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The course has a decent hill in the middle, its a 5pm start and the temperature was about 28C with 75% humidity. Standing on the start line felt like a sauna already - so what did I decide? Time to attempt a PB!!!!
In the 10km race there were pacers for 40min and 50min - which were either too fast or too slow to be any use - but the half marathon (same start as 10km) had a 1:30 pacer. PERFECT for my current 10km PB! With the course being 1 lap for 10km and 2 laps for the HM (with an additional spur on 2nd lap) it meant I had a plan... go with the pacer and stick with 4:15/km pace all the way.
After 3km I was thinking "Wow - this pace feels fast"...by 4km I was struggling a bit and as I passed 5km (21:28) I knew I was BANG on pace for PB but that it was utterly unsustainable! The heat was extreme, I was drenched in sweat and burning up. Legs were absolutely fine - but I could not get enough oxygen out of the thick soupy air and could not get the heat out of my body. I slowed down to around 4:30/km and watched the pacer slowly disappear into the distance.
There were a lot of my club mates on course - both running and spectating, so support was great and every time I passed someone I stood a little taller, lifted the knees a little higher and pushed the hips forward just a little more. I crossed the line in 44:14 - 76 seconds away from PB, but still a respectable time given the brutal conditions. Later inspection of the results shows I was 7th/196 in the M40-49 category! Pretty happy with that - and 55th/1569 overall.
That'll be my last race now until London just a couple more big weeks and then some tapering!
@MikeSmith Phew! Glad it wasn't just me then! (Although sorry to hear your run didn't go to plan) My disastrous run yesterday was similar to yours save for the Nandos the day before
Longest ever run of 17 miles on Sunday, very windy but thankfully dry, no issues but pleased with myself for treating it "like the VLM" and practicing my routine i.e. wore what I will wear, ate what I will eat, drank what I will drink. 3 long runs left now ... starting to get excited!
Jonathan
Not sure if I mentioned I felt pretty rough after my marathon on Sat but I worked it out to be a touch of heatstroke
Also did Brentwood half yesterday - finished about 45 mins behind Spenno (you do the maths!), although my timing chip didn't register so I don't actually exist ! Felt good though, nice steady pace and kept to my planned strategy (2 minute walks every half an hour). Very slow at the end (a not very nice uphill for the last mile or so !). But, importantly, no injuries, no knee pain and even managed a 2-mile "recovery" run today ! Hoping my ITB issue has been resolved this year by running much slower than I did last year, now in my "get round" mindset rather than my "get round in under 5 hours" mindset (sorry, Harmander !).
One gets a completely different kind of run than planned. lol
MikeSmith, in wet weather, I find using vaseline in between my toes and on my feet generally, minimises the chance of blisters as does wearing double socks. Try it.
Although it is sad news about a friend of mine passing away - he was no other than Ed Whitlock - the first 70 plus year old to break 3 hours for the Marathon. He has 36 World records to his name and was a gentleman. His running would inspire anyone - so the next time you think you have a problem, think again. At 85, Ed did the marathon in 3:56.
Ed and Fauja Singh were friends although they could not converse very well as Ed's command of Punjabi was terrible and Fauja's command of English is worse.
Check out his story at:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summer/trackandfield/world-marathon-record-holder-ed-whitlock-1.4023053
I stayed on my feet for longer than I ever have before (about 3:45) but there must be a lengthy German or Japanese word for the annoyance you feel when you get your phone out of your pouch and discover it's switched itself off so no stats...Piecing it together to get my full distance I'm still on course for 'just getting round' - I could have gone further but a heavy shower coincided with the the arrival of a bus so I gave in...
In VLM, we run in pairs to ensure the other runners are not left without a pacer iin case one of us is unable to continue for any reason - we are only human after all.
There is no coordination with other colour pacers as the time it takes to get to the start line can vary by upto 10 minutes.
Hope this makes sense.
My colleague Camilla is a super fantastic pacer who is spot on with every mile - she checks her gadgets regularly whereas I am happy to be in the right race and going the right way - just kidding , I am not that bad.
Thanks
I too received my final instructions magazine, it's getting very real now.... 1 month today!