Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Rotterdam Marathon

The Rotterdam marathon is over and all the training is long since forgotten. I'm on my post-marathon meltdown now which means I'm tired, grumpy and permamently hungry. But I'm jumping too far ahead now. I did a race report over at Team Geared Up which you can read over there or else here it is:

Marathons are scary events. Only a couple of people in the race are out to win and the thousands of others just want to do their best, whether that means just finishing or getting a Personal Best. Failure is so scary.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement but I’ve been worse, standing on marathon start lines. I got a Race number that allowed me almost right up at the start banner, so I waited till less than ten minutes before start time to get into my place. Looking around me was scary.

Once we were off I felt like I was moving quite fast. I hadn’t a clue how fast though because my heart rate went through the roof and I missed the first few kilometre markers so I just hoped it wasn’t slow!! I tried to relax and get my heart rate to settle but it wouldn’t so I chose to ignore the readings of between 185 and 190. When my foot hit the mat at 10k in 40 minutes I realised I was well inside the 3 hour mark (shock!) and decided at that exact moment that I wasn’t gonna let that go without a huge fight. I was thinking I was moving at too fast a pass to sustain for too long, but what the hell, let’s just go for it and hang on and I thought if I let it slip a little later on I could still break 3. And so I continued, despite hitting low points at 16k (feeling sick for a minute) I just pushed and pushed. It was killing me to be moving that fast while thinking I still had a long way to go. So I took a gel and as JackieO said to me “put your head down and dig in”.

I hit the half way mark at 1:27:42 so was still moving quickly enough. Finding things to focus my brain on was difficult. At 27k we came right back into the city but by 30k we were back out into a really quiet park which felt like a real lull after the buzz of the city. It was hard to push on at this stage. But I actually caught a glimpse of the leaders on the opposite side of the road who were at the 40k mark and thought, what a lift, to see them racing this close!

At 35k I was over a minute inside the 3 hour pace but the pain in my calves was increasing. I had worn super flat racing shoes and I suppose this was the price I paid for wearing light trainers. So from this point on it was head down, push hard through the ever increasing pain. But I knew the pain of being just outside 3 hours would be a pain I might have forever if I didn’t go for it! I can’t even describe what happened in the finishing straight. I couldn’t see the clock properly, but I could see metre markers counting down the last couple of hundred metres. I could hear the crowd do the countdown till the clock hit 3 and just as my foot landed on the mat the clock hit 3 hours exactly (and my heart rate hit 199). I couldn’t believe it. It took a couple of hours to get my chip time of 2:59:58, giving me a placing of 28th woman and 341 overall. Running buddy Bronagh had a PB of 3:20 and new friend Anthony ran his first marathon in 4:25.

During my marathon preparation Nige had said I could go sub 3. I didn’t believe it really, I imagined even as I stood on the line I would finish at about 3:03. I wrote before about how Nige was helping me but I didn’t imagine the help would ever get me this far. Training under pressure (with the heart monitor) made racing under pressure much easier, he said I would suffer so suffering during the race became normal, not something I should be scared of. (Normally you slow down when you’re suffering). His two words Push Hard became a mantra during the whole race and I couldn’t let it go. To run well I believe you also need a good club and a good coach. You need people to push you, to believe in you and they act like a support group. I sound like I’m doing an Oscars speech but I really have to thank my coach and brother Eugene for support and encouragement and his wife Gina who looked after my legs!

End of TGU post.
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I really didn't think I would do it. A sub 3 hour marathon is one of those elusive things I thought I might spend the next few years chasing and never achieve. My previous best was 3:13 in Chicago. If it hadn't been for TGU and the help of Nige I think it would be an entirely different marathon story I'd be telling right now and it wouldn't have a "2" in it.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

2:59:58... WHAT A TIME. Reading posts like this is one of the things that helped me make up my mind to do my 1st marathon (Cork 08 - hope to do sub 4).

Congrats on a great race.
Sean

Anonymous said...

Aisling- Way to go girl. You trianed super hard and dug deep to accomplish an awesome goal. Breaking 3 hours in a marathon is dedication and hard work. Be very proud of yourself you deserve it.

I mainly do 50 mile and 100 mile runs now days but when someone asks me what is the hardest I say to run a marathon as fast as you can is the hardest test.

Congratulations!

Thomas said...

Aisling, that is simply amazing!!!! What a race, and what a huge improvement. Congratulations! That is massive!

Can I borrow that Nige for a year? My PB is 3:12, and I'd love to match your time, but somehow it seems impossible.

bennyboy said...

Jesus, well done you!!! What little I know of running still allows me to appreciate what an achievement this is, fair play you :)

markmc said...

Fair play Aisling, that's some achievement ... glad all the hard work paid off for you :-)

Jo said...

Amazing Ais. Makes me hurt just to read about it! Congratulations, great work! If the chips are ever down, I want you on my side!

Journey to a Centum said...

Aisling,

Fabulous! Sounds like a total "Guts" run from the start to finish! Great acomplishments always require help from friends. Sounds like your buddies really came through for you!

Rest well and slowly get back to your running. Don't let the post race blues get you down! Celebrate and set your sights on a few fun trail run outings with your buddies.

Midget Wrangler said...

Ash, You are bloody amazing!
You are one of the few people I know who are really "living" Well done!

Looking forward to next week and our coffee! YOu can have a big eclair!!! I'm paying you deserve it!

aquaasho said...

You go for it Sean! Let us know how Cork goes.
George, like yourself I had been doing ultras the last few years and just thought I better do a fast maarthon before I get too old. Thank you for the congrats!
Thomas it was almost worth missing the Connemara Ultra for! And "impossible" is nothing!
SL Cheers and thanks! I may have time for blogging now it's over! ;-)
Mark thanks so much! You still doing the hill runs?
Jo would love you on a team any day, you're so nurturing. :-)
Eric I plan on taking it easy...well except for this Saturday when I have an adventure race with the girls. Should be fun though, no pressure...
MW I'm looking forward to it already! These days if it's not covered in chocolate I'm not eating it! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Brilliantly done Aisling! Congrats. I just started running and hope to do a 1/2 marathon in a few months.

Bonn said...

Great post Ash. I have to say too, that getting 28th best female is very impressive sounding too. Can you imagine if you were 2 seconds later, that would be a disaster. But we won't think about that.

You truly are like our very own bionic woman.

fatmammycat said...

What a gal! Well Done Aisling, I'm so proud of you.

aquaasho said...

Cheers Sheepworrier, I'll be rooting for you over at FMC's Saturday club!
Hi Milan, the pain of being just a second outside three hours would be catastrophic!! Aargh!
Thanks FMC!