This was my fourth 20 mile race I have ran since 2013 when I ran my first. I usually run a 20 mile race around a month before I run the London Marathon, to ensure I have the mileage under my belt before the big race (26.2 miles). I usually alternate between two 20 mile races each year, one year I will run the very hilly Spen 20 race which is more local to Leeds where I live and the next year I run the East Hull 20, which is a very flat race, very similar to what it is like at the London Marathon (minus the main roads and British landmarks).
Every year my 20 mile race time has improved from 2:16:41 at Spen 20 in 2013, 2:15:40 at East Hull 20 in 2014, 2:15:04 at Spen in 2015 to my new PB of 2:14:13 at East Hull just this last Sunday. I am not overly bothered about earning a PB time on the 20 mile races, for me the most important thing is getting the mileage under my belt for the full marathon and working on my pacing plan for London (marathon). If I PB it is a bonus, although I must admit, I always have that hope for a PB at the back of my mind when I'm running these races, I'm just too competitive with myself to not want a new PB.
EAST HULL 2016:
I have to say, since I ran the Liversedge Marathon in February in my worst Liversedge time after five years of running it, instead of bumping up my training, I have actually done less, mainly due to lifestyle reason's, I have been finding it hard to fit many long training runs in but I'm back on it now, now it is time to taper my training down haha. On a serious note though, although I ran my slowest ever time at Liversedge it wasn't actually a reflection of my current running form. I didn't have the best preparation the night before (drinking alcohol for a good friend's 30th birthday) and I still think I ran very well in a time of 1:26:03 despite being very hungover. I honestly think I could have got a course PB if I hadn't have been out the night before, but I'm okay with that, I'll save it for next year.
In the week building up to East Hull 20 I felt good fitness wise. I had got back into my training and I had played football twice and done intense hill and recovery training with my running club Kirkstall Harriers on the Wednesday, so fitness wise I was strong, not to mention my strength and conditioning sessions on top.
My only concern to be honest is that I had struggled with sleep during the week, so I did feel a bit tired mentally, which is sometimes as important as the physical side of it in a long endurance race like the 20 mile.
I used my pacing card of 2:58:00 marathon time, which is actually 37 seconds slower than my current 20 mile PB that I achieved at Spen 20 last year, but my plan for East Hull was to stick to that and see what I could do in the last 5 miles.
My race got off to the worst possible start when just after the gun went, I messed my stopwatch up and by the time I got it started I must have been 40 plus seconds into the race so that messed up my pacing card plans a tiny bit, having to work on 40 seconds or so behind for the rest of the race. Despite this, I was running like super consistent at this pace 6:47 minute miles, It was so comfortable for me I felt great I have to say.
I can honestly say I barely had a struggle and actually began getting faster around 11 to 14 miles, I was super confident but I knew that at some point I would hit a tough patch as this is the longest I have ran since the London Marathon last year, so keeping that up for 20 miles was always going to be tough.
Sure enough I found out at around 15 or 16 miles, the exact same point I hit a wall at the last time I ran East Hull 20 in 2014 (although my pacing plan then was a bit sporadic to say the least - best forgetting about that one). I felt really strong and comfortable, my Kirkstall Harriers team-mate Emma Ballantyne (who is a tremendous runner and is running in the UK Championships at London Marathon for the first time in 2016 - oh and she finished 2nd Lady - welldone Emma) had gradually caught up to me, she was running like a house on fire and she was just behind me for a good three miles or so, then when I hit my tough patch at 16 miles she was off in the distance and finished a minute ahead of me.
THE TOUGH PATCH:
I was going to call this section of my blog the 'WALL' but I wouldn't quite call it a 'wall', it was just a tough patch for me, miles 16-18 were mega tough, I just began fading, not by much, infact it can't have been much because I actually ran a PB but I think I was running above my target pace until this point from about mile 10 so I definitely did slump, I was probably on for 2:12:00 - 2:13:00. I think it was just a lack of endurance due to a lack of long runs, but that has always been my achilles heel in my training, long runs, I just struggle to fit them all in, but that is probably why I am now stuck at this 'Good For Age' just over sub 3 hour marathon level.
Me being me wasn't going to give in so for three miles I ran my heart out and dug in, in typical fashion and I had that PB in the back of my mind willing me on. Mile 19 I began getting stronger again and that's when my competitive nature kicked in, I had a pack of runners hounding me down from behind but I fended them off whilst overtaking several on the way to the finish line, finishing behind a running friend who had passed me several miles earlier.
SEE VIDEO FOOTAGE OF ME FINISHING BELOW:
Flimed by my two best supporters and friend's Simon and Emma. Thanks guys as always :-)
Race time: 2:14:13 (PB)
Position: 41st out of 494 runners
I'll be writing another pre-London Marathon blog next month.
I'm running the London Marathon for MS Society, you can sponsor me at:
http://www.justgiving.com/Richard-Joyce-London-Marathon-2016-mssociety
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