Race Report

Name: Gerry McIntyre
Event: Barcelona Marathon
Date: 2nd March 2008
Goal:  Sub 4 hour Marathon

I signed up for this Marathon last October and actually started my 18 week training program on the day of the Dublin City Marathon. Training went fairly well except for a sickness over Christmas which set me back quite a bit.

Training plan:
Drew up a training plan from the start, which was pretty loose. I simply took the weekly long run from the ‘free’ Hal Higdon intermediate II program. Added in 2 shorter runs, and planned to swim twice a week and cycle once a week
Overall, the running part of the program went well but I only got in the swims and cycles here and there.

Travel:
Headed out on Friday on the 6.45am flight to Girona, got the bus from Girona to Barcelona and was in Hotel by 12noon. I purposely picked a Hotel which was close to race start and was delighted to find that the expo/race start was only 5mins walk from the race start (this would be more appreciated when it became 5 mins from the race finish on Sunday). I had a few friends also doing it who were staying in the city centre and were delighted to find that the Metro took them up only 100metres from the race start.
Registration and expo were very efficient, and all ran very smoothly, including them allowing me to register for a friend of mine.

Saturday:
Breakfast run at 9.30am, even though it said on the website that only 1000 would be allowed to do it, it was open to all on the morning as there was a lovely atmosphere as everyone including Children ‘mixed and mingled’ as we ran the last 4K of the Olympic marathon course which was run in ’92.
Boy was I glad that this wasn’t the course now as the whole lot of it is uphill, but finishing with a lap of the Olympic stadium (Now Espanyol FC’s home ground) was a great experience.

Plenty to eat and drink for the rest of the day and I was all set for the Marathon.

Sunday:
D-day had arrived. Woke around 6am and had my Porridge and banana. Went for a stroll and watched all of Barcelona emerge from a night club around 6.30, (oh to be young again). Back to the Hotel and rested again till half 7 when I dressed and headed to race start for 8am.
Race was beginning at 8.30 and I have to say the organisation was fantastic, the penns opened at 8am and I went in to the 3 30 to 4 section. Loads of room to mingle and stretch and you could literally have arrived at 8.20 and it not affected you. At 8.28 they opened the Penns up and everyone crowded forward for the 2 minute countdown to race start.

At this stage the tannoy started booming with ‘Barcelona’ by Freddie Mercury, and the numerous fountains in the area started up in tune with the music which was an amazing site.

The Race:
Myself and a friend (Paul Nolan) decided to run together and off we went when the gun went off. As soon as we crossed the line we were more or less running straight away. Markings were every km and I had my 5k splits which I wanted in my head.
The Marathon route is designed to take you around many of the main tourist attractions on the day (i.e. Nou Camp, Sagrada Familia, forum etc…) and while we did see the them all, on the day I failed to take in their splendour as they simply became mile markers on the day.
Water/Powerade stations every 5 k with timing mats every 10k, about 5 sponge station with plenty of everything for everyone and loads of stewards made it a very enjoyable efficient race.
No real hills in it but lots of long drags which went on for long periods.

Got to halfway in 155 which was about bang on where I wanted to be and just basically tried to keep the pace going for as long as I could. Around the 20 mile mark I really started to feel it and the heat and my hip (I might have been imagining it came at me), I decided to let Paul go and from there on it was a constant mental battle to keep going. For 2 mins I’d feel great and the next 2 I’d feel I was going to have to stop. The only thing that kept me going at these stages was the hope that the ‘good’ 2 minutes was just around the corner.
I was acutely aware that even though I was finding it tough, I was passing people at a massive rate (I estimated about 10 per minute) and this was another motivating factor to stay going. Eventually I got to 40 and knew I’d make it in the 4 hours, trotted it out as best I could and crossed the line in a very satisfactory 3 52 09. Stayed around for a few mins trying to spot Paul but no sign of him, I later discovered that he finished only 9 seconds ahead of me but I never seen him.
Back to the hotel then to freshen up and hobbled back to meet the rest of the crew.

That night 13 of us ‘Paddy’s’ headed out for a meal and ‘refreshments’, and while not everyone got the time we wanted we were all singing the praises of the Marathon. My flight home wasn’t till Monday night so I spent a nice leisurely day walking around Barcelona and eating anything that wasn’t nailed down.

Took the week off and ran Ballycotton last Sunday, but now the pressure is on as I’m only 7 weeks from Lisbon half IM and have very little cycling and swimming done.
Better get cracking………….Now where are those armbands??