The Worcester Half
Well, I left you last week with concrete filled legs.
Did a week make a difference?
Yes and no!
I went for a casual 5km saunter with my running club on Thursday and ended up beasting myself up a hill. Oops.
Do you ever find that when you are really pushing it, your whole body feels like it’s on the brink of either collapsing in on itself like a black hole, or you can tell that you can put your foot down a little bit more and go even harder and it kinda, sorta in a weird way feels incredible?
Well the second one happened.
I’d run up what was a pretty chunky hill and when I got to the top, kept pushing forward.
I thought to myself, “I’m either going to pass out, puke, or die”.
Luckily though, I just felt amazing.
And I love that about running. That feeling of power in your body, of how you can feel like it’s really doing what it’s supposed to on a molecular level. At no other time do you feel so connected to the very basics of just staying upright and powering on.
It’s hit and miss. You never know when you’re going to get that feeling, and it doesn’t happen - to me anyway - much of the time, but when it does, by golly its flipping good.
So that was Thursday… the Worcester half was Sunday and I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and a snotty nose.
Dammit!
Running on the brink of a cold is a bit like running on a knife edge. It either sorts it out or makes you feel a thousand times worse… or a third option that seems to have happened this time - stays the same.
Anyway, so yeah, there I was feeling a bit grotty but not too bad otherwise. It was cold, overcast but DRY thank goodness.
When the race started, I was pleased to get going. It’s been a while since I’ve run in such a big crowd and it can be tricky getting in and around people. The first three miles were good though and while there was a bit of skipping in and out of people, with mile 3 under my belt, the crowd had thinned out a bit and I was in my groove.
Miles 4 - 6 also still going ok. In fact I noticed my average pace was well under 10 minute miles (which is a fast-ish pace for me) but it felt comfy. My CV was ok, my legs were OK and I didn’t feel like I was really pushing it, so all good.
Miles 7 - 10 I was in ‘head down and get it done’ mode. It takes about 7 miles for my head to calm down on any given run. 7 miles to zone out. 7 miles to drift away. 7 miles to let my mind wander.. only in a race scenario this blissful day dreaming gets punctuated by shouts and cheers from supporters and the odd blast of music. It’s nice to hear your name being shouted and I’ll occasionally high five a bored looking child, but it can become a bit of a sensory overload when I’d rather be swimming about in my brain.
This is something I need to seriously think about for London where the crowd support is next level and it’s constant the whole way round.
Any suggestions on what to do about that? I’d love to hear them.
Anyway, the final 3 miles were hard work. By mile 12 my legs were tired and it was an effort to get along the river and back to town. When I got there, rounded the corner, saw the finish line, I gunned it.
I love a sprint finish.
I always do one.
I smashed that finishing line… and my quads haven’t quite forgiven me as I sit here the day after but still, totally worth it.
So in terms of the road to London… things I need to think about:
Fuelling - gels every 3 miles were good. Still not totally sold on the brand I’m using at the moment but will stick with them for now.
A little concerned about crowd noise overwhelm. Not sure about that one.
But mainly, feeling happy about the half. I wasn’t running for a particular time. I just ran to how I felt but I slid in at 2 hours 8 minutes so I was pleased with that. Now the work really kicks in with the full marathon training plan.
It all starts here.
🍫🍫🍫☕☕☕
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