My Marathon Journey Part 2
Part 2: My Lockdown Marathon
After the success of Melbourne Marathon 2016 all I wanted to do with my running was break 3 hours for the distance and run longer ultras. I sought out the help of Tim Crosbie and told him my aims, only to have that idea completely shut down when I told him I was also yet to break 20 minutes for 5km. Rather than the gruelling long runs I wanted, Tim put me in one of the Crosbie Crews 400 metre repeat track sessions and told me I was training for a 10km. At the end when I asked him how I did, the response I got was 'Well, you got it done, but it was pretty damn ugly'. It was far from the illustrious start to having a coach I had built up in my mind, but I knew right then that he was what I needed if I wanted to get better. Not someone who would bolster my confidence continuously, but someone who would challenge me, give it to me straight, and who if I ever got a compliment from knew I had damn well earned it.
The journey from there has seen me tackle everything from 1500m and 3000m Steeples on the track, to Ultra Marathons in the mountains. We truly built me from the ground up, slowly taking my ungainly and unnatural stride and building strength to create something more efficient and powerful. I was annoyed and scared initially, because truth be told I did not enjoy the track or shorter distance work and knew I sucked at it, but I trusted Tim and his ability to build me into a better runner. I have always viewed it as short term frustrations in the pursuit of long term gain, so when I do tackle my real goals 5-10 years down the track, I can do it to my full potential. My body needs time and training to catch up with my mental capacity, and I had to learn that running wasn't always supposed to be hard and painful.
It did not come naturally, with hours upon hours of drills, strength work, massage, and as much running as my body would healthily allow, I have spent the last four years building foundations and becoming a student of the sport. My dreams have also changed as I found a true love for the trails and mountains, but the marathon has still been in the back of my mind all along.
2015 DeCastella Run, 15km in 1:28:59 (5:55/km)
2018 XCR, 15km in 56:26 (3:45/km)
From 3 months before my first marathon to 1 month before my first World Mountain Running Championships.
Cue 2020. What a damn messed up year. In January, I had nailed down a race calendar all throughout Europe to have my first experience of racing the mountain running World Cup circuit. Throughout July and August I was due to run Snowdon International, Grossglockner Berglauf, Fletta Trail, Sierre Zinal, and a few other races around them. I had never been more excited and motivated to train hard.
Safe to say, that all changed. But in a way, for the long term it is probably for the better. Instead of a hectic four months of mountain training filled with excited anxiety and risk taking, I have had an incredibly consistent four months of flat, efficient, road and track training. I have become a more well rounded runner again after my foray into the mountains, and most importantly I have learned how to fuel, absorb and recover from high mileage training. I have also had the space to invest my time and energy in other aspects of my health, delving painfully deeper into struggles with my psychologist, and getting officially diagnosed with PCOS after a long term suspicion of having the condition. Because there is no rush, when niggles or injures start to present, I have backed it off rather than taking risks to get to start lines. So while I have started to master high mileage, I have also become both mentally and physically better at resting and recovering than I ever have been.
Foam Rolling is a huge part of my routine for taking care of my own body between sessions
Recovery starts as soon as the running stops.
Because of having little access to mountains or hilly trails during lockdown, Tim and I decided early on that life had thrown me a good opportunity to try out a full marathon prep. We optimistically aimed at Great Ocean Road Marathon in late August, and set out the most gruelling 16 weeks of training I have ever seen in my program.
I was loving it. The more I ran, the stronger and better I felt. Since my 'stick incident' in January and entering lockdown round 1 rather unfit, I have only had 2 days off running due to a mildly pesky ankle tendon. At the start of July, I had clocked 12 weeks at an average of 155km per week, with some over 170. The best part is, I was far from drained by it. I have just been trucking along in my own little isolation bubble with even less distractions than normal aside from a higher study load. When things were looking up for return to races for a little bit, it looked like it was all going to pay off. Ha. Lockdown 2.0 announced early July had other plans.
July 9th I was supposed to run a 22km Tempo run, but with everything lopsided again it was becoming clear that the risks of continuing the training plan I was on now outweighed the rewards. I did a 16km Tempo instead, and after finishing it in the fastest time I had (1:02:56) I knew I wanted to just have a crack, and told Tim I wanted to do a marathon time trial before I took a break. I did not want to put in all the hard work of preparing for a marathon and not get to at least try one, no matter the circumstances.
So it was set that I would finish off my peak week, running a 43km Long run on Saturday July 11th and clock 180km for the week, then chuck in a sharpish taper and just go for it solo. I ran a 20km day with my last track session Monday, then jogged 16km/14km/10km on Tue/Wed/Thur to taper off and freshen up (It's all relative - this is a big drop from what I was doing).
The course we planned in Port Melbourne was not entirely ideal but it was the best we were going to get close to home without running dreaded laps of Albert Park. As a nature lover and mountain runner, the idea of running a flat road marathon around the industrial part of the city, alone, was rather hilarious. It was the stark opposite of my comfort zone, but hey, growth never came from comfort zones.
The map of my marathon course.
In the days before, I was trying to focus on everything that had gone right rather than all the things that weren't perfect. Yes I had missed the last 6 weeks of preparation, I hadn't gotten in the gut/nutrition training during tempos that was due to start that week, I didn't have the full taper as planned etc etc. That was all a mental rabbit hole I acknowledged, but then stayed right away from. The huge positives were that I had a solid and consistent block of training behind me, I could have a perfectly timed epic playlist in my ears, and the circumstances meant I could have Tim by my side the whole run. This alone meant a lot because he has been the mastermind of this journey and is the only one that has seen all the triumphs as well as all the pain, early morning grinds, and struggles along the way.
No matter what, I knew I was going to learn a lot and I was pretty damn excited to see how the last 10km would go. The pace I was setting off at I knew should be easy up until 30km. We weren't going for broke, in the circumstances a good experience with a negative split and just a solid time on the better side of 3 hours is all we were hoping for. But still, it's a marathon. There's a long time for something to go wrong no matter how fit you are.
Picture of Melbourne from the morning of the run by David Crosling, Herald Sun
The morning of the run, Friday July 17, it was damn cold. It was also foggy as anything, but fog was somewhat a good sign as it meant the wind was low. Warm up felt shit. It was anything but warm, my nervous energy had all gone to my stomach making me feel sick, and I couldn't decide what to wear. But I had already mentally prepared for this, so I emotionally disconnected from everything I was physically feeling and went through my normal pre-race routine. Bathroom, jog, hydrate, drills, bathroom, strides, delayer. Just another run.
The start was unceremonious. Just me standing on the bike path by the beach next to Tim. Like all the tempos in the previous weeks, I hit go on the watch and we were off. The first 8km were all on the bike path by the bay, and my only focus was on settling into a 4:08-4:10/km pace. I still felt sick so couldn't drink, but wasn't too worried about that yet. At 9km we ventured off the bike paths onto Williamstown Road. From there I had to keep my wits about me running in the bike lane, but thankfully the roads weren't busy. It was at the 10km point when I looked down and saw 41:20, the exact split I wanted, that I knew the day was going to be a real good one.
After navigating a few sets of lights and the bridge over the freeway on Ingles Street, we hit a quiet strip of dead end road where I was going to do a few laps. Being 15km in, It was here I started to get a little worried about nutrition, as I had only got about half of what I wanted to in. Worse yet I was starting to need to pee because I wasn't sweating in the cold. I tried to drink but it made it worse, and over the next 6km every time the urge to pee came on I would slow down. I told myself to just get to half way and re-assess, it might go away. Hitting half way in 1:27:47, a tiny bit slower than planned but feeling pretty fresh overall, I was happy. But the pesky need to pee was still there no matter how much I wished it away, so while running through Westgate Park at 23km I finally stopped for a bathroom break. I was immediately glad I did because everything felt better.
Coming out of Westgate Park there was a couple of iffy intersections where I knew if I didn't get the lights I would have nowhere to go. Unfortunately, I didn't get the lights; but I was able to cross one direction of traffic, run up the traffic island in the middle of the road, then loop back and cross the other lanes when it was clear so I could keep moving. From there, it was back onto Williamstown Road for another loop.
The second loop went by quickly. There was a few close calls with turning trucks but I got all the lights going my way, and with my stomach and body more settled I was able to drink a little more. From 25 to 32km I found myself slowing a bit at times, but it was always due to lack of concentration rather than fatigue. All in all, I hit 32km feeling as good as you could hope for, and after stripping off my arm warmers, having a Revvies for a caffeine hit, and settling into the beat of my music, I knuckled down for the 10km kick for home.
The last intersection I had to navigate was the super iffy intersection, and again I didn’t get the lights and found myself running up and back the traffic island a second time at 35km. This time though I realised the trucks next to me were about to get stopped by a red light ahead and block my way across the road, so seeing a pole up ahead I grabbed on and swung myself around, running back down the traffic island to clear road where I could cross. Once across I felt massive relief, because from there it was a 7km stretch of bike path to finish where I could zone out and just go. It was in this final stretch my body felt at it's best, finally moving at the pace I had trained all my tempos at. It was like I clicked into gear and could mentally check out from trying to control my pace, and let my body get on with doing the work.
I broke into a massive grin at 38km. I knew then that I could at least maintain until the end. My legs were heavy and it didn't feel like I was running all that fast, but I could hear Tim beside me spurring me on, and knew I must be doing well because as I learned from the start, compliments are darn hard to come by with Crosbie. I was physically hurting for sure, with a couple of my niggles arching up, but it was far from the depth of pain I knew I could handle, and I didn't have to dig to any deep mental places to push through it. Unlike my first two marathons, I was running with my body this time. My mind was the one just along for the ride.
With a kilometre to go 'Bat out of Hell' started playing in my ears and I really let myself go for it. I 'sprinted' the last 200 metres and came to an ecstatic stop in front of some very confused onlookers at St Kilda Life Saving Club, but I didn't care. The 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 13 seconds showing up on my watch was all I cared about. After four years I had freaking done it, in my own crazy way, for me, with only those closest to me as witness and almost no pictures to show for it, and it felt great.
The poster on my wall for the week before this marathon.
Jogging a 3km cool down with Tim, I wasn't entirely sure what to think. My mind was an absolute rush. It is all too easy to try and project into the future thinking what I could do in a race setting on a proper course, using everything I have both mentally and physically - but I know now all too well that whatever I think I can do is far from a given. That won't stop me working for it through. I commented to Tim that I still don't know what this apparent 'Wall' feels like, and that as much as it might suck I would love to go out hard one day and see if I can get closer to finding out what all the fuss is about.
I'm still not done with the marathon, but for now I am looking forward to a bit of down time before hopefully FINALLY being allowed back out to explore nature, mountains and trails again. The rhythm of the road is a beautiful thing in it's own right, but I am definitely missing the hills and trails. I am keen to see how the marathon block I have just done translates over into the technical terrain and gnarly climbs.
No doubt the lessons I have learned along the way will help in the long run no matter what the world looks like in the coming years. So here's to growing through the tough times life throws at us, to making the best we can of whatever situation we find ourselves in, to running like a kid, and to staying optimistic about the future. The trails and mountains and races will return, and until then there are plenty of other ways to improve so when we get there, we can return better and stronger than ever in some weird way.
The Stats
Distance: 42.20km
Time: 2:55:13
Half Splits: 1:27:47 / 1:27:26
Average Pace: 4:09/km
Average HR: 167bpm
Shoes:Salomon Sonic 3 Accelerate
Nutrition: 1 Litre/400 Calories of Tailwind Nutrition, 2 Revvies Energy Strips, 1 Crampfix vinegar shot.
5km Splits
Average Week In The Build Up
Day
Running
Recovery
Monday
AM: 8km Easy
PM: Track Session 16km Total
60 min gentle walk
30 min pre-session roll
30 min post-session stretch
Tuesday
AM: 16km Easy
PM: Heavy Gym Session + 8km Easy
60 min gentle walk
30 min Stretch
Wednesday
20km Easy on Trails
60 min gentle walk
60 min Foam Roll
Thursday
AM: Road Tempo Session 24-30km Total
PM: 6km Easy Grass Laps
60 min gentle walk
30 min Pre-Session Roll
Magnesium Bath
Friday
12-14km Easy
30 mins Running drills/core
60 min gentle walk
Massage/Dry Needle
60 min Foam Roll
Saturday
AM: 28 - 43km Long Run
PM: 45mins Running Mechanics + Core
60 min gentle walk
30 min Foam Roll
Sunday
AM: 16km Steady or Hills
PM: 45 mins Pilates
60 min gentle walk
60 Min Foam Roll
Down week 140 - 150km, Most weeks 160- 180km.
Easy/Long run Pace 4:30-4:50/km, Tempo Pace 3:50-4:00/km
Other Recovery Keys:
- Average 9 hours sleep per night (9pm - 6am)
- Entirely plant-based nutrition personalised by a registered dietician
- Tailwind Rebuild Shake straight after hard sessions and long runs
- Regular Sports Physician check ups and blood tests (Shinbone Medical)
- Standing desk for study
- Fortnightly chiropractic adjustment (I have loads of back issues - South Yarra Spine and Sports)
- Fortnightly Psych appointments (Happy mind = Happy Body)
Occasional Key Sessions:
- 3 x 5km Progressive within Long Run
- Hilly Long Run
- 5km and 10km Time Trials
- 10 x 10 second Hill Sprints with 2min rest at the end of an easy run
For a fun comparison, My average week in the build up to Melbourne Marathon 2016:
Day
Training
Monday
10 - 12km at 6:00/km
60 minute Body Pump Gym Class
Tuesday
8km Tempo at 4:45-5:15/km
60 min Spin Class
Soccer Training
Wednesday
10 - 15km at 5:30 - 6:00/km
Thursday
60 min Yoga
8-15km at 5:30-6:00/km
60 min Bootcamp Gym Class
Friday
Between 1st and 2nd Lecture: 5x400m on Track at uni, no warm up or cool down
Between 2nd and 3rd Lecture: 5x400m on Track at uni, no warm up or cool down
After Uni: 10-15km at 5:15-6:00/km
Saturday
7-10km at 5:15 - 6:00/km
90 minute spin + 45 min weight machines at gym
Sunday
15 - 30km at 5:00-5:15/km
90 Minute Soccer Match
40 Minute Basketball Game
Easy Run Pace: 5:30 - 6:30/km. Tempo Pace: 4:45-5:15/km
Few races along the way: 10 -21.1km almost all at 4:45/km Except that one 10km I ran in 42:45 that made me change allll my aims.
Recovery - what's that??
Averaged 78km for total 16 weeks but what that looked like in reality was:
80, 55, 83, 84, 92, 90, 101, 110km Then....
50km - Overuse injury, 250km cycling instead
39km - on crutches Mon-Fri (50km on rowing machine and 300km cycling instead) but 'Tempo' half marathon Sunday....
60km - over only three runs, with 350km of cycling...
89km - including 350km of cycling again and a marathon around a track because... who knows
84, 85, 66km (each with 250-300km cycling and 30km rowing)
and...
total 84km race week with three 'marathon Pace' sessions Mon/Thur/Sat due to nerves.
And this was my second marathon....I thought I knew what I was doing.
My Melb Mara Post-Race Diary Entry : Less than ideal lead up being 6 months post surgery, in the middle of a course of MST treatment and having a couple of injuries in the lead up, but couldn’t be happier with the last two weeks of prep. Got my mental preparation done well and I felt good, fresh and confident race morning. 15km and half marathon PB in the race (64min and 1hr31min), started to struggle after 25km when turning into wind but passed lots of people into wind! Quad got excruciatingly sore at 35km mark but I maintained pace except for uphill kilometre. Felt good in groups but spent most of race on my own. Kicked last 2km doing them 4:15/km and passed 16 people. Know where there is room for improvement - lost form and arm positioning quite early in run and could have pushed a little more in 35-40km mark, but crossed the line with nothing left on the day (fainted). Know I can improve but very happy as today improved on my previous time by 12 mins. Need to work on form, nutrition and more specific training while maintaining proper recovery. Maybe I'll get a coach. Good training cycle overall!