Final race in the winter series. A sore throat and headaches have plagued me all week and Sat morning was no exception. I was n’t sure if I should race but it would have been such a shame to miss out the last race. I had a headache right upto race start and kept the warmup very short and easy. I placed no expectations on myself and my only plan was to try and tuck myself behind the M40 3rd place runner in the series and keep up as long as possible. Conditions were good, warm and sunny with a slight wind but muddy. The course was as the previous two races, 2 x 5k rounds on woodland trails, start is flat/gradual downhill, then gentle uphill, flat, a steep uphill, then wavy with a downhill/flat finish.
The 1st k was frighteningly fast and I only just kept my rabbit in my sights, because of the fast start though I had no problems with being blocked on this race and could run my own pace. I ran my hardest constantly to keep up with my rabbit, for once not thinking about the overall distance I had yet to complete. Everytime I felt I was starting to fall behind I pushed myself harder to close the gap again. On the 2nd round I was directly behind him and on the steep uphill overtook him briefly until he overtook me straight away again on the flat. From there it was about 2k to the end of the race and despite my efforts the distance between us got bigger. I hadn’t looked at my garmin at all during the race and was shocked at the end to see the time. A PR by 34 secs. I shook hands and thanked my rabbit for his unknown help. Throat raw afterwards, back home to continue with saltwater gurgles.
The garmin recorded the course as 10.08k. Km splits as follows:
1st round 3:23, 3:47, 4:12, 3:41, 3:48,
2nd round 3:37, 3:59, 4:10, 3:46, 3:37.
Total result from the 10k winter series:
1st Race 39:05
2nd Race 38:45
3rd Race 38:00
Cumulative time 1:55:50 giving me 16th place overall and 5th place in the M40 class.
I’m obviously pleased and surprised with the PR. Reasons perhaps, as I’ve been feeling lousy all week I’d eased back on the mileage and especially on the intensity giving myself some good recovery beforehand. I had no anxiety before the start as I didn’t expect anything from this race. During the race I solely concentrated on keeping up with someone who is faster than me. |