Loch Ness Marathon

Not since London have I trained so seriously and systematically for a marathon. The training had gone well and I was reasonably confident of finally getting a sub-4 and being able to stop doing marathons.

The Start

And so into the taper, and just the small matter of a few old favourites that I would slip in as, I told myself, ‘part of the taper’. GNR, well it was a half-marathon and I needed to do that distance a few weeks before the marathon anyway, and then the LDMT, that was all hills and an endurance slog, so that didn’t count, and perhaps just a cheeky little fell race the week before. I’m sure it’d be fine. What could possibly go wrong?

Through the half-way point of my 5th Loch Ness Marathon in around 2:01, pretty much on race target and on schedule for a negative split. Still feeling fine. This was looking good and I was confident that this was going to be sub-4 day.

In the Loch Ness Marathon they quite conveniently provide a physical as well as metaphorical wall for you around the 19th mile. It’s not a particular big hill, but it’s not really what you want to see around this stage of the race. The wheels on the bus stopped going round and round and I knew with certainty that the game was no longer afoot. Rather than hit the wall head-on I sidled up to it gently, put an arm around its shoulders and said, “Look, I’m sure we can sort out a deal here. What if I accept the race is blown and just concentrate on getting to the finish in as little pain as possible?”. I think the reply was along the lines of “Whatever”. I took my foot of the pedal, stopped running and started jogging.

It was still pretty tough but it could’ve been far worse. My tactical defeat saw me shuffle over the finish line in 4:21, almost exactly the same time to the second as two years earlier, where, co-indidentally, I’d done the LDMT and GNR and a fell race or two during the taper too.

This year the lesson has been well and truly learnt though. I lost 20 minutes in the second half of the race due to running out of energy. All that careful marathon training down the drain. Don’t waste the training. Respect the taper.

plenty loos
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