Last year the heat and undulations of the Freckleton Half Marathon killed me, resulting in a severe fade over the last 3 miles. Would this year be any different?
Well the weather was even hotter if anything with few clouds in the sky and the temperature pushing 20 degrees. 20 degrees does not sound like much but when you are running at a steady effort for 90 minutes it does hurt you.
My mood was not helped by the fact that I had managed to forget my Garmin. Major d'oh! I did at least have a stopwatch so I would have some idea as to my pace.
At 2pm the hooter sounded and off we went. Ben Fish and company motored off into the distance while I tried to find my tempo pace with no Garmin to help me. Actually I did pretty well as the first mile was about 6:35 - not far off my 6:40 target pace.
The next couple of miles ended up at about 6:45 pace as we wound around Freckleton and out into the countryside. I went through 5k in 21 mins which would have been a 5k PB 18 months ago.
For the next 3 miles I followed someone who seemed to know what he was doing and looked very comfortable. This dragged me along at about 6:50 pace which was OK. The hills on miles 5 and 6 were duly conquered without much fuss.
At every water station I was taking a few sips of water and pouring the rest over my head in an attempt to stay cool. This seemed to help slightly.
The 7th mile is downhill and felt very comfortable. I went through halfway in 44:40. No PB today then but sub 90 should be very doable.
However my pace gradually dropped off over the next few miles until by the 10th mile I was at 7:00 pace. I guess the heat and the lonely running got to me.
Miles 10 to 12 are on the side of a main road which is straight and slightly climbing. These miles were a complete slog. I just couldn't wait for the race to end! I overtook one runner and he then overtook me back and that was about as exciting as that section got!
The 13th mile is a bit more interesting as it winds through Freckleton and at least you know that you are nearly there! A guy overtook me on this mile and I was able to speed up slightly to keep up with him. He then slowed down to let me do some work and I managed to stay ahead of him and overtake one more guy.
Just like last year I managed to speed up on the final straight, coming home in 1:31:26 and 48th place out of 660 finishers.
I then devoured 4 cups of squash and 4 cups of tea in the next 40 minutes or so in an attempt to rehydrate.
The positives are a reasonably strong last mile and an almost two minute improvement on last year. The negative is my slowest half marathon of the year by over 2 minutes.
I think the course is tougher than it looks. The hills around the middle drain some energy and the 3 miles on the main road just drain all your will power. It is probably the toughest half marathon course I have done so far and the RunBritain handicap factor for the race concurs.
However this beast will be conquered! I plan to return next year for a sub 90 and hopefully a cooler day.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Hansons Marathon Method
With the London Marathon well and truly behind me it is now on to summer training.
While I could just start the same P&D schedule again to prepare for the Chester marathon I think I am ready to try something a bit different. Step up Hansons' Renegade marathon method!
The plan uses the word "renegade" as the longest run is only 16 miles long, defying conventional wisdom that your longest marathon training run should be at least 20 miles.
However the Hanson brothers are of the opinion that your long run should not comprise more than 25% of your weekly mileage. Therefore doing a 20 mile run as part of a 50 mile week like some Hal Higdon plans proscribe is disproportionate and can result in a 20 mile "misadventure" rather than a run.
The idea is that you start the long run on tired legs and are therefore simulating the last 16 miles of the marathon rather than the first 16.
The other idea is that you do you speed work in the first half of the plan and then "lock" in the benefits by doing slower and longer "strength" workouts. I haven't quite worked out the scientific basis behind this but am willing to give it a try.
I have already done my first speed workout - 12 * 400m with 400m recoveries. Thanks to the nice long recoveries and the use of 5K pace this was not too much problem. 3 * 1 mile with 600m recoveries in a few weeks will be a different matter!
The first 6 weeks are all under 50 miles in volume so I am currently adding easy miles to get each week up to 50.
Apparently the most important part of training is consistency. If I can keep my weekly mileage around the 50 mark for the rest of this year then I should be well placed for another serious marathon push in 2015.
While I could just start the same P&D schedule again to prepare for the Chester marathon I think I am ready to try something a bit different. Step up Hansons' Renegade marathon method!
The plan uses the word "renegade" as the longest run is only 16 miles long, defying conventional wisdom that your longest marathon training run should be at least 20 miles.
However the Hanson brothers are of the opinion that your long run should not comprise more than 25% of your weekly mileage. Therefore doing a 20 mile run as part of a 50 mile week like some Hal Higdon plans proscribe is disproportionate and can result in a 20 mile "misadventure" rather than a run.
The idea is that you start the long run on tired legs and are therefore simulating the last 16 miles of the marathon rather than the first 16.
The other idea is that you do you speed work in the first half of the plan and then "lock" in the benefits by doing slower and longer "strength" workouts. I haven't quite worked out the scientific basis behind this but am willing to give it a try.
I have already done my first speed workout - 12 * 400m with 400m recoveries. Thanks to the nice long recoveries and the use of 5K pace this was not too much problem. 3 * 1 mile with 600m recoveries in a few weeks will be a different matter!
The first 6 weeks are all under 50 miles in volume so I am currently adding easy miles to get each week up to 50.
Apparently the most important part of training is consistency. If I can keep my weekly mileage around the 50 mark for the rest of this year then I should be well placed for another serious marathon push in 2015.
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