Gent Marathon
After improving my Marathon PR by more than 20 minutes, but missing my goal by more than 5 at the Brussels Marathon back in October, I was beyond hyped to give the Marathon distance another attempt. I was not content to wait another year for the Brussels marathon. Instead, I entered the lottery for the Berlin marathon and decided to train for the Ghent marathon, which would take place at the 26th of March. This was far enough to give me adequate time to prepare, while being close enough to sate my appetite. I eventually ended up grabbing a spot for Berlin (which takes place in September), so this marathon would serve two purposes. First, I would be able to give sub 3:15 another shot in a less hilly city. Second, it would serve as an excellent benchmark of my training progress before Berlin.
The Course
Since I don’t know Ghent that well, I cannot say that much about the course beyond showing you a map. Here it is:
Click for a scrollable version.
An advantage of leaving the Brussels bubble is that Ghent is much flatter than Brussels. The Brussels Marathon offered 193m of climbing, while the one in Ghent only offers around 50m. As such, I was hoping that this course would save my legs a bit, enabling me to drastically improve my PB.
One downside of Ghent is that the last half of the course mostly takes place in nature. While I love nature, I tend to like to distract myself during the second half of a marathon, and staring at cows grazing in fields is not very distracting. Another interesting point is that the Marathon and half Marathon runners would start together. Both courses would be joined for about 12 kilometres after which they would split. In both of my previous Marathons, the HM started after the full distance, after which both courses joined towards the end. This had the advantage of grouping Marathon runners up with runners which were slower than them. It would be interesting to see what a start with fresh runners would be like.
Training & Preparation
Since the plan served me well the first time, I opted to once again follow the training plan proposed by Pfitzinger in “Advanced Marathoning”. While I did not have the time or appetite to upgrade to the training plan that peaks at 113 kilometres a week (mine peaked at 89, as before), I did start training early enough that I could follow the full 18 week schedule instead of the condensed 12 week schedule I followed before.
I mostly stuck to the schedule but had to make some minor changes due to circumstance:
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I dropped one of the three tune-up races in favour of running a time-trial. It turns out that it is pretty hard to find road races on a Saturday in February.
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After the first tune-up race, my legs were feeling a bit too sore. Out of cautiousness, I decided to skip that week’s VO2 Max session.
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A deadline on the 2nd of March forced me to drop two workouts at the start of a week. I reshuffled that week so that I would only miss a single workout.
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I dropped a recovery run in the final taper week to get some additional rest in.
I should probably also mention that I failed spectacularly at doing any of the core or strength workouts prescribed by the book. That is certainly something to work on for Berlin.
In the end, my final training calendar looked as follows (Mondays were rest days and therefore not included):
Shown on a map, it looks like this:
My training runs on a map. Missing a few runs in Antwerp, La Hulpe and Oudenburg
I was confident in my ability to follow this plan, as I managed to follow it for 12 weeks while preparing for the Brussels Marathon. Indeed, the start of the training went very well. I even managed to fit in a rainy Christmas morning marathon pace run and a hungover New Year’s run. That being said, 18 weeks certainly feels a lot longer than 12. The aforementioned deadline combined with the training fatigue made me pretty demotivated by the end of February. Luckily, I managed to reach a long standing goal during a tune-up race: run 10K in less than 40 minutes. This got me hyped again right in time for the final few weeks before the Marathon.
Strategy & Goals
Back in October, some extrapolation from workout data told me that finishing the race in 3:15 would be a difficult but achievable goal. Back then, I opted to aim for 3:15 but fall back to a time of 3:20 if it proved to be too hard. In the end, bad conditions caused me to blow up around the 37K mark, making me walk, thus leading to a finish time of 3:20:34. Therefore, my main goal for this marathon back from when I first considered it in October was to break the 3:15 barrier.
When the race came closer however, race results and some extrapolation told me a sub 3:10 marathon might be in the cards. This made things tricky: do I go for the relative certainty of 3:15, or do I start out at a 3:10 pace, with the risk of potentially blowing up like I did in October? The flatter terrain of Ghent and the arrival of some fancy new shoes made me lean towards the latter option in spite of the risk. However, as the race approached it became clear I would probably be running in fairly windy conditions, just like in October. After a few sleepless nights, I figured I would need to judge the conditions and make the final decision on the day itself. Thus, my strategy emerged:
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If I felt good and if the weather was favourable, I would start with the 3:15 pace group for a kilometre or so to avoid a fast start. After this kilometre, I would evaluate my heart rate and potentially increase my pace to go for sub 3:10. If this proves to push my heart rate too high, I could still fall back to the 3:15 pace group before too much damage was done.
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If the conditions were unfavourable like they were in October, I would stick with the pace group and only venture out to go for sub 3:15 towards the final 10K of the race.
In reality, I figured my real strategy would fall somewhere in the middle of these two approaches. I would start out with the pace group and peel of at some point. The exact timing would depend on the conditions.
Race Week
As usual before a big race, I opted to not drink coffee or alcohol for the week. I cheated a bit, and only swore of alcohol starting on Tuesday but stuck to my plan nicely otherwise. Back in October, a stressful week led to poor sleep which probably contributed to just missing my goal. As such, I was hoping to get enough rest this year. Unfortunately, this did not work out as I hoped: I was home alone until Thursday, which always tends to push my bedtime out too late. On Thursday, my girlfriend came back with a cough which kept me awake for a while, afterwards, the frustration of not being able to sleep paradoxically kept me awake. Friday to Saturday finally got me plenty of sleep, but a sequence of low blood sugar values woke me up many times, ruining the quality of my rest. What’s worse, we were switching to summer time during the Saturday to Sunday night, which implied I needed to be asleep by nine to get a full 8 hours of sleep. That’s pretty difficult when you’re used to going to bed after midnight.
It should therefore be no surprise that I slept like shit on Saturday. I feel asleep soon after going to bed, slept for 15 minutes, woke up, had issues falling asleep, slept for half an hour, after which I woke up and was incredibly alert and awake. I tried every trick in the book to fall asleep, but didn’t manage to fall asleep until somewhere between 3 and 4. It is therefore no surprise that I woke up extremely groggy (and also somewhat salty) on the big day.
Race Day
Nevertheless, I dutifully got ready for my trip to Ghent. I had a pretty tight schedule, so the morning flew by as I showered, ate a decent breakfast (cereal, yoghurt, pear and coffee), packed some last minute stuff and headed out. Before I knew it, me and my girlfriend were on the train to Ghent. I figured I’d be smart and use the toilet on the train to save some time, but I was evidently not the only runner on this train: a small line had formed to use the toilet. Luckily, I had plenty of time to do my business which left me feeling a bit more ready for the race. Once in Ghent, we rapidly boarded a shuttle bus and arrived at the event site ahead of schedule. Props to the organisation for this, the transit from Gent’s major train station to the venue was pretty well organised.
I picked up my bib and toured the finish area with my girlfriend for a bit before I started getting ready. I made sure to apply some bodyglide to my feet to prevent blisters from forming from running in new shoes in pouring rain. Admittedly, I got pretty grumpy again here: my fatigue and anxiousness for the event did not match well with the excited atmosphere building up in the finish area.
Lacing up the fancy new shoes; it may not look like it, but I am actually wearing pants here.
Luckily, I did not have too much time to be salty, as I soon had to leave to drop of my bags, after which I went for a quick warm-up jog towards the corrals. There, I ate a banana, checked my sugar and decided to eat a last-minute gel. Soon after, but annoyingly not actually on time, the gun went off and we were off!
Since rain was still pouring down and since I was not well rested, I opted to follow my conservative strategy and started following the 3:15 pace group, planning to follow them until at least the halfway point. The group started quite fast according to my watch, as we seemed to be running a 3:10 pace rather than a 3:15 pace. My heart rate stayed perfectly at the bottom of my Marathon Pace range though, so this worked out well for me.
Running through the city center of Ghent.
Sticking with the pace group turned out to be somewhat of a disadvantage, as the course was often too narrow for running in a big group (especially when you consider that the half-marathon, which has significantly more participants than the full distance, was running alongside us). This led to situations where a wide-spread bunch of runners suddenly had to arrange themselves into a long snake instead. Luckily, people seemed to be courteous (and helpful at pointing out obstacles), so I didn’t have major issues1. Additionally, navigating “obstacles” like this made the first few kilometres pass by in a heartbeat, to the point I was legitimately surprised to see the first supply post right before the 5K mark.
| km 1 | 4:25 |
| km 2 | 4:34 |
| km 3 | 4:31 |
| km 4 | 4:20 |
| km 5 | 4:35 |
| Official 5K split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 22:45 |
| Ranking | 309 |
| Age group ranking | 63 |
Throughout the next few kilometres, I stuck to the pace group, occasionally surging to remain close to the front of the group. During one of these surges, I ended up slightly in front of the pace group. I was supposed to see my parents around this point, so I stuck in front of the group, figuring it would make it easier to spot me.
| km 6 | 4:27 |
| km 7 | 4:32 |
| km 8 | 4:22 |
| km 9 | 4:29 |
While I did not find my parents (they apparently ended up a bit further on the course), I noted that I was running at a decent pace and that my heart rate was below the lower range of my marathon pace heart range. I figured “why not” and decided to carry on alone well ahead of schedule. While this may seem reckless, I kept a close eye on my heart rate, ensuring I stuck around 160 (the lower end of my Marathon Pace heart rate range). I eventually saw my parents a bit further and pushed on, checking the distance between me and the 3:15 group from time to time.
| km 10 | 4:26 |
| km 11 | 4:26 |
| km 12 | 4:21 |
| Official 10K split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 45:18 |
| Ranking | 290 |
| Age group ranking | 57 |
Spotted the camera right before entering the Ghelamco arena.
After the 12k point, the marathon and half-marathon split up. Suddenly, I only had two or three people around me instead of a large group. The next kilometres were pretty monotonous: I pushed on around the same pace, making sure my heart rate did not exceed 160. I took another gel and ate half a banana when passing a supply post; my stomach was not very happy to accept three gels in less than an hour, but I figured I would need to keep on fuelling myself as long as my body would accept it. Moreover, I still had some active insulin in my blood, so I wanted to be sure my sugar levels would not tank.
| km 13 | 4:37 |
| km 14 | 4:29 |
| km 15 | 4:29 |
| km 16 | 4:25 |
| km 17 | 4:27 |
Around the 18km mark or so I started to feel my quads tense slightly. However, my heart rate was still perfectly on point. Throughout this time, I mainly tried to not let my attention slip too much. I also noticed that my watch was consistently indicated a kilometre passing 200m or so before the course did.
| km 18 | 4:28 |
| km 19 | 4:26 |
| km 20 | 4:31 |
| km 21 | 4:23 |
At the 20km point, I was met by my girlfriend. I took some additional gels of her and sped on to the halfway point.
| Official halfway split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 1:35:15 |
| Ranking | 262 |
| Age group ranking | 53 |
Here, the course made a sharp U, running next to itself for a while, offering a nice opportunity to see who is coming up behind you. I was pleased to see that the gap between the 3:15 pace group and me had widened somewhat.
| km 22 | 4:26 |
| km 23 | 4:32 |
| km 24 | 4:30 |
During the next few kilometres, the rain and wind got somewhat worse. Luckily, the wind was generally not blowing against us, so it didn’t bother me too much. Wary of my sugar and eager to fuel myself, I took another gel somewhere around this point, in spite of my increasingly unhappy stomach.
A bit before the 25km mark, the course followed a bike bridge to cross a highway. This bike bridge started out as a tight upwards spiral. I ran up this spiral quite fast, as the runner who I was tailing at this point had some friends around here who were very enthusiastic, which always gives me a nice boost. Unfortunately, my stomach really did not like quickly running around in a circle, increasing my nausea to the next notch. I decided to not eat gels for some time if I could avoid it.
| km 25 | 4:43 |
After this point, the course was indicated pretty poorly. A runner in front of me even missed an arrow causing him to run the wrong way. Luckily, we managed to call him back before he strayed too far off course. More obvious markers could be helpful here, and throughout the more quiet parts of the course in general.
| km 26 | 4:24 |
| km 27 | 4:22 |
Since I am complaining, I should also mention that at this point, the course decided to follow a dirt track rather than a proper road. The heavy rains of the day turned this track into a muddy slippery affair which is something you want to avoid during a road race. I weaved from side to side here to avoid the puddles, occasionally jumping over them or slipping in some mud, cursed the course designer under my breath and carried on, eager to make up for lost time.
| km 28 | 4:28 |
| km 29 | 4:22 |
| km 30 | 4:26 |
Around this time, the accumulated fatigue was starting to become hard to ignore. My quads were increasingly unhappy, and my stomach was quite upset. My pace slowed ever so slightly at this point, but my watch still indicated an average pace of 4:27 (4:30 would be enough to attain my sub 3:10 stretch goal). I gritted my teeth and carried on, counting the remaining kilometres. Luckily, there were some occasional spectators along the course here, who were very enthusiastic, calling out my name as I passed them. This always offered me a great boost which made it easier to keep going.
| Official 30K split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 2:15:01 |
| Ranking | 239 |
| Age group ranking | 52 |
In spite of the protests of my stomach, I took one final gel here to prevent my sugar from dipping too low (I still had some active insulin in my system). I figured this would be enough to take me to the finish, and opted to not check my sugar for the remainder of the race. I also tried eating some candy offered at the supply stations here; it was quite tasty but very chewy and took forever to dissolve in my mouth, which was weirdly distracting. I opted not to take more of this candy after this point.
| km 31 | 4:35 |
| km 32 | 4:28 |
| km 33 | 4:38 |
| km 34 | 4:30 |
| km 35 | 4:33 |
Around the 34K mark, I saw my parents and girlfriend for the last time. I was very happy to see them, even though the expression on my face probably did not make that very clear. I gave some of my empty gel bags to the girlfriend to get rid of some dead weight and kept on going, determined to stick to my pace until the finish.
| Official 35K split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 2:37:13 |
| Ranking | 235 |
| Age group ranking | 52 |
Here, the course took another dirt road which was, again, a hazard field of puddles and muddy patches. I ploughed through but nearly lost my footing a few times. Based on the motions of the people around me I’m quite sure I’m not the only one frustrated by this: nobody wants to speed-run through a hazard field of mud and water with 35 kilometres in their legs! After getting through the mud, I sped up a bit too much too compensate, which drove my heart rate up a bit too high.
| km 36 | 4:31 |
| km 37 | 4:24 |
Once I was 5km away from the finish, I turned on my power metal playlist, ready to power through the final 5K. I progressively started pushing harder to stick to the pace and noticed my heart rate was now consistently hanging around 170, the higher end of my marathon pace heart rate range. This was worsened by two short climbs, which were not that steep, but were nonetheless quite brutal on the legs at this point. I ignored my increasing discomfort, turned up the music a notch and kept on pushing, encouraged by the fact I kept on passing other runners on my way towards the finish.
| km 38 | 4:28 |
| km 39 | 4:32 |
| km 40 | 4:33 |
At the 40K point, I heard my parents and girlfriend shout at me from across the river: they would not be able to reach the finish in time to see m finish, so they decided to cheer me on from the other side of the water instead. I did not have any energy left to shout back, but kept pushing on, knowing the finish was only two kilometres away from me now.
| Official 40K split | |
|---|---|
| Time | 3:00:30 |
| Ranking | 222 |
| Age group ranking | 46 |
The end draws near, interpret that as you will.
These final two kilometres were, however, complete torture. While they took me less than 10 minutes, they felt like an eternity. My average pace was still at a safe 4:29, but the timer showed that the discrepancy between the distance indicated by my watch and the distance indicated by the course markers might be enough to make me miss out on a sub 3:10 result.
| km 41 | 4:35 |
I pushed myself harder and harder to stick to make my goal, but I was spent at this point. All I could do was hang on to my pace as I saw the finish venue inch closer and closer painfully slow2. I glanced at my watch, 3:08 something, could I still make it? I finally made it to the venue, half a lap on a track was now all that was left between me and the finish, 3:09:??. I gave it all I had left, which was not much and finally reached the finish. I stopped my watch and glanced at the medical personnel standing by, wondering if I needed their help; I told myself to quit being dramatic and stumbled towards the exit looking at the final time indicated by my watch, 3:10:13.
Another great picture for the family album.
| km 42 | 4:27 |
Aftermath
I dragged myself out of the venue and started looking for my family, who were still some ways away. Wearing only a singlet, I was shaking like a leaf. I went to pick up my bag and was luckily found by my family, who gave me my hoodie and windbreaker to keep me warm while my bag was being retrieved. I was honestly a mess at this point, even breaking down in sobs for a few seconds from time to time. Luckily, I became a bit more lucid once I could sit down for a few minutes. Things improved more once I managed to take a shower and get into some dry clothes.
While I was still a bit nauseous after the finish, I risked some very light food and managed to get home without continuing my tradition of throwing up in a trash bin after a marathon, #progress. At the time of writing, my legs are still destroyed, but I’m sure that will clear up in a few days.
Results
| Official Results | |
|---|---|
| Time | 3:10:11 |
| Ranking | 206 (out of 2112 finishers) |
| Age group ranking | 44 (out of 289 finishers) |
Compared with my previous marathon times, it looks like this:
| Year | Time | Links |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 3:42:03 | strava, report |
| 2022 | 3:20:34 | strava, report |
| 2023 | 3:10:11 | strava, report |
Although the 11 seconds niggle at me a bit I am extremely pleased with this result. First, I’m obviously pleased I managed to improve my time by more than 10 minutes in half a year. Second, I am extremely happy with how I paced this marathon. While I was completely dead at the end, I did not push myself too hard at the start, which meant that, unlike my last two marathons, I did not blow up towards the end of the race, which meant that I finally completed the distance without walking.
While I can obviously still improve my times in the future, it is always a nice feeling to finish a race with the feeling that you could not have squeezed out anything more. Moreover, I feel like a sub 3:10 time would have certainly been in the cards if some minor things (such as the dirt roads) out of my control had been different. While I will take a few days off after this suffer fest and the long weeks of training preceding it, this result give me great confidence for the upcoming marathon of Berlin!