Breaking 1h30 in the Stratford Half Marathon

Anything under 1h40, with half an eye on 1h35 had been the target. Of course, race time predictor said otherwise and, based on my current 5 and 10k times, had me a couple of minutes under 1h30 for the half marathon, but my times have always been relatively slower in longer events, probably due to a lack of time spent on longer runs.

I'd pushed hard in my interval training and tempo runs, but always dropped down a gear or two on the longer runs, for fear of blowing up 5 miles from nowhere. The thought of turning up to the race and running for an hour and a half at under 6:55 min/mile seemed ridiculous. The fastest long training run I'd clocked prior to the half marathon, was at 7:40 min/mile pace. Almost a minute per mile slower.

The Race

As the horn sounded, at the start of the Shakespeare Half (and Full) Marathon, the adrenalin kicked in and, predictable as ever, I sped off way quicker than intended, only to find myself sitting in a group who rounded the first 4 corners of the race to finish the first mile in near enough 6 mins 30 seconds. I'm yet to start a race where I've not gone off a little faster than I'd anticipated, I know I'm not alone. It's partly due to the excitement, partly due to a voice inside you persuading you that of course you can squeeze a couple more minutes off your target time. That and you're feeling fresh, fresher than for any of your training runs, assuming you've tapered, makes it tricky to tune your body into a sensible, and sustainable, race pace.

After completing mile one 40 seconds quicker than planned, I pulled back to around a 6:50 pace, as did many of the folk around me. I still felt very comfortable and thought I'd try and hold the pace to mile 4 or 5 and see how I felt. Having run some long training runs and completed a few marathons, I feel capable of visualising how my body will react over the course of 5 or so miles. Beyond that, it's a little more uncertain. I know when I reached 18 miles in my last marathon, I stepped the pace up a notch as I felt comfortable I could sustain it to 23/24 miles, and get myself the last couple of miles on sheer determination. It worked.

A couple of small hills behind us, we hit mile 5 and my average pace was around 6:55. I felt I could sustain this, at a push, so I kept it going. The course had flattened out a little by this stage and I knew there was only one long hill left around the 9 mile mark. We passed through a couple of villages, with pockets of cheerful and welcoming support out along the route, which always picks you up and made for a pleasant middle section of the race.

The miles were passing quickly and soon enough the long drag up around mile 9 was upon us. I slowed a little, focused on the ground a few metres in front of me and just kept the legs turning. The hill wasn't difficult, just quite long and I quickly made up for the slow down in pace on the descent.

I've never done a few hilly courses previously and have never been one to hold back on descents, preferring just to lean forward and let the legs go. The thighs do take a bit of a pounding, but it's a sure fire way to make up for any lost time on the ascents. By the time you reach the bottom, your legs have gotten used to moving more quickly and you find it easier to sustain a higher pace, even when the ground's levelled out.

The mile or so after the descent, I was running a little quicker than 6:40 per mile. I eased off a little through mile 11, having bought my average right back down and, despite my fuzzy running brain, I managed to work out that a quick finish might just get me home in under 1h30.

The 12 mile marker was close to a 180 degree turn down off the main road and onto a track. I checked my watch, which was showing 1:23 something. A little over 1 mile to go and less than 7 minutes remaining. I caught up with the man in front and encouraged him to join me in attempting a quick finish to get in under 1h30. We slogged it out and at 200m to go, I went flat out, realising there were literally seconds in it.

I completed mile 13 in 6:20 and the final 0.1 mile in under 30 seconds, to finish happily in a time of 1h29m56s.

As happy as I was with it, I hadn't set out to achieve this time, it was about 5 minutes up on what I thought I could do, but then you never do really know what you can achieve until you truly push yourself. And that I will keep doing.

Pre-half post

So I fired up the blog and noticed that I hadn't actually posted anything since the 1st January. That's kids for you!

Well, to summarise, I kept the engine ticking over through winter and more recently stepped back into the FIRST 3 plus 2 plan to train up for this weekend's Shakespeare Half in Stratford-upon-Avon, the first of 4 events over the course of the next 5 weeks. The other events consist of 2 sprint triathlons, Crystal Palace and Blenheim Palace and the Denbies 10, a beautiful but hilly cross-country jaunt in the North Downs.

By this time last year, I'd already set my 5km PB and broken my 10km PB twice in the space of 3 weeks. I'm feeling some way off of that over the shorter distances this year, due to lack of speedwork training and general lack of running at points, but I don't feel in too bad a shape for my first half marathon on Sunday.

The target time for Sunday is anything below 1:40, with an outside chance of breaking 1:35 if I'm feeling fighting fit and have managed to rack up a few good nights' sleep, something that's not all that common at present due to our monkey of a 15 month old waking us up every 2 hours!

Statistics for 2010

As it's the start of a new year, I thought I'd pull out the cumulative stats for 2010, at least those I've registered through the Garmin connect website. So here they are:

	Running	Cycling	Swimming	Other	Total
Activity Count	117	73	63	10	263
Distance (km)	1,023	2,305	52	118	3,498
Time (hrs)	87.5	96	20.5	19	223
Elevation Gain (m)	6,364	10,008	-	9,895	26,267
Avg Speed (km/h)	12.0	24.0	3.2	-	16.5
Avg HR (bpm)	149	148	-	-	149
Calories	60,643	29,525	-	-	90,187

Looking at this, a few obvious and potentially interesting observations are that:

• I run at half the speed that I cycle and burn twice the amount of calories per hour
• Despite burning more energy, my heart rate while running and cycling are very similar
• On average I exercise 5 times a week and my average session lasts for 35 minutes

I'm keeping this post short, as December's been a bit of a non-month, exercise wise at least. However, as I'm sure many of use will be saying at this point, January is a chance to put that one right.

As a final statistic of current interest, is that I have put on nearly 2kg during the month of December. Hopefully I'll be able to lose it just as quickly in January!

Setting a new PB in the Berlin Marathon

It's done. Marathon number 3 is complete and a new PB is set.
  
The final run up

The final week's preparation consisted of carb loading, an intervals session and a final 3 miler at marathon pace, to get the legs used to the tempo.

I don't know whether it was all the pasta and rice I was eating weighing me down, or the nerves of the upcoming race, but that final 3 mile run felt way tougher than it ought. Such a short run at this stage, should have been a breeze, a final confidence booster. Instead, it was a slog and I had to put it to the back of my mind before heading out to Berlin the next morning.

Changeable weather and walking paranoia

The Berlin Marathon has a reputation for having warmer than desirable conditions, and Friday afternoon was a mild 25 degrees with blue skies, warm for running indeed.

We wandered down to the expo, got a bit lost, walked to registration, queued, walked a bit more and arrived back at the hotel having felt we'd walked a couple of miles too many. My legs were feeling it already, although, so close to a marathon you've spent weeks preparing for, any slight abnormality feels like it spells disaster. Your mind tricks you into worrying about everything. Stairs, standing around, pretty much any time you've not got your feet up makes you feel like you could be just about to waste 100s of hours of training in the space of a few misspent minutes, a day or two before the race.

Of course, that's rubbish. We walked a fair distance, you tend to when you have to register for these events, and with my legs not being used to walking much of late (just running...), I felt it, but it was still Friday and the race was on Sunday.

Friday evening remained warm enough to eat outside but, come Saturday, it all changed. 25 degrees became 13 and the rain looked like it was set for the long haul.

Today was the day of the inline skating marathon. Running in the wet is bearable, sometimes quite refreshing, soggy feet are a pain, and if the wind picks up it can be nasty, but you can generally avoid puddles and built up cities tend not to suffer too much from strong winds. Skating, however, does not like something to be doing on greasy road surfaces in relentless rain, so fair play to them.

A bad night's sleep followed, but that's always the way the night before a race, for me, at least. Fortunately, the Friday night I'd managed to get plenty in and was still feeling quite refreshed and ready for the race ahead.

The wet race ahead. It was tipping it down outside. Still, nothing to do but get on with it. Right, what next?

Breakfast

Pre-race breakfast was as follows:

• 2 x bowls of Bircher muesli with extra banana and honey (the honey didn't go so well with the other fruit, but I felt I needed it, as it was what I was used to)
  
• 3 x cups of coffee, not too much milk
• 1 x orange juice
• 2 x small slices of granary bread with jam
• 1/2 x bottle of lucozade sport drunk on the way to the race

We were staying pretty close to the centre of town, right by the halfway point, and getting to the start area was simple. Getting into the start pen, however, was a different matter. We were funneled down various paths, too narrow to cope with the amount of people and gradually the crowds were forced to disperse into the woods and find any means possible to get to the start.

As the starting horn sounded, people were still trapped on the wrong side of barriers. I'd managed to jump them with about 30 seconds to spare. It wasn't ideal, but spirits were high, bolstered further by Chariots of Fire playing out over the loud speakers. It was on.

The race

At the start of any popular marathon, it's incredibly difficult to settle into a rhythm, but it's so important to force yourself to try and avoid the temptation of bolting out of the gate and zig-zagging your way through the crowds. No matter how good you feel and how tempting it might be, save all the energy you can, this is not a short race.

I set out intending to run the first half averaging a little over 8 minute miles. 4-5 miles in I was a little ahead of myself but the pre-race drinks were catching up with me so I decided to make a quick pitstop.

I ran the next couple of miles a little quicker to get back on the pace but then found myself not wanting to slow back down again and had started to clock 7:45s. With around 18 miles still left to run, I was wading into uncharted waters and realised this was likely too fast to maintain, so I forced myself to slow a little.

Soon after, I struck up conversation with a fellow racer. We both admitted we'd set off too fast and were worried about sustaining it, so we decided to chat and pull up on the pace a little. It was a great distraction, the next few miles flew past and the temptation to keep accelerating in the first half of the race had gone.

We parted one another somewhere after mile 10, I picked the pace back up a little and passed the half way point in 1 hour 46 minutes.

Half way point - Split 1:46:26; Pace 8:00 min/mile

You set yourself goals and decision points in a race, I do at least, and I knew it was now that I was going to decide whether to increase, maintain or pull up on the pace. Of course I'd hoped I would feel like increasing pace and, fortunately, I was still feeling strong, so I decided to up it a little.

I crept the pace up, so that my Garmin was reading about 7:55. I then began the near impossible task of working out pacing tables in my head, to figure out how to get me round in under 3:30. Anyone who's not attempted simple mathematic problems while running long distance, might not appreciate just how hard this is. Take it from me, it's weird how stupid running turns you.

By mile 14, I'd roughly worked out that I needed to knock off about 10 seconds a mile from my first half's pace, so that's what I did and, amazingly, managed to stick with it mile after mile.

I kept hydrating and eating through my gels regularly, taking on a gel every 35-40 minutes and only taking on up to 1/2 a cup of water every other water station, or 3-4 miles. At no point did I feel dehydrated or lacking in energy, so I felt I'd struck an optimum with this strategy.

No wall. A first for me

I was expecting it the whole time. Here I was clocking 7:50 minute miles, a full 30-40 seconds per mile quicker than my last marathon, and fully prepared, at any moment, for my body to tell me enough is enough.

That moment never came. Sure, I felt pain, it's still a marathon, my legs were getting gradually heavier, my feet were screaming at me to stop but I never felt that I couldn't make it nor did I have any desire to stop. In fact, the overwhelming desire was to gradually edge ever so slightly quicker, to make the finish come round just that bit faster!

So that's what I did and my last few miles ranged between 7:35 and 7:50, resulting in me finishing the marathon in 3 hours 28 minutes.

Finish time - 3:28:42; Pace 7:58 min/mile

N.B. To anyone running the Berlin Marathon, when you reach the final mile, you'll see the Brandenburg Gate in the distance and will likely begin to accelerate towards it, as did I. Not only does it seem to take forever to reach the gate, but when you do, you're actually still around 300 metres from the finish, which is another agonising minute of running, just when you thought you were done! It's all worth it though, as with every marathon I've taken part in, the pain is worth it in the end.

1 week to Berlin / Team Challenge Triathlon

Last week's 13 miler at 8 min/mile has left me with a minor injury hangover, the first in many weeks of training. With hindsight, it probably wasn't the best route to have chosen for my marathon pace long run. Throwing in unnecessary steep hills on top of the exhaustion levels I was running at, 14 weeks into my training, was just that, unnecessary.

The pain is completely bearable, at least it has been for the sub-hour sessions I've put in this week. Best bet I feel is to not overdo it and apply the usual combination of ibuprofen gel and ice. I think I strained something pushing up onto my toes, while running up a steep hill. The pain runs from my achilles, down across the ball of my foot until it reaches my big toe. But, as I say, it's not severe and too late to worry about it now anyway. Always good to get your pre-race excuses in anyway!

The taper is in full effect and this week's training was certainly less intense than last week's. Intervals were based around 1k reps and Thursday's tempo run was a 10km river loop with the first 2 miles easy and then a 3 mile blast at 6:45 min/mile, which was challenging to maintain.

More photos...

I rounded off the first week of taper with a triathlon. No, I'm not insane, it was a relatively short triathlon and, more than that, it was a team event (The Fix's TRI Challenge Team Triathlon). This meant that, while we all completed every event, we had ample time to recover between legs. It's a good race to introduce triathlon to novices as you get to do all the events, don't have to worry about transitions and get to catch up with your mates and take in the atmosphere, while the other member of your team is off doing their bit.

It's the first training plan run I've missed, since switching onto the FIRST training program about 7 weeks ago. I was supposed to have done 10 miles, instead I exercised for about an hour at a greater intensity, but only ran for 5km. It's going to have to do and it's probably rested my injury more than a 10 miler would have.

Boy am I looking forward to that cold pint of lager this time next week!

Race Result: 2:59:03 - 32nd (out of 91); distances 3 x 400m swim, 3 x 15km cycle, 3 x 5km run (results...)

Week commencing Sunday 12th September

Total exercise: 4h 48m
Distance covered: 85km

• 60km cycling (incl. 15km in triathlon)
  
• 1.7km swimming (incl. 400m in triathlon)
  
• 23.3km running (incl. 5km in triathlon)
  

Breakdown:

• 5 x 1km reps @ 3:40 min/km, with 400m jog recoveries
  
• 2M easy; 6M @ 6:45 min/mile; 1M easy
  
• 5km @ 4 min/km (as run leg of triathlon)

Final push before the taper

Following on from Saturday's 20 miler, I knew I had to get through a few more serious training sessions, before I would finally be on the taper. As I write this, I'm thankful those are now behind me and look forward to easing off a bit and allowing my body to replenish itself in time for the big event.

Tuesday's interval session was, without question, the toughest sub-hour training session I've put myself through. I'd already run 20 miles at 8:10 min/mile 3 days beforehand, so I wasn't exactly coming into this fresh. The daunting task of having to run 8 x 800m back-to-back, at pace, with only a 1m 30s to recover in between sounded particularly unpleasant and the reality didn't disappoint. For the last few, it was all I could do, in the the recovery intervals, to collapse on the floor and look skyward as I regained my breath. Then, no sooner had my heart rate returned to closed to some form of normality than we were off again. It was relentless, let's hope it's all been in a good cause.

Thursday's run was a slightly more relaxed short tempo session at sub-7:15 min/mile pace. It still took me to the edge of what felt comfortable, as most of these sessions tend to be, and the 5 miles went quickly but I did struggle to hold on to the pace. Any longer and I don't think I could have maintained it.

My final run over 10 miles, before the race, was Saturday's half marathon at marathon pace. An exhausting week of fast paced run sessions, swimming and a couple of bad nights' sleep made this feel more difficult than I'd hoped. At least, that's what I'm putting it down to.

It's said that the most important night's sleep is that 2 nights before the event. You get what sleep you can the night before, but the urge to keep checking your alarm's set and then dreaming you've just woken up to miss the start of the race, tends to put pay to any attempts on a sound night's kip. Hence why it's even more important to get several hours in the night before. It'll be an early night on the Friday, then.


Week commencing Sunday 5th September

Total exercise: 3h 52m
Longest run: 13 miles
Distance covered: 39.9km

• No cycling
• 2.4km swimming
• 37.5km running
  

Breakdown:

• 8 x 800m reps @ 3:40 min/km, with 1m 30s recoveries
  
• 5M @ sub-7:15 min/mile
• 13M @ MP (8:00 min/mile)

3 weeks to Berlin: Last of the long runs

This was the last of the big mileage weeks in the run up to Berlin and the training plan had popped in a sneaky load of short, sharp intervals just for good measure.

With a bank holiday on the Monday, I took the opportunity to slip in my first outing on the road bike, since returning from France. A few weeks off the bike had had a noticeable effect and the legs felt nowhere near what they had been. I guess it was to be expected really, my cycling thighs have already visibly reduced, since piling on the running miles and leaving the bike at home. I can't stop being amazed at how quickly your body can transform, when you improve your regularity and turn up the intensity of your running. Everything starts to slim down as your body starts to tell you, "you won't be needing this, and these can definitely go and, while you're about it, you may as well have a haircut, don't leave anything to chance!"

It was good to have been back on the bike, but this month is all about running, we're only 3 weeks away now, so of course it is. So back to those intervals...

Ten reps of any running sounds, well, repetitive and, probably quite tiring and time-consuming. It wasn't so much the fast bits that worried me, but the recovery runs were at a steady pace and with those and the warm ups and cool downs, this was going to be anything but quick for a mid-week, post-work, post-kids going to bed session.

The other worry was that the last time I'd run 400m at pace, I unsettled an old injury in my lower back. It had taken me 6 months of rest and gentle running to get back to full strength and I wasn't keen on popping my back with the marathon in clear sight. Fortunately, the pace wasn't too full on and my core strength is much improved on what it was when I injured myself, a little over a year ago, so I came through unscathed. The session was repetitive, obviously, but intervals always feel quite rewarding and like you're forcing a real change to the physiology of your body, at least that's what I convince myself.

Thursday night's marathon pace run was tiring, I'd cycled 30km the day previous, to get into work and back and so hadn't had much rest between this and Tuesday's intervals. I got myself through it by remembering that, on marathon week, I'll be mostly resting and not doing back-to-back exercise and that this was why I was finding the pace tough going.

The same mind tricks had to be used for Saturday's 20 mile session, this was always going to be the toughest training run, 20 miles at 15 seconds per mile over marathon pace. I'm not going to lie to anyone and pretend that the last 7 miles didn't hurt. But that's just it, a half-marathon feels relatively comfortable, anything more starts to put real strain on your body, that's the challenge of the marathon, it requires dedication to training over several months to reach the form you require. If you're going to run it, that is. For one, once you've run for more than 2 hours straight, you've burnt off your body's natural store of glycogen, running beyond here is uncharted territory for your body and the point from which you have to keep taking on more fuel, or you'll drop. Getting this right, both in terms of what to take on and when, can be key to maintaining a level head and keeping the negative thoughts at bay. I've not figured out the perfect balance just yet but, through experimenting with different gels, bananas and sports drinks, I'm building up a reasonable picture.

Whatever I did, I managed to get through the training run at a pace just marginally slower than race pace, and felt I had a couple more miles in me. Without a week's worth of back-to-back exercise the preceding week, surely those extra 4-5 miles are within reach.

Week commencing Sunday 29th August

Total exercise: 7h 33m
Longest run: 20 miles
Distance covered: 111.9km

• 55km cycling (including a commute and a Richmond Park session)
• 800m swimming
• 47.35km running (400m reps; 8M @ MP; 20M @ MP + 15sec/mile)

Breakdown:

• 10 x 400m reps @ 3:35 min/km, with 400m recoveries @ 6:30 min/km
  
• 8M @ 7:53 min/mile
• 20M @ 8:09 min/mile