Marathon #6: Melbourne Marathon - 12 October 2014

Melbourne Marathon: Run as One

I decided to participate in the Melbourne Marathon again, a week after I finished the Great Ocean Road Marathon in May 2014. I ran my fastest marathon yet at the Melbourne Marathon in 2013, and since it has one of the easier race routes that I've run on, I thought I can try for another PR this year. 

http://melbournemarathon.com.au/

The Training Plan

I set my training plan through the Adidas micoach app, with a finish time goal of 4 hours. I know, this was a little bit ambitious, but I wanted the extra challenge thinking that by training harder, I'd be able to train my body to sustain a consistent fast pace for the whole duration of the race. I wasn't really gunning for 4 hours, but if I can finish in less than 4 hours and 30 minutes, I'll be a happy camper.

Aside from the running training plan, I also signed up for the "8-week program for Busy People" of Fitness Blender. It's a 6 times a week workout program that only takes up 30 minutes or less of your time. It is run by a married couple, both of whom are professional personal trainers, via their youtube channel. The way they do it is they write up the whole program and reference the free youtube videos in the book which you purchase and download. For just a very small amount ($10), you get 8 weeks' worth of coaching which I found very effective since I can do all the workouts from the comfort of our home without any other extra fees other than the amount I paid to download their book - this was worth every cent I paid. And at the end of the 8 weeks, you can do it all over again without paying anything extra - how cool is that?

Marathon #5: The Great Ocean Road Marathon - 18 May 2014

The Race on the Great Ocean Road

"The Great Ocean Road is a 243-km stretch of road located on the south-eastern coast of Australia" (Wikipedia). My first visit was in May 2013 and although the weather was a little bit dreary then, you still couldn't help but notice and appreciate the spectacular coastal views you get as you drive along this piece of road.

I learned about the Great Ocean Road marathon when I ran the Melbourne Marathon in October 2013. One of our pacers told me about it and how it was 3 kilometers longer than the standard marathon distance. Having been on a road trip along the Great Ocean Road, this piqued my interest and kept it at the back of my mind so I can reconsider this at a later time.

It was in February 2014, as summer was about to end, when I finally decided to run the Great Ocean Road marathon and began my training. A month later, I officially registered for it.

Solo Training

Training alone for a big race is a huge undertaking. You need a higher level of discipline and self-motivation so that you don't fall off the bandwagon.

Having been spoiled back in the Philippines with the availability of very affordable coaching options, I hesitated on getting the same services here in Australia. The good thing is that there are applications available that can proxy for an actual coach, like the micoach app by Adidas.