My new role gave me
the change to travel to Munich
this year for 4 times to attend some training. I didn't realize that the change
for an oversea marathon came when I got the news that my last training week
will change to October. I was planned to join my other colleagues to visit one
of the trainer at Vienna.
Later I had to drop the plan to visit to the beautiful city.
I been barking on to
sub-5 in my marathon timing for 2 years and to be frank, I am very disappointed
with my SCKLM result. I hoped to improve from last year but some how I didn't
performed that day. Now I put some hope into this marathon cause the believes
of
1. Runners perform
better in cold weather.
2. It’s a relatively
flat course.
I wished to improve
the timing even if I need to seek for compensation of my limit in a cold weather.
I spent the whole
week attending training and walked lots in safety boots. Both legs felt like
iron rods each evening and the right calf even cramped in one night. I was
thinking "Shit! I am going to shrewd up big time this weekend!"
Fortunately, these legs got some rest with only 3k running gears test run, and
the walk/shopping around on Saturday helps to relax them. Race kit collection
done in Saturday morning. It also had a 4k fun run in traditional costume.
Spotted a sarong man but didn't manage to talk to him. The run looks really fun
but the weather was still very cold (~6°C) hence I only watched the flag off
and quickly moved into the event area.
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| Finisher Medal (gingerbread hearth) for the Traditional Costume Run |
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| Spotted Sarong Man! |
Surprised by the
first booth - Leguana, the Germans barefoot running shoes/gloves. Tried the
shoes and it’s very comfortable to wear. But the price tag of €69 put me off. It’s
still cheaper than VFF, maybe a possible replacement for it later (btw, from my observation, I was the only one running in VFF). Race bib
collection was easy and lots of things happening in the event area. I spent
almost 2 hours shopping, plus looking at the expert demo on how to fix the KT
tape. Got all the supplies that I needed, and I took a different route with the
tram back into the town. Time to do some shopping! Had a great dinner at one
famous Bavarian restaurant, then head back to hotel around 8pm. Went to bed around
10pm and set the alarm to 6am. No rush like back in homeland, the race only
flag off by 10am.
Race day morning,
woke up earlier than the alarm, a bit pre-race anxious. What is my game plan? I
planned to go with a consistent pace of 7min, as usual. It was still drizzling
outside hence the concern was too cold to run. But it was too late to DNS now.
Put on all the gear, took the hotel breakfast, then off to take the trains to
the stadium. The organizer provided a big enough event bag for baggage check
in, so I used it, and lots of other runners too. Hence it's very obvious that
morning if you are going to do the marathon. There was only handful of us in
the first bus I hoop on, then growing into plenty when I changed a train, and
eventually in the last train to the stadium, the whole train was filled with
participants! The race comrades came early! "We are going to do
this!"
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| Paranormal view of the stadium |
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| Before start |
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| Starting line |
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| The sun came out! |
Reached the stadium
with 45 minutes to spare, as they divided the baggage check in by every
thousand, no queue at all. I just found a corner near by my 6000+ counter, took
away all the warm clothes, and start to warming up slowly. The sky still gloomy
and the sun didn't seem to coming out soon, but at least the rain stopped. I
got a plastic bag to use as temporary warmer. Headed to the starting line
around 9:45am. It's 2km from the stadium to the starting line, so I jogged
slowly to keep myself warm. The race will flagged off in 3 waves. 10am for
those sub-3 and elites. 10:10am for those 3-4 hours, and 10:20am for everyone
else. So I started at the back as usual. The wave 1 flagged off with a big bang
and instantly the sun came out and it started to warm up. It was beautiful and
we made the weather! Waited no more and off we go.
Even though this was
my 4th visit to this city, but I only covered very limited areas. The marathon
route will brought me to some areas that I never visited before. We started
from Olympic Stadium, heading to the city for a u-turn in front of Ludwig Maximilian
University and ran into the famous English Garden. That will be the first part that
covered 16km. Then we continue heading east and running past mostly sub-urban areas
and we will turn to west after the starting point of the half marathon. After
24km, we will past the Munich East station and followed by the Deutsches Museum, and we are moving into downtown.
From 27-32km, we will run thru the city center - Marianplatz and detour into the
University area until 36km, finally we heading back to the stadium to the
finish line.
After
4km, there will be a water station about every 2.5km. So I decided to abandon
my water bottle, and first time running a marathon without a bottle on my hand.
The first part of the race was easy going. I kept a consistent 6.5-7min pace,
lots of people pass me and I needed to try very hard to avoid speeding up. The
first challenge of the day came before I reached English Garden
at 8km mark, I felt hungry! The breakfast was 4 hours ago, and I needed food!
This wasn’t the usual marathon that I did back home, which happened mostly at
ungodly hours and I can do without food replenishment. Luck they served banana
from the 10km water station onwards, I made sure I took some from each water
station. Observed some runners ran with a piece of sponge, I knew that the race
will not provide sponge, but as the sweating level reduced, I wonder why people
need sponge. But even you felt less thirsty in cold weather, but you still
sweating during the run. I was drinking about 300ml of water from each station
(about full one cup), sometime more. So what happened to those sweat came out
on your face? They dried out and formed salt! Runners wet the sponge to wipe
the salt off. Lucky I only felt them after I completed the run.
Exist
from the English Garden we entered the sub urban area. This
session of the route is like our normal housing area training run, not much
excitement factor to share. But from time to time we pass some cheering groups
that offered aid, music and even beer! At 2:24, I pass the half marathon
starting point. From the start until now, the Garmin Pacer (virtual partner set
at 7min/km) never passes me. So I still had enough time for my target. It’s
getting hard to kept the pace now. If you think you will enjoy a better speed
under the cold weather, you probably are wrong. My hearth rate stayed 150-160BPM
since the beginning. The cold weather may only reduced the stress factor, so
you can stay on with high hearth rate for longer. The sun had come out, most of the runners trying to follow the shed but I was on the other hand, following the sun. Even thought it’s noon time, it was cold when there is wind. I needed the sun to keep me warmed.
After
28km, back into the downtown area and we passes some office building and
followed by the city center – Marianplatz. If you read until this point, you
may wonder how the traffic control was. I can tell you, no issue at all. This
is the marathon that 75% of the route had barriers that separate running route
from traffic (being cars, trams, buses, bicycles and pedestrians), from the
starting point, all the way back to finish line. Only few sessions that goes without
barriers, mainly in the sub urban area and some part of the downtown area,
where the incoming traffic is blocked outside of the city. This is the
advantage of the city with great public transport. Btw, most of the shops are
closed on Sunday, it helps on the traffic control.
After
Marianplatz, at 32km, we can see the Siegestor, the Roman-style triumphal
arches that we pass earlier in the first u-turn. But we still need to detour
into the University, until 36km. And finally, we were heading back to the
finish line. At this point of time, the Garmin Pacer passes me for the first
time. I knew that I will had 4 minutes to spare if the course measured to
42.195km, but as my pace started to drop below to 8, it was too much risk to
take. I must keep going! The sub-5 target was the only thing in my mind that
time. Hearth rate goes beyond 160BPM, didn’t care! Left calf felt like going to
cramp, didn’t care! Gear up and keep going!
Lots
of runners finished and cheering us along the way back to stadium. Ran pass the
starting point, I just needed to keep going! Ran pass the stadium perimeter,
finally, we ran pass a dark tunnel passage with dry ice smoke came out, 2
photographers taking photos! So dramatic! I saw the light at the end of the
tunnel, and heard the cheering of the crowds inside the stadium! Like a champion,
I entered the stadium with pride. But the excitement won’t last long, still
another 400m to go and the clock is 4:56 now. Drained my last drop of energy,
sprint thru the final lap inside the stadium, I clocked a net time of 4:59’57”.
It was definitely a fantastic experience to finish in an Olympic Stadium. And
achieving the sub-5 target definitely a bonus!
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| Paranormal view of the stadium, when I finished! |
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| One Happy PB Finisher! |
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| Served beer at the finish area, alcohol free... |
In
conclusion, I am happy that I achieved my target, but clearly I was still not
ready for a sub-5 back home. Lots of improvement needed if I wanted to achieve
the same result in Malaysia
climate. Also, the cold weather will help, but you still need to face the
challenges like the hearth rate, elevation (physically) and mind game
(mentally) if you looking for a break through result. Anyway, once you tried
it, you will be able to handle the challenges better. Like, now I knew that I can
run the whole 42km without walking (only walk few hundreds meters in total, from
all water stations stops, plus 2 toilet stops), and the legs will be fine too.
So next time I will know it’s only a mind game when I am thinking of walking or
too hard to continue before I reached 42km.
It’s time to take out the
drawing board and workout the new training plan. Next year target will be sub-5
in Malaysia!
