Sunday, September 07, 2008

Glasgow half marathon

That was a strange one today. I set out determined not to do myself any damage for next weekend's 24 hour extravaganza at Perth, and even mentioned to someone at the start that if I finished faster than 1.35 I would be concerned. For the first 4 miles or so it was great. I was running about 7.10 pace (through 3 miles in 21.32) and felt really comfortable, albeit the sweat was pouring off me. Maybe that was due to 2 heavy golf days (aka drinking sessions) in the last 3 days? As I headed up Paisley Road West my hamstrings were a bit tight, and I didn't feel I was running as fluently as I had been before. By the time I reached Pollok Park my hamstrings and legs in general were giving me quite a bit of bother. It was an odd sensation - my legs didn't feel as though they belonged to me, although I wasn't really losing any distance on those round about. By 9 miles or so my legs were completely numb, and I had a very strange feeling of my shorts rubbing against my legs, even though they weren't. Weird. It seemed to loosen off around the 10 mile point and I ran at a reasonable pace for the last few miles, finally finishing in 1.35.13. My 3 mile splits had been fairly even: 21.32, 21.32, 22.19 and 21.55, then 7.56 for the last mile and a bit.

I have to admit that, disappointingly, running at that slower pace was not quite as easy as I had hoped. I had a very deep massage on Wednesay night, then played 2 and a half rounds of golf on Thursday and Friday, so maybe that had some effect. I also went out for a 7 mile run across the hills yesterday, so that might have had an impact too. Excuses, excuses, I know - Michael Johnston would no doubt say I just had a bad run. I'm sure I'll be fine for next weekend - won't I? Reassuring comments are more than welcome :)

I met loads of people I know - far too many to mention - indeed it took me 45 minutes to walk from Queen Street Station to Glasgow Green because I met so many people. A special mention to Thomas and Silke, who both ran PBs of 1.21 and 1.55 respectively; George also ran a stormer, finishing a couple of minutes in front of me; John K had a bit of a problem with his foot but still did a very satisfactory 1.27, and Kim in her first race as an elite woman took advantage of the pre and post race pampering to clock a very good 1.25. Finally well done to Robert Russell, who knocked a minute off his PB and finished 2nd UK man in a superb 1.05.20. He's looking in great shape for Berlin at the end of the month.

4 comments:

John Kynaston said...

Thanks for your comment on my report.

I'm really looking forward to supporting you next weekend. It will be really interesting - for me anyway!

Have a good week and make sure you are well rested for 10am Saturday morning.

John

Subversive Runner said...

hey mate....sounds like a good performance to me. Best of luck for Saturday....your goodself, JK, Dario, Graldine...WHW Family present. Good stuff.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ian,

Sounds like the usual post race phantom pains. You'll have a great run I'm looking forward to hearing how you progress.

Ellen

Thomas said...

Ian, just saw you in the Devil's entry list! Woohoo!
Silke & myself have also entered. Looking forward to the event already!

Regarding reassurance: There are few runners who can produce a good result in a 24 hour race. But you are one of them.
Still if you are not 100% fit you will struggle.
Speaking from my own experience once you have started the race it does not take long until you find out that you are actually in good (enough) shape for this.
If you notice this is not your day just call it a day. No harm done. Don't torture yourself.