St Neots Riverside Half Marathon 2011
Saturday I rested all day and recovered nicely. Spent the day doing family things with the kids (football training, bike riding & cinema) and generally taking my mind off of racing - which has gone BADLY all year.
Woke up today feeling good. Slept all right and legs felt happy. Resting HR though was 49/50 bpm - still way too high. Little girl has had high temperature for a few days and I've felt a little chesty so guess it's still in the system. Decided to just throw it down and have a crack.
Foggy as hell this morning and bloody cold. Got to St Neots rec and jogged a bit after getting my number and felt nice and warm. Kept myself to myself at the start only catching up with Ian & DC on the way to the start line.
Decided to switch GPS off and run to feel. Would lap the Garmin at mile markers and see how I felt.
Settled into a nice pace and got dropped pretty quickly by a few groups and sat in a group of Mornington Chasers, Brooksy & a few others. Covbaldy went ahead fairly soon and we hit the (very) short first mile marker in 5:30.
2nd mile downhill flew by in 5.41 which I reckon was still way wrong. Still felt good and was trying to feel slightly slower than hard tempo as I was mega paranoid about blowing up. I have died a thousand death in almost every race this year when pace judgement is usually a strong point.
3rd mile slightly uphill towards Abbotsley went in 6.27 - course getting some distance back but all feeling good. Before I knew it I was 5k in and 10 miles to go. All good in the hood but now the hills start.
Hill at 3.5 miles is a beaut, just enough to take the sting out of the tail and the crowning point past the water station seperates the men from the boys. 6.27 for the mile shows where I am right now :)
Caught a 'Chaser who started too fast and we ran side by side for the 5th mile, pushing hard downhill. I reckon this was true race pace it felt on the edge but my lack of confidence here slowed me up just approaching the big hill and I went up VERY gingerly. 5.57 for the mile bringing up 5 miles in 30.03.
Was way ahead of the chaser now with a big group catching me and was reeling in another guy. From here on its net downhill / flat / slightly undulating to 8 miles. Splits approx 6.06 (6 miles) 6.11 (7 miles) 6.07 (8 miles). This is where a really good time left me. I was on my own for the whole way and I just didn't push on, I ran feeling more comfortable than I needed to and if you're going to run fast you need to take some risks. Just too worried about blowing up, rather than chasing down the guys in front who I was catching I was just trying to conserve energy for a strong finish.
Caught my man at 8 miles and dropped him nicely up the hill to 9 miles. Again crowned pretty slowly and took a sip of water at the station. 9th mile 6.22 which is pretty respectable up the last hill. In fairness I didn't notice it too much.
Guy that had been haunting me caught me just before 10 miles. From about 9.5 miles it starts dropping downhill all the way to the finish. 10 miles came up in 61.10ish with a 6.11 mile.
Worked pretty hard on 11th mile going past another 'chaser (there was a really good turnout from them). Half way through the mile the guy that nabbed me (he was first footy shorts home) was 10 secs clear. Ran pretty smooth through the mile and was just behind footy shorts. He looked a good runner and was checking his watch like he was either on a 1.20 schedule or running to HR.
11th mile was 6.03, worked pretty hard last half and kept it going. Knew now that the 12th mile would be the big one. Always wanted to unload on the last mile but now I was starting to feel at this pace that I was recovering rather than tiring. 12th mile was with footy shorts stride for stride, we worked pretty well and could see we were reeling the boys in front in.
12th mile hit in 6.01, legs were pretty smashed with a combination of lack of strength and downhills. Picked the pace right up and worked really hard into St Neots. Pace wise I wanted to get to 13 miles with 1.20 in the bag. Flew the last bit of Potton Road and turned into the housing estate overtaking the 2 boys in front of me. 13th miles in 5.29 fastest of race.
Sprinted last bit. 55 secs for 0.1 mile works out at 9.45 pace???? Bit long I reckon lol
Finished up in 15th place in 1:19.35. Minute quicker than last year, 2nd quickest half ever and best run for some time!
Really pleased with this. I know there is more in the bank becaise I hekd back far too much for the first 8 miles when I should have been working.
Not a world beating time but after some of the performances I have put in this year it's nice to get close to something close to where I'd like to.
Next up Bedford half. Quicker course with 3 more weeks in my legs. Got to push on now.
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