Beachy Head Marathon FeedbackPosted by Scotty B on October 26th, 2009
Not really a full report but thought I’d share some thoughts about Saturday’s Beachy Head Marathon..
I persuaded Jellybaby to come and join me for jog in the country, a couple of big hills I told him. It would appear that I might of mis-described the hilliness of this race..
I had a rough time in mind of between 4hrs 30mins and 5hrs as my target.. As I set off I used my Garmin to race against my previous attempt last year, the first time I’ve used this functionality.
What to say about the race? I hate it, I hate it I hate it. For the first time was I broken both physically and mentally.. it started off ok, the first 4 miles I was doing well, my HR was way too high but I decided not to worry about his carry on, by 6 miles and a few big hills I knew I was in trouble, I could also not get further than about 0.2 miles ahead of last year’s time. I hung on until 12 miles and the next major check point, this was make or break time.. the 3-4 miles after this feed station are pretty much a mixture on downhill and flats.. last year I managed 3 consecutive miles of sub 10 mins per miles pace.. I struggled.. really struggled, I actually walked some of this!!!
The 3rd Check point was at 16.7Miles, where hot drinks, soup, currant buns and sausage rolls are available, this is also a chance where you can drop out and get a lift back to the start, I was tempted but thought I couldn’t quit because of JB.
Up out of CP3 is a big hill and it just worse from there, in the next couple of miles are 2 sets of steps, these are absolute killers, the first set are irregularly shaped and some are quite deep, the bonus is there is a rail I used to steady myself and haul myself up them, the second set are all the same depth but there is no hand rail. Had someone offered me the chance to give up and have a nice drive back to the start at the top of the second set I would of taken it!!!
From the brow of the hill you look down into the valley and see the next hill you will be running (walking!!) up.. a canter down the hill and the start of the a big continuous one.. it was this hill between miles 18-20 that I reached a place I have been before.. Totally mental and physically destroyed.. I have named this state of mind Mental Devastation (MD). I gave up! I didn’t want to race anyone more, the little man on my watch (Me from last year) over took me and the realisation I had completely bollixed this race up. I decided to just keep walking. I would no longer race, I would simply finish, and the time didn’t matter.
After about 1 mile of slow uphill progress a lot of soul searching and odd tear I had already formed the conclusion of what had gone wrong…
- Not enough training – I had done literally nothing since my ½ IM success 4 weeks earlier
- Bad Preparation for the race – double full English breakfast 70mins before the start of the race – bad idea!!
- Race Strategy – unrealistic!!!
- Equipment – wrong trainers and never use an new piece of equipment for the first time in a race (Camel Pac)
- Nutrition – I decided I didn’t need to stick to the plan because I felt alright (in the first 4 miles!!)
- Arrogance – belief I could just turn up and race and do well with the above
- Mental strength – Where has it gone? Why I am here walking and in a terrible state?
Somewhere near the summit I was overtaken by a couple of young lads who were joking but also complaining about how bad the hills were.. this kind of buoyed me… After some choice expletives I started to jog again, Over the seven sisters one by one, I walked the hills and jogged the down hills, at some point I climbed the hill crouched over with my hands on my quads physically trying to lift my legs up the hills..
Eventually the bitches were behind me, just Beachy Head then I’ve made it.. I occasionally broke out into a jog behind bouts of walking, as soon as the terrain turned over 0.1% gradient uphill I walked again.. this wasn’t pretty.
In the end I managed a very fast last mile (due to be seriously downhill) and I finished 6 minutes faster than the previous year. 5hours 13mins and in my mind a complete failure…
James trotted in a little while after me and as I guessed he was somewhat frustrated with the profile, apparently there were more than a couple of bad hills in the race.. I had forgotten the previous year, I will not forget again!!
I have neglected to mention the weather.. it was very windy, very wet and fog/mist meant most of the race you couldn’t see more than about 10meters in front of you…
Still, Lessons have been learnt, I am very motivated to training again, simply because I cannot go through that experience again. I haven’t failed this badly sine I have started my tri Career and not since Bracknell Half in 2006 (that is a story for another day!!)
Scotty