Bath Half 1.08.45

I wanted to go into the Bath Half Marathon fresh, having backed off in the week beforehand, to see me into three weeks harder work before the Rotterdam Marathon on April 15th.

Added to the obvious benefit of feeling fresher I also wanted the boost of a good run at Bath after another very modest outing on the mud at Parliament Hill two weeks earlier, albeit over my least favoured surface.

I was expecting a similar run to the Wokingham Half Marathon last month, and with good reason. The National apart, my training has gone very well and my decision to reduce my maximum mpw is working. I feel fresh and snappy in training and the pace of my training runs is very respectable. My sessions too have been really encouraging.

Following the National I ran 96 miles in the week, with a good set of Bedford Park reps in the fog and a strong session with Neilson Hall and Janesy in Chicksands Woods at the weekend – much quicker than the sub-zero temps session me and Janesy had done four weeks previous.

I bagged a 22 miler on the Sunday before taking a day off to recharge the legs in anticipation of Bath. I opted against a mid week session and went for a brisk 10 miler on Wednesday with some strong miles througout.

By race day I was well rested and drove to Bath looking for a good run. The course is advertised as quick, flat and fast times are possible. It's also a big race, with 15,000 people entered.

I felt good warming up in the mild air and jogged about waiting to be called for the start. There was a fairly good line up of Brits, alongside the standard pair of Kenyans this calibre of race features.

We finally got away after a load of introductions. I had got word that the first mile was quick, so purposely backed off the lead group, which was full of ambitious Brits and the two Kenyans, one of whom is 62 minute pedigree.

Through the first mile the lead group was big and I'd clocked 4:59 myself. That was plenty fast enough. I was expecting a few of those boys to suffer later as I knew some of them were certainly no faster than me on a good day over the half.

I kept the hammer down and started to feel 'right'. One of the features of getting fit for me is the ability to make it hurt. I was skipping along at a decent pace, certainly similar to Wokingham. This was good.

We hit a couple of inclines in the first three miles or so, one of which was fairly steep for an advertised 'flat' course. I went through five miles in 25:40, already feeling happy to be baring down on a few of the quicker starters. The 10km split was a couple of seconds over 32 minutes.

By this time I knew I was going to run well, and with this a lot of tension disappears and I find I start to enjoy the pain in a way, because it's leading to a good outcome. It's not the pain of suffering, it's the pain of effort. A different pain altogether.

I noticed my splits were all over the place. Surely these were inaccurate? I don't run with a GPS in races, so take splits at the mile markers. These were really erratic. I knew I was going well, as I was moving nicely and reducing the gaps ahead.

Ten miles came and went in 52:09 – not as quick as I'd have liked though. I was looking forward to peeling away from the lapped runners as it was a bit off-putting. I passed Andy Rayner (18th in the National XC when I was 122nd – says something about my XC ability) and moved alongside Dan Watts. I felt I would push on as I had moved up on Dan in the previous miles, but he seemed to have something extra and held me off before opening up a small gap to the finish.

I finished with a strange cramp threatening to grip my arm(?), but it didn't. I was strong enough, but not as fast as I would have liked over the final 5km (16:33) but, as I said earlier, the mile markers can't have been exact.

I warmed down and got into the car and travelled back the 120 odd miles to Bedford with that post race buzz. Good tunes on the stereo and no traffic.

So with five weeks to the Rotterdam Marathon, I am feeling very happy. Two very solid half-marathon performances and some enjoyable training. Three weeks of high 90s and then a two week taper and a possible crack at last year's PB from London could be on the cards.

Splits 4:59, 5:16, 5:08, 5:24, 4:52, 5:11, 5:26, 5:16, 5:17, 5:17, 5:20, 5:02 last 1.1 in 6:11

1st Edwin Kiptoo 62:01

2nd Tadele Geremew Mulugeta 64:33
3rd Chris Powner 64:45
...
14th James Lawler 68:45

The National

What a brilliant event 'The National' is.

This year the race returned to Parliament Hill, the home of Cross Country in England, for the 125th running of the event.

We arrived at the event fairly strong and with medal hopes. Steve Naylor had to withdraw due to a dodgy Achilles, but Mark Draper had come in. My aim was to make the top six for Bedford and hope the team could get a medal. I had hopes of returning home with some metal.

The day was very warm for February and the ground was as firm as you could possibly expect for a cross country at this time of year. It was unprecedented really. I've never seen it so dry, and I thought that would suit me.

I had raced the Wokingham Half Marathon just six days before but had run easy all week and felt fine on race day. I had decided to go out fairly aggressively and hope I could hang in and make the scoring six.

We assembled at the start and looked up the hill, poised for the off. We were soon on our way and I felt like I was racing the National more than previous, when I've just been swallowed up and gotten frustrated fairly quickly. I seemed to be going well as we went over the hill and the race started to sort itself out. I was fairly well placed and was feeling quite strong. I was anticipating a decent run.

I started to push on past groups and was making some good progress with the right people around me. Nigel Stirk was alongside for a good while, and I seemed to be holding him quite well as we skipped over the firm ground. I could see guys like Martin Williams not too far ahead.

My fairly good start meant I was the 5th scorer for the team, and although I couldn't control how the team would perform, I could control being among the scorers. This continued for a while before we commenced the second lap and team mate Will Mckay drew alongside, and then fairly quickly pushed on. Likewise, Nigel Stirk and started to move away and I went into the second lap feeling a bit tired but on course for 6th scorer.

As we begun the second lap I was aware I was now more tired and was unlikely to improve my position. I've no idea where I was but "top 100" kept being shouted out, which I was a bit disappointed with - I thought I was going better than that (actually having since seen footage of the race, at halfway, I was 122nd - which was my final finishing position).

Huw Lobb came alongside and quickly went five, then ten metres ahead. He was running strongly. I'd last seen Huw about 800 metres into the race and now he was back and moving through strongly. This was a real blow to me as I knew I wouldn't medal if we did manage to be up there in the team positions. I tried to focus on Huw but he, like Will and Nigel before, was going away too fast.

I seemed to have the same guys around me generally, but occasionally I'd get passed by those moving through the field and I wasn't moving in the same direction. The volume of bodies seemed crowded, there were barely any gaps where I was. This was after all the best attended National for nearly 20 years.

I was starting to long for the end and had nothing like the strength I'd had in the Wokingham Half just a few days before. I tried to keep motivated, despite being 7th Bedford scorer, by what I thought might be my best ever National placing. As we were finally directed towards the finish and the final run in to the line, I dropped a good few places and couldn't get on terms with a line of blokes ahead of me and wound up 122nd.

I got a bit confused at the finish line as they handed out '125th anniversary' pin badges as I have got a '125th anniversary' shot glass at home from 2001, but it all became clear that the pin badge commemorated the actual 125th running of the National, due to the years lost to the war. The shot glass was just for 125 years. Anyway, a nice touch.

Upon reviewing the results I was in front of most of the guys I was disappointed to finish behind at the Southern XC four weeks ago - but I expected this as I'm quite significantly fitter than I was then. I felt fairly dejected at being 7th Bedford man again (it's happened in the two most recent Nationals I've run when the team have scooped medals), but to be fair I was nowhere near Huw to make a race of it in the end, which was disappointing.

As it was Bedford didn't make the medals, despite Neilson Hall being 8th and Mark Draper 12th. If I'd been one minute quicker I'd have been 74th. That's almost 50 people through in 60 seconds.

We warmed down and headed off to the pub for a few pints - the Dartmouth Arms. After that we got the train home where I managed to lose my wallet before rolling back into Bedford. With seven weeks left to Rotterdam I afforded myself a night out, which went on a bit longer and featured a few more pints than planned (and no proper dinner, which was a schoolboy error) - but I reckoned I've earned it recently.

The 22 miler the morning after was therefore a bit of a slog, and I woke up off just five hours sleep and with a fairly sore head and got myself out the door. After 10 miles I felt fine, but as it was still (relatively, for February) warm I was feeling tired and dehydrated. I seemed to be moving pretty well but the last two miles were very tough and I was on my knees at the end. That's the last night out I'll have for a good while.