Today I participated in 57th Paloheinä Marathon in Helsinki. It was going to be a sunny clear day, certainly the hottest day of the year so far. Most of the participants - probably wisely - chose the half or quarter marathon, but not me of course. It was going to be a full marathon or nothing for me.
The route of this low-key marathon consists of eight 5.27 km out-and-back loops in the forests of Paloheinä.
The relatively flat course is unmarked, and with lots of trails and paths everywhere it's really easy to take a wrong turn. The official course is the optimal route, so when you get lost, it will automatically cost you more time and distance. First-timers are encouraged to follow others until they learn the right way.
Nevertheless one competitor got unfortunately a bit tired and lost. I heard she had was eventually taken to the hospital with an ambulance. I'm not sure what happened, but we heard she was a rookie and obviously made the usual mistakes. We were quite concerned when the police arrived looking for her in the forest, and everyone tried to ask people if they had seen her.
In the next photo RD Anders shouts advice and split times to marathon runners. The guy runs the whole event pretty much single-handedly - I bet he sweats as much as us runners, if not more!
One of the runners pushed his 19-month-old son, who was able to take a nap while daddy raced.
Finally, this is a photo shot by RD Anders of a happy me after 42.2 km in 3:30. I'm very pleased with the results as I ran the same race last summer in 4:18, and it wasn't quite as warm then. A 48-minute improvement is not bad in one year, so I must be doing something right.
What's more, I finished first overall! Surely that's only because all the fast guys were in the Stockholm Marathon yesterday. Well I guess you can't really complain when you are almost 47, and win any marathon whatsoever.
I was able to maintain the pace (about 5 min/km) all the way (my half-marathon split was 1:45). That was a pleasant surprise, as I have often been forced to slow down in the second half.
By the way, although I have a backpack in the photo, I didn't run with it. So I didn't get anything to drink except at the official aid station after each 5.27K lap. I decided to wear the lightest shirt and shorts I own as well as my trusty Brooks ST Racers with X-Action compression socks, and no doubt that was a pretty good call today.
4 comments:
Congratulations on your win! What type of training did you do for the marathon?
Thanks Matt!
I did all the hard workouts before the half-marathon 3 weeks earlier. Then I kept on training daily, but mostly relatively easy. I had a flu virus issue (everything but fever) going through my system during the last couple of weeks before the marathon. So I was forced to taper a lot more than I would have otherwise. The day before the race I took it really easy.
I guess I was wondering what your overall training plan looked like. Distance, intervals, etc.
Well I don't have a fixed plan really right now - I just do whatever I can fit in my schedule and what sounds like fun.
I guess my average distance might be slightly over 100K per week, but it varies a lot and I don't keep a diary at the moment.
For example on April 19, I did a wild 99K training trail run. That's the longest I've run ever in one day.
I haven't done anaerobic intervals for years, except those 10 sec Tabatas occasionally, or Hudson's hills (as in his book Run Faster). On a good day I might do a tempo run - 'an unhappy hour' if you will.
I've done lots of semi-barefoot running with Feelmax Niesa and other ultralight footwear lately. I believe that has improved my technique and muscle balance considerably already.
I plan to run more marathons in June, July (78K alpine ultra) and August. Hope this helps!
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