Sydney Marathon
Sunday September 16, 2018
Once again it has
been a bit too long between posts. The
last one was Dec last year after completing the big C2K (240km) event. Since then I have only competed in a handful
of events, mainly on road. I finally bit
the bullet and took on board a coach to assist with structuring my schedule and
runs. I’m
not the person who needs a push or be forced out to do training as I am
disciplined when it comes to that but having a coach tweak programs designed to
get the results was what I have been looking for.
Many runners I know
getting results have had coaches for several years. I asked around and decided with TRT Running
through knowing Michelle McAdam, a previous NRG member. TRT has gone from strength to strength in
recent times under the head coaching of Gary Mullins. Gary decided to take me under his wing. We tested the waters with the Adelaide
Marathon in late May, but it wasn’t to be a good
result on that day with a few factors that didn’t
play in my favour, so another marathon was on the cards and Sydney appeared to
fit the mandate.
The training and program
certainly had worked since Adelaide as I had a recent PB achieved in the half marathon
out at the M7 Westlink which is slightly undulating and lacks atmosphere with
no crowd and very few runners to urge you on.
The Sydney program
seemed to focus on more hill work and lengthy intervals and the added strength
certainly helped in the legs come race day.
I had more of a taper period this time around and as I more focused on Blackall
100km trail race set in the Sunshine Coast hinterland in Queensland in 5 weeks’ time, I felt very relaxed about lining up for Sydney and was going in
with no real time plans and to try and run happy.
The day of the race
was perfect, sunny yet a touch cool early.
I donned the NRG singlet and happened to see Alan, Jenny, Dani and Matt
H at the starting shute. Matt was pacing
the 3hr 15min bus today, so sticking with him early was a good guide to start
at. I managed to do that for the first
few kms as we crossed the Sydney Harbour bridge heading south. Then I slightly increased my tempo from the
pacing group and heard Dean from the running club yell out as he was taking
snaps.
Early stages of the
race felt really relaxed, not too fast of a pace and generally finding rhythm. The people who went out to fast were now
already tiring and you could easily make up positions through the field. I saw Sam and Chan in the crowd on Macquarie
Street and then headed through Hyde Park up Oxford Street (no all-night revelers
were out this time) then onto Driver Avenue and through Centennial Park (CP).
I took my first gel
at about the 10km mark and was carrying a further two gels in my back
pocket. No music with me, just simply
running to feel and only looking at the watch for feeding time (another gel) at
45 min intervals. I had it set on stop
watch mode, so it would only show time elapsed with no mention on distance
travelled or pace.
I saw Al here in CP
and he was even ahead of the 2hr 55min pacer, wow he was flying. I then caught up with Dani finally as we
exited Driver Avenue onto Flinders Street around the half way point. From here the course was becoming a little
downhill for the next 5km so the pace probably quickened up, but the effort appeared
the same. I felt good at this
point. I saw many more supporters from
NRG out there through the city and that helped forge ahead.
For some reason I
had though the Western Distributor ramp climb had been removed from the race
the past few years, but no, it was still there, and I headed through the 30km
mark on an uphill and those faster kms just slowed down a notch. Again, I saw Sam, Chantelle, Gillian, Tim and
Robyn over the Darling Harbour walking bridge.
The temperature just began to rise a bit with the sun higher in the sky
but by all means was not that uncomfortable.
Out the back of the Pyrmont wharves I tipped a cup of water or two over
my head to cool down and then told myself there is only about 7km to go, so run
it out as hard as I could but don’t over stride as
cramps would be just ready to pounce.
I reached the 37km
mark through Barangaroo and Sam mentioned that Al was only a few minutes
ahead. That sort of shocked me as he was
so far ahead previously, so I tried to keep that tempo going to maybe catch up
to him, but Al must have put the rockets on as he zoomed the last few kms. The feeling around Hickson Road under the
bridge was good, had the energy to burn still but was just mindful of getting
cramps as the leg muscles started to twinge a few times. I then looked at the watch and saw that my elapsed
time was well under of what I needed so the last 2km became about taking in the
crowd and the cheers (as Adelaide Marathon had none of this) and I crossed the
line very happy in 3hr 5mins 35 seconds.
A PB by nearly 9
minutes and stoked! Finally, the monkey
off my back and it is strange given I was not really focused on setting a strong
PB. But now I finally can book a ticket
for Boston Marathon flights and accommodation in 2020 given that a qualifying
time has been posted after several failed attempts to achieve that goal. I could have quickly entered the 2019 Boston
event straight after today but decided next year will be potentially too much
travel with the CCC in Chamonix, France next year.
It was great to
have the home town support out there and obviously your local running club
friends yelling out and urging you on.
Was great to run with some fellow mates with TRT out there too. Alan, Dani and I all finished within about 5
mins of each other so that provided some encouragement to push each other
forward.
Final thanks to
coach Mr. G, for the program and leading me to two recent PBs and of course a
Boston Q, a great result as I am not getting older now at age 44.
A few days off now
and then back into training for Blackall, back on the trails!
