28/04/2012
The most amazing experience, London 2012
Before the London marathon, people told me that the experience would be like nothing I could imagine and would be a world apart from the marathons that I had done so far. I was sceptical that it would be that different, although knew that the crowds would be bigger and there would be more of a buzz.
Oh how I underestimated how different it would be!
I drove to London on the friday straight from Cardiff, my plan being to get to the expo early on saturday morning before the rush started and pick up my number and have a nose around the various stalls. I should have noted at this point the sheer number of people on the DLR at 9am on a saturday morning was an indication of the scale of the crowds to come.
I managed to get my goodie bag and number fairly quickly, although I could see lines for other number brackets starting to escalate even at the early hour. The excitment was starting to build, and on entering the expo, there is a wall where people have written messages, the lack of any free available space was heart warming as it was full edge to edge with wishes of good luck, encouragement, and personal messages about why people are running this world famous course.
The expo itself had some good stalls, I managed to pick up some x-bionics calf guards to give them a trial run and see what sort of effect they would have. I was approached by various charities to see whether I would be interested in running further marathons for them, although most where slightly taken aback when I explained what I was doing this year! I took home a few leaflets but haven't browsed through them yet, one thing at a time I figure!
Emi met me around midday having taken the national express down in the morning and we spend a nice afternoon wandering around London and doing the usual tourist things. We walked along some of the marathon route, which was an odd feeling knowing that along with 35,000+ other people, I would be running it the next day. I've never been to Buckingham Palace before, but the sight is awe-inspiring and I must admit, I was a little overcome at this point, seeing the finish line and stands being assembled.
I had unfortunately been ill since thursday and didn't have much of an appetite over the weekend. I had managed to force down some food to keep my strength up, but as the day drew to a close, I was starting to become concerned that the marathon would be far tougher than I had realised because I wouldn't have the energy to sustain myself through the 26.2 miles.
On the morning the the marathon, Emi and I travelled to greenwich park along with a train full of other runners, and even at this point, the atmosphere was charged with excitement and anticipation. Everyone seemed to have joined together for a common goal and it really was a pleasure to be part of something this big.
I've never been to a festival or any other gathering with this number of people before, so upon entering greenwich park my jaw physically dropped at the sheer number of people I saw on the hill in front of me!! Emi took some last minute photos before we ran over the meeting plans again and I went into the start compound.
The race start itself was a slow affair, it took some 8 minutes for me to cross the start line but had settled into a nice trot along with my fellow runners. I was surprised to see people running with headphones, as I thought it would take away some of the enjoyment of the atmosphere, after all, they wouldn't be able to hear people cheering their name, but each to their own.
I saw my brother around 0.8 miles in which was a nice surprise as I didn't think he would have made it, which gave me another lift. At this point I was starting to see what people had been talking about in terms of how the crowd can lift your spirits and carry you through the race.
I had hoped for a PB and fast finish in London as it is a flat course compared to my other races, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to happen. I spent alot of time dodging round runners, which should be a sport itself! There were a few times when people caught my heals and so I settled for adopting the pace of the crowd and staying on the same racing line.
The course became a bit of a blur and at this point, I wouldn't be able to tell you where I had run. The crowded streets transformed London to the point of being unrecognisable, and watching the race back (we had recorded it at home) parts of it come back to me, such as the cutty sark or running over tower bridge.
I tried to thank everyone that cheered my name, I am genuinely moved that people would give up their own free time to come out and support their friends and family, and even more so that they would cheer for everyone else as well! I had read stories in the run up to the VLM from people that said they had been plucked from the point of oblivion by other runners and people from the crowd giving them words of encouragement, or helping them just get moving again, so whilst people reading this might not have been in the crowd, thank YOU for your support.
I was still feeling quite sick and uncomfortable during the race. My stomach felt unnaturally heavy and I had a lump at the back of my throat meaning that at some point, was I was going to be sick. I didn't want to do it near a crowd of people, whilst I think people would understand, it was a point of principle that I should keep this moment to myself. At around 17 miles, my stomach had simply had enough and so with the assistance of a marshal, managed to nip behind some foliage and promptly threw up everywhere....several times.
I felt much better afterwards and resumed my running. At this point I knew that I would be able to put in a strong finish and had enough to carry me threw but I had started to cramp. I was finding it tough to keep my legs moving at the slower pace that I was forced to adopt by the crowd, and so I started a walk/run method, trying to stretch out as much as I could before hitting a wall of people.
Mentally this became quite taxing, as every time I had to walk, it became harder to start running again, but I was all smiles at this point and was quite happy just taking in the crowd! The cheer mile is possibly the best experience of the race, theres nothing quite like being hit with a wall of noise which people literally screaming your name and cheering you onwards.
The last mile was a welcome sight for my now aching feet and as I made my way up birdcage walk, I noticed someone walking along who looked like he was running on empty. I stopped to walk next to him and we chatted about who he was running the race for and his training etc. I hoped to get him running again as we were so close to the end, I joked that as it was his first marathon, and it was VLM after all, it was against the rules to walk across the line! We managed to get running and around 200m from the finish line he thanked me and urged me to sprint on, which I did.
Crossing the finish line was such an experience, and I was greeted with the biggest smile from the medals team as they put a medal over my neck, and even writing this a week later, an ear to ear smile spreads across my face.
I made my way to the agreed meeting point and Emi congratulated me on #4 completed. The finishing area is croded as friends and family are allowed in, so we made our way fairly promptly to the Westminster Thistle hotel and the Make-a-Wish meet and greet so have a much needed cup of tea and a massage.
I had been chatting on twitter with one of the other MaW fund raisers and so had the opportunity of meeting them face to face. It turns out the day was especially special for Sean Penny (sorry, typo now corrected!) who was about propose to his girlfriend and had arranged for Jay Norton (from The Voice UK) to sing for them at the after party.
All in all, the London Marathon was without a doubt the highlight of my journey so far this year. I try and take something away from every run so that I can develope my training for the races ahead, changing those things that don't work and keeping those things that do, and from London i'm taking away the crowd. The power of motivation that a 100,000+ strong crowd can give is something that I can use when i'm struggling in a race, or when I hit the wall, or on long training runs when i'm struggling to keep moving. Thank you London.
The next race is just 3 weeks after London, and so training is going to be limited so that my body can recovery. I'm writting this a week after racing and so far have managed 1 run, which was a bit of a struggle. I plan to do a few 10km runs during the week and hopefully will be able to get out with WRC a few times just to keep things ticking over.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this half as much as I enjoyed running the London Marathon and writing this.
Oh how I underestimated how different it would be!
I drove to London on the friday straight from Cardiff, my plan being to get to the expo early on saturday morning before the rush started and pick up my number and have a nose around the various stalls. I should have noted at this point the sheer number of people on the DLR at 9am on a saturday morning was an indication of the scale of the crowds to come.
I managed to get my goodie bag and number fairly quickly, although I could see lines for other number brackets starting to escalate even at the early hour. The excitment was starting to build, and on entering the expo, there is a wall where people have written messages, the lack of any free available space was heart warming as it was full edge to edge with wishes of good luck, encouragement, and personal messages about why people are running this world famous course.
The expo itself had some good stalls, I managed to pick up some x-bionics calf guards to give them a trial run and see what sort of effect they would have. I was approached by various charities to see whether I would be interested in running further marathons for them, although most where slightly taken aback when I explained what I was doing this year! I took home a few leaflets but haven't browsed through them yet, one thing at a time I figure!
Emi met me around midday having taken the national express down in the morning and we spend a nice afternoon wandering around London and doing the usual tourist things. We walked along some of the marathon route, which was an odd feeling knowing that along with 35,000+ other people, I would be running it the next day. I've never been to Buckingham Palace before, but the sight is awe-inspiring and I must admit, I was a little overcome at this point, seeing the finish line and stands being assembled.
I had unfortunately been ill since thursday and didn't have much of an appetite over the weekend. I had managed to force down some food to keep my strength up, but as the day drew to a close, I was starting to become concerned that the marathon would be far tougher than I had realised because I wouldn't have the energy to sustain myself through the 26.2 miles.
On the morning the the marathon, Emi and I travelled to greenwich park along with a train full of other runners, and even at this point, the atmosphere was charged with excitement and anticipation. Everyone seemed to have joined together for a common goal and it really was a pleasure to be part of something this big.
I've never been to a festival or any other gathering with this number of people before, so upon entering greenwich park my jaw physically dropped at the sheer number of people I saw on the hill in front of me!! Emi took some last minute photos before we ran over the meeting plans again and I went into the start compound.
The race start itself was a slow affair, it took some 8 minutes for me to cross the start line but had settled into a nice trot along with my fellow runners. I was surprised to see people running with headphones, as I thought it would take away some of the enjoyment of the atmosphere, after all, they wouldn't be able to hear people cheering their name, but each to their own.
I saw my brother around 0.8 miles in which was a nice surprise as I didn't think he would have made it, which gave me another lift. At this point I was starting to see what people had been talking about in terms of how the crowd can lift your spirits and carry you through the race.
I had hoped for a PB and fast finish in London as it is a flat course compared to my other races, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to happen. I spent alot of time dodging round runners, which should be a sport itself! There were a few times when people caught my heals and so I settled for adopting the pace of the crowd and staying on the same racing line.
The course became a bit of a blur and at this point, I wouldn't be able to tell you where I had run. The crowded streets transformed London to the point of being unrecognisable, and watching the race back (we had recorded it at home) parts of it come back to me, such as the cutty sark or running over tower bridge.
I tried to thank everyone that cheered my name, I am genuinely moved that people would give up their own free time to come out and support their friends and family, and even more so that they would cheer for everyone else as well! I had read stories in the run up to the VLM from people that said they had been plucked from the point of oblivion by other runners and people from the crowd giving them words of encouragement, or helping them just get moving again, so whilst people reading this might not have been in the crowd, thank YOU for your support.
I was still feeling quite sick and uncomfortable during the race. My stomach felt unnaturally heavy and I had a lump at the back of my throat meaning that at some point, was I was going to be sick. I didn't want to do it near a crowd of people, whilst I think people would understand, it was a point of principle that I should keep this moment to myself. At around 17 miles, my stomach had simply had enough and so with the assistance of a marshal, managed to nip behind some foliage and promptly threw up everywhere....several times.
I felt much better afterwards and resumed my running. At this point I knew that I would be able to put in a strong finish and had enough to carry me threw but I had started to cramp. I was finding it tough to keep my legs moving at the slower pace that I was forced to adopt by the crowd, and so I started a walk/run method, trying to stretch out as much as I could before hitting a wall of people.
Mentally this became quite taxing, as every time I had to walk, it became harder to start running again, but I was all smiles at this point and was quite happy just taking in the crowd! The cheer mile is possibly the best experience of the race, theres nothing quite like being hit with a wall of noise which people literally screaming your name and cheering you onwards.
The last mile was a welcome sight for my now aching feet and as I made my way up birdcage walk, I noticed someone walking along who looked like he was running on empty. I stopped to walk next to him and we chatted about who he was running the race for and his training etc. I hoped to get him running again as we were so close to the end, I joked that as it was his first marathon, and it was VLM after all, it was against the rules to walk across the line! We managed to get running and around 200m from the finish line he thanked me and urged me to sprint on, which I did.
Crossing the finish line was such an experience, and I was greeted with the biggest smile from the medals team as they put a medal over my neck, and even writing this a week later, an ear to ear smile spreads across my face.
I made my way to the agreed meeting point and Emi congratulated me on #4 completed. The finishing area is croded as friends and family are allowed in, so we made our way fairly promptly to the Westminster Thistle hotel and the Make-a-Wish meet and greet so have a much needed cup of tea and a massage.
I had been chatting on twitter with one of the other MaW fund raisers and so had the opportunity of meeting them face to face. It turns out the day was especially special for Sean Penny (sorry, typo now corrected!) who was about propose to his girlfriend and had arranged for Jay Norton (from The Voice UK) to sing for them at the after party.
All in all, the London Marathon was without a doubt the highlight of my journey so far this year. I try and take something away from every run so that I can develope my training for the races ahead, changing those things that don't work and keeping those things that do, and from London i'm taking away the crowd. The power of motivation that a 100,000+ strong crowd can give is something that I can use when i'm struggling in a race, or when I hit the wall, or on long training runs when i'm struggling to keep moving. Thank you London.
The next race is just 3 weeks after London, and so training is going to be limited so that my body can recovery. I'm writting this a week after racing and so far have managed 1 run, which was a bit of a struggle. I plan to do a few 10km runs during the week and hopefully will be able to get out with WRC a few times just to keep things ticking over.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this half as much as I enjoyed running the London Marathon and writing this.
15/04/2012
What a difference a day makes!
Haven't been able to log any miles this weekend due to a calf injury that appeared from no where, which as you can imagine, is the last thing that I want a week before marathon number 4!
On a plus note, the down time coupled with a few ice baths seems to have done the trick and the calf is feeling much improved now. Planning on a further ice bath this evening so that hopefully, will be able to get out and about tomorrow to start the taper down week before London on Sunday.
The Bournemouth Echo was looking for local runners to attend a photoshoot at the Littledown Centre, which was a good opportunity to meet some of the locals that are running London for various causes. It's good to see the number of people that turned up as it's a good sign that people are still willing to give up their time, energy, and money to help those less fortunate.
I'll be keeping my eye out for the article and will try to put a copy of the publication on here once its available.
Kudos to those who ran the Brighton marathon today, from what I hear, it was an amazing event. A massive well done goes to Kelly Lucas who completed it the day after completing her first ultra marathon, which on its own is no small feat, let alone running a further 26 miles the next day!
On a plus note, the down time coupled with a few ice baths seems to have done the trick and the calf is feeling much improved now. Planning on a further ice bath this evening so that hopefully, will be able to get out and about tomorrow to start the taper down week before London on Sunday.
The Bournemouth Echo was looking for local runners to attend a photoshoot at the Littledown Centre, which was a good opportunity to meet some of the locals that are running London for various causes. It's good to see the number of people that turned up as it's a good sign that people are still willing to give up their time, energy, and money to help those less fortunate.
I'll be keeping my eye out for the article and will try to put a copy of the publication on here once its available.
Kudos to those who ran the Brighton marathon today, from what I hear, it was an amazing event. A massive well done goes to Kelly Lucas who completed it the day after completing her first ultra marathon, which on its own is no small feat, let alone running a further 26 miles the next day!
11/04/2012
I wonder if....
With 3 months now gone in 2012, my current running total for the year stands at 318.25 miles. With this in mind, I wonder whether I will be able to run the distance between London and Rome through out my training.
Some quick calculations show that 1103 miles is the equivalent to 42 marathons, or running just over 3miles per day every day for a year....so, I wonder how far I can get!
Rotary 1/4 Marathon 07/04/12
After the return to shorter distance racing in the Bournemouth Bay 1/2, I was looking forward to the rotary 1/4 which shares the race route from the previous week. The race starts at Boscombe Pier, along the beach to hengistbury head and then back along a familiar path to Boscombe Pier.
Emi was doing the race as well with me, and we left registration until the day of the race and parking was a bit of a nightmare, so we found ourselves running for the start line and arriving just as the race started.
I started near the back, which meant that my pace was a bit at odds with the surrounding people. I made the mistake of going out too quickly trying to catch up with were I thought I should be to hit a good average pace to the race.
Unfortunately, this meant that around the 3mile mark, I began to flag and so I decided to treat the race as a training run and followed my usual pattern of 2.5miles at 1 minute below marathon pace, and then a minute or so at a walking pace and before starting again.
The brief reprieve around the 3 mile mark coincided with a water station so I had the opportunity to refuel and get back to it.
The second half of the race was relatively uneventful, the course is pretty flat albeit with some twists and turns as you run through a few housing estates. However, the last 300 metres or so is very downhill, meaning that I could make up some of the time that I had lost earlier in the race.
I misjudged the distance from the last corner to the finish line, meaning that my sprint finish was 100 metres instead of 50, so I crossed the line huffing and puffing, which was a rare treat as I don't usually have the energy for a burst at the end!
It was a really good race, and Emi did really well, taking 5 minutes off her previous 1/4 marathon PB.
The turnout for WRC was amazing as well with around 8 of us turning out for the race, and we even made it into the local paper!
Emi was doing the race as well with me, and we left registration until the day of the race and parking was a bit of a nightmare, so we found ourselves running for the start line and arriving just as the race started.
I started near the back, which meant that my pace was a bit at odds with the surrounding people. I made the mistake of going out too quickly trying to catch up with were I thought I should be to hit a good average pace to the race.
Unfortunately, this meant that around the 3mile mark, I began to flag and so I decided to treat the race as a training run and followed my usual pattern of 2.5miles at 1 minute below marathon pace, and then a minute or so at a walking pace and before starting again.
The brief reprieve around the 3 mile mark coincided with a water station so I had the opportunity to refuel and get back to it.
The second half of the race was relatively uneventful, the course is pretty flat albeit with some twists and turns as you run through a few housing estates. However, the last 300 metres or so is very downhill, meaning that I could make up some of the time that I had lost earlier in the race.
I misjudged the distance from the last corner to the finish line, meaning that my sprint finish was 100 metres instead of 50, so I crossed the line huffing and puffing, which was a rare treat as I don't usually have the energy for a burst at the end!
It was a really good race, and Emi did really well, taking 5 minutes off her previous 1/4 marathon PB.
The turnout for WRC was amazing as well with around 8 of us turning out for the race, and we even made it into the local paper!
03/04/2012
Bournemouth Bay Half 01/04/2012
The Bournemouth Bay Half wasn't originally going to be on my agenda this year as I wanted to focus on marathon training rather than running the risk of going OTT on a non-charity race and causing myself an injury. Unfortunately, two things got in my way of this:
Firstly, the Bay Run was the first longer distance race I did in my first year of running, which I think was the start of my journey into longer distance running, even if I didn't quite know it yet.
Secondly, was a challenge with Scott Harris (an ultra distance runner that makes my 12 marathon challenge look like a 1km fun run) to try and finish the race in 90minutes or less. I've never been too good at turning down challenges, so my fate was somewhat sealed at this point.
The race itself is a massive event, and by all accounts has grown on last year. The half marathon had some 1450 runners this year, which compared to the meager 400 or so runners that I usually encounter in the marathons i've done so far, the crowd was daunting to say the least.
The race also marks the start of the WRC club championship, and we had a massive turn out split between the half marathon and 10km races, which is an encouraging sign for the rest of the season.
The start of the race was split into anticipated finishing times, so I managed to wade through the sea of people to the 90minutes grouping, coming across a fellow WRC runner, Kelly Lucas, who was also in on the 90minute finish challenge with myself and Scott.
As the race started, it was pretty slow going, which is to be expected with such a large crowd and the small-ish pathway of Bournemouth beach, but the crowd soon slimmed down, with people either being a bit too optimistic with their expected finishing time, or overly conservative and starting further back. Either way, thankfully there was chip timing, so everyone gets a fair result in the end!
Kelly and I ran together for the first few minutes, although she has been training alot recently and dropped off the pace, finishing in an awesome 1hr 45m ish.
I didn't have sight of Scott at this point, although from speaking to him subsequently, he was looking over his shoulder alot expecting me to turn up and overtake, which spurred him on to finishing in an amazing 1h 27minutes and placing 50th.
I never did catch him up however. The start of the race was a bit disappointing for me. I'm not 100% comfortable in the new shoes, whether this is because I am not used to the higher heel, or they are just not right for me, I don't know. However, nature called in the first mile or so and then I had to redo my shoe laces which cost me a few minutes.
It was pretty plain sailing after the first 3 miles or so, the course up to that point containing a nightmare of a hill, which thankfully is the only meaningful incline on the course, but after that the course is relatively flat along the stretch of sandy beaches of the south coast.
The weather was perfect for the race, if a little hot. For me, it served as a good indication of the likely conditions for London in 3 weeks, and gave me an opportunity to test out hydration plans (which I got very wrong!) and make some notes for later. The cold water sponges were a nice touch, and I think were very welcomed by alot of the runners towards the end of the race when the sun was coming towards it's highest point.
I tried a different race-nutrition this time, favouring the lucozade jelly beans. I tried taking a few every 3miles or so, but found they really didnt do anything for me, and I found the noise of them jangling around to be quite annoying. I suppose if you were to run with headphones, it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but I don't, so different strokes for different folks I guess. I am thinking of trying some gels on my next longer run, but will have to try it this weekend, as I want to avoid the problems of tummy upsets on the big race day if something doesn't agree with me.
The crowd on the day was a bit of a novelty. Whilst all races generally attract some form of support, either from local residents, or friends/families of runners, it was quite nice to see larger crowds on throughout the route. Quite possibly they are there for someone specific, but the fact that they cheer for most (if not all) runners is a nice gesture, and can quite often be the small spark you need to ignite the furnaces again if you're flagging and push you on to the finish. To anyone reading this who is or was a supporter, Thank You.
As I reached the half way point, it was quite clear that I wasn't going to meet the 90minute deadline. My previous personal best was 1h 39minutes, set in swanage in 2011. The swanage course has the advantage that, as long as you can make good time in the first 7 miles, the remainder of the race is mostly downhill and so you can power through right to the finish and make up for lost time on the 3 larger hills in the first half. The Bay run presents no such opportunity to slice off some wasted time.
My training has been predominantly towards stamina and endurance rather than speed, although I would have hoped that I would have become faster, if only over longer distances, but I found that I simply couldn't maintain the 7min/mile pace required for a 90min finish.
On the plus side however, I did feel quite comfortable (in my legs at least) maintaining a pace of 7:15mins/mile, which is reassuring for my PB attempt in London on 22/04/2012. I found that during the last 2-3miles or so, I felt quite sick, although it was more a feeling of emptiness in my stomach, most likely due to dehydration, than nausea -- definately a lesson learned for next time, drink more water.
I was overtaken quite alot during the last mile or so. I used to try to always put in a sprint finish, but I find lately that I have little or nothing left when I cross the line. I suppose its a personal choice whether you leave something in the tank for the last dash towards the line, or simply push yourself to the limit for the entire race.
Either way, I crossed the line in the time of 1h 34mins, meaning that I missed the challenge by 4minutes, but beat my previous personal best by 5minutes. Win some lose some.
Overall, great day and looking forward to doing it next year, when hopefully i'll beat that 90minute barrier.
Firstly, the Bay Run was the first longer distance race I did in my first year of running, which I think was the start of my journey into longer distance running, even if I didn't quite know it yet.
Secondly, was a challenge with Scott Harris (an ultra distance runner that makes my 12 marathon challenge look like a 1km fun run) to try and finish the race in 90minutes or less. I've never been too good at turning down challenges, so my fate was somewhat sealed at this point.
The race itself is a massive event, and by all accounts has grown on last year. The half marathon had some 1450 runners this year, which compared to the meager 400 or so runners that I usually encounter in the marathons i've done so far, the crowd was daunting to say the least.
The race also marks the start of the WRC club championship, and we had a massive turn out split between the half marathon and 10km races, which is an encouraging sign for the rest of the season.
The start of the race was split into anticipated finishing times, so I managed to wade through the sea of people to the 90minutes grouping, coming across a fellow WRC runner, Kelly Lucas, who was also in on the 90minute finish challenge with myself and Scott.
As the race started, it was pretty slow going, which is to be expected with such a large crowd and the small-ish pathway of Bournemouth beach, but the crowd soon slimmed down, with people either being a bit too optimistic with their expected finishing time, or overly conservative and starting further back. Either way, thankfully there was chip timing, so everyone gets a fair result in the end!
Kelly and I ran together for the first few minutes, although she has been training alot recently and dropped off the pace, finishing in an awesome 1hr 45m ish.
I didn't have sight of Scott at this point, although from speaking to him subsequently, he was looking over his shoulder alot expecting me to turn up and overtake, which spurred him on to finishing in an amazing 1h 27minutes and placing 50th.
I never did catch him up however. The start of the race was a bit disappointing for me. I'm not 100% comfortable in the new shoes, whether this is because I am not used to the higher heel, or they are just not right for me, I don't know. However, nature called in the first mile or so and then I had to redo my shoe laces which cost me a few minutes.
It was pretty plain sailing after the first 3 miles or so, the course up to that point containing a nightmare of a hill, which thankfully is the only meaningful incline on the course, but after that the course is relatively flat along the stretch of sandy beaches of the south coast.
The weather was perfect for the race, if a little hot. For me, it served as a good indication of the likely conditions for London in 3 weeks, and gave me an opportunity to test out hydration plans (which I got very wrong!) and make some notes for later. The cold water sponges were a nice touch, and I think were very welcomed by alot of the runners towards the end of the race when the sun was coming towards it's highest point.
I tried a different race-nutrition this time, favouring the lucozade jelly beans. I tried taking a few every 3miles or so, but found they really didnt do anything for me, and I found the noise of them jangling around to be quite annoying. I suppose if you were to run with headphones, it wouldn't be too much of a problem, but I don't, so different strokes for different folks I guess. I am thinking of trying some gels on my next longer run, but will have to try it this weekend, as I want to avoid the problems of tummy upsets on the big race day if something doesn't agree with me.
The crowd on the day was a bit of a novelty. Whilst all races generally attract some form of support, either from local residents, or friends/families of runners, it was quite nice to see larger crowds on throughout the route. Quite possibly they are there for someone specific, but the fact that they cheer for most (if not all) runners is a nice gesture, and can quite often be the small spark you need to ignite the furnaces again if you're flagging and push you on to the finish. To anyone reading this who is or was a supporter, Thank You.
As I reached the half way point, it was quite clear that I wasn't going to meet the 90minute deadline. My previous personal best was 1h 39minutes, set in swanage in 2011. The swanage course has the advantage that, as long as you can make good time in the first 7 miles, the remainder of the race is mostly downhill and so you can power through right to the finish and make up for lost time on the 3 larger hills in the first half. The Bay run presents no such opportunity to slice off some wasted time.
My training has been predominantly towards stamina and endurance rather than speed, although I would have hoped that I would have become faster, if only over longer distances, but I found that I simply couldn't maintain the 7min/mile pace required for a 90min finish.
On the plus side however, I did feel quite comfortable (in my legs at least) maintaining a pace of 7:15mins/mile, which is reassuring for my PB attempt in London on 22/04/2012. I found that during the last 2-3miles or so, I felt quite sick, although it was more a feeling of emptiness in my stomach, most likely due to dehydration, than nausea -- definately a lesson learned for next time, drink more water.
I was overtaken quite alot during the last mile or so. I used to try to always put in a sprint finish, but I find lately that I have little or nothing left when I cross the line. I suppose its a personal choice whether you leave something in the tank for the last dash towards the line, or simply push yourself to the limit for the entire race.
Either way, I crossed the line in the time of 1h 34mins, meaning that I missed the challenge by 4minutes, but beat my previous personal best by 5minutes. Win some lose some.
Overall, great day and looking forward to doing it next year, when hopefully i'll beat that 90minute barrier.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)