This weekend was the peak of my training for the London Marathon... racing the Ashby 20 and testing out whether I can run that distance at marathon pace. After my Eureka moment last month about cumulative fatigue, I made sure I ran a couple of tough sessions in the week (including some km splits on Friday) so I would start with the right mindset... I was testing myself over the last 20 miles of the marathon and not the first. Last year, the race took place in snow, rain and cold, but completing it convinced me I could run the Greater Manchester Marathon. This year, the sun was out and despite a chilly start, by the time we started running it was warm, really warm. Another challenge to add to the mix.
The race in a paragraph... the route was the same as last year, an undulating course in the shape of a lollipop, and my race experience was very similar (apart from the weather). I started off strong, possibly going a little bit too fast on the encouraging downhills in the first couple of miles. I really enjoyed the ups and downs of the first lap but then began to struggle as the second lap got underway. As fatigue, the heat and possibly a bit of dehydration kicked in, the ups seemed to last twice as long and the downhills disappeared completely. Miles 14 to 17 were tough. At 17, some encouraging words from another runner (just a parkrun from here) pushed me on again and I battled up the last hill to approach the finishing 800m with confidence that my sub 3 target time would be achieved. The last field was nowhere near as muddy as feared and soon I was crossing the finish line with a sense of relief in a time of 2:58:16 (gun time), wrapped up in tiredness and with an urgent need for sugar... fortunately, the local scouts were selling sweets by the baggage collection so Haribo saved the day.
But three hours is a long time to run on your own... a whole range of thoughts and emotions go through your head as you struggle through the challenge of running 20 hilly miles in the warm sunshine.
Some things made me smile... the man with the sign saying "you can still win this" at 17 miles, the lady who thought 1,200 runners racing past would be a good time to mow the grass verges by her house, the man who ran in the gorilla suit (that must have been hot), a random conversation about Jantastic, the strangely decorated phone box in one of the villages, "Rock the Casbah" blasting out from a car radio on a quiet country lane, the sound of cowbells.
Some things made me frustrated... the organisers of the Ashby 20 go to great lengths to encourage runners to discard of any rubbish as considerately as possible. There are bins at every mile marker and all the drinks stations, but I still saw runners chucking empty gel sachets or water bottles into the grass verge or just down on to the road. This obviously makes work for the volunteers, can cause problems with local residents and is just plain rude. It really isn't much of an effort to hold on to your rubbish until the next bin...
Some things made me thankful... the amazingly cheerful volunteers at all the drinks stations who never seemed to run out of enthusiasm, encouraging words or jelly babies, the marshals at every corner who smiled and said well done, the shade on the downhill run into the village of Packington, the helpful organiser who fixed my lost chip time.
Some things made me sad... seeing runners who were struggling in the heat and hills, Potters Trotters team mate Jaki greeting me at the finish after injury forced her to stop, missing our running buddy Liz.
Some things made me change my approach... at mile 10, I got a stitch and it was intermittent for the next few miles. I'd reached half way ahead of my target time but knew I was slowing and began to worry that the 3hr goal was gone. My immediate reaction was to look at my watch every few seconds, but this didn't help. So I made a conscious effort to ignore it and wait for the km beeps... it did the trick. The beeps seemed to come round more frequently and I felt like I was making progress. Maybe not as fast as earlier in the day, but I was going forward all the time.
Some things made me persevere... encouraging words from other runners, a little voice in my head reminding me I can do this and thinking about lessons learned in previous runs about what to do what the going gets tough... count 1, 2, 3, 4; look up and look around; enjoy the scenery; breathe deeply.
Some things made me proud... a pre-race photo with my club mates, watching my Potters Trotters team mate Kate put everything in to her sprint finish, hearing people talk about their amazing local parkruns as they ran, Bobbie and I setting our goals and achieving them.
Some things made me look back... reminiscing with other runners about the start of the snow fall in last year's race as we reached the 5 mile mark and wishing (just a little bit) for some snow now instead of the constant sunshine.
Some things made me look forward... thinking about running along the Embankment in five weeks time instead of running up another steep hill in Ashby - the Embankment is definitely flat, right?
Some things made me happy (mostly food related, after the race was over)... cheering home the Potters Trotters from a shady spot under the trees by the finish line whilst eating chocolate brownies (thanks Paul), a giant jaffa cake and a mocha at Costa Coffee with Bobbie, Haribo, a white chocolate and orange cookie and a cup of tea when I got home, chips for tea. 
And now the race is done and I'm moving on to the next week of training. I'm suffering today with tired legs and the almost inevitable sun burn... but Ashby 20 was a great race and a great day out in the sun.
Happy Running
LizT
The race in a paragraph... the route was the same as last year, an undulating course in the shape of a lollipop, and my race experience was very similar (apart from the weather). I started off strong, possibly going a little bit too fast on the encouraging downhills in the first couple of miles. I really enjoyed the ups and downs of the first lap but then began to struggle as the second lap got underway. As fatigue, the heat and possibly a bit of dehydration kicked in, the ups seemed to last twice as long and the downhills disappeared completely. Miles 14 to 17 were tough. At 17, some encouraging words from another runner (just a parkrun from here) pushed me on again and I battled up the last hill to approach the finishing 800m with confidence that my sub 3 target time would be achieved. The last field was nowhere near as muddy as feared and soon I was crossing the finish line with a sense of relief in a time of 2:58:16 (gun time), wrapped up in tiredness and with an urgent need for sugar... fortunately, the local scouts were selling sweets by the baggage collection so Haribo saved the day.
But three hours is a long time to run on your own... a whole range of thoughts and emotions go through your head as you struggle through the challenge of running 20 hilly miles in the warm sunshine.
Some things made me smile... the man with the sign saying "you can still win this" at 17 miles, the lady who thought 1,200 runners racing past would be a good time to mow the grass verges by her house, the man who ran in the gorilla suit (that must have been hot), a random conversation about Jantastic, the strangely decorated phone box in one of the villages, "Rock the Casbah" blasting out from a car radio on a quiet country lane, the sound of cowbells. Some things made me frustrated... the organisers of the Ashby 20 go to great lengths to encourage runners to discard of any rubbish as considerately as possible. There are bins at every mile marker and all the drinks stations, but I still saw runners chucking empty gel sachets or water bottles into the grass verge or just down on to the road. This obviously makes work for the volunteers, can cause problems with local residents and is just plain rude. It really isn't much of an effort to hold on to your rubbish until the next bin... Some things made me thankful... the amazingly cheerful volunteers at all the drinks stations who never seemed to run out of enthusiasm, encouraging words or jelly babies, the marshals at every corner who smiled and said well done, the shade on the downhill run into the village of Packington, the helpful organiser who fixed my lost chip time. Some things made me sad... seeing runners who were struggling in the heat and hills, Potters Trotters team mate Jaki greeting me at the finish after injury forced her to stop, missing our running buddy Liz. Some things made me change my approach... at mile 10, I got a stitch and it was intermittent for the next few miles. I'd reached half way ahead of my target time but knew I was slowing and began to worry that the 3hr goal was gone. My immediate reaction was to look at my watch every few seconds, but this didn't help. So I made a conscious effort to ignore it and wait for the km beeps... it did the trick. The beeps seemed to come round more frequently and I felt like I was making progress. Maybe not as fast as earlier in the day, but I was going forward all the time. Some things made me persevere... encouraging words from other runners, a little voice in my head reminding me I can do this and thinking about lessons learned in previous runs about what to do what the going gets tough... count 1, 2, 3, 4; look up and look around; enjoy the scenery; breathe deeply. Some things made me proud... a pre-race photo with my club mates, watching my Potters Trotters team mate Kate put everything in to her sprint finish, hearing people talk about their amazing local parkruns as they ran, Bobbie and I setting our goals and achieving them. |
| The Potters Trotters on tour (with Paul as the interloper in green) - thanks to Kate for the photo |
Some things made me look back... reminiscing with other runners about the start of the snow fall in last year's race as we reached the 5 mile mark and wishing (just a little bit) for some snow now instead of the constant sunshine. Some things made me look forward... thinking about running along the Embankment in five weeks time instead of running up another steep hill in Ashby - the Embankment is definitely flat, right? Some things made me happy (mostly food related, after the race was over)... cheering home the Potters Trotters from a shady spot under the trees by the finish line whilst eating chocolate brownies (thanks Paul), a giant jaffa cake and a mocha at Costa Coffee with Bobbie, Haribo, a white chocolate and orange cookie and a cup of tea when I got home, chips for tea. And now the race is done and I'm moving on to the next week of training. I'm suffering today with tired legs and the almost inevitable sun burn... but Ashby 20 was a great race and a great day out in the sun.
Happy Running
LizT
great blog post again Liz, looking forward to your reflections on Stafford Half you had a great run :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Kirsten... just adding up some pretty stats and a graph just for you!
ReplyDelete