RACE RUNDOWN: Wokingham Half Marathon 2016

It seems like it was only five minutes ago that I started my Hal Higdon half marathon training plan. After a failed attempt two years ago at Reading to secure a sub 1.45, I decided to follow a plan for Wokingham Half Marathon that I entered for 2016. 

I won't go into too much detail on my training as this post is more about the race itself but you can see my progress in previous posts documenting this journey. However, to summarise, I took the method to follow a plan which focussed around me running a 7.55 mile pace come race day. It consisted of paced and tempo runs, speed work and long weekend jogs. I also incorporated a swim each week to bring in an element of cross training - something I highly suggest for anyone following a half marathon plan. 

I have really enjoyed the last 12 weeks and come race day, I was feeling a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Would I break the dreaded 1.45 barrier - something that haunts me. Or would I creep in just over again? The latter terrified me.  

Wokingham Half Marathon has been running for 30 years and has become a very popular race for club runners and those looking for a PB. Described as 'fast and generally flat', I was instantly attracted to this course, especially as many fellow runners at my club had secured their best times here. 

On race day, the skies were grey but the temperature was mild. Despite it being dry (yay to no rain!) the winds were incredibly strong, which concerned me. Parking in the town centre, we had a 10 minute walk to the start line, which was in Cantly Park (it may be quicker but we were fighting gale force winds!). The main base is rather small and basic, but has all the amenities you need (changing tent, kit drop off and several port-a-loos). The start line itself is very long and narrow, with pen markers for you to line up beside. Sadly no pacers are at this race, which can be a concern for some, so it was super important we line up in our correct time slots. I popped myself in the 1.45 pen, which was very far down the track. When the gun went off, it took me three minutes to cross the start line.

Starting off, we set headed down country roads with the first mile and a half feeling slightly downhill. I resisted the urge to set off too quick (my biggest fail at Reading 2014). It was quite busy in the first couple of miles and I did find myself weaving in and out of a lot of people who, I presume, did not place themselves in the correct pen at the start. This peeved me a bit but by 5K, it had petered out. I was relieved to feel no winds what so ever and the first 10K whizzed past. Running down mainly country roads, we passed through small villages where locals came out to cheer. Most of the course seemed flat, with a few short uphills to cross a couple of motorway bridges. I found myself running 7.35s and whilst I was concerned this was way too quick, it felt really comfortable. The water stops are at 3.5, 5.5, 7.5 and 9 mile markers. These are simply water in plastic cups, which I do struggle to drink whilst running so I did find myself stopping to have a quick gulp. I also took an energy gel between miles seven and eight. 

So, as I say, by 10K I was feeling fresh and strong. However, this suddenly changed as we turned back on ourselves to make our way back up to Cantly Park. It seemed that we had ran the first half with the wind behind us which only meant one thing - facing it head on in the second half. My god, was it strong! It also seemed to get worse the closer we got to the finish. Miles 7-10, it was bearable and I managed to run 7.50s but the last 5K was hell on earth. The winds were houling and at times, I felt myself swaying and trying to not topple over. To add to this, the course was starting to become a climb uphill, crossing back over the motorway bridges and taking some long, subtle uphills back up the roads. I dropped down to 8.15s and was absolutely shattered. Not only were my legs heavy as lead, I felt like I was running through treacle fighting the gales. Everyone around me was the same but we all trooped on. By the time you reach the 13 mile marker, you turn a sharp bend and the finish is in sight.  With all my might, I sprinted (well attempted to) to cross the finish in 1.42.40. 

Overwhelmed with joy at my time mixed with stress from the last 5K of windy torture, I felt delirious crossing that line. There was a good bunch of crowds around, which including my parents who were waiting on the sidelines for celebratory hugs. After dropping my chip in the buckets provided, I collected my medal and skipped round to the side where the crowds were standing to cheer in my friend that was also running. Once she had crossed the line, we walked back to the base camp to have a quick change and collect our bags. We also treated ourselves to the tech t-shirts on sale that had all competitors names printed on (short sleeved: £10, long sleeved £15). I opted for bright orange. 

To summarise, Wokingham Half Marathon is a lovely race that has the perfect balance of popularity yet intimacy. I loved that it was much smaller than the big wigs in half marathon events (e.g. Reading, Bath, Bristol etc..) yet it had a brilliant turnout of dedicated runners. There were around 3,500 runners, with most of them being club runners. Despite this though, there were a mixture of abilities making it a great choice for anyone. The course itself is very open, with the right amount of turns to keep you interested. After Reading and the dreaded dual carriageway at mile 11, it was nice to have a course that gave you lots to look at. The only downside for my race was of course the crazy winds but this cannot be helped. Although I do wonder if I could of got a faster time if these had not be so disruptive...

If there was anything for race organisers to improve on it would be to maybe introduce pacers, mainly due to the fact that runners of all abilities were mixed together, which meant chaos for fast runners caught up with the slower ones. However, this is only a minor criticism. Overall, I would highly recommend Wokingham Half Marathon. Priced at a reasonable £24 (£22 for affiliated runners), it offers a great PB course for anyone looking to secure a shiny new time. 

To read more on this event, you can visit the website here. 

RACE OVERVIEW

Course: 4/5

Scenery: 5/5

Facilities: 3/5

Water Stations: 3/5

Medal & T-Shirt: 4/5

My time: 1.42.40 (February 2016)

LIPSTICK RUNNER'S OVERALL RATING: 4/5

Lipstick Runner.

TRAINING UPDATE: Week 8 of half marathon training

I'm two thirds into my half marathon training and I must say I am feeling a little apprehensive. It has been a manic couple of weeks, what with a new job and just generally getting back into the swing of a normal routine post Christmas. I have managed to upkeep a strong steady plan (I may have missed two sessions though), yet I am feeling utterly exhausted!

Week six of training was my first week in my new job so I had get used to a new cycle route. This one is slightly longer than my previous commute and includes some short, steep hills. Three weeks in and I am already seeing the benefits this commute is having on my cycling. I feel faster and stronger which is an added bonus as it helps set me up for triathlon training in March. Anyway, going back to week six and it kicked off with a swim using my new Garmin watch that I got for Christmas. It quite simply is such a delight to have one of these on a swim now. Gone are forgetting how many laps you have done halfway through a swim and now I can finally see how fast I am going. This watch has an accelatrometer so I have to make sure I push off for the start of a new lap hard enough for it to clock a new length. For this session, I did a simple front crawl swim up to 1250m and was really pleased to come in just over 27 minutes. 

Next up on Tuesday was a paced four mile run where I really struggled in the first mile to reach a 7.55 pace. I was almost 30 seconds behind schedule! So I upped my speed and overall finished the run with an average pace of 7.54. This is great as its my half marathon target pace, however, due to that slow mile, I had to run the last three faster.

By Thursday, I had decided to venture down to the athletics track with my running club to kick off the year with a tough speed session. Annoyingly, I forgot my watch (I was livid!) so I had to run blind a session of:

1200m threshold running

5x 400m @ 5K pace

1200m threshold running

(60 secs rest between each set)

Despite not knowing my pace, I ran the fastest I could and felt super energised at the end - can you tell!?

At the weekend, I rested on the Saturday, rolling and stretching to get prepared for a 10K race on Sunday. This was the normal 10K I do - Mornington Chasers Regents Park 10K. I was oddly feeling quite nervous (even though I have done the race so many times!) about the pace I would be able to keep for this and the weather that particular morning was fecking freezing! By the time I arrived at the park, my hands and feet were frozen. I just wanted to get running to warm up!

Luckily after the first of three laps on the course, I had warmed up and was stripping off my gloves. I tried my best to keep steady throughout and managed to cross the finish line in 46.45 with an average pace of 7.30. I am really happy with this as it has been my target 10K pace in the tempo runs I have been doing.

The next day (and the start of week seven), I opted to do a workout session at home as my legs were a bit tired. For Christmas, I got Joe Wick's Lean in 15 book (which by the way I highly recommend) and he includes some HIIT workouts in there. Looking at the weights focussed one, I thought I could do it so I picked up my 5KGs and got to work. 

Oh my lord it was hard! I had to use these weights for squats, lunges, bicep curls, press up arm pulls and a couple of other things. I had to repeat the workout three times but sheepishly gave up after two as my body felt broken. Man alive I am weak! Give me endurance any day but tell me to do a weight session and I am useless. The next day I felt it too. Lets just say I took the lifts that day at work.

The rest of the week, I carried out a swim, hill repeats and a paced run, ending the week with a nine mile run. Joined by a fellow running buddy, we went out easy and finished with an average pace of 8.55. The distance didn't feel too bad either which must be good!

Come week eight and I am starting to feel tired. Work was particularly busy this week and I found myself staying late some nights, which caused a bit of disruption to my training plan. On Tuesday, I was supposed to get up at 6am for a run but told my alarm to f**k off when it went off. I laid in and woke up with enough time to get ready and dash to work. I felt guilty I didn't go for a run and so I decided to make up for it and would do a quick run session after work before I met my friend for a catch up coffee.  My GPS wouldn't work on my watch so I decided to run hard for 30 minutes. And I really did - so much so that halfway round the outer circle of Regent's Park I tripped and went flying! I managed to save myself from any rolled ankles or grazed knees thank god! I finished in Kings Cross where I met my friend and felt like I had maintained a good pace. When I got home that night, I decided to look at the route I took on MapMyRun and it turns out I did four miles bang on. So in 30 minutes that is 7.30 pace! Wahoo!

After this successful session, it went downhill from there as work was still crazy busy. I ended up missing a planned tempo run on Thursday. I tried so hard to get up on Friday to do it before work but I was unbelievably tired and just couldn't drag my body from the warmth of my bed. 

Do I feel guilty for missing this? Well yeah, but at the same time work has to come first over my hobby and sometimes this just cannot be helped. Instead of feeling bad, I am going to dust myself off and carry on. Next up is a 10 mile run tomorrow where I will again be going casually to get my legs used to the distance. 

To reflect on the past eight weeks and the next four until race day, I feel OK(ish). I don't feel strong and confident to secure the all important sub 1.45 but I am going on the hope that everything will all come together on race day. For now, I just need to keep focussed and simply do the best that I can. There is no point in worrying or piling on the pressure. At the end of the day, whatever I do will be an achievement and who can complain about that. :) 

Lipstick Runner. 

TRAINING UPDATE: Week 2 of Half Marathon Training

I am successfully two complete weeks in to my revised Hal Higdon intermediate half marathon plan. I say revised as I have made slight modifications to his calendar to incorporate swim training too. So far, all is good and I have enjoyed following a detailed plan once again. With each session, I have followed the criteria Hal lists on his website on how they need to be executed. This has allowed me to get a good balance of pace work, strengthening exercises and distance training.

The last two Tuesdays I have headed out in the evenings to do three miles of paced running. This is where I need to train my body to run at my target half marathon pace, which for me is 7.55 per mile. If I stick to this, I am in the safe zone to secure a sub 1.45. The first Tuesday, all started well with my first mile being 7.55 but after that followed a slightly faster pace and I finished the whole run with an average pace of 7.41. For three miles, this pace was totally fine for me but I needed to slow it down a tad so my body will start to develop recognition for a 7.55 pace. By combining these paced runs with my long distance training and tempo work, it should all pull together to allow me to maintain 7.55 pace come race day. The next Tuesday that followed was definitely better paced. I managed 7.55 for the first two miles but the last one was still a bit too fast. I finished with an average pace of 7.50.

In week 1, I had to work my training around having a friend from overseas to stay for a long weekend. As many runners may know, it is hard to squeeze in sessions around, well, just life in general but I tried my best to get my training in without it interfering with time spent with my friend. Luckily, she is a keen runner and along with another training buddy, she joined us for a long run at the weekend. There was no focus on pace for this one - instead we have a nice natter and catch up whilst running around London visiting all the famous landmarks. We had a great time, except I did have a trip halfway and ended up rolling my ankle which was agonising. It swelled up slightly with bruising so I spent the following day resting and icing it.

Alongside my runs, I have also been keeping up my swimming. In the first week, I planned a technique focussed session where I swam drills of pullies (float held between the knees and the arms doing all the work), sharkies (swimming with arms coming up super close to the body), leg kicks (float out front at arms reach and the legs doing all the work). Below is the session in more detail:

250m front crawl

250m pullies

250m front crawl

250m sharkies

250m front crawl

250m pullies

250m leg kicks

The following week, I flipped over to distance training and this is where I swim front crawl until I reach a certain distance. I chose to fit this swim in at 6am before work. I have done this a few times now and I'm surprisingly growing fond of starting the day this way. The walk to the pool in the pitch black and freezing cold isn't too great though...

I normally complete 1250m in these sessions but I decided to increase the distance slightly and went up to 1375m (so basically an extra five laps of a 25ml pool). Over time, I will gradually step up the number of lengths until I am at 1500m distance training - the same as the swim in an Olympic triathlon.

My only downfall in this first two weeks was missing my first ever tempo session. For this, I must honestly hang my head in shame. The after effects of my work Christmas party left me a little worse for wear (I blame a concoction of tequila and martini's) and I mean in a bad way. In fact, I have contemplated giving up alcohol - or at least cutting back. In the two days that followed this hangover, I had awful nights' sleep, craved carbs and sugars and just felt absolutely shattered. Were the endless flow of drinks worth it looking back? Erm, no.

Despite this slight hiccup, I have been pretty good and even started week three how I have planned with another paced run - this time near my family home on the trails which was a nice change. I am now up to 3.5 miles for these sessions and again, it was a tad too speedy (average pace was 7.45 again). Being amongst the woodland and breathing in fresh, country air did the body good though.

Next week I head home for Christmas and for me this will be the biggest challenge. The temptation to sit eating a tin of Quality Street in front of The Grinch will be huge, however, I will try my hardest to stick to my plan and carry out each session planned. I have made Christmas Day and Boxing Day my rest days so I can indulge then :).

Lipstick Runner.