Auckland Marathon!
Since I've spent this year preparing for the marathon it's time I told you how it went.
The day started when my alarm went off at 4am. Actually, it was a bit of a relief because I didn't exactly sleep well. The first problem I came across was being unable to complete my breakfast. I had planned to have 4 spicy fruit muffins with honey - and that was what I trained with - but I could only get about 1 1/2 down. I thought I'd vomit if I had any more. I quickly put together another lot of my carb drink so I could get some more carbs down later.
It took a bit longer than I'd planned to get organised so at about 5am Mum and I drove off. The whole way in to town I was busy trying to control the butterflys in my stomach. We did get in on time and lined up in the huge line to get on the ferries. Fortunately, the ferries were well organised, the line moved quickly, and very soon we were on our way across the harbour.
Fortunately, we got there in good time so I took off my warm up gear and lined up for the start. There were very many people there: 6410 for the half marathon and 1061 for the full distance. The start area was chaos and I couldn't even see the start from where I was waiting. Fortunately we started fairly quickly at 6:30 so I wasn't left waiting nervously.
The large amounts of half marathon runners made the first half quite difficult. I found that I wanted to run faster than most of them (first mistake) and spent a lot of time and energy dodging around people (second mistake). The first half was fairly hilly as we worked our way through the North Shore. I had bottles of Leppin Enduro Booster that I'd given the organisers to place at the drink stations. Unfortunately, at the first station at about 5km I couldn't find it (third mistake). There was a vicious climb up Northcote Rd before we turned off to go the bridge. It was somewhat amusing and chastening to see the buses lined up for the people who wouldn't manage to get to the bridge before 8:30. All in all the run to the bridge was a fairly technically challenging run: dodging runners, picking the best line, and changing strides to go up and down hills.
Crossing the bridge was fantastic! The bridge is normally closed to pedestrians so you take your chances when you can. The climb is not as daunting as you might think and the view at the top is amazing. After that it was a fairly flat grind through the Westhaven marina until the half marathoners turned off to finish at Victoria Park.
I finished the first half in about 1:57 which was 3 minutes ahead of where I wanted to be. At this point I was reasonably heartened about my pacing even though I'd done the first couple of kilometres far too fast. My heart rate was about 175-180bpm through the first half (fourth mistake...).
The second half was a whole different kettle of fish. At this point I could actually see who the other marathoners were so it was easier to pace - but that didn't help much. The second half of the course was almost flat out along the waterfront to a turn around at St Heliers Bay. At this point the wind kicked in: while there were lots of complaints in the media about it I didn't find it too bad. I would class it as a mild to moderate on shore wind but because the course was across the wind it didn't really affect me much.
However, I slowed right down - a whole lot more than I expected or wanted. I'm still not quite sure why. I didn't hit the wall because I was managing a heart rate of about 145-160bpm and I know from bitter experience that when I hit the wall my heart rate will not go above 136bpm. At the first drink station in the second half I managed to get two bottles of my drink down to top up the carbs but that didn't help much. It took a fair bit of determination to get out to the turnaround point and I was very glad when I finally got around it.
But things got harder still. That 5km after the turnaround (about 32km - 37km) was just revolting. At one point I walked about 20 metres just for a rest. I had to make a couple of pit stops and then found I couldn't get my carb drink down. My body told me, quite clearly, that it didn't want any more of it and all I could do at the drink stations was a couple of sips of the drink with a bit of extra water.
At about 37km I passed a young woman walking up the road bridge and then heard a questioning "Eddie?" behind me. Turns out that is my school friend Jacqui, who, as it turned out was also doing her first marathon and suffering about as much as I was. We ran together for about the next 3km while I tried to encourage her along. This actually helped me get going a whole lot better too. After a while she decided she wanted to walk again so I gutsed it out to the finish.
I kept aiming for the ferry building and it's nice big clock tell myself that I could get there and then it would be only about a kilometre to get to the finish. Getting off the waterfront and turning into the Viaduct was just fabulous. There were quite a few people lined up watching and, more importantly, cheering us along. Mum was there and gave me a cheer - she even tried running beside me but the bags she was carrying rather slowed her down. I finally got out of the viaduct and could see the finish. There were a massive amount of people waiting there and cheering. A final turn into the finish chute and I could see the marathon time ticking up towards 4:30 so I put as much as I could into it and got across the line.
Those cheers at the end and the feeling of getting across that line was amazing. Quite a high!
Final stats: 4:29:53 since the gun went off, 4:26:37 since crossing the start line.
Result: one very tired Ed - a little bit frustrated about not getting under 4 hours.
The day started when my alarm went off at 4am. Actually, it was a bit of a relief because I didn't exactly sleep well. The first problem I came across was being unable to complete my breakfast. I had planned to have 4 spicy fruit muffins with honey - and that was what I trained with - but I could only get about 1 1/2 down. I thought I'd vomit if I had any more. I quickly put together another lot of my carb drink so I could get some more carbs down later.
It took a bit longer than I'd planned to get organised so at about 5am Mum and I drove off. The whole way in to town I was busy trying to control the butterflys in my stomach. We did get in on time and lined up in the huge line to get on the ferries. Fortunately, the ferries were well organised, the line moved quickly, and very soon we were on our way across the harbour.
Fortunately, we got there in good time so I took off my warm up gear and lined up for the start. There were very many people there: 6410 for the half marathon and 1061 for the full distance. The start area was chaos and I couldn't even see the start from where I was waiting. Fortunately we started fairly quickly at 6:30 so I wasn't left waiting nervously.
The large amounts of half marathon runners made the first half quite difficult. I found that I wanted to run faster than most of them (first mistake) and spent a lot of time and energy dodging around people (second mistake). The first half was fairly hilly as we worked our way through the North Shore. I had bottles of Leppin Enduro Booster that I'd given the organisers to place at the drink stations. Unfortunately, at the first station at about 5km I couldn't find it (third mistake). There was a vicious climb up Northcote Rd before we turned off to go the bridge. It was somewhat amusing and chastening to see the buses lined up for the people who wouldn't manage to get to the bridge before 8:30. All in all the run to the bridge was a fairly technically challenging run: dodging runners, picking the best line, and changing strides to go up and down hills.
Crossing the bridge was fantastic! The bridge is normally closed to pedestrians so you take your chances when you can. The climb is not as daunting as you might think and the view at the top is amazing. After that it was a fairly flat grind through the Westhaven marina until the half marathoners turned off to finish at Victoria Park.
I finished the first half in about 1:57 which was 3 minutes ahead of where I wanted to be. At this point I was reasonably heartened about my pacing even though I'd done the first couple of kilometres far too fast. My heart rate was about 175-180bpm through the first half (fourth mistake...).
The second half was a whole different kettle of fish. At this point I could actually see who the other marathoners were so it was easier to pace - but that didn't help much. The second half of the course was almost flat out along the waterfront to a turn around at St Heliers Bay. At this point the wind kicked in: while there were lots of complaints in the media about it I didn't find it too bad. I would class it as a mild to moderate on shore wind but because the course was across the wind it didn't really affect me much.
However, I slowed right down - a whole lot more than I expected or wanted. I'm still not quite sure why. I didn't hit the wall because I was managing a heart rate of about 145-160bpm and I know from bitter experience that when I hit the wall my heart rate will not go above 136bpm. At the first drink station in the second half I managed to get two bottles of my drink down to top up the carbs but that didn't help much. It took a fair bit of determination to get out to the turnaround point and I was very glad when I finally got around it.
But things got harder still. That 5km after the turnaround (about 32km - 37km) was just revolting. At one point I walked about 20 metres just for a rest. I had to make a couple of pit stops and then found I couldn't get my carb drink down. My body told me, quite clearly, that it didn't want any more of it and all I could do at the drink stations was a couple of sips of the drink with a bit of extra water.
At about 37km I passed a young woman walking up the road bridge and then heard a questioning "Eddie?" behind me. Turns out that is my school friend Jacqui, who, as it turned out was also doing her first marathon and suffering about as much as I was. We ran together for about the next 3km while I tried to encourage her along. This actually helped me get going a whole lot better too. After a while she decided she wanted to walk again so I gutsed it out to the finish.
I kept aiming for the ferry building and it's nice big clock tell myself that I could get there and then it would be only about a kilometre to get to the finish. Getting off the waterfront and turning into the Viaduct was just fabulous. There were quite a few people lined up watching and, more importantly, cheering us along. Mum was there and gave me a cheer - she even tried running beside me but the bags she was carrying rather slowed her down. I finally got out of the viaduct and could see the finish. There were a massive amount of people waiting there and cheering. A final turn into the finish chute and I could see the marathon time ticking up towards 4:30 so I put as much as I could into it and got across the line.
Those cheers at the end and the feeling of getting across that line was amazing. Quite a high!
Final stats: 4:29:53 since the gun went off, 4:26:37 since crossing the start line.
Result: one very tired Ed - a little bit frustrated about not getting under 4 hours.
posted by Edward Sargisson at 5:56 pm
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