So to the Yorkshire Marathon. My home marathon and what a great event. Super slick organisation, a great route through the beautiful city and then the villages of Stockton, Stamford Bridge and Dunnington. The weather dawned cool and sunny and the good folk of York were out in force to cheer us on once again.
This is the fourth edition of this marathon which has deservedly earned a great reputation and my third attempt. Given the countryside around York, lots of people go into this race expecting a pancake flat course, but the two 'out and backs' and the lumps and bumps along the way make for a tougher challenge than first expected.
With the half pb in the bag at North Lincs in May, this would be the one chance at a marathon pb in 2016, and in the days leading up the nerves really started to build.
I had such a good day last year at this race as I cruised round easily in 3.26. This year, the preparation was a little better (decided to skip the ankle sprain this time) but with still only five weeks to get ready after the TMB hike this summer it would by no means be easy to go faster.
I did manage to squeeze in some good runs around 17-20 miles in the short period I had given myself but I did feel undercooked. I also set myself an ambitious target of 3.15 which is closer to the time suggested by my strong performance at the North Lincs Half in May.
Despite executing the first half of the race perfectly, the dreaded cramp set in from mile 16 or so which is seriously early. Whilst I managed to maintain a good pace for a further four miles after that, it was all I could do to ease off and make the best of it after mile 20.
In the end a time of 3.19.26 was a big pb but it was bitter sweet given how strong I felt. If it wasn't for the cramp, I am sure I could have gone under the 3.15 barrier but I guess 5 weeks just wasn't enough time to condition my legs for this run. If I hadn't dialled down the pace in the way that I did, my cramp would definitely have brought me to a halt and the pb chance would be gone. So I guess in a way it was good to still salvage a personal best time despite the painful last few miles.
A big shout out to my old mucker Ben who cruised under his four hour target. He's come a long way in the last year or so and its great to see how much he improves with every run.
Having spent so long focusing on going long on the trail for the past few years, this was a good reminder of why the road 26.2 deserves so much respect. If I'm going to get closer to the 3hr mark, I'm going to need a proper run up and a more singular focus.
This is the second time this year I have cramped badly in a race, the other being at Osmotherley in May. I thought I had put the cramps behind me with my running but it has returned in a big way this year. I'm putting it down to insufficient specific prep combined with running a sustained faster pace but time will tell I guess. I will need to find an answer if I'm going to continue to improve.
In hindsight whilst I have enjoyed running faster this year, it is proving difficult to satisfy my expectations of myself over these disparate disciplines. Perhaps I was just too ambitious this time. I can be pretty hard on myself and sometimes focus so hard on the negatives I forget to acknowledge the progress I'm still making with my running.
Anyways enough navel gazing, I'm half way to my pb slam!
Next up is to see how fast I can go at the 10k at Leeds Abbey Dash where I have a target to go under 40 minutes. I may go for that 5k pb at my first parkrun as some speedy preparation.
Only three weeks to go so I've given myself another uphill battle to get ready. Nowt like making it easy for yourself!
