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Published: Monday, 27 May 2019 20:15
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Written by Michael Royden
Edinburgh Marathon
I am definitely a one Marathon a year type runner. Once I decided which race to run, the next decision was to decide my marathon pace and tailor my training around it. Edinburgh was to be my mission sub 3. Coming off the back of the success I had with Stirling Marathon last year, I thought there was no better time to aim for this goal. I would love to race a Marathon abroad, but if I train in Scotland’s climate, it’s safer to just race there too!
Fellow runners probably look at my Strava and think I don’t run enough and compared to a lot of runners, I really don’t. However, the balance of the swimming, cycling and running helps me more than anything. I’ve never had an injury (touch wood) and it keeps my training interesting as it is pretty much always different.
So training in the lead up to Edinburgh Marathon had gone well. I ran my long runs slower than MP, but still quick enough that I was putting some hard miles in. My runs through the week also included a speed session, an easy run and some miles that featured my chosen MP and target Heart Rate.
As my race at Stirling went to plan (and beyond), I used last year's training as a guide and kept things quite similar. If it worked before there would be no reason why it couldn’t work again.
The weeks of training were finally over and it was time for race day!
I get really nervous before I race. I usually put a tonne of pressure on myself to do well and because I had the sub 3 looming over me, the nerves ended up being 10 times worse. On the way through to the race I had a 20minute nap, then Lewis suggested I put music on to gee me up but music made me very emotional! The nerves were bad, but from past experience the nerves are what always get you through the race. Nerves give you that extra boost to get going, so I knew I just had to ride it out
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We made our way to the start area and I went to the toilet 3 times as did every other runner there I imagine! The rain was pelting down, and everyone was wrapping themselves up in bin bags to have a little extra insulation and escape from the rain. With about 3 minutes before the start, bin bags started flying around everywhere. We even saw a spectator almost get hit in the face with one! At this point, there is no going back!
I was in the red pen which was second to go off at 10am! I think the first 4k was my favourite as we ran through the streets of Edinburgh. It was also the most downhill part of the course!
Once we made it on to the flat section I could concentrate more on running to pace and HR. 4.15min/km (also where I’m a weird runner as I work in kms!) and a HR of 188. If my HR was to go over too soon, I would be in trouble.
I was able to sit at my pace and HR for the first 8 miles feeling pretty comfortable. I then started to see my HR creep up, 190, 192, 193. It was far too early for this to be happening! I then saw Lewis at the 12 mile point and was able to give him my arm warmers as the heat was definitely starting to rise! I told him my HR and he told me I needed to back off. From this point onwards I just got slower and slower and my HR didn’t really budge. I now knew that I just needed to enjoy the race. However, my legs started hurting and getting increasingly heavy which made it difficult to enjoy.
At the turn around point which was around 11km or so to go, the wind just hit you in the face, it didn’t even feel like we had that much of a tail wind on the way out! There were so many points on the way back I just wanted to walk. I told myself if I see Lewis I can stop for a bit, but he didn’t appear until around 6km to go! It probably wasn’t a good idea to walk, as I just wanted to keep walking. I reckon I stopped around 4 or 5 times from that point onwards to walk for a bit. I have never walked in a race, so this was hard for me.
At the final 3km I figured I’m as well just pushing through and running, the quicker I do this, the quicker I’m finished!
The final km was awesome. People everywhere just screaming my name. It was exactly what I needed as it was the fastest km I had ran in about 10km or so.
Even though the time on the finish chute was no where near what I wanted, the finish line feeling is still the same. Relief!
I’m definitely not the first person this has happened to and I wish I could say I know what it was that went wrong but I really don’t. We all have good days and bad days in this game but it will be a while until a tackle another marathon.
Although I said I found it difficult to enjoy – don’t let that put you off from thinking about entering this one. I thought the support throughout was fantastic, the route was nice and flat and there was never a point you were on your own. It’s just a shame you don’t get to run through Edinburgh more as like I said, running through the city streets was my favourite part. It was great to see fellow DRRs Morag and Russell along the course and a couple of people shouted on me but I didn’t see who they were! I was also gutted that Lynne had to pull out due to back issues, take care Lynne! All Road Runners ran under 4 hours – awesome!
Chris Sevier-Guy – 3hr 4m 35s
Michelle Bruce – 3hr 22m 18s
Russell Craig – 3hr 24m 42s
Kate Mcintosh – 3hr 28m 21s
Abby McAinsh – 3hr 41m 12s
Morag Taggart - 3hr 49m 8s
Robert Gray – 3hr 54m 48s
Things don’t always go to plan, and that’s okay. My legs are in a terrible mess today, so at least that tells me for sure I tried my best 😊
