First thing this morning I spent an hour writing up a post on all the things I'd learned from yesterday and therefore built into plans for Paris.
When I clicked 'Publish Post' I was asked to enter my password to log in...odd as I was already logged in and had to be so to be writing a post. When I entered it I got to a page that said my request could not be completed. When I then went to my blog the post wasn't published...not a problem though, it'll be auto saved in drafts...and it was...well...the first line was anyway.
Not impressed.
So, in a 5 minute break from work here's a brief version.
Clothing - Now sorted on everything I'll wear. New short, shorts worked perfectly well.
Hydration & Nutrition - Decided against carrying a bottle as it irritates me at faster pace. Taking a late decision to switch from Shot Bloks to SiS gels, partly because the former take such a lot of chewing that its difficult to eat them and breath when working hard and partly because the latter don't require water. Will rely on the water on the course and cut back on the water I have before the race to avoid the frequent toilet stops that interrupted yesterday's run and for which I won't have time in Paris.
Pace - If I ignore the first mile that the Garmin deceived me on and the last two where I deliberately speeded up, then I hit 7:54 average. That's exactly where I need it to be so that at best I'll have a buffer after 20 miles and at worst it'll protect me against the additional time for running further than 26.2 miles to complete the marathon.*
All in all I'm pretty happy with how it went - even though it didn't go precisely according to plan.
*The marathon course is measured precisely but the exact route the measurement takes is the shortest possible line around the course and exists as a painted blue line. If you deviate from that line to weave in and out of people, go the long way round a bend or cross the road to a drinks station you add a few metres on. These add up and at the end you'll certainly have ran at least a quarter of a mile further than 26.2 miles. If that proves the case I need to find an extra 120 seconds from somewhere (1/4 of 8 minutes) so running at 7:54 pace will do that.
4 comments:
Ugh how frustrating!
Sounds like you're all sorted and well prepared anyway. I'm getting excited for you, everytime I read your blog about Paris I think more about signing up for a foreign race, maybe not a marathon yet but a half definitely!
I had worse thoughts than loosing a post when I read your title, so a few missing words was a relief to read. Last minute plans or not, if they make you more comfortable and keep you moving at the pace you want then make them. Soooo close now even I'm excited for you :-)
Oh thats so annoying. Although I was relieved as I read the title and thought all your hard running work had gone to waste over an injury or something!
Glad you are getting sorted.
God, I hate it when Blogger does that. It's lost posts of mine before and I've ended up having a good cry about it on occasion.
I had the same heart attack as Maria when I read the post title: don't be such a tease!
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