My Second Training Marathon

A week after doing my first training marathon, it was time for another one.

This time, the course wasn't quite so hilly, but to make it interesting I ran 15km the day before, and rode 80km the day before that. So the legs were a little fatigued before I even started.

For the Easter weekend, I was staying down in Rye, so this course was mostly flat, but there are a few rolling hills on the way to Portsea and London Bridge, and I did these twice.

The real test for this run, was could I learn the nutrition lesson from last weekend...

I changed both my pacing and nutrition plans from last weekend:

PACING

I would run til my HR hit 140, and then would walk and let the HR drop to 132 and then run again. With lactic acid showing up in the blood at 139, this intensity keeps lactic acid at basically zero.

NUTRITION

Pretty simple. I need 70g of carbohydrates per hour... so its a Gu every 30 minutes and a Gatorade every hour.

THE RESULT

Success on both the pacing and nutrition score. Finished in 4.39, and never felt the energy levels flagging at all.

This is a perfect pace for me for Comrades. The goal there is to get through the first 42km in 5 hours, and the 2nd 42km in 10 hours... which will get me home well before the 11 hour cut off to receive a bronze medal. A very successful weekend of training, and it takes the weekly distance to 80km, a new record.

Happy easter all.
:)