Race Report: Lee Valley Marathon (Race for Life)

Lee Valley Park - view of the canal

I got very over-excited after the Lancaster Half Marathon a couple of weeks ago.  Having PBd and felt like it wasn't horrible to run at that pace, apart from the last little bit with the hill, I thought that a sub 4 hour marathon might be possible already.

I hate my brain when it does this.  It puts lots of unfounded pressure on me.  But I really thought this might actually happen.  Then I took a look at a race predictor and it pretty much laughed in my face.  Having given it that half marathon time, the quickest marathon predicted time from all of the various formulae comes out at 4 hours and 2 minutes and a bit.  Not sub four at all.  So I lost heart.

And my brain didn't give up.  It kept telling me that this is possible, but I don't understand well enough or have enough experience to have the faintest idea.  My coach confirmed that he thought it was possible, and that even if I blew up horribly I'd still PB for sure and I agreed.

Well, to cut a long story short, it wasn't my day.

The race organisation had decided that as they'd put enough loos around the route of the race, they didn't need that many at the start/finish/expo.  There were 15 loos for 3,500 women, plus supporters!  Bad move.  Very many of us just went into the long, dewy grass or found bushes and dealt with needing to wee that way.  The worrying down side of it was getting pretty wet feet.  Wet feet is a great way to get blisters.  So I was already cranky before I started.  However, it *was* nice to meet up with Kat (who had a fantastic race and smashed out a marathon PB) & Jools briefly beforehand, chat a bit and get some help with making sure I didn't lose my house keys (thank you!).

The race start was sort of seeded - with timing chips we'd be getting chip times so the clock didn't start until you crossed the line.  There was a call for all runners who might run under 4.5 hours to line up first, then the 4.5 to 6 hour finishers, then 6+.  Then the half marathon runners after that (um, OK. That's a dumb idea as they'll have to run through *all* of the marathon runners.).  I joined the sub 4.5 hour group as my worst case was under that time anyway.

From the start of the race I didn't feel anything like I did at Lancaster, but I thought it'd be fine once I warmed up.  The first mile was a pretty spicy pace - I was supposed to be aiming to hold 08:57/mile (10s/mile faster than goal pace) so I couldn't afford the first mile to be more a warm-up like it was at Lancaster (where I hit 09:22 for the first mile and then an average of 08:53 overall).

It was OK, but in the back of my head I was already worried that things didn't feel all that great and doubts crept in really early.  By mile 4, my brain had checked out - my Garmin wasn't giving me great info on the mile splits and wasn't matching up with the race mile markers either.

So I had a bit of a mull, and as I did, the second two toes on my right foot started to get really sore - my shoe was too small for the conditions and I really didn't want that to turn into a proper problem.  And then there was an actual hill.  The up of which really demoralised me - s-bends up - and the down hurt my toes - s-bends again so you can't really let go so easily.

By mile 7 it was most definitely worrying, my pace was way off and I felt sick.  From that point all I could think about was another 6 miles until I could stop.  There were moments of "it *might* be OK, I could maybe get around in about 4 hours 10 or so... but I felt vile in my stomach and I was worried about my toes.  So I gave up.

I walked a little bit, had a chat with the race marshall at the split between the finish funnel and the second lap and took the finish funnel.

The medal was OK.

The goody bag was *enormous*.  The sponsors were keen and realise that a lot of their target market was right there.

I was desperate for *something* - the water was great, but I chugged the "Upbeat" as well, which helped a bit.  I followed it with the yogurty raisins and the chocolates but that's not real food and I needed tea so I went in search of tea.  Unfortunately the tea place had a menu that said "bacon baguette" which I really wanted and convinced myself of that so much that when it turned out there was only hog roast (roast pork, crackling & stuffing in a soft roll) I had so much momentum I got one of those when it probably wasn't the best idea.

The pork and crackling were pretty good, to be honest and I ate about half of it and ditched a lot of the roll.  Drank my tea and then tried to get up from the grass.  Instantly, I felt really sick; sicker than when I was running.  So I just wanted to be home, somewhere cool, dark and quiet with some fizzy water with lemon.  I crashed out on the journey home, but the naps made me feel a bit better, as did the pint of cold, fizzy water with lots of lemon slices in it when I got home.

Overall - today just didn't work.  My brain and body were not as up for it as I needed for a sub-4, and then I made it worse with the shoes being wet and not fitting for some reason, and then something weird with my stomach and then eating stupid things afterwards.  BUT!  There will be other days!   Lancaster was not a fluke, and I know I can have a much better day at some point in the future.  This was my second fastest half marathon to date - 02:02:31.  When you set out to do a marathon, you run slower than you would for a half, so this makes me quite happy in a convoluted way.

Corner *definitely* turned!

It is said that in sport, consistency is king and I've just had another, and very personal, demonstration of that.  I've been hitting all my planned sessions, despite transatlantic travel, and things are really starting to show improvement.

I've been running some lovely trails while I've been away and seeing lots of wildlife, which really makes it all the nicer.

Last weekend I had weird stuff go on with the Sunday run.  Having mooched about town for 4.5 miles of walking after my 11 mile run in the morning on Saturday, odd things happened on Sunday's run.  Here are the notes I took for CenturionJames:-

In SF - *weird* run. Mechanically everything was fine. Engine-wise it felt hard and I struggled to get my heart rate up to even 15bpm lower than it would be for the perceived effort/pace. (Ignore Strava again, it's using a stupid way of working out distances so thinks I went 0.2 miles further than I did so the pace is wrong.) Actual pace 10:29/mile so only a tiny bit slower than yesterday, but way lower average heart rate - approx. 15bpm lower. (same hill involved but from a different angle) Recovered quickly and felt great afterwards. Will keep an eye on HR weirdness on Tuesday.

It all felt just so odd at the time.  It felt like there was some sort of hard limit that something was stopping me from exceeding.  I even tried to "sprint" a bit a couple of times and even trying really hard I could only get my HR up to 10 BPM below what I used to call the change from easy into putting some effort in.  But what happened in the runs after that was pretty cool.  I do now seem to be hitting around 10BPM less for the same pace as in previous weeks.  And harder efforts feel very very enjoyable.

It's a shame I wont be at parkrun for another two weekends (today I'm in New York and the nearest parkrun is 500 miles away and next weekend I'll still be on a plane back home until after parkrun).  It'd be great to see what I can do over 3.1 miles now with a bit of effort.  I'm thinking probably just over 27 minutes.  Which is way off my parkrun PB of 24:06 and my 5km PB for 22:36, but it'd still be by far the quickest I've been since October last year.

(And I just realised that there's a parkrun 30 mins drive from Ann Arbor so I could have run there in April.  Hey ho.)

So that's a corner definitely turned and I'm really pleased in many ways.  Plus, I'm really enjoying my running!  Right!  I'm off out for a run!  :o)

Consistency => showing signs of coming together

This morning's recovery run was a breakthrough in recent times.  Odd really, recovery runs aren't supposed to be "breakthrough session"s, but it was because of the way I ran it.  For the first run in a while, I actually ran properly easy.  Heart rate well under my first fuel change point from 100% fat to small amounts of carb.  So I'm really happy about that.  Having struggled to run gently enough for a little while, due to lack of practice, this is a very positive sign.  The other positive sign is that I'm starting to feel a bit stronger.  And, having managed to lay off the wine pretty well, my excess flab is starting to shift too.

All run sessions complete.  All gym sessions done.  No "giving in" to easy higher-carb food.  One, sensible couple of glasses of wine on one night only.

Consistency is paying off!

Building blocks

I feel great.

Like really great.

This morning was my first session with Athletic Edge.  These guys specialise in functional, relevant strength and conditioning work for athletes; from rugby players through triathletes to sprinters etc.

Having seen the work they've done with Mr TOTKat over the last year, how much stronger and more resilient he's got, I decided they were the solution to my feeling weak and soft.  It's hard getting to the gym on your own schedule; if you've committed to a session with someone who's going to really pick over exactly what you need to be doing to move forward then it's far more likely to happen.  Even when that means getting up at 05:45 to do that.

So.  Initial thoughts are that my lower back is a bit over-enthusiastic and, under certain conditions, tries to take the load that my glutes and hamstrings should be taking.  My hamstrings and calves are a bit tight and that's limiting some exercises before we can load them up at all.  And I have good control in the main, which is a good platform to start working on good technique and then progressing the exercises.

Ben put me through some fairly gentle, easy exercises this morning but I know I will have some DOMS tomorrow and Sunday mainly because I was using muscles in ways I've not done in a while.  I look forward to it!  Hello endorphins, I've missed you :o)

Turned a corner

Taking one day at a time is proving to be very successful.  I'd been getting really wound up looking at things even on a weekly level, never mind monthly or zooming right out to seasonal level.  Stress levels rising, happiness levels plummeting, generally an unpleasant state to be in.

Breaking things up into manageable chunks works.  I looked at my week and moved training sessions about to fit with my work travels in a sensible way and then just focussed on each day as they came.  On a Tuesday, if I was in Bury Saint Edmunds, I'd get a run session in in the morning before work.  On a Thursday, if I was tired from the day before and needed to get in to work for an 8am start, I'd just do that and if I ended up in the office for almost 12 hours, then that's what happened and that was enough stress on my body for the day without trying to wedge in a sports training session or getting wound up about not having trained.  Move on.  Live with it.  Tomorrow is another day.

And I've got out on my bike and started to feel the movement and synergy with it more.  Been cornering and handling better, sitting on the brakes downhill less, getting down on the drops (unheard of), taking a drink while pedalling (also unheard of) and today I went for a speculative spin on my TT bike and it was OK.  I was able to get down on the bars right out of the traps.  And this was right after a good swim session where I got through the whole session without wussing out and missing part of the main set, and did it in less time than coach estimated for the session.

5x100s x 3 - endurance session

Things are looking up.

I'm going to race on the TT bike tomorrow.

I'm also going to mash the run like I did at the 15km race at Clapham 2 weeks ago.

And if I don't place well in the field, I don't mind all that much.  It's been a tough 9 months since I crashed, lots has happened and that's OK.

The call of the next season...

Galway has been a pivotal race for more reasons than stopping me from completing the Ultimate Challenge.

I thought I'd be devastated not to finish the challenge but I'm just disappointed.  I deserved to have finished all 4 races, I'd put in the work, I had the fitness and the determination.  I have no doubt I would have finished Wales to complete the set had I not broken my collar bone.  Yes, it means I don't get to tick that box, yes it means I don't get the cool special jacket, medal and t-shirt and I don't get to tell people I did it.  But, I did deserve to and that's pretty darned good.  I'll always know that even if other people won't and won't understand it.

The other reason for it being a pivotal race is what it showed me about what I could possibly achieve.  Given the close proximity to the final race of the challenge, with Wales only 2 weeks afterwards, my coach and I agreed I needed to conserve my body and limit damage as far as possible to allow for a comfortable day in Tenby.  This meant I could have a bit of a go in the swim and bike but, as Rich said, "doss the run".

Bear that and the crash in mind and look at the performance differences between Wimbleball and Galway.  Yes, Wimbleball is a tougher course, but look at the improvement vs the rest of the field (rank by that stage of the race) and my age category (cat rank for that leg of the race)...

 

 A minor improvement vs the field in the swim and a bit of learning in T1.  Then I've jumped almost 34% up my age category and almost 25% up the whole field in the bike *including a crash*!  Not completely going balls-out and then 5 minutes on my back/arse at the side of the road and then the last 9km at a gentler pace overall (I think) and still I moved from 60% down the age category to the top 25%. That's really very very encouraging.  Yes, the run was not as good as Wimbleball (quicker, but lower down the field - the courses have quite different profiles), but I had two pee stops of about a minute each ('s hard to get your shorts on and off with one hand) and I was trying not to jar my shoulder too much the rest of the time.  I also had an extra 11 minutes in T2 being seen to by the medics which wouldn't be normal.

The race itself felt great and had I not crashed so badly, I think I might have been fighting for 3rd place in my age category.  Not quite enough for a 70.3 World Championships slot without a lucky roll down - I'd need 2nd place for that - but I have to think it might be possible if that had been an A race.  So, in any case, 70.3 might just be my Goldilocks distance.

Right now, next year looks like the year of 70.3 and trying to qualify for the World Championships at Lake Las Vegas either in 2013 or 2014, depending on what races look possible to make A races in 2013.  Current thinking is Wimbleball, Galway and Lanzarote for a nice spread through the season and finishing somewhere warm in November.  It also means I can do some sprints (hello Blenheim! :o)) and maybe olympics as well through the year as it won't interfere with my overall training, so I can have a lot more fun with that.