Hamburg Marathon 2013

Hamburg Marathon 2013
running for Boston

First off, although I have not improved my time (PB) I felt a lot better running Hamburg than I did Frankfurt last year. For quite a few reasons, just a pity that my legs (more precisely my hamstrings) had other ideas, but I'll come to that later.
It was a great day for running! We had around 7°C at the start and at the end 15°C and sunny with a light breeze, which is probably one of the reasons why the route was lined with thousends of people, cheering as the runners went by, a brilliant atmosphere, making it a wonderful race regardless of time ran.
I got to the start line in quite good time and I got ready and gave my bag in with around 20 minutes before start, which I thought would be enough time to go to the toilet, but they just did not have enough porta-loos for the number of runners, I've been to a lot of smaller races that had just as many as at the marathon #fail! So with less than 10 min to go I made my way to the start area. Because of a strange construction I ended up in a start block further back, but as I wanted to start really slowly this time, it wasn't that important. just after the first km time for a pit stop, and judging by the number of people (men actually) stopping there were definitely not enough toilets at the start.
The first half went almost according to plan, about a min & half slower than planed, so ok.
Felling good I started to pick up the pace, as planed, and according to the official splits my km avg between 20-25km we as around 2 sec per km faster than the average, bingo. And the next 5K were also 2 sec/km faster than the previous 5, a feat I repeated in the next 5K and I was still feeling good :-)
So we have now just got past the 35K mark and well on the way to a good 3:20 ish or so, and looking to increase the pace again, but just after the 36km mark my left hamstring started pulling together, so I stopped and managed to stretch it before it had a chance to seize up on me. I kept this up for the next 2-3K, stopping, stretching, running, stopping, stretching, running. Untill it finally got better and I thought I had a chance of running all the way to the end, which would mean still coming in under 3:30. just past 41K take a right turn and then you have an uphill section about 700m long. Half way up, without any warning, my right hamstring just seized up on me, and with a scream I stopped on the spot, giving a spectator a bit of a shock.
The only thing I could do was keep touching my toes, a spectator offered me something to drink, but everytime I tried to take a sip my hamstring started cramping again. I don't really know how long I was there, around 800m from the finish line, but it felt like ages. After a while it felt better, and I was able to walk, after a few yards I started jogging and for the last 400m I ran for the finish line, and with every stride I felt my hammies, left and right, and prayed don't seize up on me now.
Was I happy when I crossed the line in 3:30:12 a new PB by 10 seconds :-)

Slowly

Now a good two weeks after the marathon I'm slowly recovering. Last week I got a few easy runs in, and felt a bit of "pain" on the first couple, but the run tonight was much better, picking up the pace all the way.
I think one of the main things contributing to a good recovery, was taking a full week off running directly after the race, and I've also started using my bike to get me to work three times in the last 7 days.
I've now set myself the new target of The Hamburg Marathon next April, where I'll be looking to improve my time from Frankfurt ;-)

BTW I can really recommend the podcast from Marathontalk.com which I'm listening to whilst writing this now, happy running! :)

Frankfurt Marathon 2012

The wake up call came at 6:30, but I was already awake anyway, so jumped out of bed, and had a light breakfast. I took a look at my mobile, the weather page said -1°C not really something that made me feel like jumping for joy, more like jumping back into bed. Still here to run a marathon, so lets get my stuff on.

Met Jens down stairs in the lobby (after leaving my bag in the Hotel luggage room) and we jogged to the start line, which was only about 10 min. away. It was cold but the sun was shining brightly, which helped.

At 10 o'clock the sound of the gun, and off we went. The course crosses the city center a few times before going south of The River Main just after the 13km mark. I was feeling fit, at least till the half way mark. But my 5km time was a quite a bit faster than I'd intended, by about 1 min. which doesn't sound like a lot, but I had my doubts. And doubts are not a good thing to have when running a marathon.

At around 20km I started to get a light stitch in my right side, wasn't anything painful (like I've had before when racing) but still a bit worrying and annoying, “just what I need now” going through my head, and it stayed with me for the next 15km or so.

Going back over The Main (24-25km) we ran across a more modern (higher) bridge, which is part of a duel carriageway, which meant quite a climb up, and on the bridge I really felt the cold wind and a bit uncomfortable to say the least, but still ok.

Then came 30km which is the start of a very straight piece of road leading back towards the city center, and here the wind came head on most of the time, although I've got to say it wasn't a strong wind but enough to make you feel uncomfortable. It's always said that this is where the marathon really begins, something I've read a lot about and heard quite often, and now it was my turn to experience this myself. It's not just a physical thing but it's also about the mental part, and in some ways maybe more mental than physical.
The nearer I got to the finish line the harder it seemed to get, I know sounds a bit pathetic but that was how it felt. Just after the 30km sign to top it all my garmin said goodbye :( make my day!

Somewhere between 30 - 35km there was a watering station, and I saw that they had tea as well, “something hot would be good” I said to myself, so I took a tea and walked a bit so I could drink it, and feel the warmth (we now had around 4°C I think).

The rest was basically just a struggle to keep moving (note I say moving not running ;) and at 40km I took another drink/walk to get me through the last part.

In all a great experience, especially running into the Festival Hall in Frankfurt with a red carpet laid out for the runners, sensational feeling (and warm ;)

With a time of 3:30:19 I'm pleased, although I had aimed for a 3:2X:XX 

But like someone said "Aim for the moon, if you don't succeed you'll still land amongst the stars" 

But I'm looking forward to doing a spring marathon on my doorstep in Hamburg next year :D

2 Days to go (Marathon)

With less than two Days......

I'm really starting to get a little nervous now, less than two days to go till the gun goes off in Frankfurt; 10 AM is start time for the Frankfurt Marathon 2012.

I know my training has been good, getting in upto 100+km per week and, averaging around 80km, with lots of good long runs. 
But......... the tapering period (3 weeks) where you reduce the mileage considerably esp. in the last week, gives you a lot more time to think about things, and that's where negative thoughts can creep up on you.
 
But after two short runs (at marathon pace) this week, I feel like I'm in the shape of my life, so negative thoughts begone!

Tomorrow we take the ICE from Hamburg-Hbf to Frankfurt-Hbf (only 4 hours :)
Lets hope I get another good nights sleep tonight ;)