Nicky Waller – 3:19:45 to 3:13:49 Valencia marathon

After his 19-minute PB at the Manchester marathon, Nicky took a well earned rest before starting his next block of training. The target this time was the Valencia marathon with an ambitious goal of running under 3 hours, a PB of another nearly 20 minutes. A big target, but with time on our side and Nicky’s determination, it wasn’t out of the question.

We set some target races across various distances over the 6 months of speed work and marathon training, with Nicky running a total of 5 PBs over the 5k, 10k and half marathon distances.

A 1:25:55 at the hilly Blickling half marathon in October meant sub 3 for the fast course in Valencia was on the cards. Further excellent weeks of training and long runs meant everything was pointing to Nicky running under 3 hours, but life threw some hurdles in the way.

A tweaked back during a gym session meant a few run sessions were missed and other swapped to the indoor bike, although his sports therapist helped resolve this quickly. In the final week all was looking good, until a few days before the race a bad cold struck, leaving Nicky with a tight chest, coupled with a lack of sleep.

We adjusted the race plan, with the guide for Nicky to try a slightly slower pace and progress if he felt good. On the start line he felt fine and understandably wanted to try for sub 3 still, but unfortunately the cold caught up around mile 17.

Despite a challenging final three weeks, Nicky still managed to run a fantastic time of 3:13:49, finishing with a nearly 6 minute PB.