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so pleased for you, my friend - can't wait for the report (but celebrate well, first and foremost )
Good day at the office for me too - 90 sec PB 1:24:54
Great result today for you. very well deserved.
Thanks guys, it's going to take me a long time to come down off this. Currently enjoying a few peronis on the train home wearing my medal and t shirt. I was beginning to to think this year would go down as the one of what ifs due to weather.
A friend who ran it today said it got cold and wet near the end and scuppered the PB attempt. Looking forward to the report.
Enjoy those Peronis.
DT Sub-3...It even rhymes!!
Gul - really well chuffed for you too - equally well deserved - smiling as I type
in fact, just had a beer here , and as there are two more in the fridge, its only proper that I have those for you two !!!!
Not sure what the weather was like in London but I hope Nicko wasnt too weighed down by the squirrel costume!
I guess it's me and Lorenzo up next!
Well done DT - thoroughly well deserved and good to see you finally nail it. Should be an interesting report. Enjoy the Peronis.
Pretty nifty half from you as well Gul.
Great PB Gul, fantastic time.
Chester the Squirrel did not have a fun day today; a 2:14 slog - massively underestimated the effect of that costume - more details tomorrow but there is much discomfort this evening.
Nick - that costume must have weighed a ton by the end of 2 and a quarter hours plus. Hope you're feeling a bit better today.
I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep; must still be on a high. In the end I got and did all my usual morning jobs plus a few more, then went out for a 6 mile recovery run, had some breakfast and went back to bed for a couple of hours before work. Better hit the coffee today!
Gul that puts you in with a shout of a sub3 attempt don't you think? You will be faster next time too, now your hand weighs a bit less.
DT that is a true squeaky bottom finish, the focus and the effort must have been immense.
Nicko - +1 for uncomfortable fancy dress, it's not a good thing.
Grands chapeaux all round!
36 degrees here, perhaps the nasty gym tonight rather than outside.
I yesterday made my return, 3 years after somehow winning the V60 category at the S.Yorks XC League. And a quintessential XC day, too !! Was chucking it down when I got up at 7am, when I left to pick up my son at 11am, and when the Mens race kicked off at 12:30 !! this is my final year in the V60-64 category, and, as noted before, the dropoff in 3 years has been severe. (As an aside, this may seem quite ridiculous, but part of the reason for not competing in these events for 3 years is the very fact that I'm now unable to reach previous "levels", even though they're quite modest). I'm not particularly egotistical, or even ambitious, in "real" life, but it took a lot of "self-talk" to decide to enter the series. Has anyone on here had this ?
However, once out there, I just got on with it, and actually enjoyed it (more so when it was over, naturally). The course was 4 x 2K laps (subsequent races are 10K) , each with a couple of shortish, but steepish, climbs. The surface was grass parkland, and the rain had only rendered a couple of descents, and one of the ascents, quite muddy. Set off at the back, felt my way in for half a lap with 2 clubmates, then let one go (well, he went steadily away), but I left the other in similar fashion. My son lapped me at some point (he was 5th or 6th, I think), but I felt quite strong on the final lap (maybe due to the longer runs I'm still doing here and there), and passed 2 younger clubmates and one or two others, so at least 3 clubmates behind
So, back in the game, and quietly pleased I overcame the "don't do it" voices.
. . and Gul - Poacher is right - your time yesterday converts to sub 3 if the training's in the bank - and yours definitely is/will be . . . . .
I totally get the pain of being c*ap. From sub3-capable to easily able to knock out 3.10 on almost no training, but now struggling to make 3.45. Partly age and partly self inflicted through lack of effort, but it's not a lot of fun being this slow. Like you, still racing though, and that's the main thing.
Thanks, SBD. Hope you are going well?
I bet you were smashing into that the guitar yesterday, Gul. You should race more often! Similarly, I woke up in the small hours and couldn't get back to sleep, such was my excitement. I certainly didn't get up though!
Birch, well done on getting back to the cross country. I am hoping to get some in this season.
Bit sore as expected this morning. However, I have a very specific point of soreness on 5he muscle on he very front lower of my left shin. It is also swollen and slightly bruised, more akin to a kick playing football. No idea what that is about.
I cant remember if I mentioned the sub 3 pacer cruising passed me at 2 miles and by 4 miles he was 40 seconds ahead, which meant he was running 6.35 average. He finished in 2.57.58 and had no-one with him. He must have run them into the ground by 20 miles!
Hope your not suffering too much today Nicko. Must of been a hell of a slog.
Well ran Birch and good to see you back racing!
Did my last double digit run yesterday 12 miles easy effort. More normal looking taper schedule this week. 4m easy with 6 x 1min strides tomorrow. 5m Easy Thursday and an easy 3m on Saturday. Weather is looking perfect at the moment although this could all change very quickly!
Work are having an enforced shutdown so unexpectedly I have the week off next week. Will be able to focus on proper recovery
DT - hope the shin is okay soon. Shocking pacing. Looking forward to your report.
Stevie - the shutdown is very fortuitous for your race. Hope that's just routine and not a sign of troubles at work?
Mile 7 6:29 (1:02). Mile 8 6:25 (1:01). Mile 9 6:25 (1.00). Still feeling strong, but remembering what happened in 2016, I was trying not to count my chickens. The effort level began to noticeably increase somewhere in these last few miles but as I checked off the miles, I knew I was holding it together. 10 in 6:28 (1:01), 11 6:21 (0.99). As we circumnavigated a very familiar roundabout near the car-park, I was counting down the minutes. We turned a bend and the moderate breezed picked up and hit us head on (or maybe it was just my legs tiring). Mile 12 in 6:34 (1:00). Nothing to worry about. Just hang on now. We were very close now and I could see the park area. A sign said 400m to go. No mile 13 marker. So what. Last bend and onto the grass finish. 200m to go and I couldn't pick it up, just keep hanging on. Final split 7:18 (1:09) so another 6:4x to finish but I had enough in the bank
I was delirious with joy and knelt down in the mud and kissed the ground. A steward enquired if I was all right. All right?! You bet.
Great report Gul and a fantastic result! Sounds like you paced it pretty well also.
I work for a plastic moulding company and roughly 70% of our work is with Jaguar Land Rover. They have decided with very little notice to have an unplanned shutdown for 2 weeks from next week. This greatly effects our sales so to mitigate this they have decided all staff have to have one of the weeks off and then work the hours back over 2019. Quite frustrating as in Finance it makes no difference to my work load but theres nothing I can do about it. The company is perfectly healthy long term which is comforting, just maybe need to diversify away from JLR!
in view of the weather conditions, and your plectrum-free celebration, thought you may like this (the song and the guitar work) - "Didn't it Rain" . . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmxd6eyutUs
http://www.tvxc.org.uk/results/runner?runner_id=1275
As time went by, I started to rely on the vet slot to make the team and then eventually dropped out the scoring picture totally. Just about got into a state of mind where I can "race" these and just enjoy it.
Great report Gul. Sounds it all worked out without any major issues. Certainly seems a lot better than a lot of races local to me where you go into the sub 1:30 pen and end up walking/jogging the first mile to get past the hopefuls.
YORKSHIRE MARATHON
Having attempted sub 3 in Birmingham 2017 and blowing up, when I felt I was in sub 3 shape, I arrived in London in April in what I felt was better shape but had to amend the plan due to the weather. So Yorkshire was selected following feedback from a friend who went very close there last year.
Having only run marathons in London and Birmingham (places I know well and full of landmarks as well as a whole host of race statistics), it will be a little difficult for me to recall much detail of this as after mile 1 we were essentially winding around country roads that all looked the same for the next 24 miles.
My week building up to the race was reasonably relaxed in that my focus until the Thursday was my son’s day out as a mascot. However once that was done, I woke up with a huge dose of anxiety on Friday. On Saturday I set off for York. This was the first time I would go off alone for one of these events and in theory it should have been ideal.
As soon as I boarded the train I sat opposite a bloke with Chicago 18 top on, who was on his way up for the 10 miler. The carriage was full of people travelling for race purposes so there was a lot of chat. I arrived at my hotel mid-afternoon and was disappointed to find there was no bath in my room. A return trip by taxi to David Lloyd (DL) served that purpose, but also allowed me to check out the route and proximity for the following morning. The taxi driver warned me that due to road closures etc I’d be better off walking there in the morning. In the evening I had a table for one booked at Prezzo so strolled into town. I felt bizarrely lonely and vulnerable sat in there. Opposite me was a young family with kids about the same age as mine and the Dad was clearly running one of the events. I wished my family were there with me.
I returned to the hotel and started falling asleep by 10pm. I was woken at 2am sharp by some drunk Scots returning from a night out. Their messing about, in and out of rooms went on until 4am. From that point onwards my sleep was fitful at best so I was grateful for the chunk I got in until 2am. My alarm went at 6.45 and I went for breakfast. I managed a slice of toast and some yogurt. I was excited to see there was no rain at that point and wondered if they had got it all wrong.
I left the hotel to walk the 1.7 miles to DL just as the rain started. I hadn’t gone more than 100m when I began vomiting. I did so 4 times. My breakfast was gone and I wondered why I had bothered. However, 10 minutes or so later and the vomiting had seemed to settle me down and I felt much more calm about matters. I got to DL, had a shower etc and got ready. I arrived at the start area about 9.10 and by then it was raining solidly. I queued for the toilet and got in and out with enough time to get in my pen with about 3 minutes to spare. I positioned myself ahead of the 3 hour pacer as I wanted to avoid the crowd surrounding him.
We were off at 9.30 promptly. A nice gentle downhill start (however I took note as we were to run back up this hill at 25.5m) in towards the city centre. I was determined to control the early pace and not try and bank time, having made that mistake previously. My plan was to run 6.45-6.50mm but try and edge on the faster side of that range. I was also conscious of keeping hr in the low 160s.
The first 3 miles came in 6.46, 6.45 and 6.47. According to strava my first 5k was 21.06, so pacing was bang on. The conditions were great in that it was very cool and whilst it was raining I was able to switch off from it. At two miles the sub 3 pacer and a large contingent of runners rolled past me. I was running at 6.45 at this point and it sent a sense of doom to me. If I can’t keep up with the 3 hour pacer 2 miles in, what hope is there! He must have been cracking on at 6.35mm.
At mile 4 there was a right hand turn and I could see in the distance when the pacing group took it and time how long it took me to get there, which was 40 seconds. I sparked up a conversation with some lads around me as to what the hell he was playing at and we all agreed he was going way too fast for those in the group.
Mile 4 was gel time. The plan was to get one in me every 4 miles. That done I felt a little surge of energy. The first 4 miles seemed to take an age to come around, as did the next 4 miles. At this point I was still settling into the race and working out how I felt.
Miles 4-6 came in 6.42, 6.46 and 6.47 and I was sat jumping between 6.46 and 6.47 average pace. This was frustrating me as I wanted at this stage to be sat at 6.45 average, however the effort to push that little extra seemed like that tiny bit too much. My second 5k split was 21.01 so holding steady.
From about 8 miles the field began to thin out and the rain really began to come down. I had a rough few miles and seemed to just be getting slower and slower with my average pace dropping to 6.48. My thoughts began to become negative as if I couldn’t sustain effort so early on this would only end badly. Miles 7-9 came out 6.47, 6.50 and 6.51 with my third 5k at 21.11.
I resolved to keep at the pace until half way. There was a lot of surface water now on the roads and I was soaked through. I found that the vaporflys do not like this and on a number of occasions for the remainder of the race I had the feeling of aquaplaning.
I bashed on navigating various country lanes which all looked largely the same. Miles 10-12 were 6.50, 6.48 and 6.42 and the 4th 5k 21.06. My average was back to 6.47 which lifted my spirit. There was a mat at 13 miles which on the tracker registered as half way and I went through that in 1.28.01. I went through half way I recall in about 1.28.45 so in or around target but probably 15-30 seconds slower than I would have liked.
So at this point a systems check. Halfway in a marathon should be reasonably comfortable. Not easy, but controlled. Aerobically I felt great, my hr average was 160 and I was conversational. My left upper leg was causing me some concern. I have had an on-going niggle in the glute/hamstring joining point since early September. This was beginning to stiffen up and in turn so was my hamstring. At this stage however there was no reason not to stick with the plan so off I went into the second half.
Mile 16 had an upward drag to it and this was the first time it began to feel like an effort aerobically. Again, negativity swelled my brain. ‘It doesn’t matter today, just slow back to 7.15s, you’ll pb’ etc etc. After mile 16 it started going downhill so whilst I held the pace steady it allowed my hr to recover. I noted there were cones eitherside of the road and I was entering another out and back. My concern was I was seeing guys coming back that were few and far between. How long was this out and back I wondered!! Whilst I was enjoying this stint running downwards I was permanently conscious that I would be doing whatever distance back up it soon! I saw Duck who used to post on the Middle Ground thread coming back up and we high fived (he went on to run 2.46 in his mara debut!!). Eventually the out and back ended after 2 miles. Great….2 miles back up here. ‘This is going to break you, you know that don’t you’ and ‘what are you playing at, just take it easy and you’ll post a decent 3.02/30.3’ said the unhelpful part of my brain.
Miles 16-20 were 6.47, 6.50, 6.48, 6.52 and 6.57 and the next 5k was 21.04, the second fastest of the day.
My legs were hurting by this point but average pace was sat solidly at 6.49mm. I was aware that other than the hill at the end the course was now flat and downhill. Ok, here’s the deal, lets just get to 23 with 6.49 average, I thought to myself. From this point there were casualties on the road side quite regularly, probably having tried to stick with the sub 3 pacer!! At mile 21 I tried to get down my last gel. This was a right old struggle and I regretted it as it left me feeling nauseous. Aerobically I remained very comfortable but now I had my stomach and my very tired legs to contend with.
Mile 21 pops up at 6.53….ok that’s navigated with no damage done then a 6.59, 7.06 and a 7.05. Average pace is now sat at 6.50. Everytime I look at my watch my anxiety heightens as I know I have a hill to navigate and I only have roughly 50 seconds in the bank. The penultimate 5k is 21.35 so I have slowed but not disastrously.
Into mile 25, start heading back to town. I am making deals all over the place with myself now. I know I’m on for a pb. The unhelpful side is telling me not to get greedy. What’s the big deal about sub 3, just cruise in and 3.01 is yours. Sub 3 will keep for another day etc. I pass the 40k clock and it’s on 2.49.5x…,eh, so ive got 10 minutes to run 2k??? I don’t actually believe that was accurately placed as I didn’t drop to 8mm pace! The last 5k split was 22.09.
Ok, that is doable, this could f###king happen!!! I decide to stop looking at my watch. I can’t take the tension and it is making me feel more sick than I do anyway. I feel like I am watching someone else’s race unfold on a tracker. I had a mate who ran 2.59.58 in Chester last week and I said to him then ‘rather you than me dealing with that stress at the end’ yet here I was in that very position!! I recalled him telling me (having seen the pace he ran the last 0.3 miles) that he simply couldn’t let the opportunity just slide away. I kept repeating this and thinking of everyone that has suffered the inconvenience of my training to get here. I kept visualising the finish clock on 2.59.xx and also 3.00.xx and knew what I wanted.
Right, let’s just hold it together. Mile 25 pops up at 7.16. Ok, I had about 50 seconds in the bank, I now have over 30 and a mile ish to go….but theres a big f####ing hill. At 25.5 I turn the corner to leave the Hull road and enter the hill. I know when I crest the top it’s all downhill. Nothing silly, just get to the top. I don’t look at my watch as I know my current pace will freak me out. The hill gets done and doesn’t present as big a problem as I anticipated. As I crest the top there are a couple of lads ahead of me and I hear the sub 3 pacer has finished and all alone. I think, yes you buffoon, you ran them into the ground and they are now somewhere behind me!!