I will hold my hands up now and admit that i got my race quite monumentally wrong. I had a plan. It was a good plan. It was a plan that would get me round in a solid PB. It would let me complete a marathon feeling good and with something to build on. By the first mile marker that plan was looking shaky. By the end it was blown out of the water but with results that i couldn't have anticipated.
The plan was quite simply: 8:00 miles to come in with a time of 3:30. That was to be reviewed at both half way and around 18 miles but i wasn't planning on running any quicker than that before then. At this point it needs to be said that Loch Ness is not a course conducive to even pacing. Even accounting for the substantially downhill start, i was off too quick again. Mile splits were in the 7:40 range, later peppered with 7:20s. This was not how things were meant to go down. I had learned my lesson from Florence. Hadn't I? No not by a long shot. Fortunately though it turns out that it was actually my original strategy that was at fault and i was substantially fitter than i expected. The pace i was running proved to be sustainable and largely comfortable and the result was a whole 21 minutes off my best and a 3:20:10 clocking.
There has been some debate in the lead up and post-race about the extent to which the undulating course impacts on time. Is it a PB course? How much time are the hills worth? My view is coloured by the very good race i ran, but i am not convinced that it isn't actually quite a fast route. With some qualifications though. One of those being that you need to have strong quads. There is a lot of downhill running and you can make up good time there but if your quads are not up to it you will suffer later on. You also need to be prepared for the 'monster', the hill between miles 18 and 19.
Despite grim warnings from previous participants i was slightly underwhelmed by this. It is fairly long and has a fair incline but i dont see more than 20 seconds of an impact on my splits - probably about the same as the hill coming out of Taymouth in the Aberfeldy half actually. Now granted by heart rate did shoot up substantially so it took some effort to maintain pace but a well trained runner should be able to hold a good pace up it and recover on the downhill after.
It wasn't quite plain sailing after the hill but i felt good enough to ramp up the pace. The last mile to a mile and a half hurt as HR started to drift upwards but i still had enough in the tank to put in a sub-7:00 mile and get over the line whilst feeling just about human and not quite falling off the digestive knife edge into either an unscheduled toilet stop or a boak break.
I have to say that i love this race. Everything i thought about the event after last year's 10k has been confirmed and multiplied. The whole thing has such a lovely atmosphere and is so well organised. The weather also just about couldn't have been better - even down to the walk across the playing fields to the buses with runners appearing out of the mist from all directions. It is a shame to have a start without support but you would give that up for the trip around the Loch with the silvery water reflecting the mist-shrouded hills.
On a colder and windier day the start area would be challenging. It is exposed enough that even with the good weather it was pretty chilly and there is nothing quite like a cold wait in an endless toilet queue to take our mind off pre-race nerves. The route itself is much less exposed and the conditions were ideal for the most part.
Off the start i found myself going backwards through the field quite rapidly as the usual adrenaline kicked in and everyone piled off down the hill. After the first couple of miles very few passed me as i worked my way up the rankings steadily. The hilliness of my training really paid off on the early hills around 4 or 5 miles in which seemed to catch a good few out. Once those were out of the way and we reached the banks of the Loch the running felt good. If you are going to try and break yourself, it is quite a bonny place to try and do it. Lots of exotic accents amongst the runners suggest quite how attractive that proposition is around the world.
Other highlights included
- the chap disposing of his water bottle with an overhead throw from the other side of the road straight into a wheelie bin.
- discovering that while paper cups are an environmentally responsible way to deliver drinks, you end up wearing sticky energy drink if you don't stop to drink
- wittertainment - SHUTUP BUTTWAD!!
- a big menshie aff Bryan Burnett at the finish
- no boaks - substantial breakfast 4 hours before the start is the answer
So, again? Well, for the first time i come out of a marathon not planning to immediately sign up for another. I will do this race again but this all went just too well and i fear disappointment if i try again too soon. This has also been something like 9 months of fairly serious training. I need a bit of a break from that. The general plan now is to get quicker over shorter distances. There are 5k, 10k and half PBs to be had and improved upon and getting that speed in my legs will be what ultimately gets me a better marathon and under the 3:15 good for age threshold that will qualify me for London. 2015 will be marathon year (again).
