Run > Race

HM blow-up - Four Villages: 1:34:43 ... First in age-cat, but a really disappointing run.

Last year I really enjoyed this race. This year was completely different: it was torture. From the start, I was moving pretty well - and my first mile was 25 secs faster than 2016. But I knew it wasn't coming together on the first hill. My buddy, Mark Reading, passed, looked back and asked if I was OK. I really wasn't. My body position was all over the place, form had deserted me. I kept going OK for the first 4-5 miles, most of it fairly flat, but my head was telling me I wasn't enjoying it. I grabbed a cup of water at the first station, as usual spilt most of it, and lost momentum.

From there, I never really picked it up again. Yes I was at the halfway point almost 2 mins in front of my time last year, but I was dreading the hills in the back half. Usually I find myself overtaking people through the second half, but today everyone was coming past me. I ground my way up the hills, but right at the top, I just ran out of steam, and slowed to a walk. I checked my heart rate, and that was OK, but I felt exhausted.

The last three downhill miles weren't much better. The wind was gusty, and I couldn;t get going. I walked again - and I've never done that in a race before, The last mile and a half was a bit better - but it was my second slowest ever HM, and a minute behind last year's time.

So why? Well, I have been putting in a lot of miles recently, and maybe I've just accumulated too much - I needed more recovery time. I was also running around 4 kilos heavier than my normal weight - that's down to the work going on in our house - too much junk-food and not enough cooking in the past week. And maybe I need to lower my marathon expectations a bit: for the first one coming up, perhaps I should focus on completing it in a decent time rather than going for speed. A little less stress, a little more enjoyment.

Split Summary
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1) 1m - 6:50(6:50/m) 112/121bpm 71cal 8.78/9.68mph
2) 1m - 6:44(6:44/m) 138/148bpm 93cal 8.9/9.79mph
3) 1m - 6:37(6:37/m) 146/150bpm 97cal 9.07/9.33mph
4) 1m - 6:45(6:45/m) 147/151bpm 99cal 8.89/9.12mph
5) 1m - 6:53(6:53/m) 147/156bpm 100cal 8.72/9.02mph
6) 1m - 7:07(7:07/m) 146/152bpm 103cal 8.44/8.75mph
7) 1m - 6:59(6:59/m) 144/149bpm 99cal 8.6/9.06mph
8) 1m - 7:34(7:34/m) 144/147bpm 108cal 7.93/8.31mph
9) 1m - 7:26(7:26/m) 144/148bpm 105cal 8.08/8.87mph
10) 1m - 7:30(7:30/m) 144/149bpm 105cal 8.01/8.72mph
11) 1m - 8:48(8:48/m) 137/153bpm 96cal 6.82/9.91mph
12) 1m - 6:55(6:55/m) 136/142bpm 74cal 8.68/9.5mph
13) 1m - 7:10(7:10/m) 139/144bpm 85cal 8.38/9.35mph
14) 0.2m - 1:24(7:01/m) 142/146bpm 18cal 8.56/9.04mph