It's over!

Well, I have completed the Hamburg marathon in 04:19:23, it turned out to be a bit like my London experience last year, it was 23 degrees so I was conscious of drinking enough fluids, and I really suffered at the end with stomach cramps and ended up walking quite a bit. All in all it was a pretty unimpressive run and I just know I can do better so I'm going to have to do another marathon to prove this to myself!


What went wrong? - My list of excuses....
1. Feeling generally tired for a while before the day.
This probably has to do with not eating well enough, having ski/Easter holidays (including drinking wine every night) when I should have been training, and definitely not sleeping well the week before
2. Probably I should've done more long runs of 22/23 miles so that those last miles after 20 are not such a shock.
3. The day before the marathon I didn't really eat very well - the lunch ended up being quite stodgey and I ate dinner quite late (with a glass of wine). I don't think I drank enough water so I wasn't well hydrated.
4. The night before the marathon I slept next to a fidgety 4-year old so didn't get quality sleep, then got up at 6am UK time, as the marathon started at 9am (8am UK time)

The breakdown of my time:

Name: Marsden-Jones, Catherine (GBR)
Startnummer: F1662
Verein: North Herts Road Runners
Stadt: Hitchin
Altersklasse: W35

Split Zeit
5 km 00:28:14
10 km 00:57:23
15 km 01:25:59
20 km 01:54:34
Halb 02:04:07
25 km 02:27:16
30 km 02:57:24
35 km 03:28:31
40 km 04:04:27

Gesamt
Platz (M/W)1362
Platz (AK)252
Platz (Gesamt)9883
Zielzeit (Netto)04:19:23


Luckily after the marathon I was able to go back to the hotel and use the pool facilities to shower, and this included a plunge pool for the closest thing to a cold bath. I think this might have helped my muscles as I don't feel too stiff today, I'm sure I will tomorrow.

I remember the runner's world training schedule saying something about resting for the week after the marathon so that's what I'll be doing, and maybe some kind of report on the Hamburg marathon.....