Marathon PB at 55

Achieving a personal best (PB) at any age is a great achievement. For those of us who have been around recreational sport for a long time, we know that the only person we are competing against is ourselves. Over the past few years I've come to embrace the saying "comparison robs the moment of joy" and I've used this saying to deflect the achievements of my kids against each other. I'm forever saying be the best that you can be. This story is from Paul Ioannou, one of my neighbours who has found form and acheived his goal of a sub 3:30 marathon, on a challenging course which is far from the fastest marathon course in the country. To put Paul's achievement into perspective, he came 26th in the 55-59 age group, and finished in the top 12% of his age group and top 27% of all male competitors.  Enough of the comparison.  At the heart of the story is an individual who was prepared to do things differently, to achieve a better outcome.  Over to Paul to tell his story about what made the difference.




Having run 5 marathons (4 Melbournes) in my mid 40’s, I utilised training plans from the internet. My aim for these marathons were to try and run a sub 3 hrs 30 min which I wasn’t able to attain, having got my best time in 2012 with a 3 hrs 35 min for Melbourne. Fast forward 11 years on and not having done a marathon for 8 years, I got hold of my daughter’s running coach Simon Bevege ( sub elite marathoner ). 

Having a coach with a tailored training plan as opposed to internet training plans, proved to be the difference having completed the 2023 Melbourne Marathon in a time of 3 hrs 29 min 41 sec at the ripe old age of 55. Bevo’s plan he formulated was spot on having included several long runs over 30 km ( 4 x 36 km ) as well as fartlek session work weekly which was ideal for me, with 4 training runs in total for the week which helped to minimize the chance of injury. More importantly, regular check ins to see how I was tracking proved decisive and entering running events prior with a specific finish time in mind so he could determine if in fact it was a realistic goal.

In the end it was, having adhered to his plan and his faith in me and me believing in him. Trust The Coach!

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