So, come January I set out on a bit of a mission to lose the extra weight and to start trying to regain the fitness that I had. It was really hard at the start but I always knew that things would eventually come back, even if at times, it feels that it won't. It has to be said, the replacement of the rubbish treadmills in the gyms with new ones that felt so much better was a much needed comfort that meant that I did not need to do that much of my running outside in the cold. I soon fell in love with the treadmill again and started to do some pretty hard sets.
At the start of last week, I set out on a run from my place in Walton and decided that I would do a 12 mile run. Within a couple of minutes, I realised that I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to hit it as hard as I could for the entire 12 miles. I knew I was running well and the lack of extra pounds sure made things easier. I stormed round the course and pretty much managed to do equal splits for the course and averaging just under 4min/km's. This was certainly what I needed with my favourite half marathon looming on the horizon.
Wokingham is one of the fastest UK courses as it is pretty much flat all the way roung except for 4 short and sharp hills as you go over the motorway. It was on this course that I managed to break the 90 minute mark for the half marathon back in 2006 (even though the recorded time said 1:30:11...problems with getting your number recorded at the end). So, come Sunday, I was really hopeful of a 1:20 but I had some doubts in my mind as that would mean running 3:38/km which is pretty fast....in fact, it is even faster than my best ever 10k time, so I was perhaps being a bit too optimistic.
Anyway, when we got to Wokingham, the sun was shining and there was no wind at all - it was pretty much as perfect conditions as one could hope for. The gun went off and I soon found myself settling into a pace that did not feel too bad. I was aware that I needed to go through the mile markers in 6:07 to give me a 1:20 finish time, but after 3 or so miles, I was already well up on this, having been through most in 5:50 or thereabouts. To me, that means that I have loads of time in the bank. The good running continued as well, which I was really surprised by. I went through 6 miles in 35:35 which, considering my best ever 10k (6.2miles) time is 36:43, I knew that I was totally flying at this rate. I then went through 10 miles in 59:15, having done 1:02 in a recent 10 mile race, so all was going very well. The wheels did start to fall off here though and my mile times were really starting to slip, all the way down to 6:24 for my slowest one. The end was in sight though so I tried my hardest to just forget about the pain. The last mile really was quite horrible as I tried my best to stay with people coming past me. I did manage a good sprint finish though (see last photo below) and managed to come home in 1:19:04....I was totally shocked. In terms of performance improvements, this run had pretty much been the biggest jump that I have made since starting out with sport back in 2006. The only problem now is that I have a pretty hard 1/2 marathon to beat.
Oh yeah, and my girlfriend Paula managed a new PB as well....so a good day out for everyone! :)
