1. an easy 3 miles which felt hard
2. Increasing amount of ‘digestive stress’*
3. Planned race pace is changing everyday, with pace getting slower and slower
4. Obsessive Googling** of race name in case anyone has said something interesting / revealing about the race, the route, or ideas of good places to park in what is really quite a small town.
5. Nightmares about how undulating ‘undulating’ really is
6. Random aches and pains in all joints
Yes, I think its quite plain the patient is suffering from pre-race nerves. Only cure is to ignore all of the above and just get out there and run the darned thing.
Roll on Sunday!
* just in case anyone’s reading this whilst eating
** yes its a word, and of course, other Search Engines are available
No – TAPER not TAPIR! (although he is a lovely fellow – pop into the Natural History Museum next time you’re in London and see if you can spot him).
It seems a little strange to be talking about tapering when I’ve only really done 1 week of hard training for the Malmesbury Half Marathon. In fact it feels down right ridiculous. However, after running 20 miles (in total) last week, I think I’d better take it easy this week ready for Sunday.
Nervous? Getting there. Unsure what pace to run at? Yup. Wishing it was over? Oh yes.
So in my continuing ‘crash course’ plan to get ready for the Malmesbury Half in 9 days time, I decided it would be a good idea to run 10 miles today, just to make sure my legs remembered they could run somewhere near half marathon distance. Showing a distinct lack of grit and courage, I chose the very flat disused railway line-come-cycle trail so as not to stress my legs too much. This also means I can run under the bridges ‘woo-hoo’ing* like a train and making echoes, and I can steam through the little station, Black Dog Halt. I was puffing enough to do a very realistic impression of a steam engine today, I can tell you.
I decided to try and run it at 11 minute mile pace, as hopefully that’s what I’d like to run the race at. That would give me a new PB, which would be stupendous given my lack of running last month. Amazingly, I managed it, although the last 3 miles did feel hard. My legs were mostly okay, but my hips – good grief – put me on the list for 2 hip replacements, thank you very much!
A very lovely running friend reminded me to RICE* my legs afterwards, after the shin splints I suffered earlier in the year (I may just have mentioned them, once or twice, when I was marathon training). So I have dutifully sprayed them with cold stuff, put on my attractive calf compression things, took a photo and am just about to put my feet up.
Now then – how do I RICE my hips?
Resting is fine – the sofa is calling.
Ice packs could be strapped to both hips in an attractive and yet chilly manner.
Compression – does anyone have a very tight mini skirt I can borrow?
Elevation? Elevation???? The mind boggles and I may draw the line at this one.
If anyone wants to send me a Heath Robinson inspired drawing of how to go about this, I’d be very impressed, but nothing from the Karma Sutra, thank you very much. I’m in training I’ll have you know.
* RICE is Rest Ice Compression Elevation, and is the first thing a runner should do with any soreness or injury after running.
*woo-hoo-ing is a very technical term. Ask any steam railway enthusiast
Sore legs – Check! Slight panicky feeling in the pit of the stomach – Check! Have run more in the last two days than in the whole of the previous month – Check!
Okay – it must be September.
Every year the same, summer holidays rule out any chance of running. A few snatched runs to keep the guilt at bay, whilst the September half marathon inches ever closer. This summer we managed to fit in a trip to see the in-laws, a trip to London to see the Olympics (Women’s basketball – I am now a fan!), 10 days in Italy, bedroom redecorating (my son’s – now red, orange and green. Honestly) and a general house clearout. I also managed to squeeze in 3 runs, a total of 10 miles.
I ran yesterday and today, a total of 10.2 miles and my first half Marathon is in 11 days. My second is in 18 days. I think ideas of smashing my PB should be ruled out …..
Sadly, yes it has! I ran on 1st August, then a combination of the London Olympics and 10 days in Italy meant I didn’t run again until 25th August. Whoops.
Promise to pull my socks up and get out there again, if only because Malmesbury Half Marathon is coming up fast now.
Its no good, I couldn’t leave my race report as just a few words. So here’s a few more.
Well the day was sunny and warm all day, which was a little worrying. However, clouds gathered as the day wore on. I arrived at around 6.45 and was perturbed to realise I actually had to pay to park. Was very pleased to spot my race partner also at the Pay machine.
We walked down to the start area, which was really busy. For a little race, there were apparently 367 entrants, so maybe not so little. I saw my running group and went to say hello.
Me & RP (race partner) sauntered towards the start line, and proceeded to set off for our ‘little jogette’ warm-up. We discovered at this point that the grass had obviously been very long and wet, and had recently been cut so it was rough, bumpy and covered with the grass clippings. We arranged ourselves in the start-up melee, and made our plans for the start. The course crosses a field to start towards the river, and then goes onto a fairly narrow path (you have to run single file). We discovered last year that if you get stuck behind slower runners, you stay stuck as it’s hard to overtake. So this year’s plan was to make sure we didn’t get manouevered to the back before the race even started, and then as soon as the fog horn sounded, to sprint as fast as we could to the path.
The plan was working fine, RP pointed out to me a couple of people who were squeezing in front of us at the start so we could reclaim our places. However when the starting horn sounded, it was obvious that everyone else had the same plan as us, as it was a mad stampede! Not easy on the rough surface. A man stopped in front of us to look around, obviously for a running partner, so we had to skip around him, and then on our left a lady fell over, face first. Hope she didn’t get trampled!
We made it safely to the first corner, running way faster than either of our plans, so settled in there for the race. There was some over-taking as people sorted themselves out, and as I glanced behind I could see Mel was a couple of people behind me. He waved at me, so I carried on. I was feeling good at this point, although looking at the Garmin had me worried that I was going too fast. Still, I thought I could always slow down at the end.
Mile 2 has some uphill bits in it – up from the river bank to the road side, and then up a zig zag ramp to the cycle path. As I zagged, I could see Mel was zigging. He waved again, so I hoped that meant he was fine, and felt a bit guilty as I pressed on. Even with these slopes I felt great, and overtook a few more people on the wider cyclepath. As we climbed up off the cyclepath, I knew it was all downhill through a housing estate back to the river bank.
Determined ‘Sprint’ Finish
The third mile is back along the river bank on the single file path, mostly retracing our steps. By now I was starting to feel a little tired, breathing was a little more ragged, but to be honest not nearly as bad as I would have thought. I passed a few people, and nearly ran into the back of a couple of girls who stopped right in front of me. As we reached the corner with just the field to cross to the finish line, one helpful marshal shouted “Only 400 metres to go. Time to turn it on now!” I thought “I HAVE turned it on!!!!!” I chased a lady across the field but as she heard me come up behind her she put on a spurt to cross the line just in front of me. As I ran to the finish ‘funnel’, 2 of my running club were there shouting me in. That was lovely, as for a change I hadn’t dragged my family there with me.
As I shuffled through the finish area, I could just see RP coming in behind me.
Finish time – 27:46 Splits were 9:03, 9:12, 8:51 and 8 seconds to finish. (don’t think I’ve EVER had a split starting with an 8 before!!!)
By comparison, last years’ time was 30:20, so I took 2 minutes 34 off my previous PB. Still VERY pleased – It felt fast, *I* felt fast! It was hard work, but it never felt uncomfortable. Yes I was tired at the end and desperate for a drink of water, but I wasn’t gasping or falling to the floor with exhaustion.
Overall, very VERY pleased – and amazed that a schedule designed to speed up my longer races is having such a great effect on shorter ones too (thanks AH!) 3M recovery run the next morning, and apart from legs feeling generally tired, I had no aches or pains which really in amazing.
So after nervously panicky all of Wednesday about the Chippenham harriers 5K River Run, I am more than pleased to announce it all went well. Very well. Really well. Astoundingly well, actually.
To cut a very long story short, after frightening myself with a pace to aim for of 9:12 minute miles, I actually managed to average 9:00 Minute Miles, My last mile was run in 8:51 – never had a split that began with an 8 before!
Total time was 27:46, which is a shiny new PB (last year’s time was 30:20 and I remember being so gutted that I’d not broken the 30 minute barrier).
My lovely running partner also got himself a sub 30 PB, although I’m afraid I did abandon him (sorry!)
Now I really must concentrate on some longer runs, ready for the two half marathons on consecutive weekends I have planned for September. Don’t think there’ll be so many splits starting with an ‘8’ in those!
So if, like me, you only run one 5K race a year, obviously there’s a lot resting on this one, short race. The chance to set a new PB that will last for a whole year is the one that springs first to my mind. So, no pressure then!
Looking determined at last year’s River Run
So here’s how I’m approaching this momentous day. Which is, in fact, today. At 7.30pm.
First of all, I go to the wonderful McMillan Running website, and plug my recent 10K time in to their pace calculator. So for a 59:26 10K, Mr McMillan predicts that I can run a 5K in 28:36:38. He also helpfully tells me this means I have to run at 9:12:36 minute miles.
At this point, I find myself, mouth open, thinking “9:12??????” Best put the kettle on and have a think about that. You see – this sounds fast to me – seriously fast. Sip tea, and think positive thoughts.
Okay – have had inspiration. I know I ran a fast 3M training run recently, which was under 30 minutes (yay!), so let’s have a look at the pace I ran then. This route slopes down for the first mile or so, and then has a long slope in the second mile. I wont say hill, because its not that steep, but its enough for you to recognise its uphill. Ah ha – splits of 9:19, 9:49 (the slope!), 9:14, 9:19 to finish.
Feeling a bit better now. Warn running partner by text that pace to aim for is scary.
Check on website starting time of race, look at photos from last year and remember that there’s actually quite a lot of running on grass, and paths. Oh, and with the recent very wet weather, maybe a River Run is not the best race to be doing?
Give myself a good talking to again, and decide to stick to the recent advice I read on ‘how to pace a 5K race’. It was basically “Start out as fast as you can, and then just hang on for the finish line.”
So if you want a flat LSR route, what better choice than a disused railway line, which has been converted into a cycle path? Straight(ish), flat, very pretty, and still with a station on the line. ‘Black Dog Halt’ entranced my son when he was little, even without any tracks or trains!
In these inspiring (and flat) settings, my ‘as long as its at least 10 miles, and maybe 11?’ run turned into a 12.5M run. Ending up circling the housing estate I was parked in, in drizzle, and very hungry. Worked out if I’d carried on to 13.1M I’d have been at my old HM pace, and this was without proper LSR breakfast (wot no porridge), and with no gels or ShotBloks en route.
Pretty pleased with myself, actually – roll on my Half Marathons in September!
