Happily Ever After
Life in The Rural Retreat with a beautiful wife, three cats, garden wildlife, a camera, a computer – and increasing amounts about running
Earlier posts can be found on Adventures of a Lone Bass Player, where this blog began life. Recent entries can be found here.
Half Marathon Man
by Russell Turner - 19:46 on 25 March 2018
At last – I’ve passed the halfway mark. However, today’s run posed more riddles and I’m running out of time to solve them. The London Marathon is four weeks today and I’ve just two long runs left.
Today’s was my first 2.5-hour run, three weeks behind schedule thanks to injury and recovery. The discarded plan would have had me run a half marathon/2.5 hours and another 2.5 hours the following week covering 14-16 miles. But time is running out – next week I’ll attempt three hours – so my target today was 15 miles, which I hoped to reach in 2:45: a reasonable ambition considering I’ve done 12 miles in 2:08.
After the usual stretches I bid farewell to Matchgirl and walked to the Newhall Bridge bus shelter where I stashed back-up water and energy blocks; running water and energy gels were stored in the gizmo on my wrist. Conditions were sunny and mild so my plan was to run four miles towards Cromarty, walk quarter of a mile while I took water and my first gel, then run two and walk a quarter, with gels every other walk, until I returned to the bus shelter after 11(ish) miles. From there I’d do two miles out and back to Newhall Point and return to The Rural Retreat with a smile on my face. Easy.
At first it was. I settled into what feels like my steady trot and reached the far side of Cromarty in just under an hour then turned to head back. That was when I discovered I’d had the breeze behind me; now I had an increasingly cold headwind to run into for five miles.
I stuck to my plan until the last walk break, which I extended by another quarter mile to reach the bus shelter where I refilled my wrist water and retrieved the emergency energy blocks. From there I ran an increasingly ragged 1.9 miles until I hit the magic 13.1 in 2:27:36. The 1.6-mile walk home from there (I couldn’t run more) and the initial walk to Newhall Bridge took me to 15 miles covered in three hours. Matchgirl says all miles on feet count; I won’t argue.
I should be happy with a sub 2:30 half marathon but the way it was achieved was rubbish. Although I could blame the headwind, part of the problem is an over-optimistic pace at the start. In my next two short runs I’ll try to find an easier pace.
Maybe the biggest problem is (as the real runners call them) nutrition and hydration. I used 2,000 calories in my three hours of running and walking, during which I consumed three gels (I didn’t bother with more when I was just walking at the end). One every 40 minutes is advised, which should have got me happily to 2:40, but as they contain only 114 calories each it’s no surprise I ran out of energy.
Taking them every 20 minutes would be no fun for my stomach, so tomorrow (stiff legs permitting) I’ll finally get to Run4It where I can check the alternatives. Matchgirl recommends a granola-style bar formulated specially for runners. Sounds good.
As for water, I thought I was drinking enough but losing 3.25lbs during the run suggests otherwise. Lots of water stations mean this won’t be a problem on The Big Day; until then I may have to try out Matchgirl’s Camelbak – that or have her cycle along beside me with a bucket.
If you're wondering why I've not posted the Garmin map, it's because their site's playing up. Look out for it tomorrow.
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