Valencia is a city I know well. My in-laws live one hour to the south. One of my regular training partners is from the city and we’ve been there a few times for triathlon camps. I also have good knowledge of the marathon having done it for the first time in 2021. That was also my first ever stand-alone marathon. Previously I’d alone ever done then within Ironman races. My goal then was to see what I could do if I trained solely for a marathon. Ultimately I came in with a 3:15:51. Safe to say I was happy but having set a benchmark I knew I’d want to go faster. Would I be able to do it in 2022?
Valencia 2022 wasn’t going to be my only marathon this year. Through a bit of accidental planning I’d also picked up a slot for Berlin in September. I had to do that not knowing whether I’d get the chance again any time soon. It is notoriously difficult to get in, as with all of the majors. So I trained properly throughout the second half of the summer with the aim of setting a PB on what is considered the world’s fastest marathon course. And that’s exactly what I did, finishing in 3:12:58. The only issue here was whether I’d be able to recover and then build again in only 10 weeks.
Preparation
I won’t bore you with details of a 10-week training block. What I will say is that at the beginning I really wasn’t sure how much I felt like pushing hard. A friend was coming to the race with me for his first marathon so I had the option of being his pacer on the day. However as the weeks passed and the training progressed I started feeling a lot more confident I’d have a good shot at yet another PB. My long runs were going well. I had though eased off a little on the faster intervals to not stress my system too much. The only hiccough on the way was an annoying cough/cold which I caught off one of the kids with about three weeks to go.
Race weekend
We flew down on the Friday to give ourselves plenty of time to sort out race numbers and not be too stressed the day before the race. Also gave me enough time to get my routine pre-race haircut. This has now become something I do the day before a race, especially when I’m in a foreign city. Haircuts are so expensive in Switzerland I normally do it myself with a set of clippers. But when I’m away I afford myself this little luxury.
The Saturday was even quieter. We had a bit of a walk around the city centred, grabbed some lunch and then headed back to the apartment to rest up. I did go out for a very short run just to test the legs and things felt good. The pre-race dinner was white rice and chicken. Very simple but all the carbohydrates we’d need for the race. Watch a bit of the World Cup and then off to bed to try and sleep.
Race day
To my surprise I slept much better than I usually do the night before a race. Not sure whether that was a good or bad sign but as I’m inherently an optimist I think it was the former. Light breakfast with enough time to allow for my body to digest it and then we were off to the metro station to head to the start. The closest we could get with public transport still left us with a 15 minute walk but we used that as part of our warm up so no complaints.
We were both starting in the 3:00-3:15 and my plan was to try and go with the 3-hour pacer. I wasn’t sure if that would be a touch too fast but I felt like giving it a try. I’d be able to ease off if it was too much. Ultimately, by the time I found the pacer it was too late to get close enough. This meant I’d have to manage my own pace.
The gun went and we were off. Compared to 2021 it seemed far busier. Wasn’t until after the race that I found out the 2021 edition had been run with 10,000 fewer participants. This meant the first few kilometres were a touch crowded but eventually the road widened and the field thinned a little and I was able to settle into a comfortable pace.
I went though 5km feeling good and then 10km came an went and I was still happy with how things were progressing. By the 15km mark I could feel the effort was taking its toll but it didn’t seem excessive. I eventually went through the halfway mark a little over 1:31. I was close to the pace needed for a sub-3 but deep down I knew it wasn’t going to be the day for records.
By the time I hit the 30km point I knew the early pace had been a touch ambitious. My kilometre splits had very quickly gone from the 4m20s region to something closer to 4m35s. If I could keep things together I’d still be on for a good time and maybe I’d even be able to sneak in under 3:10. I dug deep and summoned all of my focus.
Those final 12km were a battle. The number of people on the course walking at this point had gone up, showing just how hard it is to run a marathon. Heading into the final 5km I knew I was there. One final gel to make sure I didn’t spectacularly collapse and on I pushed. Thankfully the final few kilometres have a very slight downhill profile and coming back through the city centre the crowds were crazy and the music was blaring.
The finish of the Valencia Marathon has to be one of the most spectacular. You come down a purpose built ramp and suspended boardwalk right in the heart of the City of Arts and Sciences. These buildings designed by Santiago Calatrava are architecturally amazing and worth a trip to Valencia in their own right.
I took a quick glance at my watch in the final stretch and the feeling of knowing that I was going to finish under 3:10 gave me a final energy boost. I crossed the line a very happy and tired man.
What’s next?
A lot of rest. I’ve been training since late summer and two marathons have put a lot of strain on my body. This will also give me some time to plan the rest of the 2023 race season. Already have a few things lined up and as soon as everything is set in stone I’ll let you know.
In the meantime if you want to watch my race video from Valencia head over to my YouTube channel for the recap.
whytri.ch 