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