Nice marathon running! Both efforts sound well executed 
@YKK we know it was sub3…but we need numbers man! 
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Nice running @YKK taking one gel every 30 mins doesn’t sound like too much of a disaster, I tried a new strategy of taking a gel every 4k (rather than every 5), didn’t have any issues, so I guess it worked. I am going to have another crack at Luzern next year, it’s bugging me that I can’t get sub 3 there. I think I am in better shape now than when I did Zurich in 2:54
I use Fusion shorts, that have a nice elastic pocket on each leg, 5 gels go into each, with no discomfort
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Yeah i tend to take a gel every 7km or so, and that’s worked for me so far.
I’m not fast like you guys but I’ve found I never take that much on during a marathon. I’ll have a gel 15mins before and then every 9km seems to work and then I just pray from 36-42km
Probably not the best pacing ever. No idea why Strava thinks I only took 3:02, I actually took 3:04
I clearly got a bit carried away approaching half way… no idea why I put in my fastest lap just there, possbily driven on by crowds in the old town, slightly downhill but on cobbles
Pace was fine until the 2 hills on the second lap. You can see in the track the 2 big dips in pace. The descents destroyed my quads and I couldn’t bring pace back again
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You ran a 3.19 km in the middle of your mara?! No wonder your quads got hit up and you faded at the end! 
That’s 16.35 5km pace!
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I blame the crowds and the music… I was feeling really good at that point and had just taken a Gel
The dip at 41-42km is interesting. It’s at this point that the reality dawned that the course was long, really messed with my head. It wss on a pan flat, straight section, no reason why I shouldn’t have been running sub 4:20 at that point
Is it also a slight glitch on the watch segment? Unless heavily downhill which it doesn’t look like, I can’t imagine putting out a 1km split what must be close (within ~15s?) to your best possible 1km time in the middle of a marathon without majorly knowing I was hammering it.
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Jesus that’s shifting. I think the fast km I’ve ever run is a 3.30!
Just checked watch, it shows a 3:45 split, not sure why Strava is showing 3:19.
I was thinking similar, to also explain why Matt had the course as long?
@Matthew_Spooner Has it been publicised as officially long, or are you just saying that based off your watch? Do you use a footpod or anything like that?
Looking at your GPS track, if you rely solely on GPS pace/distance, then you had glitches that I’d normally expect in a city course. The circled area would be the exact same roads on the two laps, so clearly your GPS wasnt perfect. These instances add up.
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It’s possible. I checked several other athletes, and everyone recorded 42.8 to 43.1km. While people on the Half Marathon (same route, without the dog leg out and back) all recorded 21.2 - 21.4km, so it seems to be more related to marathon.
Sorry, yep more detail required…
Re Gels, I have always taken one every 20 minutes, so I use to run with 9, now 8. These are just the high5 gels so not to heavy, I then only take water, do I need that many? I don’t know, but what I do know is that I have never had stomach issues (so far), so it it ain’t broke etc…
I possibly don’t drink enough water, speaking with people who use bottles they seem to take on a lot more than my 5 or 6 mouthfuls of water per race, I guess it is worth saying here that I also dont need water to take the gel, not sure if that is common, but the taste/texture never bothers me…
Also as an aside, having personal bottles seems a right faff, i saw people literally stop at tables to search for bottles for seconds and a few times they could not find it anyway
re splits
| Split Point | Split Time | S/Rank | Race Time | R/Rank | Activity | Dist. | Pace | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10km | 00:41:06 | 5 | 00:41:06 | 5 | RUN | 10.00 | 04:06 | 14.60 |
| 15.6km - Top of the Harbour Bridge | 00:23:12 | 8 | 01:04:18 | 43 | RUN | 5.60 | 04:08 | 14.48 |
| Half Way | 00:22:23 | 37 | 01:26:42 | 40 | RUN | 5.50 | 04:04 | 14.74 |
| 31km - St Heliers Turn | 00:40:31 | 20 | 02:07:14 | 30 | RUN | 9.90 | 04:05 | 14.66 |
| Finish | 00:44:54 | 30 | 02:52:09 | 29 | RUN | 11.20 | 04:00 | 14.96 |
First 16k is lumpy, then it is pan flat, as I said, I pushed on from circa 25k. There was a bit of a headwind for the last 11k, so I am pretty happy with the 4min/k split at the end especially as my last 3k were more 4:10s…
There is a 54 year old guy I have met where it was apparently his 43rd sub3, so something to aim for over the next 7 years…
With a bit of luck I will be hanging around this thread a while longer 
EDIT: Looking at that it suggests I was 5th after 10k, this is total nonsense, probably more like 35th
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Great run… Always nice to finish strong! 
Only 2 runs this week.
Saturday - 5km ParkRun. Decided I might as well give this the full beans and see where I am. 20:07. Very badly paced. Was running sub-19 pace for the first mile. 
Blew up quite badly over the last 2kms. Lesson learnt. But I did beat @Adam , so not all bad. (he did give me a 3 minute head start though)
Sunday. Slow 8km, taking it very gently.
I had my left foot start to grumble quite badly after the long run I had done the weekend before, so I decided to rest it for the week. Not ideal at all, but it gave me a chance to sort out some extra support in the shoes. Hopefully sorted now and I’m going to try to do a full 4 runs this week and see how it goes. Also got my first cross country race in 18 years, on Saturday. No spikes or trail shoes and it’s been raining all month. Going to be carnage.
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Right. Showdown next week. I’m havin ya!
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Sorry mate, at the Surrey League in the afternoon so won’t be at Bushy next week. Happy to duel with you, the week after and show you how it’s done.
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Excuses, excuses 
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It will give you an extra week of not being beaten by an old man.
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3 runs 
Was meant to do 4 and had an easy run scheduled for Friday, but life…. Aim for the week was to do a bit more speed work and get out of Z2 more often. Definitely achieved that.
Monday- 40 mins with 30 mins as fartlek. 5 miles
Wednesday- 3x10 mins tempo efforts with wu and wd, so 7 miles total.
Saturday- 5 miles XC race. Lots of fun. Found a new max hr on the last lap. Garmin went screwy but was most definitely 5km effort at the end. Start was very slow as I started at the back. My one and only race of 2022 and my first cross country race in 18 years. Next one is in January.
Feeling it this morning, so an easy ride today and lots of stretching and core later.
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