The things I had tried in order to break my PB:
- Ran the UK's "fastest half marathon" at Reading. It was not fast, it was hilly, crowded, and ultimately slow. (Not to mention expensive.)
- Bought "faster" shoes - Saucony Fastwitch, instead of trying to do it in a) minimalist shoes, and b) Altra over-padded shoes. The new shoes worked as 'well' as the old shoes (that is: not at all better).
- Tried racing myself into fitness. Did a load of ultras and shorter races. I managed to go further, but not quicker.
Ultimately, none of the above worked. Then I tried this:
- Actually doing some proper training.
It worked. Who'd have thought.
Working with coach Lindley Chambers has really sped me up with a good mix of hill training, intervals, track workouts, and slow long runs. Basic stuff, but before this year, I simply wasn't doing it properly.
My strategy for yesterday was:
- Try to hit 5 minute kilometres throughout.
- Run downhills at 4.50 and uphills at 5.10.
- Wave at everyone supporting on the course (very important).
- High five all the children supporting on the course (even more important).
- St Albans is always bottlenecked at the start. First split went down slowly. Bad start, but I felt good.
- This year St Albans had pacers with big flags. Positioned myself between the 4.45 and 4.40 pacer. I caught up too close with the 4.40 pacer in the first few kilometres, so I slowed down. Didn't want to burn out later.
- Felt really warm early on. Weather wasn't sunny, but was extremely humid. The rain started at 5KM, and cooled us all down.
Probably the most photogenic I've ever been. How you doing?
- Realised that drinking water wasn't necessary, but dumping it on my head really made me feel better. Kept my wet tshirt on and it kept me cool (this was the first year I didn't reenact a scene from Baywatch, the crowd rejoiced).
- Realised half way through that I didn't feel too tired. I was well ahead of schedule and decided not to risk blowing up later.
- At the big hill at 14KM I raced up it hard, while never feeling that I was red lining. It felt strange, and nice.
- At 15KM I still felt pretty good. I knew I could jog it in and still get a PB. Carried on racing, but didn't get carried away.
Looking like I'm about to puke.
- At 19KM there is a turnaround point, so you get to run past the people who are a few minutes in front of you - and then aftewards, the people who are a few minutes behind you. I saw the pacer doing 1.40 first, then saw the 1.45 pacer afterwards. I was ahead of schedule.
- At this stage, I was high fiving pretty much every single kid who was supporting. It sped me up a lot, I knew I was about to clock a fast time. (I wonder how long until they ban high fiving kids due to its artificial performance enhancing benefits?)
Working hard about to pass out at the finish.
Strava of the race: https://www.strava.com/activities/607192594
Chip time of race: 01:43:19
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