III Almaty Charity Marathon — Pred 3:08:45
Today I finished III Almaty Charity Marathon and set Personal Record (Pred) - 3:08:45
pace 7:09/mi, average HR 174
I took 6th place overall, no separate category for amateurs this year, otherwise I would be standing on pedestal :)))
Race media photo coverage can be found here.
Thank you notes!
First of all, I'm REALLY thankful to my best friend Azamat!!! He was carrying all my gels, water, other stuff and fed me throughout the entire distance!!! He also took pictures of me.
Statistics
3:08:45 according to my watches and official stats. My Garmin recorded 26.5 mi, but that might be minor statistical error. Btw, this year distance was 400m longer (+1 additional lap on finish) than in previous year.
First half was done in 1:35:07, and the second 1:33:38. I got positive second half split, which is really cool. But that is due to first half being mostly downhill and uphill, while the second half more even.
Race experince
I slept with 3 burst of naps from 30 minutes to 3 hours, overall I slept 6-7 hours. I had to help to depart my friend, who was leaving to the airport. Overall, sleep rating is 3 out of 5.
This year 10K, 21K and marathon starting groups were split, so that each group would start in 2 minutes, after the other group started. Good! I lined in 2nd row and started. While waiting in crowd I had brief conversations with future champs in male and female marathons. Both were quite reserved and didn't want to talk much. While visually inspecting them I've found out that they strapped energy gels (СТИМУЛ 2-4 pcs) to their shorts and wrists with tapes. They said that they will eat when they feel the need. Hmmm, really??? No specific plan or they simply didn't bother to tell me...
Again, as an experienced runner I didn't follow herd instinct and paced myself according to my plan. The weather was sunny, around 54F (12C) at start and 66F (19C) on finish.
My fueling strategy was different this year. 2.5 hours prior the race I had Hercules oatmeal with a cup of tea. On the race I consumed 7 Hammer raspberry energy gels (2 before the race and 5 during the race) and about 80OZ (2.5l) of water solution with Hammer Endurolytes Fizz Grape tables (1 tablet per 17OZ or 0.5 l). One gel every 4 miles and 7-8 OZ (200-250 ml) of the liquid every 2 miles, both starting on mile 4. Well done consumption plan! No sign of cramps during and after race.
No urges to go to the bathroom during the race. Though on the the day before my tummy was feeling really bad, and I had to go to the bathroom 6-7 times. I took medicine and kept re-assuring myself that on the race day I will not have any urges to go to the bathroom. Self assurance works!!!
Btw, though I was taking medication my tummy was feeling bad for the entire marathon preparation period and caused to miss / shorten some of my workouts. The thought that on the race, I will lose time to go the bathroom kept disturbing me for the entire preparation period.
I covered the entire race with even pace. I saved my energy in the beginning and pushed on last miles. No slow pace after mile 20 as it usually happens. I felt myself well, and I think that I could have covered 4 more miles after finish. Basically, my fueling tanks were prepared to run faster or longer.
Guess which mile was the fastest??? Mile 26 with 6:46/mi and last 0.5 finishing mile with 6:16/mi !!! That's awesome. Awesome marathon strategy! Strong finish!!! I had to catch up my breathe for 2 minutes on finish line in bended position, touching knees with my hands. You've probably seen on TV, when marathoners finish.
I made photo shots with my friends, and sat down down to watch prize awarding ceremony. Unfortunately, no separate category for amateur this year. If it was the case, I could have been standing somewhere in pedestal. My friends gave me chocolates and wend away to bike on car-free streets of Almaty.
I was in very positive mood and had a conversation with cuttie girly, who did her 10K. She refused to give her number, and gave her facebook info instead.
Last year nobody passed me after mile 12. The same was the case this year. Fuckingly awesomely great!!! From that point it was only me passing others and playing killer game, when you kinda "shoot" laggers which boosts your self-confidence. I passed the last guys on mile 23. One of them took second place last year among amateur, with finishing time 3:03:20. I was thinking during the entire race, if and when I'm gonna pass them. They started strongly and I lost their view. The first time I saw their silhouette on mile 21.
I was close to pass another guy on mile 25-26. We saw each other after turn-around point on mile 24 / 39 km. Competition instinct again wakened up and I pushed, so did he. I pushed again, and so did he. He wasn't looking back, but he was feeling me. Unfortunately, I was unable to close the gap and 300-400 meters or 31 seconds separated us on finish line. However, 2m17s was the gap between us on last check point on 24th mile / 39 km. I just didn't have enough space to close the gap. My competition instinct wasn't satisfied, but you don't win every time. After the race we handshaked!
Mile 24 was uphill and I could have covered it faster. But all of a sudden I had acute pain in my heart. It was not strong, but mere fact of having it snapped my mind that "I'm not gonna die with heart attack racing". I slowed down until the pain was gone.
Speaking of pain, almost on all downhills my liver was in mild pain. However I didn't feel any pain on uphills or levels. I was told, that among runners this is very well spread phenomenon and that I should take some pills (baralgin and noshpa). I took them, but pain remained. That actually was the slowing factor in my performance. Nearly half of race was downhill.
Interesting learning fact, is that last year I didn't have any liver pain on downhills. The reason is that I had uphill / downhill workouts (3 or 4) last year in 10 week preparation period. However, this year I had only 1 workout (1 week prior to the race) with downhill. The workout was intended to check my friend's ability to bike uphill, on the hardest part of the distance. I had pain during that workout as well.
Also, my haircut was "afro" this year. Quite big and not good for aerodynamics, but good in protecting my head from sunlight. Maybe if I had shorter haircut, I could had better results. Joking :) Taking away so awesome haircut for unknown possibility for better results, was not even considered.
Organization
This was third marathon in Almaty, and there is gonna forth, fifth, etc. I think now it will be a tradition. Around 10,000 people participated in the marathon (3, 10, 21, 42 km), 300 on full marathon. Good job, guys!!! They organization keeps making progress. They learned lessons from the last year.
PROS:
- in advance notification (6 months prior the race day). Enough to prepare.
- registration online, which really works
- new RFID bibs on the number itself, with marathon package distribution prior the race (1 month)
- barring public buses on race course
- better START line organization
- big notification flags on every km of the race
- car with time passed LED on top, for the leaders
- ability to choose T-shit sizes in finishing package
- advanced toy helicopter, with camera on it
- advanced toy helicopter, with camera on it
CONS:
- Mess up with medals on FINISH. As I understand full-marathon medals should have RED ribbon, same as their number color, half-marathoner should have BLUE ribbon, same as their number color, etc.
THOUGHTS
It's still not my limit. I can do better and crack 3 hour, but does that worth it? Last year I was thinking, if I should do another marathon. Eventually I took on the challenge of running Almaty Marathon 2014. 21 weeks preparation time was big argument to show my best. When I decided to start the preparation, I told myself that the marathon cannot have higher priority, than other important things in my life, such as starting my own business and finding my sweetheart. "If I have important activities to do, and I need to skip marathon workout I will skip the workout" I told myself. But as human being I cheated myself. I fully dedicated myself to the marathon and didn't have enough time for other activities.
Now I publicly declare that unless I have my own "juicy" business and being in happy relationship, I will not run marathons, half marathons, 10K, etc. nor for competition, nor for fun.
But I will keep working out 200-300 minutes a week (push-ups, pull-ups, runnings, swimming, biking, etc.). That is a must for proper health maintenance, with no fanaticism in any of these sports.
Though I'm temporarily putting racing on hold, running 5 major marathons (Berlin, London, Chicago, New York and Boston) and decently finishing Kona Ironman remain on my horizon.
