Trouble on my mind
Frostbite league Whitemoore Prison 2013 - 15th 28.25
So today's race went slightly better than planned. Both main targets (sub 29 & top 20) were achieved with some to spare although I measured the course slightly short.
Got to the race about right and had a slow easy warm up. Really cold this morning, funnily enough though once the race started conditions felt ideal. Course probably a little slower than last years conditions (had mud caked on innov-8s today as a pose to completely clean last year) and started further up the road and didn't do the extra hill we did last year.
Nethertheless this was a BIG improvement on last weekends run. Still finished just behind Brooksy & Simon from Ramsey like last week but only a few seconds down on Simon and Lee had a monster PB (ran same time as me last year).
Here's the write up from immediately after the race -
Start was good, settled into rhythem early and avoided the usual mad dash, didn't take long to get into position (top 20), took a few boys at about 1km and from then to the end of the race ran entirely on my own! First mile was 5.38 so little quick but as usual first mile tends to be.
Second mile back towards the start working hard now and look to catch Lee, Werrington (Jeff?) & Simon from Ramsey but making slight inroads. Start feeling that things don't feel great, I am pretty much on the limits holding 5.50 pace already. 5.51 split.
Third mile on the road and back on the trail towards the river. Work hard as I have a big bunch just behind me. Count 15 seconds to Lee so probably just about the same back. Work hard here but not making much inroads on the lads in front. Easiest mile of the course probably and split 5.45.
Fourth mile just need to keep things consistent, Lee is pushing on ahead and as we hit the riverside I am running hard. Split 5k in 17.48 on the Garmin and 5.45 pace for the mile. Thinking that Sub 29 is pretty much done but this is hard. Reeling guys in a bit more now. 0.8 through the mile I am at 5.45 pace, by the time we hit the mile marker I'm 5.59 - that's not right I didn't slow 15 seconds there!
Last mile, on the edge still as far as legs are concerned. Calf is cramping like Mr Turner in the pool, it's really not happy and legs feel trashed. Reeling the boys in but I'm running out of road. Work hard for about 5.45 pace I guess. Garmin shows course a bit short but it's a good solid run. Cross the line in 28.25 which is great for me after last weekend.
Positive is that it's a good run. Always feel like I could have gone a little faster when I get home but that's so much better than last week and anything from 2011 (my worry is that I end up in no mans land again with dissapointment after dissapointment in races). This one is pretty good. My legs were the limiting factor, they just can't handle sub 6's at the minute from lack of conditioning. That's easy to fix with some hard LT->HM 8 mile runs that I have done in the past months so just need to go back there. Cardio wise was no problems, it actually felt comfortable so fitness wise I am golden it is all about pace in the legs.
8 x 800 on Tuesday followed by a slow 10 just isn't enough. As I am on run focus I need to hit another couple of runs and keep that consistency there in the legs. My worry is that track just takes too much out of me at the minute so maybe the tempo on Tuesday may work better and do track bi-weekly? So hard to get the mix right with cross training as there are only so many hours in a week and every session is important!
Tonight will probably spin out an easy 10 on the turbo, ideally I'd run 4/5 easy miles but the legs are so trashed that it's unlikely it'll be wise to run on them even though I am not running tomorrow.
Good little workout, things heading in the right direction, just need to replicate and improve!
Brooksy, John Uff, Alex & Rodger all ran pb's so the group really is coming along nicely!
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