A little cross country: The Lordshill 10

This was a race of mixed emotions for me. I produced, fitness-wise, my best performance ever, running a PB at a very relaxed sub-marathon pace. I finished 3rd in my age category and I assume I am due a Hampshire bronze medal (to be confirmed). My pace and HR data predict that I'm on target for a sub-1:30 performance in the Gosport Half Marathon to claim my London championship place.

You'd think I'd be happy!

Truth is, it was something of a wasted effort as yet again it was a very poor turnout from the Victory women and we failed to field a team. At this rate we are heading for demotion and Harry Redknapp won't be able to save us. What is up with our girls this year? We did brilliantly last year!

One more whinge while I'm in the groove: yet again we have a 'road' race with a major chunk of off-road, with a mile of unsurfaced trail and a finish on grass, with a very tight (and unnecessary) hairpin on very wet grass right at the end which left me struggling for grip in my racing flats. Is this the taste of things to come? Are we to expect that one by one all our road races will move off road? Should we trade in our flats for trail shoes? I gather that the Gosport Half Marathon now includes a cycle path - I hope it's properly surfaced - this is my crunch qualifying race and I don't want to come unstuck with bottlenecks and trying to run at speed over uneven ground!

I imagine the organisers at Lordshill are under the same pressures as Gosport to take the race away from busy roads. The way the new course was 'sold' to me though was that it is now flatter and faster without the killer hill at 7 miles. Thing is though, I know hills slow you down, but that killer hill was the defining feature of the old course. It was what gave the race its character. Take it away and you take away the spice, potentially making for quite a bland race. Add to that the inclusion of the unsurfaced section and the tight and slippery grass finish and I'm unconvinced it's an improvement.

Having said that, it's a pleasant enough course, certainly faster than the old course, but with sufficient undulations to slow the times a little - maybe still a PB course though. It's just a shame I don't like getting my racing flats muddy!

Here though is why I'm really happy with my performance:
7:04 131bpm
7:16 142bpm
6:41 142bpm
7:04 143bpm
7:10 143bpm
7:03 142bpm
6:58 143bpm
7:04 143bpm
7:27 143bpm
7:05 144bpm
overall: 1:11:20 7:08/mile 142bpm

That's less than marathon effort (145bpm). By the time we factor up the pace to 150bpm for my half marathon attempt in 2 weeks time I'll be flying. Fingers crossed for sub-1:30 at Gosport and my London Marathon championship place!