Dublin marathon race report - a sub 3, 3 years in the making

A bit late with the report but for those of you who are interested, here's my Dublin marathon round up.

Intro (skip to the RaceDay if you want the short version)

I started running with HuRTS in October 2009 following successful 3:07 Melbourne marathon that got me a Boston qualifying time,something I aimed for since I started marathon running in early 2006. But now I felt I needed to up the stakes, to get more serious about running, to run longer distances and enjoy the trails of Australia, but to ultimately run a marathon with a finish time that began with 2. For me, HuRTS was the logical step to doing this. By surrounding myself with runners who had met and gone beyond this target, I was pushing the envelope and bringing my training up to scratch.

I didn’t go straight into it though. My plan was to run my first 100km in May 2010 and to target sub 3 the following November in New York.I managed to finish the North Face 100 in a respectable time but missed out on New York with a hamstring tear after a long distance run followed by a football match – not a good idea. I hung up my football boots – I was pretty useless anyway – and decided to focus on distance running. Following injury I got back into the swing of things towards the end of 2010 but my love for trail ultras diverted me again to TNF 100. This time my aim was to go under 14 hours and win a silver belt buckle. Box ticked, I was to run a marathon in August 2011 back in Ireland.

It was the second staging of the Galway marathon and couple of weeks out from my wedding so ample time to recover from TNF and run a decent marathon on home soil. Unfortunately, the marathon was cancelled two weeks out from the start due to a nonsensical city council demanding more money to stage an event that would bring valuable cash to the local economy. So I ran a hellish mountain 30k in the Irish ‘summer’ instead, risking injury and hypothermia a week out from my wedding. After a wonderful wedding and indulgent honeymoon, with limited training, I ran a half decent 60k race at Kepler in December 2011. Then it was back to the drawing board to plan for 2012.

This time, TNF would feature again – the target being sub13 hours – but I would not be missing out on my illusive sub 3 hour marathon and I pencilled in Gold Coast in July, Sydney in September, Dublin in October and New York in November. Surely they couldn’t all be cancelled and the law of averages meant that I would at least run sub 3 hours in one of them?

After running a successful TNF, I set my sights on Gold Coast. Some decent training with Mike Race, Laura and the rest of the Saturday crew brought me up to scratch for a decent tilt at sub 3. However, on race day I had a shocker. After crossing halfway in 89 minutes, I pulled up with stomach cramps and then a stitch. At the time I blamed it on my pre race up and go but afterward I accepted that I was undertrained and not yet recovered from TNF,only 6 weeks earlier.

Back to the drawing board. I took a bit of a break through July and with the added excitement of our first baby on the way, sub 3 started to become less important. But I was still determined to do it. I signed up with a coach, Chris Truscott, and his advice was to scrap Sydney and race either Dublin or New York for sub 3. I decided to run the half in Sydney and run the full at home, in Ireland. My first marathon at home since 2007, the first where my son would be waiting at the finish and my first sub 3? It had to be. I stuck with the plan of running New York, only six days later, telling everyone it was a recover run – after all what better way for an ultra runner to recover from a marathon than to run another marathon.

Chris put together a week to week training plan, focusing on a solid long run at the weekend but incorporating the HuRTS sessions and premarathon races. I stuck with the plan, only dropping off around the time my son was born and when I had a niggle. The results started coming. A 4 minute per km half marathon at Sydney, a low 38 at the Striders 10k and a 37:45 in Ireland the week before the Dublin marathon. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, with a few very ordinary races at the height of my training but the signs were good.

We arrived back home one week before the marathon. It was the first time for Charlie, our new son, to meet our families and to say it was emotional was an understatement. I went off the booze for the month of October and stuck with it, despite the many temptations on returning home. The week leading up was pretty full on with visits to friends and family all wanting to meet Charlie, not Elaine or I. I tried to get some rest and hopefully would be in good shape come race day. Elaine was fantastic and even gave me a break from baby minding duties in the two days leading up to the race.

Race Day

Dublin is a fantastic city. Despite all of the crap that it has gone through in the boom and bust years, it still has a character unrivalled in any other city I’ve been to. And that’s tough to say give thatI’m not from the city. The marathon is known as the friendly marathon and anyone who has run the 26.2 miles will attest to that. This year, for the first time in its history, the marathon attracted a sell out field of just under15,000 people and a multiple of that came out on race day to support.

My day began with an early start and the typical muesli and yogurt breakfast, washed down with my Powerbar electrolyte drink. The drive to the start from home took less than 40 minutes with no traffic on a cool bank holiday Monday. My race plan was to get my brother, Niall, to meet meat 4-5 points in the race with an electrolyte drink (stronger mix as the race went on) and my Leppin gels. That went awry when Niall couldn’t get access to the course in the car due to the roads getting blocked off after we parked. His plan B was to run around Dublin with my drinks. And credit to him, he covered at least 10 miles and met me at almost each point.

There was a real buzz at the start. It was the biggest marathon I had run in a while so I was taken aback by the atmosphere and nervous excitement. I bumped into John O’Regan and Gerry Duffy while doing my warmup. John was pacing the sub 3:30 group while Gerry was targeting sub 3,although I suspected that he’d be closer to 2:55. One last stretch and we were off.

First km on way down O’ConnellStreet (‘ah here!’):

I got a bit carried away in the first km, running a sub 4minute km but the atmosphere took me along and I was feeling good heading downO’Connell Street, North Circular Road and into the Phoenix Park. I settled into a 4:08 pace and felt comfortable so decided to hold. Coach Chris had advised that I hold back at the start of the race but I felt comfortable and stuck with it. I was amazed with the crowd turnout all the way through this race, on a cold autumn morning. We ran through the park and I was greeted with a pack of people from my home town club, Drogheda AC, cheering loud. I recognised a fewon the sidelines and it really gave me a boost.

We ran out of the park and up by Island Bridge. This is a pretty hilly section of the race and we were greeted by a bunch of cheering Aussies cooking up a barbecue on the side of the road. Was great to see Aussies doing what they do best, despite the cold, but the smell of sausages and bacon was enough to turn my stomach as I encountered the first major hill of the race.

I approached the Drimnagh Road, still holding 4:08 pace and almost at half way. I was still wearing sleeves at this stage (maybe I’vebecome a soft Sydneysider) but was glad for it as the road opened and a very chilly headwind hit us for a mile or so. I was about 200m away from the nearest group so I tried to up my pace to find a big guy to draft behind, as all goodtriathletes do regularly. I decided not to bridge the gap for fear of pushing too hard so I slugged it out until the half way. I crossed the half marathon point in 1:27:37, still feeling strong. At this rate, I would be closer to a2:55 marathon. That gave me plenty of confidence but the hard slog was still ahead.

I ran through Rathgar to find my mate, Padraig MacGiolla,cheering me on, the same spot where he was in 2007, only this time he didn’thave to hang around as long. I love this part of the course, heading through the leafy South Dublin areas of Terenure, Rathgar and Milltown. This section includes some rolling hills but nothing too tough. I reached the start of ‘HeartbreakHill’ at 32kms. This is a two mile stretch of gradual uphill but not quite the hill we are used to in City2Surf. Despite this, I started to struggle as I tried to maintain my pace. My heart rate rose and it took me some time to get it under control and back into a rhythm. I remember looking at my watch, as I turned by UCD, and thinking that if I maintained 4:30 per km pace I would still come in under sub 3 hours. Sure enough, my legs suddenly dialled in that pace and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get above it.

The last 10km is a bit of a blur. It was really about gritting my teeth and hanging on as my pace had dropped but sub 3 was still within range. At this stage, some people started passing me. I have to give credit to the race and the standard of the runners who took part as there were plenty of people vying for times under three hours. I got to 3 kms to go and met my brother with one last drink and a gel. I took a sip of the drink but not much Leppin gel, as it wasn’t going to do much at this late stage. It was time to knuckle down and hold on.

Landsdowne Road (and struggling runner) in the background:

From the point that I crossed the Grand Canal Bridge with just over a mile to go, I could hear spectators talking about sub 3 hours. This meant only one thing, the pacer was closing in on me, like the grim reaper ready to sweep my hopes of a sub 3 finish away for not running a better paced race. I managed to hold off the pacer until about 800m to go. As he passed,with a group of about ten others, I heard him say that they have 50 seconds on the finish. I looked at my Garmin that was telling me I had less than 600m to go so I was happy with that. But as they passed, it felt like they were doing an interval session and I was on a light jog. I jumped on the back of the bus,just trying desperately to hold on, but thinking that I had my target in the bag.

Then, we turned the corner at Trinity College and I saw how far away the finish line was. I also got a glance at the clock that read2:59:10. It was time to run harder than I had ever run before. There was no way was I coming away with a 3:00 marathon for the sake of a few more seconds of pain. I put the head down and went for it, running faster than I have in 5kraces, and posting a pace of 3:36 per km for the last 400m. I finished in a gun time of 2:59:54 and a net time of 2:59:51. I was overjoyed and nearly collapsed into the arms of Dave Kane when I met him at the finish. All of the work finally paid off and I got what I came for, the holy grail of a sub 3 hour marathon. I embraced Elaine and Charlie after the finish and got a bit weepy. It turns out that they were at the finish with Elaine’s Dad, Ronnie and my parents and saw the drama unfold first hand. Elaine even held Charlie out to get my attention but I was fully focused on the finish line.

The painful sprint finish:

Thanks to all of my friends and family for the support and assistance over the last while and helping me achieve my goal. 2012 has been a fantastic year, both personally and from a running point of view. 2013 looks to be another cracker with some great races planned and plenty of training with my son and his running buggy.

My race Garmin file (never trust the GPS): http://connect.garmin.com/activity/243433212

My finish video (check out the pain of a sprint finish): http://mysports.tv/default2.asp?r=1545&e=DM12M&n=Robert+Costello&ct_s1=09:01:52&nt_f=03:22:59&ct_f=12:01:43&ct_s2=09:43:12&ct_s3=10:29:27&ct_s4=11:16:58&k=5mtotaal&ks=100079119&b=720p&l=EN

Number of Leppin gels: Five
Powerbar endurance drink: Approx 2 litres (plus about the same in water on course)
Shoes: Asics DS racer