By Murray Wenzel

Andy Buchanan is trying to savour his marathon effort.

But in the back of his mind, the Bendigo school teacher is already wondering what his harshest critics will think of his Valencia procession when back in the classroom.

The 33-year-old is still coming to terms with his national record, set at the start of this month.

Buchanan’s time of two hours, six minutes and 22 seconds in the year-ending Spanish slog easily beat the 2:07:31 mark set by friendly rival Brett Robinson in the same race, two years ago.

If you do the maths that’s less than three minutes per kilometre over the 42.2km distance.

His 16th place, about four minutes behind Kenyan winner Sabastian Sawe, was the icing on the cake of what he reckons was already his best year, thanks to an 11th-hour Olympics call-up to replace the injured Robinson.

Buchanan finished 45th in Paris, clocking 2:12:58 before going faster than any Australian before him on the traditionally speedy Valencia circuit.

“When I got back from the Olympics, my Year 7s were like, ‘Are you happy with 45th?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah I am actually; 45th at the Olympics, that’s pretty good’,” he told AAP.

“They were a bit like, ‘if you’re happy with 45th …’ but they came around once we got talking about it.

“We’ll see what their reaction is next year … they’re brutally honest. See if they think I could have run a bit faster.”

Buchanan thinks he can, but doesn’t want to move on just yet after doing what seemed the unthinkable just 12 months ago.

“It’s so often, ‘what’s next? Okay, done’,” he said.

“And I’ve done that so many times; you look back in a few months and go, ‘that was an awesome time of my life and I didn’t make the most of it’.”

Ironically, Buchanan has his students partly to thank for his history-making effort, the record now shifting twice in 24 months after Robert de Castella had held it for 36 years.

Keen to exercise their minds as well as their bodies, the teacher brought in AFL player turned psychologist Ed Barlow.

“Your mind is the most, I think, powerful thing,” Buchanan said.

“He spoke with them, we got along really well and I reached out and we have a great relationship now.

“I told him I hope he knows how big of a role he played in this.

“Because I’ve made some little changes but using a sports psych has been a massive one.

“My mentality, approach and confidence have changed dramatically.

“On race day Ed will give me a call, he mentions a few phrases and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I know where I want my brain to go in this moment.’.”

Buchanan was unsponsored until an Asics representative spotted him flying to victory in this year’s Gold Coast half marathon in a pair of his trusty Metaspeeds.

Now he’s qualified for next September’s world athletics championships in Tokyo and has an eye on Los Angeles’ 2028 Olympics.

But he’ll have company, Robinson already issuing a good-natured challenge as the expectations on Australian long-distance runners slowly rise.

“Brett said, ‘Congrats and we’ll have to race each other soon’,” Buchanan said.

“Led by the women, we’re making big jumps and they just lead to bigger jumps.

“I’m a bit nervous that someone will come out and break the record, but that’d be great for the sport if it happens.

“I finished 45th in Paris, so a top 10 seems a long way away but I’ve run a lot faster now and hopefully one day that’s the standard and expectation of Australian marathoners.”