Edinburgh Marathon - Sub three hour effort

Did it.

2:58:29

To read about the training plan and the back story check out the post below:

https://northeastrunning.blogspot.com/2022/05/sub-three-hour-marathon-training-plan.html

In summary though - train (really) hard + get your nutrition right.

The plan was to try and average just under 4:10/km throughout. Gels at 30 mins. 100ml water at each stop. If it went dream like I'd be around 2:55:00. If I fell of a cliff with 8km left I might hang on to 3:00:00.

And...

(Weather was perfect in terms of wind - maybe slightly too warm - pretty flat throughout - no more than +100m of climbing over 42km)

Overview
Not bad pacing - lost it a tiny bit at the end

So breaking it down into the splits - the first 35km were pretty much spot on. The adrenlin, the reasonably easy three weeks leading up to the day, it felt a bit like a hard training run. Even had the chance to chat a little and just concentrate on a good technique and taking the gels and the water.

Then for km 36 and 37 I started to feel the pace slipping a tiny bit - every so slightly harder to try and keep that 4:10/km pace going and having to start to dig in.

km 38 and I started getting a little worried - both hamstrings started cramping slightly and my left thigh. I knew there was only 4km left and I knew I could cruise at 5:00/km if I wanted and still get sub three. So I just eased off a bit and didn't panic - it was just a case of being sensible, taking the foot off the gas and trying to glide home at a slightly slower pace.

I didn't relax until literally 20m before the finish line. Having 30s stretching cramp off by the side of the road was not something I wanted to do...

...but before I knew it I was over the line - the result in the bag and that's there now to look back on now in 10/20 year time. Delighted.
On reflection...

Could I have pushed a little harder in the last 4-5 km and got a better time by 60-80s - maybe.

But equally, if the weather had been 20mph wind - would I now have a 3:02:00 to look back on?

At the end of the day - an achievement I worked so hard for is in the bag.

Maybe try for London Marathon next year. I think one marathon a year is enough ;)

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