I did Brighton half last weekend. I got a PB, but still i could have done better. I got caught in a pack of runners (and i am talking a few hundred here) who were too close to the front and should have been further back. So mile 1-3, i had trouble breaking free, and ended up doing sprints when i could. By mile 4 going uphill, i was doing a pace faster than i intended just to try and get the time i was aiming for that point in the race. By mile 6-7 i was getting tired having used reserves up too quickly, and having to run the first half in a pretty uneven pace. As a result i didnt have much to give at the end, and yes, like i say i got a PB, but i feel, had i not got caught in the crowd, and my pace had been even, i would have done better.
So has anyone else experienced anything similar is my question?
Comments
It's just what happens in a crowded race, don't blame anyone else. One alternative point of view is that you were too far back and leapfrogged and impeded other runners as you burned your energy too early and paid for it later.
It happens, as you say, because people start too far forwards for their ability (or because you started too far back!)
It's less likely to happen in races with smaller number of entrants, so maybe pick a race that has fewer runners next time.
Or make sure you start further forwards
Live and learn. Its the first time it has happened to me, but every race you do, you take something from it, so its a learning curve.
That i still got a PB. I should be thankful for that. Several people ahead of me had to pull out. I nearly joined them. But has it happened to others out there is my question to you all?
I lined up at the front of the sub 1.25 pen, finished in 1.24.48 so was obviously in the right ballpark. Spent the first mile going past people who were slower than 8 min miling. Don't think I was overtaken once.
I think that you have to expect that a lot of people will be over optimistic or maybe just a bit ignorant at the start.
...or they're probably just compensating for the fact that all the people in THEIR pen will be going even slower. Start pen inflation?
A variation on this is the people who start with you, set off at the right pace, and then sound like they're going to die at about mile 5.
I'm with Sussex runner here. It's a race. It's probably the biggest reason not to run the London Marathon as a race, just as an event. You'll never get anywhere near a target time.
PBs are nice, but like it or not it's the other runners you are racing. If you get a PB at the end then that's a bonus. Look at the results and see how far up the field you came. Run again next year, see if you're higher.
Several people pulled out? That's bad!
Catholics probably.
SING WITH ME!!!!
"I got rhythm, I got music, I got my gal
Who could ask for anything more?"
My 8 kids love that song
As others have said, it just comes with the territory with the mass participation events. At the other end of the scale with smaller local league/club races people get to know/recognise others around them and I find even when there are no predicted finish time markers, 99% of people manage to line up in a reasonable order.
I had a similar experience to you but with the Great South Run - although I knew better and had planned to start further up in my wave - but leaving home 15mins later than planned meant arriving 30mins later than planned and then spending more time in toilet queues and bag drop queues than planned. I was therefore still clambering through my wave frantically when the gun went off rather than being in position with plenty of time calmly soaking up the surroundings. I spent the first 1-2 miles weaving in and out overtaking Batman, Robin, Snow White, Roman Centurion and co, and made it to my target time by half way, but had overspent in doing so, and faded in the last couple of miles.
Like you I got a PB at the time - due to being my first 10 miler for six months - but it was an underachievement for my ability at the time. A week later - in a smaller local race on a more challenging 10mi course - I beat my GSR time by well over a minute.
In my GSR case I have myself (or my wife for not being ready on time!) to blame for starting too far back, rather than other people starting too far in front. However I have seen that happen too - last year in a charity 10K race with a rather narrow start, there were a couple of joggers in jackets and headphones etc right up the front of the sub 40 band, seemingly oblivious of everything around them, who got stampeded within about 10 seconds of the start.
I don't think it helped you that at Wokingham the pen markers were set a long way back - the sub 1:10 marker was so far back they could have fitted in 150 sub 1:10 runners in that space. Given that everyone had supplied an estimated finish time with their entry I had expected something a bit more organised.
At the end of the day though, races the size of Wokingham aren't too bad, but bigger ones really suffer with it. If you want to run at a constant pace then the best bet is to enter smaller races and avoid ones like GSR etc. Even if they don't have full chip timing you're more likely to get a better time.
It wasn't like a 1.35 runner nipping up to the sub 1.30 to get a decent start which is ok. there seemed a lot of people who would be lucky to break 2 hrs that lined up in the sub 1.15 pen.
Bump ? Nah I trample people, So much more satisfying...
I got caught up in the crowds at the Great South Run. I put my estimated time down as 90 minutes, as I'd planned to run it with my brother. In the end he didn't do it, so I ran it on my own.
First 3 or 4 miles were awful, just wall-to-wall people and that slowed me down quite a lot. Ended up finishing in 73 minutes. Doubt I would have finished under 70 anyway, but slightly frustrating. Only 10 mile race I've done, so a PB anyway.
I tend to go for smaller events these days. Although that's mostly because it took forever to get out of the car park at the end.
I'm not too bothered with pb's now but i do like to be near the front so that i can get
my face in all the local papers . Some of the best photos are taken at the start so
it really annoys me when fast runners barge past me just as i am getting into pose.
Ironic note to my orginal story is that i ran today. Did 9 miles my own pace. No particular rush, and i ended up being quicker in my pace time. Just goes to show, you have to run your own race. My next one is the Sussex Marathon, 7th April. A nice small race. My first marathon actually.
Wokingham has a very narrow start line, and with the fastest pen, the sub 1hr 10 being too far back, it's inevitable that the start is a cavalry charge.
I did clock a guy right on the front line wearing some hi vis jacket and clearly ridiculously out of his league (ran 1hr 51). Probably simply got there late, and just joined at the front. Other races are set up so you can't do this easily.
At the Great South run last year, I was quite surprised to see a V40 female club mate pop up and say hello. She wasn't quite in the sub 58 category, being about 20+ mins slower than that, but wanted a freer run! Lucky not everyone does that isn't it!
Chips have no relevance to the actual race though. The chip is simply for your own personal benefit and to ease congestion at big races. The actual race is first to the line.
Any results that are listed in chip order are farcical.
go for it. But being overtaken by hundreds of runners within metres would probably mentally destroy you