Doubling Down: Mel Townsend's Run2PB Athlete Interview on a 2:41 Melbourne Marathon PB

Mel Townsend returned to the Better With Running podcast on episode 318, days after running 2:41 at the Melbourne Marathon, a new PB that placed her 10th overall and third Victorian across the line. Coached by Run2PB's Matt Davy, Mel has gone from a 2:53 debut in Melbourne in 2022 to 2:48 and now 2:41, and she did it on a build that averaged 105K a week, with her biggest week in over a decade.

Doubling the Volume

Matt had sent through a detailed breakdown of Mel's training, and the numbers stood out. Before her 2022 debut she averaged around 63K a week. Over the 11 weeks leading into Melbourne this year she averaged 105K, peaking at 120K, the highest week she's run in more than 10 years. She says that makes the 2:53 off 63K weeks look even more impressive, and that her body held up as the build went smoothly, just as it did before Ballarat.

"I haven't had a bad experience with the marathon yet, and hopefully I don't."

A Session That Changed Her Mind

Going in, Mel felt she could run around 2:40 but hadn't convinced herself of it. Her A goal was sub-2:40, and anything under 2:45 would have made her happy. What shifted her belief was a key session of 3 x 6K with a 1K float between each, adding up to 20K, which she averaged 3:49 per kilometre for. The 6K reps came in at around 3:48, 3:46 and then 3:43 to 3:44, and she felt relaxed through all of them.

"I thought, okay, if I can just do that twice."

Race Day: Ignoring the Plan and Tucking In

Matt's instruction was to hold 3:50 to 3:55 per kilometre for the first 8K. Mel admits she didn't listen, going through at roughly 3:48 to 3:50 and on 2:40 pace, but she says it simply felt relaxed. The gun was chaos, the biggest race she's ever been part of, and she felt she had no choice but to go with the wave of people. Her heart rate showed 170 within a couple of kilometres, which had her worried it could be a long day, but it settled.

She ran mostly by herself for the first 18K, just off the 2:40 group. As the course headed towards Port Melbourne and a slight headwind appeared, as Matt had predicted, she caught the 2:40 group at around 17 to 18K and tucked in, even spotting a six-foot-three Ironman runner to use as a wind block. She rode the tail of that group until they dropped her at 35K.

The last 7K were the hardest. When the group broke up as the course climbed to St Kilda Road, Mel felt it, and the kilometres from 36 to 41 were her slowest, in the high 3:50s up to around 4:03. But she estimates she lost only about a minute over that stretch, which she says is a great result given how much time a marathon can bleed if you go out too hard.

"The last 7K felt very long, but I managed to hold on."

On the crowds, Mel loved it. St Kilda was deafening, including people standing on the overpasses, and even though some sections around Albert Park and Beaconsfield Parade were quieter, she says the support was awesome.

Fuelling: 97 Grams an Hour

Matt told Zac that Mel had lifted her carbohydrate intake from around 65 grams an hour to about 97 over the weekend, and Mel says that's how she surprised herself. She'd practised a gel or bottle every 5K in a long run a week or two earlier, and her stomach handled it. On the day she had a gel on the start line, then alternated a bottle and a gel at 5K, 10K, 16K, 22K, 28K, 33K and 36.5K, for around 260 grams of carbohydrate over the whole marathon. She'd also eaten nine cups of cooked rice in the 48 hours before the start.

"It all went down fine. Didn't feel sick, nothing."

She believes it made a real difference. At Ballarat, where she took in less on a warmer day, she felt depleted after halfway. In Melbourne she felt good until 35 to 36K, and she thinks the better fuelling helped her recover faster afterwards too. She didn't carb-load properly at all for her 2022 debut.

Back on the Roads, Trails in the Background

Mel was a high school star who went on to run at NAU in the US, before a long run of injuries led her into trail running. She says her love of the sport never left her, and that the trails, including 50K runs, helped her build the strength to handle the load and impact of road running again. She now trains in the Barwon Heads area, where she and Sarah James, who recently won the Geelong Marathon, link up for long runs most weekends. Mel works late hours, so she was calling in from a break at work.

What's Next for Mel

Mel had messaged Matt the night of the recording to ask about her next marathon. She's hoping for Stockholm in May, where her best friend from college lives, though she'd need to get into the elite field as it has sold out. She also floated Port Fairy in February as a possible stepping stone. As for shoes, she raced in the Metaspeed Edge, and she says she keeps buying them.

Listen to Mel's full chat on episode 318 of the Better With Running Podcast, and go back to her first appearance for her story from high school star to NAU to the trails.

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