There was a reason for that. This part of the event did not go to plan and with +Dublin Marathon on last Monday I didn't want to be putting out negative vibes for anyone who was following the Marathon Program on the +Amphibian King West Facebook page or any readers tackling their first marathon.
Sunday morning we were away bright and early. Truth be told I don't sleep well the night before big events, and this is a big event for me. I'm going out having trained hard and trained well for my goal time of a sub 3:15 marathon.
Lets throw perspective on this. My first marathon was 2011 (also with +Conor), I didn't train properly for that. I felt I'd a decent season of triathlon (70.3 distance) training under my belt and doing a few long runs through September was going to get me through. 4:00 was the goal then, I finished in 4:07.
2012 saw me a little more focused and awar of what I was doing. A pal gifted me a decent training plan and 3:30 was the trainging goal. Everything was going swimmingly until a MTB incident 2 weeks prior took me out of the game entirely. DNF. Lesson learned :(
So 3:15 is an ambitious goal, almost an hour off my marathon best, but I'm confident in my training.
Downstairs we went for some breakfast. Couple of eggs, croissants and coffee for me with a yoghurt for good measure. Drinking my
Aim was to get a taxi down to the Olympic Stadium. A correct assumption that trams would be jammed and 'standing room only' meant we arrived in comfort with only a short stroll to the bag drop. Restless energy had me on my feet as we had plenty of time to spare, thankfully it also meant I was in good form for the toilet and off I went before the Queues became massive.
With 30mins to go before the start it was time to drop the bags. I was wearing a beanie and armwarmers, almost a tradition with me at this point in races. I tend to stick the beanie in my waist band and roll the arm warmers down as sweatbands once I've warmed up.
We rocked into the stadium where everyone filtered into the centre of the field before dispersing into holding pens for each time slot. We were in the 3:00-3:30 pen with pacers breaking the group into three goal times.
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| Our pen is to the left. |
(It was at this point I realised the benefit of wearing black bin bags, there was a sprinkling of 'water' on the track beside me)
The air filled with tops, bags, bottles all being pitched to the side into the centre arena. Watching the big screen we could see the official starter and BANG!! off they went at the start.
Watching the thing on the screen you are removed from the moment until suddenly people start shifting and you realise "Oh! Thats us!!" as people drift forward, shuffle, walk and break into a trot. I could see the pacer balloons hitting the first bend ahead of us and wondered why there was no response from the people in front. It was only after a gap appeared that I realised we were being funnelled through a gap in the pen barriers. People were sprinting off from the pen, chasing the pacers.
It was only a minute or so by the time I crossed the start line, but felt like an age! Pushing start on my +Polar it was time to get it on!!
Round the bend and out through the stadium entrance, lots and lots of people jostling around for space ever though I didn't think it was too congested.
There were quite a few pushing their way up the inside against the barriers. I can't see the sense of that. Clip a kerb and you're out before you've even done a mile or clip someone's heels and they're out.
The course features a section of loop around the city through the Vondelpark back around towards the Oltmpic statium before doing a loop back on itself going down Stationsweg at which stage a roar from Conor across the barriers let me know he was chasing.
The first 5k felt fast. I was putting it down to the route being pancake flat and all of my training being on lumpy West of Ireland roads. It wasn't that it felt easy, just fast. Going through the 10k mark and checking my times, my watch was +100m but it was accurate enough for me to realise that it was too quick.
TCS Amsterdam Marathon Sean Conroy netto 10KM 45:08. Calculated finish 3:10:36.I was off the back of the pacers by 10-15m. I'd closed the gap back up to them over the first 5k, I wasn't planning on blowing myself up by chasing them hard, I took it steady. But the Twitter feed told the story - through the first 10k at 3:10 pace - wasn't going to be sustainable.
— Amphibian King West (@amphkingwest) October 20, 2013
Experience would have told me to back off, go with how I was feeling. I didn't spend weeks grooving my legs to a 4:35/km pace for nothing, they were telling me how to run this race and right now they were telling me it's too fast!!!
Did I listen?
Hell no. I trusted the pacers, they knew something I didn't, keep them in sight.
Leaving the city we ran out along the Amstel river. This was gorgeous. I've seen other reports that criticise this section of the course, but I liked it. Where I was there was space, we were no longer tripping over each other, no more jostling or pushing.
Running along the river bank, it was windy, but scenic in a Dutch kind of way. Some fantastic houses out here and crews out rowing on the river, looking at us bunch of eejits. We were also treated to the biggest +Mizuno Running Rider 17 being carried on a floating Disco!!
Post by Mizuno Running.
Hitting the village of Ouderkerk a/d Amstel (Old Church on the Amstel) we were getting close to half way.
Again the Twitter amchine was spitting out predictions (I was bllissfully unaware of these) once we hit the mid point:
Hitting the village of Ouderkerk a/d Amstel (Old Church on the Amstel) we were getting close to half way.
Again the Twitter amchine was spitting out predictions (I was bllissfully unaware of these) once we hit the mid point:
TCS Amsterdam Marathon Sean Conroy netto Half Marathon 1:36:25. Double this to a finish of 3:12:50.
— Amphibian King West (@amphkingwest) October 20, 2013
Still well ahead of trained finish.
This won't last.
And it didn't.
As you can see from the image below (blue line indicates Race Pace), literally when I went through 2:00hrs the wheels came off.
I was sticking to my nutrition plan, +Agave #9 gels steadily at 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 35 with some #2nd Surge in reserve for 30 & 40km but there was nothing going to pull me back from the brink once I'd burnt those matches.
At 28k my HR dived off a cliff, the power and speed went from the legs.
Game over.
Time to get the hell out of Dodge and home.
I've vague recollections of meandering my way though a business area, trying to pick it up only to fall back again.
I needed to puke.
I couldn't
Walk, run, walk, wobble, walk, wog. The km's felt like miles. Coming back into the city the crowds started to build again, I got some energy from this, I jogged, a little, walked more.
I drank that AA rubbish at the water stations, sorry water stop. Get going again.
Somewhere around 34/35k the trooper came by me. 'Go with him!!', my head screamed, my legs said 'F#@k Off!!'
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| Broken. |
Stay ahead of the 3:30 group.
3:30 came and went.
Back in to the Vondelpark. Lots of people shouting and cheering. Damn these bibs with names on them there's no hiding. "Come on Sean!!", "You can do it Sean!!", "Almost there Sean!!"
Damn you all to hell, you made me run again!!
The last km's were torture.
Come on Sean, there's the Stadium, make the most of it, don't quit now. Get there!
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| Left, right, left, right |
I got there. I didn't 'SMASH IT!!'. I didn't break 3:15.
I did finish. I broke 3:40.
27 mins off my previous marathon best time.
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| The breakdown after the breakdown. |
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| TCS Amsterdam - Summary |
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