I was in two minds about this race. Should I try and race it and go for a sub 2.30 or should I add it to my weekly training session? I avoided too much tapering during the race week as I wanted to maintain some decent mileage and I had a few issues with my calf muscle and right hamstring and wanted to know how they would react to decent mileage.
So, standing in the Championship Group of the London Marathon, 1 line behind the elites and waiting for RB to start the race I made the decision to race and see how my legs would hold up. It wasn't long before I was running across London at around 5.20 - 5.35 minute miles hitting 5k in 17 mins, 10k in 36 mins and 5 miles in under 28 mins. I was on par for a sub 2.30.
Unfortunately it was around 8+ miles that my calf and hamstring started to take notice of the pace and I hit a real bad patch finding it very difficult to run. 8 MILES IN!! Not good. It didn't take long for me to accept that this will need to be seen as a training run and I dropped down to 6.30 - 7.30m pace finding it very difficult watching people run past me (including superman!), I struggled past the 10m mark at around 58/59 mins.
11 miles in I hit another bad patch and stopped by the loos. Had a moment to compose myself, took in a decent amount of water, a couple of ibuprofen, a quick pee and I was off again.
It was a bit of a blur until about mile 24 when I saw the 6.17 pace maker slowly gaining on me so I 'dug in' for the last few miles, ran past Big Ben and into the finish at 2.45. Not a pleasant run but again another one for the experience.
The thing I am pleased about is that today marks the end of my road running training until I start training for the 100k World Champs and back to what I truly love doing trail running and ultra distances. Hoorah!
So, standing in the Championship Group of the London Marathon, 1 line behind the elites and waiting for RB to start the race I made the decision to race and see how my legs would hold up. It wasn't long before I was running across London at around 5.20 - 5.35 minute miles hitting 5k in 17 mins, 10k in 36 mins and 5 miles in under 28 mins. I was on par for a sub 2.30.
Unfortunately it was around 8+ miles that my calf and hamstring started to take notice of the pace and I hit a real bad patch finding it very difficult to run. 8 MILES IN!! Not good. It didn't take long for me to accept that this will need to be seen as a training run and I dropped down to 6.30 - 7.30m pace finding it very difficult watching people run past me (including superman!), I struggled past the 10m mark at around 58/59 mins.
11 miles in I hit another bad patch and stopped by the loos. Had a moment to compose myself, took in a decent amount of water, a couple of ibuprofen, a quick pee and I was off again.
It was a bit of a blur until about mile 24 when I saw the 6.17 pace maker slowly gaining on me so I 'dug in' for the last few miles, ran past Big Ben and into the finish at 2.45. Not a pleasant run but again another one for the experience.
The thing I am pleased about is that today marks the end of my road running training until I start training for the 100k World Champs and back to what I truly love doing trail running and ultra distances. Hoorah!
Not too bad a time at all for someone carrying an injury! Would say enjoy the rest but it looks like you've got a busy schedule ahead!
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