My Wimbledon Autumn Quarter Marathon race - A Hilly Feat powered by Chi Running

On Saturday I ran the Wimbledon Autumn Quarter Marathon organised by my run club, the Wimbledon Windmilers. The appeal? The fact that it was a new race, local to me, but most importantly an odd distance, which guaranteed a PB (always a bonus).

The Route

As it was taking place in Wimbledon Common, I knew it was unlikely to be flat. However, I rarely look at the profile of a race before I enter it, unless I am after a PB, because I find the psychological side of it means that if I expect it to be hard, it will most likely be. At least not knowing gives me no choice other than rolling with it, and that also works quite well to appease my pre-race nerves. No need to get all wound up about it, especially as I am doing this for fun (I’d love to say I’m doing it to win it - but realistically, it will not happen!). However I have an issue with a particular hill in the common, which I have been running up on and off for years. 10+ years on, I find that hill never gets easier. What I had not realised is that that particular hill featured in the race - not once, but twice. When I heard the route description at the start of the race, my heart sank a bit. I hate laps in the best of times (my idea of running torture is a 24hr endurance race around an athletic track), but laps with hills is yet something else. Anyway, I parked that aside, determined to do the best I could!

My warm up

As my next big-ish race is the Cabbage Patch 10 miles, my coach’s plan required a 16k run that day. As the race start and finish was at the Richard Evans Memorial Playing Fields the plan was to run from the Wimbledon Common Windmill Café to the start and back afterwards to make up the mileage. A perfect plan in theory, which I managed to mess up by arriving waaayyyyy too early at the start. That of course meant that the ‘warm up’ run was nothing but, and my muscles had already cooled down before the race started, which completely defeated the purpose. I tried to counteract that by staying in the sun and going for a quick extra 1k run 10min before the start, which was better than nothing but still not very smart from me. Remember my last race report which said you learn from every race? That’s just another example.

The start

There were about 200 of us at the start, and most people seem to be club runners, with a good proportion of Windmilers, as expected. Everything was pretty well organised and the race packs were swiftly collected. As I made my way to the start I chatted to a fellow mum runner, who was also fitting the race into her long run for the day (20k, so slightly longer than mine), and I can say that gave me a little mental boost to know I wasn’t the only one that had to keep on running after the race was over. Before we knew it, the understated start whistle was heard and it was time for the legs to work their magic.

The race

Following my recently adopted GPS-free strategy I decided to run by feel. This is always an issue at the start of fast races (you’re very likely to feel great at the start, ready to run an Olympic time), and the start was pretty fast indeed. I tried not to get too carried away but I always feel a bit like a greyhound at the start of a race and I can’t really keep it cool, no matter how hard I try not to be competitive. Endurance is very strategic in that respect, you have to know how to pace yourself so that you don’t burn out half way through the race but you also have to be careful not to be too conservative so as not to lose precious time if you indeed intend to race your best that day. I find running by feel generally pretty helpful in that respect, as it means you can work with your body to find that sweet spot that will help you finish the race in a respectable time (whatever a respectable time is for you, related to your PB). Besides not caring about my exact pace, I drew from my recent Chi Running Instructor workshop to help me when the going got tough. A number of Chi Running components specifically helped me during the race:

The mindful side of it helped me deal with the lap aspect of the race. I worked together with my body to mutually agree on a pacing strategy that would make the second lap bearable. That possibly slowed me down a bit but also ensured that the option of quitting never really entered my mind, even when I was going up the hill in the first lap.
When the legs got tired (from said hills!), I made a conscious effort to check and correct my running technique so as to maintain running economy and my legs instantly worked less hard, which meant I could keep on pushing.
Especially in the hills, I made sure I used my arms to propel me, in order to save my battered legs.
Another mental strategy I used was to focus on a point in the distance ahead of me and just reel it in.

Another thing that really helped during the race was the awesomeness of the marshals. Every single one of them was just superb, cheering on all the runners. Having my name printed on my club vest helped also, although somehow the ‘H’ in my name always seems to confuse people so a few marshals who couldn’t decipher it just shouted a generic but heartfelt ‘well done’, which was hugely appreciated by me.

The finish

I managed a sprint finish, which was deeply satisfying as it meant the race had not completely depleted me. Given that the next runner arrived 2s after me, that meant bagging a 59th position instead of 60th. Every little helps.

The cool down

I munched on a few of the goody bag treats as I was pretty knackered. I gave myself a few minutes to recover but also ensured I didn’t cool down too much. I then set off at snail pace, because that’s the fastest I could go. Especially as the run back to the car park was uphill again. Ugh!!

Overall

Would I do it again? Definitely! Wimbledon Common is one of the main things that made me settle in Wimbledon in the first place because it is just the perfect running spot. I moved there 15 years ago, and I never get tired of running in the Common. I also still managed to get lost in it, and I had to asked a dog walker for direction to the Windmill on my run back. Besides the scenic route, the race as very well organised and there was just a very nice atmosphere. Nice bling to add to my medal collection also. I finished in 54:02 in 59th place, 17th woman and 5th in my category so I was pretty pleased overall and thankful for my Windmilers coach, Trevor, whose training plan I follow religiously, and for my improved Chi Running skills. As I am now working towards getting my certification as a Chi Running Instructor, you will no doubt hear more from me about this technique and its benefits in future blog posts, so stay tuned!

Happy running!