top 75!
I wasn't planning to race this one as such, just get round comfortably. Even though my legs feel pretty good at the moment I don't want to overdo it before the marathon, and with this being my local half and something we use as a club run, I know that it's pretty hilly and not a PB course. It was also a lot bigger and more crowded than most halves I've done, so it was difficult to get into the right pace. Even in the last stretch there were times when you struggled to find room to overtake.
I half considered trying to run it at marathon pace as a training run, but I felt I could do a bit better than that, even if I didn't challenge my 1:43 PB. I was aiming for somewhere under 1:50, to keep my record for this year intact of not being over 1:50 for a half, but I didn't plan to go all out.
I started off (downhill) a bit fast, but really eased off on a long uphill stretch between about two and four miles. I know this hill, and it's nasty, so my only aim was to keep on running and not think that because I planned to take it relatively easy it was OK to take a walk break. I made it up, and got a nice bit of downhill to recover a bit. I promptly started to speed back up again. My pacing was all over the place, I was probably running at a relatively constant effort, but because of the hills I was running nowhere near a consistent pace (compared to Ackworth where I was pretty steady all the way round).
It was nice on the way round seeing people from running club cheering us on (lazy gets - why weren't they running?!), and my familiarity with the course meant I knew when to push the pace a bit, and when to prepare for an uphill. But even so it wasn't the most scenic half I've ever done, or the fastest. It was well organised though, I'll give it that.
I got into a bit of a battle with someone from running club during the second half of the race. He actually really winds me up by sticking to me like glue, so when I saw him ahead of me I was tempted to just sit behind him for a while so he didn't spot me. Then he started slowing so I went past him, and then couldn't shake him off. I went faster, so did he. I eased off to see if he'd go ahead, so did he. At Ackworth I managed to get clear of him, but I couldn't this time round. He's really annoying in that he sticks really close to you which can make it hard to overtake other groups, because he blocks the gap that you're trying to run through.
Eventually at about 10 miles he got a bit ahead, and I let him go. At this stage I knew I was on to finish in the 1:40s even if I didn't push it, so I decided to coast in a bit. In the back of my mind was the fact that it was chip timed, and he'd started a fair way ahead of me, so even if he beat me by 30 seconds or so I'd still beat him on my chip time. I didn't want to push the last bit because I knew that could make the difference between a bit of light tiredness and aching legs, which I want to avoid at this stage of marathon training. Even on this stretch it was pretty crowded and there were times when it was hard to get past people, and then there was an evil uphill bit right at the end.
I made it across the line in 1:47, but my chip time was 1:45. (And yes, the other guy's chip time was 1:46, so I did beat him) For something I wasn't intending to race, that's not bad at all - still my second fastest half (on the hardest course I've raced), and a decent improvement on my first two halves of the year which were both pancake flat. Easing off on the early hill gave me a nice negative split, despite the coasting at the end. I didn't trash my legs too much (which I might have done if I'd tried to race those last three miles or up the early hill), but it's a nice confidence boost before Edinburgh.
I picked up my goodie bag and rucksack at the end (I got a spot prize in my goodie bag - but can someone please tell me why they put an XL fleece as a prize in a bag with a medium t-shirt?), and headed off for a shower, thereby missing the most exciting part of the day.
I got to the pub and was informed that we might have actually won something! Apparently, and I'm still checking the truth of this, we won the ladies team prize. I didn't hang around at the end, but a club mate who finished half an hour behind me said that she heard them announcing it when she was at the finish. It turns out I wasn't a scorer (I was the fourth female finisher from the club and only the first three count), but it's still pretty impressive for the ladies team.
I can't find the team results to check exactly how it was worked out, but the individual ones are very interesting. I didn't quite realise beforehand what a slow race it is overall. Considering my time was 1:45 which is decent but not ultra fast, I was surprised that I finished 34/539 in the FOpen category, and 74th woman overall (out of 943). That's well inside the top 10% in both categories. I'm normally between the top 20 and 25%, not so high up. Finishing in the top 75 at a fairly big half actually sounds pretty impressive. I'm also chuffed that I beat the personal trainer from the gym by a good 15 minutes (I really expected him to at least get under 2 hours, but he just missed out).
So now I'm well and truly tapering. I won't run more than 7 miles or so now before Edinburgh. I've got a few club runs, a 10k on Sunday and that's about it. I might have a go at my 10k PB depending how I feel, but really now it's just a case of making sure I get to the start line without messing anything up in the meantime. It's nearly time to start alternating between excitement and nervousness, and to start obsessively writing lists. 13 days and counting.
I half considered trying to run it at marathon pace as a training run, but I felt I could do a bit better than that, even if I didn't challenge my 1:43 PB. I was aiming for somewhere under 1:50, to keep my record for this year intact of not being over 1:50 for a half, but I didn't plan to go all out.
I started off (downhill) a bit fast, but really eased off on a long uphill stretch between about two and four miles. I know this hill, and it's nasty, so my only aim was to keep on running and not think that because I planned to take it relatively easy it was OK to take a walk break. I made it up, and got a nice bit of downhill to recover a bit. I promptly started to speed back up again. My pacing was all over the place, I was probably running at a relatively constant effort, but because of the hills I was running nowhere near a consistent pace (compared to Ackworth where I was pretty steady all the way round).
It was nice on the way round seeing people from running club cheering us on (lazy gets - why weren't they running?!), and my familiarity with the course meant I knew when to push the pace a bit, and when to prepare for an uphill. But even so it wasn't the most scenic half I've ever done, or the fastest. It was well organised though, I'll give it that.
I got into a bit of a battle with someone from running club during the second half of the race. He actually really winds me up by sticking to me like glue, so when I saw him ahead of me I was tempted to just sit behind him for a while so he didn't spot me. Then he started slowing so I went past him, and then couldn't shake him off. I went faster, so did he. I eased off to see if he'd go ahead, so did he. At Ackworth I managed to get clear of him, but I couldn't this time round. He's really annoying in that he sticks really close to you which can make it hard to overtake other groups, because he blocks the gap that you're trying to run through.
Eventually at about 10 miles he got a bit ahead, and I let him go. At this stage I knew I was on to finish in the 1:40s even if I didn't push it, so I decided to coast in a bit. In the back of my mind was the fact that it was chip timed, and he'd started a fair way ahead of me, so even if he beat me by 30 seconds or so I'd still beat him on my chip time. I didn't want to push the last bit because I knew that could make the difference between a bit of light tiredness and aching legs, which I want to avoid at this stage of marathon training. Even on this stretch it was pretty crowded and there were times when it was hard to get past people, and then there was an evil uphill bit right at the end.
I made it across the line in 1:47, but my chip time was 1:45. (And yes, the other guy's chip time was 1:46, so I did beat him) For something I wasn't intending to race, that's not bad at all - still my second fastest half (on the hardest course I've raced), and a decent improvement on my first two halves of the year which were both pancake flat. Easing off on the early hill gave me a nice negative split, despite the coasting at the end. I didn't trash my legs too much (which I might have done if I'd tried to race those last three miles or up the early hill), but it's a nice confidence boost before Edinburgh.
I picked up my goodie bag and rucksack at the end (I got a spot prize in my goodie bag - but can someone please tell me why they put an XL fleece as a prize in a bag with a medium t-shirt?), and headed off for a shower, thereby missing the most exciting part of the day.
I got to the pub and was informed that we might have actually won something! Apparently, and I'm still checking the truth of this, we won the ladies team prize. I didn't hang around at the end, but a club mate who finished half an hour behind me said that she heard them announcing it when she was at the finish. It turns out I wasn't a scorer (I was the fourth female finisher from the club and only the first three count), but it's still pretty impressive for the ladies team.
I can't find the team results to check exactly how it was worked out, but the individual ones are very interesting. I didn't quite realise beforehand what a slow race it is overall. Considering my time was 1:45 which is decent but not ultra fast, I was surprised that I finished 34/539 in the FOpen category, and 74th woman overall (out of 943). That's well inside the top 10% in both categories. I'm normally between the top 20 and 25%, not so high up. Finishing in the top 75 at a fairly big half actually sounds pretty impressive. I'm also chuffed that I beat the personal trainer from the gym by a good 15 minutes (I really expected him to at least get under 2 hours, but he just missed out).
So now I'm well and truly tapering. I won't run more than 7 miles or so now before Edinburgh. I've got a few club runs, a 10k on Sunday and that's about it. I might have a go at my 10k PB depending how I feel, but really now it's just a case of making sure I get to the start line without messing anything up in the meantime. It's nearly time to start alternating between excitement and nervousness, and to start obsessively writing lists. 13 days and counting.
posted by YP at 9:27 PM
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