18/09/2023
Three of our Ontrac team took on The Sydney Marathon yesterday. Scott, Jonathan and Paryss! We are very proud of their achievements This is Scott’s race report.
SYDNEY MARATHON - ANOTHER OUCH!
I'm going to try and keep this race report fairly brief compared to the IRONMAN race reports. Yesterday I did the Sydney marathon - my second standalone marathon since 2010 and my 5th non-IM marathon! My last marathon was Melbourne in 2021 and finished in 2:56. I started training for the race about a month after Port Macquarie IM so had about a 12-14 weeks build up. In the lead up I had two races planned, a 14km race in Sydney abut 8-weeks from the race where I ran 51:58 (3:42/km) and then 3-weeks out I did the Lake Macquarie half marathon where I ran 1:17:06 (3:38/km). This 1:17 half marathon allowed me to snag an entry into the "preferred runners" group where we had our starting area and lined up behind the elites.
Two work friends were also joining me to run their first marathon Paryss Tully and Jono Russo.
My training schedule looked something like:
Monday – Zone 2 Run (1-hour)
Tuesday – 1.25 hour interval run
Wednesday – 1-1.5 hour bike
Thursday – Zone 2 Run (1-hour)
Friday – Zone 2 Run (1-hour)
Saturday – Long run where I only did 3 x runs of 30km or longer but each run had intervals and race pace work. There were many runs in the 24-30km range where my average pace was in the 4:00-4:10/km range.
Sunday – 1-2 hour bike or interchangeable for Saturday
I was doing less volume and frequency than the last marathon and running consistently between 75-85km most "on" weeks but given I was biking my overall training volume was slightly up. I was also doing 2-3 strength and conditioning sessions at home.
Training went rather smoothly for the most part and the weeks just ticked by without too many hiccups along the way. Only having 2 harder sessions through the week kept me very fresh and didn't struggle with any great deal of fatigue through the build up and was always hungry for more.
I wasn't building myself up to try and run ###x time it was more build my physiology as best as I could and then determine an appropriate goal based on the training. When I knew the forecast for Sunday's race was going to be 30+ degrees that's when we had to be realistic about the goals. I know there's a very small window in each of these goals but I'm big on having a certain amount of race predictability, and I knew what was attainable.
In short, my outcome goals were:
C goal – 2:50-2:55
B goal – 2:47-2:50
A goal – 2:45-2:46
Race morning: I was staying at a mate's house in Sydney so had a 25-minute commute into the race start at Milson's Point. Obligatory toilet stop done in the most disproportionate athlete:toilet ratio I have ever seen. Ridiculous. Did some mobility work in the waiting area and then it was just a case of hurry up and wait to 7:10am before we set off. By this time it was already quite warm and the temperatures were forecast to rise quickly through the morning. My plan for the race was never going to be try and negative or even split because I knew I had to somewhat get "ahead" of my race times before it started really heating up. I was carrying a bottle of Infinit Nutrition with about 200g of carbs so was aiming to be sufficient bar water stops.
Go time was at 7:10am, I had seen the 2:45 group go out and sat with them for the first ~8km but I didn't like the faster surges up inclines and then the pace settling on the downhills, I prefer to try and run an even output so I found myself falling back on the climbs and then getting close again on the flat or downhills. I cross check my pace and heart rate with power and RPE also. They ran pretty hot for the first 5km and I didn't want to take any risks so just ran my own race. Ran into Mick Chapman and had a quick chat over the harbour bridge.
For the first 10.5km everything was ticking over nicely and I was running at 3:54/km pace (HR 156bpm). Being a little closer to the front of the race there was always enough space but also enough people if you wanted to run with others. It seemed like anything after about 3:30 for the marathon and everyone was really bunched together. With the heat from the roads and the body heat Jono and Paryss mentioned how uncomfortable that was.
I crossed halfway in 1:23:11 which was 3:55/km - given some of the undulations some of my kms times were 3:45-3:50 and others were 4:10-4:20. Even though I had time-based goals I was never going to take any distinct risk because I wasn't at all driven by the outcome of the time I posted for the race but wanted to perform well.
The next 10-11km were still going to plan, running at 3:56/km average for the 21-32km mark with HR 158bpm average for this. By this point I'd realised I had finished my nutrition by about 28km so knew I had a good amount of calories in me but knew I'd need more so grabbed a couple of GU gels, which I'm familiar with. I had one at about 30km and the other at 35km ish, and that was fine thankfully. Also, by now it was 9:00am and probably 25-degrees or so, it was warm and it was taking it's toll. The marathon is a crazy distance, you can be feeling so good for so long and then bang! the dreaded wall punches you in the face.
The wall really hit me after 34km and from here it was simply into survival mode and get to the finish. I've run 200km+ in 24-hours, done 12 Ironmans, 5 marathons but the pain I felt in these final 5-8km was near unbearable - the carnage was unreal, people throwing up, cramping, walking even at 40km, all I kept focusing on was "any running is faster than walking". The combination of heat stress, quads shutting down and mental anguish just meant this felt like a death march to the finish. I ran the last 7km at 4:13/km and HR was 162bpm - simply put my effort was higher but I was slowing rapidly! Running down Oxford street and downhill in the final km to the finish line was unbelievably painful. I remember seeing the "400m to go" sign and I still couldn't even muster any positivity from how close I was to the finish, I just needed this race to be done. Crossed the line in 2:48:51 and did everything in my power not to buckle over at the end. An 8-minute PB for the marathon distance.
Realistically I ran 98% to my potential, no race goes perfectly. Considering I was only 3-minutes from reaching my A+ goal, given the heat I was extremely happy and proud of the way I somewhat held my mentality together in the final 8km.
Where to from here? I'll probably run another marathon sooner rather later but I'll also shift gears back to triathlon and probably do an IM in 2024, but I'm not "chasing" anything, I'm seeing what comes to me and where my desire takes me.
Finally a massive congratulations to Paryss Tully and Jono Russo- you're marathon finishers forever and no one can ever take that away from you. A great weekend.
