An honest sport

Running above all else is an honest sport and the marathon brings this to an extreme. What I mean is invariably you get out of it what you put into it. To me this is true in endurance running more than any other sport I know. To succeed in the marathon you must be extremely well conditioned aerobically. There are few people who simply 'decide' to run a marathon a few days or weeks beforehand and do well on natural talent alone. To be clear, what I mean by doing 'well' is also a relative thing - doing well for one person might be to run under four hours, or even to finish, whereas for some sub-elites a 2:30 might be considered a failure. In all cases though, success in the marathon is gained generally through months and often years of consistent preparation with new campaigns building on the successes (or failures and lessons learnt) of past campaigns.

So it is with this mind that I now come to the discussion of my most recent Melbourne marathon. First the buildup. Shortly after last year's marathon, I injured and subsequently developed tendinopathy in my left knee. Of all my body, my tendons seem to be my weakest link as I've also had achilles issues in campaigns past. The knee tendinopathy has been bothering me to a more or lessor extent throughout the year and in the most part has been affecting my ability to train how I would like to. Nevertheless, after two marathons in 2011 and 2012, I decided to have a relatively quiet year and just do the single marathon in October. This allowed me to focus on the cross country season and aim for a few personal bests over shorter distances. As it panned out, this year I ran a personal best for 10 km and surprisingly for the tan about three weeks before the marathon, but in most of my other races I was a bit off my best form. Of course, the race that gives you the best guide going into a marathon is a flat out half marathon, where at Burnley I came up short of a PB by about 30 secs. 

My mileage was also down this year relative to 2012, so considering this and the lack of PB performances in crucial races, I was probably a bit down on confidence going into yesterday's race. However, my fitness was still 'there and thereabouts' - I guess I was riding a bit on a strong base from previous races and about four years of relatively injury free running, hence I decided to put it out there and have a crack at a PB anyway. 

To my extreme fortune and good luck, in every single marathon I have run (now seven) the weather conditions have been excellent. Melbourne once again turned out brilliant running conditions with the temperature at the start about 12 degrees and the skies overcast, with only a slight breeze. There was the threat of rain, but I wasn't concerned about that, rather more if the breeze picked up.

So the plan was to run 3:56 per/km and go through half way in about 1:23, with the aim to bring it home about the same pace or slightly faster for a 2:46 and a new personal best. Things were looking good early on, I managed to get into a nice rhythm in a small group consisting also of two club mates (and fierce rivals) Kay and Rob, the kms were ticking away nicely at around 3:55 and I was feeling relaxed, as one should in the first half of the race. However, and this is of course very subjective - it didn't feel quite as relaxed as I thought it should. I was as it panned out, working just a little too hard to maintain this pace.

As we rounded out of the top of Albert Park at about the 10 km marker, Kay and Rob had decided to increase the pace slightly and they dragged most of the rest of the group I was in with along with them, so I suddenly found myself in 'no-mans land'. This is a bit disconcerting as you suddenly start to doubt yourself and your plan and wonder if you should follow. I decided not to and thanks to the constant feedback of my Garmin, I knew that I was travelling pretty well and on still on track to go through halfway at goal time.

The long stretch into the breeze up Beaconsfield parade was where I had my first 'bad patch' and the doubts were starting to creep in. However, I managed to regather my thoughts but my split times were gradually starting to extend and I wasn't feeling as fresh as I thought I should. 

As I've said before, the wonderful thing about the modern course in Melbourne is all the switch backs where you get to run past a good part of the field on the other side of the road to you (both ahead and behind). So despite the fact that I was caught in no-mans land, it was great to hear the shouts of encouragement from other club mates in South Melbourne and the Crosbie Crew. In particular, I remember one shout out from Tim Frawley who during this stretch yelled out 'Good pace Brad', which gave me a bit of a boost when I was starting to feel like my pace wasn't so good.

I went through halfway (according to my watch) at a nick under 1:23 which was right on target but I was feeling far from comfortable and I think I knew at this point a PB was looking seriously doubtful. However, I managed to hold onto sub 4 min pace right until the turnaround at Elwood. Then I entered my second bad patch and all of a sudden I was running 4:05s and I could start to feel the 2:50 pacer breathing down my neck. I contrast this with last year where I felt quite strong and managed to maintain my pace. It does wonders for your confidence if you can hold your pace at this point of a marathon as this is normally when everyone else is starting to tire and you end up catching them, so you feel bulletproof. It was not to be for me yesterday and if anything the reverse was true with people starting to catch and overtake me.

Nevertheless, after climbing 'Mount Fitzroy' to the base of St Kilda Road I managed to recoup a little and got back to running a few sub 4 min kms. Then came the loop around the Arts Centre and Birdwood Avenue around the back of the botanical gardens, a section of road I have run hundreds of times due to it being part of Melbourne's iconic tan track and the main training base for the Crosbie Crew. There was nothing left though. The slight incline saw my pace drop to 4:10+ and I was starting to will on the finish time. It was now I knew the PB was out of the question and this sapped the last of my motivation to f*** my legs. The 2:50 pacer then stormed by me with about four km to go and I decided to make a deal with myself to hang tight with him and still nab a sub-2:50, which although not the PB I was after, would still be respectable given the year I've had. I hung tight with him right until the turnoff from Flinders Street where he briefly raced ahead before dropping back behind me to encourage a few others who were close to missing the 2:50 mark.

In the end, I entered the MCG knowing I had sub 2:50 in the bag and I was happy, although not ecstatic to cross the finish line. For perspective, it was my second fastest marathon and possibly my last Melbourne for some time as Asia and I are relocating back to Christchurch in January, so it was nice to put in a solid if unspectacular performance. My splits were 1:22:54 for the first half and 1:26:38 for the second half which makes for a final net time of 2:49:32 and a positive split of 3:44.

Ultimately, though, as I started this blog entry, the difference between this year and last year was the lower mileage and less quality long tempo runs leading into the race. I really did get out what I put in.

Thanks must go again, as always, to the Crosbie Crew along with coach and patron saint Tim Crosbie. Once again I have used the Tuesday night seasons as my regular quality work throughout the year and these have been responsible for keeping the sharpness in my legs. It has also been great to see the growth of the club as the new membership structure has been implemented. The crew just seems to get bigger and better every single year. I'll certainly miss everyone next year when I'm struggling through the Christchurch winter.

Thanks also to the team at South Melbourne. My running has reached new heights ever since joining the club and the regular racing along with supportive members has been a real highlight of my running life in Melbourne these last few years.

To my wife Asia, yet again you have taken another marathon campaign in your stride and your support at home and in particular on the course at nearly every event has been terrific. I love you darling.

So, we look to the future - I'll certainly be back at some stage for another Melbourne, maybe next year who knows? After all, I'm now halfway to becoming a spartan...

One of the best

October has rolled around again, and with it comes the Melbourne Marathon that I have raced every year since my debut in 2009. This marathon has been especially kind to me over the last three years, for many reasons, including being my 'home' marathon, the chance to run with so many great friends and of course having achieved most of my running dreams in this race - a debut marathon,  a Boston qualifier and first sub 3hr marathon. It is fair to say that this race is special to me and it is now a given that I will run it for as many years as I can.

2012 has been another really satisfying year with my running and I have continued to build on some solid performances in 2011 with P.Bs at every distance culminating in a fresh 5km P.B last Saturday. However, my 'A' race of the year is always Melbourne Marathon, and without doubt I would judge my year by my performance on this day.

This would be marathon number six. I have lowered my P.B in every attempt, except Boston and the expectation was that I would give a P.B another good shot in this race. My build-up for this one was not ideal, in particular due to a nasty virus that I caught about five weeks out which really knocked me about and forced me to lay low when I really wanted to be putting in my biggest couple of weeks. Furthermore, I had being feeling a little low and lacking in running mojo for the past few months, which I put down to a heavy load over the last two years. However, on the flip-side, I had run a solid 2:52:01 in Rotorua earlier in the year on a demanding hilly course in less than perfect conditions, so after a solid cross country season, including a half marathon P.B, there was every chance that given good conditions I would still be a real chance of a marathon P.B.

The marathon distance always deserves respect, and even after five previous ones, I was still as nervous as ever and the nagging doubts had begun to creep in during the final week. Have I done enough miles? Is my goal time realistic? Will I blow up? What is that little niggle in my hip? Is the weather going to be too hot? How much pasta and rice should I eat? On the morning what if I can't go before I go? Will I meet my expectations?

The scene was set then. October 14, 2012. 7am, sunny, 8 degrees, not a breath of wind. In short, perfect running conditions. Incredibly, over 6000 others from around Australia and the world had turned up for MM number 35, so the atmosphere on the start line was electric. My plan, as usual, was to be conservative early on trying to sit on my goal pace of 3:57 for the first half of the race.

The gun went and we were off. 42.2 km that would test the courage of all 6000+ entrants. I found it pretty easy to settle into a good rhythm and was maintaining a very comfortable 3:55 pace down the first stretch on St Kilda Rd. One of the things I love about the marathon is the general camaraderie between the runners. Because it is such a long race, during the first half (at least) you should be able to maintain a conversation with others around you (well at least a few snatched sentences between breaths). I had struck up a conversation with a lady named Claire from Queensland and another bloke (Adam I think), who were both aiming for similar times to me. We shared a few thoughts about the race, the weather and how we were feeling. Melbourne was really looking spectacular, and the view towards the city while running around Albert Park, despite knowing it well, looked like something from a postcard fantasy.

Writing of fantasies, I was running very comfortably and feeling good. You can never know for sure until later on the race but I was already starting to get the feeling that this was going to be a good day. Perhaps the best thing about the Melbourne course, is all the switchbacks that allow you to gauge your progress against other runners and give a shout out to your friends in front of or behind you. On the switchback near the pit lane of the Melbourne Grand Prix, I could see that Kirstin, Rob, Alan, Tim and Andrea were all in good form so it was shaping up to be a special day for the Crosbie Crew. By this stage I had dropped my earlier friends whom I struck up a conversation with and found myself a little isolated. This was okay, I was running my own race and I was still keeping consistency.

Going down Fitzroy Street for the first time, I saw my wife Asia, who had also gotten up early to support me, take photos and just be a general on the day superstar. Thanks love, I couldn't have done it so easily without you by my side! I also saw a large contingent of South Melbourne Athletic Club veterans who gave a huge cheer of encouragement as I rounded the corner to tackle the out and back stretch up Beach Road.

At the turnaround at Port Melbourne, I saw clubmate Corey Lawson for the first time. I knew Corey had aspirations about running sub 2:50 and he has been slightly ahead of me all year in the road races and cross country, so to see him about 100m behind had me slightly concerned at first and I was wondering if perhaps I had gone out too hard. No sooner had these thoughts entered my head and I could hear his loud footfall off my shoulder and all of a sudden we were running together. That was how it stayed more or less until about the 26 km mark where we were heading back towards home. Corey was obviously feeling good and had pulled away from me, developing a lead of about 200m at one point. I decided not to go with him and concentrated on maintaining my rhythm and started to prepare myself mentally for the final 10 km.

If you have experienced the wall in a marathon, and most marathoners will at some stage, then you know that it can happen fast and hard, turning the final kms of your race into a battle for survival and a maximal test of courage. I was still feeling pretty good at 30 km, so I was fairly sure that I was going to make it home and keep the wall at bay. At 32 km, I could see that I was gaining slowly on Corey and at this point I knew I would catch him. Compared to previous years, running the stretch down St Kilda Road and not having to battle with hordes of iPod wearing half marathoners was a breeze. I steeled myself for the slight uphill section through the back of the Melbourne botanical gardens and managed to almost hold my pace.

By now it was really starting to hurt, as expected, so I summoned my last burst of energy for the final section through Federation Square and down to the MCG. It is an incredible feeling entering this great stadium knowing that friends and family are in the crowd and that you are going to smash through another P.B. I probably got a bit carried away with my celebrations during the lap of the stadium with plenty of hooting and hollering to go with the fist pumps. I had done it again, coming through the line in 2:47:49, lowering my P.B by over four minutes and putting to rest all the pre-race demons! It was one of the best running days of my life without doubt.

I didn't achieve a negative split. There was no half-way timing mat, but based on my watch I reckon I went through halfway in about 1:23:30, which meant that I came home in about 1:24:20 which gives me as near as damn an even split, so I'm pretty happy with that.

Some final thoughts on the race itself:

The Good

• The course. On a good weather day, this course is simply spectacular, and fast. The organisers seem to have listened to the previous problems with merging into the half marathoners and the dedicated lane up St Kilda Road for the marathoners was brilliant. I hope that this is the course that is settled on for a few years now as it is close to perfect.
• 7am start time. This is the same as previous years but when the sun is out as it was yesterday, you are thankful to be finishing before 10am and beating the heat of the day.
• The support. I would love to see even bigger crowds out there but I think this race is starting to build momentum and it was good to see plenty of Melbournians out there. Those that were out there were also extremely encouraging, loud and helpful.
• Aid stations. No complaints here. Well staffed, well stocked, well organised and plenty of them. 
• The MCG. To enter the MCG for the race finish is just amazing and the real thrill of a lifetime.

The 'Needs Improvement'

• Timing mats. It is great to have four timing mats at 10 km intervals but for a marathon of this size and quality I would really like to see a mat every 5km and one at halfway. To not even have a marker, let alone a mat at the halfway mark was a bit poor.
• Show bag. Terrible, again. Maybe this has to do with the sponsors but a bag full of advertisements, a can of tuna and beans and a can of Powerade is along way from the sort of quality bags I have seen at other international and local races.
• Pre race speaking. With all respect to Steve Moneghetti, the last thing we want to hear about before setting off on our marathon journey is how you could probably trot round in a personal worst performance of 2:30. We need motivation and inspiration. Bring back Deeks.

The needs improvement are really just minor gripes, and only detract slightly from what is a super race -  8.5 / 10.

Thanks must go to my lovely wife who has put up with yet another time consuming, social life interfering marathon build-up. As usual, a marathoner is not the most fun person to be around during the pre marathon taper - with all that pent up energy and nerves you tend to snap at those close to you. Asia you have been super supportive yet again and I'm thankful to have such a special person as my wife. I love you.

Thanks also go to my coach Tim Crosbie, who continues to do amazing things with the Crosbie Crew training group. To my friends in the Crosbie Crew and South Melbourne AC, WOW! What a day! So many amazing runs and to be out there with you while you also achieved your own running nirvana was super special. I look forward to many more great runs with a super bunch of people.

Time to savour the achievement, put on a few kilos and then think about the next thing.

Taking on the lake

New Zealand is renowned around the world for its stunning natural beauty and Rotorua is no exception. Of course, I was here to run a marathon, so the scenic sideshow was something of a secondary consideration. However, if you are going to put yourself through 42.2 km of pleasure and pain then why not make the ride as pretty as possible?

The course is one full clockwise lap of Lake Rotorua mostly on tar seal road and takes you from Rotorua township out of the city, through some rural areas and stunning native bush followed by winding your way back past the airport and back into the township and finish line. The course has a reputation for being tough, hilly and not a p.b course - as nearly everyone I spoke to before the race liked to remind me. However, my feeling is that so many of the world's marathon courses are pancake flat - think Berlin, Rotterdam, Chicago, Gold Coast, so a hilly course is a selling point, rather than a negative. You can approach it with fear or you can see it as a challenge to be conquered. Also, people sometimes forget that a marathon is a race, a race for position. On the day, everyone faces the same course and the same conditions. If you are better prepared, mentally and physically, then you will definitely run better.

Why did I choose Rotorua marathon for my fifth? There were a few reasons, one I'd never done a marathon in NZ, two I had a good friend in Wellington who'd done it a few times and was keen to make a weekend of it, three the timing of the race fits in well with my new Spring + Autumn marathon schedule and four it was a race I heard about growing up and subsequently it had always been on the 'todo' list since I started running marathons three years ago. All in all, plenty of reasons and so I was signed up early in the year and set about getting in shape following my wedding.

It's fair to say it's been a reasonable year of running since my epic blowout in Boston one year ago with my first sub 3 in Melbourne and numerous other p.b.s throughout the AV cross country season. More importantly, I've really been enjoying my running this past year, so much so that a rest day, or day without a run feels strange and often I find myself a bit grumpy and irritable if I haven't knocked out ten or so kms at some stage during the day. However, although I rescued one demon from Boston, ran a negative split and a sub 3, I hadn't taken on another hilly course, so I felt I needed to prove to myself that I was tough enough to get through a hilly marathon and finish strong.

My training prior to the race had been pretty good. I had completed 7 runs of 30+ km in a 12 week buildup (including sectors at marathon pace), run plenty of fast 5 km time trials at parkrun and been consistent at weekly speed sessions. If there was one thing missing from my build-up, it would have been a quality half-marathon leading into the race. Unfortunately, the Victorian calendar features almost no half marathons in the first quarter of the year, so anyone looking at an autumn marathon is plum out of luck. Nevertheless, I had a good run at 'run for the kids' over 14.4 km and from my training I felt I was probably in around 2:50 shape on a flat course.

Because I had been warned of the hills at Rotorua, I had to be a little conservative in the first half. I decided to take off around 4 min/km pace, knowing that it should be pretty comfortable for the first half of the race. As always in a marathon, the first half of the race should feel easy. In fact, to me this is one of the things that makes running marathons so much fun - there is no other race you can run where you feel so good for so long. I listen to the podcast marathontalk, and one of the co-hosts, Tom Williams, often states that the objective in the first half of the race is to get through to half-way with as little fuss as possible. I think this is great advice. In a marathon all runners make a choice - what time do I want to run through halfway at? It better not be close to your half marathon p.b, otherwise you are going to be in for a very tough day come 30 km. Run light, strong and comfortable in the first half and steel yourself mentally for the challenge to come. When the pain comes, and it will, welcome it, because you are ready.

Conditions at the 9:30am start were very good. There was a light breeze with a gentle shower and the temperature was about 14 degrees. About two minutes before the start, we had a special send-off from a local Maori choir which helped remind me that I was back in NZ. The starting hooter was probably the loudest I have ever heard and it gave me a bit of a fright. The first 10 kms of the course were on the highway leading out of Rotorua north towards Tauranga. I slotted into my 4 min/km splits and was feeling pretty comfortable. At this point I started to notice one of the few negatives of the race and that was that the roads were not completely closed. The marathoners were pushed onto the shoulder of the highway and separated from the oncoming highway traffic by a line of road cones. Through most of the course, the traffic was very light so this wasn't a problem but in the early stages and towards the finish where the traffic was a bit heavier you did get the feeling that you were a bit of an after thought.

At 10 km came the first serious hill. It was only about 200m long and because I was feeling strong at my target pace, it didn't worry me at all. In fact, I really enjoyed cresting this one and coming down quickly on the other side. Being a smallish marathon by city marathon standards (1299 finishers in 2012), and because I was running at the pointy end of the field, there wasn't many runners around me. I was running with the eventual female winner for a little while and eventually settled in behind the second place female and another guy who were both about 20 metres in front of me. I stayed with these guys until just before halfway where I could tell they were starting to slow a little and I pushed past them.

Just before halfway came the largest hill on the course - a 3 km, 60m ascent. Needless to say, I was pleased to get to the top of this one, not breathing too hard and having passed through the halfway point in 1:26. This was a little above my target of 1:25 but I had settled into what I felt was a good rhythm and I told myself that the hills had probably cost me a minute. I also knew that if I felt good in the second half I was a chance of a negative split (after all I had done it before) and I didn't fear the final 10 km.

I got a welcome boost from my supporter club at about 26 km, which included my wife Asia, my mother-in-law Mary and my friend Brian's wife Kirsty and daughter Phoebe. Turns out this was a welcome boost because I was just about to enter the last really testing hill of the course. - A rise of about 40 m for about 1 km. I pushed through this to the top knowing/hoping that it was all flat to the finish. At this stage, I was starting to lose that easy feeling and holding my splits was becoming a little more challenging.

This is the time in marathons when things are won and lost and you can easily undo all your hardwork from the previous 30 km if you start to crash and burn. I find it helps to have a mental visualisation that you can draw on. For me on this day, it was the regular 10 km easy run I have from my house to Patterson Lakes. I told myself only 10 km to go, you know how far that is, you do it all the time, easy. Because I run this run at least twice a week, I know exactly where all the km markers are, so 10 km to go and I was just running out the door of my house, 9 km and I was running past the golf course, and so on.

Unfortunately at this point the weather chose not to be so kind and I was running into quite a substantial headwind, which didn't abate much at all throughout the final stages of the race. I was now pushing hard giving everything I had left but I was struggling to hold 4:10 km pace. Although this last part of the race was flat, due to the wind it felt uphill and it was a relief to see the 41 km marker and take the right hand bend into the finishing straight.

The straight was a nice long one, giving you plenty of time to savour the moment. Finishing a marathon is always a special moment in life and this one was no different; I always tend to get a little teary and emotional. I was running down the finishing straight on my own, knowing I'd scored a massive 4 min p.b on a tough course. Final time 2:52:01 and time for a few brews to celebrate.

In summary and in review I have a few thoughts on the Rotorua marathon. First the 'room for improvement':

• Sharing the road with oncoming traffic was not great and potentially a bit unsafe. Although some extra road cones would probably rectify the safety issue, full road closures would probably be better. However, I understand this could be prohibitive in terms of cost.
• The road works at about 40 km were a bit unpleasant. Having to dodge around a massive front end loader is not something that you want to do at the best of times, let alone at 40 km into a marathon.
• Walkers. I understand you need to let the walkers go early so they can finish at a reasonable time and when running multiple events on the same day it is always a juggling act. However, I really hate having to dodge around slower runners/walkers at the end of a race. Having said that, it wasn't nearly as bad as 'the merge' at Melbourne.
• No halfway split mat. I get my km splits from my watch so having mats every five km is not such a big issue but as a minimum I think you should get a halfway split as well as your final finish split. I'm told there has been a halfway split in the past so I'm not sure why it was absent from this year's event.

And the pat on the back:

• The race pack was awesome. To get a top quality asics technical t-shirt in the race pack along with plenty of other food goodies was a welcome change from some of the garbage and loosely disguised advert-a-bags, I have received at other events.
• The course! Loved the variety of terrain, the scenery, the ups and downs and the hills were not nearly as bad as I had been warned they might be. It's a great course full of interest and you can run quick if you pace it right.
• On course support. You can tell the community really gets behind this event and it was great to see so many of the locals out supporting and cheering on the competitors.
• No medal. Yes, this is a positive not a negative. Not every one wants a medal and giving people the option of purchasing a medal for $10 with personal engraving after the event allows everyone who wants one to get one while keeping the entry cost down. Great stuff.
• Water and aid stations. There were well stocked water and aid stations every 4 km which was more than enough.
• The start. I loved the Maori choir send-off at the start.
• Bibs. Having your name on the bib was a nice touch and it makes a difference on the course when someone can shout "go Brad". Also having the race chip embedded within the bib is great and surely must be a mandatory feature now for any serious marathon organisers.

In summary, I would recommend this race to anyone looking for a marathon which is a bit different from your run-of-the mill pancake flat race. It was well organised, well supported and enjoyable to run - 7.5/10.

My splits (from my Garmin):

5km       19:46
10km     39:48 (20:01)
15km     59:59 (20:11)
20km  1:20:11 (20:12)
25km  1:40:12 (20:00)
30km  2:00:30 (20:18)
35km  2:21:07 (20:37)
40km  2:41:57 (20:49)
Finish 2:52:01 (10:04)

Finish position 16 out of 1299.

I also must thank my lovely wife Asia, who has supported me through another marathon campaign which can be a strain on time. I love you darling.

Race strategy perfection

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.

- George Bernard Shaw

After I had finished suffering through the last 15 kms of the Boston Marathon this April, I promised myself I would not run another positive split marathon. For those not familiar with the marathon runner's vernacular, this means to run the second half of a race slower than the first half.

In a marathon, as you fatigue, it gets progressively harder to maintain the pace you started out at. This is particularly so if you haven't done the hard training required for a long endurance race. Many marathon runners will manage to run a consistent pace even up to 30 km. This is where the dreaded 'wall' can rear its ugly head and a marathon runner will lose most of their time, and as I did in Boston, suffer to a dreadful degree.

By contrast, a negative split means to run the second half of the race faster than the first half, something which in principle sounds reasonable but is notoriously difficult to achieve. As this blog post shows, in the 2010 London Marathon less than 5% of all finishers managed to run a negative split. I haven't done the research, but I suspect that most major marathons would show a similar proportion. There are many contributing factors (aside from the obvious fatigue factor) that make the negative split so difficult, including:

• the taper and pre-race 'carbo load' which typically get you to the start feeling like superman (or woman), and subsequently rushing off like a 'bat out of hell'.
• psychology: many people feel that by going off slower than they are capable of (at the start), they won't get the best shot at the time they are after .
• inexperience, 42.2 km is a long way and you often don't realise just how far until you run one.

Why do marathoners want to run a negative split anyway? It's simple: running a slightly negative split (or an even split, there is some debate) will mean you run the fastest time you could possibly run given the shape you are in. If you go out too fast, you will expend too much energy early on and you will 'hit the wall'. As I showed in Boston, you can easily loose ten minutes or more in the second half if you get it wrong, and boy does it hurt. Aside from running your best possible race, it's also a 'badge of honour' among fellow runners.

Anyway, enough of the negative/positive split background, suffice to say I've made all the mistakes above and was determined to do it differently this year.

And so it was that I found myself on the start line of the 2011 Melbourne Marathon, along with 6000 other runners. To make the start of a marathon is in itself a good part of the battle, if you get through all the training, then really on the day, it's just another Sunday long run...

The weather had turned out surprisingly friendly, despite some ominous forecasts of rain and wind in the days leading up to the race. I was never really too nervous about the rain; likewise the wind can be a problem but can be overcome - at least it wasn't hot, which can affect performance. In truth, the conditions were nigh on perfect for fast running. I have been very lucky with all my four marathons so far in striking almost ideal conditions for each one.

My goal for this race was to run under 3 hours for the first time. I was confident, but not overly so. I had a great cross country season with SMAC and I knocked out a 80 minute half marathon five weeks before the race, so I knew I had the speed. However, I had been burnt by this great race only six short months ago and knew the distance must be treated with respect. Conventional wisdom suggests that I was capable of running about 2:50. However, I wanted desperately to get under 3 for the first time and given my promise not to run a positive split, and the risk of crashing and burning, I aimed to be a bit conservative in the first half.

Laurent, a friend from SMAC and the Crosbie Crew, was also going for a sub-3 and decided he would run with me in the first half. We had good fun running together for the first half of the race. Laurent was having so much fun that he even dropped me by about 100 metres at one stage just before the halfway marker when I slowed to get a drink.

Perhaps one of the funniest moments was at about the 18 km marker, when Laurent's watch went clattering to the ground. Marathoners, being the good bunch of people we are, hollered at him something like this - "your watch, you dropped your watch, hey mate you just dropped your watch, excuse me I think you dropped something back there it looked like it might be your watch". Laurent, I think realised straight away when he dropped his watch and didn't seemed too bothered by it, much less so than everyone else around him. I don't think it was a Garmin, else he might have taken it all a bit more seriously.

Throughout the first half of the race I was feeling surprisingly heavy and I didn't feel like the coiled up spring that I usually do for the first half of a marathon. However, I was still hitting my splits of 4:11 per km comfortably, so I was right on target as I went through halfway in about 1:28:30.

One of the things I love about the Melbourne Marathon course is all the switchbacks that allow you to see all your mates both in front and behind you. It's great to get a shout of encouragement from a friendly face and also to return the favour. I really enjoyed the first half of the race and hitting the half-way mark I had managed to save energy for the second half - I was in position 271 at 20 km.

I'm not really sure if it was partly sub-conscious or not, but shortly after the 20 km marker I felt incredible, and all of a sudden I was running 4:03s, 4:04s and 4:05s. Immediately, the field started coming back to me. I was passing people, I was feeling amazing and I was starting to think that maybe this was my day!

I went past Laurent at about 22 km, and received a shout of encouragement from him. I could see another friend from the Crosbie Crew, Rob Follet in the distance and made him my next target to overtake and went past him in the temporary new switchback section of the course as we approached Elwood not long after. I could also see another clubmate, Phil Klein just ahead of him and shortly thereafter also went past him. I knew both of these guys were planning on going sub-3, and they were both looking quite strong, so to be passing them meant things were starting to look very good indeed for me.

At one stage shortly after the Elwood turn-around, I had to say to myself 'what the hell are you doing'. I had just run a 4:01 k, my quickest of the race. There were still 17 km to go in the race, and I thought it is probably to early 'to be a hero', as my coach, Tim Crosbie would say. Nevertheless, the 10 km between 20 and 30 km was my fastest period of the race. My pace had only increased a little, but I was flying past people. At 30 km, I had gained 65 places to move into position 206.

I have read and heard many times about the psychological benefits of running a negative split, and admit to being somewhat sceptical. However, I can now say that there is definitely something there. To be moving through the field picking people off is a huge boost mentally and you almost feel as if you are stealing their strength as you surge by them.

The dreaded merge...This was my third Melbourne Marathon and the course and structure of the race has been more or less the same for the last three years. Just before 30 km the marathon course merges back in with the half marathon course. This might not be such a big deal, however, the halfies set off an hour after the marathoners, so as a three hour marathoner when you hit the merge you run into the back of the half marathon pack running between 6 and 7 minutes per km while you are running at about 4 mins per km. It's a recipe for disaster, especially when many of them cannot hear you because they are listening to the latest Beyoncé track at full volume on their Ipod. But having been there, done that, got the t-shirt, I knew what to expect.

To the credit of the half marathoners, those that heard me shouting "coming through on the right" were courteous, encouraging and moved out of the way as best they could. I don't blame them for the situation, it is mostly the fault of the race organisers and is one of only a couple of issues in an otherwise fantastic event. The organisers have also attempted to address the problem somewhat and marathoners and half-marathoners are now mostly separated on the length of St Kilda Rd.

Going down St Kilda Road I was still feeling great and continuing to pick off other runners. I almost ran into yet another Crosbie Crew friend, José just before the turn-off under the Arts Centre. He gave me a few much appreciated encouraging words and I was off to tackle the last 8 km with whatever I had left in the tank.

Melbourne Marathon is mostly pancake flat. The only section that contains anything resembling a hill, lasts about 2 km at about 35 km. This is a challenging time of the marathon in ordinary circumstances, but a slight incline makes it even more so. This section of the race had cost me several minutes in the last two attempts and I was determined not to let that happen again this year. Incredibly though, I was still hitting my splits and I was still overtaking other runners. I summoned one last burst of energy and emerged out the back of 'the Tan' onto Domain Rd, with the emerging feeling that I might have it in the bag.

As I rolled down the slight incline of Domain Rd onto St Kilda Rd and on towards the 40 km timing mat, I allowed myself the indulgence of looking at my actual race time. Up until now I had been using the virtual partner feature on my Garmin and didn't actually know my race time. I only knew I was ahead of my target pace. There were 2.2 km to go and 12 minutes to do it. This was when I truly knew I had the sub-3 in the bag. Only a calamity could stand between me and sub-3 glory. I was in position 148, having gained another 58 places between kms 30 and 40.

Rounding through Federation Square and towards the finish at the MCG, it was about holding it all together (and dodging around the hordes of half marathoners). When I finally glimpsed the clock on the finish chute about 100 m away I could see that I was going to smash my goal time. I'm not normally an emotional guy but as I approached that finish line, and heard the 'Go Brad' from Asia, I was almost overwhelmed with the sense of joy and accomplishment, so much so that I couldn't actually control my breathing during those last few metres. As I crossed the line fists pumping, gasping for air, Blair (another friend from the Crosbie Crew) spotted me and I immediately gave him a big hug - nothing like a bit of man love at the finish of a marathon...

I was done. Physically, mentally and emotionally there was nothing left to give. I had crossed the line in 2 hrs 55 mins and 50 secs in position 143, a 90 second negative split, a 12 minute personal best and my first sub 3 hour marathon.

In my opinion, few things in life compare to the moment crossing the marathon finish line having given all you've got and having achieved your goals. I'm getting married in a few months, perhaps that will compare!

A marathon is a journey and to achieve success requires a great support crew. For that I can thank my friends at SMAC and the Crosbie Crew and of course my fiancée, Asia. She was the one who put up with the 5:15 am alarms, cooked the late night turkey dinners after the 20 km tempo runs, suffered the interrupted social life, ameliorated the grumpy runner after a bad training session, carried the bags to the races and took the photos. Asia you're the best. I love you.

My splits for the race can be seen here.

Boston with Pride

It was a cool blustery New England morning and I waited at the meetup point to board the yellow school buses, shivering in the cold along with 27,000 others. The wind was from the South-west and it would give us a helping hand all the way home. It was the kind of day they say they get once in 10 years, a 'no excuses' day. This was it. All the buildup work; the hills in Germany, the lonely tempo runs and the physically exhausting long runs, the end of a journey that began way back at the beginning of 2009. Finally I had the chance to test my mettle on the most famous 26.2 miles in running.

The bus ride out to the start in Hopkinton was quiet and I passed the time by chatting to a 2nd year med student from Louisiana who was also running her first Boston. To be honest, I just wanted to run then and there but I knew there was still a three hour wait in the athletes village before the race started. Previously I had tried to imagine what it would be like to run in Boston but nothing can really prepare you for it. When you arrive in the city, there is no doubt the marathon is on. There are posters everyone and every shop keeper, publican and hobo wants to know if you are running on Monday and what time you are aiming for. It’s a race for runners in a runner’s city.

When we arrived at the athletes village after the bus ride from Boston, I found a nice quiet spot in the corner of the large field, placed my rubbish bag down on the slightly damp turf, grabbed one of the free bagels and a coffee and tried to make myself as comfortable as possible while I waited out the time until the start. The atmosphere in the village was festive, if a little edgy. As the time ticked closer to the race, gradually people started getting out of their w

arm clothes and into their race kits. The toilet queues started to grow. Knowing how important it is ‘to go before you go’, I jumped in a nearby queue and waited my turn. I couldn’t do it. I got out of the portaloo so someone else could use it and went to the back of the queue to see if the ‘urge’ would come again in another 10 mins. After failing for a second time and then a third time, I decided to give up and just hoped that I would make it through to the end without getting the call of nature during the race. About this time, the first call for the wave one runners was made and it was time to wander the 500 or so metres to the start line. I dropped my baggage off in the school bus, took a final look around the village, tried to relax and began the wander to the start line.

Standing on the start with 24,000 others the atmosphere is nothing short of electric. This was to be my third marathon and it definitely felt different from the other two and not just because Boston is so much larger than Melbourne. My first, was of course my first and with it comes the fear of the unknown, the questions of whether you can finish, whether your goal time is realistic etc. For my second I was going for a sub 3:10 and a BQ, so I was decidedly edgy prior. This is a good thing. Now, I was too calm, too relaxed. There was no pressure and with it no anxiety.

I had set myself a time goal of 3 hours with plenty of uncertainty if I was in the right shape for it. All had to go on was a fast tan time trial and an assurance from Grechy that I was quick enough, hardly reassuring... Before my other two marathons, I have run a half flat out about six weeks prior and used this as a guide to set my marathon pace. Of course, being an autumn marathon (for southerners) and training in the Melbourne Summer, there is just no lead up half marathons to run, scarcely a 10 km. So I had no idea if I had the time in me. I knew I was in better shape than in October last year, but 07:30 better shape on a tougher course, in a foreign city was anyone’s guess.

The gun went and nobody moved. This was expected because I was in the fourth corral of the first wave and about 4000 people back from start line. After what seemed like minutes but was probably only a few seconds, the crowd slowly inched forward and we were off in the 115^th Boston Marathon. In the end it took about two minutes for me to get across the line.

I knew the first 10 km of the race were primarily downhill, so I immediately took focus and concentrated on hitting my 4:15/km splits. Everyone around me was more or less running at the same pace and combined with the downhill, this was relatively easy, although not as easy as I had hoped. As always in a marathon, your race pace needs to feel slow at the start otherwise it could be a long day. Sometimes in races you just seem to get a feeling that you are not quite right, not quite “on” and that described how I was feeling in those first 10 km. Probably here I should have revised my target time to 3:05 or something similar but I decided to press on with the original goal.

I took my time to take in the atmosphere early in the race while I was still feeling relatively comfortable. The crowds lining the course right from the start were incredible, there were 8 year olds offering you a drink and giving you high 5s and of course the typical “Go USA” and “Good Job” shouts of encouragement. At one point some idiot yelled out “I only run when chased” but aside from that the crowd was extremely encouraging the entire length of the course.

One of the things I was noticing about the course early in the race was the constant undulations. Unlike Melbourne that is essentially pancake flat, at Boston it seems you are constantly either heading up a short climb or down a short descent, although the descents predominated early on.

I had a Runners World pace band on my wrist in addition to the Garmin 405 and was using this to gauge my mile splits in addition to km splits (a bit obsessive compulsive there). By 6 miles I think I was about 20-30 seconds down on where I needed to be. I made the decision to try and claim back this time over the next 6-7 miles to halfway but the legs were not responding and by 15 or 16km I was just starting to hang on to the pace.

In the end I went through halfway in 1:29:47, which meant that I was still on track although I would have to run a superb back half on the notorious back half of Boston and get an even split, something I have not yet come close to in my other two marathons. I think in my head at this stage, I knew the 3 hours was gone. I just wasn’t feeling sharp enough at this stage of the race and could already feel the struggle to hold my km splits.

I barely held onto my target pace over the next 5 kms, dropping about 30 secs during this period. One thing that people tell you about marathons is that you can’t get lost time back – and it’s true. Even 30 secs lost over 5 km is a massive mountain to climb to get back over the remaining 17 km and I had a voice telling me I couldn’t do it. It was now clear to me that I was "blowing up" and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Blowing up" in a marathon I have now discovered is a ‘slow death’. At first your pace drops 5 secs per km, then 10, then 20. By the time I reached 30 km I was running 4:35s and it was getting a whole lot harder each k. To add to my growing misery were the Newton Hills, which are a series of 4 smallish ascents starting at about 26 km and culminating in the famous Heartbreak Hill.

By the time I reached the top of Heartbreak Hill I had used my last gel and I was totally spent. I knew there was about 8 km of mostly downhill to go but I couldn’t muster the strength to push my pace. The km I just completed at the top of HeartBreak Hill was a 5:03, painfully slow but I felt I had nothing more. I did my best to try and hold 5 min per km pace for the last next few kms but I was crashing badly and the downhill was trashing my quads (In the end looking back at my splits I lost about 7 minutes over the last 8 km, so a P.B was still well and truly on even with 6 km to go). Where was Boylston street and the glorious run home to the finish line?

In my opinion, the worst thing about blowing up in a marathon is the ton of people that go flying by you as your pace falls off a cliff in the final few km of the race. You are already feeling terrible and having everyone fly by you like you are standing still is demoralising (I have vowed to never run another positive split in a marathon).

After what seemed like the longest 7 or 8 km of my life finally I turned for Bolyston street and somewhere deep within I found a little bit of juice. I couldn’t undo the damage of the previous 7 or 8 km but I could at least finish the final stretch as strong as I could. Crossing the finish line was more relief than ecstasy, this had been without a doubt my toughest marathon and there were plenty of lessons learned. Despite the initial disappointment of a poor performance, in reflection the Boston experience was truly amazing and I would recommend it as something that all runners should strive to do at some stage in their life. As for me, I have a score to settle with those 26.2 miles, so one day I would love to go back…

My 5km splits for the race were as follows:

(split) (cumulative)

5km: 21:11 21:11

10km: 21:11 42:22

15km: 21:12 1:03:34

20km: 21:36 1:25:10

25km: 21:43 1:46:53

30km: 23:00 2:09:53 <------ Ouch

35km: 24:26 2:34:19 <------ Ouch

40km: 25:37 2:59:56 <------Ouch

Finish: 11:54 3:11:50

Welcome back

Hasn't it been a long time?

It has been over two years since my last post - why did I stop? I'm not entirely sure, I guess that I found it less enjoyable and interesting than I used too and the 'passion' disappeared.

Nevertheless, I was reading some of my old posts for nostalgic purposes the other day and I kind of felt like getting back into it - if only for the fact that it is nice to write about what you have been doing so that you can reflect on it and also be able to look back on it later in life.

Actually, writing a blog is a very good example of how fallible and frai human memory can be as there are many previous posts I have written on this blog that I don't even remember writing! Not only that, but when you have an extended break from something like this and then look back on your previous thoughts and opinions you realise how much you can change, and how much you can learn during a short few years. As an example, I now feel slightly ashamed of the almost 'religious zeal' I displayed for the cult of 'Objectivism'. Here I was ranting and raving about the hypocrisy and faith shown by the religious and yet I was falling at the same time, hook line and sinker, for another cult. On this subject I can recommend an excellent essay by Michael Shermer. This, how can I say, 'slapped some sense into me' and made me realise how naive I was being.

Having said that, there are many views and ideas from Objectivism that I have sympathy for, indeed you could say that my economic views are still relatively 'right wing'. Nevertheless, Objectivism has taught me a valuable lesson that it is important to surround yourself with different opinions and ideas and not get caught up in one single ideology or dogmatically believe that everything one person says is true. I think this is especially so in modern society where we have become so specialised. How often to you find an expert in one field being questioned or interviewed about a subject they know very little about, and their opinions being treated as though they were the final word on the subject? Too often.

I have discovered 'Organised Skepticism' and for me it seems a super fit with my core values and a great way of getting involved with an active group of people who I believe are really doing something to improve the lot of humanity. I can thoroughly recommend the 'Skeptics Guide to the Universe' podcast for those interested in finding a little more about what skepticism is about. Not only is the podcast informative, interesting and topical it is downright entertaining - check it out.

On that note, I will turn in for the evening. I have much more to discuss about what I have been doing in the last two years, perhaps most notably my latest running exploits...

O ye heavens

Wow another three weeks just disappeared and I've now completed my 27th lap around the sun. I always liked that description of birthdays from the late Arthur C. What have I been up to lately? Well I've been getting my fair share of whippings at chess and until a few days ago we have had a full house. Yep we had our friends Mark and Claire crashing here and then my parents came over for a week and the whole time we had Asia's family friend Anna also staying with us. So it feels like it has been pretty busy in between entertaining, eating out and general socialising. Not to mention that work has been crazy busy recently, although crazy busy is much better than dead quiet, which is what it was for a little while at the beginning of the year.

In other news, a friend of mine from Toastmasters invited me round to her house to have a look through her hubbie's home built 14 inch reflecting telescope. What can I say? It was truly amazing, the first time I have seen the night sky with anything other than my naked eyes - you might even call it a religious experience, in the atheist sense of course :). We first had a look at the moon which was impressive enough - all the contours and craters and basalt plains so close you really felt like you could reach out and touch them. We then had a look at the "star" of the night, Saturn. You know, you've seen hundreds of pictures of this majestic planet but nothing can prepare you for actually seeing it there it the night sky surrounded by its beautiful rings and intriguing moons. I really could have stared at it for hours. We followed this up with a view of the highly unstable Eta Carinae, a candidate star for a Supernovae and then checked out the famous (at least in the Southern Hemisphere. triple star system of Alpha Centauri, otherwise known as the western of the two pointers. The whole experience left me wanting more, so it's time I think to join a club and get myself an instrument.