Sunshine Coast Marathon – What am I doing?!?!

So this weekend I am running a marathon and I can tell you I am more nervous than before any ironman.  Why…….. I don’t see myself as a runner, I am a triathlete!  It has been roughly 18 years since I last ran a marathon on its own and the thought of doing it again has me scared.

I know I can run a marathon, I have done two in two years at the back-end of my ironman events!  However this time I’ve added some pressure to achieve a personal best and hopefully run a reasonably pace (ie. faster than my off the bike ironman) marathon.  In the last 3 months I have banked about 380km of running!  A touch more than I did before Port Macquarie Ironman.  A little less than I was planning (and probably ideal), especially given my desire to set a solid personal best and build my running confidence heading into my next ironman!  However I cannot change the past.  I can only focus on the here, now & present.  I have a marathon to run this weekend.

So the past couple of days have been spent freshening up, carbo loading and I have commenced a hydration regime that hopefully will have me primed and ready to run to my best come sunday!  I’m using a mix of Endura, Metagenics Endura Opti & Shots Electrolyte Tablets in my hydration strategy.  During the race I will rely on the supplied Infinit Nutrition hydration, Cliff Shot blocks and a couple of Endura gels.  All very similar to the marathon in my last ironman.  Is it a risk to switch hydration strategies on race day, YES absolutely.  This is a golden rule I advise no athlete to ever try, however I am lucky that, in the past I have been able to stomach almost any on-course drink!  Fingers crossed this time will be no different.

I could have done more running, however maybe I couldn’t.  At times over this last month, my legs have been at their limit, managing little niggles, never enough to stop, but enough to be uncomfortable.  I have rolled, stretched and stabilised as much as I could over the past month, the maintenance work has kept me going.

Over the past 2 weeks I commenced visualisation, trying to review the perfect run, feeling the pain, running through discomfort, fueling as I ran, getting through the aid stations and looking up at the finish clock and being very satisfied with my time and effort.  Reviewing my own personal montage, looking at where I have come from & where I have taken myself to right now.  This will be the topic of another blog!  So I am as ready as I can be for a marathon!  I would be that much more comfortable if it were a triathlon, but this is a run & I will give it my all & hopefully next week I’m writing about a successful marathon personal best!

This weekend also sees a couple of athletes that I have consulted with over the past 3 to 6 months running their first marathon.  I am super excited to watch their progress and I know they will serve as a distraction for me, trying to spot faces and cheer them on in the crowds of runners!  Their programs have seen them banking over 500km in their preparation and all go in with confidence that they will complete their first marathon on Sunday and achieve their individual goals.  My only advice to them over the past couple of weeks as the nerves have been building have been simple “trust the plan, trust the process & keep smiling”.  Let me take his moment to wish them all the best in there runs, I know they will achieve!

If you cant wait to see the results they should  be live at the following link:

Sunshine Coast Marathon 2016 Results

Feel free to check out Craig Torry, Tammy Milton & Leisa Smith’s results while your there, they will be finishing their first marathon.  So it is all done now and all that is left is to run a marathon.

Till next time build consistency, keep smiling and live to Tri!