It’s over a week since I crossed the finish line at Brighton Marathon, just squeaking into my safe zone in 3:59 (safe zone for this race was 4hours). As a VW60, I am allowed to run a marathon in up to 4:30 to be considered Good For Age, but London Marathon has to limit the old bird places, as so many women of my vintage are smashing the distance. I think, though, that 3:59 will do.
I still have my Edinburgh Marathon on 28 May as insurance. It would be grand to shave another few minutes off, to be absolutely sure of my place in London next April.
So I am up-tapering, now, for the next seven weeks. I’ll follow my plan backwards to a a peak week involving a couple of long slow runs of 18 and 20 miles, taper for two weeks, then hope the existing fitness from the last 16 weeks will see me through.
As you can see from the kit lay, I took the fuelling extremely seriously, from the Friday-pre-marathon Carbo Bang to the eating on the run during the actual race. My guts were ok with all this food, So there will now follow a very tedious report of the way I managed not to bonk/hit the wall/poo pants this time, by eating more than I thought possible.
Before I start the dull food diary I would like to wax lyrical, once more, about the great advice I received regarding fuelling distance running, from Zuzana Nemeckova, the OnTrack nutritionist. I thoroughly recommend her sensible approach. Check her out.
The red wine bottle on the kit pic is not just facetious. Zuzana said there was no harm in enjoying a glass the night before the race. I remembered that the fastest ever MP in the London Marathon (Matthew Parris, 2:32) also recommended this.
So, to recap, I carbo banged on the Friday morning. I ran easy for eight minutes, ran as fast as I could for three, then ran another eight easy, straight into a local coffee shop, where I bought a lovely vegan almond croissant. I ran home to eat it, washed down with oat milk hot chocolate. Then I ate some granola. After resting the stomach for an hour or so I went to pilates. Home for coffee and toast. Lunch was potatoes, beetroot, salad, pasta, beans.
Dinner was something carby, possibly curry and rice.
On the Saturday I volunteered at parkrun, and ate a lot more granola and toast. On this day I also ate three beigels, avocado, salad, pasta, tomatoes, chocolate and red wine. In the afternoon I ate the most delicious beetroot and raspberry bar by a company called POW, and will order some more. I filled my water bottle with electrolyte drink and sipped on that.
The pasta was eaten early ish, for dinner at my friend’s house in Brighton. I worried about the garlic and tomatoes, but guts behaved well the next day.
Race day: overnight oats, dates, molasses, chia, oat milk, banana, another beigel, coffee. Then more coffee, beigel and banana at the start.
Wow, it was cold at the start. I was glad of my throwaway clothes. The queue for the toilets took forever, and I kept convincing myself I was going to have a gut breakdown, just like at Berlin Marathon, just like Paula. I had eaten too much. I had overloaded. My fault if I exploded. Confidence eroded. Disaster foreboded…
Ok, that’s enough poetry. Ed.
I’ve since been studying my splits and am happy to report that my slowest miles were one and 25, my fastest was Mile 15 (the mile in which I swallowed 2 ibuprofen). The majority of miles were well under nine minutes, and I did not endure the slow descent to conk out that happened in Manchester last April, and also, less disastrously, in Richmond last October. I stayed strong, picked up at every water station, drank isotonic drink wherever offered, and ate bananas and gel block all the way round. Something was consumed every 30 minutes. Orange wedges were the most welcome snacks offered by the fantastic crowd on a sunny, happy day.
I’ll continue the blog, probably not weekly, but up to and beyond Edinburgh.
Back training now, a 24.56 trail parkrun on Saturday in South Norwood Country Park. This morning saw me in Poole, running a lovely seaside 7miler, with some strides to convince legs they’re recovered.
Easter has scuppered healthy eating, but will get back on that soonest.
Well done, me.
Marathon Gran 