Breaking the 4 hour barrier

At last, in my 3rd marathon and my second adidas Auckland Marathon, I have broken the 4-hour barrier. Looking back, it's not an easy feat to achieve in a marathon, unless you are blessed with running attributes already. On setting a personal best in a half marathon 2 weeks earlier, I was optimistic that I would break 4 hours.

Given the goal, it was close to a perfect marathon. The training was perfect, the preparation was spot on, the race day strategy was executed flawlessly. However, I cannot put my finger on a single factor that helped me break the 4-hour barrier. I will elaborate on all the critical success factors of my preparation, in particular how they differed from previous marations.

Injury
No I'm not saying that hurting your knee intentionally will help you get a personal best. The fact that I got injured made me realise that I had to take it easy, train smarter and not overtrain. When I got the injury in June, I couldn't train for two months. I finally started in August, but lost 2 months of training time. During this time I questioned my motivation to run, whether I could even break 4 hours, or set a modest personal best, or even complete the marathon. Thankfully I didn't, as when I resumed training by running 2 km very slowly, I realised just how much I missed running and how enjoyable it was to go for a run. From then on, it was like a ripple effect, I kept my training going, and going, and going.

More varied and consistent training
I utilised a 12 week training programme, and I'm glad to say that I've stuck to it religiously having only missed 4-5 training runs out of 50 or so traning sessions. In the previous Auckland Marathon, I did more training sessions, and ran more total mileage. But the running was predictable; I only ran at a given pace mostly over 6 mins/km. At times during my training, I wouldn't run for 1-2 weeks when I should've been running. This year, I was more consistent, running 4-5 weeks every week, and I incorporated more tempo work, speed work and track work into my training. I believe the shorter, faster runs made the difference in my times.

The controversial Reconditioning Programme
Possibly my biggest idea. Much like Graham Henry's controversial reconditioning programme (which unfortunately didn't help the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup), I introduced a week of high-level running, dubbed My Reconditioning Programme, where I ran longer distances and at higher intensity. In the end I peaked at 113 km in that week alone, which is a lot more than my usual weekly mileage. I had to deviate slightly from my original programme because, due to the vastly increased workload, I was feeling so tired during the week. But somehow I managed to clock an impressive number of miles, which is amazing because I've never run this much before.

Tapering

During the tapering period, I still kept the engine going by still doing some training runs. I noted in my previous marathons that during this tapering period I'd hardly be running, maybe only two runs in the tapering period leading up to the marathon. In this tapering period, I've managed to keep the legs busy and still do a fair bit of running during this time.

Nutrition

Carbs, carbs, carbs. I ate so much carbs in the final week of the marathon that I felt bloated throughout the day. A typical day's diet would be oatmeal and a big bowl of cereal for breakfast, a big banana for morning tea, a big plate of rice, vegetables and chicken for lunch, some carbo shots or a banana or a sandwich in the afternoon, and another big plate of rice, vegetables and chicken for dinner. In addition, I managed to drink at least 4 litres of water daily. It meant that I had to go to the toilet a few more times than usual, but the extra carbohydrates in the body means extra water retention, meaning I keep precious water in the system for the marathon.

Massage

This year, I decided to do a pre-race massage 3 days out from the event. It was an interesting and pleasurable experience. The masseuse worked on my back and leg muscles, kneading out all the tight areas. I felt physically and mentally refreshed after that. Massage is an excellent way to promote recovery, and the idea was to recover from all the training I put in, so that I could put in a harder effort on race day. Lots of elite sportsmen, marathon runners included, get a pre-race massage before a big event. Getting a massage made me feel like an elite sportsman too.

Race day strategy

In terms of nutrition and hydration, I took with me 5 carbo shots on the course, and a drink bottle. The drink bottle contained energy replacement fluid, giving me additional carbohydrates. Originally I intended to throw the drink bottle away when I finished with the fluid, but I decided to keep the bottle and fill it up with water or Powerade when I passed each drinks station. The drink bottle must have a big opening so that I could pour all the fluid from the cup inside the bottle. This ensured I always had something to drink along the way, instead of fighting my way to the next drinks station. It worked very well; lots of people hate carrying bottles by hand, but I've gotten used to it now, it's like second nature to me. I took each carbo shot every 7 km into the course. Flat coca-cola was also provided in the second half of the marathon, and I drank this as well. Coke contained more simple sugar than Powerade, and simple sugar converts to energy much faster, which, in the later stages of the marathon, could only help you.

In terms of pacing, I ran very even splits throughout the marathon. I started slowly, and picked up the pace a bit, eventually settling into a smooth rhythm. After 10 km, the time was around 56 minutes, after 21 km, the time was exactly 1 hour 55 minutes. Doubling that 21 km time approximately gives my marathon finishing time. So, I was happy that I managed to run an even pace throughout the race, without having to slow down considerably. Not once did I hit the dreaded wall! I was definitely tired and feeling sore throughout the last 15 km of the race, but I tried my hardest to keep the pace going, and I didn't slow down significantly.

So, these were my critical success factors for preparing and running the Auckland Marathon. There isn't one factor that determined marathon success. I'm happy to have found a combination of factors that have worked so well for me, and I will continue to use these in future marathon training. Bring it on!

Setting a Personal Best in the Half Marathon

Last Sunday I ran the Waitakere Half Marathon. It was the second time I have run this particular event. And I set a personal best over the half marathon distance. This time I clocked 1 hour 47 minutes and 8 seconds, slashing over 7 minutes from my previous best of 1 hour 54 minutes and 52 seconds, which was also run on the very same course (and my very first half marathon time).

I've run a few half marathons in between, but could never beat my 1:54:52 time. The worst time I ever recorded in the half marathon was 2:02:08. But this time, it felt great to set a personal best for that distance and run faster overall.

I guess my personal best could be attributed to a number of things. I have done more running recently, in particular more tempo running at lactate threshold pace. If there is only one workout I can do in training for a running event (5 km, 10 km, half marathon, marathon, ultra marathon), out of all the types of running (VO2 max speed runs, tempo runs, cruise intervals, long slow distance, recovery runs) this would be it. And having run the half marathon course in training many times, I have become so familiar with the course that I know what splits I should be running at different stages of the course. I also took a week off work to do the reconditioning programme, though it's hard to say whether the reconditioning programme had any profound effect on my performance. The acid test that reconditioning was a success will be whether I meet my marathon time goal of 4 hours and under.

Back to the half marathon, I did the first 10 km in 52 minutes, and then did a negative split by running the remaining distance in 55 minutes. Basically, 5 minutes 12 seconds per km for the first 10 km, and approximately 5 minutes per km for the remainder of the run.

Hopefully, this will be a positive indication that I can meet my marathon time goal of 4 hours and under. I set that same goal last year, but failed by running 4:17:04. This time I hope to run 4:00:00 and under!

Talking it up again

Having won the Area competition in the humorous speech category, I moved on to the Division competitions in said category. And with 7 speakers competing, the winners representing each area in the division, I had very stiff competition.

With Holidaying on the Wrong Boat, I retold my speech, but introduced some new material for more humorous effect. The new material was great. It meant the speech was not exactly the same so those who have heard the speech before may get to hear newer ideas.

And it had a profound effect on the elderly ladies in the audience, in particular one of the competitors, a 60-something year old woman. She retold her speech entitled Such a Nice Young Man, and mentioned my name three times! Is it because I was Such a Nice Young Man, or I was making fun of elderly ladies? In any case, involving the audience was a great way to get laughs, and it worked for her. I also involved the audience, not once but twice, by saying pickup lines on a particular elderly lady in the audience.

Had my pickup lines been more successful I would have placed first. Unfortunately it was not to be as the judges deemed me 2nd best in the Division. To place 2nd out of the 7 top speakers in the Division is a profound achievement, and one I'll be proud of for a while. And I was still popular with the elderly ladies with 2nd place; immediately after receiving my prize I did a quick waltz on stage with the contest chairlady in front of the audience.

The winner, and deservedly so with his speech All You Can Eat, will represent the Division in the District competitions in Wellington next month. Being 2nd, I will also go down to Wellington as the backup speaker, should the winner withdraw for some reason.

But having made fun of elderly ladies in my speech, something tells me I'll be popular with those folk when I head down to Wellington...

Evaluation of my "Reconditioning Programme"

Last week I took a week off work to increase my effort in my marathon training. Earlier I had resolved to put in a lot more mileage (around 100-130 km) in the week, and a lot more intense running and recovery in the day.

Here's how it actually went, and how I felt at the end of it.

Reconditioning Programme
Monday:

• Morning: 8 x 2 km at tempo pace, 120 secs easy x 4, 90 secs easy x 2, 60 secs easy x 2
• Afternoon: Rest, or stretch
• Evening: 5 miles easy

This was a hard start to the programme. In the evening, I had trouble running 5 miles comfortably, and felt like overheating.

Tuesday:

• 3 x 30 mins at tempo pace, 5 mins easy

I felt so flat that I abandoned training at around 6 km. Did nothing the rest of the day.

Wednesday:

• Morning: 10 x 2 km at tempo pace, 60 secs easy
• Afternoon: Rest, or stretch
• Evening: 6 miles easy

Because of very bad weather, I couldn't do the morning workout at the track. Changed Wednesday's programme to be 3 x 30 mins at tempo pace, 5 mins easy, i.e. Tuesday's programme, which was done on the treadmill. Managed to get 19 km in. Decided to get rid of the evening runs.

Thursday:

• Morning: 6 x 500 m hill repititions, walk/jog downhill
• Evening: 6 miles easy

Changed this to be a 25 km slow endurance run. I felt there were too many speed/strength workouts in the week, so I needed to introduce a long slow run. Managed to get 25 km in 2 hours 45 mins.

Friday:

• 7 miles at tempo pace

Again, changed, this time to a rest day. Needed a rest day badly! Absolutely no running.

Saturday:

• 3 hour long run or 32 km

Finally, some consistency. Managed to run approximately 32 km in 3 hours 7 minutes. The first 11 km was pretty slow running, last 21 km was a lot faster running.

So in total, I managed to get in 113 km this week, much more than my usual weekly effort. I was happy to get through Saturday's long run in a good solid time (the best time I've done over 32 km in training), which will hopefully be a good indicator to marathon performance.

Unfortunately I couldn't carry out the full programme. Sometimes I felt flat on certain days, where I didn't feel like training. When the body tells you not to train, it was a indication to ease up on the effort and to let the body rest. I had to respect my body's limitations, and to carry out the full programme could have been detrimental to my training. Injuries and sickness may have crept in. Thankfully I have managed to get through unscathed and I hope it has brought benefits to my running and performance.

I have also decided to briefly mention the All Blacks quarterfinal loss against France in the Rugby World Cup. A brutal, sudden end to their campaign. Was the reconditioning programme to blame? I say no. Perhaps the best way for the All Blacks to prepare for such an important event was to get more rugby under the belt, and not to do a reconditioning programme. Reconditioning was only one part of their preparation, but there were other aspects specific to rugby as well; perhaps the All Blacks were caught short there.

So if the reconditioning programme wasn't enough for the All Blacks to bring back the Rugby World Cup, well I hope my reconditioning programme is enough for me to realise my marathon goal of 4 hours or under. We'll wait and see!