First note - limited HR data, only worn up to 19m or so.
VLM 2017. Green (!) start for first time. More people, certainly higher people to portaloo ratio. Baggage trucks leave earlier too, so I really didn't have any spare time at all this year, where normally I'm dead relaxed, sitting and stretching. Anyway...
I'd hoped to get to halfway in about 90 dead, and then just maybe see if a very marginal sub-3 might be on.
First couple of miles a little slow with crowds but I'm fine with that. 3rd is downhill (more so than off red) so I will actually defend that 6:28 as not being an increase in effort (and HRM agrees :-)).
But once we're back on the flat ground of 4/5/6/7, my 'feel' and my HR are saying I'm either about right or slightly too hard for effort, but my splits are saying I'm just on the wrong side of 6:52. The average lap value settled at 6:54/6:55 after the 3rd mile, and it didn't get any lower.
It's probably about mile 9 where it's become obvious that this isn't coming miraculously back to me.
I think I did know that 3:05 and 3:10 were available as B and C goals, but I hadn't really given them much thought. I guess the motivation of just as small a miss as possible, plus a decent conversion from the Omagh HM, were enough to keep the teeth gritted ultimately. I wasn't running well, but I'm pleased it held mostly together (I'm surprised to see the split for 25 actually, I thought I managed to keep it to 7:15s or better :-o).
Early on it was just *generally* hard, but soon after halfway it became obvious that it was quad muscles that were the weakest link today. And that's typical from all my less good marathons, whereas it tends to be calves on the best ones. Perhaps more attention on form (I really didn't think much about it), or more leg strengthening during training (I really didn't do much at all) would have helped.
I think that must have been a tough day - there's many more stories of targets missed than achieved going around. I found it pretty warm, even before the start the sun was out, and it was out for at least half the race I'd guess. Very little wind to help with keeping cool.
Drank more than usual - perhaps a litre compared to typically 500ml? Definitely poured more water on head than usual too.
Breakfast in hotel room at around 7 - tea, pastry, banana, cereal bar. Lucozade during journey. One gel about 30min before race.
4 gels in race, around 5/9/13/17, I think. I don't think any more would have helped, it was quad muscles that were stopping me going faster, not energy levels.
No sign of stitch, that was good news at least :-p.
And I reckon that's my best HM to M conversion (double plus 10:45), ignoring Dublin 2013 where the HM time was very poor. So that's interesting, especially since I left a little bit of time out there too through an optimistic first third (maybe only a minute or so, but still). There's probably a training-related reason for that (bugger all speedwork or tempo?)
Participant
Name Gaskell, Paul (GBR)
Club Larne AC
Category 45-49
Runner no 30645
Finish details
Place (M/W) 2245
Place (AC) 267
Place (overall) 2348
Finish time 03:04:04
Splits
Split Time Of Day Time Diff min/km km/h Place
5K 10:21:38 00:21:25 21:25 04:17 14.01 -
10K 10:43:07 00:42:54 21:29 04:18 13.97 -
15K 11:04:48 01:04:35 21:42 04:21 13.83 -
20K 11:26:27 01:26:14 21:40 04:20 13.85 -
Half 11:31:08 01:30:56 04:42 04:17 14.04 -
25K 11:47:55 01:47:42 16:47 04:18 13.96 -
30K 12:09:45 02:09:32 21:50 04:22 13.75 -
35K 12:32:03 02:31:51 22:19 04:28 13.45 -
40K 12:54:34 02:54:21 22:31 04:31 13.33 -
Finish 13:04:17 03:04:04 09:43 04:26 13.56 2245
Over final 7.2k you passed
334 runners & 17 passed you
Split Summary
===
1) 1.02m - 7:12(7:05/m) 143/153bpm 106cal 8.48/9.53mph
2) 1.03m - 7:04(6:51/m) 151/156bpm 110cal 8.76/9.72mph
3) 0.98m - 6:28(6:35/m) 149/154bpm 99cal 9.11/9.64mph
4) 1.03m - 6:57(6:45/m) 149/155bpm 105cal 8.89/9.78mph
5) 0.99m - 6:42(6:48/m) 151/156bpm 102cal 8.83/9.29mph
6) 1.03m - 7:03(6:52/m) 152/156bpm 108cal 8.73/9.75mph
7) 1.04m - 7:01(6:45/m) 152/156bpm 106cal 8.89/9.62mph
8) 1m - 6:50(6:49/m) 151/154bpm 102cal 8.81/9.37mph
9) 1.01m - 7:02(6:58/m) 151/154bpm 103cal 8.61/9.28mph
10) 1.02m - 7:03(6:56/m) 150/153bpm 101cal 8.66/9.87mph
11) 1m - 6:48(6:49/m) 152/155bpm 98cal 8.8/9.46mph
12) 1.02m - 7:02(6:53/m) 151/154bpm 97cal 8.71/9.38mph
13) 0.99m - 6:54(6:57/m) 153/156bpm 96cal 8.63/9.54mph
14) 1.04m - 7:02(6:47/m) 153/162bpm 98cal 8.86/9.66mph
15) 0.97m - 6:51(7:04/m) 152/156bpm 93cal 8.49/9.96mph
16) 1.01m - 6:51(6:46/m) 153/156bpm 93cal 8.86/4.96mph
17) 1.02m - 7:05(6:59/m) 153/156bpm 95cal 8.6/10.31mph
18) 0.99m - 7:00(7:06/m) 153/156bpm 93cal 8.45/12.31mph
19) 1.03m - 7:08(6:58/m) 153/162bpm 89cal 8.62/12.67mph
20) 1m - 7:05(7:03/m) 117/158bpm 13cal 8.52/9.45mph
21) 1.01m - 7:14(7:08/m) 144/154bpm 13cal 8.41/9.35mph
22) 1.02m - 7:15(7:08/m) 155/159bpm 13cal 8.4/9.22mph
23) 1.01m - 7:11(7:07/m) 159/164bpm 13cal 8.42/9.5mph
24) 1.01m - 7:04(7:00/m) 164/168bpm 14cal 8.56/87.75mph
25) 1.03m - 7:24(7:10/m) 162/165bpm 15cal 8.38/12.65mph
26) 1.05m - 7:17(6:57/m) 162/163bpm 17cal 8.64/10.12mph
27) 0.24m - 1:30(6:13/m) 160/162bpm 4cal 9.64/9.89mph
7:12 7:04 6:28 6:57 6:42 7:03 7:01 6:50 7:02 7:03 6:48 7:02 6:54 7:02 6:51 6:51 7:05 7:00 7:08 7:05 7:14 7:15 7:11 7:04 7:24 7:17 1:30
Good outcome for you PTB. I'm sure there will be plenty of analysis to come from you but you should be pleased with this run .
Great effort, were you running to HR rather than pace up to 19 or conscious of both? Either way I'd say its a very good run given your long absence at the end of last year
Cheers Rodney. Tizer - a bit of both, TBH. The HR looks reasonable in the first 10-12, but it felt harder than that. And I was already drifting away from 6:52 as well.
As good as a blog!
I'm not entirely sure but I think the upshot is that, overall, you're satisfied with both your performance and the end result? Hope so because you should be.
I don't like to be too transparent about it :p. But broadly yes.
good effort and probably the race I should have run. What did you do with the HRM at 19. Oh and quads, thats what became my limiting factor also
good effort and probably the race I should have run. What did you do with the HRM at 19. Oh and quads, thats what became my limiting factor also
Slid it down to waist Baz. I just felt it was irritating me a bit, and I couldn't get something UTRaB said the previous week out of my head; worrying if it could maybe restrict breathing even by 0.5%. I hope wrist HRMs get reliable soon, that's the answer to all these problems.