My preparation for this was rubbish! I was really disorganised and, being tired first thing, I took some extra time in bed. Added to that, I was delayed before I could head out the door and we’d arranged to meet some friends in the pub for lunch so it was a rush and I wasn’t sure if I’d enough time left.
Anyhow, headed out the door with probably about enough time. Did my usual warm up walk & dynamic stretches then I was off! Started off at a “comfortable” pace. I think that trying for an “easy” pace would have been better because, even allowing for the initial downhill, my pace was too fast for me to maintain. Basically, my pace slowly dwindled through the race. I think the only bit that I did well was the final km where I managed to pick up my pace making it my quickest one.
I’ve noticed that, these days, if I want to speed up, I generally don’t think about speed. Instead, I either focus on increasing my cadence or (like today) on increasing the effort that I’m putting in.
Comparing my time with the spring HUHM, I was about three minutes quicker on this run. Both routes had about the same amount of climbing but the spring one has most of the climbing in two steep sections. Today’s route had long gentle climbs instead; maybe that helps? Finish time was just under 2:07. Think I’m going to have to be better prepared if I’m going to achieve that elusive sub-2 hour HM!
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SkiMonday
Ultramarathon
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I think it’s more a case of noticing what didn’t go so well and, hopefully, improving. I’d say that I’m “happy” with the result rather than “disappointed”. Still looking for a sub 2 hour though; I guess it’s much the same as aiming for a 5k in under 30 minutes.
I really enjoyed reading this. You run tremendous times and to go under 2 for a HM would be a quite brilliant achievement. It's the one time I'd personally like to get in the future. With what you could do on the day you ran it excellently 😃
Sounds like a result to me, and congratulations on doing the double too SkiMonday ! I can't even dream of getting anywhere near a sub 2-hr HM; I'd have to hack off the best part of half an hour, and there's no way I'm putting in the effort to do that, I'm much too lazy.
Cheers Cmoi. Congrats on your double too! I know it’s an alien concept for you, but, if you wanted to go for a sub 2-hr HM, I think that running on the flat would make a big difference. OK, the scenery might not be as good and it might take a little getting used to but I’m sure that would boost your speed.
I'm wildly flattered that you think I could ever get anywhere near a sub-2 hr HM SkiMonday . You absolutely can do it, but I think you're forgetting that I'm female, and even the female world record is just over five minutes slower than the male one!
More seriously, I can already run faster on the flat if I choose to. I'll occasionally add a short burst of speed for the hell of it, just to see what pace I can do, but I don't generally enjoy it. Last winter I did the speed challenge and only did one run, as I couldn't face going out hammering along like a crazy thing again.
To cover any distance on the relatively flat I'd either have to drive 5k down the road and run along the valley roads, where there's no lighting, no pavement, and the speed limit (generally ignored) is 50mph. Or run down to the same area, but then there's 5k uphill (about 150m elevation) to get home.
Plus I'm terrible at training. I only managed to get through the marathon plan because I really wanted to complete my chosen event and I was terrified that if I didn't train properly, I wouldn't manage it. But the thought of making myself miserable for weeks for something that I'm not really bothered about in the first place, nah. Like I said, I'm too lazy!
I wasn't suggesting that you should start running on the flat! Rather that all those hills make you a really strong runner so you have more speed "in the tank" so to speak.
I do think you're being unfair calling yourself lazy! One definition of the word is "to avoid exercise" which hardly applies in your case! I'd say that you're easily doing enough exercise to stay healthy and you're enjoying it which is important for staying motivated and for general wellbeing.
That reminds me of a post a while ago on “Why Do You Enjoy Running?”
I think it’s a mixture of things in my case. I enjoy taking it easy on some runs; it’s also good to do a ParkRun at a nice easy pace. However, chasing targets helps keep me motivated and it’s a great sense of achievement to reach a target. Besides, working on pace helps make the easy runs easier!
So, whilst my primary reason for running is health, I still want to nail that 2-hr HM.
Hi SM. That all makes sense. And I’m just the same. I also dwell on my times a lot, even though I don’t think it’s good for me. But it is a motivating force, as you say.
Can be tricky, but I think it’s important to go for motivational rather than obsessive. In my case, I’ve had the sub-2hr HM at the back of my mind for over a year now. Generally, I tend to think “it’ll happen when it happens” although I am tempted to give it a nudge with a few speed training runs.
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