It was cold, it was windy, but on the whole I think it was a successful outing. The main aims for this race were to score some league points, have a good training run, and get some feedback on potential marathon pace without over-reaching and impacting the next few weeks training. Job done I think.
Firstly, well done to Shelly. In such a small club it's always tricky to get a women's team together for the longer races. Shelly's back has been playing up all week, and she was looking doubtful for the race. Without her there would be no team. I spoke to her on Friday night, and she seemed optimistic, but until she tapped me on the shoulder at the start I had no idea whether she would make it. I don't think she was pleased with the outcome, but she put in a solid performance, only slightly slower than last year, so well done. Thankyou.
Thankyou too to Marilyn, the ever-present stalwart of the team. I didn't get to speak to her at the race, but her presence as always is much appreciated. Again a solid performance, and I think we did pretty well as a team. Well done girls!
My approach to this race, a distance I've only ever run slowly, never raced, was to push a bit harder this year, due to the need to score some league points. I'm nervous about racing 20 miles in the lead up to the marathon for fear of impacting the remaining training and possibly not leaving myself fully recovered by marathon day. On advice, I'd decided to do it as a progression run, starting slowly in the first 5 miles, picking it up to marathon pace for the remainder, and maybe pushing the last few miles. My marathon pace would be determined by heart rate: 83%of max - 143bpm. It would be interesting to see what pace I could run this at, as I haven't done a pace test for a while now and the training has been going extremely well.
Another little test for me, was to see if I could do without my trusty bottle belt that I've used for all my long runs and races. My dependency on fluids seems to have eased somewhat. Could I survive on a few cups of water and some gels? I stuffed 2 gels down my cleavage, held a gel in each hand and headed for the start line.
From the off it was immediately obvious that my pace wasn't going to be quite what I'd hoped for. Beautiful day though it was, we were heading into a very chilly wind that was impacting my pace noticeably. Heart rate wise the first few miles weren't quite the saunter I'd hoped for. The pace was still quite relaxed though so I carried on jogging along with Shelly.
I realised at 4 miles, having had a gel, that I might have to rethink my plan of a gel every 4 miles, as the water stations were every 3. I now had 2 miles to the next water station. Not to worry though as these were isotonic SiS gels, and water wasn't strictly necessary. I was better off than Graham C though, who opened his 'gel' later on to find it was powder! (Snigger)
Talking of Graham, his comment afterwards was that I "lit the blue touch paper" at 5 miles. It must have seemed like that to those I was passing, as I'd just lifted my pace by nearly a minute per mile. It was a nice feeling passing everyone. No-one overtook me in the remaining 15-miles, apart from a rather good-looking Overton Harrier who overtook me at half way, but I got him back at around 18 miles. I'd been told it would be fun passing people - it was!
It's a shame about the wind though - we had a head wind right up to about 12 miles - which rather took the edge off my speed. However I averaged 7:52 for the last 15 miles with an average heart rate of only 144bpm (just 1 bpm over typical marathon pace) so I should be pleased.
I have a small gripe though about the casual layout of the mile markers - my lap times were varying between 6 minutes and 9 minutes according to the markers, whereas my GPS only had a small variance and seemed far more realistic. If other races such as Bramley can manage accurate mile markers, why can't the Mad March Hare? Even Cardiff, a major marathon, had markers all over the place. It's these apparently small things which can make a difference.
My second gripe is about the toilets - again, just as last year, I had to queue 25 minutes for the portaloos. I had to forego my intended 1 mile warm up as a result.
Also, the tents - they hadn't been pitched an hour before the start. With such a chilly start and such limited accommodation, these tents are important parts of the pre-race prep, and the only changing facilities. Is it too much to ask also for a ground sheet? Getting changed on muddy ground isn't much fun. The London Marathon has long loo queues and muddy tents, so maybe that's the model used here - a London training event taken to the extreme?
Gripes over!
Well done to the boys. Tony put in an really impressive 2:06 - looking good for London Tony! Good runs for Neil and Paul ahead of me. To the rest of the boys, I enjoyed passing all of you! (tee hee)
Well done team!
As this was a pace test here are the splits and average HRs. I've included the GPS splits too as a comparison with the mile markers - for any meaningful determination of pace vs HR, I think the mile markers can be discounted.
Mad March Hare 20 splits| Lap | Lap time | bpm | GPS lap time |
|---|
| 1 | 8:20 | 104 | 8:32 |
| 2 | 9:07 | 127 | 8:39 |
| 3 | 8:41 | 130 | 8:32 |
| 4 | 8:52 | 130 | 8:38 |
| 5 | 8:25 | 135 | 8:32 |
| 6 | 7:06 | 143 | 7:42 |
| 7 | 8:32 | 142 | 7:58 |
| 8 | 8:00 | 142 | 8:00 |
| 9 | 8:10 | 143 | 8:36 |
| 10 | 7:48 | 142 | 7:52 |
| 11 | 8:07 | 143 | 8:02 |
| 12 | 8:10 | 142 | 7:55 |
| 13 | 8:46 | 142 | 7:47 |
| 14 | 6:50 | 145 | 8:01 |
| 15 | 7:49 | 145 | 7:37 |
| 16 | 8:24 | 144 | 7:42 |
| 17 | 6:00 | 147 | 7:45 |
| 18 | 8:47 | 145 | 7:50 |
| 19 | 8:09 | 150 | 7:36 |
| 20 | 6:57 | 151 | 7:29 |
Result:
2:41:08I've yet to see the full league results, but I think we did OK!
