Oops! I don't wanna do that again

It appears I made a number of mistakes during my first ever HM last year. I completed it and in a time I was pleased with but I have since found out that I could have done better not only in time but in how I felt too. So here are my mistakes and how I've fixed them:

Having random music playing instead of a set playlist. This is a bit geeky. OK, very geeky but I didn't like the random music coming on. It didn't mean anything to me while I was running. Therefore I devised a set playlist that I would use for the last 6.1miles (52:26sec) of any run I did. This meant I raced something home. I started with a song which starts at the halfway point (i.e 3 miles) and then worked forward from that and back from that to get the full 6 miles. It means I know what plays when and how long I've got to go. Plus it's upbeat so it pushes me on. I really can't tell you how much this has helped my when training on my own.

Drinking only water on both training runs and the actual HM. This stinks of the obvious but this was bloody stupid! I mean really, really, bloody stupid. Running for 2 hours uses a lot of energy. I didn't replace it with anything but water. No sugar, no salts, no carbs. Genius. Sometimes I'm amazed I finished at all and wasn't one of the unfortunate ones eating pavement. This time I'm training with Lucozade Gels and drinking Powerbar Milkshakes after and I feel so much better for it. Both during and after the run. Why did I discover this so late!! Idiot!

Starting too fast and finishing too slow. After my revelation last week, this is not a mistake I intend to make again. Negative Splits!?!?! is something we should all be doing apparently and all I have to do is let lots of people run past me at the beginning and then pass them towards the end. Surely even I can do this!! I have to let the competitive part of me go for the first half of the race before turning on my playlist and start reeling them all back again in the second half. I see this as a little challenge now!

So, mentally I'm doing better than last time, physically I'm doing better than last time and at the moment, I don't just want Fleet to be over with and then stop. I want to carry on and do more organised runs and try and improve every time. Maybe this is what it feels like to be a proper runner...

As a final note, I really want give my full support to my running buddy, eatingtrees. He's only now coming back from suffering with his ITB and he is not where he would have liked to have been in training coming up to Fleet. He's starting to put the miles in again now but is pretty down hearted about his times. Considering we thought he may not be able to run Fleet at all, I think he's done fantastically and it'll all help towards our ultimate goal of the Prague HM which is a couple of weeks after Fleet. If you want to know how he's getting on with his injury, check out his blog and give him some encouragement, I reckon he'd appreciate the support!

What's a day between friends!

Well 24 hours later then planned and with less pub based preparation and more pasta and bed based preparation, I did my longest run for 5 months this morning. Yup, 10.1 miles and you know what, I loved it. Really happy with the time of 1:27:35 too. I worked that out (probably incorrectly) somewhere in the region of 8.40/8.45's for the complete distance which I believe to be heading towards a time of proper runners and less of the slightly overweight bald bloke that I've been in the past.

I also learnt something too. Pace yourself. I know this isn't exactly a revelation to the majority of people but for me, it was a necessary lesson. Some of my runs in the past (training and Royal Park HM), I've been (rightly) accused of setting off to quickly on something around an 8/8.30 pace and have always struggled nearer the end. Reasons for this severe lack of genius training regime include the fact that I always think I'm going to struggle near the end so I try and build up the time in reserve to meet my target. WOW!!! How wrong can one person be?!?!?! A mate of mine has been nagging me about this for a while now and finally today, some of that nagging found it's way into my little pea brain.

The results: I ran my first 5 miles at 9 m/m pace but then what's his? I still have plenty of energy?? Maybe I'll pick up the pace. So I did. The second 5 was done of a pace around 8.20 m/m ish to give myself a time that I'm very happy with and also the knowledge that I can run 5 miles at 8.20 pace if I put my mind to it. How cool is that!!! That's made my day.

So 18 miles in the last 7 days. That's a good place to be I think. I'm off to make myself a cup of tea and bacon sarnie to celebrate!!