Didn't hit my target of 3-20 for the kielder marathon but I wasn't far off and now that ive had some time to reflect I'm pretty happy with the result.
The weather was always going to be a factor and whilst not quite as cold as last year it was windier and much wetter. Whilst running in the rain in the summer can sometimes be very refreshing and cooling, it's a different story on a cold windy October day and I think it was the rain that led me to make my biggest mistake of the day which I will come to later.
The organization seemed to be a lot better than last years unagural event and I managed to get into the car park without too much hassle. Then came the decision. I had bought a new running coat the week before and I was deciding whether to wear it or not. At the time the rain was more of a drizzle rather than a lashing storm, but I still had over an hour to go before the start of the race and the rain was set for the day so I decided to take the soft option and go for not just the coat which I had never wore before but a cap to keep the rain off my face too.
Probably the worst part of the day was the long queue for the bus to take us to the start , but I did get chatting to a a canny Scottish lad who was doing his first marathon.
Fast forward to the start, it took less than a mile to become aware of my 2 biggest mistakes of the day. Firstly although it was still raining ( and would continue to do so for the whole race) I was roasting more or less as soon as I started so the cap came off and so would the coat if I had somewhere to put it. It wasn't waterproof and by the end of the race it was a sodden mess hanging off me.
The second mistake, and one I really should have learned from was that the pockets of my running shorts are definitely not the best place to keep my gels. Every step I took led to them bouncing up and down, threatening to jump out at any minute. To be honest, I don't think either of these mistakes made much difference to my eventual time, but they definitely made a difference to my enjoyment of the day and are things I will have to address in future races.
To meet my goal of 3 hours 20 meant about 7-45 pace and thanks to my Nike+ running app I could constantly monitor how close I was to this.
One of the biggest keys to marathon running is pacing yourself, and going easy in those early miles. The first five or so miles were very comfortable and I was averaging around 7-30 miles despite all the constant up and downs that are a key feature of the kielder marathon.
Although this was only my third marathon ( fourth if you count the highlang fling ultra I did in April) I knew that the real challenge begins at around 18 miles as this is when your energy supplies are shot and you are in danger of hitting the wall. This is something's I experienced very badly at my first marathon in Edinburgh, and also at kielder last year so although I felt ok for the first half of the race it was something that was always in the back of my mind.
The time this point is reached at kielder is roughly when you run over the dam at the south end of the lake, and although I felt a lot better than I had the previous year at this pout I made an error that would define the rest of my race.
As I tried to perform the difficult task of eating a gel and taking a swig of my water bottle at the same time with freezing hands I dropped my bottle. The good news is that I managed to catch it, but the bad news was that I doing so led to a massive cramp in the back of my thigh which reduced me to a temporary walk. I managed to get going again pretty soon but my leg was sti very sore and I felt like it could go again at any minute and the constant up and downs defiantly didn't help.
At the same race last year by the time I got to 20 miles I was really struggling and my pace slowed dramatically. I had slowed this year too but that was partly due to my cramp and although I didn't feel great I definitely felt like I could push the pace a little more although I was still a little apprehensive in doing so for fear of blowing up and missing my goal time.
By the time I reached 22 miles I was just below my target pace, but not feeling any worse so made the decision to up the pace for the last 4 miles, feeling confident that I had enough left in the tank to get me through.
Almost immediately my cramp kicked in again and I wad again reduced to walking. Again I tried to get running as soon as I could but the pain was so bad it was more of a hobble than a run, although I did get back to running at pretty much the same pace ad I had been on before the cramp kicked in.
At this point I realized that I wasn't going to break 3-20 but I could still beat last years time of 3-34.
Between then and the end of the race I had to stop another 2 times due to the cramp, but I forced myself to keep going and try to get over the pain.
It was so frustrating to know that I had it in me to go faster but the cramp prevented me from doing so.
By the time I got to 400 meters to go I decided to make a break for the Finnish line and managed to pick off a few runners, but predictably the cramp kicked in again and I ended up barely walking over the Finnish line in 3-24.
Ive now had a fair amount of time to reflect on the race and and have the following thoughts/lessons:
1. Don't be scared if the weather and dress down
2. But a belt with gel pouches
3.cramp - my biggest problem on the day and the most worrying as I'm not sure how I'm going to get round this in future marathons. The 2 most commonly accepted causes of cramp are dehydration/ salt loss and asking your muscles to do something on a race that you haven't asked them in training. I don't think that I had done anything massively wrong in any of these areas as I had done plenty long training runs up to 20 miles, and had hydrated well and took enough gels during the race.
I think that maybe in future training I need to maybe go over 20 miles, and experiment with salt tablets/ectrolytes .
4. Having now completed 3 marathons I've now got the confidence to know that I can go the distance and I now need to work on my speed. My aim next year is to go under 3 hours ( not in kielder though ha ha) and I think Ive got it in me. The question is how far under I can go, and that is what I want to try and find out in the next few years.
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