m) 156/161bpm 88cal 9.32/10.5mph
9) 1m - 6:22(6:22/m) 155/161bpm 84cal 9.43/10.44mph
10) 1m - 6:27(6:25/m) 156/160bpm 86cal 9.34/10.04mph
11) 0.98m - 6:10(6:16/m) 159/163bpm 93cal 9.57/9.93mph
12) 0.99m - 6:22(6:27/m) 157/161bpm 84cal 9.29/9.64mph
13) 0.99m - 6:15(6:18/m) 158/161bpm 84cal 9.53/9.79mph
14) 1.01m - 6:30(6:26/m) 160/163bpm 83cal 9.32/9.71mph
15) 1.99m - 13:02(6:33/m) 160/165bpm 167cal 9.15/9.58mph
16) 0.02m - 6(6:39/m) 161/161bpm 1cal 9.03/8.79mph
17) 1m - 6:30(6:32/m) 161/165bpm 76cal 9.19/10.65mph
18) 1m - 6:25(6:26/m) 162/165bpm 76cal 9.33/9.56mph
19) 1m - 6:32(6:32/m) 163/167bpm 79cal 9.19/9.46mph
20) 0.99m - 6:25(6:29/m) 163/166bpm 78cal 9.25/10.37mph
21) 0.99m - 6:34(6:38/m) 163/166bpm 80cal 9.05/9.54mph
22) 0.99m - 6:34(6:37/m) 164/166bpm 78cal 9.07/9.31mph
23) 1m - 6:40(6:41/m) 165/168bpm 90cal 8.97/9.31mph
24) 1m - 6:43(6:42/m) 166/168bpm 93cal 8.95/9.18mph
25) 0.99m - 6:59(7:04/m) 167/169bpm 105cal 8.49/9mph
26) 1.25m - 8:47(7:03/m) 166/168bpm 123cal 8.5/9.29mph