Fraser Darcy

It’s beginning to look a lot like Spring. Cold temps have ended, the sun is up before 7am and it’s MARATHON TIME. Twelve months ago, I entered and raced the Adelaide Marathon. It was a race I only entered because of my good result at the Pichi Richi Marathon a few months earlier and the desire to see what I could do on a flatter course. The allure of prizemoney helped too. It worked out as well as I could have hoped in the end, a new PB (2:32) and second place.

Twelve months later it was time to see what I could do with another year of running under my belt.

PRE-RACE

The following list paints a picture of where I was at with running before Adelaide 2022:

• Had a 5km PB of 16:00
• Hadn’t raced a half-marathon
• Had maxed out at 160km’s a week only a couple of times
• Had disjointed training around outdoor ed work
• Never worn supershoes
• Never won any prizemoney
• Never been treated as an ‘elite’

Now for the comparative list in 2023:

• 5km PB of 14:58
• Two solid half-marathons of 1:09 and 1:07.
• Several 160 km weeks in a long consistent base of training since February
• Supershoe devotee and blew out my first pair just over a week ago meaning a fresh second pair for Adelaide.
• Have won prizemoney a few times
• Have been treated as ‘elite’ with selection for the Australian team at the World Champs.

So I’m clearly in a better position than I was twelve months ago with my running. That shows I’m on the right path. But, that list is just words on the screen and when I roll up to the starting line of a race all that matters is the fitness I have and the mindset to deploy it. I have committed to training and racing this marathon a lot further out than I did last year and am excited to be able to give it a red hot crack in good shape. I could’ve done more marathon specific longer sessions in my build-up but fitting them around the Hills2Henley, Brisbane Trail Ultra and Mt.Crawford trail running races was difficult mentally (didn’t want every weekend to be full-stress). I am glad with the training I have done though. Those marathon specific sessions can be good for confidence but they can also be limiting mentally. My 5km and half-marathon results from this year indicate I am capable of anything from 2:20-2:25 so if I trained to run a pace that was at say 2:28-2:30 (conservative yes, but breaking 2:30 is my minimum standard for a successful run) all the time then perhaps I could be limiting myself to what I was capable of. Better to just train a variety of paces, build up the aerobic engine and mental capacity and then play it smart on race day. That’s the plan for this build-up at least.

Come Sunday afternoon what would I be happy with? 1st place would be nice. Sub 2:25 would be great. That time opens some doors for more ‘elite’ entries to other interstate marathons. A podium finish and cracking 2:30 is the benchmark though in terms of hard results. On the ‘soft’ side of race analysis I’m looking to have a performance where I can break through in the last 5-7km. A good hard run is good but sometimes we need to break out of comfort zones in races/life and do things that scare us. That’s the experience I’m looking for in this race as I’ve played the good/hard enjoyable run card at the last 5 races since the World Champs. I’m looking to get into the headspace that won me the Australian Mountain Champs in Orange but the tricky thing about the marathon, which makes this a great time to also remind me and you that each race is a learning experience for the next one, is that you can’t start in that headspace, you can’t be there at halfway and being there at 30km may also be a bit early. What this means is I’ll be taking it out at a pace that feels right for the day, weather, other races etc. and will be hoping to wind it up the last time I pick-up a drink bottle at the 35km mark.

A final point to note ‘pre-race’ is that running at the World Champs I was overwhelmed with the start paraphernalia a bit and not having it my own way like I do at most races. The Adelaide Marathon is not on a similar scale BUT there will be a few people cheering on so I hope to embrace this a bit more and bring it with me rather than having the approach of ‘getting out alone in the woods’ to focus on my running.

RACE

Sunday morning. 5:35am arrival at the elite tent. Very cool to have our own little area where we can chill out with our kit and comfortably leave our bags. Apart from a few hello’s and how are you’s with the other elites and a warm-up the morning was all pretty stock standard. Talking with Robbie, who was my main competitor and second place finisher at the Hills2Henley race, I verbalised my intention of going out at 2:25 finishing pace (3:26/km) and he was going to aim for a few minutes back at around 3:30/km. He’s got a better 5km PB than me but this will be his first marathon hence the conservative time frame. He’s trained very well though so in my head I knew he’d be more than capable of 2:28 or below so I could have a race on my hands depending on how things went!

Things went off smoothly at 6:30am. Settled in behind the lead bike at around 3:22-26 min/km and had Robbie a few footsteps behind. Either my watch was out or he was feeling more confident at the start than he was letting on. Not to worry though because I was locked into ‘rock climbing mode’ Fraser and was treating the 42.2km as my own individual climb and experience.

5km’s in and I had my first gel. Pace was looking good, under what I needed. Ok, maybe I’ll bank some time early I thought, it all feels comfortable so I’ll just keep rolling I suppose. Robbie was still lurking behind by about 30m or so and looking strong and then Clayton (3rd from H2H) was back a bit further, off of our pace considerably. A two horse race it was.

10km’s and the first ‘special drinks’ stop. Expecting a separate table with only 5-10 bottles on it as per the map and ‘elite’ protocol I instead was faced with a table that had a lot more than 5-10 bottles on it due to probably being lumped in with the public accidentally… Miraculously I spotted my drink bottle which had no identifying markers on it (I thought it was only going to be surrounded by another 5 or so bottles) and grabbed it. It turned out it was my Lap 2 bottle with my caffeinated gel on it. Oops. I had a spare in my pocket for 25km that was non-caffeinated so had that instead. Too early for caffeine. I finished the 250ml of sports drink in the bottle and had a chat with Michael (bike rider extraordinaire and past runner) about the drink situation but got on with the job after a few more km’s. I was relying on my bottles for all my fluid needs during the race so it was imperative I had access to them. The other drink stations on course provided me with a few sips of water but really I was just using those cups of water to cool down my head. On our way past this drink station a few minutes later I had a good look for my next drink bottle when I was back there 21.1km later…

15km. Another drink station and gel. Much better this time, only 5 bottles out there so easily grabbed mine. Also saw Brodie Eckert out on course which was a nice surprise! It gave me the opportunity to recall some climbing memories to kill some time in these middle km’s. Brodie’s visit was just one of a number of mates I saw out on course which is why I enjoy the Adelaide Marathon so much. Yes, it’s not a fast course with all it’s twists and turns but having home support makes up for that in my books.

Half-marathon. Another drink station and again another issue with the bottles. No elite table at all and I stopped for a few seconds to find my bottle and get moving. I came through in 1:12:35, bang on 2:25 pace. Great. One way to look at that result is to go ‘shit, I have to do that all over again now‘ which makes it feel difficult. Another way is to view it as ‘excellent, I’m on track to giving myself the opportunity of executing my A goal, I’ll just keep hanging on at this pace and see what happens’. Less expectation, more process focused. Better mentally. Moving on through the early 20’s km’s is difficult in the Adelaide Marathon because you join up with the crowds of 10km and half-marathon runners from here on. I did my best to weave through them and carried on with my pace.

25km’s. Caffeinated gel time. F*** this tastes not that great without water. Forgot about that (I don’t have them that much). Oh well, this is what it takes to run a marathon well I guess. My lead over Robbie had grown out to maybe a minute at times but he was now re-appearing on some of the turnarounds and gaining on me. This happened to me at Orange earlier in the year and I re-read the race report of that race this very morning. As a result, I wasn’t worried. My pace wasn’t changing I didn’t think so maybe his was. Either way, it’s my own race and his own race. But in saying that, if I finished second to him I would’ve lost $2000 in prizemoney too…

30km’s. Robbie’s closer now, it’s not an illusion, he’s really there. Picked up my second drink bottle at the infamous 10km drink station, and consumed my gel. At times, finishing all 250ml of my liquids felt difficult in the race but I got it done the first 4 times I went through (1L) and only bailed on the last bottle (@ 36km’s). Into km 33 and 34 Robbie caught me. Far out he’s going well on his debut. Kudos to him. I’ll try and stick on him from here and let him take me home. I felt Robbie put on a surge as he went past but I pulled him back in within the next 500m or so.

35km. Where I wanted to be from the ‘pre-race’ section and expose myself to a zone outside of my comfort. Robbie and I went through a corner where I took the inside line and I came out with a 2-3m gap. From there I felt a lot better than I did this time last year. I vividly remember hanging on to Dave Fawkes (last year’s first place) from here in survival mode to the finish. This time though I was ready to rock’n’roll.

36km-40km. Solid effort all at below 3:20/km, averaging around 3:15/km. It felt hard but not death defying hard. I was controlled in my experiencing of discomfort essentially. Robbie had dropped off behind me a bit quicker than I was expecting so I had lost the feeling I was being chased and was now focused on making sure I pushed appropriately to the finish. This was the most enjoyable part of the race. Being in the thick of it, knowing my body was responding the way I wanted it to and having the confidence to keep pushing it. This is how you race a marathon I thought.

40-41.5km. Ooooohh it’s getting hard now, luckily it’s not a 50km race. There’s some nasty uphill pinches in these sections that felt pretty tough last year but this year weren’t that bad. Kept pushing but was also on the cusp of entering survival mode. Would’ve been interesting if Robbie were here for a sprint finish so am glad he wasn’t.

41.5km-Finish. Wind her up boy and bring it home! Started sprinting it in to finish and came across the line in 2:23:59. Amazing! 1st Place and sub 2:25! The only disappointing thing was that I finished and was pretty happy walking around and talking with mates and Robbie. I was half-hoping for the death mode experience where you black out over the finish line in a dramatic ‘you gave it your all’ type experience. Oh well. When Kipchoge ran his sub-2hr marathon he was pretty fresh after it so the post-race collapse is not a measure of how much of your all you gave it I guess.

POST-RACE

I thanked the great support along the way from mates before I got into some warm clothes, a can of tuna and some water. The first opportunity I got to really soak up my experience was back in the elite tent looking at my stats. Pretty cool. I had ticked my goal and put a great performance on the board that I was proud of. Driving away from the event I reflected on a few of the decisions I made over the last few months to prioritise this race (no skiing, no socialising, lots of training). Treating the Adelaide Marathon event as something to aim for allows me to make these decisions which then create a better version of my running self. The next race on the cards is the Hounslow Classic in the Blue Mountains (42km trail running race) which will be a longer race time-wise and slightly different effort-wise. Hence it was good to knock off the marathon ambitions I had in one foul swoop this year. One fast marathon, one good result.

Depending on how Hounslow goes and the recovery process from this marathon I have some thinking to do when it comes to race plans for next year. I’ve really enjoyed my Adelaide and Pichi Richi marathons and would like to see how I go aiming for a 2:20 pace on a faster course or in race conditions at 2:25 pace at an interstate race. The beauty of my 2:23:59 time is that, according to the info on their websites as of 27th August 2023, I qualify for a lower category elite entry at the Hobart Airport (April 2024) and Sunshine Coast (mid-August 2024) marathons next year so perhaps I could aim for a marathon interstate? These ideas depend on what I want to get out of my running journey though in 2024. A faster marathon time by a few minutes is a metric but not a good indication of what that version of myself looks like. More time and thought is needed.

For now, I want to once again thank those who supported me on the day or before the day or after the event with messages of support. I am only capable of performances like this because I have been encouraged along the way. I also need to stop writing and get back to Quorn. Back to work on Monday.

POST-POST RACE:

I put most of this blog together straight after the race as you can tell while the thoughts were fresh in my mind. I’ll upload more photo’s when Emily Frahn or Chad Freak (spectator extraordinaires who saw me at the start at 6:30, multiple times on course and even at the presentation ceremony!) read this and get reminded to finish off the presumably exhaustive editing process they must be going through before sending their photos through.* Update as of 3rd September, the photos are now up but I’ll leave my comment above in as a way of saying thanks*.

I’m also going through the process of collecting all the thoughts post-race that come out of the debrief and evaluation process following a rather large event. Should get that done over the weekend so keep an eye out for that. To finish this blog though I’ll end on two notes. One, is a video of the song that came on my Spotify playlist in the taper week and resonated with how I wanted to race the marathon. Start steady, get into a rhythm and then accelerate towards the end. Baba O’Riley is a perfect musical example of that. The lyrics also relate quite nicely to my approach to life which if you’re interested for the full explanation of that, just ask and you shall receive. For now though…

The second point to finish on is a bit more heavy but still good and provides a nice segue into the more reflective piece on the Adelaide Marathon process to come. One of the messages of support I received pre-race was from Dylan Beach, friend first, older sister’s fiancee second. Dyly-boy was out surfing on Saturday and hurt himself. I went to bed early under the impression he was injured but wasn’t sure if it was too serious (very sore neck, difficult to breathe but was walking and talking whilst waiting for an ambulance). The master of running (and life I guess) I aspire to be wouldn’t have let this negatively impact my performance so I didn’t. I did think ‘ooooh gee, better make Dyly-boy proud though if it does turn out to be serious’. Turns out Dyly-boy broke his neck/back (C-7) and will now get the privilege of a neck brace for 6 weeks. Just goes to show that the rug can be pulled out from under you at any point so I am grateful that I got to do what I did on Sunday and will not stop pushing the limit (in whatever activity it is) while I have the motivation. I wouldn’t want to be lying in Dylan’s position thinking ‘oh I could’ve done this if I had just given it a crack’. I am giving it a crack. And so was Dylan, just a little bit too much for his C-7 to handle. He’ll be back though and so should you be too. Life’s for living. Thanks for reading.