Gambled, lost but definitely no regrets!

The saying "nothing ventured, nothing gained" is what springs to mind when I think about the marathon I attempted last weekend. This marathon was no normal marathon and my preparation had been very different to any previous marathon. The thing that was most different in the lead up compared with other campaigns was that my mind was elsewhere due to having so many other things going on in my life. Running just wasnt as much of a priority as I would have liked it to be, plus I was also doing a race that required specific training.

I had been intrigued by this race for a few years and I just had to give it a go to satisfy my curiousity. A few years ago I realised I had some ability as a downhill runner and someone let me know about a downhill marathon that is held every year in NZ. I quickly googled it and found the race and it certainly looked interesting. There was a few problems however. One was that it was not in a major city so I could not fly directly there and the other was that it was in the first weekend of March which meant the possibility of warm weather would be very high. These two factors put me off initially but then last year when I was recovering from an injury, I knew I would need a new focus to get me motivated and considering that Qantas were offering very cheap flights, I decided to make plans to take the plunge!

I began training slowly but surely however life's other distractions began to take over and it was not long before I was struggling to find time to fit in my regular runs. I battled through it and did build up some fitness eventually but not as much as I would have liked to. There were some real positives in the months leading up to the race. Firstly I found the Tuesday night Xavier College sessions to be of great benefit once I began to do them on a regular basis and also I began training with HRG which is a morning training group. The combination of AM and PM sessions helped a lot as it gave me different training options and it was the first time I have ever had a morning option. Plus the sessions were of high quality and more suited to longer distance training.

My training load hit its peak in January although some races that I did in Febuary did not give me the times that I needed to give me the confidence I needed going into a marathon. I did 10km in 39.35 which is about a minute slower than my best and also 5km in 19.00 which was also slower than I aimed for.

Around January-February I began doing some serious downhill training. In hindsight I left it far too late as I really should have done this a few months earlier. There is a 7km stretch of uphill in Humevale that I would run up and then run down as fast as I could. I managed to complete the 7km downhill in 25.11 which is pretty good for a solo time trial. I also went through 5km in 17.25 which is a time I could never do on a flat course. The next few days afterwards my quads were very sore which gave me an indication of what effect downhill running has on you.

My taper for this race was very unbalanced due to being very busy at work but I did manage to feel fresh in the final week before the big race.

So Friday 1st March arrived and it was off to the airport for my 6.45am flight. Now here is something embarrassing to admit. This was to be the first time that I had ever been overseas!!!! Yes I know strange hey? But I was well prepared. Thanks to google maps, I knew every street that I needed to know in NZ and my wallet was full of NZ dollars. So I get on the plane and four hours later I arrive at Auckland. Now for anyone who has never been to Auckland, it is almost identical to Melbourne, just not quite as busy. Honestly as soon as I left the Airport, I felt right at home.

Friday night I stayed in Quest Apartments in the CBD before heading back to the Airport on Saturday morning to fly to New Plymouth which is where the marathon is held. Upon arrival at NP I quickly got in my rental car and drove over the marathon course. It certainly didnt seem very hilly when driving but when you run it you certainly notice it!

Not long after that I checked in to the Quality Hotel at NP and then went to the race registration to grab my number and all that. I then headed back to the Hotel to relax and get some sleep however surprisingly I couldnt get much sleep that night. Here is the amazing thing, I had no pre-race nerves. To be honest I wasnt very excited about the race at all, I was just very unsettled and was having trouble sleeping. I finally got to sleep at about 2am and the alarm went off three and a half hours later.

I had clearly made up my mind that in this race I was going to go out hard and make the most of the downhill sections and if I blew up later on then so be it. I was happy with being fit again and this race had motivated me to get to this level so most of what I wanted to achieve was already done.

So up I got and quickly got into my race gear and jumped on the bus that takes competitors to the start line. I have never been in such a non-running mood before any race. Somehow I was robbed of any enthusiasm and I could not work out why. At the start line I had a chat with a few NZ locals. I also saw Simon Roberts who is from Melbourne and who I had met before so we had a chat about things and it was good to see someone from home.

So before we knew it the race was underway and I began to enjoy running the course. The first 6km is pretty fast so I enjoyed it. I went through 6km in about 22.50 due to the elevation loss. The next 6km is in a slight incline and then the decline resumed. I went through 12km in about 49.00 and then 15km in just under 61.00 then 21km in 1.25.xx and then 30km in 2.02.xx. this race was certainly different. Due to the downhill factor, you use less energy but as I was about to find out, it has a great impact on other areas later in the race!

At 30km I would completely cruising and you would have put your house on me doing a sub 3 hour. After 30km I did slow down a touch but I was still comfortably on target. My kms were slowing to about 4.20 but that still gave me a good buffer. Around 34-35km my 1km splits were slowing to about 4.35 which was still ok if I could maintain that pace when all of a sudden not long after hitting 36km, my quads completely went on me and my pace slowed to 6 minute kms and was probably going to get slower. At this point I thought to myself that every other marathon I have done, I have had trouble recovering from. This time it was going to be different! I would rather not finish and be back running within a few days rather than push through just to finish and then go home in a wheelchair! Sure enough if I was a chance of running a sub 3 hour then I would have pushed on however that had now gone out the window and the smarter option was to be humble and realise that I had gone out too hard and continue to build on my fitness so I stopped running and instantly realised that I had done the right thing. How did I realise that may you ask? The effect on my quads was so bad that I was walking very awkwardly, so bad that a group of cyclists stopped and thought I needed medical help. They thought I was suffering from exhaustion/dehydration but in actual fact my energy levels were fine and I explained to them that I was actually feeling good, its just my quads that are making me walk awkwardly due to the impact of running the downhill sections so fast. Not long after an ambulance also pulled up beside me but after hearing me talk, they knew I was fine.

Initially I was going to try to get a lift back to the finish but then I decided that I had come all the way from Melbourne so I might as well just walk back to the finish just so I can say I completed another marathon so I walked back while everyone passed me and ended up finishing in just under 4 hours.

In the end I was not upset at all. I came all the way to do this race to experience something and it was a worthwhile experience.

After the finish it was back to the Quality Hotel to get cleaned up and then later on I drove back to the airport, handed back my rental car and caught my plane back to Auckland. At this stage I was feeling very homesick and I wished my flight back to Melbourne was that night but it was not until Monday morning so I headed to the Bella Vista Hotel which is just 2km from Auckland Airport. Here I got a great nights sleep before waking up at 4.30am to get ready to go back to the Airport and then it was a straight flight back to Tullamarine. At 9.00am Melbourne time I arrived home and it was such a great feeling to be back. There really is no place like home.

Overall this experience was worthwhile. I really enjoyed NZ and the people were awesome. Will I attempt the Mountain to Surf again???? You bet! Now that I know what its really about and I have more of an idea about how to train for it, I have decided I will go back if not in 2014, then definitely in 2015.

So where to now? Just trying to get back into some good solid training and hoping to do another marathon later in the year. I am thinking about the Portland 3 Bays which is in the first weekend of November.