Going the distance
I decided to run the full 13 miles yesterday as part of my preparation. You only really know how you’re performing when you actually run the distance in question, so since I’m stalking a sub 2 hour finish, that’s what’s gotta be done.
It was a hot afternoon, easily around 20 degrees with only a gentle breeze to take the edge off the heat. Cannon Hill Park was also heaving with families with young children, and I was the only runner there until 90 minutes into my run. I had not carbo loaded up and only had a Lucozade Sport and two energy gels to keep me company for the 13 miles. As you can see, everything was working against me.
The first 2 miles consisted of the usual tightness that gradually subsides, with the occassional sprint to try and loosen up the fast twitch muscles. I decided to tuck into my first energy gel at around mile 3 and I’m pleased that I’ve managed to get the unwrap and consumption motion down with just one hand. I had my second energy gel at around mile 9 and with that, emptied the remainder of my Lucozade. The energy gels did give me a bit of a kick, but not as much as I was hoping for and my fear was that I had ended up running positive splits by accident, ie. running the first half at a much faster pace than the second half. According to my race split data, I ran the 13 miles more as thirds, with my first and third parts at more or less equal speed with a lull in the middle portion.
One thing that I think my fartlek training has opened up my eyes to is that I have more or less independent use of my slow twitch and fast twitch muscles, and how both can be trained to be more like each other. Most of my run yesterday was completed with slow twitch muscles which are much more fatigue resistant, though even these will give up on you after repeated punishment. As I started to run faster, I was quite surprised to see how it became easier and my legs seemed to suddenly have a new lease of life in them. I’m glad to see the stressful fartlek training is paying off and will persevere with it.
So, how did I do overall? Well, considering it wasn’t race day conditions (carbo loading, cold, regular drink stations, crowd support etc), I managed to complete 13 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes. This is a new personal best for me and is a whole 6 minutes faster than my previous PB achieved at Silverstone under race day conditions. I trained far, far less for Silverstone than I should have and still managed to pull that rabbit out of a hat; with 8 weeks left of training, who knows what I may be capable of come race day in Cardiff? I basically need to run each mile faster by 10 seconds to beat 2 hours, which looks possible if I keep pushing.
Recovery has been perfect so far with the usual long warm down walk, followed by no less than 15 minutes of vigorous stretching and an ice bath for my legs. My legs feel perfectly fine today and I could almost certainly run 10 miles without issue. I may even be able to compete a week later at the Birmingham if this is a sign of things to come.
