Brighton Marathon 2018
April 15th 2018
Marathon
So, less than 6 months after the last marathon (Birmingham), I find myself on the start line of another. Possibly more fit, but certainly less healthy as I was sporting a painful hip. This must have been from last weekend's sprint tri and had been aggravated all week by a huge amount of driving for my new job.
Anyway, breakfast eaten and paracetamol taken, we set off! The start was at around 09:45 - a fair bit later than advertised when we entered (sill organisers changing it!) but still reasonably sociable. The initial stage took us through Preston Park (where I have previously done a Parkrun) and up the hill along side this. I found this hill really tough, doing about 10 min miles as people swarmed past me (I'd started in the 3:30 - 4:00 pen). My hip was really hurting by now (0.5 miles in) and coming down was a bit steep which certainly didn't help.
However, once past a mile and onto the flat, I begain to find a more comfortable running position, and the large crowds were a welcoming distraction. The course took us around the familiar centre of Brighton, before heading onto the coast by the pier. At the pier we turned left and headed east along the coast towards Roedean. This bit felt tough to me too, perhaps it was the slight headwind but I struggled on, just trying to keep up with the other runners.
As we approached Roedean, I started to feel a little better. I knew the only real hill on the elevation chart was coming, so I made sure I was prepped with fuel adn water and then headed up. Thankfully, this was barely a hill at all, and I bounded past people to the turn, carrying on back down and then doing the little sneaky hill back onto the coast road.
Finally, about 9 miles in, I began to feel I had a rhythm. The western direction of the coast road offered a slight downhill, and before I knew it I was back to the pier and past it, crossing the half marathon line near the i360. I looked at my watch and I was on about 1:53 for the half marathon - certainly nowhere near my fastest but that gave me 2:07 to do the latter half marathon and still get under 4 hrs which felt achievable.
I carried on west through Hove, surprised at how well supported this out and back loop was. The turn was at about 17 miles and I did feel tired as I headed back east, but was spurred on by the support. At 19 miles I turned yet again, this time heading west towards Shoreham Power Station. On this loop the support died a rapid death, and with 7 miles to go, this bit was a mental low point. I wasn't alone with this, sights of other runners collapsed on the ground started to become frequent, and I could feel the general pace (and mine) had slowed as I was over 9 min miles now.
Finally at the turn at 22 miles, I swung around into what was now a noticeable head breeze for the last stretch along the sea front. I was willing myself just to get to 24 miles, as I knew there were decent crowds after that. I tried initially to focus on the pier, but that never ever seemed to come any closer, so instead I raced the i360, aiming to get to it before the "doughnut" returned to the bottom, which I did!
The last 2 miles should really have been a sprint finish, and although my HR had capacity to go places, my legs would not. So it was a steady "sprint" to the line, which was nicely perched on the beach, and extremely welcome.
Overall I was pleased with my time, having not specifically trained for this, and due to a number of other factors (not least my dodgy hip which had certainly been present the entire race, even if it had faded after the first mile). The course was well supported (apart from the power station) and very flat indeed! I would certainly recommend this race to others.
I was also pleased with how well my nutrition went - for future reference I was eating a Cliff Blok every 1.5 miles, and water whenever I could. I was going to throw in an energy gel every 6 miles but after trying this once and feeling very sick, I decided to ditch this plan...
Post blog note: I was actually 1 month pregnant whilst running this race. The morning sickness combined with inability to take ibruprofen to ease the pain of my hip flexor injury definitely affected this result. I'm still really pleased with my time but think there are a few minutes still to be had!
Times
Total time: 03:52:39
Standings
Age category: 252/4637 5%
Gender category: 358/7671 5%
Overall category: 2480/19803 13%
Marathon
So, less than 6 months after the last marathon (Birmingham), I find myself on the start line of another. Possibly more fit, but certainly less healthy as I was sporting a painful hip. This must have been from last weekend's sprint tri and had been aggravated all week by a huge amount of driving for my new job.Anyway, breakfast eaten and paracetamol taken, we set off! The start was at around 09:45 - a fair bit later than advertised when we entered (sill organisers changing it!) but still reasonably sociable. The initial stage took us through Preston Park (where I have previously done a Parkrun) and up the hill along side this. I found this hill really tough, doing about 10 min miles as people swarmed past me (I'd started in the 3:30 - 4:00 pen). My hip was really hurting by now (0.5 miles in) and coming down was a bit steep which certainly didn't help.
However, once past a mile and onto the flat, I begain to find a more comfortable running position, and the large crowds were a welcoming distraction. The course took us around the familiar centre of Brighton, before heading onto the coast by the pier. At the pier we turned left and headed east along the coast towards Roedean. This bit felt tough to me too, perhaps it was the slight headwind but I struggled on, just trying to keep up with the other runners.
As we approached Roedean, I started to feel a little better. I knew the only real hill on the elevation chart was coming, so I made sure I was prepped with fuel adn water and then headed up. Thankfully, this was barely a hill at all, and I bounded past people to the turn, carrying on back down and then doing the little sneaky hill back onto the coast road.
Finally, about 9 miles in, I began to feel I had a rhythm. The western direction of the coast road offered a slight downhill, and before I knew it I was back to the pier and past it, crossing the half marathon line near the i360. I looked at my watch and I was on about 1:53 for the half marathon - certainly nowhere near my fastest but that gave me 2:07 to do the latter half marathon and still get under 4 hrs which felt achievable.
I carried on west through Hove, surprised at how well supported this out and back loop was. The turn was at about 17 miles and I did feel tired as I headed back east, but was spurred on by the support. At 19 miles I turned yet again, this time heading west towards Shoreham Power Station. On this loop the support died a rapid death, and with 7 miles to go, this bit was a mental low point. I wasn't alone with this, sights of other runners collapsed on the ground started to become frequent, and I could feel the general pace (and mine) had slowed as I was over 9 min miles now.
Finally at the turn at 22 miles, I swung around into what was now a noticeable head breeze for the last stretch along the sea front. I was willing myself just to get to 24 miles, as I knew there were decent crowds after that. I tried initially to focus on the pier, but that never ever seemed to come any closer, so instead I raced the i360, aiming to get to it before the "doughnut" returned to the bottom, which I did!
The last 2 miles should really have been a sprint finish, and although my HR had capacity to go places, my legs would not. So it was a steady "sprint" to the line, which was nicely perched on the beach, and extremely welcome.
Overall I was pleased with my time, having not specifically trained for this, and due to a number of other factors (not least my dodgy hip which had certainly been present the entire race, even if it had faded after the first mile). The course was well supported (apart from the power station) and very flat indeed! I would certainly recommend this race to others.
I was also pleased with how well my nutrition went - for future reference I was eating a Cliff Blok every 1.5 miles, and water whenever I could. I was going to throw in an energy gel every 6 miles but after trying this once and feeling very sick, I decided to ditch this plan...
Post blog note: I was actually 1 month pregnant whilst running this race. The morning sickness combined with inability to take ibruprofen to ease the pain of my hip flexor injury definitely affected this result. I'm still really pleased with my time but think there are a few minutes still to be had!
Times
Total time: 03:52:39
Standings
Age category: 252/4637 5%
Gender category: 358/7671 5%
Overall category: 2480/19803 13%
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