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Bedgebury Half Marathon

LOAD: 66

10 Mins WU @ Easy Pace (RPE: 3)

13.1 Miles @ HM Pace (RPE: 5-8)

More elevation than HHM according to the route. CLICK HERE to view the course.

It’s two laps and appears to be 3 hills each one, not to mention an extra climb at the end of the race.

simon-linklater

Coach Simon

FEEDBACK

ENJOYMENT

RPE

👊 Nailed my target

PACE

This one was tough but it went well. I had no serious expectations for my performance but knew I wanted to do better than 4 years ago (1:44). Legs felt pretty tired (and a little sore) after strides and S&C in the week and I was quite tired from a busy DIY Saturday. Weather was ideal, we were really lucky – bit damp and boggy in places but manageable, not much slipping about, just a claggy in spots. Shoes did great, not ideal for hilly muddy climbs but they got me up and down safe, then let me fly on the harder sections. Set off a little too quick with the pack (mostly 10k runners) and Paul, but let him go off pretty fast. I remember thinking it’ll be nice to keep him in my sights for a few km for inspiration. Was working hard from the start even though I dropped the pace off a little, my slowest GAP km was the 2nd one weirdly. Didn’t know my position but knew there were not loads in front and some might be 10k runners, although there weren’t many of those (my 10k time was ~43 mins which would have placed me 3rd on that race if the other quicker HM people didn’t do it too). I could still see Paul up ahead for a bit which was helpful, was feeling strong but worried I was going a little quick at times, but it felt mostly OK. Caught Paul at the ~7th km I think, ran with him a bit but he was starting to struggle a bit so nudged ahead. Lost him on the climbs and put a bigger gap on him on the first long downhill section. He was very supportive on the dogleg bit when we passed, he was ~30s behind me at that point. I had a bit of a battle with one guy behind who hounded me for the last 12km, that was cool. 12km in I started to feel pretty off, it was the 2nd round of climbs and I felt like my legs had just gone, like I wasn’t moving at all well (heavy, dead etc.) so I feared I’d overcooked it earlier on, when I checked my pace though I wasn’t too much slower so it was just a feeling, not reality. Managed to pick it all up again and felt better a bit after, but still working pretty hard. Started to close in on the guy in P5 ~3km from the end (still being chased by P7) on the final few climbs, told him not to let him beat me as I was old ;-) Flew down the last bit descents and dogleg turnound (did the cone spin twice, to applause haha) then unleashed all I had for a nice strong quick finish. Happy with 5th and a good finish, would have liked the age cat win but P1 was very quick indeed! A tough one where it almost felt like it had gone wrong, but I persisted and felt good at the end. (Laura bagged herself 200 points too, so very pleased. And did it in under 2 hours.)
Sam Davies
5th! That’s bloody brilliant. Not sure why that only just registered but a great result. Sounds like you had a few mental battles out there but came through strong and that’s a sign of your determination now in these races. Great news that Laura banked 200pts as well. I’ll be honest, I kind of keep expecting one of these races to go badly because the training has been a bit disrupted of late, but you almost keep proving me wrong and I think that comes down to the number of races you’ve done, that means you’ve stayed sharp and running well. I know we still have a couple of months to go but wow, 2025, what a year of running it’s been for you and I think whatever happens going forward you can always look back at this with great fondness.
simon-linklater

Coach Simon