In my last blog entry I was planning out how my Holme Moss race would go. Obviously, this was partly tongue-in-cheek. Let's revisit that plan and see how much of it came true.
1. Set off too quickly - No. I think I set off a bit too slowly.
2. Still feeling fresh after about 5 miles - Yes.
3. Get cocky and overdo it - Yes.
4. Lose the person in front - No. But there were a lot of them.
5. Head towards Scotland by mistake - No, but only because there were lots of flags showing me the way.
6. Finish in a crumpled heap - Yes, definitely.
I said I'd probably finish about 150th, but I was hoping for top 100 and I finished in 97th.
I was aiming for 3 hours 15 minutes and I beat that to finish in 3:11:34 (here are
the results).
So on the face of it, I should be pleased with my performance. But I am not. I think it was the style of my race that leads me to not be pleased. Relative to previous years, when I've trained for long races, I have done:
- more long, slow runs
- a greater run-in period of long, slow runs
- more overall mileage.
But the last 3 miles of this race were like the last 45 minutes of every endurance event I've ever tried: my muscles saying "that's your lot" and me having to jog back while streams of people overtake me.
I don't like to turn my back on things that I haven't got the hang of, but I'm erring towards Mrs Noel's advice on the subject of long races - "what's the point?"
However, these pained musings are demonstrating to me what the point is. It's a challenge. And despite the fact that I would like to turn my back on long races, the more I do of them, the more I want to do them well.
So, whenever I pluck up the courage to enter another long race, here are the main points I've learnt from doing this race:
1. Train more, in terms of overall mileage per week and distance per outing.
2. Train up to the race distance. I need to know I can do the distance, and not mis-pace it because I'm used to running 2 miles shorter.
3. Do a few long races during the run-up to my target race.