Coach Tune’s Race Report from Yorkshire marathon

 

Rewind the clock two years to October 2019 and I recorded a DNF at the Yorkshire marathon, then fast forward to October last year ( 2021 ) where I recorded a time of 3.25hrs running the Yorkshire marathon while injured and putting myself out for several months.

I promised Jenny after weeks of being unable to run that I would not enter another marathon but I had an inch with the race that I could not leave alone so not saying  anything to anyone I entered the race and worked hard on my rehab to put myself firstly in a position to begin training again but more importantly allow myself to get into some sort of shape so that I was able to put a few demons to bed with this race.

I think pretty early on in the training cycle my closest training partners soon caught onto the facts that the extra mileage I was doing meant potentially I had intended to go back to York again and although I had said I wouldn’t run another marathon Jen understood the need to.

With so many of the team training towards this as their “A” race the 14 week block leading into marathon season ment that there were always plenty of training partners to help with those long runs and marathon paced sessions.

Marathon training does not need to be too complicated with a mixture of increasing long runs, marathon paced sessions and the odd speed session to make you feel normal coupled with plenty of steady running in between and for me plenty of strength and conditioning to ensure I did not get injured.

My races leading into the marathon went well and I managed to navigate the dreaded taper without any problems!

Come race day a car full of us set off early parking just away from the start area and then walking into the university to drop off baggage before doing a short warm up.

My race plan was pretty simple in that I wanted to have a positive experience and finish strongly as the course has a habit of catching you out in those final few miles.

Having run it twice before and also looking at the weather conditions I knew it was going to be mainly back wind for the first 10 miles before turning into a pretty stiff head wind between the toughest part of the course between 14 and 18 miles and the turnaround point.

I settled into a relaxed effort making sure to keep my heart rate super low right at the very bottom of my recovery zone and just clicked the miles off.

Another point that I felt I could improve in this marathon was my fueling on race day so every single water station I took on and drank a full bottle of water/electrolytes and a Maurten gels every 5 miles. For the record I did not need to stop and pee which is unheard of for me!

I ran a lot of the first 18 miles with the leading lady and a decent sized group and made sure I took zero of the headwind at any stage!

Around the 18 mile marker I felt a little bit of cramp in my hamstring so slowed very slightly to allow it to pass which was actually a blessing to keep me steady as all those in the group who moved away from me around this point came back to me in those final few miles.

I still felt pretty comfortable right up to 23 miles and then the wind seemed to pick up and it became a bit of a struggle to hold the same pace so I stopped looking at my watch and tried to aim hitting each next mile marker on countdown!

Soon the 40k marker came up and I knew in 10 minutes I would have finished so tried to relax on the final uphill before the finish line.

Family and friends were situated close to the finish and it was a welcome sight to see the finish gantry as I crossed the line in 2.52hrs. Not my fastest ever time but that didn’t matter as not only had I put those demons to bed but actually really enjoyed it.

This was made all the better with the whole team running so well and that first pint in the pub after never touching the sides!

So, “never again?” right at this point in time I have no other marathons planned but you never know!

David Tune