On Sunday 10th October 2021 I ran my first Marathon, in Munich!
Race Breakdown:
I arrived in Munich the day before the race.
Since I had ordered my starting kit to be delivered to my home, all I had to do on Saturday was get my 3G (Proof of COVID-Vaccination) armband, and then I was ready to race.
On Sunday morning, I woke up at 06:00 AM, stretched, hydrated and fuelled up, and got ready to race.
Then I went to the Olympic stadium (starting point), separated from my family & friends (who were there to support and cheer me on), dropped off my kit bag, Warmed up/stretched, and made my way to the race start.
Throughout the Race, my plan was to run a Negative Split, which means to start slow and increase the pace throughout.
I was cautious about the start, since the adrenaline of the crowd and awesome music/atmosphere could make it easy to get excited and run way too fast at the start.
I ran the first 4 Miles at a slow pace of 9:00 Min/Mile (around 05:40 Min/Km).
This was great, because it allowed me to get in the groove, and focus on keeping my heart rate low and hydrating with my electrolyte drink.
From mile 4-20 (km 6.5-32) I was aiming to run a 8:45 Min/Mile (05:25 Min/km) Pace, and this only sort of worked.
I felt very strong and consistently ran 10 seconds faster than the goal pace for most of the race, which caused me to be almost 3 minutes faster than the set pace by the time I got to Mile 20 (32km).
The Last 6 Miles (10km) were tough for me.
I had fuelled throughout the race, which helped to keep my energy up and prevent cramping.
However I had run further than ever before at this point, so I had to focus on keeping up the pace one mile at a time.
I followed my plan of increasing the pace (albeit being significantly faster than the plan already),
And Mile 22 (35km) ran a 8:20 min/mile Pace (5:11 min/km),
Mile 23 (37km) at 8:20 (5:09)
Mile 24 (38,6km) at 7:59 (4:58)
Mile 25 (40km) at 7:53 (4:54)
And my fastest Mile 26 (42km) at 7:21 (4:34)
Then I gave it all I had and ran full out into the Finish.
Official Time = 03:45:13
Average Pace = 8:31 Min/Mile | 5:18 Min/Km
With my Slowest Mile being the First, and Fastest being the Last.
Thank you so much to My Family & Friends who supported me throughout the race, they really made a huge difference and were very motivating.
Also the over 700 volunteers that supplied water, snacks, and support at the aid stations. And congratulations to the 11,000 people who took part in either the Marathon or other events that day!!
Also thank you to Tim, my spontaneous Race buddy for the last 5 Miles (8km).
We had a similar pace, and without exchanging a word or even eye contact, we stuck together for the last stretch and pushed each other to gradually increase the pace.
This really helped as I had someone to push me on when I was having a tough moment, and the same for him. We had a cool chat at the end of the race.
Nutrition Plan:
For the week leading up to the race, I focused on Hydrating and eating good healthy foods, in order to maximise my energy stores.
This consisted of drinking around 3 Litres of Water (often mixed with electrolytes) per day, as well as eating lots of meat, easily digestible carbs (pasta), vegetables, fruit... And also completely cutting out sweet snacks or junk food (although I have done this throughout 2021 anyway).
Before the Race, I woke up at 06:00 AM and sipped on 1 Litre of my electrolyte mix, and ate 1 banana.
For the race, I had on me a 800ml bottle with water/electrolyte & energy mix. I took a sip of this on the mile, every mile, until I ran out at the half marathon mark. The reason why I had this was to keep replenishing my energy stores, and staying hydrated with salts to prevent cramping later in the race.
I also gave my family another bottle with the same drink, which I drank every time I saw them after running out with my bottle.
Race Plan:
For my race plan rundown see this post here.
What went well:
Firstly I am happy with my time. 03:45:00 was my goal, but from my race plan I would have achieved 03:49:00, so I was almost 5 minutes faster than my pace plan, which I am proud of. However I of course want to improve for the next one haha!
I am happy that I ran continuously throughout and did not walk AT ALL.
I did not use the aid stations, which I think was important as I wanted to stick to what I knew, and not do anything new on race day.
My training plan gave me confidence because I had at least 20 Miles (32km) on my feet each week for the last 6 weeks. This allowed me to focus on the race, trusting that my body could keep up with the pace, whilst keeping my heart rate low enough to be within my aerobic threshold.
Also, I stayed calm and made sure to warm up properly before the race, which many people did not do.
I gave it my all. To the end
What Did not go well:
From Mile 7 (11km) onwards, I felt an injury I had felt in training (on my left Hip) which I was able to manage through the race by applying pressure regularly, but this was not ideal, and I need to figure out how to prevent this in the future.
Although it worked out in my favour, I ran almost every Mile faster than my plan, and this is not good because it shows that I didn't plan for my ability. And I will keep this in mind next time to make a plan that is maxing out my ability.
I should have spent more than just the week leading up to the race using the pace pro feature on my Garmin watch, as I was not fully used to it and also did not instinctively know my race pace.
Lessons I learned:
The biggest lesson I learned from the whole training and race is that I needed (and need) to Run SLOW... in oder to run FAST. This is because you need to run within zone 2-3 Heart Rate, and this aerobic base needs to be built up for successful long races
Marathon events are awesome! It was such a cool experience that I want to do more of
The importance of Hydration
Stretch! When I used to Run, I would never stretch, and end up getting hurt or injured after running even just for a week. With stretching, this was completely solved and I was able to train consistently.
What's Next:
This was an amazing experience. And I will definitely do another Marathon in the Future.
Other Fitness Goals I have are an Iron Man, Getting super Fit, Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, and lots of other goals.
My focus for the next few months will be Getting super Fit (starting to go to the gym regularly), and increasing my running ability (by continuing to train).
For both of these goals I will be using the methods and principles taught and preached by Nick Bare (Bare Performance Nutrition), who you can check out here (Insta, Podcast, BPN).
However having a specific event to train for held me accountable, so I want to sign up for something soon, I will keep you posted.
What are you training for? Let's talk about it!
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments, or DM me, I'd love to hear from you.
Thank you for reading,
Have a great day my Friend,
Peace,
Niklas
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