Brighton Half Marathon

Not sure why but I seem to have had a bit of a mental block with half marathons. I don’t seem to run that many of them and the ones I do are either off road (Badger) or stupidly hilly (Hastings) and consequently my Half Marathon PB is almost five years old! Or was I should say!
So following Lalli’s instructions I thought I’d better write about it!
Lalli and I often train together as we belong to the same club however we have taken a fairly different approach to training over the last few months and it does seem to be suiting us both. I read “the Art of Running Faster” last year and a lot of it really resonated with me. About the same time I started struggling to get home from work in time to get to club to train.
So I made a decision I needed to change when I run and how I train. So much against my instinct and assisted by a very noisy central heating system I have started getting up earlier and fitting in a quality 5km run before work. Yep that’s right BEFORE! So I am up early round the block which starts with a decent pull and then great downhill and then flat back to the house. Breakfast, shower and on the train before my legs really know what’s happened.
The result of this is if I can get home in time for club that’s great if I can’t well that’s OK too. But these aren’t junk miles I work at them and when I get my Garmin talking to the computer again I will be able to follow a programme.
This has been my habit for a while now and combined with moving to a more mid foot landing I am really starting to notice a difference. This was upset a bit by a bit too fast a transition to a lower shoe resulting in some calf issues. Once I worked this out I went back to older shoes and soon sorted it out with a massage and some calf guards.
Brighton has the potential for a PB but the recent weather hasn’t really been all that and the winds had washed half the beach onto the promenade. It’s pretty flat but I don’t really like flat I like the break of pace that you get with hills and sometimes lose concentration and so pace if it’s too flat. I am also not all that good with crowds and Brighton is a big race with lots of people lots of whom are first time racers.
But come the day the conditions were perfect, it was dry, calm and sunny and I even had my sunglasses with me! The breeze was Westerly and the course is out and back in either direction and we set off up the hill toward Roedean with the breeze behind us. The turn came and we headed back down what little hill there was to pass the start and head out towards Hove.
It felt good, I felt light on my feet and eventually the crowds thinned and I began to find some room. Around 8 miles I started to mentally drift a little found my pace dropping and my form going a bit wonky! I gave myself a bit of a talking to, and made sure that I was picking up my feet and not adopting the marathon shuffle.
We turned the corner and suddenly we were only a parkrun from the end. Sad to see the damage caused by the recent bad weather, some of the beach huts had been thrown over the wall and others were looking very skew-whiff!
Having found my rhythm and nicely out of the wind I started to overtake a few people who were struggling a bit and before long the finish was in sight and so to was a PB!
Next is Manchester Marathon, fingers crossed, but this morning saw me trotting round the block as usual.

The Pilgrims with XNRG

Pilgrims again!

The Pilgrims seems to be one of those races that just keeps on giving, last year mud and the year before snow!  But not being someone who likes to give in this year I came back to try again and the extra was water, so much water and not where it was meant to be.

Day one and the weather was surprisingly good, given the week we’d had I was expecting rain so to start in sunshine was fantastic.  We all checked in and picked up our numbers and instructions then dropped our bags ready to be transported to the school.  As always there were a number of familiar faces and I spent way too much time talking to people rather than getting ready this meant there was a last minute dash to decide how many layers to wear and suddenly it was time for briefing.

Unsurprisingly and not for the first time the beginning of the run was detoured because of waterlogging on the golf course.  We set off across the field and great my feet were wet!   That pretty much set the tone for the day, wet feet and ankles and knees!

Despite having run the route three times previously I (and about 20 other people) managed to take a bit of a detour off the path.  It wasn’t far but it’s always annoying to have to retrace your footsteps and once you knew what had gone wrong it was all really obvious! A very busy tree had fallen across the path which made it look as if the path turned.  We met some of the walkers on this little detour and they had done exactly the same thing and wandered up and down the path a couple of times trying to work out where they had gone wrong.

Back on the path I passed Paul from club who was completing his first ultra and had done very well in managing not to get detoured with the rest of us!  Before long we were crossing the Wey at Guildford and there is a bit of a water meadow usually at this point only this year it was more water than meadow and it started ankle deep which wasn’t too bad.  Unfortunately there is a stream that runs across which is normally really obvious! Not so much today with the other water however I did find it as I was suddenly knee deep in really cold water!

The route continued and the views at St Martha’s Mount were lovely, we trotted over Newlands Corner (much better without snow!) and finally found ourselves at the top of Denbies.  I met another club mate there and we learnt that rather than being disqualified if we crossed the road we would have to cross it since the subway was completely submerged!  Unflappable as always the contingency plans we put into place and we took a different route up Box Hill since the Mole had broken its banks and the usual bridge was not accessible.  This route was straightforward but incredibly steep and the delightful Dan was half way up catching us at our worst!

Before long I was at the school and tucking into coffee and cake, and For Goodness Shakes and more coffee! Changed and showered—hot water, BLISS but a door on the ladies changing room would be good.  This is one problem with using a boys’ school for sleeping, but once I was clean I went to visit my favourite sports physio who is great at sorting out sore tired legs!

Bag sorted, kit up to dry, sleeping bag laid out ready and everything was sorted ready for DINNER! I can’t say how important a good hot meal is too get you ready for the next day.  I confess that at this point I skipped off to the pub for a measure of anti-oxidants and more food.  Small problem getting back into the school saw me climbing over the gates to get back into the school and get to bed, luckily a couple of guys were leaving at the same time so they gave me a boost over!  Felt odd at my age climbing over a fence.  But I made it back before lights out!

Day 2 began with me trying to stuff everything back into my new but slightly too small bag! Then breakfast and the usual rule – eat until you feel sick and then eat a bit more!  As usual I had dry shoes for day 2 and the water on day 1 had messed with my feet so I spent some time draining blisters and putting on a compeed.

The route was pretty straightforward and the tough bit is the start! Once I got to the top of Denbies I felt that the worst was over, the Mole was back where it should be and the really hilly bits were done.  I power walked and eat as much as I could on the way up there and grabbed some flapjack before heading off again.

The Mole might have been back in the right place but the Wey wasn’t! again contingency plans came into their own and we were detoured into town and over an alternative bridge before following back along the other bank.  All went well for the first part but suddenly we turned the corner and were suddenly almost knee deep in very cold river water.  We had another 10 miles to go and our feet stayed wet for the rest of the day and I was going to pay for this for the whole of the next week.

At the next checkpoint I met up with the delightful Bob and warned him about the river bank at Guildford and sure enough I found out later plan 3 was then put into place and yet another diversion put in.  Having started out slowly I found that I was starting to catch up with folk and managed to keep up my steady pace.

Then the final hill and a final puddle or two and we were back at the start! Thankfully only 30 mins slower than day and one and a course PB over the two days, daylight and a very happy me!

More coffee, more cake and more for goodness shakes before I committed a terrible sin and accidently ripped off my compeed and most of the blister underneath.

It has taken me a week to clean my shoes, my socks were the most disgustingly dirty I have ever seen and it was four days before I could get a decent pair of shoes on my swollen horrid feet.  But what fun and how much did I enjoy myself!  Can’t wait for the next event!