London Marathon 2015 (Week 10 of 12)

Week 10

The 10th week certainly goes down as another memorable one, both in terms of running locations and for the little race that we took part in as our final run of the week, The Canberra ACT Marathon.

The midweek runs were mainly Freedom parkruns at some stunning locations around New South Wales apart from Monday's 6 miler around Centennial Park and Sydney Cricket Ground, little did we know at the time that this venue was going to be at the forefront of world attention a couple of days later.

Although the week looks like a planned parkrun tour, it was more a case of parkrun courses happening to be nearby as we went about our exploring of Australia. It really does hit home just how parkrun has caught the imagination just as enthusiastically in Oz has it has back in the UK.

Week 10 of 12 (Mon 6/4 - Sun 12/4)

Mon 6/4 : 6.0 miles @ 8:45mile (Centennial Park and Sydney Cricket Ground)

Tues 7/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:36/mile (Parramatta parkrun Freedom)

Tues 7/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:34/mile (Penrith Lakes parkrun Freedom)

Weds 8/4 : 3.1 miles @ 9:28/mile (Blackheath, Blue Mountains)

Thurs 9/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:53/mile (Lawson parkrun Freedom)

Thurs 9/4 : 3.1 miles @ 8:47/mile (Campbelltown parkrun Freedom)

Fri 10/4 : 3.1 miles @ 9:00/mile (Shellharbour parkrun Freedom)

Sat 11/4 : 4.0 miles incl  Ginninderra parkrun 20:00 (3.1 miles @ 6:27/mile)

Sun 12/4 : 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile Canberra Marathon 2:52:10 (15th)

Total Mileage - 54.8 miles

Mon 6th April - Centennial Park & Sydney Cricket Ground :

The famous Sydney Cricket Ground was taken in on our final run in Sydney before heading off for a couple of days in the Blue Mountains:

Tues 7th April - Parramatta parkrun :

On the way to Blackheath in the Blue Mountains there was an opportunity to take in a couple of parkrun venues with an Olympic connection.

Firstly, Parramatta parkrun is directly on the other side of the Parramatta river to the Olympic Park for Sydney 2000. It may not be too apparent from this photo but trust me there is a fully fledged Olympic park hiding behind those trees:

Tuesday 7th April - Penrith Lakes parkrun :

A couple of hours later the venue was Penrith Lakes, which was the event centre for the rowing events at Sydney 2000.

Now this is my kind of parkrun course - a 2km long course which provides a full 5k by running one loop. A parkrun where it is impossible to get lost, nirvana :) :)

Wednesday 8th April - Jenolah Caves :

While in the Black Mountains, it is a must to visit the underground cave network at Jenolah. This is nothing to do with running but is included here simply because the two tours that we undertook involved approx 950 steps according to the guides.

This may have either a negative or positive effect on a marathon 3-4 days later so is worth noting for future reference:

Sat 11th April - Ginninderra parkrun (20:00)

After another three Freedom parkruns at Lawson, Campbelltown and Shellharbour on Thursday and Friday it was then on to Canberra for the official parkrun at Ginninderra, a course set in breathtaking scenery. The photos don't really do it justice but this was one parkrun you just didn't want to end.

A time of 20:00 was in line with the kind of time run in other recent pre marathon parkruns, ie approx a dress rehearsal of the first 5k of the marathon the next day.

Sun 12th April - 2015 Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (15th)

As we hadn't run a marathon since Wrexham on 8th March, a whole 5 weeks ago, a ready made opportunity to enjoy a 26.2 mile tour of the Australian capital was too hard to resist. London may be  only 2 weeks away but, from recent experience, quirky build ups can often be more informative than the text book alternative.

So onto the race and the earliest I've ever had to get my carcass to the start line of a marathon- 6:25am!

At least that was the aim but at 6:22am there were still 3 people ahead in the loo queue. Was I really in the Australian capital early on a Sunday morning trying desperately to calculate the average time of a runners pre-race poo?

Starting between the old parliament building, a very impressive place to have a look around, and the Aboriginal tent embassy this promised to be a marathon course with plenty of interest.

The course

The course had been changed from previous years to make it more interesting:

However, as a result of these changes there was now a pretty testing second half and both Hannah and myself found the road surface to be hard going in comparison with other road marathons.

There were also a whole host of turnaround points, which ordinarily would be bad news for me but thankfully most of them were actually large roundabouts which were fine for accommodating my oil tankeresque turning techniques.

When you get views like this mid run though the changes were probably worth it:

(Photo courtesy of Becky Chant)

The race

So off we went at 6:25am in perfect conditions, still and about 8c, but with the prospect of mid 20s temperatures by the time the finishing line was reached.

It was hard to know what kind of shape the legs were in as we haven't raced for two weeks and there has been a lot of walking around exploring for the last 4 weeks, which may or may not have helped.

As such, it was reassuring when the early kms were ticking over at around 4:00/km or just under.

With around 1,000 runners there was plenty space on the course and by 10km it was well strung out but the various turnaround points provided lots of opportunities to see how the race was developing both at the front and a bit further back.

0-10k (39:41) (Hannah 41:06)

The first 10k was untroubled and a bit downhill overall so provided a good roll out to get the event under way. The first chance to see how the ladies race was getting on was at the turnaround point at about 10k.

There were 4 ladies in front of me at this point and Hannah was 1:25 back in about 8th position. It was early days though and it was quite tightly packed at the front with all the leading ten moving along at between 2:50-2:55 pace.

10k-20k (40:12) (Hannah 40:41)

This section was a long dual carriageway which would have been fine except for the previously mentioned surface, which seemed harder and more energy sapping than usual. It gave the perception that you were moving a lot slower than you actually were. Still, it was the same for everyone so head down and concentrate on the rhythm.

The next turnaround point was at 19k. I had just overtaken the lady in 2nd place before the turnaround so was encouraged to see Hannah coming the other way not long after. If my counting was right, she was now up to 4th. 

This was getting interesting as if Hannah could gain one more place over the second half of the race then there was a $500 prize (about £260) for 3rd place, although she herself was totally unaware of this during the race.

20k-30k (40:02) (Hannah 41:04)

The third 10k was starting to go up and down a bit more than had been bargained for. It was feeling tough compared to the same stage at Wrexham but despite the increased course severity the pace was holding up and positions were being gained, so there wasn't much to be concerned about really.

There was a turnaround point at about 23.5k just after I'd overtaken the leading lady. Hannah now seemed to be a bit closer to the leader and possibly in 3rd but at this particular turn point it was quite difficult to tell.

30k-42.2k (52:12) (Hannah 51:32)

Now for the final 12k and it was becoming a grind on some of the climbs. Nevertheless there was still reassurance coming from the fact that on sections that were relatively level for a while the legs were coming back to life and re establishing a comfortable rhythm, so I was happy that there wasn't a major falling apart type death march coming, just a course induced leg wearying grind.

37k offered the next view of the ladies race and it looked from my viewpoint that Hannah was now in 2nd place and nowhere near as far behind the leader as the last time I saw them. It was hard to estimate but possibly a minute gap now, which was a lot smaller then previously but still a huge gap to close over just 5k.

It was extremely unlikely but if the leader did run into a bit of trouble you never know.....

The Finish

Unlike the parkrun the previous day I was counting down the last few kms of this one and was going to be quite happy to see the finish line after the graft of the second half.

The 42km marker is usually quite close to the finish line, 200m would be about right. Not on this occasion though, the finish line was nowhere to be seen. There was a good 300m before turning into the finishing straight which was itself another 200m or so.

2:52:10 was better than expected after feeling so slow on the unforgiving road sections. When the results came through, they showed that the position had improved from 20th at halfway to 15th at the finish. And all done before 9:30am :)

After crossing the line I then proceeded to incur the wrath of the funnel managers by loitering alongside the photographers and TV crews to see the end of the ladies race. It wasn't going to be more than a minute or two after all.

The announcer started building the crescendo towards the first female finisher and as she appeared with about 50m to go I could already see Hannah in the finishing straight behind her. Not close enough but that gap had really closed over the closing stages to a mere 32 seconds.

2nd place was rewarded with $1,000 (about £520), which as Hannah's biggest ever prize just about trumps my biggest ever cash prize of £20 in the 2013 Spencer's Arms series in Barnsley :p

32 seconds is 32 seconds and you can't just find that sort of time at the end of a marathon if the legs say no but I think Hannah is still asking herself some what if type questions - if only she had known that she was in 2nd earlier, known where the leader was and actually known that the 32secs was worth another $1,000. Good questions to ask but this Canberra performance can go down as nothing other than a hard fought for success story :)

On Saturday we had breakfast with Becky Chant, a parkrunner from Queensland. 

After driving 1200km to get to Canberra this was to be her first ever marathon. We all know what can happen in first marathons and how everything you have ever read can turn to absolute nothingness once the reality of what happens at 20 miles and beyond sets in.

But it appeared to me that Becky didn't seem overly apprehensive about the task. Her apparent confidence was well placed as can be seen from the results below. For a first marathon that consistency of pacing is brilliant. It took me about 30 marathons to get one anywhere near that consistent. Congratulations Becky and good luck with the next effort at the Gold Coast Marathon :)

This is now the updated list of marathons on the comeback trail:

Recent Marathon Record

2009 April - Blackpool Marathon 3:24:17 (Age 42)

2009 September - Fleetwood Marathon DNF (Age 43)
2010 October - Amsterdam Marathon 3:04:27 (Age 44)
2010 November - Milton Keynes Track Marathon DNF (Age 44)

2011 April - London Marathon 3:18:30 (Age 44)

2012 April - London Marathon 2:57:04 (Age 45)

2012 October - Chester 2:55:36 (Age 46)

2013 April - London Marathon 3:11:29 (Age 46)

2013 June - Cork Marathon 3:06:19 (Age 47)

2013 October - Budapest Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 47)

2013 December - Lancaster Marathon 2:54:17 (Age 47) (1st)

2013 December - Pisa Marathon 2:54:09 (Age 47)

2014 April - Manchester Marathon 2:51:52 (Age 47)

2014 April - London Marathon 2:57:52 (Age 47)

2014 June - Rhyl Marathon 2:58:24 (Age 48)

2014 October - Yorkshire Marathon 2:47:34 (Age 48)

2014 October - Dublin Marathon 2:58:53 (Age 48)

2014 November - Town Moor Marathon 2:54:56 (Age 48) (1st)

2015 March - Wrexham Marathon 2:48:12 (Age 48) (5th)

2015 April - Canberra ACT Marathon 2:52:10 (Age 48) (15th)

2015 April - London Marathon ??:??:?? (Age 48)

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

12th April: 26.21 miles @ 6:35/mile

Just two weeks to go now before 35,000 line up on Blackheath common. There won't be much training as such between the two marathons but there will be some sort of running every day to keep everything working.

First of all though there will be a week in Perth followed by an attempt to unjetlag in time for VMLM.

London Marathon 2015 (Week 9 of 12)

Week 9

This week looks like a pretty low mileage week at a time when it might be expected, ordinarily, that peak mileage would be being hit. 

However, what doesn't show up in training logs is all the additional time on feet accumulated just from walking about exploring. Some of this was quite testing too such as the hike up Mount Lofty near Adelaide on Tuesday, which clearly worked muscles not used in a while going by the achiness afterwards.

We travelled to Sydney on Friday and experienced the first bout of poor weather in the 3 weeks down under as a torrential downpour continued for more than 24 hours. It perked up nicely by Sunday though.

From a running point of view, it was mainly the steady stuff this week plus a visit to Mosman parkrun on Saturday. There were no events in Sydney on Sunday, so Sunday's effort consisted of a run taking in Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and Bondi Beach.

This week's blog, therefore, will pretty much be just a pictorial log of the various run venues involved.

Next week there will, hopefully, be some racing to talk about ........

Week 9 of 12 (Mon 30/3 - Sun 5/4)

Mon 30/3 : 6.21 miles @ 8:00/mile (Victor Harbor, Sth Australia)

Mon 30/3 : 3.1 miles @ 8:50/mile (Christies Beach, Sth Australia)

Tues 31/3 : 8.0 @ 8:50/mile (Glenelg Beach, Sth Australia)

Weds 1/4 : 6.21 @ 9:12/mile (Torrens River, Adelaide)

Thurs 2/4 : 10.13 miles @ 8:53/mile (Sturt Linear Park, Wittunga Botanic Gdns)

Fri 3/4 : 2.0 miles @ 9:00/mile (Sydney Harbour)

Sat 4/4 : 10.0 miles incl  Mosman parkrun (3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile)

Sun 5/4 : 6.21 miles @ 9:10/mile (Sydney Harbour to Bondi Beach)

Total Mileage - 51.8 miles

Mon 31st March - Victor Harbour, Sth Australia

This is the start of the very, very picturesque parkrun course at Victor Harbour:

...... and this is the turnaround point where the resident Pelicans keep an eye on proceedings:

Mon 31st March - Christies Beach, Sth Australia

For the second run of the day 5k along the coast road at Christie's Beach was pretty scenic too:

Weds 1st April - Torrens River, Adelaide

Another day, another parkrun course to explore! The pictures below are the two ends of the Torrens parkrun course, firstly the turnaround point and then the start, which appears to have been chalked out  in bands for likely finishing times:

Saturday 4th April - Mosman parkrun (18:37)

Mosman is a very wealthy suburb in North Sydney. In fact it is so wealthy that it is officially the richest postcode in Australia and, despite being compact, has a higher annual income than many African nations apparently http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/australias-richest-suburb-theyre-swimming-in-it-20140103-309o8.html .

We caught a bus up to Mosman arriving at 6:20am, yes you read that correctly, 6:20am! This is one of the rare parkruns that has a start time of 7am, although we were starting to have doubts as to whether this could actually be true when it was still pitch black at 6:50.

Enough light did actually appear though just in time for a parkrun to get under way at 7am for the 16 hardy souls who had refused to be put off by the downpours. There was also an impressive bunch of happy volunteers considering the time and conditions.

The run itself is a straightforward (ish) 3 lap course with a testing little hill up to a turnaround point on each lap. Nothing too dramatic as far as hills go but my legs were not really feeling too bouncy  and 18:37 was the result. 6:00/mile on achey legs at 7am is not too bad though. Hannah was closing quickly on the final lap and recorded 19:01.

The core team parked their yachts alongside the start/finish area ;)

........... and then they took us for breakfast pre 8am. Thanks to Simon Mackley and the team for a memorable morning:

Sun 5th April - Sydney to Bondi Beach

The sights taken in on Sunday's run are probably as well known as any in the world.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House:

Sydney's Central Business District:

Bondi Beach:

9 weeks gone and just 3 weeks to go before turning up at Blackheath.

But, coincidentally, the next visit to Blackheath will actually be tomorrow as there is a place by that very name up in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, which is apparently well known for some exceptional fish and chips.

Later in the week we will be going down to Woolongong and then onto Australia's capital, Canberra, for next weekend's activities.

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)

4th April: 3.1 miles @ 6:00/mile

London Marathon 2015 (Week 8 of 12)

Week 8


Just 4 weeks left before this year's London Marathon now and yet it still seems so far away.

Week 8 didn't disappoint in terms of being eventful, that's for sure, but more of that later. After flying from Melbourne to Adelaide on Monday a good chunk of this week has involved becoming acquainted with the various non human inhabitants of South Australia, including kangarois, koalas, Tasmanian Devils, pelicans, camels but thankfully no snakes.

All the various routes used around Adelaide have been very picturesque and with the weather generally being sunny in the 22-28c range running a 70 mile week couldn't have been more pleasurable :)

Saturday saw a visit to Mount Barker parkrun approx 25 miles east of Adelaide and then Sunday involved a trip to the Murray Bridge Half Marathon, which promised to be flattish but challenging nonetheless due to various changing off road surfaces.

Week 8 of 12 (Mon 23/3 - Sun 29/3)

Mon 23/3 : 2.5 miles @ 9:01/mile (Melbourne)

Tues 24/3 : 9.0 miles @ 8:45/mile (Bel Air National Park, Adelaide)

Weds 25/3 (am) : 10.0 miles @ 9:12/mile (Sturt River Linear Park, Adelaide)

Weds 25/3 (pm) : 3.6 miles @ 9:01/mile (Mt Barker Freedom parkrun)

Thurs 26/3 : 6.21 miles @ 9:12/mile (Coast to Vines Trail, Adelaide)

Fri 27/3 : 9.0 miles @ 9:01/mile (River Torrens Trail)

Fri 27/3 : 9.0 miles @ 8:45/mile (River Torrens Trail)

Sat 28/3 : 4.0 incl Mt Barker parkrun 17:54 (3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile)

Sat 28/3 : 3.6 @ 9:01/mile (Christies Beach)

Sun 29/3 12.0 incl Murray Bridge HM 1:09:35 (11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile) (1st but DQd)

Total Mileage - 68.9 Miles

Thurs 26th March

Not strictly running related but Thursday involved the promised pre-run kangaroo cuddling. Despite the fact that I had eaten one of their relatives the previous evening they still seemed friendly enough, thankfully resisting the urge to kick or punch as severe bruising at this stage might not be particularly optimal preparation .....

The koalas were sleeping off whatever they had been up to the previous evening :

Fri 27th March - Torrens Trail Run

Friday contained two 9 mile runs along the River Torrens Trail, a path which runs for 37km from the coast through the city of Adelaide and out the other side. We ran the coast to city section and then the same in reverse later in the day. Very relaxing :)

Sat 28th March - Mount Barker parkrun (17:54)

It is becoming apparent that in Australia they like to keep their parkrun courses simple and site them in breathtaking locations. This one was no exception being a flat out and back course to the Laratynga Wetlands.

As for the run itself it was a bit surprising how good the legs felt after the 18 miles the previous day. It could have been a bit quicker too had it not been for an over exhuberant first half of 8:41. Encouraging signs.

Hannah also overcooked the first half a little but still recorded 18:29 or 5:57/mile.

Sun 29th March - Murray Bridge Trail Half Marathon (1:09:35 (1st - Or maybe not!)

Sunday was the main event of the week and a chance to see what a few sustained hard miles would feel like just 3 weeks after the Wrexham Marathon.

Knowledge of the course was limited but we knew that a good chunk of it from miles 2-8 would be on a levee bank, which sounded like compacted soil. The rest was to be a mixture of gravel, Tarmac and a few short rocky sections. One way or another it should give a reasonable feel for current fitness.

And what a gorgeous setting:

The race was new this year, being an addition to the regular 10k and 5k events, and as such had a small field of about 60 runners or so.

As we got under way I was hoping that the course would be nice and gentle for a mile or two so as to give the legs a chance to loosen up a bit. The idea was to ease into it for the first third, get a strong rhythm turning over during the second third and then see what response there was for a big push in the final third.

It was a bit wiggly to start with as we crossed the Murray Bridge but once on the levee bank it was time for a 6-7 miles of straight flat running. As I had the race lead it was just a case of switching off and trying to click into a sustainable rhythm. 

The first 5k was laboured but the second 5k seemed more flowing to get to 10k in 38:24. It was feeling better the further it went so I was quite happy with events, just being careful to check with each marshall re route directions. I have been known to take wrong turns every once in a while after all ;)

After coming off the levee bank it then became quite twisty and technical but there seemed to be plenty fluorescent coats about. My only concern was that there were 10k runners on the course as well and the mixture of the two races may cause confusion, so there was a deliberate question to each marshall asking 'is this the half marathon course?'.

At one particular junction (at about 10 miles) it looked logical to turn left past a drinks station but the Marshall insisted that the Half Marathon was straight on and reiterated the point when I queried it.

Anyway, at this point the time was looking on target for 80:00-80:30 so it was going to be interesting to see if a lifting of the tempo over the last 5k could bring the time in under 80 minutes. This would be quite a result considering the running surfaces involved.

So time to get stuck in .......

The only problem was that as soon as the effort had been lifted, this appeared around the corner ....... The Finish! And it was barely past 11 miles. The clock was showing 1:09:35. Had it really been that badly under measured?

 

Without any delay the race organiser came over and said that the marshall had radioed him to advise that she had made a mistake and sent me the wrong way but had realised in time to send the second and subsequent runners on the correct course.

So I was disqualified there and then!

It was a bit of a struggle to comprehend how I could be leading a race by three minutes, obey all marshalling instructions and then end up disqualified for a marshalling misdirection.

It was even odder watching the prize giving as the 'official winner' picked up the trophy.

On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure what else the organiser could have done in the circumstances? The mistake was acknowledged after all and referred to as a 'mishap' in dispatches:

This was Hannah winning the ladies race, and little beknown to her at the time, 2nd overall a mere 37 seconds from winning outright in 1:24:59.

As we often say though, as long as there's a story the chances are that you'll end up remembering an event for a very long time.

And on that basis our trip to Murray Bridge is likely to linger on in the old memory cells for some time to come.

So 8 weeks now complete. The 9th week will be in Adelaide until Friday and then a flight up to Sydney to see what trouble we can get into there :)

Marathon Building Blocks:

15th Feb: 18.6 miles @ 6:16/mile

22nd Feb: 10.0 miles @ 6:04/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:48/mile

28th Feb: 3.1 miles @ 5:50/mile

1st March: 13.1 miles @ 6:24/mile

8th March: 26.21 miles @ 6:23/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:46/mile

14th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:36/mile

15th March: 20.0 miles @ 6:25/mile

21st March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

22nd March: 9.65 miles @ 6:18/mile

28th March: 3.1 miles @ 5:45/mile

29th March:  11.2 miles @ 6:08/mile)