Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

I wasn't hopeful of having a good race at Lochaber, and my fears proved to be founded, unfortunately.

I hadn't been off the couch for 10 days before the event because of a particularly nasty cold.  I kept hoping I'd recover in time to get some training done beforehand but it never happened.  I was ok on the day but I think I had de-trained a bit.

The weather was warm but a bit drizzly on and off, which was much better than the situation at London.

My target up to 2 weeks ago had been 3:15 but because of my illness, I had no way off knowing what I was capable of, so I decided to just aim for that and see what happened.  I kept to the pace for the first 10 miles or so but ominously, my heart rate was sky high, although it didn't feel like I was working that hard.  I didn't feel great though.

I was running with Iain again, and I let him go after about 5 miles, as he was running maybe 10-20 seconds per mile quicker than me and I didn't want to blow up.

Just before the halfway turnaround, my quads started to tighten and I knew the game was up.  I slowed the pace a little over the next 5 miles or so but by the time I was at 18 miles I knew I was screwed.  Becky was waiting at the side of the road at that point, with extra gels and a drink for me and I really wanted to stop but I steeled myself and kept going.

By mile 20 my legs weren't working any more and I was reduced to a pathetic shuffle.  The next hour proved to be incredibly uncomfortable.  I really should have stopped because I pushed my legs over the edge but I don't like to quit - you learn a lot more about yourself through adversity.

I kept on going, walking for 100 metre stints occasionally (the ignominy) and eventually finished in about 3:54, just outside my Loch Ness time.

On the face of it, my last 10 days of no activity and illness can't have helped but I also think that I peaked too soon.  I was easily running 20 miles at 3:30 marathon pace 2 months ago, and I did well at Coniston but since then I've not felt great and my legs haven't been zippy.

Still, success teaches you nothing, so I'll use this to make some adjustments.  I was cursing the very idea of marathoning over the last few miles and vowed never to run another.  Despite the face that I can barely walk now and stairs are proving difficult, I think I can run a good marathon (Snowdonia last year proved that), so I'll have another go, I think.  I'm not sure when though.  Maybe Snowdonia again this year.  We'll have to see.