calf strain but 4.05 salvaged in 3rd Melbourne marathon finish

10/10/10 A.D.; Ran the Melbourne marathon for the 4th consecutive year, this time in 4 hours 5 minutes...(22 seconds by my wristwatch). I'm seeing 4.05.21 on official results and 4.05.09 on Marathon-photos.com..(where I have a stack of photos 24 on facebook and some of those HERE)...Cool Running youtube videos appearing online too...I was 2895th of 5027 finishers. race records of 2.11 for men and 2.32 for Women (Ethiopian Seboka who also won the Perth City to Surf Marathon this year, I was standing behind her at the start in Perth I later realised).
STAT ATTACK
-My fastest Melbourne Marathon so far.
-My 3rd finish on the MCG done!!! So mission accomplished there.
-My 4th fastest Marathon of 13 finished so far.
-My fastest Marathon time since July 2008.
-Still no PB since my first Marathon in July 2004.
-Another injury to manage/get healed.
-Well worth the trip, and my seasons best marathon time in 3 finished this year.
-Massive disappointment that I still havent beaten the 3.55, on a day I felt I was capable of 3.40 or better, and on a day I woke up with a resting heart rate of 35, which is my 2nd best resting heart rate so far since 1995.
-Bittersweet emotions. Most of my plans went well, I learned from my mistakes in previous years, and for sure I will be trying again next year if the body holds together, and the opportunity is there.
- A disappointing, frustrating time from 20km onwards but still very special and wonderful day.
SPLITS REPORT
Half splits; 1.46.35/2.18.47
5k splits; 22/25/25/26min for first 20km in 1hr 40min,
5k splits continued; 38!!/30/29/35= 2nd 20km in 2hours 12 minutes.
1k splits for first 5k in 22.40;
4.37 (long uphill in a very big crowd of runners following the 3hr pacer weaving through the masses of runners)
4.09 (following the 3.00 hr pace group as the space opened up on St Kilda Rd and the nice flat road encouraged the pacer to make up for lost time in the first K)
4.36 (After an 8.46 2km, I didn't really feel comfortable with that pace, so I figured I'd drop back to 4.30's)
4.50 (Probably relaxed a bit too much here.)
4.28 (Pushed the pace a little to make sure I came in under 23 minutes, and back into 4.30-4.45 sort of zone)
10k split of 48min.00 secs was ok, maybe a bit on the slow side, but still a solid start. From there until 20km I was just trying to stick around 4.45-5.15's and although I only managed about a 52min 10k so around 5.17 per K, I knew I was still very well positioned for an assualt on the PB, and was feeling very, very comfortable. A little disappointed that I couldn't hang onto the 3.10, 3.20 and 3.30 pace groups, but still feeling like I wasn't that far off that zone, and was thinking of targeting about 3.35-3.45 or something like that. When I lost the 3.40 group due to the calf, I knew my chances were very low of getting the PB, and it was hard to stay motivated.
The 14km splits master plan

14km splits; 68.08/88min/89min*. *-(for 14.2km of course)
-Plan was to get to first 14km in 60-70 minutes which I did with 2 minutes to spare, so ok, but not really good, due to leg weariness from work and too much walking around on Saturday, should have got a Taxi, then maybe would have held 4.20-4.45's for longer , so hitting 14k in 66minutes or better.
Plan was to get through second 14km in 65-80minutes, so getting a 28km split of 2.05-2.30. Was trying to step up the pace after slipping out to 5.15-5.30's in the second 10k (52.50) (as I struggled to get to my first gatorade at 16.5km), a bit to get back to 4.45-5.00's per K from about 19km onwards, when I hurt the calf just after 20km. Due to the calf problems, my 28km split was only 2.36, which was 6 minutes adrift of minimum target and and about 18 minutes off ideal target zone for a big PB.
Plan was to get through the last 14.2km in 75-85min, which I didn't due to ongoing calf issues, pace judgement errors, struggling to get to my last drinks stop (which ended up being at 36.5km rather than 35km as in race booklet!), and not enough general mental toughness. Could only manage 89 minutes, which meant I was just over 10 minutes shy of the PB at the finish.
So I think My first serious attempt to use the 14km splits plan worked well, and If I get the opportunity again I think that might be worth doing again. Interestingly my City to Surf Marathon 28km split was 2.38, so my last 14.2km (without as many big hills) was 8 minutes faster (Perth C2S time was 4.15) this time around, and my HALF split of 1.53 in the City to Surf was 7 minutes slower!, plus I felt a whole lot more comfortable and ready to attack in melbourne at the Half way mark...
More detailed race report of the last 22.2km
The right calf strain? (guessing thats what it was) hit at about 20km when I tried to up the intensity a bit in an effort to get to the halfway mark in under 1.46 and under 5 minutes per K. In response to the pain I tried changing my stride, I tried stretching the calf, i tried switching to racewalking, (although I knew my knees would probably pack up on me pretty quickly anyhow if I tried that caper too long...the runners around me thought I was doing a Jared Tallent (won the 20k walk in New Delhi again as did his wife Claire, and did 3.08 racewalking the melbourne marathon last year)photo of me attempting to do the old racewalking thing again coming soon...) I tried a walk break, but this annoying injury which I have never had before, just would not go away, so at 23km I went for an icepack at an aid station and icepacked it for 3 minutes. This seemed to help a bit, although I was still getting pain in it at every step, and that pain continued for pretty much every step from there until the finish, and the left hip seemed to lock up and feel very tight for about 20 minutes or so, as I tried to run more with my left leg instead of my right leg. So I kind of got used to it over the next 2 hours or so, and in the last hour general fatigue started to override it a bit.

Pushed past the 4 hour pace group for awhile and got to 28km in 2hrs 36min, only 6 minutes adrift of my original minimum pre-race target of 2.30, although nowhere near my ideal target of 2.18 or better. I knew that I needed to be at 28km in sub 2.20 to be a good chance of knocking off the PB. 2.30 would have been close enough if good enough, but 2.36 was asking a bit much. Still I entertained slim hopes of trying to get some sub 5min K's on the board, and in other ways I felt really good. However the calf wouldn't allow me to do more than about 5.20 per K, and I knew the PB hopes were over. 4-4.10 was my best chance...Then the 4 hour pace group flew past me on St Kilda Rd, as I was trying to hold onto 5.30-6.15's...Which I was doing...Still felt like 4.09ish was possible, and despite a real struggle to get to the last drinks station at 36.5km instead of 35km! up the hill next to the Tan, where I wolfed down my 3rd Gatorade and water, I knew the long downhill to the finish would see me under 4.10 as long as I held pace, and kept the calf under control. Used my weapon from days gone by of a flat cocacola at 39km, and passed a lot of people from here, and especially on the MCG (about 20). Finished feeling very good physically and went looking for an icepack for the calf.

Spent the rest of the day and evening limping around with a very sore calf...The medal we got was awesome and especially the ribbon thing attached to it. Headed for The Transport and caught up with heaps of wonderful Cool Runners. A good day!

So where to from here? John Gilmour 10k Track is soon, 6 inch 46km is fast approaching, and 2011 is fast approaching. Its hard to pick yourself up from the emotional turmoil and continue on sometimes. Now is one of those times for me. I guess Sally Pearson must have felt like that when she was stripped of her Gold medal in the 100m a few days ago at the Commonwealth Games, or Craig Mottram who possibly could have been on the podium again at the Commonwealth Games, but didn't get selected due to injury during the selection period. Or Slingrunner who was all primed for sub 3 in Melbourne and didn't even get to run, but still showed up to hang out with his fellow bloggers. etc etc etc. Thats why they say (to quote again from my brothers NBA basketball videos) in my best over the top melodramatic Don Lane type voice; "Injury!:An athletes worst nightmare". The other nagging doubt/question in my mind is;, has my body had enough, is it finally self-destructing under the weight of me trying to manage too many injuries and other stuff at once...But I always then think well if God wants me to keep going I'll keep going, otherwise I'll only have "secret racing" (thats an inside joke in BBC's mob) to look forward to, and no real racing, or worse have to become a cyclist, or a triathlete, (no offence but they are not my favourite sports for various reasons, not to mention the cost) or even a video/arcade-game player...I blew $16 on virtua-tennis arcade game at Melbourne Airport pretending I was Leighton Hewitt, Rafa Nadal and Tim Henman. Virtua Tennis 3 seems harder than the earlier versions I can't win the games anymore...Then there is family stuff money work all the usual challenges. The thing I hate about holidays the most is how little money you have when you come back...Anyhow onward and upwards I hope...