Calling all PCF runners (1 Viewer)

[Highli99]

I realize I never did a race report for Stockholm Marathon! My second ever marathon.

I arrived in Stockholm the day before the race and did a short run to get the muscles ready and to do some cultural sightseeing:
View attachment 1349692

The plan for the race was pretty simple. Run at a little under a 5:00 min/km pace (~8:00 min/mile) and I'll run a sub 3h30min race. I am very good at sticking to a plan, I never get carried away or let emotions take over!

But after the first km I thought "Naaaaw, screw it!! This feels great, I'll run at a 4:30 pace (~7:15), no problem!! 28°C (~80F) heat, no problem! What could possibly go wrong!?"

After about 12 k's I had to slow down to about 5:00. At about half marathon I started to realize that I was an idiot. A stupid f#cking idiot. After 30 k's I was totally spent, the pace was down to about 6 min (~9:40).

Still gotta smile for those cameras though!!

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The heat was overwhelming. At one point I started to freeze like I was taking a cold shower! Not a good sign!

At the 40km mark there was a watch showing 3h 30min 25s. I realized that if I just stopped feeling sorry for myself for 2.2 km I could run sub 3h40min. I ran as fast as I could! It wasn't more painful than running slow, just differently painful, if that makes sense. Closing in on the finishing line helps of course. Anyway, I got there in 3:38:48!

It feels like I through my inexperience missed the result I was looking for, but I am very happy with the last km's and my new PB.

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Congrats thats an awesome time. Nice job!

 

[Benjaminotaur]

I realize I never did a race report for Stockholm Marathon! My second ever marathon.

I arrived in Stockholm the day before the race and did a short run to get the muscles ready and to do some cultural sightseeing:
View attachment 1349692

The plan for the race was pretty simple. Run at a little under a 5:00 min/km pace (~8:00 min/mile) and I'll run a sub 3h30min race. I am very good at sticking to a plan, I never get carried away or let emotions take over!

But after the first km I thought "Naaaaw, screw it!! This feels great, I'll run at a 4:30 pace (~7:15), no problem!! 28°C (~80F) heat, no problem! What could possibly go wrong!?"

After about 12 k's I had to slow down to about 5:00. At about half marathon I started to realize that I was an idiot. A stupid f#cking idiot. After 30 k's I was totally spent, the pace was down to about 6 min (~9:40).

Still gotta smile for those cameras though!!

View attachment 1349703

The heat was overwhelming. At one point I started to freeze like I was taking a cold shower! Not a good sign!

At the 40km mark there was a watch showing 3h 30min 25s. I realized that if I just stopped feeling sorry for myself for 2.2 km I could run sub 3h40min. I ran as fast as I could! It wasn't more painful than running slow, just differently painful, if that makes sense. Closing in on the finishing line helps of course. Anyway, I got there in 3:38:48!

It feels like I through my inexperience missed the result I was looking for, but I am very happy with the last km's and my new PB.

View attachment 1349704

Sure, you may lose points for not sticking to your plan, but you get points for adjusting on the fly, and even more points for still coming that close to your goal. It’s so easy to have a plan totally unravel in the heat.

Besides, with runner rounding, you’re going to round that down to a 3:35 marathon whenever people ask, so you’re practically at your goal as it is.

Hell of a kick too! Major kudos on kicking it up to that pace

 

[Mr Winberg]

Sure, you may lose points for not sticking to your plan, but you get points for adjusting on the fly, and even more points for still coming that close to your goal. It’s so easy to have a plan totally unravel in the heat.

Thanks! But it wasn't really me adjusting, it was more me getting adjusted. You know, by physics!

Besides, with runner rounding, you’re going to round that down to a 3:35 marathon whenever people ask

So it's like fishing? An 8.7 pike gets rounded to an even 10kg. Then you add .2 so the figure doesn't seem rounded (because then nobody will believe you), so the official weight is 10.2!

 

[Benjaminotaur]

So it's like fishing? An 8.7 pike gets rounded to an even 10kg. Then you add .2 so the figure doesn't seem rounded (because then nobody will believe you), so the official weight is 10.2!

Kind of, but with more flexibility. If your marathon time is over 5 hours, round down to the nearest 15 minute mark. Over 4 hours, round down to the nearest 10 minute mark. Over 3 hours, round down to the nearest 5 minute mark. Anything under 3 hours you round down the seconds to an even minute.

I think it does a pretty good job of giving a good idea of your finish time and what you could have done if conditions (or running choices) were marginally better.

I will say that I don’t follow the rule mostly out of bitterness. I finished my only marathon in 5:00:08, and those 8 seconds will usually make it right past my lips out of pure spite. If I run another one, I’m going to have to include things like “Pee faster” into my training plans just to be safe