Another week, another 10k. After a quick but technically suboptimal outing at Lymington last week, I wanted to try a deliberately slower start and see if I could get the pacing thing right.
It was a warm morning and there were a load of people at Royal Victoria Country Park, home of the first RR10 of the season. This being an HRRL event, there was a high count of club runners and plenty of familiar faces.
Come the start, and I found myself in a crush of runners of varying speeds. Given my start-slow mantra, I was OK with this. The first k took 4 minutes, and then the second k, mostly downhill, was considerably quicker. Before I knew it, I was checking my watch every time I thought of it and obsessing about lap times. This really isn't the point of racing.
It was a three-lap course. On each successive lap I found the hills (except they weren't hills, not really) getting steeper, and I really struggled through the last 2km or so. The final slog around three sides of a playing field was a rather miserable trudge. I limped over the line in a chip time of 38:36.
How did it come to this, after such good intentions? I think I got bored with the laps, I forgot to enjoy the race... but as the lovely Mrs S (who knocked a minute off her best in a blinder) reminded me, I'd run a quick-ish parkrun the day before. Schoolboy error, said Peat the next day, and he was right.
Hey ho, all good learning. Next stop, back to green fields and steep hills for the Hoppit Half in June.
Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Lymington 10k, 2017
Mrs S and I drove down to Lymington in bright sunshine for our first crack at the 10k race. There was a huge crowd in the starting field and a jolly, carnival atmosphere.
I hadn't run since Thursday, and I was twitching to be running again. As a result, I went off a bit fast. We were soon heading gently downhill towards the sea and I glided past both Nathan Renyard (Hardley) and Kath Bailey (Winchester).
The scenery was flat and bleak and beautiful in the way that saltmarshes are. Approaching the halfway mark, I recognised familiar territory as we came into Keyhaven, and then abruptly turned sharp left, heading east along a coastal embankment.
Nathan had already overtaken me. As we progressed through the second half I was right at the top of my threshold and struggling to keep my breath under control. Kath cruised passed me without any apparent effort, and it was an almighty job to hang on.
I pushed like mad to the finish line and collapsed in a heap. A lady approached me and I was briefly concerned that I was going to be first aided... but she was just taking the chip off my ankle.
With a time of 37:49, this was a respectable time. Here are the GPS stats, and here are the results. This was my fastest 10k for a while, but I wasn't happy with the way I handled this race. I fell into the classic trap of going off too quickly at the start. Next time...
I hadn't run since Thursday, and I was twitching to be running again. As a result, I went off a bit fast. We were soon heading gently downhill towards the sea and I glided past both Nathan Renyard (Hardley) and Kath Bailey (Winchester).
The scenery was flat and bleak and beautiful in the way that saltmarshes are. Approaching the halfway mark, I recognised familiar territory as we came into Keyhaven, and then abruptly turned sharp left, heading east along a coastal embankment.
Nathan had already overtaken me. As we progressed through the second half I was right at the top of my threshold and struggling to keep my breath under control. Kath cruised passed me without any apparent effort, and it was an almighty job to hang on.
I pushed like mad to the finish line and collapsed in a heap. A lady approached me and I was briefly concerned that I was going to be first aided... but she was just taking the chip off my ankle.
With a time of 37:49, this was a respectable time. Here are the GPS stats, and here are the results. This was my fastest 10k for a while, but I wasn't happy with the way I handled this race. I fell into the classic trap of going off too quickly at the start. Next time...
Sunday, 7 May 2017
Harewood Forest 10k, 2017
This had all the hallmarks of a no-nonsense local run through decent countryside, and it absolutely met expectations. The weather was dry, cool and intermittently sunny, which gave Mrs S particularly protracted what-should-I-wear concerns. Dixie jazz was playing at the Wherwell recreation ground and there was a very jolly atmosphere. Several Romsey runners were there, including James Battle who groaned when he saw me... I'd delighted in taking him out in the final stages of the Southampton half last week.
A big crowd set off, a mixture of 5k and 10k runners and including the inevitable swarm of children who rushed and skittered over the first few hundred metres. Out of the rec, across the road and we were immediately up a chalky farm track and into the countryside.
It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous bluebell landscape. I had some prolonged tussles with a few other runners, but James was way ahead. With the sun now shining and a relatively simple route, and I had a good sense of where I was in the overall race course. There was a great mix of open fields and forest tracks.
I had nothing left as we came back downhill, back over the road and in to the finish area. I got to the finish line and lay down on the grass having got a respectable 4th place in 41:10, 30 seconds behind James. Mrs S and Poppy had a super race too and we cheered the rest of the RRRs home.
A lovely race and super way to spend a bank holiday morning. We'll be back!
A big crowd set off, a mixture of 5k and 10k runners and including the inevitable swarm of children who rushed and skittered over the first few hundred metres. Out of the rec, across the road and we were immediately up a chalky farm track and into the countryside.
It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous bluebell landscape. I had some prolonged tussles with a few other runners, but James was way ahead. With the sun now shining and a relatively simple route, and I had a good sense of where I was in the overall race course. There was a great mix of open fields and forest tracks.
I had nothing left as we came back downhill, back over the road and in to the finish area. I got to the finish line and lay down on the grass having got a respectable 4th place in 41:10, 30 seconds behind James. Mrs S and Poppy had a super race too and we cheered the rest of the RRRs home.
A lovely race and super way to spend a bank holiday morning. We'll be back!
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| The RRR crew |
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| The speedy ladies of Harewood Forest |
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