How To Run The Gold Coast Marathon

Update 3 July, 2007:

What an event!

Another incredible Gold Coast Airport Marathon.

I ended up running the 10 km with my 2 sons (13 & 14 yo) - I ran with the 13 yo (Harrison) to help him reach his goal of 1 hr 5 minute. I stopped and slowed as we went along so he could catch up and then with 500 metres to go the little bugger sprinted off and I couldn't catch him!

He's very happy he beat his Dad - won't be so bloody happy when I adopt him out!

My wife and daughter also volunteered and managed the 10 km mark Drink Station - that was the Palm Beach Scouts fundraiser (my wife is the Fundraiser for the Scout Troop). They won $250 for being judged the 2nd best drink station.

Hope you had a good run - all the results are here (click on 'Filter' to enter your name or number, etc).

That's Laura (my daughter) on the left & Alberta on the right - very colourful - at the 10 km Drink Station.

See Course Video Below, Tips From Running Stars & Accommodation Recommendations

Visit the Official
Gold Coast Marathon
website

Update 14 June, 2007:

Video of Gold Coast Half Marathon Course

This video is from last year when I did the run.

Interviews & Tips From Running Stars & Experts

I have a few friends doing the race and they all have different worries - are there public toilets on the route (yes, plenty, plus a whole bunch of Port-A-Loos brought in specially), do they close the roads off (yes, that is very strictly and professionally done by the police and volunteers - remember, this is a massive event with well over 12,000 runners on the day), etc.

To help out I've rung a few friends and put together a little audio file (above). I've asked my mates for their advice on running a Marathon and Half Marathon.

 

This is who helped out:

• Pat Carroll - one of Australia's greatest ever distance runners. Best time of 2:09:39 for the Marathon (that is world class running - world record is currently 2:04:55), 4 times Marathon winner at the Gold Coast, 18 times represented Australia, top 8 finishes in 3 Commonwealth Games...... a legend in the sport. Click here for Pat's web site......


• Samantha Hughes - leading female marathoner. Winner of 2000 Gold Coast Marathon, and in 2001 was the Melbourne Marathon Champion and Australian Half Marathon Champion. Sam also has a Degree in Health Science with a double major in Sport Management/Marketing and Sport/Exercise Science. Click here for Sam's web site.


• Mike Page - Endurance athlete, Ironman Triathlete, Winner of 62 km Tamborine Trek.


• David Williams - sports nutrition expert and leading triathlon training expert.


• Jackie Murphy - Mum of 2, 1st ever Half Marathon.

All going well except I haven't trained enough - but we won't let a little lack of preparation stop us from completing one of the most gruelling physical challenges you can undertake!

Update 4 April, 2007:

Okay, today I've committed to running the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. That's the full marathon this year - not just the half.

Step By Step Guide To Running A Marathon

Talk to my mate David Williams at sport nutrition expert - used by a ton of top class Australian athletes.

When you get the nutrition right you're half way there.

Here goes on the first few steps:

Step 1: Go for a run today. It doesn't matter how far. Or how fast. Just get up and go for a run.

Step 2: Stop eating rubbish today. You know what's not good for you - so stop eating that crap.

Step 3: Stop drinking more than one beer/wine a day - it puts fat on your big a$$. You want that as small as possible because it's a lot easier hauling around 5 kgs less.

Okay, so that's the start for me trying to run the marathon without collapsing half way through. I'll add more later.

And don't forget to check out the official Gold Coast Airport Marathon site here. This site isn't the official site ;o)

Brendon

At the start of September 2006 I started training for the Noosa Triathlon - I did it as a team with my 14 year old son (I did the swim and bike, he did the run). When I did the Gold Coast Half Marathon I didn't feel fit at all - 10 weeks after doing triathlon training - swimming each day and either running or riding my bike - I feel incredibly fit. If I did the Half again I'd be confident in doing it in about 1 hour 40 minutes based on what I'm running now.

Read Below For My Training, Course Tour & Interviews With Stars

Update 3 July 2006: Okay, so the Gold Coast Half Marathon has been run and won. It was run by me, but not won by me! My original goal was 2 hours (I've run a full marathon in 3 hours 10 years before, so was pretty comfortable with that).

I did some fast training a week out from the race and found I was running real hard to run 5-minute kilometres, so I eased the time goal back to 6-minute kilometres giving me a Half Marathon time of 2 hours, 6 minutes.

On the day (yesterday July 2, 2006) I started off just fine. Felt great until about the 16 kilometre mark - and I was spot on my 6 minute per kilometre pace.

Then my legs really tightened up a bit and I slowed - ended up finishing in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 34 seconds. A bit slow, but what can you expect when you've only trained for 40 days and didn't do anything the last week, are 15 kilos overweight and getting a bit older!

So I figure as disappointing as it was to be a bit slower than what I wanted, the main thing is that I finished. A friend of mine was giving me some ribbing about my slow time. I asked him:

"What was your time??"

That soon shut him up! You see, it's hard to run a Half Marathon whilst you're sitting on your couch!

So if you did the Half or the full Marathon, or the 10 km run or the Walk or the Junior Dash - well done. You've done something. Maybe an easy run. Maybe a life time dream. But you did something. Here's a bit of my favourite speech (Theodore Roosevelt in Paris in 1910).

It's Not The Critic Who Counts

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled,
Or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
Who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again,
Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause,

Who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

===============================================

Accommodation Recommendations

Surfers Century is a lovely resort in the middle of Surfers - well worth checking out. Great location, quality & price.

Oscar on Main - this is in the middle of beautiful Main Beach.

Update 29 June 2006:I haven't run for a week because of a strained calf and now I'm just getting over the flu. Still a bit crook.....but like the brave little man I am I'll continue on. What a guy!

My 2 sons - Jack and Harry - will be at the end of the race taking the timing chips off everyone's shoes - Jack's a Scout and they volunteer each year (Harry's along for the free t-shirt). Good luck with your race.

Update 23 June 2006

Brilliant Course Map Of Gold Coast Airport Half Marathon Done

Man, I am so not modest it defies belief! But our video course map of the Gold Coast Half Marathon course is great - you see the exact course and get to see the hills (they're really only little). 10 minute video.

Update 22 June 2006:Bit of a strained calf last night - my first injury. I'm surprised my legs have held up as long as they have considering the fat a$$ they have to carry around!

Here's the full details of my training to this point.......

I'll take a couple of days off to rest. Like any good Aussie would say "She'll be right mate!"

Update 16 June 2006: Doing it easy - my longest run has been 1 hour, 20 minutes. Other than that I've been running 50 minutes a night. Dropped another kilo or 2. I have an account set up over here that tracks my daily runs - very handy for anyone doing any sort of training......

Update 9 June 2006: All going well so far. It's been 16 days and I'm on track. Going for daily runs (with 1 day off a week) and doing it easy. My runs are now 46 minutes duration. I'll be increasing that to 50 minutes from today. I've dropped 4 kilos without any real effort. Back to the usual......

The Story - Tuesday May 23, 2006

Right now I'm completely unfit. I'm a fat pig about 15 kilograms (33 lbs) overweight. I've been struggling for motivation over the past few years with fitness, but I've just found some.

So I'm back.

I need a decent goal and the Gold Coast Airport Marathon is a major local event (some 12,000+ athletes). It's (now) 36 days away. I'll be running the Half Marathon.

Assuming, of course, that I don't drop dead from the exertion first.

Planning It Out

And as I was planning out how I'll do it I saw all the similarities with how we plan what we do in business.

Step 1: Define the objective - Finish Gold Coast Airport Half Marathon in 2 hours.
It is on July 2, 2006 at 6.30 am.

A Half Marathon is 21.09725 kilometres.


Step 2: Identify the resources I have.

1. I've done lots of endurance events before, including lots of marathons, Ironman Triathlons (swim 3.8km, cycle 180 km then run a marathon), general triathlons by the dozens, marathon swimming and a few other bits and pieces.

That's me on the left about 5 seconds after finishing an Ironman Triathlon.

I really haven't done much for the past 8 years.

2. I have a Polar Heart Rate monitor. Now this is going to sound like an advertisement but if you do a lot of training or are exercising to lose weight then this will be the best thing you will ever buy.

(If you do buy one just get the basic model. As long as it has the Heart Rate Monitor, a stopwatch and a light.)

People training for endurance races and for losing weight (and I'm doing both) are best to train at about 60% of their maximum Heart Rate (your Maximum Heart rate is 220 minus your age).

I'm 39 years old. 220 - 39 = 181.

60% of that is 108 beats per minute.

So my optimal training for endurance and/or losing weight is to train only so my heart rate hits 108. That's when my body starts burning fat efficiently for energy.

And getting to 108 is very, very easy. You don't have to really push yourself.

3. One of our clients is Pat Carroll. Pat is one of the greats of Australian running - he's a four time winner of the Gold Coast Marathon and his best marathon was 2:09:39. That's fast.

Pat is also one of Australia's premier (if not the best) online running coaches with a thriving business coaching running.

But I won't hassle Pat with any questions. Having said that, Pat has written the marathon training diaries that are on the marathon site.


4. I used to manage Samantha Hughes (left), one of Australia's leading women's marathon runners a few years back. Sam is a previous winner of the Gold Coast Marathon, the Melbourne Marathon and was the Australian Half Marathon champion.

Sam also has a Degree in Health Science with a Double Major in Sports Management/Marketing and Sport/Exercise Science.

Sam's a good friend of mine but I won't ask her for advice - she's about to have her first baby and I'm sure she doesn't want dopey old me hassling her for tips.

5. Another mate is Cameron Hart, General Manager of Queensland Events Gold Coast - the organisation that runs the Gold Coast Airport Marathon and the Pan Pacific Masters Games.

Cameron is one of Australia's leading Sports Administrations with 2 events that attract in excess of 25,000 athletes.

I have emailed Cameron and asked him for:

• Free entry
• $250,000 appearance fee

His reply could best be summed up by "Ha Ha Ha Ha .......No, idiot."

6. Another client is David Williams. David has one of Australia's leading sports nutrition businesses. David knows a lot about endurance stuff as well. But I figure I just have to get my fat butt off the couch and start moving.

I asked David for a $250,000 sponsorship deal. His response was pretty much the same as Cameron's. In fact, it was exactly the same.

7. I have running shoes, shorts, shirt and socks. But no ugg boots!


Step 3: Plan Training

Here's my plan.....it's pretty simple.

1. Run 20 - 30 minutes a day for 7 days.
2. Run 30 - 40 minutes a day the next 7 days.
3. Run 50 minutes a day the next 7 days. Do one long run of 1 hour 20 minutes that week.
4. Run 60 minutes a day the next 7 days. One long run of 1 hour 30 minutes that week.
5. Run 50 minutes a day/70 minutes a day alternate days for 7 days.

• 5 days out - 30 minute run
• 4 days out - 40 minute run
• 3 days out - 20 minute run
• 2 days out - 40 minute run
• 1 day out - Rest day

There will be a few rest days in my training - 1 a week.

I'll include a little bike riding and swimming in there as well, because my old bones need some loosening up.

Step 4: Actually Do It

Lots of people are good at those first 3 steps, but crappy at this one.
I was talking with a mate who has a weight loss centre and he says most people who come in lose weight. It's taking the first step that makes the difference.
And, finally, I'm going to update this page regularly.

Cheers,

Brendon