{"id":12296,"date":"2025-04-28T09:34:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/?p=12296"},"modified":"2025-08-19T08:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T08:48:03","slug":"adidas-manchester-marathon-2025-second-marathon-and-sub-330-achieved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/12296-adidas-manchester-marathon-2025-second-marathon-and-sub-330-achieved.html","title":{"rendered":"Adidas Manchester Marathon 2025: second marathon and sub 3:30 achieved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This was my second marathon. The first was in October last year and went super well<\/a>; I targeted 3:45, used the Pfitzinger\/Douglas (Pfitz) 18\/55 schedule (in the book Advanced Marathoning) for training, and while it was fatiguing I finished in 3:37 and (as I now know) in relatively good shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time around I wanted to beat 3:30 and repeated Pfitz 18\/55 but with faster pace. Training went well overall, no major injuries, and I mostly hit the workout paces though I find what he calls the V\u0307O2<\/sub> Max sessions difficult to achieve; these are the most demanding sessions intended to improve one’s maximum rate of oxygen consumption during running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the race<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Got to Manchester Saturday afternoon, didn\u2019t get to run at all though Pfitz schedules a 4 mile recovery run saying it is mainly there to keep you from fretting. Difficult to carb load when travelling but I did my best with a big bowl of cereal for breakfast followed by a bacon roll later, packed lunch with chunky cheese sandwiches and fresh fruit, then I consumed a mid-afternoon Ploughmans with a fruit smoothie and in the evening, a delicious goats cheese flatbread. I also drank loads of water, not sure exactly how much but several pints during the day. I think this did help as I was well hydrated before the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set the alarm for 5:30am not that I needed to; didn\u2019t sleep brilliantly. Cup of tea and sourdough roll early (Pfitz suggests eating 3-4 hours before running), more water. Then I headed for the start on the first tram from my hotel at about 6:25; no reason to be so early except that I didn\u2019t have anything else to do! Always enjoy chatting with other runners and their supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first marathon had fewer than 1000 runners, this one claimed 36,000 though I am sure the actual number was a bit less. All a bit different though. Arrived Old Trafford tram stop, 10 minute walk to the start area. Dropped my bag at around 8:00am and was a little cold in my club vest, did some half-hearted short warm-up runs and took advantage of the portaloos. This was a success actually, the benefit of the early start meant that I had plenty of time to get ready as it were and had zero GI issues during the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was in bronze wave which was the fifth to start after Elite, White, Red and Blue. Each wave had I gather up to 1800 runners which is biggish and I found myself towards the back of the wave for some reason. This didn\u2019t matter as such, but the 3:30 pacers were towards the front and it wasn\u2019t possible therefore to start with them. More on this later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Race<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Off we go and I am trying to go no faster then a 7:45 pace (all my figures are in miles) and no slower than 8:00. Some congestion but it went fairly well and the miles started ticking by. Took an energy gel at the start and another 4 miles in. Skipped the first water station, grabbed a bottle at the second, but found drinking quite hard while running, I have learned that I can\u2019t take a big gulp as it can easily turn into a coughing fit. Did my best; at least with the bottles you can carry them for a bit and take occasional sips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After maybe 6 miles (can\u2019t remember exactly), I catch up with a 3:30 pacer (there were two) and had a chat. Now, I knew from my Garmin that I was on target for sub-3:30 but of course having started at the back of the wave the pacers were a little in front. It was tricky though; the guy said he was currently running ahead of pace because he had a bathroom break and was now catching up with the other pacer. So I didn\u2019t want to keep pace with him as it would be too fast. Off he went into the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the half-way point I finally caught up with the other 3:30 pacer. This was odd because he was now quite a way behind first guy. I asked about this and he said his fellow pacer was more than a minute ahead of time. He also said he was a bit ahead, and his plan was to to slow down at 26 miles and then wave people past to get their time. I concluded that my best strategy was to try and stay ahead of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was more fatigued at this point than I was when half-way in October but there were two good reasons for that. One was that my pace was about 7:54\/mile versus 8:16 or so in October. The other was the heat; we were running in up to 20 degrees Celsius and bright sunshine whereas October was overcast with occasional light rain and much cooler (I don\u2019t know the exact temperature).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thought: for this event I trained in the cool of the winter and then ran in relatively warm conditions; where last time I trained in the heat of the summer and then ran in relatively cool conditions \u2013 an easier transition!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway I was keen to get to 20 miles as Pfitz calls 13-20 the \u201cno-mans land of the marathon\u201d when you can easily lose pace. Kept the pace fairly well and was helped by the pacer because if he appeared beside me I knew I had to run faster!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got to 20 miles and by this time I was seriously fatigued. I took my first carb-packed SIS beta fuel at this point and told myself it would help me to keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last 6 miles were tough. I can\u2019t say I hit the wall; I lost a little pace but it wasn\u2019t terrible \u2013 my slowest mile according to Garmin was mile 24 at 8:04 pace. Heat was getting to me, really needed water at the last drink station. It was difficult to drink enough, but poured the rest over my head, great idea and I should have done this before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to describe the mental battle that was taking place in those last miles. I told myself to just keep running even though I no longer had the energy for it. I told myself to run fast so that the ordeal would be over quicker. I thought of my family and friends tracking me and did not want to disappoint them. And again, if the 3:30 pacer appeared, I did my best to run faster (and in the end, I did finish ahead of him, but a few seconds behind the other 3:30 pacer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd at Manchester was fantastic and it was great to hear all the shouts of encouragement including my name from time to time (name were shown on the bibs). I also passed plenty of runners walking and told myself that I would not do that. Just one parkrun to go. Just two miles to go. Then there is a sign that says “welcome to the finish straight,” great news but I did not have it in me to up the pace. Kept running, tried to smile for the camera, crossed the line, and then there was a weird moment: is it really OK to slow down now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was pretty sure that I had beaten 3:30 but did not get the exact time until later (not carrying a phone). 3:27:46, a personal best by over 9 minutes and a good for age for London next year I hope, with over 24 minutes below the required time (V65 M).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the ordeal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finishing a marathon can be anti-climactic. I felt good about my time but also very fatigued, and the first thing you do after finishing at a big event like this is quite a lot of walking, since the organisers have to keep the finish area clear. So picked up a bottle of water (good thinking!), walked to medal area, picked up tasty non-alcoholic tin of beer (chilled! Nice), walked to picked up bag, quite a long way with several lorries for each start wave, then walked to T-shirt area, then you come out of the finish area and eventually to a sign that says Piccadilly Station 14 mins walk, my hotel was near there so I just plodded on, eventually sitting down to a lovely latish lunch there with a cold beer and some fellow finishers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t really fault the organization, the start was smooth and on time, the facilities were good, the medal is nice, all very professional, but there is inevitably a lot of standing around at the start and walking at the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pacers worked hard but were not ideal for me. I would prefer that they ran closer together and with even splits, though they did finish pretty much on the button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I was happy with my time it was actually slower than the 3:19 VDOT<\/a> predicted from my best half in February; I think this shows the impact of the heat as my effort was as great or greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite piling on the suncream I caught the sun in a few spots, my advice if you are running this summer is don\u2019t forget the back of your legs and all round your arms as that is where I went wrong. Wore a cap which I do think helped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, kudos to the Pfitz plan and book which got me through again without any calamities, such a great resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This was my second marathon. The first was in October last year and went super well; I targeted 3:45, used the Pfitzinger\/Douglas (Pfitz) 18\/55 schedule (in the book Advanced Marathoning) for training, and while it was fatiguing I finished in 3:37 and (as I now know) in relatively good shape. This time around I wanted … Continue reading Adidas Manchester Marathon 2025: second marathon and sub 3:30 achieved<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1597],"tags":[1601],"class_list":["post-12296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running","tag-running"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12296"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12330,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12296\/revisions\/12330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}