Leading up to the race, preparation was going ok. I am definitely starting to get back to my fitness levels of 2009, but I have not yet started my speed training and have not yet notched up my weekly miles to where they need to be for a strong half or full marathon.
I spent a few days in Perth in Australia earlier that week and did some core strength training, but no running. I simply didn’t have the time. I know that tapering means slowing down, but I don’t think that means stopping altogether. The trip, whilst not that far, does involve a five and a half hour flight each way and resulted in me being pretty tired by the end of the week.
The night before the race, a group of friends got together for a pasta party and I drank lots of water and ate lots of carbs and went to bed feeling pretty good. Waking up on race day though, I felt sluggish. It is hard to put your finger on what that feels like or looks like, but I knew that I was not on my A Game.
Going through my normal early morning routine, I ate, showered, made it to the start area, warmed up and started to feel a little better.
The first 5km of the race was tough. I was running strong, but the heat, humidity and traffic fumes on a busy road meant that I hadn’t settled even at that point. I looked at my watch and I had been doing 5:10 minute km’s; so I decided to slow down and see if that helped.
I passed the 10km mark in just over 53 minutes which means I had slowed down my second 5km to 5:30minute km’s. But I still wasn’t settled. I was still feeling sluggish. I had taken a gel at about 40 minutes and that helped a little, but not enough.
Things started to go wrong from there. The next couple of km’s slowly started to take 5 to 10 seconds longer each km. I took lots of water, I had another gel, but by the 15km mark, I was hovering around the 6 minute per km mark and slowing. I felt so out of rhythym that I even stopped and sat on a curb for about 90 seconds to “have a word with myself”
I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 30-odd seconds. Not a PB. A real disappointment. With retrospect, I put it down to three things:
· Fitness – I started too fast for my level of fitness and simply ran out of juice
· Over-thinking, over-preparing and not having the right mental game for the day. All of my PB’s over the last couple of years have come on the days that I least expect them. I must remember to go out to enjoy myself, and celebrate a PB if it comes. Not the other way round!
· Just a bad day. I didn’t sleep great, I was tired from the travel in the week. Of all of the reasons that I didn’t do well, this is probably the smallest contributing factor.
Next race is in a couple of weeks and I will put all of this behind me and simply go out and run. Looking forward to it!
The race itself was a credit to the organizers and to Standard Chartered Bank. It was very well run, loads of well-manned water stops. Lots of good signage and marshalling. Plenty of clean-ish port-a-potties. Perfectly organized water, fruit, refreshments and medal-station at the end. All round great demonstration of how a race should be organized!
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