Monday 6 September 2010

Bristol Half Marathon 2010

Wet and soggy morning, totally the opposite of what the BBC weather forecast predicted at the end of last week.

Early alarm call at 06:00 to get to Bristol for a 09:00 start. However, I did something I've never done before and had a couple of pints of Guinness the night before (seemed like a good idea at the time!) The old nerves had turned the stomach into a washing machine and together with last nights drinks, the belly was not feeling in a good way! On route to Bristol the heavens decided to rain on the parade. Up to the point of standing around in my allotted time zone the rain persisted and I was soaked before the gun.

Long story short, I was hoping to go sub 1:40 for the first time. Up and down the Portway underneath the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge I was hovering between 07:30 and 07:45 minute miling. I felt reasonably comfortable up until the approach to the 10 mile point when the effects of the night before started to catch up. I also knew at this point that the easier part of the course had already passed and what was left was the pain in the arse, remaining 3 miles of cobbles, hills and the annoying winding city centre route. At about 12 miles, instead of my usual increase in pace I actually had to stop and recoup for a few seconds as a bout of dizziness took over (!!!) This is the part which destroyed all hopes of a pb. I don't know whether this was due to the previous late night or not but it had never happened before. However, I took stock and steadied my way to the finish.

I finished in 01:45:45. A pb for the Bristol course of around 3 minutes, but over a minute off my half marathon pb, and over 5 minutes of the ideal target of sub-01:40.

Re-coup, recover, re-focus. Early to bed Saturday night, no beer! Chippenham Half Marathon on Sunday.

Lesson: I very, very rarely drink, so I'm guessing even just the 2 pints the night before may have effected my run. Thoughts?

1 comment:

  1. I find thatWhatever the race result you will always learn from every race you run and this was obviously no exception. Perhaps not the time you wanted but nevertheless it's what you take into the next race that matters. look forward to Reading what happened at chippingham next! The suspence!...

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