Gold Coast Airport Marathon - RunMarathon

I should start by saying that the race record fell this year to a Kenyan who not only broke this race record by 45 secs but also broke the 32 year old Australian All-comers marathon record by 4 seconds over the previous record - held by Australian Rob De Castella and set in the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

The winning time was 2:09:14 and to see those guys running at sub 2:10 was a privilege and just ever so slightly unbelievable!

I had completed this race twice before - 2006 and 2008 and then had three consecutive failures - two to injury and one to illness on race day. This year I got to the start line healthy and uninjured. I read a quote somewhere saying that "if you can get to the start line with no injuries you are 80% of the way to finishing". And so it proved.

I had a great lead up - in the 4 weeks preceding the marathon I set 5 PB's over my training courses ranging from 5km to 30km - and on each occasion I was not trying to set a PB, I just ran strongly but within myself and they just happened. Conversely last year I was struggling with a bad soleus muscle strain and had limited training mileage in the 8 weeks leading to the (ultimately failed) marathon.

In my two previous successful marathons (since recovering from the chronic injuries that have beset me over the past two years - Auckland Nov '13 & Rotorua May'14), I had started conservatively and then at around 25km really raised the effort level. (At Rotorua I negatively split the race by 9 mins). Having got the confidence that the body was back on track for the full marathon distance I decided to be less conservative in this race and start faster - though not all out. (There's another great race quote that says " In the first half don't be an idiot, in the last half, don't be a wimp"). My goal was to go under 3:30 which equates to 5:00 min/km. Having raced through the first 10km in 47:15 and feeling better by the km I realised today would be a good day - perhaps even a great day. At the very least I was banking time in case I had to slow later in the race.

As usual it took me until 14km to start to feeling good. I had found at Rotorua that if I consumed a gel every 5km I was much less prone to flag - mentally as much as physically. For any of you who have read "Lore of Running" by Noakes M.D. you'll be familiar with his "central governor model" which basically states that when the blood glucose level drops late in a race the brain reacts to this impending hypoglycemia by shutting down muscle activity. Of course it's not the only thing that slows you down but if you can keep it at bay by boosting the blood glucose then that is one less issue to deal with. I know that my own experience is a sample size of 1 but it works for me!

At the 28km aid station I took a small step to the left to pick up a water cup and immediately got a L) hamstring cramp. Totally out of the blue - no hint of it coming, no fatigue, no soreness and no injury coming in. I hobbled for about a minute but didn't need to stop and was soon running freely again but more slowly.

Then at 38km, with no prompting it happened again! This time more severe. Had to stop for a stretch and a short walk. This time when I began running again I had to do it at a much slower pace. I nursed it through another 2 km and at the next aid station, again reaching to the left for a water cup I got a really severe cramp again. Came to a dead halt and the spasm moved around to the front of the knee as well. I couldn't even take a step without it recurring! It looked like I would have to walk it in if I ever got mobile again. But after some time just standing there and letting it all relax I managed to walk and then run - even more slowly than before. The time I had banked earlier in the race was now coming into play! (In the end I was stationary for 3 1/2 minutes for all the incidents).

I didn't suffer a cramp again until I finished but I was hyper-vigilant and the pace was way down. The effect of the cramp on the 5km splits below is very obvious.

But at the end I crossed the line and completed a race that had eluded me for three years. Much joy! This is the 2nd of three marathons planned for 2014 and the 3rd completed in the past 9 months.

Next up is a return to Auckland in November this year to complete 4 marathons in 12 months.

... and then in 2015 it's back to triathlons....

The marathon was also the championship race for number of other divisions. My results were as follows;

IAAF Oceania Area Marathon Championship...............41st
Australian Marathon Championship..............................41st
Australian Masters Marathon Championship................12th
Queensland Masters Marathon Championship.............5th

SPLIT TIMES

split point_______split time...........pace

5KM __________00:23:42............04:44
10KM__________00:23:29............04:41
15KM__________00:23:17............04:39
20KM__________00:23:28............04:41
25KM__________00:23:53 ...........04:46
30KM __________00:24:42...........04:56
35KM __________00:25:31...........05:06
40KM__________00:26:19............05:15
Finish__________00:12:31............05:41

HALFWAY SPLITS

Half Way________01:39:15............04:42
Finish__________01:47:41.............05:06

Nothing in the race. I was able to judge early on that a pace around 4:45/km should be achievable for most of the race if not all of it. It was only the issue with cramp late in th erace that slowed me eventually - and that was a surprise. Up unitl the episode there was no hint of trouble and it had never given any trouble in training.

Two bananas and two bottles of water in the recovery zone.
A cold beer with family and firneds in the public area!
20 min walk back to the apartment.


The L) hamstring cramp was the limiter.


Great race!

Became an IAAF Gold Label Race this year and it is a great reward for the organisers who put out a superb product. This puts it on par with Boston, London, NYC.