Over the weekend I took a detour from visiting my parents in Ballarat to Portland where I took my new Garmin 310XT toy on a 42km run and won the Portland marathon (3.13).
The Portland marathon is accurately described as "undulating and not fast". It's certainly challenging in places - particularly the first 26km up to the top of "The Shuffler" and then again from 35km-40km - ie, ~75% of the course!) - but the country side is beautiful and the race organisation is excellent. Essentially, it's a demanding 42km, softened by the beautiful landscape and the fabulous country hospitality.
Portland isn't the most accessible place - a few hours drive from Melbourne - but I'd recommend the detour and putting the Portland marathon on the "to do" list. I'd certainly do it again.
Oh and my new Garmin 310XT toy .... didn't miss a beat!
7 comments:
Congratulations Liz! So happy for you. You must be so proud of yourself. Funny how you weren't all that sold on it awhile ago. :-)
Yeah, the Portland marathon was definitely a "yes i will, no i won't" proposition for a long time. Portland is just so far .... from anywhere really. In the end it was a "Ballarat is close enough" proposition. I'm so glad I did it.
A minor detail I forgot to mention was the snake on the Portland marathon course. True! Fortunately, it was dead! I don't think it made me run any faster but it certainly helped to keep me "focussed"!
I like how you sneak in these amazing "training" marathons. If it had been a live 6' brown snake you would have broken 3:10!
75% of the course 'undulating'. Mmm, think I'll stick to the 50% undulating Calwell track.
Yeah, well I figure that my Personal Best marathons are in the past and so now I'm just making or taking whatever opportunities I can to run "decent" marathons in different places and on interesting courses. Of course, "decent" is a very relative concept!
I've been following your blog Ewen. For what it is worth, I reckon 1 short interval session, 1 tempo run and 1 long-ish run per week, combined with a couple of "whatever" runs keeps you pretty race ready all year. More specificity works if you are 3 months out from a specific goal race and you train just for it. My problem with the increased specificity and the single goal race approach is that I get impatient and bored and just want to run/race other things in between.
10% of Mt Tennent / Bushfold Flats is flat, the rest is undulating.
Thanks Jog. I like the idea of being race ready all year. When I try your plan I'll credit you with my success, or otherwise ;)
Your marathons are more than decent. Continuing to have fun is the main thing. Hope the legs are back in one piece for 3 peaks and the recovery ride with Little A.
Hehehe .... you'll stand a better chance of success if you do what I say rather than what I do!
3 Peaks is a "maybe" for me. I'll decide @ 5.30am on Sat. How many peaks are you running on Sat???
I'm fit enough for the ride with Little A but not conditioned enough (read: not enough bike riding = sore bum. Ugh!)
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