Växjö marathon report from Mr L

 First of all my hat of for two five star long diatance running enthusiasts, these guys did Växjö 2010 to an unforgettable event. El Maco don't need no presentation here on LR, Patrick is an old friend of mine with a lot of marathons in his huge medal cupboard. Look at them, before and after the race, same relaxed smile, no pain at all. I have often said lately that I am only in it for the medals, but these are the real medal hunters....

So here comes the story from my angle;

A great day in Växjö I must say, together with two true legendary runners, El Maco & Patrick. Both of them back again in the field after recent recoveries from injuries. As El Maco mentioned in his posting Patrick disappeared from my eyes just 200m after the start in 5.00-tempo as he is used to. He told us afterwards that it felt good but he didn't manage to stay at 5-tempo all the way, but he was satisfied anyway and if we are lucky he may do a guest-posting on LR, to tell us his story.

1 - 21km

 As usual in Växjö I had the pleasure to go first 21km very close to El Maco. I know he will blame me for some "Fartlek" experiment between 13-16km, but he can't say that much about that since also partly took the lead during these crazy laps. Anyway I was in full control over my HR, even if I felt that it's to high to early. All the way up to 21km I was fully convinced that El Maco will not slow down on tempo, since he actually followed me during the "crazy laps", and he said he was sky-high on HR but he seemed so fresh..

21-42,2 km

I permanently passed my 85%-level at 22km (made me a little bit afraid), but at that time I still felt so fresh.

I didn't turned around at all before 25 or 26k, so I didn't know where El Maco was at that time. Later I understood that he must have slowed down. else he would have "shadowed" me..... 

 I passed my 90%-level first after 35k compared to allready after 30k last year. What made me so hungry and positive this time was the "positive trend", I started to pass runner after runner allready after 21km and all the way in ...... I did have a plan after 21km to stay calm for another lap or two, and then fire off every inch of energy that was left in me after 35km. That never happened, but I was at least able to stay in 5,15-5,25tempo all the in, and that was a fantastic feeling. I believe I did allmost "equal splits" so today I couldn't have done it much better. I can also confess that last two km,s I did relaize that I had a small small small chance to go for El Macos personal Växjö record 3.47, but that was to tough for me this time :-)

Växjö Marathon Time: 3,48,20  HR-avg: 85% Tempo: 5,21

Clothing details: no underware pants, took of my R90-arms after 26km. My thin gloves was perfect today.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/53352451

Finally, once again, I can strongly recommend anyone that likes long distance running to go for Växjö. A flat and easy track, perfect weather conditions this time at year in Sweden, and best of all, a nice and little bit laid back atmosphere.......

Mr L./.