Race Report: Venice Marathon 2019
What? Venice Marathon
When? 27th October 2019
How far? 42.2k
Website: https://huaweivenicemarathon.it/en/
Goal: Sub 3h
Achieved? Yes
Strava activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/2821756756
Training
6 months of training with my coach Giovanni Schiavo – running 80–90km per week. Mostly slow miles, with two speedwork sessions and one long run per week.
As race day drew closer, the runs got longer and the month before the race I was waking up at 4:30 am to train before work, and then hitting the gym in the evening.
I have never been a morning person before, but with a sufficiently early night, I found waking up at this absurd time oddly satisfying — running in the dark, with nobody around, and watching the sunrise each morning was quite spectacular and it’s something I look forward to doing again.
Pre-Race
It all came down to this day, an almost blindingly sunny morning, in Villa Pisani on the banks of the Brenta, just outside Padova in north-east Italy.
I felt amazing. I had no injury worries as I had trained and rested very carefully and of course been really lucky. I had tapered well, eaten a disgusting amount of pasta, and had plenty of rest. Plus the hour changed back the night before, resulting in an hour’s ‘bonus’ sleep.
I fired up my Spotify race playlist. For every race, I take the time to put together a decent playlist that will help me along, keep me relaxed and feeling good. I put in some key tracks for when I think I might be flagging or need extra inspiration.
Often the songs are silly, sometimes nostalgic but always with all-encompassing production — skull-crushing bass and searing highs. As much as I love classic rock and older music, I find the production is often too thin to give me the kick I want during a race.
This playlist started with some more subdued mood-setters such as the song below by the lavishly named Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. I chose this song because it features the apt maxim “Feet don’t fail me now!” I ran a slow ten-minute warmup, with a few strides in the less busy spots.
I jog-walked-stretched towards the corrals, looking around for familiar faces on the way. I always find myself copying other athletes’ stretches as they remind me of something I have forgotten to stretch. I was waved into the incorrect corral, but luckily I noticed immediately and went forwards to my assigned yellow corral — just behind the top runners.
Although the sun was out, I kept my plastic body warmer on while waiting in the corral for about 15 minutes. As kick-off loomed, I chucked it over the fence and our group surged forward to meet the top runners. I found myself about 10 rows from the front; ideal positioning for me.
In the minute or so before the start of the race, I had the usual faffing of ensuring everything was set. My watch had successfully found GPS (but kept trying to connect to the headphones of nearby runners), and my playlist was getting warmed up.
I poised my watch ready to start the recording, and was greeted by the now-traditional pre-race message (programmed by myself a month or so earlier) reading “Race day: relax and enjoy!”
Go! by Public Broadcast Service was playing as the starting gun fired. For me, it’s the perfect song for the start of a long race — they use recordings from NASA mission control during an Apollo mission, and hearing such calm voices (for the most part) staying composed in a high pressure endeavour helps to set the mood, and not to get carried away too early.
KM 1–36
Giovanni told me to run 4:10 for the first three or four kilometers, and then speed up to 4:05. I did exactly that and was running for a while with a group of 8 runners who all seemed to be doing the same pace.
One by one the others all dropped off until I was drafting behind one athlete who was doing exactly 4:05. This was so lucky, it was like having a pacer. I drafted behind him, enjoying the beautiful day and the scenery (and saw my old boss — he shouted “Tony Harris! Get on with it!” which, while somewhat reductive, is pretty solid advice).
The first half of the course follows the Brenta river and goes through several small and picturesque towns. It’s really scenic and every few kilometers there are people cheering you on. It’s quite curvy, but the turns are wide and you can cut the corners quite easily.
I felt great: strong, confident, relaxed and full of energy. It was difficult to remain calm and not speed up. In fact, I noticed the group with whom I was running did speed up a little every time we went past a big group of spectators.
This time I had my new Ron Hill marathon belt, with 4 SIS energy gels in it, and a fifth in my back pocket. I took one gel slowly during 5k-7k, then another about 16k, another about 24k and another towards 30k.
Luckily in Parco San Giuliano, they were handing out caffeinated energy gels so I took one. I really needed it as in the final 7k my right thigh felt like it was right on the edge of cramping up.
I tended to it by taking more energy gel and splashing it with cold water from the buckets. This really did the trick and it never cramped thankfully.
KM 37–42.2
The latter part of the route is quite unremarkable. Lots of time spent on the motorway or in other grey and dull surroundings. Running through the town of Mestre (a satellite town to Venice, located on the mainland) at least there were a lot of people supporting vociferously.
There is a 4km-long bridge that connects Venice to the mainland. This was my low point in the race last year. There was a high headwind and it seemed drudgingly interminable.
This year, the athlete I was drafting behind started to fade as we entered the bridge. I can’t overestimate how much this guy helped. He ran like a metronome at exactly 4:05/km and I was right there behind him all the way — I owe my positive race experience to about 15k of drafting. I was feeling great so I kept my pace of 4:05, overtaking him and some others who were struggling on the bridge.
Then this song happened:
This was part of my playlist strategy — something about this song gives me a huge amount of bounding energy when played loud. It’s such a fun track! I was still feeling good and decided that I would run the last 4k fast. Even if it was painful, I thought, I can put up with anything for 15 minutes.
So I did — the last 4k were all under 4 minutes each and I was shocked and helped greatly by the sheer volume of people out to support us in Venice. Looking at the rankings, I overtook nearly 30 athletes in the last 5k — a reminder that it pays to save energy, no matter how good you feel early on in a marathon.
There are many bridges to cross once you are in the historical centre of the city — that have thankfully been fitted with ramps so athletes don’t have to negotiate the small stone steps at speed.
These ramps were at once an obstacle and a help for me — providing tough short uphills, but also a fun bounce as they bent under my weight and returned some energy.
In the end, I made it in 2:52:38. 42nd place absolute. A new personal best by 32 minutes and well within my goal of sub 3. I also raised over 100 euros for the Mental Health Foundation which I am very happy and proud to have done.
Coming to the final stretch and seeing the 2 was an incredible feeling. It’s a moment that I had spent a lot of time visualising since I set my sights on the goal 6 months ago, and the atmosphere and sheer feeling of relief and satisfaction surpassed anything I had imagined.
It also went by really, really quickly. I couldn’t savour the moment of finishing at all because before I knew it I was over the line.
Post-Race
There’s a sign just after the finish line saying Showers left, Massage right. I thought to myself to get a shower first and then a massage. This was a huge mistake as the showers were a twenty-minute walk away (on wobbly legs). If I run the race again I will definitely go straight for a massage.
In the weeks after the race, I decided to up the training, doing two doubles (running twice per day) per week. This has led to an overtraining injury in my left leg, which I am just coming back from now. I should have had a massage and taken it a little easier in the week after the race — lesson learned for next time.
I wore Nike Peg36s, and double knotted them, which I also think was a mistake in hindsight. Although the laces did not come undone (which would have been really irritating and totally broken my flow and caused me to lose my ‘pacer’, who was an enormous help), I felt as though the tops of my feet were bruised as they must have swollen a little during the race. This definitely didn’t help my post-race recovery. I don’t think I will race in these again.
The Next Goal
I am going to attempt a sub 1h15m half marathon in December, and thus qualify for a Championship place in the London Marathon 2020. This year has surpassed all my training expectations and so I won’t be disappointed at all if I don’t achieve this, but it’s a great moon to shoot for.
