13,1m Genève Marathon for UNICEF 2011

This year's course was slightly faster as it was more open and downhill.

The squeeze on the tram was something as they had offered free tram rides to everyone doing the half and full marathon and it seemed that every single competitor chose that mode of transport. 

I was squashed next to a pair of Italien ladies who looked like they might be rather good, but not as good as Tenke.

I got into the "Pen A" no problemo and shuffled to the back thinking this was the 1:29 boundary. However, by 10mins to go I was joined by a few cotton shirts and the same guy with the 1:40 balloon. I suddenly decided I did not want to run out with the 1:40 guy as per the original race plan and thought more about not going too close to the 1:30 guy. But there was no way through the wall of people.

The start was a little bumpy and I nearly got pushed over, but recovered ok and quickly found what I thought was an ok pace. I decided to have a gel a half way and split the race into three 7km sections. First 7 not too fast, 2nd make some time on the downhill and 3rd just stay with it.

After about 1km a bloke in a red cap had a pee in a hedge. He then sprinted - I mean it sprinted - back to the race - I think he was trying to catch the 1:30 balloon. The guy next to me cracked up and so we had a laugh about that and that relaxed me quite a bit. 

Plenty of kids in the villages and so a few hi 5s to break up the pounding. 

The full marathon finishes on the same course and suddenly we merged. That made the paths blocked and a group of us pushed our way past the various slower pace makers for the full marathon. I tried to get some more pace out of the hills and took a gel at 11km. 

This section was good - my splits for 9, 10 and 11km so me well under 7min mile pace - very pleased with that.

Then I was on familiar territory, the lake, the view all fine and from the yacht club in to Geneva I know every step and again powered through no problem. Decided to take another gel at 16km. I should have probably taken it a shade sooner. The route was then very twisty around the city and while I knew all the roads it was annoying to go around in circles when the finish was visible. At 18km I lost it slightly and felt very tired and cross with the route. 

As we crossed the pont de l'Ile I hear a woman on a bike shout in French "There is no-one in front of Tenke!" Great news and that lifted my spirits.

Then I got it back together and pushed for home.

Long way along the last drag to the finish, but I could not help getting faster and faster and one guy in a green top was waving to the crowd as I flew past him to nip over the line ahead with a filp jump for the line camera!

After my calves cramped up and I need some attention to sort that out. But all good now.!

Garmin had me at 01:34:19 full details here, Note the ave hrt, it did not get high until 9miles then the drift to max started and one minute faster than last year.

Official Results have me a little slower. But look at the splits, seriously negative. I was 94th for the last 5km.

26.45  169.¦   18.25  129.¦   31.39  110.¦    17.54   94.

Tenke won a Garmin for being the first lady home in 1:20 - amazing stuff as usual considering the lack of training.

124 in my age group and 333 overall. That's the 2012 London Marathon training well under way!!

Lausanne Half Marathon - Disaster!

I'd been out for just under two weeks. 13 days ago I was coughing up phlegm and it was thick green and had flecks of blood in it. My chest also hurt. Running for the train was tough and so Tenke's plea for a running buddy went un-answered for too long.
A week before the race I was definitely getting better, but not fast enough. Chest was still productive, but clear of blood and infection and the enforced taper was good. Work was busy, so that took my mind of the lack of training.
By race day I was feeling better. More on that later.
Mr Leaky arrived still sporting his handle bar moustache one hour before the appointed pick up time, so we were all wondering around the house in dressing gowns having enjoyed the extra hour in bed that the clocks moving gave us. Nice big cup of coffee to notch the hrt up a few bpms and some of Richard's family harmony wisdom and we were back on schedule and heading to the RZ with Attila and Tenke.
Attila had very kindly offered to be bag man, having already put in a stonking 50min performance for the 10km. His approach is no training, stay relaxed and enjoy it. I think he may have a point. He also had a point about the route, he was right, we should have taken the motorway as the lake road was closed due to the marathon and the third way does not really exist. But it the crazy route was good for two things. We saw a couple with two sheep which were on a lead. I have never seen that before. Mint sauce? Secondly, we saw a guy carrying by the crouch a life sized silver mannequin missing one arm and a head.
At the start we parked up and the place was buzzing. We did a tradition Q 4 the Loo and then a warm up. The warning sign was there, but I missed it. After a couple of km I was far too hot and even sticky. Normally, I break sweat at around 10km. Not in the warm up. Hrt was too high too soon. Massive spike. Went for some personal time and got in the zone.
I decide that I knew I could do a half in 1:35 so what was the point in knocking out another one of those? I was going to find the pacers for 1:30 and hold them for as long as I could and in addition I was going to ignore the Garmin for the first 5 km. I held them for 5km and let myself glance down at the Garmin. Spot on time wise, just that the hrt was already red line and I knew right then it was going to be a bad day. I decided to slow down gradually, but the recovery never came. They flooded past me in the thousands. I slowed more, but still they came and I never recovered. I consoled myself with the fact the 1:40 boys had still not caught me.
The red marathon markers made me think of Alain and I wondered how his marathon race was. The white markers for the half came a little after the red ones and I was struggling with the kms still to run as the ability to do simple arithmetic left me completely.
At about 6km I felt like I had carbed out. I needed food urgently. I took a gel and decided I really wanted it eat it, but waited until the next water station to take it so I could wash it down with some water. I noticed it was a small one and figured it would do me about 20min.
At 9km the wind switched direction and increased in speed. It whipped in off the lake and bounced of the high embankment and pushed us backwards. Horrible. Then I got cold. I'm never cold.
Found another gel and decided to eat it. That got me through a few more km.
With only 2km to go I realised the 1h 40m markers started 5mins after the first pen. Oh no! Now I need to pull a decent couple of km out of the bag to make it around in sub 1h 40m. I push on. No tropical fruit flavour gels so I skip them. WHY? I've lost it completely. I need something now. Grab some chocolate and hope. Perceived effort is massive. Still I cannot hold my place in the race. The km takes forever. I can hear the finish. I calculate minutes to finish and push on. Into the last straight. It is very long. I go wide. I try to kick. Nothing. I try again, nothing. I limp over the finish and hit stop. 1h 40m 01s my time. Official time 1h 40s 00.3sec. How galling is that?
Left Achilles tendon is trashed. Right hamstring is tight. Now remind me why did I not take the cancellation insurance out?
Still it was better than the last sick half I did in Bedford in 2008 with Kenny, which was 1h 43.
Richard did 2:05 having spent considerable time lying down in the road trying to shift a cramp.
Tenke was 1h19m and came 3rd. Well done Tenke!
Thank you to Attila for being such top chauffer and bag man.
Thank you to Richard for the lift and motivating me to keep going when I felt like stopping, the thought of that moustache going past me was just enough to push me along.

Garmin

13.1 miles Hartford half marathon

Darren called me on wednesday evening to see if I fancied running in the local half Hartford half marathon.

Photos on here.

Official results here, bib number is 8551.

I decided I could do with a long run before Lausanne and so why not? So he signed me up and that was my long run sorted.

Now Darren is not known for his running prowess, so once he picked up my bid and runner's pack for me he swung by the bar where his buddies were hanging out and they were gobsmacked to see him rock up with with a race bag!

The big day arrived nd I had the best night's sleep of my trip. No street noise, nice hard bed, no noisy air con. Perfect preparation.

The start was 8am and we needed to pick up a friend of darren's who was doing the full marathon. They have a stunning lake side place about the size of the town I live in back home in Switzerland. I managed to elevate her stress levels even higher by bugging her about longest run to date, predicted time and so on. She did great finishing in 5:40 and the goal was finishing so she achieved that.

We got to the start over one hour early so I decided to stay with Darren to park the car in his office and walk back slowly. Cool as a cucumber with 30 to go I gave Darren my bag and headed off to get the hrt up to something more appropriate than he high 40s.

Having a bag man changes everything. No queuing and you can leave it to the end.

Unusually the half, full and 5km all started at the same time and place. So there were thousands of us. I jumped the barrier at the 8min mile marker with the idea I would move up the field during the race. The start had all the trappings of a big american event with the national anthem, flags, prayers and speeches. Great stuff.

I spotted Darren in the crowd snapping away and smiled and stood up straight. Elite away 30 before the masses and then it was race on. Roads were wide and closed on both sides so no boxing. The half full split was well signed and announced to my relief. By three miles I check the pace and was way too fast, mile 3 in 21 so eased of a bit. Rock bands every mile or so and pockets of crowds everywhere. High fives for the kids and enjoyed the run.

Started to tire at around seven miles but was boosted by a piper at mile 8. I shouted to him that I was from Scotland and he rewarded me with Scotland the brave!

Took a risk at nine and sipped the gator aid. Lime and ok. Took a whole cup at ten and that got me home. Through the Elizabeth park the kids had chalk messages of encouragement. Very sweet.

Back to town perceived effort was through the roof but no return on speed, just held the pace.

Great finish under the soldiers and sailors memorial and full on sprint to the finish. Nice massage and runners lunch. Saw the winners of the full marathon come in at 2:20, it was a close finish and number 2 nearly died at the line.

My time was 1:36 with a negative split so happy enough with that. Left calf injured slightly, but after a few days it seems to be improving ok.

Overall: 241st of 4612
Male: 189th of 2072
M40-44: 33rd of 307

Garmin

Geneva Half Marathon

Got into town seriously early due to there being only one train an hour on Sunday from Rolle to Geneva.

Plan was to get the "Dossard" which took me ages to find had to ask a lovely helper to make sure and test my French was still working. Walked the start/finish which was good to have done and see how it was all set up. Got my number which also had my first name on it, nice touch. They also gave us a goodie bag before the race which bizarrely contained a shampoo sample, some bumf and a big canister of shaving foam. Are they trying to tell me something? Anyway, I was not going to use the communal "vestiers" as have my Holmes Place membership to enjoy. Had to swing by the office to get my soap bag and then to the luxury of a near empty gym. Pulled on the running vest and disaster, my number is still in the goodie bay I've left on my desk. Opps. Quick dash back to the office and now I'm suddenly a mile from the start and it is 20mins to gun time and I'm not even dressed! The three guys appear and all start putting numbers on. I relax. Leave with them and bit of local knowledge takes me under the main bridge avoiding cutting over the marathon runners and going through the crowd. Warm up nicely and just make it a few minutes before the start of the half, just as the first guys in the marathon are finishing.

I had planned to go to the back of the 1:30 pen, but could get nowhere near it so settled for the 1:45 pen and was pushing to the front when I saw the guy with the 1:40 balloon. I decided he was my mark and drifted back to make sure he was ahead of me. I promised my self I would not go past him until at least 11km.

The start was smooth and having the balloon man there helped massively not to shoot off too quickly, in fact mile one was my slowest split.

I let them go. All different shapes, sizes and running ability. Some I knew I'd catch sometime others was not so sure.

Let the gap grow between me and the balloon as too many people had the same idea as me and it was crowded around the pacer.

Quai de Seujet sees us cross the river over the hydro electric dam and I know exactly where the metal and glass pyramids are on the deceptively clear crossing. Suddenly, I'm sure one is right in front of me so a quick elbow in the ribs for the guy behind to the left of me makes sure I can jump the comer of the pyramid without us both going over.

At around 4km there was a woman trying to come out of her underground car park, but had no hope as there were several thousand people running past!

My route recci last week paid off as we came to cross the Arve I knew the cycle lane some guys were taking was no good as it came up behind the crowd barriers, while I took advantage of the closed road to run supper wide and use my "hill skill" to clear twenty places on the rise to the bridge.

By now the yellow pacer balloon was drifting too far in front and the field had spread out enough for me to decide to catch him. Took a couple of km and then I was running level with him. Suddenly he pulled the balloon down narrowly missing me and held it in front of my nose - what was going on. The I realised, we were on an avenue and the trees would have snagged the balloon. I burst out laughing. Got chatting to the pacer and he felt we were too fast for 1:40 which suited me fine, but was annoying him. We slowed a bit and a thought about pulling away. 8km. Too soon.

Back into downtown Geneva and suddenly the empty roads are replaced by massive crowds cheering, bands playing and alpine horns blaring. Loads of people had cow bells and rang them with vigour. By now we are nearly at my normal running start point and I am very concerned about the steps from the road down to the lake. I need not have worried they've build a massive wooden ramp to take us down level with the lake, I accelerate down the ramp and hold the speed for a bit, dropping the balloon man and his merry band. 11km, hrt 140 time to rock. All well trodden paths now as we take my regular route out to Geneve Plage and the Yatch Club de Geneve, I feel like I am on home turf and push on streaming past everyone moving through the crowd.

The turn comes sooner than expected and it is BEFORE the hill. So I get a massive boost make the turn tight and accelerate back to race pace. Homeward bound now and I can see the whole route back to the start. Gramin beeps 10miles and I think nice, nice, now lets go again. Percived effort massively up working hard to hold the pace if not increase it. Still moving through the pack. Gery 20km Lausanne t-shirt goes past at speed, I consider a challenge, but let him go. He stops putting distance between us about 20m ahead. I close the gap. Draw level a few time and he still pushed on but I know he's mine, just a question of when. Lots of kids hi-5ing along on the side so I take every one that is offered. Time one a bit to well and set a little kid on a 360 spin - opps.

One mile out and it is time for the final push. Up the pace and go past grey shirt at pace, out the corner of my eye I see the look of death in his face and permit myself a wry grin. The band plays some rock song and I respond. Every cow bell is just for me. I channel the energy in to the big finish and try not to go too fast before the turn at the President Wilson hotel. I around the corner and see the finish. I remember the first tunnel is the start not the finish and keep a little something in reserve. Under the first tunnel and 30 people between me and line. I decide to take them all. Full Lockett's Rocket mode is engaged and I'm pumping the arms and getting very close to max. One more to clear and overtake the light blue shirt with 50m to go. Feeling very smug until just as I am about to cross the matt a flash of light blue goes past me like a missile and then collapses ahead of me. Someoe tries to tell him what to do with his chip, but he pushes them away and wobbles around. I chat to him later in the runners village, he's very pleased with his time. And so am I.

Set off with a sub 1h 40m attempt and ended up with a well balanced race, where I felt totally in control and happy with the result. 1h 35m 18s. Only three mins outside my PB and if the training keeps yielding improvements like this next year will be a blast. 120th in my age group and 319th over all out of 1530. Hrt was low, first half in zone 3 and then zone 4 from the first kick and only the last mile in zone 5.

So, a great start to my racing in Switzerland. The hills, Tenke and a sensible approach have got me pretty close to where I want to be. Not long now until the PBs start coming again!

Grand Union Canal Half Marathon

I was suddenly looking like top dog. 10km in 41mins implies a half close to 90mins and with Ken claiming a 99 target and Dave just of the plane and still walking like John Wayne after his exploits in the NY marathon the early betting was me going rather well relative to the guys.

The weeks before were not ideal prep for any of us, but we were cheerful enough as Dave rocked up 10mins early on my drive and we got to Ken's 5mins early and as Dave described something to me by waving his hand around he hit the horn and half the lights on Shakespeare came on as we woke half the street up. Opps.

We got down to the start very early and there was a hive of activity. Buses for the runners and tractors and forklift trucks going in every direction clearing the place up from the fireworks the night before. On my second visit to the portaloo I was a bit worried about the forklift truck zooming straight at it and even with Ken and Dave offering vast bribes to the guy he would not lift it up and take it away with me in it. Ha Ha very funny guys.

At the start met Chris Burfoot, veteran of this blog, as he tends to start the hound and hare a few seconds behind me, catch me quickly and then drop me through Horseguards. He was aiming for the low 90s.

Ken produced a silly hat, a bit like a swimming cap black with a yellow super hero flash on it. I should have kept my mouth shut as that would have been hilarious to see it on the photos.

Dave and Ken both required ibuprofen gel from my magic race bag. Dave's gel application was something to behold. He'd known this would be a hard race, so the gel offered the necessary relief.

Alexi, a top bloke we met on the bus, with minutes to the start was still wearing jeans and a jumper. If he'd run the race in that kit he'd have been well hard. However, he'd made the same kit selection as me and was delaying exposing it until the last second, in fact his skimpy shorts beat my gear - he actually wore less kit than me.

Ken pulled a pro trick by having his bag pre-tagged so he just chucked it in the van while Dave and I panicked in the slow moving queue. He disappeared and we all split up, but with seconds to spare we all found each other again right on the start line. Chris behind me, Ken in front, Dave to the side, Alexi to the other side. Felt like a club event where you know everyone.

Minute's silence before the hooter was a nice touch and it was well observed.

My race plan was to let 30-40 go then move up through the field. As I turned at the top of the field I counted, one, two, three, KENNY!!!!!, what was he going there? Seems he was actually in the lead for a few seconds after the hooter. Dave in 11th then me with Alexi and Chris behind me.

There is a narrow gate we clocked on our warm up run and I'd decided to avoid it completely and go canal-side, I executed this and closed a few more meters on Ken who by now was dropping back like a stone. Got past Ken in less than a mile.

I was working the lock gates exactly to plan. Driving the knees to the top and recovering fast on the other side. Caught plently of people doing that through the first 3 or 4 lock gates and while not comfortable was no longer cold and begining to find a rhythm. First mile was a shade fast a 6.45, and by mile five was going ok with each mile either just over or just under 7mins. At five miles Chris caught me. He was going really well and very chatty. I was thinging gel one, but decided not yet. I watched Chris pull away that annoyed me a little bit.

Felt good at 10km, went through in 42:30 which was a shade fast - but hey I needed the speed if something like a good time was going to happen.

I was caught by a lady in bright green top and we raced from 6 to 8 miles. I nibbled the gel and by the time the third water station happened I decided to eat the rest of the gel and let her pull away. At this point I new I had blown it. I was tired, breathing was fine, heart rate was low and not straying out of zone 4 - but somehow it was not happening for me. I was moving backward through the field and there was nothing I could do about it. Did a 7:30 mile then the 9th was better again as I visualised the hound and hare route and picked it back up to clear that mile in 7:13.

I got soaked as I dropped my water down me over my glove, vest and shorts going through a water station so as gel two went in as my reward for getting to the 10th mile marker and I flapped putting the wet glove back on two blokes went past at speed. I could not believe it as one of them was Ken. I decided to test him and drew level, I immediately attempted a McIntyre ratchet but he burst out laughing and kicked to near sprint speed grinning like a Cheshire cat and bouncing along with ease. I contrasted that with my tired state of being and decided three miles of hell were simply not worth it. He said "Come on, lets get the white top."

As the water station approached I knew I needed a drink and so I wimped out right there and then (where the marker is on the graph) and I stopped racing. I'd burnt my self out from 6-8 and was paying for it now. I walked through the water station and had mixed emotions watching Ken put daylight between us. It was great to see him going so well and to have been some part in his progress, but as with all great gurus the pupil will inevitably eventually take their master's place as the alpha male.




I later caught sight of Dave in the distance, but the long slog up the tree lined avenue was sapping and draining, I focused on form - I might be last, but I'll be certain to look good.

Actually got a second wind at around 12.5 miles and accelerated home to finish in the worst time of all the people I knew. 1h 36min 05s or ave pace 7min 20s. Lost 3 mins on Ken all in the last 3 miles. In the end it was Ken's day. He was looking good and strong, smashing 11 minutes off his PB with 1h 33mins.

Dave rocked home in 1h 34m, but after the race he looked as washed out and ill as I felt at mile 10.

My saving grace is that in 2007, over the same route I did it in 1h 32. Did I mention that?

I have my 2007 speed over five miles again, I'm going at my fastest ever for 10km and today was a bad day. Who knows what the future holds. Once thing that is certain is that both of us will do a half in under 90 sometime very soon.

Berkhamstead Half Marathon

The boys all ready to go!


Having been out all week with a cold caught on Monday night this was the most radical of tapers ever. Zero running from one week out. Tuesday was a nightmare at work sneezing into my computer, worked from home on Wednesday, marginally better Friday, race organised the Hound and Hare 5 mile handicap (to stop me running it) then was pretty rough on Sat. esp. after swimming with my daughter. However after a progressive meal (different house for each course) with one glass of red I was thinking it might be ok.

By race day I was 85% and rising, so decided not take the run with Kenny approach and go for my stated 1h 35m target. Weather was perfect.

First school boy error was to leave my gel belt at home. 3 gels and £10 cash. Disaster, my wife was calling the cell phones but I'd put the phone in the boot and missed the calls. I've never run more than 10mile sans gel, but hey I was about to try.

Second school boy error was deciding to wear my gloves and then promptly leaving them in the car.

Having sent clear instructions on race kit preparation to the guys I was feeling pretty dumb at this point and nervous about going through 10 miles without any gels.

Kenny went to the middle at the start I went to the semi front and just before Dave went to the very front I bumped into Justin from Rocket Lockets, who was hoping for a sub 90 which Dave reckons he got.

I ran the first mile on Justin's shoulder and then let him go as he was too fast on the second mile for me. 6:25 and 6:36 took me down and out to the mile three hill which I slowed down for and cleared in 7:46 and through the leveling off the next mile was 7:14. I push a bit to get back to 7:14 and went through 5 in 35. OK so far.

Back down was 6:33 and then it was a slog back up through 7, 8 and 9 (7:51, 7:27, 7:24) and then mile 10 up past the Ashridge House I actually had to stop at the drinks stop to finish a cup of water.

Just before the turn into Ashridge I saw something like a ware wolf dart across the road at head height, then another right behind it. Turned out to be a deer at full stretch jumping the fence and road to get from a field to the Estate. Impressive and dangerous. Hear a scream behind me as another jumped through the race. Never seen that before.

Beginning to feel the carb out coming on and so dropped the heart rate from 165 (race) to 157 hard training and got some instant recovery which gave me the confidence to get going again. Boost at 10 miles as I went through in 71 and had I had some gels I'd have tried to squeeze out 3 6:15 miles but I made the wise choice and decided to keep that heart rate out the danger zone until the last mile. 11 was an enjoyable 6:51 down, 12 back up slightly at 7:37 and then finally I let rip at the 12 mile marker clocking a stonking 6:15 down to the finish. Some prat in a silver merc nearly runs over the guy two in front of me so I slap his bonnet - what a complete muppet. Suddenly it is race on - I guy comes past me half mile out, I tuck in behind him and he knows I'm there - he kicks for the line too soon and at the 13 mile point I change gear and cruise past him - we're both really motoring now and crowd are cheering - I think of those one minute reps at the canal and I can see the finish and I know I've got him - 100m to go I change gear again and uncle Garmin clocks me doing 4:34 min miles over the last 0.1 miles. Okay so I could have gone earlier - but hey remember the gel problem.

Well all that adds up to a new course pb of 1:32:54 and only 20seconds off my best ever half, set back in 2007. So all in all very pleased.

Dave was waiting for me at the end, he'd smashed the 90 with 87 and then we had a long wait for Ken to limp in over the line. He'd hurt his calf at mile 3 and then had to use the quad to lift his leg which in turn went at mile 10. Ouch. Off to the first aid for a gel pack and some TLC for him. Then a well deserved cuppa and cake courtesy of Dave to celebrate!

Top event, top day. Here we are after the race. You can just see the top of Ken's bandage.....

Wee Half to kick 2009 off

Dave and Kenny came along for the first run of the year and we decided to keep mainly off the trails today and stick to the roads and lanes due to freezing conditions and darkness.

Used the first hill to aggressively get the heart rate way above normal training rate and recovered back to 80%, which worked well. First few miles were probably a bit punchy and resulted in dropping Kenny at the Childwickbury turn off as Dave and I pushed on for St. Albans.

Were rewarded with a sunning pink sunrise heading into St. Albans, an lovely completely iced over Verulam lake and great views of the Gorhambury estate and house. Come over one my favourite trails from Batchwood road to Childwickbury lane.

Cold, but enjoyable. No heart rate drift today and noticeable over recovery on the downhill sections. Must remember to push those through.

Managed to guess the distances perfectly, 13.1 miles in 1h 46m 08s. See route below.