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I suspect a positive split this time round. The first few miles are downhill and the last five were into a headwind. And you can't hide behind runners who are going slower than you!
Well done AR.
fraser - 81 minutes is a pootle???!! Sounds fast to me!
Speedy - many congratulations. That is just brilliant and so well deserved. Really looking forward to your report.
reading back - good result there Fraser. Some decent training over te summer and I see that sub 80 on the cards - and good work with being Speedy' back up crew. Fuel her up and set her off
Super time CC and very well deserved
Super race and report AR
Super pootle Fraser
Unsuper blisters Gerard, but super abstention from the weed
Well done all round in fact
Only a 24 second positive split, and 8th lady.
AlsoRan: fantastic race report, we were all on our feet.
Gerard: You will have your rewards later. Well done on your responsible actions.
Speeeeeeeeeedy: Not bad. But I thought that The Marathon was 6 weeks ago?
I was a Marshall today. Got sun burned. Better that hypothermia.
AR - Great report, and a good result, too.
Frazer - An 81-min pootle is a sure sign of happy days to come.
Speedy - Brilliant stuff, really pleased for you.
I had a great weekend all told, and although my HM performance was not all I'd hoped it would be, I did get a course PB six years on - by over a minute. Really hard work, though: I am not made for the big climbs...Report tomorrow.
AR - Best battle report in Newbury since the civil war.
Speedy - Excellent time, not much to trim off next time for a sub 3.....awaits report
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Frazer - How close was your 81min pootle to PBootle?
Ant - much Spanish shoulder to shoulder duelling or did you enter survival mode on the hills?
A couple of plods for me 5 and 6.75 over the weekend, knee mildly better, although am fighting the lurgy as HR was up at 190bpm for 8min/miling on the 5 miler, with temps around 24 degrees.
That is a big course pb Ant. Good work
Today I borrowed Blisters' MasseyFerguson to do a long run on some hills. Disturbed plenty of Rabbits and Muntjac with some high revving & heavy breathing for 21m in a little under 3 hours.
There was a purpose to the. I'm half considering, in a very uncommitted way doing the South Downs Marathon in a couple of weeks as a vlsr, and to experience a trail marathon. Has anyone experienced this one before. 5728ft elevation seems like a lot of up, and the 5523 down seems like quad hell (its a point to point trail) I only managed to muster a pathetic 2000ft today (according to my garmin - not sure on accuracy). Interestingly you are set off in waves - slowest first which has its pluses and minuses.
Great run there Speedy. I know that close to 3 will irk for a while but it is such a launch pad for VLM 2014 and a sub 3 banker that I am off t the bookies to put some money on it.
Frazer, nice casual 81.xx on what has to be a course with a bit of a handicap.
AR, great run and report. On my long runs I try and rationalise 2:45 and think about you and your 2.4x and my 2.5x last year so we are probably in and out of each others minds a lot. If you remember where I left my fancy running headphones it would be great to get a note.
I am also writing to WAVA to see if my handicap has gone up. I am now the father of the Devon County Senior Women's 200m champion: had kids a county champs before but never as a senior. Congrats also to the other proud parents I have seen via FB.
Media Maratón de la Reconquista 2013 - report
This race starts in the town of Cangas de Onís, which is in the foothills of the Picos de Europa and is one of the best options for a base while exploring the surrounding. It has the feel of somewhere like ambleside or Bowness, without the traffic and lake, but with a river and the iconic Roman Bridge:
It goes up to the basilica at Covadonga, a pilgrimage site due to the (alleged) appearance of the Virgin to King Pelayo and his troops in 722, helping them to defeat the marauding Moors and achieve the Reconquest.
It is reasonably flat until about km 6 when the road starts to kick up, but from kms 8-11 it goes up more than 200m, and although the race follows the road back down again, that climb is a monster. In all there is over 3300ft of accumulated climb. Not a PB course, then...
It is one of the most popular races on the Asturian race calendar, and Saturday's edition was no exception, with nearly 1,000 entries.
Mrs.Ant got there about 3 p.m., checked into the hotel and went to pick up the race number and chip, before having a coffee on a sun-kissed terrace. I enjoyed the warmth, but began to worry that we would again suffer from heat and humidity like practically every year - in 2006 it was 28ºC when we started.
Back to the hotel for a snooze, and by 6 p.m. i was changed and ready. Off I went to warm up, and I noted the temperature was up to 20ºC, and the wind had died. Large crowds were forming to see us off - like me, many people make a weekend of it and come with their families.
At 6.30 sharp the gun went, and we were away...
Cont'd...
...Quite a slow, congested start as we went along the main street but son got a rhythm and the first km went by in 4:14, the second 4:11. This was the plan - keep it steady, dig in on the hills and then try to claw back as much of the time lost as posible on the descent. Feeling quite comfortable (too comfortable?) and in a big group, so all going well - 4:14, 4:10, 4:16, 4:15 and 4:14, to get to km 7 (a third of the way there) in 29:36, nicely on schedule. Then the hill starts and bingo - my Garmin loses the signal, what with us now being surrounded by mountains. The famous basilica is now visible, way, way up in the distance. I decide to turn off the auto-lap and stick it on manual. So, no idea of my pace, but no danger of going too fast at this point...km 8 is a respectable 4:22, but then the hill gets steeper...4.31...and steeper...4:53...we go past the Holy Shrine(I note that no help is forthcoming) and still that basilica is visible but seems miles up in the sky. The kilometre from 10-11 is grim and my legs are on fire as the leaders appear pinging down the hill on their way back to Cangas. I struggle up and that km is 5:21, which says it all.
Now I turn and head back down and the relief is palpable, but it takes a while for my legs and lungs to recover (4:02). I cruelly begin to enjoy the suffering on the faces of those still climbing up and start to focus on getting down as quick as possible (3:49). The road becomes quite twisty and km 14 is 4:05, and I'm now a minute down on sub-90.
I'm still feeling quite good and positive, so I decide to forget about time and just run as strongly as I can to feel. At km 16 the road flattens out and there is even a slight incline, which is a killer after such a long descent, esp as there's still a fair way to go, but I dig in and keep at it, refusing to give in to the voices telling me to take it easy and just coast in...Three more decent kms go by but I'm starting to work quite hard now - 4:12, 4:08 and 4:13. 2kms to go, and I see sub-90 has gone for a Burton but that I'm easily on to beat my course PB of 1:32:47, set in 2007. Everything is hurting and the voices in my head are now screaming; my pace drops a little and km 20 is 4:23, but then I see the finish down the straight road and hear the music and commentator, so I make a final effort and charge for the finish. I see Mrs. Ant, wave for the photo, take the plaudits from the amassed spectators and dip under the line - the last 1.1 kms @ 3:56 pace for a 1:31:33 finish.
I picked up a goodie bag, took on wáter and Powerade, and then was handed a lovely, cold beer...it tasted fantastic. Luckily my hotel was 30m from the finish so in no time at all I was showered, dressed and out on the street with Mrs. A to find beer and the Champions League final. We watched the first half before going for a nice dinner with wine, a coffee and an early night.
Yesterday was spent walking around the town and buying stuff in the market (wild honey, garlic and cheese) before heading to the coast to meet up with my brother-in-law and his kids for lunch and a walk along the cliffs in the sun. Very pleasant - very.
To be honest I'm a bit disappointed with the time,but that is a tough course, and in truth I felt i gave it a good shot and felt pretty strong physically and mentally right the way to the end, having only two moments of real struggle: one in the last kilometre of the climb and one at km 19. Even so, I wanted to go sub-90 for this. I think maybe I need to be a couple of kgs lighter to climb better, but next year I will also push it along a bit harder in the opening 6-7kms.
Edinburgh report
I had a really good night's sleep, which was worrying. I was far too calm. Not nervous or excited at all. I did dream that it went a bit wrong and I finished in 3.10, but no weirdness of running round shopping centres or anything like that. And when I woke up I was almost disappointed that I still to go and run the ruddy thing.
Mrs Frazerelli dropped me near the start. It was gloriously sunny so I just put on my sunglasses and decided I wouldn't need my foil blanket and put my bag on the baggage truck. Then the sun went in and it was bliddy freezing! After a couple of times queueing for manky portaloos I went for a little warm up jog which took me past a block of public loos. And there wasn't a soul in them! Proper, clean, flushing toilets! I made use of them a few times just because I could. It was even better than the champs start at London.
As soon as I started to jog though I had pain in my lower back and down my hamstrings. Too much sitting down maybe? Anyway, I blagged some water from someone and took the two Paracodol that live in the pocked of my gel belt for such emergencies.
I put myself near the front of the red pen and by the time they'd moved us forwards I was really close to the line. It took maybe 10 seconds, probably less, to cross the start line. The first few miles are downhill so I didn't worry too much that the pace was closer to 6.50 than the 7.00s I'd planned, although if I'd noticed the 6.40 split I might have panicked a bit! The soreness in my hammies wore off fairly quickly once the painkillers kicked in and never bothered me again.
I found myself some company in the form of a chap from Heaton Harriers and his mate from Gateshead Harriers. They were pacing well for blokes I thought. Streams and streams of runners were going past us, but we kept it steady. I did notice that they were both much more laboured in their breathing than I was though. I was being a chatterbox as usual!
On the promenade a few ladies went past and I really had to reign in my competetive streak. It's not a race, it's a time trial, it's not a race, it's a time trial.... (I caught all but one of them later on anyway, the only one I didn't quite catch was a Norwegian lady who ran 3.00.08 - how annoying must that have been?!)
Waved at the mini Fetchpoint (I'm not sure they were paying much attention at the time though!), saw Stoxy from the RW GNR thread, who had run the half, and then Frazerelli who told me I was 13th. I didn't necessarily believe him though as that seemed unrealistic to me.
By the time we reached the ugly power station Mr Heaton was dropping off the pace, so it was just me and Gateshead, until 15 miles when he fell off the pace as well. Perhaps their pacing wasn't so good after all. From 10 miles we'd been passing runners regularly, so once on my own I just concentrated on picking off runners. I started with picking off the girls, but there weren't too many women around so I had to content myself with catching the fellas most of the time. And with escaping from panting man. He sounded like a stream train!
Gosford house was quite nice I thought, although I wasn't convinced that a very amateurish flute performance of Strawberry Fair was entirely the correct choice of en-route entertainment. Very slow! Then there was a bit of uneven path that was rather uncomfortable as I was wearing lightweights and could feel every ruddy rock. Mercifully it was short, downhill and there was a distraction in the form of a field full of cows who were all lined up at the fence watching us all go past. There were more of them than there were human supporters on most of the course.
The last stretch was quite a challenge as the wind was in my face. It wasn't a
The last stretch was quite a challenge as the wind was in my face. It wasn't a howling gale or anything, but certainly noticable and my lungs weren't enjoying it, especially not on the uphill sections (not really hills, just inclines). I was trying desperately to keep all of my mile splits under 7, but sadly mile 25 was all uphill and into the wind, and I had no-one to tuck in behind as I was going faster than everyone else, so that one came out at 7.00. Arrgh. Also the road surface wasn't great. They really need to do some pothole filling and resurfacing round there!
Finally I reached the roundabout with the big ball on it and I knew the finish line was close. then a left turn and we're running on this stupid bouncy plastic stuff. What the hell was that about? Anyway, I crossed the line in 3.01.50, which is a 7 min+ PB and now I have the confidence that sub 3 is definitely do-able in London next year. Assuming no-one gives me any bliddy germs. I had plenty of running still in my legs. They were tired but not sore. It was my breathing into the wind that was hindering me.
I was 8th lady, which Frazerelli had already told me but once again I didn't really believe him (sorry!)
Ant - that race looks beautiful, but I think I'd rather spectate than run up that hill!
In any case, I totally recommend this race to anyone who fancies a nice weekend break. There's a great atmosphre and the scenery is stunning. Food is plentiful, delicious and cheap, and accomodation is very reasonable, too. Who's up for it in 2014?
Video of the finish: http://www.championchipnorte.com/resultados-externos/atleta/id/360/dorsal/223?c=PRUEBA ABSOLUTA. DISTANCIA: 21097 M
Speedy -Great report of a race really well planned and run. I'm really happy for you.
Sorry my ramblings got in the way - I certainly didn't mean to steal your thunder!!
Speedy: have already said well done on Facebook, but if your legs felt that fresh at the end then super well done. Very richly deserved and bodes so well for a sub 3 next time out.
Nice running, Ant, on what sounds like a b*gger of a course. I'm supposed to be doing a leg of the Cotswold Way Relay in 5 weeks' time and that is really tough in places. May do a recce next weekend if I can!
Bupa 10000 for me and a slight improvement on my Bristol time of 39.39 3 weeks ago: 39.29. Still some way off where I should be for 10k (and frustratingly only 1 second outside my pb! - I only realised at 200m that a pb might be possible, having discounted the possibility at 9k and 9.6k...) but given I've done no 10k specific work and had run quite a lot of miles Friday-Sunday (10M, 15M, 9M), reassuring to bag another sub-40 and chip away at my season's best.
Well done Speedy. That's a superb time! You really deserve that. Brilliant stuff.
Sounds like a great weekend Ant. Tough sounding race though, well done for going back for more.
Excellent work Speedy. As has been said, odds on for sub3 in 2014.
Well done on your 10k Jools.
Speedy Major congratulations on a great run, time and report. Given the build up the time is mightily impressive.
No internet for the last week, major read back necessary.
Well done on the PB Ant, nice report but I don't think you were trying hard enough! A half marathon and an early night!
Great run Speedy, nice chunk off of your PB.
Well done Ant, that course sounds very tough indeed. Sounds like a brilliant w/end away too. You mentioned about losing a few kg's to help conquer the hills,. What height are you and what do you weigh? I am rubbish at hills and think my weight is a big factor. I'm only 5'9 and weigh 78kg's which is porky by most runners standards but not much in the way of fat just heavy bones and a big frame. Eventually I would like to get down to about 70kg but that will be a mighty challenge.
SG - Brilliant report and hugely impressive time. You must be stoked? When you get your sub 3 at VLM next year you should make an appearance at Jersey marathon as I reckon you could place high. Last year's top 3 females were 2:53, 2:57, 2:59.
Jools - Another sub 40 10k, very well done.
Frazer - 81 min pootle for a half, can't quite get my head round that.
No rescuing hobo's or running for me today. 8k race tomorrow night, peeved I've got two huge blisters from new trainers, so see how that goes. Will be happy with sub 32. Although I've not run the course and heard y'day that it involves a few climbs......Yikes!
Once more, well done, Speedy - great report, and, as you say you now know that sub-3 is on at VLM14. Really pleased for uou.
Great reporting also from Ant (enjoyed the potted history bit). Despite your understatedness (is that a word), I reckon it's a belting time on such a course. Marked down for missing 2nd half of match, though . . . . . .
Mixed feelings, I guess, Jools - good time bagged after 34 miles in 3 days, but always frustrating to be so close. You know it's only a matter of time, though . .
11 this a.m. - legs tired from Sat's 20, but had company of two chums, sun was shining, so not a bad morning's outing.
Wow, some very good racing this weekend, and especially from Speedy - that's fantastic! The perfect time, in fact, as everyone's pointing out: close enough to 3 hours to make it obvious you can beat it next year, not so close as to be annoying, and a massive PB...
Great weekend of running from the threadsters, Speedy, bliddy brill
, great report for a great run., Ant - sounds like a beautiful event - am plannning on showing it to my missus tonight. Joolska - nice 10k. Frazer - That sir is definitely not a pootle in most peoples books. 5.5 miles recovery for me in the wind and rain todaay, then onto 10k training for a few weeks, hoping I dont break myself with the zippy stuff.
Top report Ant. I wonder if the sights, majestic landscapes and historic architecture of lytham st Anne's on a warm July morning (in danger of sounding like Alan Bennet there) can hope to match your weekend's experience. Well done for battling the terrain.
Pretty tasty sounding 10k from Jools too. Onward and uupward
Sounds like you're putting the dark days of injury behind you Birch
Did a few easy miles at lunchtime. Pleased to say legs not too bad - def can't have been trying hard enough yesterday.Must do better....
Great report Ant, well done
Speedy - awesome effrt and running, plus a top report
AR top racing, well done
Frazer, yes thats no slouching, well done
Jools, well done and great to see to see you at the end today.
Like Jools (who by her presence at the end reminded me that I should be on here more often) was at the Bupa 10000, not the result I was looking for, slower than Netley 10K last week (38:15) this week 38:54, partly due to hitting traffic due to logistical start... in that I needed a pee, and got the opportunity at the start line to use the elite loo, but then the whole pen moved forwards again and I had to start from the back of the 2nd pen, where I was at the front, never mind... still had a great day and a great neg split of 19:38 to 19:16.
Take care
Some fantastic race reports there, and a reminder of why we hang around these parts. Ant targetting 1:30 in the mountains? Seriously barking mad. Brilliantly well done for pulling off the 1:31. It didn't sound like there was more to be had today.
Speedy, now that IS a proper PB. Well planned, well executed. It also sounded like a 50/50 split timing wise. An autumn marathon needs you.
Jools. Racing is the best training. You delivered. That sounds good to me.
Despite there being extra days in the weekend, I've not fully utilised them.
Friday, a 23 miler.
Saturday, a fecking cold lake swim and some biking.
Sunday, Marshalling and a touch of sunburn.
Monday, Earning Brownie Points by gardening. My hands are wrecked & back is tight. Moisturiser? I think I need that Norwegan stuff.
General questions chaps/ chappesses if I may. What's the general consensus on the difference between garmin pace and actual pace? Is there any hard data out there ? Presumably depends on terrain, high buildings,trees, speed, weather (??), other things I aven't thought of.
Keen to try to nail down a goal pace I can trust for my next race since I've a feeling the margins are going to be pretty tight. Ie how much slower am I going than my garmin says I am !