The obvious answer was to leave the house at 6:45 am in order to travel 70 miles down to Surrey to arrive in good time to get an on-the-day entry to the 26.2 Road Runers Club Valentines 10k. I'm amazed no other NHRRs had the same idea!
Broadly, the first 2k is fairly flat, then 1.5k mostly up, 3.5k down and the last 3k mostly up to the finish. I did this race 2 years ago and remember the last 3k being tough - nothing's changed.
Feel the pain of the last 3k...
Given I've done no speedwork for 3 weeks ( incl a whole week off with a stomach bug) I was curious to know how much 10k edge I'd lost and also wanted to get in some faster running.
Worryingly, I felt quite poor after only 2k and worse by 3k. I was quite close to opting for my first ever DNF, but dug in. The long downhill section perked me up and by 7k I was at target pace (6m/mile). However, the last 3k was a killer and I faded somewhat.
Time by my watch (gun>tape) was 37:40. Some 25 secs off my PB set last Nov, but given the less than ideal preparation, I'm not too displeased. It's still my second best ever 10k time, so not a bad base to build from for the Spring and the Midweek League.
For an even wider perspective, my time 2 years ago (just before I joined NHRR) at the same race was nearly 6 mins slower @ 43:28. Things have changed a bit since then, as evidenced by this photo from the 2007 race!
Who ate all the pies? The somewhat bulkier and "Unattached" Statto in Feb 2007
No comments:
Post a Comment