On reflection

After a couple of days in the glory of my shiny new pb, with the aches receding, I can start looking at what needs to happen next time to get faster.

I'm happy that for the most part I only didn't run when I was risking injury or overtraining/illness, however, in the last month I missed a few recovery runs just because I couldn't be bothered to get up. I really think having a treadmill at home would still help with commitment to training but in general I'm so happy with how much I did given the nature of the winter we've just had.

I also think that for the most part, I did the nutrition part really well. The fact that I was only sick once during this campaign is testament to that. Other than the super Nasty flu, that put me out of action for a week, I haven't had a day off work that wasn't scheduled since.

Although it wasn't conscious, I did a decent amount of hill training, which I think helped me cope with the Halstead route.

Whilst I don't think I could have done more this time around, for next time I want to do more 20+ milers, and will go over 20 this times.

I the race itself, I had a few couldn't be arsed moments, and I really think if I had been a little less nihilistic the 4:15 would have been thoroughly achievable, even on the tough course. I got really sick of the sweetness of electrolyte drinks plus energy gels. Next time I'll carry 500ml of drink with me and have water at each water station, and perhaps try to force in a couple more energy gels instead. These were certainly more palatable, and perhaps an extra caffeine one would have gotten me over the tough parts.

All in all, I'm really proud of this performance, but also glad there's plenty to work on. It gives me confidence I can slash off another big chunk off my time in the autumn.