Thursday 25 July 2013

A quick catch up…….


After my efforts at the Endure24 I took my two week planned break and it was always the plan to concentrate on the short stuff before building back up in a month or so, however I did underestimate how long it took to get back to normal - let`s just say my legs were a bit shocked when I went out for the first few times.
The `Longest parkrun day` - 6 parkrun courses one after each other. It was tougher than I thought – so glad Alice Holt was the second course we visited but really good fun. 18.6 miles in 2:28:43

What else - quite a lot really but I did take the sensible option on a couple of them - I used the Woodland 5 & a bit (41:36) & Yateley 10Km (46:05) as hard effort runs rather than flat out races. I didn`t race New Forest 10 (1:37:37), had a bit of a untidy race at the Adventure Boot Camp 10Km (51:27).

I gave the Elstead `Marathon` (41:57 - 5.4 Miles), the very hilly Gibbet Hill 10Km (49:49) & the flat Dinton Lakes 10Km (46:22) a bit of a go - interesting twists to those two 10Kms as they were on consecutive nights.  Cove Joggers (eventually – yes sorry about that) fielded 4 teams at the Bounders Relay (4 x 2.1 miles) - one year I`ll make that top team but I did put myself down for two runs – first run was 15:40 & the second run was a pleasing 15:07. I `dipped my toe` in triathlons - Sandhurst Joggers put on a `Try-A-Tri` which consists of a 200 mtr pool swim, 10Km cycle & 1.8 mile run. While its good every while to step out from your comfort zone it did feel weird even at that distance…not felt like that for ages. Great fun, well worth doing & from the results I know where I need to concentrate if I want to give it another go……………….who knows ;-) Anyway the Results = Swim 4:50 (11th), Bike 25:26 (16th) & Run 13:32 (4th) = Total time 43 mins 48 secs. Position - 14th from 22

Lastly, and the race I was gearing up for was the Olympic Park 5M. A rare chance of a 5 mile PB as I had only really raced one a few years back (38:20) & no I`m not counting the Woodlands 5 & a Bit as `races` in this. We arrived at Stratford and almost immediately lost ourselves in the sea of blue `National Lottery` race tops but we managed make it to the Stadium intact where we met up with more runners from Frimley Lodgers & Cove Joggers. We had about 50 mins or so that just simply disappeared. I was lucky enough in the 1st (Red) wave - it still took my 5 minutes to cross the line. The plan was sub 37 maybe even manage a cheeky sub 36 (I often do as a mid-week speed session 4 miles in 29.3x) so in race conditions I thought these goals were realistic.            I was surprised how narrow & how many twists the course had for so many runners but I guess it did prevent you from chasing off too fast in the 1st couple of miles…Despite the fact I was `going slowly` I look at the Garmin when it beeped for the 1st mile - 7:17 so as it happens spot on pace. I guess it helped as I ran on the far left or far right hand side of the tracks - I seemed to get more space to overtake. We soon came to water station at mile 2 - I didn`t bother & used that opportunity to overtake a few more that moved over or slowed down for the water - I did miss seeing what that mile split was. I enjoyed the next section as you could see the fast boys & girls (& some `walkers` !!!) coming down towards at their 4 mile mark so expericance told me we would speed up - we did - 3rd mile in 6:58 - brilliant. I wondered what mile 2 was…..my legs, despite the parkrun & `Try-A-Tri` the day before were feeling ok. I was swinging my arms like a loon. I found mile 3 the worse for twist & turns & I guess many runners who went off too quick were being caught out her. I looked forward to the next section as you could see runners on the other side going past - mile 4 marker appeared - 7:20 pace - I saw Ali & David on the other side. I kept pushing the pace & soon we were under the Stadium - this section was to me was not the best section on the route - it went on for ever. The garmin beeping like mad - lost signal but like most things it was pleasing when you saw the light at the end of the  tunnel…and out on the track we went. I am struggling to think of a better setting for a finish to any race – what a feeling. Amazing – even the feeling of 200 to go wasn`t too bad. Over the line in 36:18

Splits - 7:17, 7:02, 6:58, 7:20, 7:39 (0.90 @ 8:32)

 
 
Next up is, and for the fourth consecutive year - the Thunder Run24 - Team Name `Willy Wonkers IV` don`t get confused we are a mixed 5 team…is a personal goals of 7 laps too much ????