Morning Run

Night Weight Training

Easy Run

Intervals Run

Core + Upper Body Workout

PB 2:56:08 💥 -2:24 (Vilnius MARATHON 2023: 2:58:32)
First Half - 1:28:04; Second Half - 1:28:04.

The best experienced Marathon I've ever had before. It was proved one more time - no "Marathon wall" exists. Solid preparation means everything.
40km passed in honest work, but smoothly without any attempt to talk to myself trying to keep on the track.
"Marathon wall" exists exceptionally in a head only. Who believe in it, it's their choice. Everyone can enjoy Marathon without any "walls" with the right preparation level for the certain target time.


40th km passed smoothly, BUT... it the uphill of the last incline (after few more inclines) demanded to work hardly not to drop the pace too much (target - avg. 4:09/km). The following decline gave me some rest and I still felt relatively confident on that stage of the race, and I got some boost to increase the pace.

The first attempt ended in few hundred meeters when I felt right foot was coming on the limit of cramping, I released the pace emediately up to ~4:10-4:15/km to avoid locking up my foot. 

The second attempt to reach at least 4km/min - the same with left leg's hamstrings - drop the attempt again... released.

The third one - this time both of calves cramp are coming. I dropped the attempt again, but this time it didn't help. It didn't release, but thanks God it's not getting worse. 

The finish line is somewhere here, I don't remember where I'm exactly on the route and where is the finish (I passed 41th km some time ago). One corner, second - my calves are on limit and in a sharp pain but still working. Seems like I'm playing with fire - the cramp can lock the muscle anytime.

The final corner - here is the finish line! In 400-500m.
Dunno what is my pace, probably somewhere 4:15-4:20/km, but it doesn't matter, cause I'm fighting with not to drop the running.
And... it happened! Pain! 😬 "F*^*k!" - through the teeth... Left calf locked for a very short moment that I barely standed and didn't fall on my knees. Continue the running with focusing attentively to my legs for any more surprises, but thankfully it didn't happen again! FINISH!!! 🏁

And! When I stopped, both of calves locked so hard that I couldn't go forward towards my medal 😬 so medal came to me 😀🏅 thanks for the volunteer 🫶

The new experience - seems like body still was capable and could move forward faster, but legs muscles reached their limit.
So, I'm sure I gave all of me for the race and reached all I could today 💯

Thanks everybody for the support, thanks for the new friends I made during and after the race 😀 hope we'll meet in the future for the new challenges 🤝

Stay healthy, stay motivated and keep pushing your boundaries forward! ✊️💥👟🏁

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Grigorij Kovalenko🇱🇹 | @sub230marathon

WIZZ AIR SOFIA MARATHON 2024

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