Personal Bests

I had absolutely no idea what today’s race had in store. I have not raced since September 4th , more than half a year ago (I have done races at less than race pace since), and that was an ultra. The last time I raced a “fast” race was back in July. I haven’t done any speedwork in the classical sense under Mystery Coach’s guidance. I was not tapered. Ballycotton is not a particularly fast course. Even though training had been going very well, had I been mad to even mention the hope for a PB prior to the race?

I arrived at Grellan’s place at 10:30, we picked up his neighbour Pat and the 3 of us arrived in Ballycotton in good time. Pat was sick and overdosed on various medicines as we were driving (good thing he was not called up for a doping test), Grellan was running this for fun, and I was the only one with high hopes. Grellan also intended to run this in his Vibram Five Finger shoes, which prompted the clear instruction to stay as far away from me as possible. I mean, who wants to admit he knows that langer with the Gorilla Feet?

Sitting around freezing an hour before the start is part of the Ballycotton experience, as is meeting plenty of friends, but I was glad when it was time to strip down to the vest and start warming up. This was my fourth Ballycotton in a row and so far I have always gotten stuck in the field at the start. To avoid this I resolved to be at the start line half an hour beforehand. This might sound extreme at any other race, on the very narrow street of Ballycotton with 3000 runners it is a necessity.

I was just a few minutes late, enough to have to fight my way to the front, but for the first time ever here I got where I wanted to.

It took me just 8 seconds to cross the line after the signal had sounded and for once I was not stuck behind hundreds of slower runners who had started ridiculously far forward. I got it spot on, virtually everyone around me set off at the same pace and for the first time ever I could take advantage of the first downhill mile instead of weaving my way around. I took it easy; I could have run much faster but I knew how fast you go with the immediate rush of adrenaline. Running a 6-minute mile at the start of a race feels like jogging when the same in training would have you almost keel over with the effort.

Mile 1: 6:02, Mile 2: 6:05

Halfway through the second mile the road flattens out and for the next 6 miles it is as flat as it gets in this part of the world. There are plenty of tiny drags up and down but nothing you’d notice were you not running flat out. One thing I did notice was that after less than 2 miles I started overtaking people by the bucket load. Most runners start too fast. This makes racing a lot more fun if you pace yourself correctly.

Mile 3: 6:09, Mile 4: 6:12

After about 3 miles I passed Pat, who looked a lot less sick than an hour or two earlier. The timer there read about 18:25 and I knew I was flying, especially since this was gun time, obviously. I also felt I was running well within myself and was optimistic I would be able to keep the effort going until the end. John D became a victim another mile later. I always know I have an excellent race if I’m passing him, normally I have no business beating sub-3 marathon runners.

Mile 5: 6:13

I think the timer at the halfway mark showed 30:25 as I passed it, but looking at the numbers from my Garmin now it says 30:42. That’s still a personal best for 5 miles, even considering that the course up to here had been net downhill. I was still overtaking people. I think one runner passed me here, the first one since just after the start, but I caught him back later on. That’s where I started to falter. Luckily I remembered the gel in my pocket. I took it and within half a mile I felt a big boost. Maybe it was all in my head, but even that would be good enough for me. Whatever works!

Mile 6: 6:16

There was a line at the 10 k mark but no timer and I did not want to mess around with buttons at the Garmin at the time, but I did see an average pace of 6:09, which confirmed that this was a new personal best for 10k. Looking at the Garmin now, the time was 38:18. I had no idea I could run so fast over 10k and still have the legs for more!

Mile 7: 6:06, Mile 8: 6:10

The next 2 miles were the best ones as far as effort is concerned. By now I was really hurting but I tried to do a Yuki and ran as fast as I could, even with my face distorted into a painful grimace. I just hope for everyone’s sake that there are no photos of me from that stretch, it would not be pretty. But the pace was a fast as I could possibly go and I gained yet another few positions.

I knew that last year a time of about 61:40 was enough to earn a top-100 finisher shirt. I had very faint hopes of reaching that time but around here I realised that this was just out of reach, considering the uphill finish was yet to come. As it turns out, the cut-off time for top 100 was 59:38 this year, the fastest in a long time I’m sure and a sign of the absolutely perfect conditions today. Top 100 was never even remotely on the cards for me.

8.5 mile was where the climb started. I started suffering immediately and promptly lost 2 places, one to a guy in grey and one in blue. I’m not a strong climber, never have been and probably never will be. But the steepest bit does not last long and everything from there on is much more manageable. So much so that I passed the grey shirt again and pulled level with the blue one. Together we made up another few places.

Mile 9: 6:19, Mile 10: 6:03

The final mile is still uphill, but very gradual. Everyone around me seemed to have one spot where they were recognised and fired on by name, and with about half a mile to go my own cheering corner came, which gave me a big boost. Thanks, Nora! I tried to up the effort once more, but lost one place when Gary stormed past me at incredible speed (he’s aiming for a 2:46 or 2:48 marathon this year. That’s out of my league), a flash in black. With about 400 to go I put everything that was left into it. I passed 2 more runners (I’ve never passed so many runners at the end of any race), the only one that managed to hold me off was the guy in blue and I finished right behind him, with Gary another place ahead. The clock was still under 62 minutes, which meant I had just improved my personal best at the distance by over a full minute! (The quoted figures are Garmin miles. There were still 14 second left to cross the line at the end)

Provisional results are here.

To say I was immensely pleased does not even half describe it! My old 10 mile PB had been my best ever race, according to MacMillan’s calculator, and to vaporise it like that is just out of this world! According to the calculator, today’s chip time of 61:51 is the equivalent of 2:53:14! While I have learned to take this with a pinch of salt, it sure bodes well for a sub-3 marathon 6 weeks from now.

3 Mar

8 miles, 1:01:16, 7:39 pace, HR 142

4 Mar

10 miles, 1:18:58, 7:54 pace, HR 137

5 Mar

7 miles, 51:53, 7:25 pace, HR 147

6 Mar

14.5 miles, including:
   Ballycotton 10 miles, 1:01:51, 6:11 pace, HR 175, 145th overall
   Personal Bests over 5 miles, 10k and 10 miles

Weekly Mileage: 70+