2022 Gold Coast Marathon build: Week One, March 28 - April 3
The summer of fun is over and it’s time to knuckle down once more for a marathon campaign, with the countdown to Gold Coast, on July 2-3 depending which distance you’re aiming for, now underway.
Any lethargy which accompanied the immediate weeks post Melbourne Marathon in December is long gone and the appetite to string together several quality months is well and truly reinvigorated (pun intended).
A rapid sequence of track races in March served as an ideal, adrenaline stoking, lead in to the Gold Coast build, even if being put to the sword by the speed demons of the running community served as sobering experiences.
Nobody requires any reminding of the scenes last year, when the hard yards amounted to nothing, at least in an official sense, after a Queensland lockdown precipitated the Gold Coast Marathon’s heartbreaking cancellation, mere days out from race weekend.
Having claimed an unofficial PB of 2:28 in October, though falling short at Melbourne with 2:34, the quest for sub 2:25 resumes…
MONDAY, 28TH MARCH
Cooler heads prevailed as I resisted the temptation to surface for the contentious Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at an eye watering 4 am. Whilst it proved to be an entertaining race, the extra shut eye allowed me to tackle the start of the campaign in fresh shape.
Having completed my long run on Saturday, the first time I’d breached 30 km since Melbourne, followed by an easier and relatively short recovery on Sunday, my legs weren’t too weary.
Despite my enthusiasm, I found the conditions were quite challenging, which I placed down to some of the planned burns across regional Victoria.
14 km @ 4:25, culminating in some strides, was a straightforward, if slightly longer than planned effort.
TUESDAY, 29TH MARCH
Calling for a tempo, it was a spontaneous decision to throw in some pace variability and tackle a set of descending reps from five minutes down to one.
The first, averaging 3:19 across 1.5 km, was consistent, even if it was faster than an ideal marathon pace closer to 3:25, whilst the progression to 3:12 pace over four minutes was pleasing.
Enjoying a generous tailwind was nevertheless flattering!
The one minute active recoveries were not however, and coupled with my remaining repetitions being into the southerly, the hurting was about to commence.
Considering the resistance, 3:14 pace over three minutes wasn’t terrible even if the aim was to go faster each rep! 3:10 for two minutes was more on point, even if I was pretty gassed by then.
A 3:06 sprint over the final 60 seconds ensured I had more than I bargained for on the morning. At 13 km @ 4:03, it wasn’t an overly draining session with a focus on Thursday’s 800’s in mind.
WEDNESDAY, 30TH MARCH
Conscious of the need to give the legs some time on the softer surfaces, I hit up the bayside trails for the first time in recent memory, which also forced me to slow the pace down.
Even if it picked up slightly in the final kilometres, which concluded with another handful of strides, 15 km @ 4:41 was an ideal haul heading into the back half of the week.
THURSDAY, 31ST MARCH
After March’s ‘track season’, which encompassed three consecutive weeks of Thursday night racing, it was nice to resume Vigor group training with most of the crew shaping up for Gold Coast.
The apparent Clifton Hill, George Knott Reserve, Thursday evening exclusive, wind tunnel experience was a welcome reminder of what had been missed out on!
Having weighed footwear options between spikes, which I’ve only gained experience with over the course of summer, and the now ‘standard’ super shoes, I opted for the latter with the track racing in the rear vision mirror.
6 x 800 seemed innocent on paper, though I was keen to quite literally hit the ground running for Gold Coast.
2:20 (68.3, 71.8) through the first rep felt a little aggressive, and considering the continuous nature of the session, with three minutes of active recovery between sets, a change in approach was necessary!
Having Mitch Wilson, Tom Gardner and a late but no less enthusiastic Hamish McClean alongside to tag team alternating each lap out front was invaluable, especially with the wind on the back straight and bend making everybody earn it.
2:26 (76, 70), kicking down on the second lap for the second rep was a sounder tact which enabled the legs to play catch up.
With the body dialled in, the following reps were satisfyingly consistent even if the fatigue was making itself known, as a 2:23 (71.9, 71.8), 2:23 (72.3, 71) and 2:24 (72, 72) brought us to the final rep.
We let Mitch have the honours of leading us away, which he did justice with an almighty kick, particularly on the second lap. My futile attempt to keep up yielded a session best 2:18 (68.7, 69.3) and ensured the legs were empty!
8.32 km @ 3:28 of uninterrupted in session running, as per the ever generous Garmin track GPS, was an encouraging way to kick start the road to GC.
FRIDAY, 1ST APRIL
There were no April Fools’ antics, with a no frills recovery of 10 km @ 4:40.
SATURDAY, 2ND APRIL
A sure sign that it was time for daylight savings to draw to a close was my 8:30 wake up. It takes a lot for me to remain in bed beyond 8, so Sunday’s wind back couldn’t have come soon enough.
I was in a stubborn mood, putting the foot down almost immediately despite a fierce southerly making life difficult, stringing together a sequence of 3:4X’s.
The instant relief of the turnaround wasn’t as pronounced as I’d have hoped, with my legs battered by the preceding resistance work, whilst remaining a tad fatigued from Thursday night.
Managing to dip below 3:30 a couple of times was as much as I could have hoped for, though 16.16 km @ 3:43 in 60 minutes flush was a faster effort for a ‘tempo.’
A shout out to Amy Robinson, who competed in the 800 m final at the National Track & Field Championships in Sydney for a second successive year.
Liam had accompanied Amy up for the weekend, and whilst the result wasn’t the one they were chasing, it was a huge achievement to reach that stage again and the entire Vigor base was incredibly proud of the effort!
SUNDAY, 3RD APRIL
Following a late finish at work, gaining an hour of sleep from daylight savings’ conclusion was much appreciated.
I drove to Albert Park to take advantage of one of the final opportunities to run on the road prior to being closed to the public ahead of next weekend’s Grand Prix, the first time Formula One will race here since 2019 after the last minute COVID-19 enforced cancellation in 2020.
After negotiating road closures around its’ vicinity, I made it to the carpark just in time to tee up with Mitch Wilson and Andrew McIntosh for some company.
It’s difficult not to run fast when you’re enclosed by the racing infrastructure, so it was unsurprising that we were soon rolling at a steady pace without paying much attention.
Access to the pit straight was prohibited, with team freight and paddock set up underway, so we were forced to detour through the access lane which arrives around the 10 km mark of the Melbourne Marathon.
By our second lap, we were giving our marching orders off the road from the back part of the track around the lake, which has been opened up for the race with the removal of the right hand chicane.
We also encountered a rogue truck driver on multiple occasions, who wasn’t keen on us running on the road even in sections where there weren’t any explicit signs forbidding us from doing so!
Mitch peeled off after 15 km, leaving Andrew and I to circulate for a few more laps. At 25 km, Andrew signed off and prepared to meet up again with Mitch, this time on the golf course, whilst I had a final lap to negotiate.
Though my legs were relatively sore from the week’s haul, there was still enough in the tank to ramp up the pace for a strong conclusion.
Only the necessity to run on the gravel for the back portion stopped me from recording a 5 km block under 3:40 pace, not that being reigned in was a bad thing!
32 km @ 4:11 for the first official long run and an 115 km first week of the Gold Coast campaign were satisfying notes to set up the months ahead.
One down, thirteen to go!