Sydney Marathon 2003 - Race Report

[email hidden] (Andrew Taylor) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Turned out I was 2nd in the over 40s and 26th overall. I even got a prize in the mail last week: a
pair of decent sunglasses.

What a shame! In all of the races I´ve been there has been a small, but proper prize-giving ceremony
for each category soon after the last of the winners has arrived. No doubt you´ll be able to enjoy
new moments of glory, but I´m sure Zoe would have liked to see her Dad on the podium:-)

(Besides, in your case you truly merited the prize, it wasn´t due only to the complete absence of
the "usual suspects", as it was in the case of the stonished, but somewhat embarrassed winner of the
M45 category in the HM I ran earlier this month: since every single of the "podium habitants" had
chosen either the marathon or some other race that weekend, all it took was his 1:29!

Quoted message said:

The pics from the official photographers were a little disappointing:
cse.unsw.edu.ausydney marathon 03 40k.jpgOpen ↗
cse.unsw.edu.ausydney marathon 03 finish.jpgOpen ↗ Must remember to smile
next time. Not an advertisement for good running style either.

Perhaps, not but I´m certain they´d be the two winning entrants in an Emil Zatopek Lookalike
Contest:-)

Quoted message said:

I did no running for 2 weeks after the marathon and not much since then but my legs are far from
recovered - I have a puzzling assortment of aches and pains which seem like they'll take weeks
more to clear. The damage I've done to myself in each marathon so far has been proportional to how
well-prepared I've been. Its amazing how much more damage you can do at race pace.

This could be down to your short, but intense running career; for all your diligence, you don´t
really have the solid ground on which to run as hard as you´re able to, and while I wouldn´t insist
that "something must give in sooner or later", I would suggest that it´s only natural that you´re
paying a harder price for that 2:55 than you otherwise would be.

Quoted message said:

I will run the Sydney Marathon again next year but train much less seriously - although good
friends laughed at me when I said this - they thought I couldn't stop myself training seriously. I
am thinking of a serious go at the Six Foot Track in March.

That serious go would in your case presumably mean a minimum goal of a "sub-four"?

sixfoot.comsixfoot.comOpen ↗

Anders

In article said:

I ran Sydney off very little training this year in 3:45, was quite pleased. Headwinds did make it
interesting over the last few kms.

The median time in the Melbourne Marathon this year was 11 minutes faster than Sydney - it wasn't a
day for PBs.

Quoted message said:

Correct me if I am wrong but you did put in more time on the road this year??

Quite a bit more and I mostly recovered quiskly from long training runs. I have two theories. One
theory is that the slow recovery stems accumulated damage from a large training volume. The second
theory is that the cause is taking it too easy for the 2 weeks after the marathon
- no running and no stretching - stretching and a little gentle running might have been better.

Good luck with a sub 5 Six Foot.

Andrew

In article <[email hidden]>, Anders Lustig

Quoted message said:

This could be down to your short, but intense running career; for all your diligence, you don't
really have the solid ground on which to run as hard as you're able

Maybe but I hope its not true because it it would mean all that boring advice about training for
years and building up via shorter races before running a marathon was right.

Quoted message said:

That serious go would in your case presumably mean a minimum goal of a "sub-four"?

An impossible dream. But this year's Six Foot third place getter
(3:43) was only a couple of minutes in front of me in the marathon. Now for all I know he was
treating it as a training run but I prefer it to take as indication that some specific
training (lots of big hills) might get me under 4:15

Andrew