If London Marathon is my A race this spring the Wilmslow Half was my B race. A big local event (about 4000 runners) on a fast, rural course with loads of club mates running this was not to be missed.
The forecast looked dubious with wet and windy conditions predicted but on the day it was fine with quite a lot of sunshine and only a few showers.
After a short warm up I located my club mates and we agreed to run 6:45 miles until mile 10 when it would become a race. I was the only one to have broken 90 minutes before so the hope was that I would pace them all to a sub 90.
After a nice steady first mile of 7:05 we settled into a rhythm of banging out 6:42 miles time after time! This pace felt very comfortable, no doubt aided by the fact that the first half of the course is slightly downhill.
We went through halfway in about 44:30. This is 1:29 pace but the second half does contain hills!
At about 7 miles some club mates were spectating from a pub and the delightful photo below was the result:
As you can see I was having a lot of fun although Frank on my right doesn't seem too happy.
After mile 7 the hills kicked in and we had three slightly slower miles of about 6:50. At some point in these three miles Frank dropped off so it was down to four Bramhall Runners.
At the 10 mile marker (reached in just over 68 minutes) I sensed that my club mates were struggling and I upped the pace slightly. My last 3 miles were 6:30, 6:40 and 6:30. By the time I reached the 12 mile marker I knew that I would get under 1:29 for the first time and wondered if I might get under 1:28. If I hadn't ran wide so much I think I might have but as it was my Garmin measured my run as 13.19 miles and despite doing the last 200 metres at sub-6 pace my time was 1:28:23.
I then waited to see if my club mates would get under 90 minutes and thankfully 3 of them did. Frank probably paid the price for racing a parkrun the day before.
I am very pleased with my PB and especially with how comfortable 6:45 pace felt for 9 miles. In my next Half Marathon I can confidently aim for a sub 1:28.
With regards to marathon pace I should probably aim for 3:10 but I don't want to risk blowing up in the last 6 miles so I think I will aim for 3:15 and see what is in the tank at mile 20.
After setting a new parkrun PB of 19:53 on the hilly Woodbank Park course I was curious to see what I could do on the faster Bramhall Park route.
The parkrun coincided with a tune-up race on the training plan so I had two days of easy running beforehand to get my legs ready.
I did a 3 mile warm up to get my legs in the mood for racing. When I arrived at the venue I bumped into two club-mates who are at about my standard. Lok I normally beat but Frank is normally a few minutes in front of me. It would be good to have a bit of healthy competition anyway.
I set off at my normal steady 5K pace, being overtaken left, right and centre by people sprinting the first few hundred metres. Frank disappeared into the distance and Lok was soon 10 metres ahead. As normal after a few minutes I started to reel people in.
The first Km was about 3:55 and the halfway mark was reached in 9:50. At this point I was feeling OK but wasn't sure if I would catch Lok who was still a good 10 metres in front. Through the next 1.5 Kms I steadily overtook people and gradually gained on Lok until at 4 Km I was just behind him. The time here was about 15:55 so I was expecting a modest PB as I knew the last Km was quick.
I then noticed Frank just in front of Lok - this was turning into a great battle of Bramhall Runners! With about 600m to go I overtook Lok and then went past Frank as we climbed up the last little hill. From here it was flat and then downhill so I knew I would need a fast finish to hold them off.
Thankfully my legs were willing and I accelerated down the hill to 4:50 min/mile pace and maintained it to the finish line. I was stunned when I looked at my watch to see a time of 19:21!
I don't really understand how my last block of marathon training didn't improve my 5K PB and now towards the end of this block I have suddenly gained over 30 seconds!
Needless to say I was pretty chuffed to beat my club mates - especially Frank who I have never beaten before.
Bramhall parkrun is not especially quick so I will try a fast 5K in the summer and see if I can get under 19 minutes.
The day after the parkrun I managed a slow 17 miles on weary legs. Then on the Tuesday I had some time off work to do my 20 miler to make room for a Half Marathon this weekend - the Wilmslow Half!
A few of my club mates want to get under 90 minutes for the first time so I may end up pacing them until the 10 mile point and then we will race. I can't wait!
One of the most feared sessions in the P&D marathon training programs is the "18 miles with 14@MP" run that occurs towards the end of the schedule.
Although running just over half the marathon distance at race pace doesn't sound that hard in practise it can be a killer as it is done on tired legs and full fitness has not been achieved yet.
In my last marathon build up this session killed me. I did all the 14 miles on pace and ended up wasted on the sofa for a few hours, shivering under a blanket!
This time I was a bit more confident. I was using the same pace as last time but hopefully was fitter now. Also the recent "16 miles with 12@MP" session had been OK.
In the end the session went pretty well. I did most of it at my favourite hunting ground - a park with a flat mile loop that I can race around without fear of traffic or hills disrupting my flow. The four miles to the park served as the warm-up and then it was time to go at 7:30 minutes / mile pace for the next 14 miles.
The pace felt quite fast as I am used to doing my slow runs at 8:15 pace but it was fairly comfortable. I just had to focus on the pace because as soon as my mind wandered I would start to slip back into my normal long run pace. Aerobically the effort felt absolutely fine but I did feel a few twinges in my legs from time to time. I think the bottleneck in my fitness will be my legs cramping up or my muscles running out of fuel come marathon day. The aerobic engine seems to be totally there.
After 10 laps it was time to maintain the pace over the 4 miles home. This did involved meeting traffic but it was still early on a Sunday morning and it was fine. I felt good at the end and managed to speed up on the last mile.
At the end I pretty much felt how I normally feel after a long run - tired but not wrecked.
So another key session banked.
This week is a tune-up race week. I am currently enjoying two days of recovery runs and then on Saturday morning it is time for another parkrun PB. If I can do 19:53 at Woodbank Park what can I do at Bramhall Park? That 19:57 course record is toast!
My Parkrun (5K) PB has been stuck at 19:57 for over 6 months now, since before I started training for Chester marathon. I had hoped that all the marathon training would improve my 5K time slightly but so far it hadn't. I felt stronger but not quicker.
Last Saturday I had another attempt on the hilly Woodbank course. My PB was set on the easier Bramhall course so surely I couldn't PB at Woodbank?
Conditions were perfect and I even had some supporters so there could be no excuses.
The first mile is flat and this was duly completed in 6:10. The second and third miles contain the hill and it is a nasty one at that - very steep to start with and rising almost 100 feet in all.
At the end of the first lap I had my support team cheering and I upped the pace to about 5:30 mins / mile - see below:
The second mile was completed in 6:30 - much faster than last time I did this course.
For the third mile I kept a similar pace and managed that in 6:30 as well.
Unfortunately for the last 0.1 mile I was pretty spent and couldn't stop the guy in the photo above coming past and pushing me down to 9th place.
However I was astounded by my time of 19:53. This was over 30 seconds faster than my time 2 weeks ago and an overall 5K PB on a hilly course.
Now I can't wait to see what I can do on the Bramhall course!
