A first hand account of warren’s Gloucester marathon “Proving that People perform better when they enjoy what they do.

I recently ran the Gloucester marathon, which was a hastily arranged replacement following the cancellation of Luton. I spent 3 months training for Luton and I didn't want this to go to waste.

Given that my training was designed for me peak in early December and the fact that Xmas fell between Luton and Gloucester I didn't feel as well prepared for this marathon as I have previously. Therefore I decided to rethink my race strategy and before I embarked on the race I set myself some different goals. I have not particularly enjoyed the 3 previous marathons I have run and I have fallen short of my ultimate aim, which is to finish in under 3.5 hours. Rather than aim for a PB, I decided to go for 2 very different goals. The first was to enjoy the race and the second was to try to run as close to a negative split as possible.

The weather on the day was as good as I could have hoped for in a January marathon in that it was cool, but not freezing and overcast with a few spots of rain. The race itself was a 3 lap affair, which I know isn't a popular format, but the route is along quiet country roads and the scenery was very pleasant although the first 3 miles through the village of Quedgeley are fairly uninspiring.

In order to accommodate my twin goals I started the race slower than I have done previously. However, despite the fact that I felt like I was running slowly and not pushing myself my half marathon time was reasonably quick. I also took the time to have a chat with fellow runners, which I haven't done in the past and everyone seemed really friendly and most had an interesting anecdote to share.

At the beginning of the 3rd lap I realised that the undulations were actually reasonably challenging hills, but none of them needed much more than a slight increase in effort to tackle. However when I spoke to 3 guys at the end about how flat the course was they all said I was mad and that this was a hilly course.

The final difference to my race strategy was to eat an energy gel pack at 16 and 20 miles and these helped prevent my from hitting the wall, which I normally encounter at 20 miles. This may also have been down to my controlled start too. I also realised that a PB may be possible.

In the final 3rd of the race I was passing people, which is also something I have not experienced before and this was uplifting too. With a final push I was able to finish strongly and I managed to break 3.5 hours by 11 seconds.

I enjoyed the race, ran a very even race (although not a negative split) and managed a PB and long term ambition. All in all this was a great success and I may choose to do the race again next year and I would recommend it for anyone considering a winter marathon. As is the norm for these events it was friendly, well organised and marshalled with plenty of support around the course. Also the lower temperature means that your energy is not sapped by the heat that is present in spring marathons.

Following the motto that if you do what you've always done, then you'll get what you've always got I am glad I rethought my typical race strategy. Although the change that I am sure made the biggest difference to my strength, attitude and tactics was joining LBAC in the summer and I am grateful to everyone I have met and spoken to for your help.” If anyone else feels like contributing to the site then please do not hesitate to send stuff over to Andy