Targets
Cast your minds back to January. I was ecstatic to make it under 1:50 for a half. And then in February I proved it wasn't a fluke, by going sub 1:50 again, and taking nearly two minutes off my time.
At the end of that post I vaguely mentioned having to re-set my targets for sub 1:45. However, I've not really thought about that goal. Having races of varying degrees of difficulty since then has focussed me more on long, hilly runs rather than on speed. I'm trying to build my endurance not my speed. So 1:45 was something I thought I might leave for another day.
Truth to tell, before this week's half marathon, I didn't have any particular plan. I thought I might be able to take another minute or so off that PB, although I was aware that the route was hillier than any of my previous halves (although nothing on Dentdale or Rhayader). I had a relatively easy week so thought I'd probably have some energy to race it rather than plodding it, but I wasn't setting targets for myself really.
I managed to get to the start, which was an achievement in itself with the clocks changing, and doing their best to confuse me about what time I actually needed to turn up. It was quite grey at the start, but it looked like it might come nicer later so I went for the capri and short sleeve t-shirt option with my vest. Spoke to a couple of people from running club at the start, and spotted Jenny and Adele lining up just in front of me.
I first saw them at Dentdale. They overtook me with about 2 miles to go, then I struck back and finished ahead of them. At Rhayader they overtook me with 2 miles to go and I just couldn't stick with them. One all, so was this to be the decider (as remarkably I'm not racing for a month now)? An interesting side issue to the main issue of the race.
We were off, and I noticed I was running faster than I expected. Sub 8 minute miles. That surprised me, given the difficulty I had trying to keep up with the 8 minute mile pacer at Blackpool, when I let her go very early on in the race. But I wasn't struggling as such so I decided to see how long I could keep it up for. I haven't run sub 8 minute miles over a sustained distance for a long time, so wasn't sure whether I'd pay for it, but I was feeling good, so why not?
One of the girls from running club overtook me at about 3 miles, but I expected her to be faster than me so I wasn't worried about that. What I was surprised to see though was one of the men not very far ahead of me, and running at a similar pace. In fact, if anything I was gaining on him. I didn't expect that.
I passed 5 miles within my 5 mile PB (admittedly I've only run 1 5 mile race), and was pretty close to my 10k PB when I passed that point. I was starting to wonder what was going on! Every time my watch took an autolap from my footpod it was coming up as sub 8 minute miles (apart from perhaps one up a hill at about 3 miles). And I was still gaining on the guy from running club.
By this point the sun was coming out and I was glad I hadn't loaded myself with clothes. I was certainly putting lots of effort in to keep me warm too! I felt like I was struggling a bit after 7 miles, but clearly not too much as I overtook Peter and he never caught me again. Still the beeps were giving me reassuring feedback about my speed. And I got to the 10 mile mark in about 1:18:30, again that would have been a nice PB.
I've never been too strong at mental arithmetic, so it was only at about 11 miles, and something around 1:25 and a bit that I realised that even if I ran 10 minute miles for the last two miles I'd be pretty close to 1:45. Now, 10 minute miles aren't exactly slow, but at the moment I'm running so well that I can't remember the last time I went that slowly. I also worked out that if I carried on at the same speed I was doing, I'd be a couple of minutes under 1:45. Considering I hadn't been aiming for that time at this race, I was stunned!
I pretty much managed to carry on at the same pace right to the finish. Coming round the last corner the clock said 1:42:50ish so I tried a sprint finish but just slipped over 1:43 to finish in 1:43:04. Still, almost 5 whole minutes off a PB set a mere month ago, and on a hillier course to boot.
(And I checked the results. Adele and Jenny finished in about 1:50 (one just over and one just under). 2 - 1 to me!)
Stats from the results - overall 269/598, Ladies Open - 41/167, Ladies overall - 66/287 (I think, blame my maths if it's wrong), Ladies team - 8th overall, I was second scorer out of 3.
Not setting targets is clearly good for me, but I can't help but wonder... According to the RW race time predictor that run says I can run well inside 3:45. The "take your half time, double it and add 20 minutes" theory doesn't put me far off either. My official target for Edinburgh is 4:15, but maybe, just maybe...
At the end of that post I vaguely mentioned having to re-set my targets for sub 1:45. However, I've not really thought about that goal. Having races of varying degrees of difficulty since then has focussed me more on long, hilly runs rather than on speed. I'm trying to build my endurance not my speed. So 1:45 was something I thought I might leave for another day.
Truth to tell, before this week's half marathon, I didn't have any particular plan. I thought I might be able to take another minute or so off that PB, although I was aware that the route was hillier than any of my previous halves (although nothing on Dentdale or Rhayader). I had a relatively easy week so thought I'd probably have some energy to race it rather than plodding it, but I wasn't setting targets for myself really.
I managed to get to the start, which was an achievement in itself with the clocks changing, and doing their best to confuse me about what time I actually needed to turn up. It was quite grey at the start, but it looked like it might come nicer later so I went for the capri and short sleeve t-shirt option with my vest. Spoke to a couple of people from running club at the start, and spotted Jenny and Adele lining up just in front of me.
I first saw them at Dentdale. They overtook me with about 2 miles to go, then I struck back and finished ahead of them. At Rhayader they overtook me with 2 miles to go and I just couldn't stick with them. One all, so was this to be the decider (as remarkably I'm not racing for a month now)? An interesting side issue to the main issue of the race.
We were off, and I noticed I was running faster than I expected. Sub 8 minute miles. That surprised me, given the difficulty I had trying to keep up with the 8 minute mile pacer at Blackpool, when I let her go very early on in the race. But I wasn't struggling as such so I decided to see how long I could keep it up for. I haven't run sub 8 minute miles over a sustained distance for a long time, so wasn't sure whether I'd pay for it, but I was feeling good, so why not?
One of the girls from running club overtook me at about 3 miles, but I expected her to be faster than me so I wasn't worried about that. What I was surprised to see though was one of the men not very far ahead of me, and running at a similar pace. In fact, if anything I was gaining on him. I didn't expect that.
I passed 5 miles within my 5 mile PB (admittedly I've only run 1 5 mile race), and was pretty close to my 10k PB when I passed that point. I was starting to wonder what was going on! Every time my watch took an autolap from my footpod it was coming up as sub 8 minute miles (apart from perhaps one up a hill at about 3 miles). And I was still gaining on the guy from running club.
By this point the sun was coming out and I was glad I hadn't loaded myself with clothes. I was certainly putting lots of effort in to keep me warm too! I felt like I was struggling a bit after 7 miles, but clearly not too much as I overtook Peter and he never caught me again. Still the beeps were giving me reassuring feedback about my speed. And I got to the 10 mile mark in about 1:18:30, again that would have been a nice PB.
I've never been too strong at mental arithmetic, so it was only at about 11 miles, and something around 1:25 and a bit that I realised that even if I ran 10 minute miles for the last two miles I'd be pretty close to 1:45. Now, 10 minute miles aren't exactly slow, but at the moment I'm running so well that I can't remember the last time I went that slowly. I also worked out that if I carried on at the same speed I was doing, I'd be a couple of minutes under 1:45. Considering I hadn't been aiming for that time at this race, I was stunned!
I pretty much managed to carry on at the same pace right to the finish. Coming round the last corner the clock said 1:42:50ish so I tried a sprint finish but just slipped over 1:43 to finish in 1:43:04. Still, almost 5 whole minutes off a PB set a mere month ago, and on a hillier course to boot.
(And I checked the results. Adele and Jenny finished in about 1:50 (one just over and one just under). 2 - 1 to me!)
Stats from the results - overall 269/598, Ladies Open - 41/167, Ladies overall - 66/287 (I think, blame my maths if it's wrong), Ladies team - 8th overall, I was second scorer out of 3.
Not setting targets is clearly good for me, but I can't help but wonder... According to the RW race time predictor that run says I can run well inside 3:45. The "take your half time, double it and add 20 minutes" theory doesn't put me far off either. My official target for Edinburgh is 4:15, but maybe, just maybe...
posted by YP at 5:32 PM
1 Comments:
I don't want to be one of those overly enthusiastic posters who gets you ahead of yourself, but if you go over 4:15 I will eat my hat. I swear. I will post pics!
Your times are going down, you're racing hard, varied distances, and racing so often. Plus, you've done the scary first marathon already. Provided you don't kill yourself, you will probably go sub-4.
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