I recently paid £3 for a shot of me doing the Four Villages Half so I thought I would make the most of it.
Two days after the race I was scheduled to do a tempo run (10 miles with 5 @ LT pace.) My legs felt OK so I attempted it. 5 miles averaging 6:55 told me that I was still recovering but I was happy with that effort.
My 21 mile run on Sunday went really well (apart from the persistent rain) so this morning I was ready to tackle the next tempo run - 11 miles with 6 @ LT pace. My legs felt good to start with and a first tempo mile of 6:48 was OK but after that I started to feel poorly and my pace slowed. After a third mile of over seven minutes I bailed out and jogged the rest of the distance.
It looks like I have my children's stomach bug. Hopefully with two recovery days I will be able to tackle that LT session as part of my 14 miler on Friday.
There are four running goals I would like to achieve before I turn 40:
1) sub 20 5K
2) sub 40 10K
3) sub 90 Half
4) sub 3 hour Marathon
Goal 1) was achieved in a parkrun last summer. My last Half resulted in a 1:33 with a big fade in the last 3 miles. Since then I had done a marathon training program for Chester and have done the first 6 weeks of another one so should be able to improve my time.
My 68 minute 10 miler in December gave my the confidence that a 7 min/mile pace could feel comfortable in a race. However to go under 90 mins in a Half you have to average 6:52 pace. Was I up to this? Sunday's Half Marathon would give me the chance to find out.
I got there almost an hour early but after queueing for the shuttle bus from the car park, queueing for the portaloo and queueing for the baggage drop there were only a few minutes left so no proper warm up for me.
Never mind, I warmed up by zigzagging around slow starters for the first half mile.
The route is pretty flat until mile 8 when it climbs for about 3 miles and then there is a steep descent to the finish. Therefore the plan was to maintain about 6:55 pace for the first ten miles and then blitz the last 3 miles.
The first 7 miles were a cruise. The sun was shining, the country roads were pleasant and I barely seemed to be breathing.
The 8th mile contained a climb and a 7:08 here made me wonder if I had started fading. However a 6:50 and a 7:00 over the next two miles put me back on track.
I thought that the course started dropping here but the 11th mile started with a nasty hill and the best I could do was another 6:50. I did wonder if the target was out of reach here as I needed two very quick miles. However the 12th mile dropped 180 feet resulting in a 6:15. Wahey! Now I had well over 7 mins for the last 1.1 miles so knew I was on track.
The 13th mile was a bit more undulating and only now did I want the race to end. However a 6:25 and a fast last 0.1 mile got me home in 1:29:19!
Milestone 3 complete! Going under 90 mins for the Half also means that I get a UK ranking. I am currently the 431st best Male Half Marathoner in the UK for 2014. Of course this will be more like 4000th by the end of the year but nice to get that first ranking.
I feel quite confident about achieving milestone 2 this summer if I do some speed work after the marathon.
However milestone 4 is something else entirely. Assuming I get 3:20 this year then taking 20 minutes off that time in one year is a big ask but you never know!
Looking back on the race it was a great course but the organisation was so so. I got the impression that this race had become rather overgrown and the organisers couldn't really cope with over 2000 people. Some people were queueing outside for over an hour after the race to get their bag back. If it had been wet and cold this would have been dangerous as they were still in their racing gear.
However I will be back next year to move that PB a little further down.
Two days after an 18 mile marathon training run it was time to represent my club at cross country. A very wet winter so far meant that the ground was always going to be soft and it certainly did not disappoint - soft and muddy to begin with and after the juniors' and ladies' races it was a complete mud bath.
I managed to get my vest on the right way round this time and so lined up with my club mates ready to attack the course. I let the faster club mates zoom off as I prefer to build from the back.
After a few hundred metres my legs were already caked in mud and any thoughts of a fast time soon disappeared. I managed to overtake one club mate after half a mile as he was fading already and then after another half mile I overtook a second club mate who had beaten me in my last cross country.
After two miles I was already feeling the pain and it was a bit of a slog after that. I kept going, overtaking the odd runner here and there. In the last mile I started approaching two more club mates but the race ended earlier than expected - at 5.25 miles rather than 6 - so I didn't manage to get past them.
In the end I finished 7th out of my club - one place out of the A team places. Once again I was in the top half of the race but in the bottom half of my age category.
At least I have plenty to aim for - top 6 for my club and top half of my age category would be a good start.
It is a bit frustrating to keep getting beaten by people doing less than half your training mileage but the training is a long term game and some people just have amazing genetics. My genetics seem to prefer long or very long races so 5 miles is a bit short for me.
I must admit that I have always considered fell runners to be slightly crazy. Why would you put your body through the torture of going up and down hills all the time? Yes the views are good but normally you are too shattered to appreciate them.
After my first fell race on New Year's Eve my opinion has not changed! The appalling weather did not help but this is probably the most challenging race shorter than a marathon that I have ever done.
The route takes you from the edge of Lyme Park up to the Bowstones ridge - a climb of about 900 feet over 3 miles! The forecast was for wind and rain and sure enough just before the start the rain started falling.
Once three cattle grids had been navigated we then climbed the first hill which was steep but nothing unusual. After a short fast flat section we then started up the real hill. This was sometimes so steep at times that it would probably have been more efficient to walk but my pride made me keep running. The rain was sheeting down and the wind blowing a gale at this stage and you do start to wonder why on earth you are there!
To add insult to injury I was "chicked" by the leading lady and she gradually pulled away throughout the race.
Finally soon after 3 miles we reached the top and it was mainly downhill from here. However the paths were so treacherous that you couldn't establish any kind of rhythm but just had to focus on staying on your feet.
In the final mile a group of runners came past me even though I was almost going at 6-minute-mile pace. I decided that my priority was to stay on my feet and let them go.
So I survived intact and finished in 27th place out of about 150.
I think if the weather had been OK I would have enjoyed it but the appalling weather meant it was a good workout and rich experience but not really fun.
And now I have DOMS from running down those hills!
I am a road runner it seems. I will leave the fell races to those even crazier than me!
