I look forward to most runs I do; be it a training run, or a race
event; but I have never been as amped; or “geared up”; as I was for running
around the Silverstone track.
WARNING: You might want to be sitting comfortably as this could
turn into a bit of a lengthy read!
Everyone always says that you should taper before a race; run only
once or twice in the lead up to an event; and definitely don’t run any long
runs. Not only is it supposed to help you stay away from injury, but it is also
supposed to allow your legs the time to freshen up and get ready for the
race/event.
Whilst I did effectively taper, I did it a little differently. I
couldn’t just not run, my body does not enjoy the abandonment of its routine,
and I knew that if I tapered the way you “should” that my legs would be really
heavy. Generally my legs need a good run in in order to get up to speed.
I did drop my regular mileage by nearly two thirds, ran a 15k on
Wednesday, then 10 on Thursday and a 5 on Friday. In each run I worked on a new
type of training I’ve picked up on called negative split training. This is
where you make sure that the second half of the distance you’re running is done
at a quicker pace than the first half. This is not the same as progression
running. Progression running is where you try to get each mile; or kilometre;
is run quicker than the last. Negative split running is; as said; trying to run
a specific pace for the first half, and a then reducing that pace by a fair
amount; and then holding it; for the second half. It is a really good way to
train your body to be able to cope with a race, where you want to be pacing
yourself evenly throughout so that you have the energy to finish strong; and
boy does it work!
I got a good; early; night on Friday, but was already not able to
sleep so just lay there reading my book (Run or Die) until about midnight when
the wife eventually came to bed.
Saturday I did nothing but relax; cooked a nice lasagne for dinner,
got a shoulder of pork nicely prepped and started in the slow cooker ready for
when I got home on Sunday afternoon, and just made sure that I snacked
throughout the day on nice little carb items.
I didn’t sleep much that night either; just too excited!
Race day was here!
I woke at about 4ish; tried to go back to sleep but that just was
not happening! I got out of bed, made myself a really nice bowl of porridge
using some hazelnut milk and just generally took my time most of the morning,
even allowed myself a few minutes in bed; before I did get up; to actually just
read a bit more of my book; which I must be honest, isn’t really gripping me as
much yet as Born to Run, or Eat and Run; but I will read it to the end and give
it the full attention it deserves.
I planned on leaving the house at 07:30 even though the journey was
only an hour, to an hour fifteen minutes long. I didn’t want to get stuck in
any traffic, especially as I had read lots of nightmare stories about how bad
it could get at Silverstone. I was ready to roll far too early, and because I
get really jittery when I have to sit around waiting I just decided to set off
at 07:15.
Needless to say, there was nothing on the roads, and I was in the
parking lot at Silverstone by 08:30; I think I was about the 6th car
in the whole area!! In hindsight I should have sat in my car for a bit and just
read more of my book, but I got my stuff together and went off for a walk
about. It soon struck me just how cold it was, and the nice warmth of my car
was but a luxury I was a good 10mins walk away from already so I just trundled
on into the paddock area.
The first thing I did was familiarise myself with the area, it
would turn out later that I didn’t familiarise myself too well though; this
will become apparent later on! (clues = dunce moment!)
I went to one of the vendor vans that were on site and bought
myself a cappuccino coffee to try and warm up; this turned out to be a cup of
warm frothy milk and was quickly returned for a proper cup of what I had
ordered; unfortunately it wasn’t an ideal cup of coffee, but I don’t expect the
finest grade A quality cuppa from a vendor like that to be fair.
I sat at one of the tables they had set up, and prepped my gear as
best I could with my shivering; and almost numb; hands.
I didn’t bother reading my book, I was too busy trying keep my
arms, hands and brain moving. I got my soft flask water bottle out; which I had
ready filled with water; and poured a High5 Energy+ sachet into it. I then
added two SiS gels into the mix and gave it all a good old shake up, and put it
back in the bags that we were provided with in our race packs. The race bag is
something I think could do with a little more thought in future really….no
handles, and a draw string that is only connected at the top of the bag. I
think it should at least have been connected to the bottom of the bag too so
that you could carry it on your shoulder properly. Instead, you just had to
grip the bag in your fist the entire time; and when you are told that you must
be on site by 10:30 at the latest, with the race starting at noon, and not
being allowed to return to the bag once dropped; it’s a bit of a design fault.
Anyway; the coffee didn’t last very long, it didn’t stay hot for
very long either!
I got my number pinned to my vest, my chip tied to my shoe laces,
and then got my gloves on and started sipping at another bottle of water I had
with me for pre-race fuelling; this was also filled with a sachet of High5
Energy+ powder.
It was now about 10:00-10:15 and decided to walk around a bit more.
I was a little surprised at how little there was for people to look at or do
etc… not really sure what I would expect really, but it was very much a case of
get there and then walk up and down a very short paddock area for a very long time.
Regardless of the fact that I was there stupidly early, even if I got there for
the latest time of 10:30, you still had to sit around for an hour and a half
waiting to start.
It was on this little walking stint that I had my major dunce
moment.
I walked past a small building; one which I had walked past several
time now; but on this occasion I noticed someone coming out of it; I thought it
was closed! I looked at the sign above the door, and the nice big lettering
emblazoned above said door. The nice big lettering which I had seemingly missed
completely. The lettering which spelled out the word CANTEEN!
“Canteen?”
“Canteen; indoors kind of canteen?”
“Canteen with warm food, warm coffee, and just general lovely
indoor warmlyness (I’m claiming that as a real word, so shush!) kind of
canteen!?”
“Yes Andrew… that kind of flipping canteen!”
I was furious with myself as I stepped up to the door; opened it
and then stepped inside to the welcoming
blast of warm air billowing down from the fan above the entrance.
“You are such a pleb Andrew!” I thought to myself.
I had been at this place for over two hours, in the wind; and
freezing cold; when there was a lovely warm canteen a few meters away from me!
What an idiot!
I found a nice little corner to perch myself in; did some final
checks of things I had with me; and then pretty much did nothing but wait, but
I was waiting in the warmth and that was what counted; I was warm!
At about 11:00 I decided to go and check my bag in, did a little
fast walking, and then found a nice little area that was fairly quiet compared
to the rest of the areas by now. Did a few little short burst sprints, and some
jumping about in order to try and keep warm as I was now in full race gear and
had stashed my warm clothing in my bag; now nicely stowed away.
It felt rather cool walking around with my British Lung Foundation
vest on and having the official photographers stopping me every two minutes to
take a picture; I had hand written MRDORSETT across it as it is my spare training
vest (not my marathon race vest which has 4 MUM lettering ironed on to it
“MR DORSETT; MR DORSETT; STOP; STOP…a pic please?” … I know they
were doing a job, but it still felt cool :@)
Eventually it was time to get down to the starting blocks and get
ready to race….Finally!
Finally I was on the Silverstone Racing track.
Finally I felt like I was in an area I had only ever dreamed of
being able to see.
Now it was time to get down to business.
Once again I was one of the first people down on the track, finding
my pace marker locations so that I knew where to start from. If I started with
the 1hr45 finishers I knew I would hit my target of that exact time. As long as
I kept with that pacer; or even ahead; I knew I would be on track for a
positive finish.
As the track filled up I went for a nice little 1km warm up jog. It
felt awesome to be running on such hallowed ground, yet slightly eerie running
around a race track with nobody in the stands, and with all the buildings look
completely shut off and empty. It was lovely though not having to think about
pedestrians, or other vehicular traffic.
I got back to my starting area; took a couple of photos and then
got myself focused.
I generally keep to myself a lot at race time; unless someone
actually opens conversation with me that is; if someone talks to me I’ll
happily chat away; but if not I zone out. I focus on what is coming up ahead;
shut the world out; think about the different paces I need to try and stick to;
I go over my fuelling plans, when I plan to eat my home-made energy tabs and
how often I plan on taking sips of gel water. I keep my legs moving; taking
short steps backwards and forwards; take deep breaths; and just stare ahead. I
know I’m no pro racer or anything, but I take race days very seriously; maybe a
little too seriously when I look back on it; but I am very hard on myself and
expect to deliver a performance. Plus; it was mothers’ day, and I was running
because of my mom; I had to put in a good performance. I had to put in a good
training session in order to test certain elements of my running ready for
London; and I have to put in the performance of my life at London for my mom.
Whilst they had had music playing throughout the entirety of
waiting around, we knew we were going to be off soon when they played the
Fleetwood Mac song used in the Formula 1 intro and then PPPAAARRRRRRPP a fog
horn sounded and we got going; all this waiting around; all this training;
finally we got to race. The wheelchair racers flew off first, and were followed
shortly by the elite runners. Within seconds my group was running over the
start/finish straight, and within a few hundred meters I knew I was in the
wrong zone; I felt too good inside to be running with the pace group I was in.
I kept glancing at my watch, monitoring the pace, keeping sure to
be under the 5 minute mark. I check my pace fairly regularly over the first few
kilometres; checking it every few hundred meters in order to monitor the pace
and how I’m settling in. Once I find my groove, and notice the pace stabilising
I settle in and plug away.
In order to hit a 1:45 finish I knew that I needed to run at 4:56
per km and I was running pretty much bang on that for the first few kilometres.
I knew that as long as I kept under that pace I would be finishing at a better
time than my 1 hour 45 target.
The fuelling plan was to have a sip of water every 1.5 - 2km; to
have an energy tab on every 5th km; and then down a tube of SiS gel;
which I had in my back pocket; with 5km to go in the race.
Everything was going as I wanted it to by the 5k bleep on my watch,
and I was actually running between 10-15 seconds quicker than I needed to be,
but I felt good, I didn’t feel the need to slow it up at all. I knew I was on
track to do well.
For the next 5k I found myself running at about 4:45 on average; I
felt great; the water; high5 sachet and gel combo was working really well, and
actually tasted really nice too; a nice lemon & lime flavour with a hint of
orange from the gel.
I found myself having to run around the outside of most turns due
to people bottle necking into the racing lines. This caused people to slow
their pace and try to avoid tripping each other up in certain places. Some
people also don’t seem to understand that there are other people running around
them and just drift straight across into a bend. I saw one lady literally run
straight across four blokes who all had to skip their step in order to not
either trip her up, or kick her heels in their stride. I gave a little bark of
“wait!” to one guy who just kept drifting in towards me with each stride as we
took one of the sweeping bends. It was as if I had just woke him up as he
suddenly jumped a little and then steered himself back into a single line
instead of pushing me further over onto the rumble strips. I did thank him
though, and then stepped on the gas a little just to edge past him and clear
out onto the outside of the track, and out of the clustered group.
There were live bands playing at different sections of the track;
live bands being some guys banging out tunes on their traditional Indian
instruments. It was a bit random, but I actually rather liked it. They were
full of life, bouncing around, being really enthusiastic, and actually banging
out a decent beat that was really good to run to.
There was also a dj playing some decent house tracks at one of the
sweeping bends which I absolutely loved. I didn’t; however; appreciate having
to be subjected to listening to One Direction and that damn song from Frozen;
which the main announcer felt the need to bang out in the middle of the race;
still; each to their own, and everything for everyone :@) … he made up for it
by playing a bit of Led Zeppelin later though.
Before I knew it 10k was up, and we were nearly half way around
this race, and still going strong. I felt like I was just running perfectly,
not too fast, not too slow. The problem I was finding was that I was being a
lot more considerate towards my fellow runners than some of them were.
People please; if you are going to spit; move to the edge of the
track; or road; and spit off to the side AFTER checking that there is nobody
directly behind you! There is nothing nicer than having someones phlegm/spit
spraying over your face, or onto your shoes. The same goes for if you take a
bottle of water from the designated areas. If you intend on only taking a
bottle of water to douse the contents over yourself, or to simply rinse out
your cotton mouth, do not just spit said contents back out onto the road in the
middle of the track; right into the path of where everyone else is running; you
sir were a knob; and my shoes did not need a wash from your mouth thank you
very much.
The third section of the race went pretty much the same; kilometres
10-15 were controlled at around the 4:45 area; dropping from 4:45 at km 10, to
4:33 at km 12 and then back up to 4:45 at km 15. It was here that I started
trying to take my last energy tab, but struggled with opening it, and even
dropped in on the floor; thankfully I always take an additional tab just in
case I do just that as it happened on the first time I ever tried running and
eating, and was left without an energy tab to eat; lesson learned!
This little minor struggle increased my 16th km to an
average of 4:51 as not only did it include the process of getting an energy tab
into my stomach, but it also involved cracking out the stashed away SiS gel.
I started to up the pace and utilised the added energy to better
effect running kilometres 17; 18 and 19 in 4:25; 4:23 & 4:29 respectively.
It was through these 3km that I also witnessed the greatest form of running
spirit ever. A guy ahead had stopped in order to walk. We were heading up a slight
incline; of which there were a few! Yes the track may be predominantly flat,
but it is loaded with gentle inclines all over the track; you get your fair
share of downhills’ too obviously, but these gentle inclines were a right royal
pain in the bum, and managed to just sap enough energy out of you to make that
little bit of a difference.
I watched the walker ahead as I got closer and closer to him, and
then noticed a big, bald headed guy wearing a green charity running vest; dart
across the track toward him. I can’t remember the charity he was running for,
but I remember the name on his back, SGT MACK. He certainly looked like a
military kind of guy by his build; but I don’t know for sure. I also don’t know
if they knew each other. What I do know is that he gave the walker a quick pat
on the shoulder, glanced at him, shared a few words and got the walker running
once more. SGT MACK appeared to stay with the guy and kept talking him through
each step. It just stuck with me; made me feel real proud of the community we
are. It threw my dislike of Mr Water Spitter from a kilometre or so before
totally in the bin.
I then passed two guys who were puffing and panting away and asking
themselves the question; “how much further; it seriously cannot be that much
further now can it?”
“two and a bit K now guys come on don’t give in; you can do it!” I
said as I stormed past them; smile beaming across my face, not because I was
being smug or anything, purely because I was absolutely loving the position I
was in. I had never felt so good at 19k before, I felt like I could go on and
on and on, but I knew that I had a new personal best in the bag, and decided to
just ease up a touch dropping my pace to into the 4:30s. I then heard a guy
behind me complaining about how tired he was, and that he felt like stopping to
walk; I turned around and barked at the people behind me; in a nice way; “NO!
There is no stopping now, you don’t stop, you keep going, you’re so close; DO
NOT STOP!”
“I’m not; I’m not; I was just saying I could!” responded the guy
who had obviously said the words.
I’m very big on only saying positive things out aloud on the race
track. One thing I have learned from the few races I have done so far is try
not to say certain negative things out aloud; even if it may not seem like
anything to you; and even though you may not be talking to those around you;
those around you can still hear you; and someone nearby might really be
struggling; and fighting their inner demons; to keep pushing. All it takes for
that person is to hear one negative remark being said; even though you may not
think of it as a negative remark to you; that negative spark could embed itself
into the mind of he; or she; who is giving everything to keep their legs from
stopping.
I smiled, gave him a thumbs up; shouted “GOOD MAN” at him; turned
and proceeded on my way up the road; mind fixed on getting to the end now.
I got myself a little wound up when I watched my watch hit the
21.1k mark, and could only see the finishing banner still a way up the road.
1:39:18 I beamed to myself, a sub 1hr40 half marathon for the first time, but
I’m still so far from the finish, why? How? Bloody outside line cornering! Damn
you and your outside cornering. I was furious with myself and stormed toward
the finish line. I sprinted toward the finish line, passing about four or five
other runners in the last 200 meters or so; and crossed the finish line
seriously pumped knowing I had blasted my personal best out of the water. I
shouted at the sky for a brief second, and then punched my chest; I’ve never
done that kind of thing before; but like I said; I was pumped! I had just run
the best race of my life; clocked an official chip time of 1:41:42; and I knew
that I could still have done a better job in certain areas of it.
All in all I can’t really fault the day. It was very well
organised. It was fun, the crowds at the start line, and through certain parts
of the track were simply awesome, and the goody bag at the end was absolutely
brilliant containing your medal, a shirt, and then loads of drinks and sweetie
goodies.
If there was one thing that I could have picked out as a negative
it would probably have been the food vendor stands. Not a single thing on sale
was of a healthy nature; a pick ‘n mix sweet van; a pulled pork bun van, and
just generally things that you would expect to find at a normal fair or
something. I know that I am a lot more strict on myself when it comes to my
diet etc… than some people may be, but It would be nice to see something
healthy being sold for once.
As I said though, that is a very minor issue, and very easily put
to one side. The race itself, organisation etc… was absolutely brilliant, and I
can really see why it is used as a build up to the main event in London next
month.
I also didn’t have any trouble with traffic either; which was my
biggest concern. I know that I got there stupidly early, so the getting in
traffic was always going to be easy; but getting out was just as simple. People
were letting one another file into the queue accordingly, and just driving as
you; well; as you should really; like a normal, decent, driver! I was out on
the motorway within minutes!
But that was Silverstone, and now we have a bigger fish to fry. Now
we have London; and my first ever full marathon! Now it is time to get down to
the serious side of business.
Don’t forget that whilst you may not be running with me; you can
certainly help me by aiding my fundraising for the British Lung Foundation who
do a lot of work towards researching lung disease. I run for the BLF not just
because they are another charity, but in memory of my mother.
Please feel free to visit my fundraising page and put in whatever
you can towards my fundraising goal:
