I hadn’t planned to write anything about the Brighton Marathon. Up until now, one of the purposes of this blog is a sort of record of my own training experiences. However, looking back at Sunday, it impossible for the day not to be important in this whole experience. It was also a reminder that preparation also takes place when not running, being aware of the variables which none of us have any control over. I have taken part in this event in each of the last two years and on each occasion, I have been lucky with the weather – both were sunny but fairly cool. This year was to be very different and served as a stark reminder that London falls later in the month. In other words, slightly closer to the summer and therefore potentially warmer. It was my turn to support this year. The last two years were amazing with the support from Petts Wood Runners around the course and I wanted to do my bit to hopefully help our runners along the way, especially those who were taking part in a marathon for the first time. Whatever training has been done cannot quite prepare you for the experience ahead, in my opinion of course. I had planned to go to the start in the hope of seeing a few of them and arrived at East Croydon in time for the 06:55 train the Brighton. I duly arrived at 08:00 and as I walked the mile or two up the Preston Park, I could feel the heat already starting to build up. I brought a jumper with me thinking I would need it early on, and maybe later in the day, but never expected I would need to remove it before I’d even made my way to the start. Shortly before I reached the park, I noticed a series of mopeds parked up and immediately thought of our own coach Mike the Mod who has helped so many of us with his track sessions each Thursday. Barely another 50 yards or so further on, and there was the man himself, pushing his Lambretta which he would be running with – the only engine being Mike himself. The park was already extremely busy and time seemed to be passing fast. The queues for the toilets were unbelievably long very early on, certainly not what I recalled from the previous two years. At least this year, I didn’t have to concern myself with any of that, but a reminder to join the toilet queue as early s possible and even re-join it as soon as you’ve been, just in case. With time passing, I decided to head off towards the sea front. I stopped around the 1 mile mark to see who I might spot. With the race starting in waves, it was difficult to know exactly who would come by at what time. Steve, Matt, and Gillian came by early on although I almost missed Gillian. It became increasingly difficult to spot as the number of runners increased significantly and so I decided to continue my walk further on, eventually stopping somewhere near the 3 mile mark. I found a good spot with a clear view and waited. It was worth it and I was to see a number of PWRs pass – Karen, Wendy, Janine, Chris and Laura. Also some humorous fancy dress runners! The temperature had also risen by this point and it was clearly showing in the faces of some runners as they passed the drinks station soon after. I continued my walk to the sea front looking for a spot to see runners pass towards half way. However, it was so busy and I soon gave up and headed across the road to a spot around 25½ miles where there were some gaps. The only way to cross was over a temporary footbridge and with the large crowds, this must have taken around 20 minutes. Eventually, I made it to the other side, and found a spot. There seemed to be problems with internet service and so it was difficult to know exactly where everyone was on the course. By the time I arrived at my new spot, it wasn’t going to be too long before the leaders came past towards their finish, and on the other side of the road the masses would be approaching halfway. As time went by, and the leaders having finished, I kept my eyes peeled to the other side of the road for more PWRs, as well as Bromley Vets also running. At the same time, I was conscious that there were some fast PWRs who I had probably missed at halfway and were soon to be reaching the last mile. As the numbers increased at halfway, it became increasing difficult to pick anyone out. I didn’t do too badly though, seeing Gillian again as she neared the finish. She looked incredibly comfortable on her way to an outstanding finish time. On the other side of the road, I managed to spot Karen, Matt and Mike, for a second time, as well as Betty (BVAC), Emma, Janice and Nathalie. My phone battery also become critically low by now and I needed to find out the meeting point for after the race. Luckily, I received the message that the West Pier Café was the spot to start with and so I headed off there for a refreshing beer, seeing BVAC runner John along the way. To say it was hot now was a huge understatement. This could be a midsummer’s day. After a short refreshment break, our small group headed back out in the knowledge Mike the Mod was soon due to pass. He duly obliged, along with PWRs Karen, Wendy and Kumiko. I can remember how I felt around this point the last two years and I’m sure it can’t have been as good as any of the PWRs I saw looked this year. There were some other runners passing who were clearly struggling, not just because of the distance, but probably due to the heat. Temperatures must have been in the early 20s by now. As Wendy passed, we moved on to the final meeting point – All Bar One. It wasn’t too long before our runners be/gan to arrive, all looking incredibly good considering the hot weather. Some times were slightly slower than targeted but any attempt at going faster could well have resulted in a much slower time.
Looking back at the day, there is a reminder that there are so many things out of my control, the weather being one of them. All training takes place through cold and wet winter months. Only three weeks ago, I was working my way through howling winds at Hastings. It was also a reminder to plan for the day, but to have a plan B in mind in the days leading up to the race, just in case something needs to be changed. I’ll certainly be hoping for a cool day on 23 April, maybe even a drizzle to help keep cool. Whatever comes though, if I can finish with the strength our runners showed today, I will be a very happy Petts Wood Runner.
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The Paddock Wood Half Marathon has mixed memories for me. My first visit in 2004 was supposed to be part of my build up to that year’s London Marathon but served only as a confirmation that I would have to withdraw – illness had got the better of me and hampered any prospect of training. I struggled around in 2:36:31! My second visit saw an improvement to 2:03:29 but then last year, when all seemed well set for an attempt a sub 2 hour half marathon for the first time, I struggled in the heat and finished in 2:07:02. As I came to this year’s event, I had already conquered the sub 2 hour time by the finest of margins at Dartford (1:59:52). This left me the choice of attempting to improve on that, or attempting some pace discipline and going with my intended London Marathon target of 10 minute miles. The former got the better and I had already decided to target a new PB by the time I arrived. Weather wise, it was not too dissimilar to last year with bright sunshine, albeit it seemed a little fresher than I recalled from last year. A new vest last week at Cranleigh, but no change to the damage meant I ditched the tape this week and went for Vaseline instead. New running shoes too. My old pair had been feeling a little flat in cushioning so I had to get a new pair to wear in before London. New shorts too! It seemed luck was on my side when we arrived. I had dropped off my fellow runners near the start and headed off to park up, finding a car park only a couple of hundred yards further on. I then heard of heavy congestion on the route I should have taken on the way down, only missing it through not paying attention to my satnav and turning off at the wrong exit on the motorway! The toilet queue was ridiculously long but luckily PWR Tim discovered the a men’s loo hidden away with no queue. All falling nicely into place so far. There was a handful of other PWRs taking part in their first half marathon today so it was good to have a chat with a couple before the start. There were also some seasoned campaigners and Roger from Bromley Vets suggested I might achieve around 1:50 today! Not likely was my response, especially if it warmed up later in the race. Finally, 9:30am arrived and we were off. This is a popular race and so can be quite helpful at the start where it’s difficult to head off too fast because of the number of other runners around. At the same time, there is just about enough space to make progress if others have set off too slow. Luckily, I didn’t really have any runners slower than my pace to contend with and I managed to establish my goal pace fairly quickly and settle. There was a hill at around one mile, but after that, the course is flat except for a small handful of humped back bridges later on. I progressed through the first 4 miles without issue, I could feel the temperature beginning to rise by this point and the first drinks station was welcome. One useful piece of advice I was given last summer is to use water to keep cool, so not just drinking but pouring it over my head to help cool down. Luckily, the drinks stations were only water this week, and no squash, so I was able to take this approach all the way around. Around 7 miles, I began to recall last year. This was the point a which it all fell apart. This year though, I still felt in good shape. The question in my mind though was whether or not I could sustain the pace all the way. I persuaded myself to think just 2 miles ahead and get to that point before reassessing. Somewhere in between, we came across a cold wet sponge station. As I collected mine, one of the marshals was shouting to “save it for the stocks”, and there at the end of the buckets was some poor chap waiting to be pelted by wet sponges. Not likely today though, it was far too warm to waste anything which helped stop overheating. Also during that period, I was passed by a couple of others in the same M40 category as me, one stating he was pacing himself for “an inch and a half inside 1:55”. That was a bit of a shock to hear at this stage. I knew I was ahead of my intended pace, but that sounded like I was significantly ahead. At 10 miles, we were greeted by a spectator shouting the now well known phrase “only a parkrun to go”. Of course, in any normal scenario, 3.1 miles would be straightforward. However, on legs which were now tiring, it felt like a long way to go. 11 miles was my next target. At that point, I knew I would have less than 20 minutes to go. I felt like I was slowing down and a look at my watch throughout mile 11 showed paces at just over 9 minutes per mile. I still felt like I had a rhythm though and so I turned my attentions away from my watch and simply focussed on the road ahead. The last 2 miles signalled a time to really dig in - not far to go, but that last 20 minutes already felt like a lifetime. The crowds which had been absent in the country lanes had now returned. The lift I got was incredibly helpful, a real boost to get me to the top of the final bridge and as I got there, I glanced to my left and was able to see the finishing line. Ahead of me, I could see the 13 mile sign and a nice gentle downslope off the bridge towards it. I reached 13 miles and turning a sharp left back towards the finish line meant it was time to stretch my legs and break into a “sprint” finish. As I approached the line, I could see the time was well under 2 hours. I stopped my watch but before I was able to look and take in the time, I had to pause to briefly to get that initial finish line recovery before heading away from the finish area. A look at my watch as I walked back to the baggage store showed me a time of 1:56:20, a new PB which was later reduced by 1 second on the official results. On another positive note, the Vaseline did the trick! No war wounds this week! One of the pleasing things about this performance, apart from the finish time, was dealing with the bad memories of last year. In times gone by, those memories would have haunted me and without a doubt, I would have given up and walked. Today, my mind was strong and determined, and there was no way I was going to allow anything from last year to get in the way of a decent time. All in all, everything seemed to fall into place today, either through luck, or the hard work of the last year paying dividends. All good then! Cranleigh, Surrey, was the setting for this week’s outing. A 21 mile race set in the picturesque Surrey countryside. The contrast between this event and the 20 miler at Thanet three weeks ago, and Hastings last week, couldn’t be more. A new club vest replacing the old sandpaper which had done so much damage last week! The howling winds and hail at Thanet were replaced with warm Spring sunshine, sea and sand replaced with country lanes, and 1 one hour time difference! Who in their right mind would plan to take part in a race at 9:00am immediately after the change to British Summer Time? Still, at least it was a sign that summer will soon be here! I arrived in good time to park up and as I headed to the Race HQ, I bumped into Tim and Steve, closely followed by magic man Paul Daniels. Other PWRs soon arrived – Geraldine, Jackie, Kevin and Stephen. The race doubles up as a 15 and 21 miler. The course consists or 1 large lap and on reaching 15 miles at the end of lap 1, runners have the option to finish, or continue onto a shorter second lap of 6 miles. This organisation uses more traditional methods, a good old fashioned tea bar and no chip timing! We headed to the start around 8:50am, a short walk from the HQ and when everyone had assembled, we were given a short briefing from the Race Director. When he had finished his briefing, he set us on our way, not with the firing of a gun, or the sound of a horn, but instead a good old fashioned “ready, steady, go”. Usually at this point, I am preparing to start my watch as I cross the chip mats, but of course, there were no chip mats. Instead, I was left to identify the start line and press start. As it turned out, the actual start line wasn’t easily picked out and so I ended up guessing where it might be. We headed off under a nice shade from the sun, not that it was needed at this time; it was still fairly fresh. Once again, this was all about pacing. A time of around 3:30 was the target finish time, or 10 minutes per mile. Once again though, I ended up heading off ahead of pace, and much as I monitored my watch, I kept drifting slightly faster than planned. No change there then! A brief stop at around 7 miles for a toilet break, and hopefully I could get the pace back on track, but that didn’t work either. Even worse was that the course wasn’t the “flat as a pancake” description I had heard about, but was rather more undulating. At 9 miles, we were close to the Race HQ, albeit we would have to go the long way around and another 6 miles before actually seeing it again, so instead of turning left, we headed straight on, along Cranleigh High Street before turning off and through a car park, soon followed by a trail path of around a mile. At the other end of the path was a short incline before we rejoined civilisation. We were greeted by two race officials handing out Jelly Babies. I took a couple, remembering back to the Brighton Marathon last year when I got a burst of energy after doing the same there. However, on beginning to chew them this time, I realised another problem. I was beginning to dehydrate. The next drinks station couldn’t come soon enough but I had to wait until around 12 miles. I was still in reasonably good shape at this point but I was concerned there may be a problem on the horizon. When I saw the drinks station sign, it was time to take the last of the three energy gels I had brought with me. I don’t find them the most pleasant of things to taste and so some water helps. I also needed the water today to attempt to keep dehydration at bay. I was soon approaching the 15 mile point. I hasn’t seen any other PWRs since the start and I was hoping to pass the 15 mile point without seeing any. I had been passed by a number of the faster runners who were 6 miles ahead of me, and at around 14½ miles, I was finally passed by Stephen, and soon after by Kevin. With 15 miles beckoning, the hard work was about to begin, but sooner than I had thought. The undulations so far had been relatively small but now there was a proper hill to conquer – not huge in real terms, but in a race of this distance, it wasn’t the sort of challenge you look forward to at this stage, and it would come around again on the next lap, and just before the finish too. Nice! I passed 15 miles, so wishing I could turn left to the finish. Had it just been a normal day, I may have done so, but this was about marathon training and so there was nothing to be gained by bailing out early. In any case, 6 miles should be a fairly straightforward distance to cover, after all, I do it every Tuesday night with my club. This was very different of course with 15 behind me, and thirst becoming ever more noticeable. I worked my way along the trail I had seen around an hour earlier, even being invited to go ahead of a cyclist – she did eventually pass me further along. The Jelly Babies soon came along but this time the first one wasn’t a taste I particularly liked and so I had to get rid of it. The second just seemed to absorb every last bit of saliva, leaving my mouth and lips completely dry. Again, it was a long slog to the drinks at 18 miles. The only positive sight was that I was closing on a couple of ladies with every step. It turned out one had sustained an injury. Aside from that, every other runner was overtaking me. One thing which was warming, apart from the sun, was the encouragement I was afforded by virtually every person that passed me. Even the photographer, who had perched himself around 13 and 19 miles, took time to give me encouragement as I passed him for the last time. The final mile and that hill again. I was well and truly finished by this point. No energy and very dry in the mouth, but I knew I was nearly done. The sight of a sign showing 200 metres to the finish was extremely welcome and as I turned into the finish area, I was greeted by fellow PWRs Jackie, Steve and Paul, willing me through those last few yards. Relief at finishing soon turned to discomfort as cramp attempted to set in. Luckily, it didn’t quite take hold. Nevertheless, it made for a very uncomfortable 4 or 5 minutes. I spoke with Paul afterwards, listening to his experience (this was his first time at an event of this distance), and comparing it to my own experiences, including Thanet three weeks earlier. I was trying to apply some understanding as to what Thanet and Cranleigh might mean for London. The discussion reminded me that there are so many variables on the day, and that I should only focus on things which are in my control. I reinforced this view to myself when I considered that even primed elite athletes cannot guarantee a performance, despite the rigorous training programmes they follow. All this leaves me with a decision to make next weekend for the Paddock Wood Half Marathon. Do I stick to the 10 minute mile plan, and then run some extra miles afterwards, or attempt a PB on a largely flat course? Something to think about later in the week. RESULTS
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ABOUT MEHaving completed 5 marathons between 1999 and 2016, I decided this year, I would try to do it properly and plan my training! Alongside, I wanted to keep a blog as it went along, partly to look back on, and partly to help anyone else who may benefit from my own experiences. Archives
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