Burnham Half Marathon 2018
Burnham half marathon is my home race. This years race was my third year in a row and my fourth time running it overall. Last year I aimed to finish 1st local male and claim a sub 1hr30 time. I realised one of those goals but this year wasn’t about either of them.
Coming into this race I knew I wasn’t in PB shape and occupying any of the top 3 local male positions was going to be a tough ask.
Burnham Harriers pre race photo
Racing to a plan
Despite being super competitive, particularly in my home race which is hosted by my running club, I had no choice other than to be sensible.
One of the perks of having a running coach is having him come up with a plan. I don’t just mean a training plan but a bespoke plan for each race. Normally I’d have done what I did at Bridgwater half marathon and just go off quick at the start and try to hold on.
Trying not to start too fast
Seeing as that backfired massively and running to a plan at Bristol half marathon was a success, I had no qualms in putting my faith in another of Simons plans. Even if it meant missing out on a trophy.
So the plan was to run the first 5 miles at a pace of 7.40-7.45. This proved to be quite difficult for the first couple of miles. I still went off a little bit quick and struggled to reign it in at first and also, I hate being overtaken!
I managed to get down to that pace and I stuck to it pretty well. Running at a slower pace also affords you the luxury of talking to other runners which is quite rare for me during a race.
The miles were soon ticking by and I took on my first gel at about mile 4 ready for the first big push.
Upping the pace
As I was approaching the mile 5 marker I saw Simon. He told me I was bang on pace and that now was the time to up it.
The second part of the plan was to run the next 5 miles at a pace of 7.20-7.45. It took me a mile or so for my body to adjust to the change of pace and I even got a bit of a stitch in my right side which hasn’t happened since I blew up at Tewkesbury half marathon last year.
Finding my rhythm
I was able to put any fears of a repeat of that out of my mind as I continued to try to hold my pace at around 7.20. I was actually finding it harder to not go faster rather than struggle to maintain a quicker pace.
It was running at this pace that I finally started catching and overtaking people. I wasn’t catching them as quickly as I’d have liked but I knew my time would come soon enough.
Between miles 8 & 9 I took on my second and final gel, ready for the next increase in pace. It was at this stage I overtook a guy who, like me, was coming back from an injury. He stuck with me for the best part of a mile and thanked me for pacing him. It wasn’t something I did intentionally but I was happy to help. This race has some long, and at times, lonely country lanes so I understand how hard it can be to keep the pace up.
Leaving it all out there
Before I knew it I could see the mile 10 marker and more importantly, Simon.
It was time for stage 3 of the plan, leave it all out there. As I approached Simon he gave possibly the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given mid race.
He told me to no longer look at my watch, the pace didn’t matter. He said to just focus on catching the vest in front of me.
This worked a treat. I think I only checked my watch twice after that, and it was only because I curious as to what pace I was running at. Turns out that pace was quite quick. The last 3 miles were run at about 6.40-6.45.
My all important splits
I soon caught my friend and fellow club member David, who bagged himself a cracking PB. After that I could just about see Ieuan, another club member in the distance. I was determined to catch him but it felt like I was going to run out of time.
As I continued to hold the same pace with everything starting to hurt, I caught him. As I went past I expected him to kick again seeing as we were only about half a mile out from the finish. He told me afterwards he didn’t have enough left to go with me but he also managed a PB which is awesome.
Almost there!
The finish was fast approaching and I over took a couple more people before crossing the line. My legs were on fire and I was completely spent but I’d done it. For the second race in a row I’d stuck to a plan almost perfectly and took 5 minutes off my time at Bristol coming in at 1hr35.15.
Top takeaways
Having a plan – Having a race plan really works. If you’re good at following plans and can maintain and increase pace when necessary then I’d highly recommend it. The days of me winging it on race days are now long gone.
No trophy, no problem – I cant lie, I’d have loved to have retained the first local male trophy but I knew it wasn’t an option given my current fitness level. While I had accepted this fate, I secretly hoped I might sneak 3rd local male. This wasn’t to be but I’m ok with that. It’s now all about the bigger picture.
My fitness is returning – At Bridgwater I finished in 1hr44 and finished in 1hr40 at Bristol so to take another 5minutes off is fantastic progress. Overall I’ve taken about 9 minutes off my half marathon time over 3 races in about 5 weeks. This is a testament to the work I’ve been doing with Simon and long may it continue.
I now have no more big races until next year. This gives me ample opportunity to further work on my form and fitness with Simon during the winter months. The future of my running is getting more and more exciting.
