There was a lot of pride at stake at yesterday's Shakespeare Marathon and it lived up to all of my expectations as well as providing me with a fabulous trip down my childhood and marathon running years.
I couldn't believe just how many people there were at the start in the centre of town and the first couple of miles were a bit of a traffic jam but thinned sufficently to get into a good tempo by the time I reached my old hunting ground in the village of Luddington. I must say that I'd been a bit nervous about running this marathon so close to the end of Marathon des Sables and following a week of indifferent training with wooden, lifeless legs.
My goal, (yes I still set them even on #839 marathon) was to get as close to 4 hours as possible and even in my last phone-call to 'Coach Salter', I said that I was 'just looking to enjoy the run'.
Now it might have been the colder conditions (just 9c) or the on and off drizzle or the 152 miles warm up in Morocco but I felt really strong and steady all the way. I'm sure the Carbo-Loading using Reflex's 'The Edge' really helped and if you look at my race stats here as I felt strong all the way and ran past lots of runners on the hills.
5 miles - 8.49 pace - 44.04 mins
10 miles - 8.58 pace - 44.47 mins
15 miles - 8.56 pace - 44.38 mins
20 miles - 8.55 pace - 44.36 mins
25 miles - 8.50 pace - 44.13 mins
26.3 miles - 8.39 pace - 11.24 mins
As you can see my 5 mile spilts were extremely consistent and heart-rate in 'tempo' mode for 77% of the race which suggests to me that I could have run faster and harder than my 3:53, which I'm going to take on board for my next road marathon. With some more weight-loss, hill training and Coleman Power-Hours I reckon I could get close to 3:30 in the Autumn.
Do you want to beat 3:30 with me?
More tomorrow.
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