16-22 August: Nairn Highland Games Report

It was always going to be interesting to see how my body reacted to over 300 miles of training in 3 weeks. I picked the Nairn Half Marathon on Saturday 22 August to put all that training to the test and to review my progress towards my Amsterdam marathon goal in October. I did, however, only give myself one week to taper and recover from all this training before the race and I always wondered if this would be enough. 

The Nairn Half Marathon is part of the Nairn Highland Games, which was a great setting, as the first 300m of the race was a lap of the grass track, which was surrounded by about 250-350 people all cheering and shouting, which was inspiring and filled my legs with a little extra energy as we hit the roads.


Maybe the cheering influenced my heart more than my head, as I set off too quickly and as a result suffered in the second mile. I have to admit I was also blinded by two runners blasting out the blocks and burning off down the road. I was caught in two minds, whether to hold back and rely on pace judgement and hope they came back to me or chase after and keep up with them so not to let them and the race get away. As a result I ran too hard and I knew it and having made no in roads into the gap to the leaders I backed off. Unfortunately I was left suffering a bit in the second mile and two runners caught me, a Shetland runner and a runner from Metro Aberdeen, Niku Millot. Niku went straight past me and I tried to hang on to his trainers, which I managed to do for a short period and in the process lose the Shetland runner. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold on to Niku and he moved on chasing down second and first places.


My legs felt pretty heavy at this point and they were tired, as I moved up the short, steep hill at the third mile mark I felt pretty demoralised as I was well out of the places and not feeling great. I had to keep telling myself to keep going and it was almost like hitting a wall at mile 18 in a marathon. It was an odd sensation and I didn't like it so early in a race.  


Getting to the end of third mile my legs didn't feel any worse and with no wind about I at last fell into a reasonable rhythm and lifted my head slightly to see that the front runners had stretched out ahead of me. One of the runners in front of me had fallen off the lead pace and was dropping back from Niku who had now caught up with the Cambuslang runner who had taken the early lead. They were both about 400m ahead of me at this point and seeminlgy out of touch, but I began to think I could catch the third place runner who was coming back to me pretty quickly. He had clearly started off too fast as well and as I closed in on 4th mile marker I caught him and in the process found myself now only 300m behind the two leaders. This was quite a lift and although my legs felt a little tight and heavy I found myself able to pick up the pace. I then spent the next 2 miles trying really hard to catch up with the leaders, but the gap didn't shrink. I put it in quite a bit of effort here as I felt that if I could get on level terms then I would have a chance to hang on and stay with them.


At the 6 mile point the Cambuslang runner visibly slowed. He had clearly been hanging on to Niku for as long as he could, but could no longer hold the pace. By the time we got to the half way mark I caught him and I decided not to hang about, as I didn't want to give him the motivation to hang on. Instead I pushed straight on with a burst of speed determined to put a gap between us. He definitely tried to go with me, but simply couldn't hold on and without looking back I knew he had fallen behind. I went through half way in 37.30 and was well on course for a PB even though my legs were not feeling amazing. I looked up the road and could see Niku was now only about 200m in front. I pushed on and tried to catch him.


We passed the seven mile mark and very nearly missed the turning point. There was no marshal, just an arrow sprayed on the road telling the runners to turn round. I was too busy looking at the runner ahead to notice it and it was the frantic beeping of a car horn behind me that made me realise we were about to over shoot the mark. The driver of the car was the marshal who was supposed to be directing runners around the arrows!! I quickly called up the road to Niku shouting at him to turn, he heard and despite losing a few yards managed to turn round and head back down the road. Following the confusion Niku seemed to slow down considerably and I used this as an opportunity to make up the gap, which had already reduced further to about 100m. I caught him and we actually chatted for a bit about the marshalling chaos. I am not sure what the other runners behind us thought of this as they were toiling towards the turning point, but it must have been an usual sight to see the two leaders gossiping mid-race about good race organisation.


We ran together for a bit taking it in turns to lead, as with the turn and change in road came the very strong wind that was blowing in off the coast. I have never run a road race with such strong winds. The forecast had promised gusts of up to 40mph. I am not sure it was that strong, but it turned 5.40 (ish) miles into 6-6.15 miles, yet the effort felt much quicker. 

At about 9 miles I decided to try and make a break for it. My legs were feeling really heavy at this point and a few niggles had started to work their way into my right hamstring. My logic for making a break for it with aching legs was if I could open a gap and hold the pace then Niku might back off and give it up. I worked really hard for about 400-600m and could feel him working equally as hard to hold on. He did, so I backed off and let him take the lead again, and snuck in behind him to shelter from the wind for a bit. After a couple of minutes he suddenly upped the pace and I found I was now trying to hold on to him. It hurt. My legs ached, my lungs burned, but I wasn't going to give up. I think he must have had the same idea as me in terms of getting a gap, because after about 400m he slowed down and accepted I wasn't going anywhere. 

We ran together again for a while and then when we passed the 10 mile marker and I made another move pushing to the front. I have to admit I thought this time I'd done it, as a quick glance back saw him not quite on my shoulder. I really pushed hoping to make it stick, but again he found something to get back on level terms and I eased off. He tried a break and I held and then again at mile 11 I tried once more, but with the same result, so we ran together for most of the twelfth mile. However, I was really starting to struggle now and my legs just seemed empty. With the wind dropping slightly our pace picked back up to sub 6 minute mile pace, which was fine, but I couldn't go any faster. I also developed a really painful stitch in my right shoulder, which I couldn't shrug off and it seemed to be affecting my breathing.

As we entered the last mile Niku made a push and I couldn't quite hold on and he opened up a small 5 meter gap. I tried desperately to get it back, but could only hold the distance. The gap increased bit by bit and was definitely past a sprint finish with less than mile to go. It was an awful feeling to see the victory start to slip away. With a half a mile to go the gap was more than a few seconds and I knew the win was gone. It was pretty demoralising. Still I ploughed on and as I entered the Games Ground to the cheers of hundreds of people and the PA system announcing my name it felt pretty good. The crowd support was awesome and the lift helped me find a sprint finish as I crossed the line in second place. My third second place of the year!! Any chance of a PB was literally blown away by the wind as five miles in the second half were almost impossible to run at pace. My time of 1.16.54 was pretty pleasing in the end.

Looking back over the race I wonder where I lost it. I definitely started off too quickly, where as Niku had set off quietly at an even pace and worked his way from about 6th place at the start to first by the 4th mile. I, on the other hand, chased after the leaders who couldn't hold the pace themsevles and then had to recover and work hard to get back on level terms. Those hard 4 miles between 3 and 7 where I chased after Niku to get back to the front had to have taken more out of my legs and I wonder how much that cost me. Then there were the attempted break aways between miles 9 and 11, was I silly to try and force a gap? I wonder if I should have just dug in and held on and left it to a sprint finish? I did think about this during the race , but made a conscious choice not to put it all on my sprint finish, as I wasn't convinced I had one. Ultimately, however, I think a week's taper is simply not enough to allow your legs to get ready for a race of 13.1 miles after 300+miles in the three previous weeks' training. My legs felt heavy from the off, not terrible, but just not fit enough to hit top gear.

Despite two previous second places, this was the first time I was genuinely racing for a victory and I learnt a lot. During the race I did let my mind tell me on more than one occasion that I wasn't strong enough to win or fast enough to out sprint the other guy. This has led me to realise I need to be a little bit tougher mentally and although I am not planning to assume that I will win from that position every time, I need to believe more in myself and my ability.


After we crossed the finishing line Niku and I congratulated each other on a great and enjoyable race after which he asked me if I wanted to race again in the 1,500m 30 minutes later. I have to admit I was pretty surprised and the thought had not entered my mind before the half, however, as soon as he mentioned it (which I read as a friendly challenge!) I knew I would be taking my place on the start line again. A quick drink and I hit the beach for a cool down/warm up jog. My legs felt okay and despite a slight tightness on my right hamstring I felt I would survive the 5 laps of the 300m track.

It wasn't a huge race, in fact there were only 6 people in the race, and it was handicapped. The four men in the race had to start off scratch i.e the full distance. Two women had entered the race and had been given a 200m head start. To be honest I wasn't fussed about anyone in the race, but Niku. I wanted a little bit of revenge. The gun set us off and Niku went to the front, I tucked in behind, but that lasted for about 100m, as I decided to just go for it. I passed him and took to the front. I passed one of the girl's from the handicap, but couldn't see the other girl. I am not sure what my lap splits were, but they felt pretty even and I wasn't slowing. After 3 laps I afforded myself a look over my shoulder and Niku was still there, sitting, waiting. I wondered if I had got my tactics all wrong, but I decided that I was committed and had to keep pushing from the front. With the bell ringing as we headed into the last lap I didn't look back, just forward trying to sprint as hard as possible. I kept expecting to see him appear on my shoulder and go by, but as we turned into the home straight my legs felt pretty good and I felt my speed pick up. I crossed the line in 4.52, one second clear of Niku. I was pretty pleased, but it did make me wonder what would have happened if I had been able to hold onto him until the track during the half. Ah well. 

The 1,500m was a lot of fun. I was first male, but I didn't win! Second again. One of the girl's with a handicap start had won the race! Her time of 4.58 and a 200m head start had been enough to keep her ahead of me. Never mind. I am used to coming second now! The evening was finished off perfectly with a couple of drinks and a curry with Gail, her mum, Uncle Martin and Dickson ( who had been watching the Shire win 2-0 in Elgin).

Total Weekly Mileage: 54 miles