35th real Berlin Marathon 2008: 2:22:16h (21th place)

November 2, 2008

I took a lot of time to think about the Berlin marathon and analyze the whole race, the preparation and all circumstances that might have influenced my performance. With the start of the new training season I can conclude my analysis and make the adjustments to improve next time.
After all I should not be disappointed with my 2nd marathon. I improved my PB by more than 2 1/2 minutes and I got 21st in the 2nd biggest marathon in the world (the biggest marathon in Europe). The thing that made me a bit mad, was the fact that I was on sub-2:20h course for more than 37km. After my analysis I think, how I can run a sub-2:20 in the close future.
But now to the analysis itself:
general preparation
The preparation was quite good. The 5-week altitude camp went really, really well and I only missed three days during the whole camp because of an issue with my right foot. The last two weeks before the marathon were not as good and after the German 10K road running championships I again got problems with the foot and was never 100% pain free. It was only an odd feeling in my foot but still before a marathon that’s not a good sign. Also I could feel something in my foot few kilometers into the marathon and the I guess the Biomechanics suffered quite a bit because of that.
weather conditions /course
Well, those are the things you can’t change as a run, but both the course and the weather was pretty much perfect. The course is fast: flat, few corners – only the looong straights get endless at the end. There was almost now wind and the temperature at the start was just perfect, even if the sun heated up the streets a bit towards the end of the marathon.
pacing strategy
My 5K-splits were as follows: 16:31 + 16:21 + 16:31 + 16:49 + 16:48 + 16:36 + 16:36 + 17:44 + 8:20 (2,195k). The two halfs were 69:52 + 72:24. Until km 37/38 I was right on 2:20h pace but then struggled a lot on the last 4km.
Until around km 13 I was running with the leading women (at that point those were some Ethiopians), but then I decided to slow down a bit because they were running towards a projected 2:17h and that seemed to be a bit too fast for me. Consequently I had to run on my own until around km 22, when Irina Mikitenko including her 3 pacers came from behind. I settled in this group and we were closing the gap to the women lead group. I was feeling pretty ok in the group – it was a big motivation to run next to Irina and with her pacers around her I had a lot wind-shadow. However, the pacers steadily increased the pace (Irina ran a big negative split) and I had to decide if I continue to hang on or to run my own pace. Around km 34 I made the decision to run my own pace, but this might have been a bit too late. I could still hold the pace steady until approx. km37 but again I was on my own and the Mikitenko-group was drifting away. And then at around km 37/38 I really started to suffer. The tank was empty and I just wanted to make it to the finish. The things I can still remember are, that 1) I was passed by the Ethiopian woman that eventually took 2nd at around km 40 and at km 40,5 I passed the 3rd German, but I should only realise it after the finish that I was 3rd German. All the other memories of the last kilometers are gone. At some point I saw the stars and I guess I was not too far away from loosing consciousness – I can’t even remember how I ran through the Brandenburg gate!!
Of course it’s always easy to say afterwards, but if I would have known before that Irina is running such a time (2:19:19h) I would propably have staid in her shadow for as long as possible from the first kilometer onwards.
fueling during the race
Getting the right fuel during a marathon is crucial for every marathon runner. For my part I only took fluids during the race but there were some problems in getting my bottles in the later stages of the race. On the first supply points I got my bottles without bigger problems and at one point I even got the bottle from a bike official, that stood right in front of the table with my bottle. The problem was to get the fluids at the supply points on km 30 and 35. There were some officials standing right in front of the table and it was impossible to reach the much required carbohydrate-refuel. So, between km 25 and 36 I didn’t get a single bottle (fortunately I had someone at km 36 who could give me a prepared extra bottle). The fact that I was without a proper supply during that stage might be one reason for my slump at the end of the race. In future marathons I might also try to take some carbo-gels to avoid a lack of energy, but I will have to try that in training first of course.
Conclusion
It’s marathon! You learn something in every single marathon. The important thing is to make things better next time and I am now sure how I can improve in the next marathon.