Pre race
I have never run this course before. It changed last year along with a change of sponsors. It has moved on to quieter roads but retains the format of a 10k, Half Marathon and Marathon all on the same day.
Despite my parents living less than a mile from the start line I also managed to avoid ever running on these roads at all. So coming in to the race I had little idea of the course profile. I had a quick check on Strava and found someone's race track from last year, along with what looks like a massive cliff between 3 and 3.5 miles. That then looks to be given back gradually over the next 2 miles. So my plan going in is to work quite hard up the hill and use the following downhill to recover.
Race day
Race day
Normally for a race in Elgin I would go through the day before so I could have a lie in and a decent breakfast. This time though I was giving lifts to a couple of other people so it was an early start and just a couple of butteries for breakfast.
I picked up a couple of team-mates on the drive through and we were there in plenty of time to register, but just missed the start of the marathon. Fortunately at this point I realised my garmin had lost it's charge overnight, despite being switched off. So I plugged it in to the car and hoped to harvest enough electrons to get me round the race.
We got registered and warmed-up and I got my 30%-charged garmin. I decided against a baselayer as the sun was now out and the wind had died down. I also decided to try different trainers this time. The K-Swiss Ironman trainers I used to reserve for treadmills but have recently been using more outside. They are a slightly wider fit and I figured on such a warm day there was a chance of a little feet swelling which can get uncomfortable in my new balance shoes.
I got to the start in plenty of time for the briefing and took a place near-ish to the front.
The first mile I got a bit carried away, as everyone does at the start of a 10k. Especially one with a deceptive downhill start. I went through in 6:11, there is no way I can stay at that pace, so I eased off a touch.
Mile 2 was out into a headwind but a group of about 8 Half Marathon runners came past me and sat nicely in front of me. I knew I was still working too hard trying to stay with them, but I decided that it was worth it for the shelter from the wind. If I dropped off this group and tried to run myself I would have to put the same effort in to go maybe 20-30 seconds / mile slower. Through mile 2 in 6:29, still fast but maybe sustainable.
I wondered about changing my watch to show my heart rate instead of speed and distance but decided the button pressing effort wasn't worth it.
Mile 3 three and another Moray Roadrunner comes past me. I know he is in the 10k and I know he will run somewhere in the 39-40 minute bracket. Regardless of wind, rain, mountains,... he is an absolute consistent just-under-40 runner. I tag onto his heels for a quarter mile or so but he starts to ease away a little and rather than run his race I let him go. In hindsight I might have been better to find him in mile 1 and use his pacing to even my race out a little. Through mile 3 in 6:59. That is the pace I actually planned to come out and run, and it feels pretty comfortable.
Mile 4 is the supposed hill from Strava. It is actually a gentle rise which barely climbs 50 feet in half a mile. It is quite a long drag but is barely enough to class as a hill. There was a water stop at the top of the hill and I took a bottle and tried to wash some of the sweat off my face as it was stinging my eyes. There is a fairly sharp drop at this point and a guy with headphones in came past me on the descent. At the bottom of this hill the course splits and I could see about equal numbers going right for the Half Marathon as were going left for the 10k. Mr Headphones went left so he is in my race.
Just after this turn is the sign for 2 miles to go and a glance at the watch shows 28 mins and the maths in my head starts in earnest. 6:00, 6:00 would get me under 40 minutes. Unlikely that I can finish faster than that super-quick mile at the start. How about 6:12s to get at my lifetime PB 40:24. That still seems unlikely, too tough. Annual target is 44:30 (actually 44 so my maths was wrong here) so I can coast in 8:15, 8:15. That is just lazy, find something more sensible. What did I run in May? 42 something (actually 42:19). That would be 7:00, 7:00. OK, that is what I am going to beat from here.
Miles 5 and 6 were probably wind assisted but I didn't really notice them. They should also have been slightly downhill but since the uphill was smaller than I expected the downhill was too. It is hard to even claim it as a false flat with less than 30 feet of drop over the two miles. Mr Headphones was see-sawing a bit in front of me as I slowly closed and then he moved away again. At mile 5 I glanced at the watch it said 6:34 for the mile. With the signs counting down to the finish and the watch counting up from the start they don't quite line up so I thought about trying to push a sub-6 last mile for a PB but I wasn't quite at the 1-mile to go mark.
Then I really started to suffer. There was a little humpback bridge that emptied my legs and Mr Headphones started to ease away. There were a few supporters along this section that knew me by name and I was getting great encouragement as I tried to just keep the pace steady.
I turned the last corner just as the watch ticked through 40 minutes and looked up what suddenly seemed like a giant cliff to the finish. This explains some of the first mile split. I tried to dig in and chase Mr Headphones up the hill and closed a little but not enough to make him catchable.
There was a cameraman and some very vocal support at this point, which was necessary as the short hill was hellish. I tried to smile at him but I was sweating into my eyes again so I could have pulled all sorts of scary faces at him. I managed to drag myself up and over the top and then coasted in the last 50m to the downhill finish. Then I sat down and tried not to drown in my own sweat for a while as I waited for my team-mates to finish.
Finish time 41:41. A big Season's Best. About a minute off my PB of 40:24. I think my 4th fastest 10k ever. Place in the top-20 (16th, full results here).
Average HR 170 bpm, Max HR 177bpm. That puts me in Zone 5.1 out of 5. So not only could I not have worked any harder but the theory says I shouldn't have been able to work that hard for so long. If I take out the first mile where my heart rate climbs from 90-167 my average from there to the finish is 174bpm.
My target for the year was to run 2 races with a 10k under 44 minutes and / or a 5k under 21:30 as targets. And when I wrote those I thought they would be quite tough to get.
Instead I have run 2 x 10k's in 42:19 and 41:41, and a 5k in 19:37.
I picked up a couple of team-mates on the drive through and we were there in plenty of time to register, but just missed the start of the marathon. Fortunately at this point I realised my garmin had lost it's charge overnight, despite being switched off. So I plugged it in to the car and hoped to harvest enough electrons to get me round the race.
We got registered and warmed-up and I got my 30%-charged garmin. I decided against a baselayer as the sun was now out and the wind had died down. I also decided to try different trainers this time. The K-Swiss Ironman trainers I used to reserve for treadmills but have recently been using more outside. They are a slightly wider fit and I figured on such a warm day there was a chance of a little feet swelling which can get uncomfortable in my new balance shoes.
I got to the start in plenty of time for the briefing and took a place near-ish to the front.
The first mile I got a bit carried away, as everyone does at the start of a 10k. Especially one with a deceptive downhill start. I went through in 6:11, there is no way I can stay at that pace, so I eased off a touch.
Mile 2 was out into a headwind but a group of about 8 Half Marathon runners came past me and sat nicely in front of me. I knew I was still working too hard trying to stay with them, but I decided that it was worth it for the shelter from the wind. If I dropped off this group and tried to run myself I would have to put the same effort in to go maybe 20-30 seconds / mile slower. Through mile 2 in 6:29, still fast but maybe sustainable.
I wondered about changing my watch to show my heart rate instead of speed and distance but decided the button pressing effort wasn't worth it.
Mile 3 three and another Moray Roadrunner comes past me. I know he is in the 10k and I know he will run somewhere in the 39-40 minute bracket. Regardless of wind, rain, mountains,... he is an absolute consistent just-under-40 runner. I tag onto his heels for a quarter mile or so but he starts to ease away a little and rather than run his race I let him go. In hindsight I might have been better to find him in mile 1 and use his pacing to even my race out a little. Through mile 3 in 6:59. That is the pace I actually planned to come out and run, and it feels pretty comfortable.
Mile 4 is the supposed hill from Strava. It is actually a gentle rise which barely climbs 50 feet in half a mile. It is quite a long drag but is barely enough to class as a hill. There was a water stop at the top of the hill and I took a bottle and tried to wash some of the sweat off my face as it was stinging my eyes. There is a fairly sharp drop at this point and a guy with headphones in came past me on the descent. At the bottom of this hill the course splits and I could see about equal numbers going right for the Half Marathon as were going left for the 10k. Mr Headphones went left so he is in my race.
Just after this turn is the sign for 2 miles to go and a glance at the watch shows 28 mins and the maths in my head starts in earnest. 6:00, 6:00 would get me under 40 minutes. Unlikely that I can finish faster than that super-quick mile at the start. How about 6:12s to get at my lifetime PB 40:24. That still seems unlikely, too tough. Annual target is 44:30 (actually 44 so my maths was wrong here) so I can coast in 8:15, 8:15. That is just lazy, find something more sensible. What did I run in May? 42 something (actually 42:19). That would be 7:00, 7:00. OK, that is what I am going to beat from here.
Miles 5 and 6 were probably wind assisted but I didn't really notice them. They should also have been slightly downhill but since the uphill was smaller than I expected the downhill was too. It is hard to even claim it as a false flat with less than 30 feet of drop over the two miles. Mr Headphones was see-sawing a bit in front of me as I slowly closed and then he moved away again. At mile 5 I glanced at the watch it said 6:34 for the mile. With the signs counting down to the finish and the watch counting up from the start they don't quite line up so I thought about trying to push a sub-6 last mile for a PB but I wasn't quite at the 1-mile to go mark.
Then I really started to suffer. There was a little humpback bridge that emptied my legs and Mr Headphones started to ease away. There were a few supporters along this section that knew me by name and I was getting great encouragement as I tried to just keep the pace steady.
I turned the last corner just as the watch ticked through 40 minutes and looked up what suddenly seemed like a giant cliff to the finish. This explains some of the first mile split. I tried to dig in and chase Mr Headphones up the hill and closed a little but not enough to make him catchable.
There was a cameraman and some very vocal support at this point, which was necessary as the short hill was hellish. I tried to smile at him but I was sweating into my eyes again so I could have pulled all sorts of scary faces at him. I managed to drag myself up and over the top and then coasted in the last 50m to the downhill finish. Then I sat down and tried not to drown in my own sweat for a while as I waited for my team-mates to finish.
Finish time 41:41. A big Season's Best. About a minute off my PB of 40:24. I think my 4th fastest 10k ever. Place in the top-20 (16th, full results here).
Average HR 170 bpm, Max HR 177bpm. That puts me in Zone 5.1 out of 5. So not only could I not have worked any harder but the theory says I shouldn't have been able to work that hard for so long. If I take out the first mile where my heart rate climbs from 90-167 my average from there to the finish is 174bpm.
My target for the year was to run 2 races with a 10k under 44 minutes and / or a 5k under 21:30 as targets. And when I wrote those I thought they would be quite tough to get.
Instead I have run 2 x 10k's in 42:19 and 41:41, and a 5k in 19:37.
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