My First Mark

My New Forest Marathon, 17th Sept 2006

This was my first attempt at a marathon and I thought the New Forest would be nice and flat. It was only after I had entered that I discovered a Runners World forum where the discussion turned to the number of hills in the second half of the run. Too late now, I am entered and will have to see what happens when I come to them.

My preparation started at 18 weeks before. I picked up a training plan from the New York marathon website that built up from a base of 50km/week to a peak of 80km/week. I followed the plan as best I could through the summer, but when it came to my 2 week family holiday the plan stayed at home and I did not run at all. When I returned I needed to get my longest run done. This was a 35.2km training run that took me around Boxhill, Headley, Mickleham, Bocketts Farm, Polesden Lacy, Ranmore, Abinger, Westcott, and Dorking. I was pleased that was over and ticked it off the plan. In all I did 3 long runs.

The day arrived and I felt ready for it. Arriving at the event was well marshalled, there was plenty of parking and toilets, quite a long walk to the start and a recreation field with playground to entertain my kids whilst I warmed up.

I set off at a good pace and my heartrate monitor started giving me a too high alert. I have it set to what I believe is my Anaerobic Threshold, and the alert continued for about 5km. There was litle wind and the sky was clear, luckily there was quite abit of tree cover on the course as it went out of New Milton and into the New Forest. The route takes you through forest and heathland along the tarmaced roads. The field of 630 entries thins out quite quickly and I never had any trouble finding space to run in. The route is great and shortly after 13 miles goes through the oldest part of the New Forest known as the Ornamental Drive. The trees are extremely tall here and provide excellent shade but play havoc with GPS and my Garmin lost its signal in this area.

The second half lived upto its reputation, it felt like hill after hill, and there were quite a few people stopping at drinks stations, (water or sponges), or walking up the hills. I managed to keep going and actually sped up for the final mile, sprinting the last 400 yards. Must say sorry to the chap in the Orange top who I caught and passed. I carried 6 SIS GO Gels with me and slurped one every 6km, I believe it was this that kept me going.

For a run through the country I thought there was a lot of crowd support gathered at a number of sites around the route, I remember seeing the same people a number of times, and was surprised to see people in the middle of the forest section. The marshalling was excellent as well with the police stopping traffic. The final mile felt like a lonely bleak place as it started to drizzle and nobody around until the last 400 yds. I could hear the tannoy in the distance and as I closed the finish line the crowds returned.

Number of finishers 367 My position 85

In summary I had a great run, thoroughly enjoyed it and if anyone wants to do it with me next year, let me know.

I run with a Garmin and it gave me the following statistics:
Time Distance
00:22:50 5 km
00:47:05 10 km
01:14:57 10 miles
01:39:29 1/2 marathon
02:15:13 16 miles
03:42:06 full

Heartrate
165 0-22km
155 22-42km (These are about 10bpm higher than when I train)

Elevation
Total Ascent 461m
Total Descent 495m

Avg Speed 11.2km/h
Calories burned 2235cal