FoD Half Marathon Stats
Distance: 13.17 miles
Time: 2:12:24
Av HR: 172bpm
Max HR: 183bpm
Mile Splits: 10:21, 9:52, 9:36, 10:07, 11:00, 10:21, 11:07, 9:59, 9:55, 9:27, 9:57, 9:35, 10:09, 0:50.
It was a very lovely day for a half-mara on Sunday. The FoD was bathed in glorious sunshine, but with a cooling breeze playing merrily through the trees.
There had been some debate going on on the RW message boards regarding the best shoe for the race - i.e., trail shoe vs road shoe. The race is officially a "trail" race, but obviously, there are trails and then there are trails. If you catch my meaning. The race organiser had posted to say that, although there was a little mud early on, he reckoned road shoes would be OK. Now, I bought myself a new pair of road shoes and a new pair of trail shoes a few weeks back. Neither of them had really been properly broken in, but the road shoes had gone on a couple of longish runs, whilst the trail shoes had only been worn around the house a bit, and had done one short trail run whilst we were away in Matlock. During this run, however, I had noticed that on the short section of road I had run on, the trail shoes weren't a patch on the cushioning that the road shoes provided. After much ummm-ing and ahhh-ing, I opted for the road shoes. But took the trail shoes along, just in case.
It was certainly the correct choice. There was a bit of mud, ish, early on, but only a little and only for a short distance. There after it was hard, compacted trails and some forest road. It made for excellent going. Apart from the ruddy great hills.
Runs are graded by their ascent/descent according to four categories: flat, undulating, hilly or very hilly. FoD was classified, apparently, as "undulating". Now, for those of you who live round my way - Portsdown Road, right? Steeper than that. Twice. Plus an absolute slog for the first couple-three miles up oh-so-gradual incline that saps your legs. Happily, there were also some "steep descents" (I know this cos there was warning signs, innit) which helped to refresh the old muscles.
My only real moan about this race was that the water at the refreshment stations was given out in cups. Can't run and drink from a cup, well, not unless you want to win the wet-t-shirt competition. However, it was probably a good strategy (and indeed one that has been advised for first-time marathoners) to walk through the water stations.
I was really pleased to have wiped ten minutes (and about fifteen seconds) off my half-marathon PB, particularly as it was over quite a hilly course. It affirmed that I have actually been doing some decent training over the last few months....!
I was met at the finish by my Chief Bottle Holder, who duly handed me the bottle. Mum and Dad also made it down, which was very kind of them, and then took us out to lunch at a nearby pub. Mmmmmm, carvery. The only disappointment was that I couldn't really do it proper justice - distance running somehow shuts down my digestive system (I could go into details about gastric paresis etc but I won't.. ;)) so I find it difficult to shovel in great amounts of food afterwards. To this end, I've found quite a good solution in the form of SIS ReGo, a protein-based recovery drink - it's a bit like a malty strawberry milkshake, only more palatable. It's generally recommended that you have some kind of protein-based meal/snack in the 30-60mins following a long run, and I've found it much easier to sip this concoction than to try to eat anything.
I still managed roast beef and Yorkies, though :-D
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