WITH THERESE MUNTHE

PB FOR OUR PRODUCT MANAGER

We had a chat with our Production Manager Therese Munthe, who this weekend set an impressive new PB at the marathon in Valencia, a full 10 minutes faster than the previous record!

"That feeling when you finish a marathon is unbeatable - running at its best"

Therese Munthe

Product Manager

" Valencia Marathon this amazing race that I have run once before a year ago, was also the big race for me this year.

From September I've had good continuity and got in a lot of strength training which I think is a key for me. I felt confident that I had done all my longer distance training but also all my sessions that were a little bit faster than my race plan for Valencia. 

The day before the race, as usual, I ran a warm-up session with 3 x 3 minutes at intended race speed. It felt miserable and the heart rate was high, I even thought I got a sore throat afterwards.. nerves and anxiety said my more experienced running friends and they were right. Early in the morning I got up, stretched, did all the preparatory exercises and then jogged off to the start.

The weather would be perfect, about 8 degrees at the start and then increasing up to about 17 degrees. It was sunny all the time. I got the perfect outfit from YMR Track Club with Österlen Lds Mid Tights, Österlen Lds Singlet and Åsunden Compression Socks.

In addition, for the first time I got to test our new sleeves, which will be released in a few months. It was my first time running with sleeves and I'm so glad I had them. They warmed up well before the start and the compression was nice to have during the whole race. I noticed that during the race that many poke a gel in at the top of the sleeves, I'll do that too next time!

Fantastic atmosphere and a speaker that was among the most fun I've heard in a long time put me in a good mood. The feeling before the start was magical and I always get just as euphoric.

The start gun went off and I ran away! The watch was not in sync with the kilometer instructions so I adjusted the time every 5 km. I realized after the first 5 that it was probably going a little too fast but it felt easy so I continued and tried to find a good rhythm for the day. The track is absolutely perfect, I know that since last year and the atmosphere is magical!I always divide the race into 5km.

Also trying to get energy about every 5 km. Everything worked really well until 29 km, when I started to feel a cramp in my thigh. It worried me a little but I was still able to run with my normal stride. At km 30 I ran past some people spraying liniment on my legs and slowed down so as not to risk the cramp getting worse.

Continued to take 5 at a time and calculated in my head what would be required. I think it helps to constantly focus on something other than the actual running. At 40 km I understood that I would be running at or just below my goal and I dared to increase the speed a little.

When there are 900 meters to go there are signs every 100 meters and I started to smile! Now I was about to run onto the blue carpet and the finish line was close. When I saw the clock for my starting group I could relax, I had a margin but still tried a small sprint and came in with a margin of about 35 seconds to my goal for the race.That feeling when you finish a marathon is unbeatable - running at its best! "

- Therese Munthe, Product Manager YMR Track Club

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