This weekend I took part in Reading Half Marathon. I crossed the line in 1:30:01, a personal best by over 7 minutes. My 12 week, 390 mile training plan prepared me fantastically well. The only downside to the day was missing the sub-1:30 time by a tantalising 2 seconds. This was purely down to a very simple mis-calculation in my pace timing.
The Goal
Prior to the race my goal was a sub-1:32 finish time for the 13.1 miles, with a stretch goal of sub-1:30. I knew I would be comfortable for the 1:32 finish as I'd done plenty of training at the 7:00 per mile pace needed to achieve this. I was however unsure about my ability to sustain a 6:50 pace for the full distance, despite having achieved this pace for a couple of miles at a time in training.
I therefore decided a pacing plan starting at the 1:32 pace to get into my stride and then gradually speeding up to reach the sub-1:30 stretch goal. That way if it was getting too tough then I would be able to back off back to the 1:32 pace and still meet my main goal.
By starting slower as well it makes it less stressful dealing with the first couple of miles of crowded roads and the overtaking of all those people who, for some reason, seem to insist on setting out at the front of the race at a pace they can't sustain for even the first mile! (rant over).
So, my plan was as follows: 07:00 per mile for the first 4 miles, 06:50 per mile for miles 5 to 8, and finally 06:45 per mile for the last 5.1. Following this plan would get me home at 1:29:42, giving an 18 second margin for any small mistakes or misjudgements.
The Reality
So, the first 4 miles went well with 7:03, 6:58, 7:02 and a 6:46 (slightly fast on the last one, but then it was downhill). At this point I was still feeling strong, so decided to up to the faster pace. Miles 5 to 8 were solid at 6:42, 6:29, 6:54 and 6:55 (downhill for two and then uphill for two). At this point I was ahead of my scheduled 8 mile split time by about 24 seconds and still feeling good.
Now was the time to make a decision, so I picked up the pace again and ran the next 5 miles at 6:49, 6:42, 6:41, 6:51 and 6:49. Not so pleased with miles 12 and 13, but they were into a headwind and I still thought I was up by enough that loosing 10 seconds didn’t matter.
Then came the problem, running time to this point was 1:28:43 and supposedly only 0.1 miles left. However, not being able to run the optimal racing line at all times and having to weave a bit to overtake meant I was still 0.2 miles from the line! Realising this I dug as deep as possible and tried to pick up the pace. Managed a 6:15 per mile pace sprint, but by that time it was too late to pull back those vital few seconds.
The Lesson
So, I missed my sub-1:30 stretch goal by just 2 seconds and all down to planning for 13.1 miles rather than the 13.21 that I actually ran. Had I thought about that initially I'm sure I could have planned a single second faster on each mile throughout the race and been able to hit those splits.
Lesson for the future: unless you are right at the front of the race, plan to run slightly further than the actual race distance and plan the splits accordingly.
