Fukuoka Marathon debriefing and aftermath

legs are quite ok, only a moderate pain somewhere. I am quite happy with the recovery, being able to go down the stairs from Monday is quite as satisfactory as a PB. 4 days without run, today a 40 min easy
It is time for a debriefing on the race:

• What would I do differently
• I made a mistake like a beginner to end up 2 weeks from the race still with new shoes to test. The muscle strain was really a stupid injury. Racing shoes must be there from Wk1 of training !!!
• More hill training, either in form of strides or CV intervals
• The specific training period was only 13 weeks, but I guess 16/18 is better, so that you can have a more gradual build-up of the long run and some extra tempo run
• a good Half Marathon 4 to 6 weeks from the Marathon is a must ...
• more strides, running drills and streching. Getting older, I have much less flexibility and mobility, etc. Drills gives you less injuries and more motion range
  
• What went well:
• the aerobic approach paid off once more. I was never tired or overtrained, but at the same time I did probably the hardest workout in whole my life.
• The "bigWorkout" concept. Give a look at the http://www.therunzone.com/ for a more detailed explanation. Especially the long runs with MP intervals are a tremendous boost to the stamina and endurance. Once you hit the 20Miles mark on race day, you are ready to accelerate, rather than just hold-on to avoid bonking...
• carbo-loading with powder carbos: I recommend this. Friday and Saturday I had around 300g/day of powder carbs and gave me a real boost for race day, without having to eat tons of pasta/bread and feel heavy on the stomach. They were significantly disgusting, but once a year can be ok.

Final Remark:
there is a interesting website in HK that keeps count of your results in terms of IAAF points and basically ends up with a local road running ranking.
I traced my results since I started running again in end 2005 and the graph looks very good. I need now to populate more PB in the 680 points area (5k, 3k, 15k, HM are all there to be improved)