My first sub-3 hours marathon

Race Information

Goals

| Goal | Description | Completed? | |——|————————-|————| | A | Sub 3:09:33 (PB) | Yes | | B | Sub 3 | Yes | | C | Sub 2:53 | No |

Splits

| Kilometer | Time | min/km | |———-:|:——-:|:——:| | 5 | 20:58 | 4:12 | | 10 | 21:04 | 4:13 | | 15 | 21:41 | 4:21 | | 20 | 21:12 | 4:15 | | Half | 04:37 | 4:13 | | 25 | 16:47 | 4:19 | | 30 | 21:27 | 4:18 | | 35 | 21:17 | 4:16 | | 40 | 21:38 | 4:20 | | End | 09:15 | 4:13 |

Training

This was going to be my second marathon after Munich 2022. Last year, I tried to follow the 3h pacers from the start. Everything was going smooth, until I completely shut down around km 31-32. It was probably because of a combination of causes: lack of long runs during training, bad hydration/nutrition, flu during last taper week. Hence, my first concern this year was to avoid bonking after 30 kms.

I started training seriously around mid-July, following Pfitzinger 12/55. I had to cut it short anyway because I didn’t have enough time. I didn’t start from 0, but was running at most 30 km/week pretty much the whole year starting from February. I think my aerobic condition was already in a good state since I trained for an Ironman 70.3 in May and a cycling granfondo in July. Compared to last year, I tried to stick more to a 80/20 approach, so a lot of eaaasy runs. Probably a lot of them were too easy. I’m still trying to understand what zone 2 really is for me: my Garmin says it’s between 115-130 bpm, but that sometimes really felt too easy. Towards the end of my training plan, I started doing easy runs in the range 135-140 bpm and only kept a lower HR for recovery runs. Anyway, I went from 30 km/week to almost 60 during the first week and kept increasing it. This was my weekly volume:

Week Distance (km) Elevation (m)
1 57 359
2 73 365
3 52 261
4 80 496
5 72 620
6 84 1009
7 82 1038
8 82 1036
9 47 228
10 22 80

I think what really helped me was doing a lot of running (and intervals) on hilly roads during week 6-8 (as you can see from the elevation). Also, during that period the heat was really brutal and I remember training in between 25-30 degrees Celsius (even if it was late in the evening or early in the morning). However, I was still a bit worried because of lack of long runs at marathon goal pace. I think I only had one session of 26 kms, with around 20 kms at 4:15 min/km. Also, having only 10 weeks meant I had to cancel part of the plan. My plan had 4 sections: endurance, lactate-threshold/endurance, race preparation, taper & race. I decided to skip the race preparation and all the tune-up races scheduled on the plan. Finally, I think that my taper period was far from ideal, since the volume reduction was really sharp. I cut my weekly volume by half 2 weeks from the race and I mostly tried to rest the last week. In the end this is the summary of my training cycle (thanks to this channel, I discovered intervals.icu and tracked it there): 10 weeks-69 days, 48 activities, 655 km, 58h20m. My training was classified as pyramidal with 67.7% in Z1+2 (40 Z1-27 Z2), 27.4% in Z3+4 (14 Z3-13 Z4) and 5% in Z5+.

Pre-race

I arrived in Berlin with my girlfriend the day before the marathon around lunchtime after a 6 hours drive. We decided to have a big fat doner kebap for lunch. In hindsight, this was probably not the best choice. As soon as I finished eating, I started feeling some weird movements in my bowel. I was also feeling cold, despite the temperature not being so low (my girlfriend on the other hand was really enjoying the weather). We spent the afternoon going around the city center with a friend living there and went to our Airbnb around 9 pm. I had half a pizza for dinner and I finally did a number 2. I was so relieved I didn’t have to carry the doner in my bowels the next day for 42 km! We ended up sleeping around 11 pm. My sleep was overall good, according to my Garmin 7h 22m with score 85. The morning of the race I realized I hadn’t drank much the day before as I was feeling very thirsty, so I started drinking a lot of water. I ate a brownie made by my girlfriend, but I’m again not sure it was the best choice in terms of nutrition as I felt it was very heavy and buttery. Anyway, we got out pretty early and reached Brandenburger Tor in time to take some pictures. Time to race!

Race

I wasn’t really sure about my race strategy. All I knew was that I wanted to finish under 3 hours and not bonk after 30 km. I decided to follow the 3h pacers and reevaluate the situation after the half mark. The weather was perfect and the vibe was really nice. I started following one pacer while trying to give high fives to all the kids on the road. I was constantly checking my HR and got a bit worried when I saw it stabilizing around 165 bpm. That was more or less the same I kept last year, which eventually led me bonking after 30 km. On the other hand, given I was feeling thirsty from the morning I forced myself to get water at every station, even if it meant losing every time 5-10 seconds. Last year I skipped drinking for most of the race and I was really dehidrated at the end. At one of the stations, I also got a glass of Maurten energy drink. I don’t know what was inside that drink, but it really gave me a boost (and also lowered my HR a bit). I felt I could easily pass the pacer and aim for a faster pace, but I tried to be conservative knowing what will later come. Even if I wasn’t hungry at all, I forced myself to eat a gel after approx 1 hour. In general, the first half passed quite smoothly even if I wasn’t feeling in my best shape. Around km 25, I started feeling a bit more tired and instead of sticking close to the pacer I let him go a bit farther away. At this point, I was still worried about bonking and constantly checked my HR, knowing that going over 170 would not be a good sign. My new goal was to pass safely 32 km and give it all in the last 10 km. Fortunately my HR didn’t spike, but I started counting every km. I was trying to calculate how much time was left to go under 3 hours, what my pace should be and all sort of calculations. Of course all this was completely useless, but it was a good way to keep my mind focused away from the fatigue. -9, -8, -7.. At this point, the good vibe was gone, every little sound or scream became annoying. I was keeping my eyes fixed on the asphalt, my legs started feeling like 2 blocks of concrete. I was constantly feeling on the verge of collapsing, I knew the feeling from the year before. I didn’t have the 3h pacer in sight anymore, but I was lucky to have a couple of Spanish speaking guys around me. One was obviously very fit, running around his friend trying to motivate him. The other one was struggling just like me, if not even more. I don’t speak Spanish, but it didn’t take long to be motivated by all those “Vamos” screamed by the first guy. He had so much energy he was contagious: he was constantly screaming, running backwards, left, right, he was getting 4-5 glasses of water at every station and bringing them to his friend. At some point, he placed himself after his friend and literally started pushing him with a finger! That was what I needed to go forward, I sticked to the 2 guys and ran with them until the last km. The Brandenburg Gate was finally visible, but I couldn’t enjoy it much since another problem was arising: I was very close to the 3 hours limit. At that point I screamed to my Spanish amigos “let’s goo” and went for a last big push, worst case I would end up like Do Nascimento in NY22. I could see the time on the end line being well above 3 hours, like 3:03, but I also knew I passed under the start line a bit later than the official start. Then I started looking at my watch: 2:59:30, 2:59:40, 2:59:50.. My heart is exploding, my legs will thank me later, I pass the finish line and stop my watch: 3:00:07.

Post-race

Did I make it? Did I start my watch too early? Who cares, it’s not 7 seconds making a difference. I was very happy I finished without bonking. After drinking water, tea and alcohol-free beer I go back to collect my bag. I take my phone and the first message is from my girlfriend congratulating me on my 2:59:56 time! Nice, I made it! Now time for some more alcohol-free beer! I hope also my Spanish speaking friends made it, but I couldn’t find them anymore..

Reflecting on this some days later: now what? My next goal would be to get a qualifying time for NY. This year I think the bar is around 2:53 for my age group (M30). That would mean shaving off 7 more minutes from my new PB. I think it’s doable, if I put in more work and follow a higher mileage training plan (maybe Pfitz 12/70?). I would be very curious to know what my limit is. I haven’t been running for long. I started in 2019 with a half-marathon (my time was 1:28) and no training plan. Then 2020 I didn’t do much because of covid and no races, 2021 I got into triathlon and last year I went back to running more consistently (around 800 km). This year I ran 1300 km so far. I could see the benefits coming from increasing the volume. On the other hand, running a lot involves a lot of slow running and that becomes quite boring after a while. Also, I feel I’m not ready to consistently run during autumn/winter when it’s dark and cold outside. One big thing I’m missing is strength training. How important really is it? I have read that it’s very important to prevent injuries, but I never had any injury. How much would it affect my speed? When a cross-training day is present on my plan, I rather prefer going for a bike ride.

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

Written on September 27, 2023