Running warm up/down 22:00 [3] 2.4 mi (9:10 / mi)
Couple of miles warm up before the race, and a few hundred metres warm down back to the car after to make this a nominal long run today at 15.5 miles.
Running race 1:44:58 [4] 13.1 mi (8:01 / mi)
South Yorkshire half marathon from Manvers, in the Dearne Valley. I failed on a couple of counts today - this was supposed to be run at my 'optimistic' marathon pace (3.45, but aiming to do the first half in 1.50, which equates to 8.23 per mile). I figured with tired legs that 8.23 would be a good test, and was hoping to feel like I could carry on at the finish. However.... it was a good lesson in being careful at how fast to set off, as you can see from my splits below. After a couple of miles at 7.30 pace (feeling easy of course), I didn't want to slow down too much, so kept it relaxed and tried to keep good form, but around the 8 min mile pace. So I still have no concept of what pace I need to run at, but was pleased to finish strongly - I had to work a bit harder in the last couple of miles to keep the pace, but managed a bit of a sprint finish.
Mile splits:
7.31
7.30
8.01 (hill slowed me down luckily)
8.07
8.02
8.23 (forgot to take split at mile marker as too busy chatting - see next mile time)
7.49
8.15
8.01
8.13
7.57
8.02
8.09
0.54
Pretty undulating course (MikeS and Paul might have an elevation for it), and had the company of a nice gent from Valley Hill runners for a lot of the course (miles 4 - 10) - chatting away kept me running happy.
Pleased to feel good for the race, definitely a positive, as a couple of years ago this would have been a pb, and feeling more confident about aiming for the 3.45 mark in London.
Note: missed the 'go' as quite far back in field, so my official race time is 1.45.01, but have put in my watch time as I prefer that!