And so the Chester marathon came around a little too quickly and my unstructured training (a common mistake in my background) somehow left me with having stepped up to the start line without having put in a run of more than 10 miles since the 6hr event at Cannock Chase, 10 weeks previously. In the end, I don't think this hurt the performance although it might have helped to shake out the issue that did derail the event instead. The race was going pretty well, I'd set off for the first few miles within a couple of seconds either side of my race pace for my 4 hour target (amusing myself as people pushed past me while talking about they were hoping to hit 5 hours). For the first time I even managed to take a gel while maintaining a decent running speed instead of dropping to a walk, but it might be another contributing to the problem later. At about the halfway mark some GI issues struck and I popped into the next convenient convenience but from then on these continued until the finish line. Whenever I pushed the pace at any level everything felt like it was going to go south. Ho hum. Anyway the finish line eventually appeared, about 15 minutes late, but painlessly and this time I crossed it somewhat more graciously, with a genuine smile and barely a pause before I wandered over to the alcohol vendor.
The recovery from Chester marathon was relatively simple, probably another sign of not working hard enough. Thus 20 days later I was practically on the other side world in the pre-dusk darkness on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii awaiting the start of a somewhat tougher challenge of Peacock 50k race through the mountainside. A steady hike up the mountain from the start, running the flats and downhills, hiking the uphills. Electrolytes in a handheld with S-Caps taken at each of the aid stations, water in the hydration pack. In general I was pretty happy with my race management but I hadn't been able to put in any training that prepared me for the types of climbs and descents on the course, other than running up and down flights of stairs, it was difficult to imagine what local options I had to really help in that department, and so I was fully expecting the leg cramps that started to set in with around 8k (of 54k as it turned out) to go. It didn't make the finish any easier however being that it entailed a descent of the tough first climb to the start/finish aid station before making a return trip to the top and the mountain to collect a peacock feather and returning to sea level one final time. The cramping legs made the extensions required for the descents extremely difficult and the change in form resulted in numerous blisters around the heels of both feet. So close to getting away from the race with no damage at all. Oh well. By the time we flew back from Hawaii a week later, the worst damage had healed and I doubt most people would have noticed the slight hobble I had as we toured the island. My favourite holiday location so far (must return) and also my favourite run up to this point and it helped to confirm the type of runs I'd like to do more of in the future. Finding a way of training for them will no doubt continue to prove challenging.
It was also around this point that I was disappointed to find that I'd missed out in the ballot for the Virgin London Marathon once again. It was my goal race for 2013 and so I was deciding on an alternative when the slight hope of getting a place through my running club, Rugby and Northampton Athletics Club, and so I held back on entering, Luck was on my side and so 21st April 2013, along with forty thousand others, I'll be running around the streets of London. Awesome. But I am embarrassingly aware of my two failures to meet my marathon targets already. With the entire club aware that I have been given one of the places, these things weigh somewhat heavily on my shoulders, but my limited experience of running has shown me that I find it somewhat to easy to cut training sessions here and there or decide on a slightly easier pace and get back to the warm house. Serious marathon training is just around the corner but in the last six weeks, I've avoided cutting any key training sessions, something I need to continue into the taper just three months away.
And so we're almost up to date. It is no coincidence that this is just before the start of the new year and my mind is turning to the planning of next year so here we have the the key races in my thoughts for 2013. Not all of them are booked just yet and they certainly don't all have the same level of importance.
Wellingborough MT Series (15k) - 20th Jan, 3rd Feb, 17th Feb
Virgin London Marathon - 21st Apr
Northants Ultra "Shires and Spires" (35M) - 2nd Jun
Love Life, Love Running 6hr - 21st June (approx)
adidas Thunder Run 24hr - 27th-28th Jul
Snowdonia Marathon - 26th October
And of course, I have some goals in mind for these events.
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