Fred Hughes 10 Race Report

It’s mid-January now so the running season is well underway!  Hopefully new runners and those committed to new year’s resolutions are sticking with their plan, as there seems to be no shortage of runners out on the streets and entering races.

This weekend was a busy one for me.  Parkrun on Saturday morning  - we did the off road course again as the lake is flooded! – and then an hour of Zumba in the afternoon, followed by 40 minutes less-vigorous dancing.  Knowing I had a long run the next day, I took the parkrun easy, but then really go into the Zumba (I hadn’t done it in about 2 years!) so maybe not the wisest thing to do before a long run!  In between parkrun and Zumba I went into town, as I’d ordered a really nice workout top from Sweaty Betty.  It is pink and purple with a big print of the Aurora on the front!  They were also selling boxes of Hugh5 energy gels in TK Maxx very cheaply so I stocked up on those.

On Sunday, I had a race 10 mile planned, the local Fred Hughes 10, but also had to work in a long run of at least 15 miles.  I haven’t really been focusing on the mid-distance runs since last summer, so my times for anything between  a 10k and half marathon are pretty slow right now!  If I’d trained specially, I could have done the 10 miler in around 1h 40m but that’s a bit of a pipe dream at the moment.  Most of my runs have been at long-run/recovery pace and I think my body is used to that comfort zone and doesn’t want to go any faster, even for 6 miles!! It’s a bit of pain during the mid-week week runs of 4-7 miles and I should really be doing more interval/speed work but I seem to lack the discipline to do that as well as the long runs.  If I want any chance of surviving 5 marathons in 2 months I’d rather put my energy into the long runs which include at least three 20 milers and a double long run weekend to get used to running on tired legs.

So I kinda knew from sign-up that the race would have to be a training run.  I decided to do a further 6 miles afterwards to make up the distance and try and get the whole run at or faster than my long run target pace (around 11.40-11.50 min miles) with a bit more emphasis on the race as a) it was a race and I didn’t want to come last and b) there was a 2 hour time limit anyway (12 min miles).

My dad dropped me off at the race HQ on Sunday morning.  I dressed ready to run (no baggage) so I could head off immediately afterwards for the final 6.  Met up with quite a few people from Tri-Force and parkrun, some who were marshalling and others who were running.  The race was organised by the local running club, St Albans Striders, so quite a few friends were involved in some way or another (I am not a Striders member – partly because the mid-week sessions clash with triathlon sessions and partly because I have not got round to thinking about doing the weekend runs with them).  I picked up my race number and then we walked to the start line for 10am.  I think there were about 700-800 runners.

The organised had needed to change the route at the last minute, due to flooding, so it was now 2 laps of a short route rather than one long loop.  I recognised a lot of the route from the St Albans Half Marathon that I did in 2012.  It was fairly undulating, with one hill that wasn’t particularly nice, but also some good, gentle down-hills.  Shame to say I got lapped VERY early on by the lead runner!!  It was great to see my marshalling friends 4 times who cheered me on, it was very good encouragement!  The race went ok, but like every time I have done a race as a training run (which, considering how many I do is most of them!) I am in 2 minds!  Part of me sees it as a race so wants to do well, and is disappointed by my pace.  But the other part of me knows it’s a training run and therefore as long as I finish in under 2 hours then no need to be worried.  It was a bit depressing getting to mile 8 and thinking I’m nearly done for the race, but only half way through the total mileage of the day!  It went ok, got round it in one piece and my average pace was 11.34 min/mi.  I am not sure what my official finishing time was, but my Garmin says 1.55.57 (and I was not last!).

I really, really, wanted to go back to the HQ for cake and coffee, and to warm up!  But I had to keep moving!  I collected my finisher’s tee-shirt and thanks the marshals, and forced myself to get really for the final run home.  I decided to wear my finisher’s tee-shirt which was a nice technical top in women’s fit.  It was pink for the women (black for guys) so teamed up with my bright pink running tights I did look like some kind of pink candy cane!  I also took off my race number (didn’t want anyone thinking I’d got lost out on the race course), took another gel, and headed off.

The final run was fine, a bit slower (11.44 min miles average) than the race but quite enjoyable as the pressure of the race environment was over and I could just zone out, listen to my music properly and run the majority of the route along the flat, traffic-free cycle path.  I wasn’t actually sure how far it was back home, having forgotten to measure it properly the night before, and there were 2 routes home with one ending up shorter than 6 miles and the other would be about 7.  I decided to go for the slightly longer route and have a cool down walk after I hit my target.

When I hit 16 miles (at long last!!) I was half way down a hill.  No point stopping halfway down a hill as I had a good pace going on!  So I decided to run to 16.2 as that would mean there would be LESS than 10 miles of a marathon left to do!  But at 16.2 I was crossing a road so missed it, so decided to do a nice round 16.5 – which I did.  I then walked the rest of the way back (about half a mile) to cool down.

I was very pleased overall with how the long run went, and feel well on track for the marathons now.  Apart from the heavy rain and flooding, we’ve been very lucky with the weather as it has been quite mild and no snow so far.  Last year the FH10 was called off due to snow and ice, and my long runs suffered as back then I did not have any trail shoes and found the snow very tough to run on.

In the afternoon my family must have thought I was ill as I spend all afternoon lying on the sofa knackered, watching a whole series of The IT Crowd, drinking recovery shakes, napping and having a bath!