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Negative split and new PB
Mar2020138:47 p.m.
It has been a while since my last post.
Last Saturday I did the Dorney Lake half marathon. All week prior to the race i kept checking the weather but no way could i expect what happened on the day. We had to battle gushing winds and pouring rain. All participants stayed in registration tent and didn’t really look forward to the race ahead of us. I have never seen so many shivering and shaking bodies in one place. Forget about wind and rain proof coats and tops, bin bags were coping much better. It was clear that new PB and targets we came for would be pretty much impossible to achieve. My target was to finish in 2 hours. On my last training i kept my pace to 8.47 which means i would finish in 1h 56 min.
Course is 4,5 laps around Dorney Lake. My partner told me afterwards that some runners came off the course just after half a lap. My run started pretty awful, had strong pain in both my calves that I could even land on my heals. From heal striking I went to sort of being a neutral runner/bare foot runner. Usually it takes months from transition well I didn’t have such a privilege. For the first 1,5 laps I have tried to adjust my run, relax, even stopped to stretch my calves...nothing was working. Pain was excruciating. I knew that I was running much slower than I had planned and was running out of time. So I decided to run the way I could at that moment and position, speeded up and did the best I could.
The weather had improved closer to the end and we got some sunshine. I even took off some layers on lap 3 and 4. Didn’t realise how much extra weight I was caring in wet clothes. My long and wet ponytail was incredibly heavy. I totally get when I read about sportsmen waxing their legs and girls having their hair as short as possible. My last 2 laps were significantly faster and finished with a sprint. My time was 2 hours and 2 min. Slightly gutted as I could finish in a better time and had energy left but I am delighted to improve my previous time by 17 min. So after VLM I am keen to have another half marathon race and this time smash it!
Analysing what triggered having such tight muscles I put it down to high heels which I was wearing all week prior to the race and not enough running. Having fresh legs is a key but moderate running is essential too.
Week prior was great too as I had a good combination of fartlek, hill running, fast session and long run.
After half marathon race my partner and I stayed at the amazing Brooklands hotel in Weybridge. Great way to celebrate new roles that we have been offered recently and my half marathon.
Happy running everybody!
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Comments (4)
sarahlouiseevans 'Sounds like a great half marathon considering the conditions! Good thinking about wearing heels affecting your calves, I was wearing heels on Monday and my calves felt tight yesterday and today. Maybe it will have to be flats from now until the end of April!' added 20th Mar 2013
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hollywooddave 'Great run olga:) tough race and you still bashed it up! I now know why my calf is bad! I've got to stop wearing high heels lol!! Keep fighting' added 21st Mar 2013
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Johnf 'Well run Olga and not far off your time considering the conditions. Lesson learnt for VLM, stay out of the heels and necessary to keep running during the taper.' added 21st Mar 2013
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LeightonSean 'Well done Olga , you did really well considering the conditions. ' added 21st Mar 2013
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