1:57:15. A half marathon PB. Grasping the sublime from the ridiculous. From not racing the night before to a PB. It was quite the weekend!
Fourteen weeks of training. 340 kilometers in the legs. Three parkruns. Two very different 10k races. One Olympic (park) medal. One sceptical wife. Two dodgy calves. 30,000 avios airmiles. One farcical half marathon seven days before the event. All culminating to a pleasant Scandinavian morning, the Powerade Copenhagen Half Marathon.
I arrived at the start line knowing I'd trained better than before, results starting to come back to my best. The fact I even made it to the start line was an effort in itself, my weekend to that point had been reminiscent of Sideshow Bob & the rakes. First on Friday morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. Usually the precursor to something far worse, a sore throat is hardly helpful when you need to stay hydrated before, during & after the event. I then started feeling increasingly tired & useless at work, couldn't even put it down to holiday syndrome! I left early, soon having visions of being the douche that delays everyone else's commute by passing out. By the time I made it home my only intention was to get some sleep in to try & recover. Sleep & steak remedied the situation temporarily (especially as we thought the oven had given up), once we'd picked up our friends Sean & Emily I also tried some medicinal gin.
A horrid night of broken sleep left me knackered before even driving to Heathrow. Thankfully Mrs H took the keys, only for us to find the car completely non compliant! At 0315 you have few options, so the £105 taxi to the airport made for an expensive start to the weekend. British Airways then added to the fun by leaving our plane open all evening, necessitating a security sweep & a 45 minute delay to us departing.
Thankfully I used the flight as a sleeping opportunity so by the time we got to Copenhagen I was feeling almost human.
I arrived at the start line knowing I'd trained better than before, results starting to come back to my best. The fact I even made it to the start line was an effort in itself, my weekend to that point had been reminiscent of Sideshow Bob & the rakes. First on Friday morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. Usually the precursor to something far worse, a sore throat is hardly helpful when you need to stay hydrated before, during & after the event. I then started feeling increasingly tired & useless at work, couldn't even put it down to holiday syndrome! I left early, soon having visions of being the douche that delays everyone else's commute by passing out. By the time I made it home my only intention was to get some sleep in to try & recover. Sleep & steak remedied the situation temporarily (especially as we thought the oven had given up), once we'd picked up our friends Sean & Emily I also tried some medicinal gin.
A horrid night of broken sleep left me knackered before even driving to Heathrow. Thankfully Mrs H took the keys, only for us to find the car completely non compliant! At 0315 you have few options, so the £105 taxi to the airport made for an expensive start to the weekend. British Airways then added to the fun by leaving our plane open all evening, necessitating a security sweep & a 45 minute delay to us departing.
Thankfully I used the flight as a sleeping opportunity so by the time we got to Copenhagen I was feeling almost human.
Unfortunately by 9pm I was trying to sleep, temperature soaring in a sweatbox of a hotel room that was devoid of air conditioning. I'd made the decision at that point not to run. I didn't want to be the runner collapsing at the side of the road, ambulance riding in a foreign country. I knew that this half was meant to be the climax of a summer of training, but at that point I needed to make a sensible decision, I'd be observing the event from the sidelines.
The Run
A 1:55 half marathon requires a pace of 5:27/km (no idea what the mile splits are, always been a KM runner). This means splits of 27:15 / 5km, 54:30 / 10km, 1:21:45 / 15km, 1:49:00 / 20km. A crucial time is at the eleventh km, 59:57 or lower means a 1:55 is still on track.
The start area was well spaced, just enough space & in credit to the organisers, we started dead on 11:00, something many big event organisers in the UK should learn from. No waved starts, but lots of pacers so the field knew where to place themselves.
So with a short Danish countdown we were underway, we crossed the line a mere 4 minutes after the leaders, great organisation. Sean pushed me to a great early pace, my first km was more 5k pace than half marathon! I felt decent, after 10 minutes Sean's job was complete so he pushed on & I settled into a race pace. Throughout the first 10k I was under the target time, by 9k I was nearly 30 seconds under where I needed to be. The tenth kilometre proved difficult, cobbled streets were energy sapping, but at 54:28 I was still & managed to recover the 11th km to cross at exactly 59:57.
Into the second hour of the run & I knew that an achieveable 55 minute 10k would hand me a 1:55 finish. Unfortunately another encounter with some cobbled streets in the centre of town slowed my progress & stupidly trying to take on some Powerade (not recommended as a face wash) also hindered my progress. I think it was between 13 & 14km that I was caught by the 1:55 pacers. This spurred me on temporarily as I tried to stay ahead of them, but they soon overtook me & stayed tantalisingly out of reach for the rest of the run. I felt the 3rd quarter was my worst of the race, even though statistically I was still returning a 5:35/km pace, it is where I lost momentum & had to readjust my goals.
I'm not sure what happened in the final five kilometers. My pace dropped to 5:47/km, yet I didn't feel myself slowing significantly. I was in a bizarre no mans land of knowing that my desired 1:55 was out of the window, yet could run with no pressure & deliver a personal best. It isn't a situation I've ever faced before & it probably paid a part in my relaxing my pace. The course was an out & back loop of the city so I knew where the 20km marker was & I upped the music volume, attempting to up my pace to the line. The final corner was negotiated & I could see the finish line. Turns out the finish line was a long stretch down the road, no matter how hard I ran it seemed to be getting further away, not closer!!!!
I crossed the line at 1:57:15, grabbed some water, drank some Powerade rather than throw it over my face & pick up a medal. I found Sean & Emily in a slightly busy post race area, Sean just missed a PB (probably due to pacing some schmuck early on!!!) so I treated them both to a record six wringings of my race headband! Paula joined us a few minutes later, having run an enjoyable 2:08 as a tourist taking in all of the sights.
Into the second hour of the run & I knew that an achieveable 55 minute 10k would hand me a 1:55 finish. Unfortunately another encounter with some cobbled streets in the centre of town slowed my progress & stupidly trying to take on some Powerade (not recommended as a face wash) also hindered my progress. I think it was between 13 & 14km that I was caught by the 1:55 pacers. This spurred me on temporarily as I tried to stay ahead of them, but they soon overtook me & stayed tantalisingly out of reach for the rest of the run. I felt the 3rd quarter was my worst of the race, even though statistically I was still returning a 5:35/km pace, it is where I lost momentum & had to readjust my goals.
I'm not sure what happened in the final five kilometers. My pace dropped to 5:47/km, yet I didn't feel myself slowing significantly. I was in a bizarre no mans land of knowing that my desired 1:55 was out of the window, yet could run with no pressure & deliver a personal best. It isn't a situation I've ever faced before & it probably paid a part in my relaxing my pace. The course was an out & back loop of the city so I knew where the 20km marker was & I upped the music volume, attempting to up my pace to the line. The final corner was negotiated & I could see the finish line. Turns out the finish line was a long stretch down the road, no matter how hard I ran it seemed to be getting further away, not closer!!!!
26:57 / 5km
54:28 / 10km
1:22:19 / 15km
1:51:12 / 20km
The Eat
It's safe to say that Copenhagen is a great city for a foodie. An even better one if you're a foodie with a half marathon sized appetite! We headed to Tivoli, Denmark's playground on Sunday evening to check out the theme park & see what food options there were on offer. I wanted to sample the recommended Hot Dog stand, but only once we'd entered the park did we realise the stand was actually outside the park! After a lap of the park, taking in every option, we settled on some burgers, an easy but comforting option! We made up for the dirty burgers by heading to one of Copenhagen's oldest & finest open sandwich restaurants on our final afternoon. The spread of salmon, cream cheese, onions, potatoes & chives on top of a piece of rye was excellent. We never did make it to that hot dog stand.....
The Conclusion
If at the start of the 14 weeks of training you'd offered me a 1:57, I'd have probably declined it, believing I could achieve much more. Over those 14 weeks though I've managed to get back to near my best & brought an enjoyment back to my running. 1:55 might have been an overly optimistic target, but if you make a challenge too easy what do you gain? I'm happy with the 1:57, especially given how ill I felt the night before. It's my first PB in any distance since October 2012 & has shown me what can be achieved. I'll get that 1:55, why not at my 10th half?
Good to read your race report, we are doing it next weekend!
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