Bracknell Half - Tapering?

Bracknell Half Marathon this year comes one week before Milton Keynes marathon, so you would normally call it a tapering run.  However, it is more likely that you would have to call it a race - a proper Balls out, Peddle to the metal race - being as it features the usual Duncan and James Ball vs Dave and Chris Peddle amateur smackdown, with me in the front row, usually shaking my head at what passes for race tactics.  But, like watching kids run, it can be fun.  For a view of the front of the Balls vs Peddles race you can see Duncan's blog post - it's a thrilling read!

I did this race for the first time last year, the week after London marathon and I suffered in the last 3 miles from the injuries that slowed me down in the marathon.  This time I was fit and in good form coming off the back of a parkrun PB and a near PB 10k training run in the week.  The weather turned out to be perfect as well, with rain easing off before the start and staying cool and cloudy until the finish.

The plan for Bracknell was to go out for a 1:48:00 finish.  That means an average 8:15/mile pace and because I like to try and run a negative split I would try to start at 8:25/mile for the first 2 miles to warm up, then up it to 8:15 pace until the last couple of miles, before pushing for the finish line. Well that works OK if it's a pan flat course, which Bracknell isn't, so it's more of a guide.  

For this run I had James Ball and Dave Peddle with me, James saying he wanted to stick with my pace as long as he could.  Dave Peddle was taking the race with James seriously and he pulled away from James and me at 5 miles looking strong and running with good style, though he was still in sight on the main hill at 8miles.  James stuck with the pace all the way to the big hill on Harvest Ride, when he started to drop back a little.  I figured the elastic between me and James had broken on the hill and didn't look back on the mile long descent down Long Hill Road until I turned into the next underpass to find James only 30m behind. A great effort by James to keep in touch.

Post run medal shot

From here the course goes through a lot of wooded cycle ways through houses and it's only a little undulating until closing in on the 12 mile mark when you get into a tarmac path through woodland and a steep drop down towards Southill Park and the finish.  I flew down the hill feeling really good and caught up with Dave who was a bit panicked to see me, calling out "Where's James?" I said 100m back, but I don't think he heard me.  Pushing on to the line I made sure not to reach for the Garmin until after I'd crossed the finish. The official finish time was 1:47:03, a minute ahead of plan I think due to the fast run in and a PB by 2.5minutes.  To top it all, the rest of the guys had great races too, with Duncan coming in a couple of seconds ahead of Chris and Dave a minute or two ahead of James with Chris, Dave and James all setting new PB times.

Splits:  8:15 8:22 8:21 8:19 8:09 8:32 8:25 8:27 8:04 8:14 8:19 8:08 7:29 3