Loch Ness Marathon

(Apologies in advance for the long report...)

After three Edinburgh Marathons, this was the first time that I had tried Scotland's other 'big' marathon. My preparation wasn't ideal, though, as I had a period of about six weeks where I was very limited in the amount of running that I could do, and was playing catch-up in a big way once I was given the go-ahead to start running again in mid-August. As a result, I wasn't sure what to expect from the race - while my recent training runs had gone well (including a 16-miler 12 days out from the race), that was no guarantee that things would click into place on the day.

I took the train up to Inverness on Saturday morning - it was a pretty smooth journey, and my hotel was a short walk away from the station. I had thought about driving up, but it would have taken about the same time (it's close to 200 miles, and the roads in the north of the country aren't the best), and the train journey was a lot more relaxing than having to concentrate on roads I'm not familar with. Registration was in the event village, about a mile away - the walk down was fine, but the light drizzle soon developed into something a bit more serious, and I got pretty wet on my way back...

This was the first marathon that I've done where the runners are required to take a bus to the start - the Loch Ness Marathon uses a point-to-point route. There isn't a lot of space near the start, so making your own way to the start isn't an option - meant that everyone spent quite a lot of time on a bus as we made our way to the start (if I remember correctly, I was getting on the bus at around 7.35, we left at 7.55 (a little behind schedule), and got to the start at something like 9.20...) This didn't leave a lot of time for pre-race preparations (not that there was space for more than a few strides - what with everyone getting to the start at roughly the same time, it was a bit on the crowded side), but I managed to do what I needed to do - change into my race gear, drop my bag off and do a little bit of stretching.

The weather up to that point had been reasonable - overcast and humid, but a nice temperature (about 50 degrees) with little wind. Unfortunately, it started to rain a few minutes before the start - not a problem from a running point of view, but it made being able to see an issue for me, particularly as I had left my cap in the hotel room (I usually wear the cap for training runs, but not in races). I ended up using my 'throwaway' t-shirt as an impromptu hood while I was waiting for the race to start - didn't do a lot of good (and I suspect it looked more than a little bit daft!), but it was better than nothing.

The route for the marathon starts up in the hills to the south of Loch Ness, so the first part of the race is very much downhill (about 900 feet net downhill in the first 10 miles) - the only other major elevation changes came between 18 and 22 miles (a climb of about 200 feet over 2 miles, down the other side for a mile and a half, then a short sharp uphill). My main aim at the start was to make sure that I would be able to get to the end - was planning on taking it pretty easy on the downhill section (the thought was 'this should feel like a training run'), then keep things ticking over until the start of the uphill section at 18 miles, and see how things went from there.

Even though it felt like there were a lot of runners on a relatively narrow road at the start, I was able to get into my stride pretty much straight away. The first few miles were pretty uneventful (apart from needing to take my glasses off every so often - the rain meant that they were steaming up, so a lot of the early part of the race was 'follow the runner-shaped blurs' ) - I ran with a couple of clubmates for a little while, but decided to let them go as they were going faster than I wanted to at that point. One of them dropped back because of shoe and sock problems - I ended up running with her for several miles up to halfway (which was very useful - it's much easier to keep a consistent pace going when you're running with someone). Another clubmate caught up with us at around 12 miles, and said that we were going at around 7.30/mile pace - this was a bit of a surprise to me, as it didn't feel like I was going that fast (and I deliberately set my Garmin up to show distance and heart rate only, so didn't know my pace or even how long I had been running).

While the profile flattens out after 10 miles or so, it's not what you would call a flat route - it felt like we were constantly running either uphill or downhill, with very little flat road to work with. Even so, I was feeling pretty good coming up to halfway - the lady I was running with said that she was going to stop to try to sort out her shoe issues, so we split up at that point, and I picked up the pace a little bit. I ended up catching the clubmate who had passed on the pace info earlier, and we took on the uphill section from 18 to 20 together - he then wanted to ease off a little bit, so I pushed on. At this point, I was still feeling surprisingly good - a bit tired, yes, with a few aches in the legs, but still able to maintain a good pace.

The next few miles were a case of finding something to keep me going - it helped that I was passing quite a few people at this point (although there was a guy in a kilt who was just that little bit faster than me - tried to keep up with him, but couldn't quite manage it!), but I was starting on the countdown ('less than 10k from here', 'into the last five miles', 'half an hour of running from here if you can keep going', and so on), and breaking the distance remaining into individual miles (as I was passing the mile markers, I was telling myself things like 'that was a good mile - let's make the next mile just as good'). With about 2 miles to go, I was passed by two guys who looked like they were working together - after a moment, I decided to try to pick up my pace and stay with them, which was tough but doable. The change in rhythm seemed to help, as I was able to go past the two guys as we headed up to the bridge over the river with less than a mile to go. (It was a bit frustrating to be able to hear the announcer at the finishing line on this stretch - we were running on the other side of the river, so were probably only about 100 yards away from the finish, but had more than a mile to run...) The last straight was painful, but I managed to keep the legs ticking over - the first sight of the finish line really helped, although I couldn't believe the time on the clock (just coming up to 3:16 with 150 yards or so to go). A quick check of the Garmin after finishing confirmed what the official clock was saying - I had managed to get to the finish just inside my time from London last year (the Garmin time was 3:16.05 - the official results are now out, and it's been bumped down to 3:16.04, a PR by 20 seconds).

Apart from a little problem with sweat running into my eyes once I had stopped running (quickly sorted with paper towel provided by a kind volunteer), the post-race recovery seemed to go reasonably well. I managed to catch up with several clubmates (including one guy who finished about a minute ahead of me - a 20-minute PR since May!), and bumped into a couple of people I know from work, then took advantage of the post-race food...

Some race info - the elevation profile first, then info on the splits:





It was interesting to see the split info when I got home this afternoon (as I had no idea what sort of splits I had run - deliberately set my Garmin up not to have this available during the race) - I didn't realise that I had managed to pick up the pace quite as much in the last few miles. The heart rate info wasn't as much of a surprise, but is still quite a lot lower than for previous races (was mid-160s for most of the race in London last year) - the weather helped quite a lot here, but I suspect that it's also partly due to me holding back a little bit (as I thought that the limiting factor would be my legs rather than my cardiovascular condition - I probably could have gone faster early on, but I suspect that the lack of training mileage would have caught up with me towards the end if I had...)

In hindsight, this was a different race to my previous marathons - definitely rural, with only small pockets of people supporting the runners until the last few miles, and the roads were narrower than I was expecting (single-track roads for something like 15 or 16 miles), although this didn't cause any problems. There were some very steep hills on the route, too (well, steep by my standards, anyway), but a lot of the hills were relatively short - there were only a few that lasted for more than about 100 yards. Even with all of the hills, it's definitely a fast course - there's a danger of going out too fast on the downhill miles early on, and the uphill section between miles 18 and 20 is tough, but it's a race I'd like to do again at some point.

All in all, a successful race - definitely a surprise to run as fast, but that sort of surprise is always welcome...

Great report. Your splits looks solid and so did you HR data pretty consistent with only some drift at you neared the last few miles. The elevation looks a bit wild first many miles. I agree this could be a problem on the quads if going to fast. One has to save those legs for later only. You managed to do a great time and seems like you enjoyed it all. Congrats with the happy surprise.

Interesting course. Congrats on the PR.

Congrats on the major PR! Course sounds like fun!

Very nice job on the PR, Martin.

wow, those final splits are awesome

Congrats!!! Great reports - worth the read. Fantastic PR.

I gotta do this race. Love the profile and my grandfather was born in Glasgow. Good reason to find some old relatives.

Nice PR and a great report. First they invent golf, and then a 200+ ft climb starting at mile 18 of a net downhill marathon? You Scots have a bit of an evil streak don't you?

Thanks for reading and for the comments, everyone - appreciate all of your kind words.

Kenny B. wrote:Great report. Your splits looks solid and so did you HR data pretty consistent with only some drift at you neared the last few miles. The elevation looks a bit wild first many miles. I agree this could be a problem on the quads if going to fast. One has to save those legs for later only. You managed to do a great time and seems like you enjoyed it all. Congrats with the happy surprise.

Thanks Kenny It was a tough run (as it was always going to be, with my relatively low training mileage), but I did enjoy the experience - Loch Ness is a completely different race to anything that I've done before (and the profile of those early miles had a lot to do with that - I'm used to a 'big' elevation change being of the order of 200 feet or so, so a drop of around 900 feet in the first 10 miles was definitely different!) My HR was pretty low overall (154 average for the race, compared to 161 for London last year) - the weather helped there (usually have a lower HR when it rains during a run), but it was also partly due to me playing it safe with the pace early on. Looking at the numbers, there was a noticeable jump in the HR between miles 13 and 14 (I did try to pick up the pace at this point), and I did push harder in the last couple of miles.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Interesting course. Congrats on the PR.

Thanks Alex

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Congrats on the major PR! Course sounds like fun!

Thanks Michele I liked the course - definitely very rural, and even the flatter parts of the course are pretty up and down (with the exception of the last few miles), but I enjoyed the challenge. The PR was definitely a bonus!

Jim Lentz wrote:Very nice job on the PR, Martin.

Thanks Jim

healdgator wrote:wow, those final splits are awesome

Thanks - those last few miles were tough, but my legs held up better than I had any right to expect.

mountandog wrote:Congrats!!! Great reports - worth the read. Fantastic PR.

I gotta do this race. Love the profile and my grandfather was born in Glasgow. Good reason to find some old relatives.

Thanks Would be good to see you over on this side of the Atlantic, if you do decide to make the trip. Let me know if there's anything I can help with.

Glenn wrote:Nice PR and a great report. First they invent golf, and then a 200+ ft climb starting at mile 18 of a net downhill marathon? You Scots have a bit of an evil streak don't you?

Thanks Glenn I heard quite a few people commenting on that hill before the race. The worst part about it is that it's not a simple 'keep going up until you get to the top', as there are several evil blind summits - you get to what you think is the top of the hill, only to see a false flat and the road continuing to rise up ahead... (There aren't a lot of options for the route, as far as I can see, as it's pretty wild country in that part of the world (and not too many roads to choose from) - if you want to include the run along the banks of Loch Ness, there's no option but to include that hill a few miles out of Inverness, and to start the race up in the hills to the south of the loch.)

Congratulations on the PR Martin. That doesn't look a very easy course. Those first 10 miles are quad busters. I really enjoyed your report. Great job all around!

Great job and enjoyed the report! That was a great steady as she goes effort - what a cool pick-up there at the end. I agree that is an evil place for a hill there at the end, but that sounds like a really neat event. Congrats on the PR!!!!

Seth Harrison wrote:Congratulations on the PR Martin. That doesn't look a very easy course. Those first 10 miles are quad busters. I really enjoyed your report. Great job all around!

Thanks Seth - glad you enjoyed the report. It's a tricky course - definitely one that things could easily go wrong on if you're not careful.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Great job and enjoyed the report! That was a great steady as she goes effort - what a cool pick-up there at the end. I agree that is an evil place for a hill there at the end, but that sounds like a really neat event. Congrats on the PR!!!!

Thanks John. The plan going in was to make sure I was able to get to the end, so I was definitely pretty conservative on the early miles - that gave me a bit more to work with at the end. It was still a surprise, though, to get to the last few miles, and find that my legs were still able to respond when I tried to pick up the pace - definitely something to be said for holding back a little bit at the start.