On Thursday afternoon I got a call from my great friend Cat telling me that a friend in her running club was injured and couldn't compete on Sunday. Did I want the entry? Thanks to my very understanding girlfriend, Jemma, I entered the London Marathon as #31277 in your program but #1 in your hearts. As an aside, this is an official Marathon no-no. For so many reasons, the least of which being health and safety, it is illegal to run under someone else's name. That's right, I am running Mafia.
As it turns out, Cat's friend, is like Speedy McSpeederson and runs sub-three hour marathons which grants him access into the uber cool starting corral complete with changing tents and high-tech port-a-loos. The guy may as well be Phidippides, and I'm wearing his race bib. Last year when I ran the London Marathon our starting group had lines a half-mile long for the toilets, a gray cloud overhead, and a reduced IQ. When I walked through the gates marked 'Fast, Good for Age' suddenly the sun shone, the angels sang, there were no lines for the toilet, and Hawaiian Tropics girls through roses at my feet. It was glorious. When it actually did start to rain we had a wonderful changing tent where we could take shelter, meanwhile the 'masses' stayed out in the fields, chewing their cud, and huddling together in herds.
The only problem arose when we lined up at the starting line. In 2009, I was so far back in the race pack at the start that I literally couldn't even see the starting line. On Sunday, I was five rows back. Sounds great, but when the guys around you are discussing the necessary splits to run 2:40:00 you suddenly realize that you run the risk of being trampled to an early grave. It would be the first funeral to be co-sponsored by Nike and Asics.
Luckily, the start was rather uneventful and I avoided the rush of front runners by taking an early line to the far right of the race pack. Sticking to the race plan I paced out at 8:00 minutes per mile for the first 10k and let that increase to 8:45 minutes per mile by the time I reached the halfway mark. Crossing Tower Bridge at the 13.1 mile mark I was pleased to be at 1:53:22 and feeling good. I let out the pace to 9:00 minutes per mile around mile 15 before I pick the pace back up and starting driving back to an 8:30 min pace, and then eventually an 8:00 mile pace from mile 23 to the finish. I've found that a solid race plan gives you quite a bit of confidence and I continue to take solace in mine.
Essentially, for my pace, I plan to only take water at every other aid station while making sure that I don't miss out on the Lucozade sports drink stations. I am conscious that as soon as the salts are gone from the body that muscles will want to cramp. As soon as the glucose is gone from the body, the muscles just stop. Too much water can rinse the muscles of valuable salts, while the Lucozade adds salts and glucose. Additionally, I make sure that I have 300g of Perpetuem with me. Perpetuem is supplement made by Hammer Nutrition that is a 60%, 20%, 20% blend of carbohydrates, protein, and lipids which acts as a great fuel for late in the race. I start sipping the first 240g of it mixed with water starting at hour 1. I mix the last 60g of it at mile 17 and drink it before I reach mile 18. I am convinced that this is what helps me avoid the infamous 'Wall'.
If you do choose to use a supplement during your race, make sure that you test it out during your long training days. There's nothing worse than finding out on race day that you get gastro issues or nausea from your supplement so experiment before race day! The other thing I recommend is to not ever ever take any of the sweets or foods that spectators offer from the sidelines. Unless you're in the habit of taking random sweets, sliced oranges, hard candy, or pints of beer from strangers on the side of the road during your training runs, then don't change the plan and accept them on race day.
The weather here in London stayed a lovely temperature for running, and by the time I crossed under Blackfriars Bridge and onto Victoria Embankment, I was well hydrated and out of any danger of overheating. I kicked it up a notch from mile 23 and was happy to cross the line in 3:45:26. Far from good enough to honor the 'Fast, Good For Age' bib that I was wearing but good enough for the 'Good For Ricky' category.
I'll continue training through this week and then take a week off to rest the legs and recharge the batteries. Luckily, that just so happens to coincide with my vacation in Vegas...
All the best and good running!
**Btw, I recommend Hal Higdon's book The Ultimate Training Guide: Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide
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