Following on from the Oundle 10km, my A-race this season was the Shakespeare Stratford half marathon, with the goal being a time of sub-90 minutes. Training for it had gone relatively well, but I found some of the half marathon paced sessions quite tough, and I found myself questioning whether I could hold my target pace for 13 miles when I was struggling to maintain it for a session of 3 x 15 minutes. I’ve done enough half marathons now though, to know that fresh, tapered legs and race day adrenaline will carry you through more than you would think, so I wasn’t overly concerned. Given GPS inaccuracies of previous races, my target pace was 6:45/ mi, and that is what I’ve been training for, and sometimes struggling to meet.
I have done the Stratford half before and the start has been very congested, with a lot of energy spent during the early miles of negotiating overtakes to get into position. There was a lot of weaving, speeding up and slowing down as you get past one but get stuck behind another. So I was keen to get my warm up done and get onto the start line nice and early to avoid that again here. It didn’t quite work, and the start pen was filling up with 20 minutes still to go before the race start. Entering the back of the queue, I could see the “sub-2 hr half / sub-4 hr full” indication board about 50 metres ahead. I tailgated a few people as they jostled through the crowd to get to where they should be, and then continued further once they had settled. I did eventually manage to get to the sub-1 hr 30 board, although I’m sure I annoyed a few people as I pushed through.
Miles one and two – target 6:45/ mi pace
No pre-race plans or negative split ideas here today (reference lessons learned at Oundle). Just a flat, even pace from the start, backing off a bit for two hilly miles in the middle, and then back on pace for the final run in. Miles one and two were all about not starting too quickly. Fresh legs, adrenaline from the crowd-lined town centre roads; it’s easy to get carried away at the start and suffer later. In my last attempt for sub-90, at Milton Keynes last year, I stuck to the back of the 1:30 pacer like glue and we posted a 6:00 first mile. Whether that fast start contributed to my tailing off towards the end, we will never know, but I was keen to hold back today and do just what I needed to. There was no pacer to follow (at least not for 1:30) so I had to rely on myself to get away at the right pace.
Actual splits: 6:43, 6:44
Miles three to six – target 6:45/ mi
Coming out of the town and heading into the countryside, leaving the crowds behind, it was now all about settling into the pace and ticking off the miles. During training, I found dialling into the pace quite difficult. Constant checking of the watch saw me speeding up a bit, slowing down a bit… There were no such issues here today as the pace felt strangely natural. There were several minor ups and downs but, without trying too hard, I was making back the time going down that I had lost going up. Shortly after the turn of the third mile, I started to feel a pain in my left hip, which started as just a tightness to begin with. But going up a small hill before ticking over for four miles, it was starting to give me some grief. When the course flattened, it was fine. But every step both uphill and downhill, the pain was real! I can’t believe, I thought, that I’m going to miss out on this, not due to fitness but due to an injury that I had not experienced once in training. Anyway, we went on, and seeing a couple of supporters from the club as I turned into Welford was a welcome distraction as I prepared myself for the toughest part of the course.
Actual splits – 6:45, 6:45, 6:42, 6:46
Miles seven and eight – target ~7:00/ mi
As mentioned, I’ve ran this race before, and I was well aware that the next couple of miles would be rough. I remember the hill to end the eighth mile being horrendous, and the little loop around Welford wasn’t particularly pleasant either. I had decided pre-race to back off a bit here and not to try and hold pace, ruining myself for the miles afterwards. After this, it was net downhill, so let’s just get past this and see where we are. Sometimes, when you build something up so much in your head, actually, the reality isn’t that bad. That was definitely the case here. I negotiated the first of the two miles without many issues at all and, yes, the second did involve a considerable hill, which came in two stages, but it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. Still, given the hip pain too, I did back off.
Actual splits – 6:49, 7:06
Mile 9 – target 6:35
The end of mile eight coincided with the top of the hill, and what came afterwards was a rather severe downhill 300 metres. I’ve ran less steep descents coming off mountains! Every left foot strike sent a shooting pain from my hip, down to my knee. My whole left side was locking up. Almost limping, I took the descent as fast as I could before turning left at the bottom and settling into a more gradual descent.
Actual split – 6:34
Miles ten to twelve – target 6:45
Settle back into race pace was the plan now. Hill over, and still on pace with an average of 6:46/ mi, I just had to bring it home. I said to myself beforehand that if I could make it to the end of mile 9 and still be on pace, today was going to be my day. I was definitely working harder now than I was in the earlier miles but, without too much watch checking, I was still managing to stay on pace as we entered the greenway section of the course. I’m not sure if the hip pain was still there from this point, but I had other things occupying my mind. The first of which was the lack of stability under foot. Lots of loose stones and rocks, I rolled my ankle slightly a couple of times. I was zig-zagging along, trying to find the most compacted surface on which to land. The second was the wind. Where on earth did that come from? Staying on pace now really was a conscious effort! There was a lot more pace checking and I was having to dig deep to stay on track. Behind cover, and when the wind died down, it was ok. But the force from the gusts, which were moderate if we’re being completely honest, were setting me back. I was running alongside a guy who asked what my target was. He was aiming for the same and asked if we were still on for it. No attempt was made to try and figure it out, but I confidently said “yes… I think so mate!” We vowed to try and stick together. Going past the final water station I had a quick check of the distance covered and the elapsed time. By my watch, we had less than 1.5 miles left to go. Throughout the course, my watch had been buzzing pretty much in line with the on-course mile markers, so I knew this was pretty accurate. The elapsed time was just coming up to 1:20. I had ten minutes to cover just over a mile. The ability for mental maths at this point was low, but even if I slowed to an easy pace, this was on!
Actual splits – 6:45, 6:49, 6:46
Miles 13+ – target whatever my legs could manage
The end of the greenway came with a quick left-right; a corner at which two other club members were standing, supporting. The level of noise coming from one of them, as soon as she saw me appear, was impressive and also much appreciated. Fuelled by the adrenaline from the realisation that, barring some catastrophe, this was going to be my day, I was cruising. The effort was still hard (the race photos attest to such), and I didn’t drop the pace, but it felt comfortable. All the pressure drained away. I hadn’t seen the guy I vowed to run with since the water station. I was off. Hip pain? What hip pain? I turned under the bridge, onto the path alongside the river and went for it. Sheer elation, and exhaustion, as I crossed the finish line. I didn’t need to check the time; I knew I’d done enough. I didn’t know how much under 1:30 I had gone but it didn’t matter. 1:29:59 would have been enough for me and I knew I had done enough for that. As ever, my girlfriend was waiting for me at the finish. Her video of me finishing suggests it probably wasn’t as comfortable as it was in my head but isn’t that always the case.
Actual splits – 6:43, 0:41 (6:24/ mi)
Finish – 1:28:37
I may indulge myself with the purchase of some carbon race shoes at some point, to see how much faster I could go but, for now at least, that’s me done with the half marathon. I’ve achieved my ultimate goal and will now enter retirement as I chase other running goals, starting with the EMGP over the coming months, culminating in another sub-40 10 km attempt at Milton Keynes.
