CLOCKING a 2:39 debut marathon in 2004, Mara Yamauchi went on to improve it a further 16 minutes by the end of her career. A 2:31 clocking at the London Marathon in 2005 saw her selected to represent Great Britain at the World Championships in Helsinki where she finished 18th and took team bronze.
Mara Yamauchi: her 2:23:12 in London in 2009 ranks her second only to Paula Radcliffe among Brits
MARK SHEARMAN
Turning to marathon running only in her thirties and with a firm focus on the 2008 Olympic Games, Yamauchi made the decision to take some unpaid leave from her demanding job in London and relocate to Tokyo in 2006. It was a move that paid off as she became the equal highest ever British finisher in the Olympic women’s marathon, taking sixth place in 2:27:29.
Having already run 2:25 on four separate occasions, Yamauchi was determined to dip under tha elusive time which had become a barrier. With a VO2 max test suggesting she was in 2:21-2:22 shape, she began to prepare for the 2009 London Marathon. Sixteen days before the race, Yamauchi took to the track for her last killer session – 3x5km with a three-minute, one-lap jog recovery in the high altitude training base of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Being unfamiliar with the surrounding area, Yamauchi decided to do the session on the track. “Usually with this session, I tried to increase the speed of the last kilometre, within each 5km, up above my marathon race pace to prepare for a change of pace at the end of the marathon,” she recalls: “Although on this occasion, I didn’t do that because the week before I had taken three days off as I was feeling unwell.”