I signed up for the La Rochelle marathon rather late. This fall I was in good shape and some people I knew were running at La Rochelle so I jumped in. My objective was to run a 3:30 which would qualify me to register for the Boston Marathon 2018. The cutoff for my age group is 3:40.
The weather was mostly good in the 6 weeks leading up to the race so I was motivated to get out and run. I prepared with some speed work on the track and some strong long runs along the Seine where I was training to sustain an up tempo pace. My longest runs were in the 18 to 20 mile range. On those runs I noted that it became difficult over the last couple of miles, mostly because I had a climb back up into Marly but also simply because of the distance. This put some doubt into my mind about those last 6 marathon miles which are usually the toughest. Would I be able to push though to the end at an acceptable pace?
Gaby and I made a weekend out of it, driving down to the port city on Friday after work. We rented a room in an apartment in the old part of town near the port, the race village, and the start/finish. The owner was gone for the weekend so we had the place to ourselves.
On Saturday we picked up my race bib and walked around town and the port. We were pleasantly surprised by the historic old town, it’s quaint streets and shops as well as the port. We had pizza for lunch and I retired for a nice afternoon nap while Gaby explored more. In the evening we had a light dinner in the apartment and went to bed early.
Race day dawned clear and cloudless with a temperature of about 40°F and a forecast of about 55°F by noon. Just a light breeze made for about perfect race conditions. I had forgotten my gloves so I used an extra pair of socks to keep my hands warm for the first part of the race when I needed them. Otherwise I was in shorts with a short sleeve T and wore arm sleeves that I could slide down after warming up. I carried 4 gels and 3 salt tablets in my back pocket, having taken one before the start. These tablets help me avoid cramps if I take one every hour or so.
There were more than 6k runners divided into two start areas to reduce congestion. The old people like me were grouped together. The 2 courses converge at about 2 miles into the race.
The course is relatively flat with a total elevation gain of only 115m as measured by my Garmin. The layout loops twice thru the city and the port.
To meet the 3:30 overall time, my strategy was to keep a target pace of 4:50 per km and to make running time 3:23:22 allowing myself 6:38 for water stops distributed across 8 water stops (every 5km). That works out to roughly 50 secs per stop. So counting a water stop, my target per 5 km was 25 min. This keeps the mental calculations relatively simple during the race.
I started out picking my way through the crowd over the first few miles and then quickly got into a pace which was around 4:45 min per kilometer. I covered 5 km in 24:22 and the next 5 in 24:36. I was feeling pretty good and continued with a strong pace, covering the next 5k in 24:27, then completed 20 kms with a 23:57 5k split. The half marathon time was 1:43:59, still one minute ahead of my target.
I crossed the lead runners going in the other direction. It was like the Kenyans were flying. The winner eventually finished in 2:10. There was a hugh crowd lining the streets and miraculously I was able to see and hear my personal cheering section, Gaby!
I was like a yoyo trying to keep up with 3:30 pacer who was carrying a flag. I would gain ground and get to about 50 meters from the pacer and the crowd following him, then stop for water and fall further behind. This repeated up until about 30 km. At that point I was still ahead of pace. Then it seemed like the pacer started to accelerate. I fell 34 secs back at 35 km and then lost an additional 21 sec in the 5kms to 40 km. At that point I could no longer see the pacer. With 2.2 km to go I hit the water stop and became a bit demoralized realizing my objective was getting out of reach. Over the last km, I could hear the loudspeaker annouce the 3:30 group crossing the finish and I still had a good distance left. Finally I crossed the line in 3:31:59 to be exact.
It was a gallant effort and I did post a Boston qualifying time, something that I’ve always wanted to do. So, overall I was happy with the result. I had no muscle cramps, no blisters, and was able to recover quickly without major soreness.
https://goo.gl/photos/Comqy3GUdCBLEXJo6
https://goo.gl/photos/7CANm4D3N7N8dgzb6
Near the finish.
https://goo.gl/photos/jfvr3aeFbPkn6GVE6