SEB Tallinn Marathon 2014: race analyses

Hi again,

The race was already a week ago but I have not looked at collected data yet.. I have to correct this mistake.

Currently I am collecting training and race data with two devices/sources: Polar RS800CX watch with S3+ footpod and miCoach train & run application on my Windows Mobile phone. Unfortunately the miCoach app failed to work under lock screen during this race event. Now I have a fastest kilomter record in my miCoach account with time 0:00:03... Hope the miCoach support will remove it soon. But, to be honest, the data recorded by RS800CX is far more important, as it contains  HR and speed (plus cadence and altitude and incorrect (body?) temperature). For this analyses I have used the standalone Polar ProTrainer 5 software. I'm quite disappointed that Polar has stopped developing it :(

So the data from the RS800CX. Unfortunately the speed from the footpod was inaccurate: at the end of  session the watch told I had run 39.6 km's. So the speed and and paces in the analyses have correction factor 1.0655 applied.The toilet stop HR drop is nice and clear in the graph (stop length was 1:30, as the watch says)

You might remember from my previous blog post that I had five different sections during the race:

1. For first 10 km (Actually 10 x 5:28 min) I tried to keep HR below 165
2. After that, till ~14.5 km, I tried to keep it under 170
3. Between 14.5 and 26km I was "chasing" the 3:45 tempo maker group
4. After that I stayed in 3:45 group till 33/34 km
5. Somewhere between 34 and 36 km I left the group behind me, and ran as fast as I could till the finish line

Now here is the graph where those sections are marked with arrows:

Lets look at the data for each section:

First 10 km

This was slow and boring. It has green arrow on chart, because it was "easy" part of the race. Perhaps I should have ran it a bit quicker. Or the part should have been quite shorter, like 30 min? I was thinking if I should take out the toilet stop, but

1. It did not change data much
2. The stop was somewhat compensated by a bit quicker speed during next minutes.

So here is the statistical data of the section:

• Time 0:54:32 (0:00-0:54)
• Heart Rate (Average/min/max) 163/103/170 bpm
• Pace (Average/min/max) 5:34/16:12/4:36 min/km
• Distance 9.48 km

If You continue to follow numbers closely then You might notice that sum of sections does not give total of 42 km or 3:42. That's because I was not sure for some of the exact split points. As result, I left gaps between some sections, largest one being between "in the 3:45 group" and "final effort".

Below 170 bpm

Yellow as it was hard enough. Perhaps it would have been correct effort for the most of the race.

• Time 0:23:25 (0:54-1:18)
• Heart Rate (Average/min/max) 169/161/175 bpm
• Pace (Average/min/max) 5:04/11:01/4:11 min/km
• Distance 4.58 km

If I had ran the whole distance with this average speed then my finish time would have been 3:34 But I assume I would have been slowing down in final 10km anyway, so realistic time would have been 3:38, maybe.

Chasing 3:45 group

That section was a bit too hard. It was relief when I reached 3:45 and had a chance to rest a little. So red is a good color for it.

• Time 0:57:10 (1:18-2:15)
• Heart Rate (Average/min/max) 172/165/178 bpm
• Pace (Average/min/max) 4:55/9:13/4:09 min/km
• Distance 11.61 km

In the 3:45 group

Resting from previous harder effort, but still hard enough

• Time 0:41:22 (2:19-3:00)
• Heart Rate (Average/min/max) 172/167/179 bpm
• Pace (Average/min/max) 5:27/13:24/4:15 min/km
• Distance 7.57 km

Interesting that although the speed is decreased the HR remained in same range.

Final effort

A bit quicker than previous but slower than "chasing" section. the heart rate is even higher than in the chasing section. The increased HR is kind of expected for final race part as the body gets tired

• Time 0:41:47 (3:10-3:42)
• Heart Rate (Average/min/max) 176/169/180 bpm
• Pace (Average/min/max) 5:12/9:13/4:03 min/km
• Distance 7.99 km

There are some noticeable speed drops after 39 km. They correspond to small hills during the last kilometers of race. Similar speed drops are present between 18 and 21 km, but they are not as visible as on the second lap.

And now I'm really waiting for my next marathon run, so that I can compare numbers with this one. I hope the will start telling me more. Or, can any of readers help me? All comments are welcome.