Adidas Maraton 42K Buenos Aires Race Report

Introduction

There was technical difficulties with my data collection and sadly I ended up losing all my data from this race and about 3 weeks before it. I wrote most of this post soon after the race when the experience was still fresh in my memory. Then I waited for the possible data recovery, but that never happened. On the other hand, I managed to capture video clip and make a collection of photos for a video review from my point of view of the race. You can see the video at the end of this post.

Figure 1: Finishing it.

This event was my main goal of 2014. Everything I did during the year was ultimately aiming for this marathon race. Earlier in the year I trained specifically for 10K. Then I ran two half marathons during the year: one in Helsinki (June) and the other in Buenos Aires (September). In the end I did emphasize more on the Buenos Aires 21K five weeks before, because I thought I was in better shape for 21K than 42K. At that time, because of an injury, I didn't have enough recent long running under my belt. This turned out pretty good because I could enter the marathon race mentally more relaxed and I could stick to my more conservative pacing plan.

The Course

The race was held on the second weekend of October (Spring in the southern hemisphere). The course was almost the same as it has been for the previous years with only small and quite insignificant changes. The course is flat and fast. The humidity can be very high, though. The temperatures during the race were 19C at the start and 23C as I finished the race. There are only a couple of uphills and downhills, nothing too steep nor too long. Those ups and downs give you basically a chance to relax a bit from the otherwise monotonous pounding of flat marathon running.

Figure 2: The Course.

Plan and Execution

Five weeks before this race I ran half marathon in 1:19:01 (3:45 min/km). Based on that result I could aim for a pace of about 4:00 min/km in the marathon race. McMillan's pace calculator predicts a more optimistic result of 2:46:18 (3:56 min/km) for marathon. But I learned a lesson in last year's marathon race (see my report) when I had to abandon at 26,5 km. The lesson was that I am relatively faster at shorter distances than the calculator predicts at least in the range of 10K to marathon. Furthermore I suffered from Nerve Compression Syndrome on my right thigh for 7 weeks during my 20-week specific marathon training cycle (read here). But in the latter part of the training I was running healthy and my form was rapidly getting better. Based on my speedster characteristics, my not so ideal training cycle, and past experience I took a bit more conservative pacing plan. So I decided to go with a plan of running 4:00 min kilometers and trying to do it as easy as possible.

Figure 3: Discussing strategy at the start line.

There was a nice international field at the front of the pack: runners from obviously Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Kenya and so on. This marathon is in fact the biggest in South America (over 10,000 runners). I got a good place in the start right behind the Elite. I was carrying one energy gel in my hand and two more in my shorts back pocket. I lost the two gels from my pocket right off the bang. Before we hit the 1 kilometer mark, there were already forming small groups. Some runners were inquiring what pace the others planned to run and started working together early. I hooked up with two runners that were planning to run about 4:00 min/km. But I let them go shortly after and took it more cautiously. They were running 3:55 min/km and I wanted to start easier at about 4:05 min/km for the first couple kilometers. 

Another three runner group formed at about 9 km. We were running about 4:00 min/km and holding back. Between 13 and 16 km there was some headwind and our group worked it like cyclists pulling each other in turns through the wind. We gained on other runners without losing much energy. At this point I was starting to constantly pass on runners by just maintaining my 4:00 min/km pace. I was feeling fresh, I had evaded the pit of too fast start and was now full of strength and spirit to start running the real race.

My halfway split time was 1:25:39 (4:03 min/km) and I was feeling good. Many of the runners around me were visibly more fatigued. But obviously the distance had somewhat started to feel in the legs. Then I experienced some problems with liquid in my stomach between about 24 to 30 kms, and I decided to drink less at the aid stations. My wife was cheering at 25 km and gave me a couple kilometers later an energy gel to replace the ones that I had lost at the start. She then was with me on her bike from 32 km to the finish. From about 32 km I had the green light to pick up the pace if I could or try to hold on. It felt like I was picking up the pace, but in reality I'm not sure if I just held up the pace. Unfortunately I lost the heart rate data and split times so I don't have the data to analyze.

At 38 km I was pushing hard and started to feel cramps. I had to slow down a little bit to make sure I didn't have to stop because of a cramp. The last kilometers I was fighting at the limit of going as fast as I could without cramping. I was strong until the very end and I was constantly passing other runners in the last 10 kms. Here's the video that I made from photos and one video clip:

I finished the race 46th with an official time of 2:49:52 (4:02 min/km). I ran the second half in 1:24:13 (3:59 min/km). That resulted in a negative split of one and a half minute (-1:26) faster second part. I was very pleased with the execution of my strategy. Next time I'm going to carry the gels in hands and maybe try to push it a little bit harder earlier. The season 2014 ended here.