Run > Race

Bristol Half. Disappointing really. The sun came out which was good, if hot in places, but it also brought the wind to play. The wind really disrupted the early easier miles along the gorge and came as an extra blow with each of the huge number of turns in the final 4 miles through town. Felt the course was undulating, more so than Bath by a long way, and the twisty second half really disrupted any rythm. Everyone's times, from the winner down, were slow today with the wind being cited by the podium folk as the major factor.

My personal race was supposed to be at 6:15 pace with a bit of a pick-up after 10 miles to knick a small undeserved PB. I was badly caught out (yet again) in the opening mile by crowding and found it difficult to gauge my pace along the out and back section for the first 5 miles, ending up just slow most of the time.

Miles 6 and 7 I was distracted by the runners coming the other way and drifted off the pace before catching myself and picking it back up after that to just miss the pace on average over each mile.

This all ignores the garmin adjustment element which meant the mile markers were getting consistantly further from my beeps.
However, I was running well enough and started picking things up in mile 10 aiming to finish strongly and salvage something, at least sub1:23:00.
Mile 10 I managed this but then the route became very twisty, cobbly and interspersed with sharp climbs which slowed me and dissolved my morale. Finally had a clear run for mile 13 which showed some class and cruised in a quarter a mile over distance after yet more weaving around Bristol centre. I think my pace summary shows the up and down quite clearly.

Definitely feel I can take positives from the race but am in no hurry to repeat this event. For a big city race there was no real atmosphere or crowd support and the route, as Lucy put it, was boring and uninspiring. In fairness though it was extremely well organised and the t-shirt and medal were both pretty good.

Back to Chippenham next year I think.

After finishing I was waiting for others at a pub by the Hippodrome and watching the race. Saw paramedics desperately trying to restart a collapsed runners heart but have just heard he sadly died 800m from the finish.

Split Summary

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1) - 1m - 6:24(6:24/m) - 115cal

2) - 1m - 6:13(6:13/m) - 116cal

3) - 1m - 6:17(6:17/m) - 116cal

4) - 1m - 6:16(6:16/m) - 117cal

5) - 1m - 6:19(6:19/m) - 117cal

6) - 1m - 6:24(6:24/m) - 119cal

7) - 1m - 6:23(6:23/m) - 118cal

8) - 1m - 6:18(6:18/m) - 117cal

9) - 1m - 6:18(6:18/m) - 117cal

10) - 1m - 6:14(6:14/m) - 121cal

11) - 1m - 6:27(6:27/m) - 117cal

12) - 1m - 6:32(6:32/m) - 121cal

13) - 1m - 6:03(6:03/m) - 116cal

14) - 0.35m - 2:10(6:10/m) - 39cal

Pace Zone Summary

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Pace Zone: 4:20-4:39/mile: 1.4%

Pace Zone: 4:40-4:59/mile: 1.8%

Pace Zone: 5:00-5:19/mile: 3%

Pace Zone: 5:20-5:39/mile: 6.5%

Pace Zone: 5:40-5:59/mile: 12%

Pace Zone: 6:00-6:19/mile: 25.5%

Pace Zone: 6:20-6:39/mile: 21.4%

Pace Zone: 6:40-6:59/mile: 10.1%

Pace Zone: 7:00-7:19/mile: 4.8%

Pace Zone: 7:20-7:39/mile: 3.7%

Pace Zone: 7:40-7:59/mile: 2%

Pace Zone: 8:00-8:19/mile: 1.7%