Testwood school, 11a.m. on the starting line, similar situation to 2 weeks ago, different cast of characters. No Ruth to chase down this time, but according to Amanda, Rob was the designated Ruth of the day. Ruth was getting her dog measured! Is that not the weirdest excuse ever?
Also assembled was Mark, keen to get his revenge after last time – he apparently tracked me the whole may through Eastleigh but couldn’t quite catch me. Shame! Also there, as ever, was young Richard – could I make it 2 in a row?
The plan for me and my new best friend, my Garmin Forerunner 305, was to try to go a bit slower at the start. Well that didn’t work! Take a look at my splits and you will find that the first 3 kilometre splits are identical to Eastleigh. Spooky! Consistency is a wonderful thing!
I had to let Mark run off ahead or I would have certainly failed in my mission to slow my opening pace. Richard was gone though, smoking heels, and I think a few flames this time. Rob was nowhere in sight – he must have been well ahead.
The Totton course is very similar to Eastleigh in that there is a slight incline after the opening kilometres. It is a fast course though – the incline is a lot more gentle.
More similarities between the 2 races – stitch! Again it hit me after the first couple of kilometres. Why? I tried to belly breath and massage it a bit, and it went away, this time for good – at least that much was an improvement.
My patience with Mark paid off as I caught him at the top of the incline. Next target was Richard just ahead. This was going well!
Then came the customary grilling about the elapsed time from a fellow competitor. Please! No talking! This is serious stuff! I didn’t have the page with the elapsed time up on my watch/GPS though so I just gasped:
“ugh only hah splits aagh”
He was happy enough with that – had to be really!
The wind was quite strong today, so I was happy to tuck in behind talky-man. I soon realised he was slowing a lot in the wind so had to press on past him.
I finally took Richard with about 3km to go. Got ya!! (Competitive, me?!!) Now Rob, designated Ruth of the day, was at last in sight and looked catchable. Bring ‘em on!
This was really hard work though. My legs felt strong, but it seemed like I was gasping for air. My heart rate was under control, but it felt like I just couldn’t breath hard enough. Maybe a lack of hard speedwork showing itself?
By force of will I took Rob at 9km. This was looking good! My pace was showing no signs of fading and I just had to hold it together for the run in, my targets all snivelling in my dust behind me.
Problem: unbeknownst to me, my targets were immediately behind me and not exactly snivelling. 400m to go and both Rob and Richard came sprinting past me. Noooo! I tried to lift my pace but Rob was a lost cause. That was a decisive move! The motivation of not being beaten by a girl was strong with that one!
Richard was also clearly quite motivated by being overtaken by a woman 28 years his senior. He was also strongly motivated, I later learnt, by a bet with his dad about beating his PB. His move wasn’t quite so decisive though. As we entered the school gates and the final finishing straight, I went for it. I gave it everything and took Richard right on the line! [Evil cackle] You’ll have to learn some better tactics Richard! Eat my dirt youngster!
Oops sorry! Don’t know what came over me there!
Ahem.
Fine performances from the team all round. As ever I haven’t seen the official results, apart from my own time, but I think once again we put in a good performance. Lee in particular led the men home in a great time (34 mins?) and beat old rival Russ, now running for Southampton. As Gina was nowhere in sight I assume she had her usual brilliant run, making for a good women’s team performance, with me in second and I’m assuming Beth, who PBed with 46mins (I think), in third. Unfortunately for Richard, his bet was to break 43 minutes, so I think he owes his dad a tenner. I think he PBed though!
My time?
43:11. Another big PB. What is happening to me? I joked that I’d be happy to keep improving by 2 minutes every 2 months after Eastleigh. Well, I am continuing that improvement with 34 seconds in 2 weeks. On May 16th 2007 I’m going to break the world record!
Now the tech bit. Here are the splits:
| km | lap time | Ave HR |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:09 | 140 |
| 2 | 4:14 | 153 |
| 3 | 4:20 | 154 |
| 4+5 | 8:45 | 156 |
| 6 | 4:15 | 157 |
| 7 | 4:20 | 157 |
| 8 | 4:26 | 158 |
| 9 | 4:22 | 157 |
| 10 | 4:13 | 157 |
| Overall | 43:12 | 155 |
So better paced than Eastleigh, same first 3 splits, for a slightly lower HR, then able to maintain a higher HR and pace for the closing kms. 33 second PB over my Eastleigh time of 43:45 (official)
1 comment:
this is going soo well - I think I'll have to get back to base training!
Post a Comment