Retford Half Marathon 2022 race report

This is going to be a long one as I'm committing to tidying up some of the races that I've neglected to mention and that is covered at the bottom of this page.

Retford Half Marathon

This would be my second running of the Retford Half as the first was the last race before the pandemic saw a shut down of such events. Today I felt really good in the build up, having had a good training sessions and of course, I would be running in my Alphaflys which I was crazy keen to run in. The event is run out of Retford Oaks Academy  and is put on by Retford Athletic Club. The course is mildly undulating but has some lovely arrow straight sections which allow for good pacing. 

My previous PB was 1.38 and a half three years ago at Market Bosworth and whilst I felt that I was in good form and was in that ball park, I wasn't 100% confident of achieving it. My coach believed I could hold 7.26 minute mile efforts for 1.37.30 - we would see..

A 15 minute warm up was in order and then a change into the Alpha dizzles. It was a clear day, cold,some blue sky and a northerly breeze. I placed myself right in the middle of the scrum, about a third from the front, and was away by 10.10 am with start delayed by 10 minutes.

One we had done the roundabout bit within the grounds it was out onto the road, and then onto the path as the field set it's order. I was running far too fast and was well under the seven minute barrier before settling at a pace of around 7.00 minutes exactly for the first 3-4 miles. It was in these early miles that a Peugeot driver decided that they didn't like the road closures and tried to plough through the field. It was a dense part of the course as well and this could have been like skittles. That little drama over, I was back to my efforts and all was well including the water park that was Billy Button Lane. In fact I had expected a slowing of pace but that did not come and I got to the turnaround at mile 7 at the top of the course in good stead. I expected with a backwind to be quicker coming back but with tightening muscles and some undulations I found it more and more of a struggle. This carried on until mile 10 and then  over a small bridge and the wheels then started to wobble. 

At this stage I was already 4 minutes inside my 10 mile PB time but knew I was tiring badly. I was losing the occasional place and I had dropped below the 7.26's that my coach predicted. Mile 11 was slowest at 7.38, and then a gritted out 7.27's for the last 2 miles to cross the line in 1.34.45.

Clearly a massive PB and I'll be telling anyone that will listen about this all week ! 

Running ..

08.01.22 Essex Duathlon 10k run leg 43.35  - this was a chilly first week in January trip down to Debden Airfield to take part in a relay effort with Ian in a standard distance race whilst Dave attempted a qualification in the middle distance race. For my part, the first 10km round the airfield using my carbon X2's again. Post Xmas chub at 80kg, but a well controlled effort to put Ian in great shape for the bike and final run. 

06.11.21 No Walk In The Park 21.19 Me and Dave went over to Chesterfield to do this event for the first time in 10 years.  To be going back at nearly 49 years of age and putting in a fast time was amazing. Again carbon X2's used. Nothing left as I finished, lots and lots of local club runners there so 12th place finish of 47 pleasing.

31.10.21 Lincoln 10k   43.50 - This was my first Lincoln 10km in a few years and I had missed it. I had a pacers job for Dave in this one but I was terrible and lost him after a couple of miles. It was so wet and windy and I ran the entire thing in my rain top. The carbons performed really well and being measured in the first couple of miles meant that I was able to remain strong for the final 4. Possibly one of my better paced efforts.

 

26.09.21 LCW Nieuwport Half Marathon 1.43.35  - We were having a long weekend in Belgium and staying again at Middelkerke. Loved this race - it was part of a double bill I'd booked for the Long Course Weekend in Belgium - so this HM came the day after a 60 miles sportive where I'd been giving it the full beans in a largely solo effort. The HM was on a nice day with some wind and wound its way around Nieuwpoort and Middlekerke district. I tried to hold a steady 8 min mile pace but found I was OK to go slightly harder. Brill HM to do and an interesting course.

19.09.21 ABP Humber Coastal 10k  44.01 - Myself and Dave went over to Cleethorpes for a covid secure 10km. I didn't know what to expect but really enjoyed this one too.  The first mile I remember running with a cadence and stride that I wished I could maintain. There is a middle section that twists and turns it's way around a holiday park and then back up the coast (including a short dune section ) to the finish. Fish and chips afterward but no ice cream !

Training Duathlons...

31.12.21 Woodhall Duathlon 1.03.50 - you can do these events however you like - so this one was easy pace run followed by tempo ride on the road bike. It's winter, so racing is pointless. 7 laps of running first , then two laps of the bike followed by a final run.

18.12.21 Woodhall Duathlon 56.32 - This time I hammered the runs as a speed session and then tempo on the road bike. Worked very well and then did another tempo hour afterward.

20.11.21 Woodhall Duathlon 59.55  - Easy first runs as I'm just coming back from calf strain, and then tempo road bike followed by a progressively faster last set of run laps .

Time trials...

01.01.22 Wheelers NYD TT 7.7m 15.06 - this was shortened to 6.36m and despite being in the middle of winter and an unhelpful 17mph SW wind, I was happy enough to hold 25.1mph for 3rd place and 16 secs off the win.

24.10.21 Matlock CC (Riber HC)  6.23 & Matlock CC (Bank Road HC) 3.35  - A truly stupid idea. The trike lads fought it out for the annual trophy but I had my calf injury this week so used by propel road bike to suffer up both climbs. The first was the Riber which was fuck hard all the way up and I was held up by horse riders. The second was the slightly better Bank Road climb whilst in itself a monster, did lend itself better to me.

12.09.21 Holmfirth CC 10 (tan)  22.08 - a nice fast new course in Yorkshire, myself and stoker Dave took the tandem up there for an outing which was OK, but the course did not lend itself to a fast time on the day. Good enough as a standard to aim for at least at club level.