Race Review: Barcelona Marathon

Race Review: Barcelona Marathon

Our first athlete to take on one of their ‘A’ Races for the year comes away with a fantastic performance and a new personal best.

Sara raced the Barcelona Marathon recently, aiming to beat her 3 hours and 33 minutes personal best from when she was a runner, back in 2017.

Runner-Turned-Triathlete

Sara is a triathlete now, balancing the need to improve her running and log the necessary miles a marathon demands, with the desire to become a quicker and more efficient swimmer and the need to turn herself into an accomplished cyclist. No easy task!

To achieve this balance required a little leap of faith on Sara’s part. There was always a nagging uncertainty – I could sense it! – that she wasn’t running enough, not logging anywhere near the same sort of run mileage she had been doing in 2017 when she set her best marathon time. The temptation to do more running was always there.

Less running, yes. But less training? Probably not.

Although running an average of three times per week, Sara was logging 9-11 hours of swim / bike / run per week. That’s a lot of fitness to cross over into her running and her marathon preparation.

Preparation

From my point of view, preparation for the race had gone really well. A handful of minutes outside of her half marathon PB during a recent training run was a good sign. Hitting marathon pace ‘with ease’ on the intervals within the long runs. Performing really well at cross country races and a recent trail race. Everything pointed to a good race day performance.

Except, Sara was a little unsure the training had been enough – as she highlights in the ‘Learning Points’ section of her race report …

“Trust the process – I always had a higher mileage training for a marathon. I felt great before the race but not 100% sure I’ll be able to finish”

Sara didn’t have the confidence that lots of 18 / 20 / 22 / 24 mile runs would usually give, as we peaked on a long run of 2 hours and 30 minutes. This was deliberate, knowing that any longer would risk injury and would probably compromise other swim / bike / run sessions. 

Finish Time

The official timekeeper had Sara running the first half marathon in 1.41.22 (a new half marathon PB) and a finish time of 3.29.21. Not even a nagging quad injury coming out of nowhere at 17k could stop Sara from achieving her pre-race goal!

(Garmin has slightly different splits – 1.40.09 for the first half marathon and a 3.27.00 time for 42.2k)

Any Other Lessons?

From speaking to Sara after the race, what lessons does she take away from the race?

• Trust the training process (see above!)

• Nailing the nutrition – Sara practiced with gels and with carb loading prior to the race and believed it made a big difference to her, nailing the nutrition before and during the race.

• Trust her ability – have confidence to start a little slower and build in the race.

What Else?

• A shiny new PB

• Four minutes quicker than her best time (from when she was a runner!)

• A sub-3.30 marathon

• A Boston Marathon qualifying time

• Good For Age times at the major marathons

What a great start to the season. Bravo, Sara!