A cool sunny, if a tad breezy morning in Flitwick, saw a good NHRR turnout for our April Run of the Month.
I have to confess, after a really bad race here in 2007 (on a rather unseasonably warm April day) I have had a a certain degree of respect (aka fear!) of this race. Last year only served to re-inforce this as I faded in the last 3k. OK, so it’s not in the XC-league of undulations, but as road-races go, it’s amongst the more challenging in my opinion. This is borne out by Statto’s Hill Ranking Table (watch this space for update now using "SportTracks" elevation correction rather than Motion Based).
This was my 3rd bash at this course, and forearmed is certainly forewarned in terms of knowing the extent, location and duration of the undulations. In short, it does not pay to go too hard for the first (and hardest) 5k, as the second 5k, whilst ‘easier’ is a roller-coaster ride of smaller hillocks, which by the 9k mark, have left their mark!
I think I gauged the first 5k about right. On reflection, I may have needed to up the effort form about 7k in order to meet my target time, but that would have been a risky move on this course and, well - I am risk-averse! My time was 37:10. Whilst only 5 secs faster than Chelmsford 10k last Nov, Flitwick is a much tougher course. In fact, given my history in this race, I have to consider a PB on it as a real achievement. I just failed to dip under 37m, but hopefully this will come in the not too distant future in a less hilly race. I would estimate that Flitwick could add an extra 30-40 secs over some other other local 10k races. I would suggest that other NHRRs who took part reflect on their times with that in mind.
Overall a good race experience and, as usual, the organisation was good. Start>finish chip-timing for future events might be on some people's agenda however (chip-timing was only gun>finish).
PS - have subsequently noticed I was first MV45-49 - shame there was only an MV40-49 prize!
No comments:
Post a Comment