Yesterday (Sunday), I took part in the second running of the Lübeck Marathon. There was an option to run the full marathon, but I “only” ran the half marathon which was long enough for me at this time of the year. As I described in my previous post, it was an out-and-back course.
The morning was a bit grey and overcast, but when I stepped out of my front door, I realized that it was quite warm for the season – we had the first night frosts a week ago, and now we were at over 10°C (about 50°F). So definitely no cap, but I decided to run in my long sleeve.
The race
Thinking that the course would be relatively flat, I was hoping to be able to run a sub-1:35h half marathon which would be a 4:30/k pace. So I started out pretty quick, even a little bit faster than that. I felt good, the course was a bit downhill, and I felt in control. But I was starting to get worried about the return leg, it would become quite hard to keep a good pace going. It was also getting quite worm, and we started to run down into the Herrentunnel, I noticed some people were taking off their long-sleeve-shirts and continue to run in short sleeves.
Here’s a screenshot of my Garmin GPS data on Google Earth from the race. We started in the lower left section on the old island center of Lübeck and went out North-East:
The Herrentunnel is the section were there is a gap in the GPS track, so it was about the 8k mark. Running downhill into the tunnel I really let it rip – it feels great to run with a quick turnover without the HR shooting up. But when I hit the bottom of the tunnel, the street out of the tunnel looked like a vertical wall and I felt very sluggish running out of the tunnel. The HR went through the roof, and I had to take things a little bit easier in order not to blow up.
Thankfully, there was an aid station pretty soon after the tunnel, and I took some coke to get some power back. I was struggling a bit longer, but felt okay when we hit the turn-around point. I was almost exactly at 47:30, on pace for a 1:35 finish. But I had given back all the time I had gained in the earlier parts of the race and I knew that it was going to be really hard to go at the same pace for the return leg.
I took in some more coke and mentally prepared for going back through the tunnel. I decided to limit my HR running out of the tunnel in order not to kill myself, even if that meant loosing some time. So running through the tunnel for the second time, I kept to my hard pace HR limit of 150 beats, and there were quite a few people running by me. There was some more uphill after the tunnel and it was at this point that the wind was quite strong. We had it in our back on the way out, but now it was straight in our face. I was quite happy that I had my long-sleeve shirt on, it would have been quite cold otherwise.
After some more Coke, I was on the last 6 or 7 k for the race. The course was still pointing upward, but not very steep. I had planned to pick it up at this point, but my pace was hovering at a bit over a 4:30 pace so it was clear that I would not be able to make up the time I had lost going through the tunnel. Even so, I managed to stay focused and go hard towards the finish. I managed to overtake some others, and was totally spent when I reached the finish line. My parents (who came to see me finish) were a bit shocked to see me totally wasted but were relieved when I recovered pretty quickly.
Evaluation of my race and planning November training
Even though I didn’t manage to quite make the time I wanted to, I’m still happy with my race. I went out fast, but still reasonable enough to give me a chance to make my time goal. When I ran into problem at the first pass through the tunnel, I properly regrouped and managed not to explode completely. I ran strong towards the end, so even if I started out too quick, my race didn’t turn into a disaster and I managed to run a decent time.
Comparing this course to what I know the Ratzeburg course is like, I’d say that they are similarly hard and hilly. If I’d have to take a pick, I’d say that the course in Ratzeburg is easier, as it has long totally flat sections. So as I ran at a pace faster than what I will need for a sub-2h finish in Ratzeburg, I’m confident that I’m on a good track. I’ll continue with the faster sessions for the next weeks, but also want to include a few 2 hour long runs to extend the endurance that I have now. I’ll keep you posted …
Evaluation of Lübeck Marathon
I’d like to finish with a few words about the Lübeck marathon so that if you ever think of running it, you’ve got some information. I can only offer a perspective from running the half, but it should be a good indication of what things would be for the full marathon. Be sure to drop me an email if you have some more questions!
As you may have gleaned from my race report, the course is not very suited if you want to run a PR – it’s just too hilly for that. But that’s almost the only negative thing about the race. The only thing I’d add is that along the course there are some sections that are not all that pretty as the course uses one of the big roads leading out of town.
On the positive side, the start is in the beautiful old part of Lübeck and it’s very interesting to run through the tunnel (even if it takes some toll on your legs). The rest of the marathon course will also be along mixed territory but there will definitely be some very beautiful sections. You didn’t have a ton of spectators outside the start/finish area, but there were a lot of sections where people were making quite some noise.
Also, from what I was able to see, the race was really well organized. The course was well marked, kilometer signs were clearly visible, there was a lot of stuff available at the end stations (at least for the half-marathoners who came first .. but I haven’t seen many half-marathons that offered coke and bananas etc. starting at 5k). Race packet pickup worked well (even though I had to use the “emergency pickup” on race morning) and there were all the usual amenities after the race (drinks, food, massage etc.). I don’t think that there is much to improve upon.
All in all, it was a fun race to run, and I’m glad I put this on my schedule for this year. It was a valuable step forward in my preparation for Ratzeburg, but it would also be suitable for a season-ending race on its own.
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