Race information
- What? Sundown Marathon
- When? June 1st (23:30) - June 2nd, 2019
- How far? 42.195 km / 26.2 miles
- Where? Singapore
- Route https://www.sundownmarathon.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/42.195KM-1080-1.jpg
- Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/2416046996
- Website: https://www.sundownmarathon.com/sg/
- Finish time: 04:10:36
Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Execute Race plan | Mostly |
| B | PB (< 04:09:31) | No |
| C | < 4 hours | No |
Splits
These are the official times. I don’t think they are very accurate, see Strava for better timings
| Kilometer | Elapsed Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | 00:12:44 | 6:04 |
| 6.1 | 00:35:49 | 5:46 |
| 10.1 | 01:00:14 | 6:06 |
| 14.2 | 01:22:28 | 5:25 |
| 25.6 | 02:30:46 | 5:59 |
| 40.1 | 03:59:05 | 6:05 |
| 42.195 | 04:10:36 | 5:30 |
Training
Overview
This run was my second marathon after the Standard Chartered marathon (writeup here). I was once again using Coached to train. To keep the impact on my family life low I reduced my schedule to only 4 runs per week on average. The overall plan looked as follows
- build volume with a marathon plan leading up to a half marathon as a B race. (which I did - writeup here)
- build speed using a 30k training plan until the real marathon
Originally I had planned to run the 2XU Compression run as my half marathon, but due to travel I ended up pushing it back a few weeks, so I switched it with the Income Eco Run.
As you will see from the Income Eco Run report, the B race went so-so, with me executing my plan of running a negative split but not achieving a particularly great time.
Training details
There was only 6 short weeks between my B race and the full marathon.
I did one long (23k) run that included some sections that I ran at my goal pace of 05:39, and I felt OK afterwards. I was not sure I could sustain the pace for the full marathon but it seemed possible.
Pre-race
Just like other run in Singapore, this run takes place mostly in the dark. However, unlike the other two runs I’ve done it starts in the late evening (at 11:30) and not in the early morning. To prepare for this I adjusted my sleep schedule slightly, going to bed later and later in the days leading up to the event and sleeping in later on the day of the race.
On the day of the race I had a plentiful brunch and some dinner 3-4 hours before the race. I packed my supplies (6 gels and a fistful of Saltstick chewables) and set off to walk to the start which was only a few kilometres away on foot. Luckily, my fiancee stayed up to see me off so the walk was quite enjoyable :)
I arrived in the starting area in good time (for once!) and after saying a quick goodbye to my fiancee went to the starting pen. Being in the A pen meant I was quite far forward, but even so there were plenty of people between me and the start line, which meant I would not be in range of the 4 hour pacer as I had hoped.
As it turned out we had to stand around for quite a while as there was a 15m delay to the race while the organizers made sure the route was clear. It’s great that they took care of our safety, but it was still stressful for us runners!
Race
Plan
My plan for this race was to aim for a consistent 05:39/km pace all the way through with the aim of hitting sub-4h. If I did very well I could then accelerate on the last few kilometres. I had hoped to take advantage of the 4h pacers but unfortunately they were so far away from me at the start (see above) that I decided it was not worth expending the effort to catch up with them.
Besides my time, I had pre-committed to walking through all the aid station stations and drink at least one full cup’s worth of liquid. I planned to take my 6 gels at roughly 30-40m intervals, paired with salt chewables.
Start and early kilometres
The start was very crowded indeed, as all of of my pen (A) headed out at the same time and the first few hundred meters were rather narrow. I thought I kept mostly to pace, but this was hard to judge due to an unreliable GPS and rather inaccurate kilometre markers. My main focus at the start was making sure I would not go too fast and avoiding the crowds.
The first few kilometres took us out into the city and then looped back. I was in for a bit of a surprise after the hairpin as I suddenly had runners coming the same direction as I was going so I and the runners around me were suddenly squeezed to the side. From what I could tell something must have gone wrong with the course guidance, as I saw volunteers moving barriers around.
5-14k
I was able to settle into a reasonably comfortable pace at this point, although it was still difficult to judge if I was going fast enough. I had a small disaster around km 9 as my running belt came loose and I had to readjust it mid-run.
A minor problem, but quite unnerving.
The course went very near my house at 10k and I had prearranged to meet my fiancee there, so I got a nice cheer and moral boost from seeing her there.
From there, the course took us through some fairly ugly and unpleasant up-and-down routes via the stadium and towards East Coast Park, where the bulk of the second half would be.
14k-25k
Around 14k the marathon split from the half-marathon, and in my mind this was the beginning of the really tough part of the race. I was starting to feel the exhaustion in my muscles and knew I still had a long way to go.
I attempted to keep my pace up and suceeded until about km 20. At this point I really began to feel exhaustion. In addition, there were no kilometre markers I could see until about km 24 so I was quite uncertain how I was doing. I didn’t want to DNF so I ended up dropping my pace and following behind some other runners who seemed to be going steadily.
25k-37k
I resigned myself to not making 4h but still hoped to get a PB. I knew that if I just kept under 6:00 from here I should just about make it so that became my mantra. Fortunately for me there was another runner on similar pace just ahead of me, so I decided to stick to him no matter what - he really helped me keep up my pace and I was able to follow him until about 35k at which point he dropped to walking. I never saw him again, so thank you nameless runner!
As the kilometres slowly ticked by I struggled to keep the 6:00 pace - my mental math showed me that I was on course or slightly over my PB so I kept fighting, but I knew it’d be tough.
37k to end
Once we got to 37k I felt great relief as I knew it was just a “short” 5k to the end. In addition, the marathon course rejoined the half marathon soon afterwards, so suddenly the course was once again full of people.
Helpfully, these were all runners on a fairly slow half marathon pace, so I got to feel good about myself by passing plenty of people, most of whom were walking. I knew that this was silly on a rational level, but it felt good regardless.
On the flipside, I had about 28m left to my PB once I got to 5k so I needed to run 05:36 to make my PB - pretty unlikely, but I tried to go for it regardless. I was less exhausted than I had been at this point in my previous marathon so I upped my pace and tried to “sprint” to the end of the race.
Unfortunately, I was not quite able to make it, coming in just over a minute slower than my PB.
Post-race
After shambling through the finisher gate I collected drinks at the aid station immediately behind the finish. Having learned from previous races, I made sure to take extra as I knew there would be little hydration afterwards.
There was not much interesting going on in the race village after the race, so after collecting my medal and finisher tee I headed home. As this was the middle of the night and roads were still blocked, this meant a nice 3km cooldown walk home.
Overall I have mixed feelings about my results in this marathon: on the one hand I failed at my original goal and did not manage to improve on my first marathon time, which I had really hoped for. The fact that I was able to run ~05:30 pace for the last few kilometres makes me think I perhaps didn’t push hard enough in the middle portion. On the other hand, this race felt a lot more controlled throughout and I never felt as close to giving up as in my original race. Also, my hydration and fueling strategy worked pretty well and I never fell into a hole - physiologically or literally.