halfmarathon

Sometimes you have to risk it….

This weekend I was back on the start line at the Derby half marathon (Ramathon) here in the UK. I booked the race not long after the Hartlepool Half Marathon. It looked like a great course which was pretty flat and only a small section off road (below).

The only concern was always the weather at this time of year as we are into the British summer and as a runner that carries muscle I always get melty in the heat. I had a great period of training after the hartlepool half with again more PB efforts with 7 x1k reps down to 3-15/3.20 per k and 5 x 2k reps at 3.30/km pace. So I was hungry for a flat fast course that offered the option for a PB.

 

There was little online other review than a few videos I found on YouTube that gave some idea of the course route. So I hope to give you some times here of my experience.

PRE-RACE

My take away from Hartlepool was I need to be back out on the road to get use to the impact of the roads vs. treadmill and I managed this over the last few weeks. So I was in shape and no excuses…

I traveled to the race from the south of England on the Saturday afternoon to grab the race number and have a look over suggested forecast and consider how to run the race. It was very organised number pick up from Derby Area and I stayed in a Travelodge as brought the dog with me. It was only 15mins from race start and also did a meet up with a local client the evening before the race.

The weather was forecast to be breezy (20kph) and warm/hot (22oC). To help you consider these effects in your next race planning then the effect as you move about 15oC is about a loss of 10-30seconds per mile (5-15/k) for every 5oC increase in temp. This little calculator should give you some help in picking a pace:

https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a68016246/how-heat-slows-running-pace/

Back to the Ramathon…we have been in the grips of a heat wave in the EU and UK over the last 2weeks of June (average temps 33-37oC) and as such believed I was relatively acclimated to the heat. So on race day I had decided to take some risks are go out at 3.40-3.45/k and see where I end up. I had nothing to loose and believed I had a 1.17 in me on a good day but needed to show it in a comp and not in training.

Race day I decided to try out the On® LightSpray Cloudboom Strike (see pic). I had tried in a few runs up to 10k and some 1k reps and felt good. The morning of the race I had taken by 60 mins before the race 60g carbs, 300mg caffeine and 300mls fluid. (Note: One error I see in race advise is caffeine causes dehydration – this is not the case. You may push harder as caffeine reduces the rate of perceived exertion but it does not make you sweat more etc).

Once into Derby town centre which is where the race starts and finishes you have lost of places to warm-up and you can leave it until 5mins before race start (start was 9.15am) to get into the right section of the queue. So don’t jump in too early.

After a 20min warm up I got into the front of the race group maybe 1st 15 athletes and I was ready to go.

And we are off!

So the start of the race is always hectic but there was a bit of a bump to run up at the begin the race. Very quickly the race separated into a front group of 3-4 guys and then a string of about 8-10 athletes and then my group of about 6. We were clipping along at 3.40-3.45per/k and I felt good and as always you have to make a decision – hold your own pace or try to stay with the group until it settles. The group is never always like a metronome so you hope when it drops slightly faster than you like you ride it out for the benefits of group running and hiding from any on-course wind.

I am still learning this judgement but dug in and felt pretty good until 10k which I was just at 37Mins and heart rate was under my max race effort of 160bpm.

Over the next few Ks I began to cook and had to let the group go hoping they may come back later. At this point you always get into the mental fight with yourself over maybe I should have followed the science and stuck at 3.50-3.55/k pace and push over last 5-7k. However, I was baked, made my choice so had to go with what I could. There was a few cheeky little risers in the course but one section to watch out for is you end up running on a trail path. This is quite poor for traction – my advice is where possible try to get on the gras on the sides. It’s relatively flat and gives more return than the gravel.

At km 16-18 I was a bit dejected and cruising rather than hurting (see pic below) and you can see my pace dropping off until I had a chat to myself and pushed on. Interestingly you can see my hr stays pretty steady across the race despite the coupling in pace. This is the effect of the temp – so increasingly cardiovascular strain to maintain core temperature keeping hr up despite a drop in pace rather than physiological effort.

A few ks out I was working again was still well fulled and hydrated by some great volunteers with bottles of water rather than paper cups. I took over quite a few guys including Steve in the pic above (Guess which one of us is Vegan 🤣) . I highlight Steve here as this is an example of how over recent years I have become less Hungary at races unless there is a big pay off – but todays race may have snapped me out of this mindset going forwards.

Over the last few KMs there was 6 guys ahead of me – I could see them and though IF I push I might catch a few. I was close but had left it too late to close the gap. Then literally after running past Steve a km or so before we were a few hundred meters before the lite and one guy then Steve ran past me. I just let these guys go. In the past I would have buried myself to not loose any places. I was ok with it but after the race looking at the results I wish I had pushed. I was 22nd out of 1875 and despite the AG win I could have broken the top 20. This does not mean much to most, but good for the head and confidence.  So next time I need to be the old mark being sick as I get over the line due to max effort.

Wrap-up

It was a nice weekend end and I did what I could – I took the risk and whilst there was no PB I learned I cannot fight science and if your looking for best performance on best days be conservative and for me that should have been 3.50/k pace run. Next is to address some issues that are still there in my running and its volume I need to up the volume and my next build is a marathon build and this will come naturally. As an old man now in my 50s I need to trade off how I build volume and than means a bit longer runs across all sessions as well a weekly long run (until I get to 30k) but exchanging some running for biking if I get a niggle as ‘consistency’ is key.

As always love to the Wife – who always looks after me for these things x

A big thanks and shout out to the team at RAMATHON they put on a great day in hot conditions with a relatively large field (especially if you add in the 5mile race). Until next time….Keep training strong!

 

Where have I been for the last year?

“BECOMING A RUNNER TAKES TIME”

After the Ironman 70.3 worlds I needed to take some time off as was a little burnt out with the time I needed to train for triathlon as well as trying to juggle family and businesses. We all have such external pressures and it’s all about managing those pressures with the time available to us. I have been at this triathlon game for over 10 years and had made the decision to step away from triathlon after the worlds. I needed something I still loved that would keep me interested in training and decided I would build a focus on running but to do no more than a session a day.

Having past issues with Achilles, knee meniscus and back issue I needed to take some time to strengthen up my body and to get injury free. This ment as a 50yr+ man some resistance exercise and a gradual build towards milage. But after years of the focus being none speed focused I wanted to work on areas I have never training for such as 5k.

Since the summer of 2025 (see results page) I have ran a few 5k park runs which are an eye opener as to how hard the feel especially combining from an ultra endurance background. But they were fun and used as part of training rather than a true competition. I did ok but would like in 2026 to be in the 16min category.

Having only done a few races in 2025 I did get a few good hits out at the Redcar and Ely half marathons. At both races the weather was not great (especially Ely) where we had just come of a mini storm in the UK so these where really only about trying to get best race out of the legs on the day than any real time. I managed to scoop a win at Ely, which was some motivation coming into 2026.

Whilst its early doors I did a half marathon in January to keep me honest over xmas and just squeezed in a 1.19 but my legs where hammered as much of my training had been on the treadmill. Soft treadmill running is great for the joints and to build consistency but it does not toughen up the quads for hard UK road running. My last race (the past weekend) was a home town (well where I was born) race in Hartlepool. It was the first time a half marathon was ran in 40 years, so would have been rude not to attend.

The course ran by ‘Wild Deer’ events was a good race simply because of the local support but the course was a bit of a mess with some very twisty sections around a car park and marina to make up the distance due to roadworks going on in the town. I know this was not what the organisers wanted for the course but if they can resolve this into a simpler course in 2027 it should do well.

Next for me is to find a flat and fast course for the next half marathon. I am in my best run shape and eager to break 1.17 before starting a marathon block before Valencia marathon at the end of the year.

I hope you guys are dogging great and triathlon training is in full swing this season. I’ll get more post up this summer so keep tuning in.

Best in racing, Mark