Sydney Marathon 2010 - sub 3 hours!

What a day. I've just finished an ice bath and shower and m feeling ready to relate the days events while it's all still fresh in my mind.



My marathon preparation has been outstanding, I won't go into any detail (maybe in another post) but I've had plenty of moments reflecting on it all in the awful final week before the race. You know, that week where you barely do any exercise, and slip into some sort of existential crisis. A constant low-grade murmur in the back of your mind that you should, you really should, be doing something. Running, riding, swimming yoga. Just a few minutes. Really I'm doing NOTHING, this is intolerable, I'm losing all my fitness, I'm going to go into the race totally underdone... that kind of thing.

Well through all of that I was able to console myself that when I reflected back on my training I had loads of long hard runs over 35km with heaps more around the 30km mark over the last few months. Plus what really made me feel ready, was that I've already run over 42.4kms four times this year. Ironman marathon, WildEndurance 50km, North Face 100km and M7 Cities Marathon. So really I know I'm good for the distance, now shut up doubting mind!

Even though I told myself I was totally calm and relaxed about it yesterday, when I went to bed the mind started spinning and I was clearly nervous. The usual disjointed sleep with anxiety dreams about missing the start of the race, and then getting up 2 hours before the race to go to the toilet about a dozen times as it seemed even my internal organs were contracting from nerves. And I was desperate to avoid having to stop for a toilet break during the race.

Happily, this race is incredibly convenient to our apartment and I sauntered over to the start across the Lavender Bay boardwalk half an hour before the start, arriving 25 minutes before the start... Cloudy morning, cool but not freezing, no wind. Perfect conditions. Lining up in front of the 3 hour pacers with Matt Hook, Andy Heyden and Terence Bell I knew I was in good company and started to feel relatively calm and even relaxed and excited for the race.

The start was easy, there weren't too many people around and I was able to take off at a reasonable pace up the hill, wth Matt up ahead and Andy and Terence just behind. Onto the bridge deck the first couple of kms at 4.10 pace seemed pretty easy and I felt like I settled into race pace virtually from the gun. Maybe it was all those race-pace intervals I'd been doing, but it felt natural and I was able to hold it without thinking.

Now I guess I should explain "the plan". It was always just to get 2:xx:xx. Anything under 3 hours is what I wanted. But after the last few weeks of all the HuRTs guys telling me "Aw you'll smash 3 hours, you should set yourself a better target than that!", I started to believe the hype and thought I might as well give myself a solid margin as I feel my training is good for it. So on Friday I printed out a pace band for 2:56. For no other reason than it meant running 4.10min/km pace which is a nice round number. Plus I figured it's not too much of stretch from 3 hours and I'd want to get to halfway around 88 mins anyway to give myself a buffer for the second half, so it made sense to run the first half at that pace and see if I could hang on.

The first few kms were uneventful. It was kind of cool running down the corkscrew and out onto the Cahill Expressway. Art Gallery Road was just like a HuRTs session. Hyde Park was fun gong over the little traffic bridge, then Oxford Street was a bit of a grind, not a steep hill but a long, slight uphill. I was anywhere from 20-30s ahead of my km splits for 2.56 so I felt happy to just keep sticking with that. The odd person passed every now and then, and very occasionally I passed someone, but otherwise I was all by myself and right in my own head.



I enjoyed Centennial Park, even with all the convoluted loops, sharp dog-leg turns and numerous out-and-back u-turns. As annoying as it is to have to u-turn a dozen times in the race, at least it meant that you got to see everyone in front of and behind you, which was really fun and kept the race interesting (it sort of made up for the lack of any other human contact, except the random one or two people every 10km or so clapping away). I loved seeing the guys in front and judging where they were and how they were going, and the friends I knew behind, seeing where they were relative to the pacer and working out how their race was going by the looks on their faces and their running styles.

I had been thinking I'd take a gel if there was one available, and at about 19km one aid station had them, so I grabbed a vanilla and forced down about 3/4 of it. I'd been basically having just a sip of water at every second aid station so far, and figured I should probably get some nutrition in.

I did start to lose some time in the park. I've never been one to keep an even pace and I tend to drop off without people around me to shoot for, so I started to fall a bit behind the schedule and was happy to see halfway at 88.18. Around this stage there was a bloke in a white shirt who snuck up on me and went past, so I thought "Perfect, I'll see if I can stick to him and make up some time". We never really spoke apart from a few comments here and there, but we took turns leading and dragged each other quite a few kilometres. Managed closer to 4:05min/kms and started picking up a bit of time, and the pace - which had been starting to feel like a struggle - seemed ok again. I caught Matt at the final Anzac parade turnaround and we ran together for a bit, then I felt like I needed to be pushing a bit quicker so picked it up again to try to get my splits back on track.

In fact that final turnaround was a real psychological boost, just knowing that we were heading straight back to the city without any more diversions, and I flew down Anzac feeling strong again. Passed Clyde and a couple of his mates just out for a jog, and managed to drop old mate in the white shirt slightly. At Taylor Square I was treated to the sight of a 6 foot drag queen with big hair and even bigger stilettos, wearing nothing but a g-string and crop top, doing a little sprint around the corner from Oxford street in the other direction and playing it up for her crowd of a few dozen drink-and-drug addled nightclubbers who were watching the race, and the occasional passing runner like myself. As I approached she stopped her sprint, did a little twirl and dropped into a full split in the middle of the street. Incredibly impressive, the crowd went wild and I plus the couple of runners ahead of me applauded appreciatively.

Round onto Oxford St and tried to pick up some speed barrelling straight down the hill. Finally passed a couple of guys on the way down, then tried to keep the pace high through Hyde Park and down Elizabeth Street. As it was close to 30km I thought it might be time for a second gel, and round here I saw another aid station, so necked another 3/4.



Now I was feeling pretty good. I'd managed to keep the pace so far, and while it was getting more and more difficult to maintain, I was still fairly comfortable and had experienced no gut issues, toilet urges or cramps, my HR was still low and my form was good, so I felt in good shape to keep it up. In fact when I saw the 33km marker coming round the Park Hyatt under the Harbour Bridge, I thought "Only 9km to go! I'm going to do this!" I made a decision then and there to not bother looking at my pace band again (and I didn't for the rest of the race) but just try to push it a bit and see how I could go.

Hickson Road wasn't easy. It's a long and fairly desolate section (made better briefly when I saw Rob Costello on his bike), which then only gets worse once you start climbing up the freeway over Darling Harbour. In fact that was a bloody tough final 9km in general - no spectators and all the toughest hills of the race (although admittedly they were pretty short and not too steep). Still any rise in elevation at that point is not what you're looking for. I kept trying to push the pace around Pyrmont, but the legs didn't fancy going any faster. There was a short sharp rise to the final u-turn, then straight afterwards another rise onto the freeway, which I didn't mind because I knew it was the last hill. At the u-turn I saw that Andy and Terence had gained and was expecting them to catch me shortly.

Tried to fly down the other side of the freeway as it was a long downhill, but somehow my pace didn't seem to get much faster. At least the guys in front of me were doing the same. Saw Gerry marshalling near the Amex building and he said I still had a spring in his step, so I chose to believe him and give into the delusion that I was still feeling fresh. In fact I must admit I did feel fairly good at this stage. Knowing there was only 3 km to go I knew I would do it, the only question was whether I would be able to push some more and coax a few more seconds out of my legs to finish under 2.56. It seemed unlikely, but I was in a buoyant mood and very ready to give it a try.

Round Hickson we went, sadly not getting any faster at all (not for lack of trying), until we went back underneath the Harbour Bridge when Andy and Terence (who had been cruising and chatting all race on a training run for the upcoming 100km) caught me easily and started to blow past. I was incredibly thankful to see them, the chance to pace off them right when I needed a bit of help was perfect timing.

I tried my darndest to stay with them and managed all the way past the Hyatt and up to the MCA, when I just couldn't do it and had to let them go. By now it was so close I could taste it and it looked unlikely (but still vaguely possible) to sneak under 2.56, so I just put the head down and gave everything I had. High fived all the kids with hands out past East Circular Quay and waved at all the cheerers, including my darling wife who'd just finished the Bridge Run. Suddenly it was Opera House forecourt and sprinting for the line to make 2.56.17 gun time.

The finishing sprint:




Totally stoked! I was shattered crossing the line after the last 2 kms of putting in, but feeling great. I saw basically everyone I know after the race and it was fabulous catching up with so many great people (and that wasn't just the endorphins talking). The ferry home, a slap up lunch and a bag of ice from the bottlo for my legs and here I am at 3.30pm on Sunday, happy as a little clam.

Official Results:

Gun time - 2:56:17

Net time - 2:56:04

Place 45 out of 2,821 finishers

41st Male

19th in my Category (M30-34)