The Manchester cross country season began on Saturday at the enormous Heaton Park.
Despite only being two weeks after my marathon I was feeling pretty good so decided to give it a go. I had ordered some spikes for the occasion and had successfully pushed them to the limit and beyond at a muddy park the day before so was keen to get stuck in to a race.
The men's race consisted of 3 laps of a 2 mile loop. The first six finishers from each club count towards the score so my goal was to be one of the scorers.
At the start almost everyone sprinted off down the hill except me who just jogged down sedately! There I am in the picture near the bottom left in a green vest behind an older guy in a green sweatshirt.
Once the pace had settled down I overtook three or four club mates and then very gradually worked my way through the field doing about 7:20 minute miles. I was expecting to do 7 minute miles but the mud does slow you down a bit and maybe that marathon was still in my legs.
Near the start of the second lap I was told that I was in about 190th place. Would I be able to work my way into the top half of the field at least? I overtook about another 10 people on that lap and then another 20 on the final lap.
Near the end of the course there is a steep short hill and then it levels out for the last 100 metres or so. The cheering crowd gave me a surge of energy and I shot past about 10 people to finish in position 155 out of 343. This was the top half of the men's race but in the bottom half of my age category. Hmmm no likey. However I came sixth in my club so achieved my primary goal.
All in all a fun afternoon and a great turnout from the Bramhall Runners with 15 in the men's race alone!
Eighteen weeks of training, countless early starts and a worn out pair of trainers culminated in my first marathon last Sunday.
I told people that I wanted to do it in 3 hours 20 but secretly I wanted to do it in 3:15. Based on a half marathon PB of 1:33 and a successful training period it should be possible.
Chester dawned sunny and still; perfect for spectators, possibly getting a bit hot for the runners.
After failing to get in the main car park before it closed I found another one nearby, got changed, dropped off my bag and got in the queue for the portaloos. Then after some jogging and light stretching I got into the start queue. I was starting to feel hungry at this point and wondered if I should have had more breakfast but then decided to dismiss such pointless thoughts.
The horn went and I started off behind the 3:30 pacers as my plan was to do the first 6 miles at 8 minute mile pace and then do the rest at 7:30 pace. After winding our way through Chester for a few miles we then headed out South into the countryside. Plodding along behind the pacers felt comfortable and even if I had wanted to get past them it would have been a struggle as there was a big crowd of people behind them.
At the 6 mile point I picked up a bottle of Lucozade and overtook the pacers. Time to start working!
The next 9 miles were fun. Keeping to a pace of about 7.30 minutes per mile I overtook hundreds of people. My race position went from about 900 to about 500. I felt a slight energy dip at mile 13 and felt great again at mile 15. In retrospect this was probably due to the gradient of the road.
By mile 16 things were starting to feel hard. My Mum and sister had come out to cheer me at this point and this gave me a lift. However by mile 18 my pace had almost dropped to 8 minute miles again.
Just after mile 20 I had to take a comfort break. This wasted about a minute and afterwards I realised I was on the death march. I had no energy! My pace was a pathetic 8:30 min/mile and the whole course felt like it was uphill.
At the 24 mile point there was a real hill and this sapped all my remaining energy. At the top of the hill the 3:30 pacers sailed past me. If only I had stayed with them all along! It was now just a question of whether I would get under 3:30 myself.
The support on the last 2 miles was great but I was lost in my own world. Finally the route turned onto the racecourse and the crowd here was fantastic but I had nothing to offer. Picking up the pace slightly towards the finish line my calves started cramping and I had to run like a robot, trying not to bend my knees.
Finally I crossed the line and collapsed on the grass. The clock had gone past 3:30 but my chip time was 3:29:48! Phew!
One of the best things about a marathon is the feeling of being able to stop running and rest! This I did, lying on the grass until a steward encouraged me to move on.
After a massage from my physio sister we had a pleasant lunch in Chester and then I managed to drive myself home.
I am not sure why I didn't get the time I was expecting. It could have been a lack of endurance in my legs, a lack of carbo-loading or the heat or most likely a combination of a number of factors.
In any case I have the marathon bug and I will be back!
Two weeks of taper complete and one week left.
Last week the schedule only called for four runs - what sort of nonsense is this?
However there were some hard sessions. Doing 3 x 1 mile at 5K pace requires some effort, especially if you end up doing them as fast as you can like I normally do. My first 1 mile effort was seconds away from 6 minutes flat - fast for me!
My 12 miles on Sunday almost ended in disaster. As normal I was pushing the pace at the end, getting my average pace down to eight minutes per mile. Running fast in the dark on bumpy pavements is not very sensible and about one quarter of a mile from the end of my run I went over on my right ankle. Fortunately my joints seem to be built of strong stuff and two days later my ankle is fine. Phew!
The obscure title of this post comes from a thought I had this morning when I did 2 miles at planned marathon pace as part of a 7 mile run. 7.30 min/mile pace has never felt so comfortable and I wondered if this is how gazelles feel when they are running? Probably not.
Wed: 5 miles recovery with 6 x 100m strides
Thu: 8 miles with 3 x 1 mile at 5K race pace
Sat: 7 miles recovery with 8 x 100m strides
Sun: 12 miles slow
Tue: 7 miles with 2 at planned marathon pace.
