See what I did there? Karin smiles or Karin's miles. I like to think I do a lot of the first one a while clocking up the second, my running partners may think differently... I read the headline on the BBC news site and linked through to this item anticipating a huge scandal that would rock UK distance running, but it’s OK, it’s Harry Potter not Paula.
Fixated on running? Me?
North Berwick Law by Lilo Lil
I joined Pauline and Norma, fellow Harmeny runners, at the back of the start line and we brought up the rear a good 50 metres behind the pack for the first mile or so. We were joined by Chris, who also resisted the urge to meet the blistering pace in front and we completed the first mile not just well within the 10 minute mile pace needed to avoid the cutoffs at 5 and 10 miles, but also below the 9.5 minute mile pace that was required to finish 22 miles in 3 and a half hours.
We stayed at the back but we held our pace well all the way to the 10-mile checkpoint and we had passed a few runners. I normally don’t especially like running race with other people although I sometimes hook up with a succession of similarly-paced strangers in the course of a long race, but Pauline, Chris and Norma were great company to run with. Pauline dropped back a bit to try and ease the pain in her back before Gullane and I dogged Norma’s shadow for the next couple of miles. I should have taken a turn at the front but Norma runs the most even, steady pace I’ve seen and I’m afraid I followed blindly.
There had been a lot of chat in the early miles but we were down to grunts, expletives and moans by this time. I had felt OK on the climb into Gullane but the nasty wee hill into Dirleton felt like a mountain and it still seemed like a long way from there to the 18 mile water station and I stopped to recover for a moment, telling Norma just to go on. Fortunately for me, she refused point blank and we struggled together from there to the finish line. Thanks for that Norma, you win my vote for the person I would most want to run a marathon with.
The high point of the race? My Garmin said 19.58 miles the last time I looked at it, I was thinking I would manage the last two miles although it wouldn’t be fun, I was confused why it looked like the finish about 400 meters ahead and then I remembered it was only a 20 mile race. We finished in 3:16:09 – all this for a cup of lukewarm orange juice. Pauline and Chris finished just a minute or so later and I met Bill at the finish and he had also had a good race.
It’s a final cruelty that the sports centre is about half a mile steeply uphill from the finish but this race exorcised the demons after Lochaber Marathon and I was on a high as I waddled up. When we looked at the results on the website later in the day there were 3 Harmeny runners in the top 5 – a fantastic result.
It’s difficult to analyse what went wrong close to the event, but I’ve had a week to mull it over since then. I can think of umpteen things that I might have done differently though it’s hard to know how much any of them contributed to my horrible race.
Did I train enough? I thought I had. I’ve been averaging about 48 miles a week in the last couple of months over a good range of distances and terrain.
Did I overtrain? My mileage has been a good bit higher than last year but I don’t think it was excessive given that I’m training for a hilly 43 miles. However I have taken fewer rest days and I didn’t really taper as much as I have for previos races. In particular, I did a tiring hillwalk in new boots that left me with legs that were still stiff and sore 4 days before the race.
Did I take it seriously? I think I had such an enjoyable run at Loch Ness in October that I had forgotten that 26.2 miles shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. I walked about 5 miles the day before and a mile and a half on the morning of the race, all of which could have been avoided. I didn’t eat what I usually do for breakfast. I didn’t wear my Garmin or start a stop watch – perversely that was so I didn’t feel under pressure to keep pace, but it also meant that I didn’t know what pace I was doing. I suspect that I went out a little faster than I intended.
Did I dig deep enough? Definitely not. I felt lousy but I’ve probably felt worse in other races. I was hot, but it was hotter last year. I started to go to pieces at just 6 miles. It was too early in the race to feel bad and I don’t think I gave myself a chance to recover. I had already convinced myself it would be a long, miserable race and after that it could be nothing else.
I’m not sure how, but I need to be able to suppress the doubts that killed off my run before I attempt to run further than marathon distance. Why is it we do this again?
5 days to N. Berwick Road Race, 5 weeks to Edinburgh Marathon, 15 weeks to the Devil.
I had a bad day at Lochaber marathon and put in the slowest time I’ve had for a couple of years. It was warmer than I like. I didn’t think it was a particularly hot day but I didn’t feel comfortable right from the start. It normally takes a few miles to settle down but about 6 miles in I had a bad couple of minutes where I felt unbearably hot and stressed, and that really bothered me so early in the race.
Between about 5 and 13 miles, the mile markers usually pass very quickly but they dragged. It seemed to take forever to get to 8 miles…. and it went downhill from there. After the halfway point, we were running into the breeze and I actually felt a little bit better for a while but it didn’t last long. I started to feel nauseous before 15 miles were in and I then walked as much as I ran for the rest of the race.
At 19 miles I caught up with a girl I had shadowed for the first few miles, also having a bad day. She was sitting on the tailgate of a car with her head in her hands looking distraught so I went over to try to persuade her to keep going. I have 3 DNFs on my record and I firmly regret two of them so, however miserable, I will try and keep going (both of them were Edinburgh marathons 10 years apart – it was just too easy to go home rather than slog to the end). Laura and I ran together for the next two miles, albeit slowly, and while it wasn’t fun, it was much easier than going it alone. However, I persuaded her to go on in front when I really felt I had to stop again.
The last 5 miles didn’t actually feel as bad as the middle ones though I don’t think I speeded up at all. I caught up with Laura again just before the finish and we crossed the line together at 4:58:07. Not my best run.
With just a week to Lochaber marathon, it was time for a taper, but the 4-day Easter weekend was lovely weather and would have been perfect for getting out into the hills either running or walking.
On Saturday we went into Tiso’s for a quick look at boots. I need a replacement pair before a backpacking holiday later in the year since I’ve seen off 3 different pair in as many years (a much-loved but very worn 20-year old pair of Scarpa Dolomites, my son’s outgrown Trezetas and my daughter’s cast-off Salomons). I had seen a pair of Raichle Mt. Glories in TK Maxx a week ago that seemed a good fit but by the time I researched whether they were any good or not someone else bought them.
Tiso’s had a few pairs of boots in their sale including a pair of Raichle Mt. Envy in the right size. These are 3 season boots and possibly a bit stiff for backpacking but they fitted really nicely. It’s really difficult to go past a pair of boots at half-price, but I tried on about 10 other pairs and they still seemed to be the best fit. The advice is always to wear them around the house as much as you can before deciding they’re the right boots, but walking up and down stairs doesn’t really come close to the way they will feel out on trail and rock so we planned a walk for Monday if the weather held.
Sunday should have been long run day, and I did consider joining Bill on his run in the Pentlands because it was a beautiful day, but I saw sense and went for a relatively short run up past Torduff and Clubbiedean reservoirs and then back via Poets’ Glen and the new path at Blinkbonny, about 9-10 miles.
On Monday, we went out to try out the boots. It was a bit of a yomp in truth; we got the bus to Balerno and then headed across the Kips and down to Flotterstone. The boots felt really secure, it was probably the first time I’ve felt able to go down some of the gravelly paths at a decent pace without poles. We didn’t take a picnic but looked forward to a late lunch at Flotterstone Inn. Unfortunately, the rest of Edinburgh had also descended on Glencorse, so we had a pint and decided we could hold out until we got home. We walked back via Castle Law, Allermuir and Swanston Village, so it gave the boots a fair test. They are quite heavy and my feet felt a bit abused at the end but then again, no-one would recommend walking all day in brand new boots and I did like the way they held my ankles in check going downhill and their resistance to skidding down the loose stuff.
Pentland Hills Track by rob.dunfey
Every muscle and joint in my legs has creaked and groaned over the last few months. I can’t remember when I last walked downstairs without feeling some stiffness somewhere, but walking does use a differents set of muscles and so I hobbled around like an old croc all day Tuesday and decided that I wouldn’t do any more runs before Lochaber.
Less than 1 week to Lochaber, 7 weeks to Edinburgh, ? weeks to the Devil of the Highlands.
