Its been a while since I put up any sort of race report. In fact, last time I did the Addiscombe newsletter was hand printed and delivered by bike, Slv was a hairy legged mountain biker, George was a rookie on a borrowed 20kg bike with mudguards, and Marek was about to win a race but had a mechanical/ Toks was peddling some controversial coaching theroies (...ok somethings stay the same
)
So I got a last minute place through my employer to enter the marathon and in terms of training I ran with Dulwich Runners once a week, and tried to do a run over the weekend. Pretty lazy really, and I know I should have been training 4-5 times a week, and doing twice the mileage. I ran a half marathon - the Sussex Beacon - in 1.55 (2.15 in 07!), and did the Worthing "20" in 3.15. I also did the self transcendence run in Battersea Park, which is 10 miles, in 1.21 (c. 8 minute miles). All reasonable enough for me, and if you type the numbers into a race time predictor for the marathon, you get 3.45-4.20, depending which times you use. But in reality of course, I knew I was lacking a bit of endurance...as demonstrated by my marathon amble in 2007, when I finished in 5.55 ! I seriously trailed off after the half way mark (split times below)
This time round I was a bit better prepared, although I had only been running 1-2 times a week, with my maximum mileage being around 20 miles in a good week. I'd lost a few kilogrammes too, weighing in at 72 kilogrammes (75-6 in 07). A few days before the race I got a bit of cold, nothing too serious, but I felt pretty tired. I took panadol the days before and on the day of the race. I also tried to load up with the 500 gm (7gm per kilo of body weight) of recommended carbs, by eating energy gels on top of rice and pasta.
I got a bus and DLR to the Greenwich start. I was in pen 6 - midway between the fluffy animals and serious runners, and spoke to Audrey (from Liverpool, first time she'd been to London in her life) who I advised against running off too fast, 'look at all those idiots, they'll be crawling in the last few miles...well go past the lot of them !'. Realising I had a captive audience I regaled her with my upto date scientific research knowledge, 'Studies have shown that 85 % of runners set off too fast, on average running the 2nd half of the marathon 17 minutes slower than the first.' I took her stunned silence as a sign she was re-adjusting her race strategy, and decided that this was a good moment to move up through the pack.
I was enjoying the run, pretty relaxed and leisurely, and pretty similar to the pace i ran in 2007, in fact both years i ran the first 10 km in 1.06. I didn;t have any Garmin or heart rate monitor and just ran on feel. I felt ok, but knew I wasn't upto the times set in my 4.20 pacing band.
Luckily I had another pacing band for 4.30, but it didn't look i was upto that either
, as I was running about 30 seconds outside the 10.18 per mile required. After about 10km I hit on the strategy of running along the blue line, which marks the fastest route along the course, maybe this would help me claw back the 30 seconds I needed ? However, the only problem was this cunning strategy, was the great british public. There were people out there who had done even less training than me, or possible none at all. These folks were noticeable by the fact they had ipods on and were walking after 10km ALONG THE BLUE LINES WITH A MATE ON EITHER SIDE
. The result of these selfish actions was that a seasoned athlete like myself, who had built his season around this event, was cruelly shunted off course, meandering from side to side, trying to find a rhythm and line, and adding untold metres to my run.
I carried on conservatively over tower bridge, where I saw Marco. Still felt ok. I friend at the running club had told me, 'The Marathon begins at mile 20, imagine you've got to do what you've done upto then again." So my plan was to save some energy for the finish. But when I got to mile 20 I started to fade. I started imagining I had another marathon in front of me like my friend had told me, and that was not a good feeling.
He is no longer a friend.
I felt like throwing up. I felt the heat. My advice to Audrey was ringing in my ears, '85 % of runners set off too fast'. I was one of the 85%. I was a mere statistic, a hot slightly nauseous statistic, deliriously swaying from side to side, rather than moving forward. From mile 22, runners who I had weaved past, starting going past me in the 100s, then 1000s. At mile 24, I was still running, but just looking down at the road, one step at a time, when I was rudely jolted by the sight of a 3 ft tall 70 year old woman who WALKED past me. SHE WALKING ON THE BLUE LINE WITH AN IPOD WITH BIG FLUFFY EARPHONES. I was running, but she was walking was faster. I used her for some drafting, and she provided a good windshield for my knees. I was getting desperate now, so I ran after PINK PANTHER for another mile, because everyone was cheering him, and I pretended they were cheering for me. This was no longer funny. 800 metres to go, 600, 385 yards. I ran the section after 40 km SLOWER than I had in 2007! Overall 4.51 time. I ran 2nd half 8 minutes slower than the first. Not fast, but 1.04 faster than 2007. Felt absolutely rough and couldn't touch anything in the goodie bag, went to sleep when I got home. Felt ok in time for Dulwich runners Pizza party in the evening. Some impressive times in the club, including a 57 year old woman who ran 3.23, and some men in the 2.40s. Ouch.
How an Addiscombe contingent doing a marathon for a bit of fun later this year ? Seriously anyone up for it.
I've set myself a target to do another one, and get closer to 4.00 hours
I think there's one in Thanet (kent) and New Forest - easy enough to get places and enter ? Post on this thread if you're interested...
In fact here are my split times from 2007
Name MR Ajay Khandelwal (KEN/ Addiscombe)
Runner No.: 5
Club
Age group M25
TIMES
10 km 0:30:12
20 km 1:00:22
half 1:03:39
30 km 1:30:41
40 km 2:01:13
finish 2:07:41
TOTAL
Position (overall) 1
Position (gender) 1
Position (age group) 1
Finish time 2:07:41
Actually, I think they've got me mixed up with a certain Mr Lel...
My results were
PERSON
Name MR KHANDELWAL, AJAY K (GBR)
Runner No.: 34963
Club DULWICH RUNNERS
Age group M35
TIMES
10 km 1:06:41
20 km 2:18:47
half 2:28:13
30 km 3:48:58
40 km 5:36:32
finish 5:55:33
TOTAL
Position (overall) 32201
Position (gender) 23134
Position (age group) 4351
Finish time 5:55:33
And for
Flora London Marathon 2009 Results
Name KHANDELWAL, AJAY K (GBR) Club DULWICH RUNNERS
Runner No. 52547 Age group M18
TIMES
5 km 0:33:00 25 km 2:47:41
10 km 1:06:36 30 km 3:19:45
15 km 1:40:45 35 km 3:53:40
20 km 2:14:34 40 km 4:30:06
half 2:21:37 finish 4:51:23
TOTAL
Position (overall) 23528 Position
Position (gender) 17669 Finish time 4:51:23
by Ivor » Sun Apr 26, 2009 7:55 pm 
