VLM 2013 Weekend

Friday

Excitement on the train meeting other marathon runners. Lots of walking and stretching. Picnic was a bag full of carbs in tupperware - brown rice, mixed nuts, dried mango and banana, brown rice, chicken on wholemeal rolls. Met a couple from Edinburgh who managed to get through 1 bottle of champagne and 2 bottle of cava. Rosie joined them.

Visited platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross.Ppurchased a pair of oyster cards.

Expo - in and out 2 hours - t-shirt, gels, jelly beans, photo then back onto DLR to Bank station and onto central line to Ealing for evening meal of pre cooked chicken burrittos, refried beans and salad. 

Saturday

Sunning morning for an easy jog around Ealing common before picking up papers, bagels and fresh coffee. Back home for lazy morning. 

Took tube to London Bridge in afternoon, visited Borough Market, ate nice things, checked out the Shard, took tube to Green Park to relax in the park, bumped into BB, good talk, tube home, final nights dinner -

Asian tuna and udon noodles. Early night.

Sunday - Race day.

Breakfast - Large bowl of porridge with dried mango, banana chips, honey, cup of coffee. 

7.37 am central line tube to Bond Street, changed onto Jubilee to London Bridge then go the overground to Blackhealth. Busy. Exciting. Good luck texts coming in.  Arrived Blackhealth 9am. Festival atmosphere. Very excited now. Walk across Greenwich park to Championship start. It's on.

Stats
Finished 02:37:31

First half: 01:19:13
Second half: 01:18:30

Placed 120th overall
12th in my age group (M40).

Splits:

Race fueling
4 orange SiS gels, packet of jelly beans in back pocket, half a chia energy bar at 10 miles, other half at 20 miles.  

Race Hydration
Water every third mile and an isotonic every 4 miles. Electrolyte tab into my water bottles at 6, 13 and 18 miles.

Lessons learned
* A longer taper works 3 weeks.
* Quality not quantity of miles. Only did two 65 mile weeks. Rest of 45 - 60 combined with alot of racing.
* Switching off distance data field on Garmin and using route mile marker
* Better hydrating
* A massive carb load works. 600 grams a day from Wednesday. If you want it, have it. You'll burn it off anyway and wont hit the wall.