Bristol Half Marathon

On Sunday I completed the Bristol Half Marathon for the 4th time. The organisation and atmosphere was excellent, with pleasant if slightly warm running conditions. Unfortunately however I won't be able to remember it as fondly as I had hoped due to poor performance on the day, and other issues.

Leading up to the event I became slightly OCD about pre-race diet, sleeping quite lightly the night before. I headed down to the city centre with a Sid, who is quite new to distance running, but very committed to competing in events for charity over the coming year. We arrived at the assembly point quite early, and by the time the event started I felt in good shape.

I had planned to run the first half of the event at approx 7.50 minute mile speed, and then adjust accordingly for the latter half, with a target time of approx 1.44 (I had managed 9 miles at slightly sub 8 minute mile pace in a training run on the Downs, for example). I lost track of Sid near a drink station around mile 3 (we were choosing our own pace, so I didn't wait around), and up until approx. mile 8 I felt my running form was good (average pace 7.53 at this point). During this time I also ate a bag of 'Carobohydrate Energy Jelly Beans' while running, which was new to me - they're not easy to eat at all!


Barely had I started entertaining thoughts of a good finish time (surely I could sustain something near 8 minute mile pace for the remainder?) than my legs started to feel increasingly punished by the road. Mile 9 was uncomfortable, and slower. By mile 11 it was pretty dire, and I was probably averaging approx. 9.20 pace. And getting overtaken a lot. Ugly.

When I reached approx mile 13, almost in sight of the finish line, I became aware that there was someone on the ground just off the race course, and they were having CPR. The news has since reported that the 33 year old runner had a suspected heart attack, and died at the trackside. Very sad news, and the likelihood of this was certainly in my mind as I finished the race.

My final (chip) time was 1.50.00, my worst ever time for the Bristol Half Marathon, and almost 9 minutes slower than last year. After collecting my bag I learned that unfortunately Sid had dropped out with a leg injury at mile 3, so not a great event in several ways. It seems that all my 'event friends' have injurys one way or another!

I think my poor performance during the latter part of the race is attributable to not having done enough race distance runs. I still had reasonable energy, and although a couple of kg heavier than last year I could still sustain a reasonable pace until my legs gave out, which was basically at the point where most of my training runs had ended - mile 9. My training had also involved running on grass or dirt where possible, and I may have underestimated the punishment that the paved Bristol route deals.

Looking at training plans online my weekly milage in the months preceding the event was pretty amateur for the most part, which is definitely something I need to improve on - especially if I want to be able to seriously consider doing a marathon (without any walking). In retrospect it almost looks like I was training for a fast 10k, and not a 13.1 mile endurance event at all.