Hackney Half Marathon

The Hackney Half Marathon held in East London on 10th May marked my tenth ever half marathon.

Spanning some 9 years my half marathon times have improved markedly from struggling to just be able to dip under the 2 hour mark in the early days to my impressive PB of 1.39 which I achieved last year that I am incredibly proud of.

I am pleased to say that Hackney marked my second fastest ever time where I finished in 1.43. 

A rather weary post race selfie!

After two disappointing half marathon races this year at Tunbridge Wells and the Hampton Court where I hadn't been able to train enough to put in a run I could be proud of I wanted a race where I could train hard for and run equally hard to at least get close to my PB.

So I opted for the Hackney Half marathon which is in its second year forming part of the Vitality series taking place on Hackney Marshes. Incidentally a venue I have become familiar with due to recent visits to the Hackney Marshes parkrun where I recently ran a 21 minute minute parkrun smashing my PB. I picked Hackney out of the plethora of spring half marathons as it was local (ish as in its in London as opposed to the other end of country), was around six weeks after Hampton Court which felt like an optimal time to build on this race and push for a PB and it is also advertised as a super fast strong PB potential course.

One of the landmarks on the route the RUN sculpture in the Olympic Park

And after parting with the best part of fifty quid to enter the race had a lot to deliver!

And to be fair it pretty much did!

Arriving at the race village was like walking into a festival field full of carnival atmosphere, people chilled, relaxed and ready to have a good time. Which I know isn't everyone's emotions when they think about running 13.1 miles around East London.

The awesome race village which had a real festival atmosphere

I had arranged to meet up and run with my Asics bootcamp buddy Chris Brammer as we figured we were equally matched for pace and both fancied a crack at breaking the 100 minute mark and running a sub 1.40 time, Chris to improve on his 1.46 PB now that he has two sub4 marathons under his belt and me to prove my 1.39 last year was no fluke.

We had a clear strategy in place, 2-3 kms at around 5min/km pace before settling into the required 4.45min/km rhythm before hopefully finishing with a few quicker kms closer to the 4.30min/km mark.

Negative splitting, fueling strategies, warming up gradually over the first few kms, using the 1.45 pacer as a market we had discussed it all like a well thought out military campaign.

The Obit and Olympic Stadium as I walked my way to the start area

The time soon came to take our place in the starting pens and this is where my only criticism of the race organisation comes in. The starting straight was far to narrow for the volume of runners and could have done with being twice as wide and as for having a designated walkway cutting through the starting pens still open minutes before the start? Sheer lunacy! Needless to say chaps congestion and a fair bit of runners being squeezed into the starting pens like stressed commuters on an overcrowded rush hour Northern Line ensued.

Organisers please take note!

Anyways we started the race around half a dozen tightly packed runners behind the 1.45 pacers. The first few hundred metres were similar to most races, finding your feet, warming your legs up and meandering in and out of runners trying to settle into your own rhythm. 

We covered the first km in around 4.45 minutes and I was conscious to slow it down a bit and relax into 5 minute km pace as to not peek to soon and burn up too much energy. 

However allowing the pace down didn't feel right I kept surging past slower runners and pushing the pace rather than easing into the race.

Around the 2k mark I started to feel too hemmed in as there was a big bunch of runners sticking close to the 1.45 pacer, feeling the need to see a few inches of clear road in front of me I pushed on. 

I went through 5km in sub 24 and tried to maintain pace through the halfway point where I passed 10 in sub 49. I wasn't suffering at all from the slightly faster start and realise now that my faster race start was due to a caffeine energy gel I took pre race, although I have used one before I haven't had one in a while so wasn't used to the sudden injection of energy. 

I had by now left Chris and the 1.45 pacer behind, I knew Chris wouldn't be too far behind and as a more experienced and disciplined runner I knew he would be running a steady and consistent pace towards his goal. I dare not look behind me as I didn't want to be panicked by my proximity to the 1.35 pacer. 

So what about the route? Well I will be honest and say it left me quite uninspired as it failed to live up to the pre race hype. You didn't see as much of the Olympic park as I thought although turning a corner to be greeted by the incredible view of Olympic stadium and Orbit at around mile 10 was pretty awesome. 

The course also wasn't as 'flat as a pancake' as runners were promised, true there are no hills but there are several inclines and undulations that are enough to blow the wind from your sails.

What about the support? The support in places was amazing, really amazing, some of the best I have ever encountered. One section in particular will live long in the memory, it was at almost 10 miles I think just around the corner from Hackney Wick Overground station as you go up a bit of an incline over the canal. The road narrowed and was completely surrounded by supporters banging saucepans, cheering and waving banners, it was like a scene from the Tour de France as words of encouragement had also been drawn on the ground, a truly inspiring scene that spurred me on and made my hairs stand on end. Thank you people of Hackney for your support you deserve medals for your efforts!

And the conditions? Last year the run was held in June and it turned out to be too hot so this year it was moved forward to May and guess what? It was still pretty hot! On Sunday evening as I relaxed after eating a mountain of food it was my sunburnt face that was causing me problems not my aching legs so that gives you an idea of how warm it was and how strong the sun was. 

Part of the mountain of food I ate post race

So my tenth half marathon, my second fastest time and a run that is definitely in my top few half marathon races. I think the half marathon remains my favourite race distance and Hackney is a great example of a brilliant half marathon which I would highly recommend for beginners and PB chasers. 

Check out the goodie bag below, quite a stash and an awesome medal so at least you can see what the fifty quid entry fee went on. 

Did you run the #HackneyHalf this year? Or were you were of the supporters helping to create a remarkable atmosphere? I would love to hear your experiences from the race, I hope you had a successful run and enjoyed the day just as much as I did. 

Day 2 - Run to the hills

Today's run: Evening - Intensity/Hills - pavement - 5km - 23.33mins

Day 2 of my runstreak consisted of an evening run after a morning weight session in the gym.

My run was a high intensity shorter run up and down some hills. The road just off where I live is a nice dipped road with a decent hill coming out of each side which although not overly steep provides a decent slope to run up at pace.

The elevation graph from my mapmyrun provides an idea of the elevation changes and it is a common place for runners to train using a variety of different routes up and down the hills.

I was aiming for a decent pace of below 5 minute/km so I was really happy to finish with a split pace of 4.41 minute/km.

Tomorrow will be the first real challenge of my runstreak as I head out for an early morning run before work and then go to boot camp in the evening. Not only will it be tough running the morning after I have ran in the evening but also training twice in a day on top of maintaining my runstreak will probably be hard!

So day 2 completed and my first run done in my new running tops courtesy of Pancreatic Cancer UK who I am raising money for while aiming to raise awareness of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. My JustGiving page is available here if you would like to donate.

Thanks for reading, thanks for following and thanks for the support!

Brentwood South Weald Marathon

Sunday marked my third marathon in three months as I completed the Brentwood South Weald Marathon organised by Go Beyond in the leafy Essex countryside.

The appeal of this event was its proximity to where I live, just a 15 minute drive away. After I entered I however became less enthusiastic about the event due to it being 12 laps of a 3.5km course and I was somewhat apprehensive this would be a dull and boring monotonous event that would be a depressing mental grind.

The reality was thankfully far from the truth.

Race intro

The marathon forms part of the Brentwood Running Festival which also comprises of a 10K and a half marathon, so provides a challenge for all abilities.

The marathon is a complete off road affair, a real trail marathon, suitably tough, muddy and grueling for even the most experienced runner.

Before the event I knew to expect a tough course as I have visited South Weald Park before and so was aware of the terrain, but it wasn't until completing my first lap that I fully appreciated what a tough event this marathon was going to be.

The course

Somewhere into my second lap I quickly established my race strategy, aim for under 5 hours which would be incredibly respectable, be prepared to walk the hills and inclines and conserve energy for later in the race and keep my trainers as dry as possible for as long as possible.

I also broke the course down into two halves, one half was around the main park field where running on longish grass that was very tough on wet heavy ground. The hill up to the wood then marked the transition into the second half where the trails zig zagged in and around the woods, although undulating and technical the path here was mainly downhill I figured and was a section that I should try to move through as quickly as my legs would allow.

Interspersed in the forest were sections of treacherous muddiness where a slow to a walk was advisable. There was also the tricky ravine with a sheer drop down a root riddled bank and a muddy scramble up the other side slowed most runners progress down to a walk or a crawl.

Out of the woods a nice water sodden muddy, marshy patch awaited before the second hill climb completed the lap and took you down to the finish line.

How did I find it?

In summary; tough, muddy, tiring, scenic, challenging, autumnal and rewarding are the words that spring to mind.

I decided to run without a watch so throughout the race I had no real idea of pacing or my race time apart from the snippets of other runners completing the 10K or half marathon I heard over the loud speaker as I passed through the finish line after completing each lap.

This decision made the finish all the more satisfying as I was really pleased with my finish time as this was my fastest off road marathon.

The course was so demanding though, having completed Beachy Head Marathon this time last year I am no stranger to tough off road marathons and although the hills in South Weald Park don't quite rival the seven sisters this is still a tougher than average marathon.

As some kind of perspective I consider myself to be in much better shape running this marathon than my last two but by the half way mark my legs felt like they did at the 20 mile mark of the last two marathons.

Overall I really enjoyed the event and would class this event as a special event as it stands out for its excellent organisation, brilliant marshaling on an interesting and inspiring location and setting.

The event was very much a slick operation which included a thorough briefings given before the start of the three different races, enthusiast marshals offering encouragement on the course and a plentiful supply of refreshments available after every lap. The race represents terrific value as for the £16 entry fee you received a medal and t shirt as well as a print out of your split lap times provided to you within seconds if finishing. 

The only negative I can recall from the experience is a minor one relating to the playlist being played at the finish line, some of the songs were not what you would call your obvious choices, hearing Elton Johns candle in the wind 3/4 of the way through was extremely odd and although it didn't inspire to me run it did make me chuckle! 

On a personal note I was very pleased with my performance, I didn't find the multiple laps a drain or a bore but instead found it quite comforting to know what was coming up and to have a clearer understanding of distance covered and distance left to run.

I coped with the slight repetitiveness of running the same path over and over by talking myself through the route that lay ahead of me on the course in the same way a rally car drivers navigator talks the driver through the obstacles that lie ahead in the next few hundred metres. 

Physically I did start to tire and ache from around lap 5 and the going got harder as you would expect through laps 6 and 7. I was as ever glad and thankful for the support of my wife who was on hand with lucozade and support to keep me running into the final laps.

The last few laps were understandably all the more difficult but thankfully went by relatively quickly and I continues to feel buoyed by the growing number of multi coloured bands I was collecting to count the number of laps completed. 

Finish line

I most admit a strong feeling of elation approaching the finish line for the final time, no musical fanfare, no cheering cheerleaders or cheering crowds that you get with larger inner city marathons but instead the strong sense of satisfaction of having completed a demanding challenge with a handful of other hardy souls.  

                   

Exploring Exeter on the run

This week posed a difficult challenge for me as I was away with work for 3 nights in Exeter.

When going away with work I always plan to go out running a few times and usually succeed but its difficult as I am never sure how my time will pan out and how long and when my free time will be. 

As I was going to be away for 4 days/3 nights I packed 3 lots of running kit and was confident I would be able to use it all on 3 runs if I was dedicated enoigh to do so.

My first run was bright and early on the first morning, heading out around 6.20 AM I covered 4.5km.

Having some free time that evening I decided I had to capatlise on the opportunity for a run as I wasn't sure what other opportunities the next two days would bring. So I headed out for anexploratory run towards Exeter town centre with the aim of finishing by a near by park so I could do a few interval sprints. The run worked out well and I covered 5.8km including the interval session.

As things transpired I had a free evening on the last evening so cashed in with a long run. 

I covered over 11km in just over an hour which included a few stoppages for navigation purposes as well as for taking photos.

I headed towards the city centre following a cycle path, it soon brought me out on to the river.

The river banks seemed an ideal route for runners, dog walkers and cyclisists alike and there were plenty of all of these out in force making the most of a gorgeous late summers evening.

My plan was to see a bit of the town including the cathedral and the older part of the city.

After a while I spotted on the horizon what I thought to be the cathedral but turned out to be one of Exeters other churches.

I was mightily impressed with the runner friendliness of Exeter with so many cycle paths and clearly marked and signed foot paths which made navigation around the city very straightforward. 

I easily found my way up towards the cathedral and the older part of the city and enjoyed gently jogging around taking photos amongst the other tourists and people enjoying a pleasant evening out.

I then headed towards the quay which I figured would allow me to work out a route back along the river.

One of my favourite sights on my run was the impressive cannons positioned outside custom house by the quayside.

There was also a great view of some of the boats moored up in the quay. Theres something pretty spectacular about boats, water and sunshine.

I then headed back along the river enjoying the late summer sun hopeful that there are still a good few warm sunny evenings left before autumn and winter set in.

Overall I really enjoyed wxploring Exeter and it seems to be a city with a lot to offer. As I have already mentioned it is very biker/runner friendly and seems to be a city with a focus on environmental issues.

Beach Head Marathon revisited

With the first marathon of my three marathons in three months just about two weeks away I thought I would have a cathartic look back at my last marathon. It was not the greatest experience for me so I thought it would be a good idea to think back to see what I could learn from the experience looking forward to my upcoming events.

My last, and only my second marathon was the Beachy Head Marathon In Eastbourne in October 2013. The course is notoriously hilly with the last few miles taking runners over the seven sisters hills.

The elevation of the course looks something like the graph above and has a total elevation climb for the course is somewhere over 4000ft! As well as the seven climbs of the seven sisters in the final few miles there are several other climbs on uneven terrain and a couple of step sections which are a real killer. It’s not just the uphills to look out for though as the downhills become just as tough when your legs start aching and the footing is treacherous.

The general recommendation from experienced runners who have ran the course before and have compared it with other 'normal' marathons is that the course will easily add 45 minutes to an hour onto your marathon PB.

So that gives you some idea of how gruelling a run it is.

In my training over the last few months I have already been trying to correct the mistakes I made in training for Beachy Head and have been conscious to try and improve my training to try and subsequently improve my performance.

So what have I learnt from the experience:

Negatives

Running too fast in training - I know I spent too many training runs focusing on trying to run faster times. Running against the clock trying to beat my previous PB over a certain route or trying to run a specific pace and I also dedicated a fair amount of time on trying to run further than 13Km in an hour.

While all this was good training to an extent and while speed work and threshold training is important in any training plan I think I forgot the basics of any marathon training plan, the slow long run.

Not enough slow long runs - so with the above in mind I had therefore not completed enough slow long runs. I felt that this meant I wasn’t as used to just running, my training was all about trying to run fast and trying to run at a certain speed so when it came to the later stages of the marathon where I just needed to keep plodding along at a slow and steady pace I wasn’t used to it and didn’t have the aerobic capacity to maintain it.

Underestimating the hills and terrain - I knew there would be hills, I knew they would be steep, I knew they would be hard and I knew they would make me suffer. I definitely misjudged how hard the course was going to be and no amount of running up and down the hills around where I live would have prepared me for what lay in store.

not enough training at high intensity - although I trained a lot at pace as describe above as per usual for me I failed to do enough proper sprint training, the proper lung busting, heart stopping interval type training where you push to the max. I always aim to include more of this kind of training into my routine but somehow I always look back and know I haven’t included enough. 

Positives

Despite the negatives and the overall negative affect from the race I still take some positives from it:

Good carb loading - In the weeks building up to the marathon I worked on a good pre-race carb loading routine. My pre-race routine was of getting up early at around 5.00am to eat cereal, a banana and a flapjack with fruit juice then to get back to sleep for around 1.5 hours to then get up and have a pre-race breakfast 1.5 hours before the start of the race. Then taking on an extra banana and energy drinks in the 30 minute build up to the start.

I felt my carb loading strategy worked well on both the marathon and the training runs building up to it. Any problems I encountered during the marathon were not due to 'hitting the wall' or being inadequately fuelled so I am pleased I know how to fuel myself adequately for future events.

Effective training - Although I have highlighted some areas to improve I know I did a lot right in training. My recovery time after my longer runs and the marathon its self was very short so I am confident I put enough mileage and effort in and that I was strong enough to comfortable complete the course and the distance.

The event remains my biggest disappointment though and I feel unfulfilled every time I think of my finish time of 5 hours 2 minutes. I remember feeling so low in the days afterwards, the usual post marathon slump coupled with me remembering the pain and anguish I went through in the last few miles. I can vividly remember experiencing pains in my sides as well as a feeling of dehydration and emptiness in the later stages of the race despite taking in plenty of fluids. I am pretty sure I was close to passing out as I thought my body and in particular my kidneys were going to give up on me.

Post marathon slump

Two days after the marathon I had a day off and had pre planned and booked a sports massage. My lowest running memory and possibly one of my lowest ebbs generally was waiting in the cubicle as the physio walked in. He greeted me in a cheery fashion and asked the usual pleasantries of how I was. I knew he meant it as a general courtesy and also about how my marathon had gone but I felt close to breaking down in tears as I felt so drained and had been left so low by the whole experience. I felt like crying and telling him a complete stranger how disappointed I felt with my short comings at the race. I knew he wouldn’t understand but I really felt like I needed an outlet for all my frustrations. Thankfully I didn't breakdown into an emotional wreck and managed to hold it together so that my muscles could reap the rewards of a soothing sports massage.

Over the coming days and weeks as I reflected more on the marathon I tried to remember not only the disappointment but the achievement I had accomplished in completing a gruelling marathon.

I hope to banish my negative experiences from this marathon with three great performances in my three upcoming marathons.

Thanks for reading,

If you have done the Beachy Head Marathon let me know how you found it...

If you are going to be running it this year good luck! All I can recommend is running lots of hills and trying to incorporate some steps into your run as well.

If you are thinking of doing it I would definitely recommend it as a difficult mental and physical challenge and the scenery along the route is amazing!

 

Todays blog - Football, hill running, PB and Parkrun

Today's running blog, three points to discuss.

1    1. Last nights run

Last night before the crushing disappointment of England losing to Uruguay in the World Cup I headed out for a bit of a quick run.

My route was one that I have done several times but not recently and is a bit of a hill run. It’s basically running up out of a dip, back down into and then up the other side and down again and repeating this three times. The elevation of the course looks like this:

Although they are not massive hills and there isn’t a massive elevation rise it’s a testing run to try and run at speed and it keeps you working the full course.

Last night feeling good and running well in my new trainers I clocked a time of 32.49 with an average Km split of 4.31min/km which is the fastest average split I have run in a long time! 

Really pleased with the result I have looked over my previous times from early this year or in August and September last year when training for my last marathon in October and my time compares really well. Generally I was running the course in about 34 minutes so I am really impressed in knocking around 2 minutes off my time and it is a good indication that my training is progressing well.

2    2. Tonights gym session and burrito

Tonight after work I am heading out to watch the football and tonights match France v Switzerland is an entertaining prospect. But before the merriment of watching football out in a pub with the associated accompaniment of drinking I will be hitting the gym followed by treating myself to a burrito as a way of refueling after the gym and lining my stomach ahead of the drinking.

I am planning a core and ab circuit session with some body weight resistance exercises focusing on press ups and maybe some kettle bell work as well. I haven’t hit the gym in the evening for a long time and am looking forward to an afternoon session where I am a bit more awake and invigorated than what I sometimes am when training at 7 am in the morning.

Not wanting to curse myself now but I am also looking forward to the gym being quiet as it hopefully will be on a Friday evening, we will see….

3    3. Tomorrows Parkrun

Buoyed by feeling fitter and stronger and the success of my quick run last night as outlined in point 1 I am hoping for a good time in parkrun on Saturday morning. This does of course factor heavily on what happens tonight staying out watching the football as outlined in point 2!

Seriously though I know I have a good time in me and want to rival my PB which is around 21.55, my new trainers are also adding extra speed to my run. I know realistically new trainers will add a little bit of speed as they are firmer and stronger etc but they also add a big mental boost as I feel so much more confident and quicker running in new trainers.

Fingers crossed for some great weather and a great run tomorrow morning!

All the best to everyone else giving parkrun a go this weekend or running an event, run well everyone!