Race report thread

tunguska wrote: »

Thanks Clearlier, this is very true.
I noticed your location as Bournemouth, do you know Steve way by any chance?

I do. Happened to join the same club as him when I came over nearly 6 years ago. Shortly after I arrived he ran 2:25 at London and we all know what he has done since then. His life decisions are much simpler than most though with no children and an incredibly supportive wife who also acts as his crew at the ultra events. I'm a bit concerned that he may have dug a hole for himself trying to get ready world 100k championships but if there's anybody I know who I'd back to dig themselves back out it's him. He has a phenomenal ability to peak that I'm going to pick his brains about some time. Have to get myself back running first though!

tunguska wrote: »

Why do you think he's dug himself a hole, taking too much on?

I'm probably wrong. He's just had a couple of races which haven't gone to plan and he's had a fair bit of change in his life recently including taking redundancy and I think that his performance at the Commonwealth games means that a lot more people want a piece of him than did before. I thought that he was well known before the Commonwealth games but they brought him on to a whole new level. Thing is, even if he has dug himself a hole which he may well not have I can't think of anyone better able to dig themselves out.

pconn062 wrote: »

Love your reports Tunguska, always so refreshingly honest. I agree, you're better than 2.49, about 20 minutes better at least IMO. It would be a shame not to live up to your potential at least once more.

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

What a wonderful honest report. Really great reading. Sorry it didn't go to plan, but agree with PConn. Hate to see you go out like this. Would love to see you run the time that your half marathon PB deserves (and better), but if it meant crossing that life/balance boundary line once again, would you do it?

Yes, we all definitely appreciate your straight talking as much as we respect your running ability.

tunguska wrote: »

...You should read "Think and grow rich" By Napoleon hill. Written in the 1930s but still very relevant to having a successful mindframe.

I agree - in fact there's great crossover between business and sports these days in their approach to maximizing performance.

I didn't know what to say to you after the race - to be honest I was a bit wrapped up in my own disappointment. Since I reached a very advanced age on race day I hope you'll cut me a little slack if the following words are in any way offensive. (BTW I've previously quoted Oscar Wilde on the topic : The best thing to do with good advice is to pass it on to someone else, it is seldom of any use to one's self).

You strike me as an all or nothing sort of guy. I definitely have the same tendency, but I've found out to my cost that if you push the all-or-nothing trick to it's logical limit, most of the time you end up with nothing. In one particular case (non-running) I destroyed my own enjoyment of the 95% of my dream that I had achieved by focusing on the 5% that was missing.

Here's a question: based on the course, the conditions, the obstacles (antibiotics, calf problems) that you encountered on the day, did you perform as well as you could reasonably expect? Really, that's all you can do on any given day. I think you're actually in a good position, and once you get over the disappointment you'll realise that you know what went wrong and even more importantly you know how to fix it.

We'll all be looking forward to your next marathon report.

@Tunguska
Great to hear you're in more positive form.

tunguska wrote: »

I dont know why you were disappointed with your race though, it seemed to me that it went really well.

Ah, that was just in the immediate aftermath. The race had gone really well and I was looking forward to really giving it a lash after the N11 flyover. Since I had no excessive fatigue, no cramps etc. and I had honestly felt in the best form of my life going into the race, I was actually shocked at the sudden time loss over the last few miles. Once I figured out what had happened I was grand, I should be able to sort that out for next time.

tunguska wrote: »

It was good to see you back though, the last time I spoke to you, you were struggling with what seemed like a fairly serious injury. I honestly thought you were done with it, so I'm glad to hear you say you're gonna go again.

It's great to be back. I don't want to overstate the injury problem, and in fact there's no improvement in it, but I've found a way to work around it (Mods - I have taken loads of medical advice). Old age/general decrepitude is more of an obstacle now.

C&P'd from the Waterford AC Half marathon Thread:

I'm no Krusty_Clown or tunguska when it comes to race reporting but I really enjoyed this race today so I figured I'd give it my best shot.

To give a very brief history, this was my third HM having run a 1:45:15 on my first attempt and 1:45:47 on my second (Waterford Viking 13 and Wexford 14 respectively). Up until about four weeks ago my 'training' consisted of running lots and not really giving a dam about pace, intervals, quality sessions etc. I recently started trying a few proper sessions to see if I'd enjoy it and if it would really make a difference.

1-3: So the start was a bit mental, and much further away from the dressing rooms than I first realised. Queueing for the toilets with 10 mins to go I figured I was fine. Made it on time but ended up a little further back than I would have liked. No problems though as a slower start would suit me anyway. Managed to get in between the 1:50 and 1:40 pacers just before the end of the first mile, which was where I wanted to be. Settled into a nice rhythm here for a bit and oddly enjoyed the industrial park bit!
Splits: 8:11 8:09 7:28:

4-7: Having run a faster than planned mile 3 I was both delighted and worried! I just figured I had a few spare seconds in the bank and carried on. The section through ballybeg here was nice and fast again without feeling difficult. I got a little confused why there was two water stations so close together (less than a mile apart) but realised later that one was really for the way back! Probably went a little fast up the drag on the Lacken Road but didn't pay too much for it. I don't know why but I do enjoy running on fly-overs!
Splits: 7:54 7:32 7:28 7:56

8-11: I don't think I've ever enjoyed a section of a race as much as I did on the downhill just after the fly-over, though i doubt I did my quads any favours. The Green Road section was tricky with the busted up road surface. At the roundabout after that I met a Mullingar Harriers runner and started chatting for the next mile and a half or thereabouts. He was recovering from a stitch so for a while our paces matched. Once he came around though the pace got a little too much for me so I had to leave him go. Shame in one way as its amazing how much quicker the miles go when you have someone to chat to. I imagine I would have been flagging at this point if it weren't for that guy so cheers stitch suffering Mullingar Harriers dude!!!
Splits: 7:22 7:41 7:31 7:34

12-13.1 My A goal was 1:43xx and B goal was to PB so I knew at this stage I had goal A in the bag unless something went horribly wrong. I slowed it down just a little for mile 12 just in case but couldn't help upping the pace a little for the last mile. I did my best to sprint to the finish but the legs had nothing left. I took that as a sign that I gave it everything I had, so very happy with that.
Splits: 7:41 7:16 (wohoo!) :40 (for the .1)

Gun Time: 1:41:33 Chip Time:1:40:40 Position 509

Looking back on today's race now I realised I've learned two very important things. Firstly having a plan and knowing your pace can really help. I ran all my previous races with no plan or watch, just run until it's time to stop. I haven't gone gps just yet but a stopwatch with a splits button really helped me today. Secondly, I really love chocolate milk!!!!! Seriously, why have I not realised this before.

Well done again Seán.
Super running.

There's a lot of credits to me in there, can I claim the PB??

(And your 5m halfway time is better than my 5m pb...............my list of 'competitive friendly revenge' is getting longer by the week

Given the choice, would you do Dungarvan or Trim next year??

A few friends have said to me over the years that I dont celebrate my successes or give myself any credit when I accomplish something. I know it might sound silly to a lot of people, but I find giving myself credit for anything a very hard thing to do. I was raised very much in the Stoic mould so any kind of self promotion or even the hint of self promotion makes me very uncomfortable. So thats why Im writing a report on this race, as a way of celebrating a success. But dont worry there'll be no "Booms" or selfies or "Go me's", just the facts and an honest appraisel of how I think I did.........

There was fierce craic over on the sweepstakes thread but to be honest I'm not a big gambler so I hadnt a clue what the hell was going on. I just enjoyed the banter and it was a really good thing Pat and luke did and it was probably the only thread in the history of this forum that didnt denegrate into petty squabbling. So it was a good vibe all around.

As for my training.......well I've cut back on the amount of running I do. I started this last year and ive cut back even more this year. Id run every second or third day, with weight training on the other days. I've never liked the ultra skinny look, and so I made a decision to gain some weight in the form of muscle mass. I did that and went up to 153lbs(from about 143) so I knew going into this race I'd be dragging extra mass around with me and so a fast time like I did before wasnt gonna happen. But I was happy with that. I actually love racing and I have to restrain myself from doing one every week. I think in a race you get to really find out a lot about yourself, in ways that your every day life just doesnt do. So with no major goal or target in the pipe line I decided to do this half, in one part to help out Pat and his cause but also to test myself.

The Race:

So me and Dave arrived down to Bohermeen with about an hour to spare. I collected my number warmed up a bit and then strolled to the startline. And this was where I made a rookie mistake, because when I say I strolled to the startline I mean I literally just ambled up the road at my leisure. And this was with a minute or so to go before the gun went off. I always like to take it handy before races, Ive never in my life done a stride or any kind of speed work before a race. I like to jog a little, maybe chat to some friends and then calmly line up near the front. And normally this works out well for me but in bohermeen the start is very very narrow and this is something I had forgotten completley. So When I got up the road I reached a point where I physically coukdnt move up any further. I thought I was only a couple of rows from the front so I wasnt worried, but when the gun went off I was shocked to see there were hundreds of people ahead of me and the road being so narrow, I ended uo being caught in some serious human traffic. I dodged and weaved and a couple of times had to come to a complete stop to avoid a collision. I was getting frustrated with myself for making such a rookie error and in the end I had to jump into a ditch and run along that to get by people. I had planned to go off easy but not that easy and my first mile was relatively slow.

Got going and passed a lot of people, I didnt panic just wound it up gradually. I was very conscious of my lack of training and the length of the race so I made sure not to get myself into a situation where I was very uncomfortable early on. Usually in a half I'll give it 4 or 5 miles before I show my hand, that way if I do blow up it'll be fairly late in the day and I wont it wont be that catastrophic. I did notice how strong the wind was though and I knew there were stretches where it was gonna be pretty bad. Plus being so far behind where I should;ve been with the slow start I knew I'd have to run the race by myself and end up in no mans land quite a bit.

Hit 5 miles in 30 mins dead and I made the turnaround to head back up by the club. This was a part I knew was gonna be tough. The wind head on and me in no mans land catching runners every now and then. It was hard and I was thinking to myself, man you're gonna have to do this again only next time you'll have more miles on the clock and in all likelihood and have someone trying to pass you and take your place. Something to look forward to so.......There was a good crowd at the clubhouse and I got a few shouts, but mostly I was taking in the terrain and making mental notes for the return journey. I knew this would the strecth where Id have my test.
So it was about 7 miles gone by this stage and thats kind of a funny part in a half. Youre fecked enough already and theres still a good whack left to run. Its the kind of thought that can break you, so I just continued saying nice happy things to myself like, Do not let that motherfcuker in the stripey red singlet catch you. All the while I was working but I was definitley in control and it wasnt getting away from me, I had enough in the tank for a negative split. I was still passing people, lads were now starting to look ragedy and dying deaths on their feet. Got to about 8 miles gone and I could see the first lady up the road with her Bodyguard. I didnt cop it at first but as I drew closer to them I realised that I knew the bouncer: It was my old friend aero2k. He looked stong and was moving well. I thought to myself, fair play Sean you look strong. But as I approached 9 miles gone aero seemed to fall back from pauline curley a bit. And then a bit more. I went by and said nothing because I knew he must be suffering. I never say anything to anyone in races because ive been in that situation myself, where Ive been dying on my feet and someone goes by me and starts saying sh1t to me which is designed to be encouraging but to be honest is just annoying. It happened to me in the kildare half one year when I had done my calve and was hobbling along when a guy goes by and starts shouting at me to come on. I have never felt like killing someoone so much im my life.......so from that day on I promised never to say a word to anyone during a race, and thats why aero, I said nothing, hope you didnt mind.

Anyway got to 10 mile point in just under 60 mins and so I knew despite the wind that I was doing ok. It wasnt gonna be a steller time or anything but it would be respectable. And at that point I just stopped looking at the watch and focused on passing people and not getting passed. I passed a pair of lads in blue tops at about 11miles. By this stage we were approaching a hill which I knew could be trouble. I made the decision to slow down a little and take it handy up the hill and not blow my finishing kick out the window. I could hear the footsteps of the two boys behind me gaining ground. I could almost read their thoughts and what they were thinking: Hes fooked, we have him. But just as the caught up with me we crested the hill and I accelerated and left them behind.......for now anyway. 12 miles gone and I caught a donore lad who was dying a death. Up the road about 50 meters was the first lady, pauline curley.
So now into the headwind and on that long long last mile or so to the finish, as so often it happens in my races, I was faced with a test. I could let pauline curley go and justify it by saying I had done well already I didnt need to do anymore or I could try my best. I was fooked at this stage and that weak part of me really wanted to capitulate and not try. But then I hear footsteps and they were getting closer. I had a quick look around and it was the two boys in the blue T-shirts. Fair play to them they were going for it. And now I had a choice: That voice in my head was telling me that it was only two places, whos to know? You can go back to the hall after the race, have some tea and rice krispie cakes and tell everyone how great I did, ommiting the part where I gave up and let two lads take my place. Nobody would ever know.........nobody except me and this is what I was talking about when I said you get to learn so much about yourself in a race because you realise in these moments that it doesnt matter what anyone else thinks about you, in sport or life. Its all about being honest with yourself and doing yourself right.
So one of the blue shirt guys draws level with my shoulder and thats as far as I let him go. I know he thinks he has me, but I accelerate and surge forward. Now theres only one set of footsteps, I burned off one of them. The remaining guy tries again. Again I dont let him get beyond my shoulder and this time I kick hard. Im absolutley fooked but I go anyway. In all the excitement i realise ive caught the leading lady. I go by her aswell. 200m to go and now I have to keep it going, I cant surrender now even though that voice is still calling for me to quit and let them pass me. I catch a donore guy and give everything I have to pass him, some guy shouts 100 to go and thats it, I sprint as hard as I can and I make it over the line without giving in or surrendering a position.

The time wasnt my best, far far from it, but bloody hell that was probably the best race I've ever run. I was tested and I didnt give in and when you do that, regardless of the time, you're good.

Time: 79:05
Place 22nd

Brilliant report man.

Calvin Johnson wrote: »

Great report Tunguska, you have a way with words.

Didn't realise I was standing next to you in the clubhouse, nice disguise.

You have me there, I didn't realise I was standing next to you either. That's nuts isn't it. Did I say hello? I must've, I said hi to everyone in the immediate vicinity. If I didn't I apologise, it was seriously crowded in that hall and I had Niall shouting at me about Lennox lewis every 2 mins.

Saturday March 14th

St. Laurence O'Toole 10K Race

46:03 on the watch - 7:25 per mile pace - New PB by 3 minutes, 37 seconds

This also included a new unofficial 5K PB of 22:43

Was aiming for around 47:40

Chip time not available on PrecisionTiming.Net yet...patiently waiting.

Mile splits:

Mile 1: 6:32,
Mile 2: 7:31,
Mile 3: 7:47,
Mile 4: 7:32,
Mile 5: 7:36,
Mile 6: 7:31,
Last 0.21: 1:34

Loved this and I am totally buzzing now.

As usual, I took off too fast and suffered a bit for miles 2 and 3. I was conscious of this at the start and kept telling myself not to do it but I did...again...I just can't get the hang of getting the feel of my starting pace right.

Mile 3 had a pretty bad hill too but it was the only one along the course really. This was the only mile where I missed my 7:40 pace target which I didn't think I could hold nearly as well as I did.

Lovely course, great spread afterwards and I'd recommend it to anybody next year!

Adding a pic. Don't know if that's allowed on this thread but sure I'm a bit of a rebel. The 13 year old daughter snapped this at km3. I like to think it captures the 'concentrated but comfortable' feel that you're looking for with 6/7ths of the race still to run. Funny thing also is it is one of the extremely few stretches not on tarmac and not descending so that when I look back at this race in a few years time, I'll have a completely incorrect memory of it!

Toblerone1978 wrote: »

Cracking time, well done. Have you gone to the tomato throwing festival in Bunol? If memory serves me right, Bunol is near Valencia?

And there was me worrying about attaching pics!! Now we're REALLY going to go off topic. Yes, I did. Only once though. It's a good laugh once you're prepared for it. Old clothes and trainers/flip flops cos they'll be heading to the bin immediately after the event.

The only thing I'd change was the weather. We got unlucky with a coolish (it was probably about 24 degrees, but by then that was cool) day and the public showers afterwards weren't as welcome as they usually would be. In any case you'll still find a few tomato pips in strange parts of the body 3 days later.

great run and report aero

aero2k wrote: »

It's long, but it took five years to get there, so no apologies: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8N2ILvWdxnodjI0eVd6UUV0Y0k/view?usp=sharing

Bib number 15439 for pics and video.

A super report to capture an exceptional performance.
Well done Seán.
Totally deserved

That's a terrific race, Sean, matched by a great report.

Why would you be thinking of giving up Marathons? Given the exceptional year you have had across all distances, do you not think there's an equally better performance later in '15 or through '16??

I know I'll see you during the week, but just some q's while they are fresh in my mind;

(1) Was the hydration situation a hinderence in Rotterdam? (My choice in '16 is Manchester or Rotterdam- hydration could be the deal breaker)

(2) What was your average weekly mileage?

(3) Compared to P&D - how was the Hanson plan? - Do you think Hanson would suit anyone or only those who are already aerobically strong?

(4) Having known you for a few years, I'd say this is one of the best spells of running you've had - what do you put that down to?

(5) What was your toughest session in this training cycle.

(6) You never mentioned your affinity for chocolate deserts at 12:45pm?

Well done again. Inspiring stuff.

Southbourne Fast & Flat 10k

This race is organised by my sons school so I run it if at all possible. In fact the last race I ran was this one last year. It's a mostly out and back course with a few twisty bits at the end to make up the 10k. On a calm day it's very quick with just one short hill. I ran a 5*2km's session on parts of the course the previous week to try and get an idea of what pace I should aim for. It averaged out at 4:31 pace although it was well beyond 10k effort for most of the last rep. Based on that I planned to head out at 4:30 pace expecting to fade to 46 or 47 mins.

I recently changed the units of my garmin from miles to km's but didn't realise that I'd need to change the lap unit as well so although my speed/distance was measured in kilometers my lap marker was still coming out in miles.

1st mile - Started off a little quick but wasn't long getting into a 4:30 groove. The mile was done at 4:23 pace which reflects the slightly faster start and the one downhill in the race. Felt well in control and was passing quite a few people as the race settled down.

Mile 2 - Continued to pass the faster starters here and virtually latched onto a Christchurch runner who was about 20 metres ahead but making steady progress through the groups. 4:30 pace

Mile 3 - The turnaround point comes shortly before the three mile mark and counting the runners coming in the opposite direction I worked out that I was in 86th or 87th position. There was small incline to get around a roundabout and I pushed off on the downhill section catching and passing the Christchurch runner that I had been following. 4:30 pace

Mile 4 - I was a little surprised to feel a strongish breeze in my face (conditions were excellent) and made the decision to catch up with a group of 10 runners ahead to try and get shelter but most of them were slowing and I went straight through the group with a couple of them tagging on to me. It was at this point that I first heard a weird shout of 'Come on' behind me. 4:28 pace

Mile 5 - The weird shouts turned out to be coming from one of the guys who had latched on. He pulled ahead of me during this mile and I wasn't at all sorry to see him go. Ran this mostly solo otherwise without passing anyone. 4:30 pace

Mile 6 - Passed one of the leading ladies here and surprised myself at how easy it was to try and encourage her and say that we were on sub-45 min pace (not trying hard enough?). I caught a few runners as we approached the uphill on the way back. I put in a small effort but mostly let the others pull away. I think that they may have pushed a little too hard though and I caught them again almost immediately on the flat briefly slowing me down on a narrow section. At the 9km marker I released the brakes and pulled away. I had my eye on the 'Come on' guy who was a luminous green singlet as my long goal although he was about 150m ahead of me at this stage. I was passing a load of people as we'd caught up with the backmarkers from the 5k race which had started 10mins after the 10k so I'm not sure how many places I made up. Turned the final corner to see 'Come on' too far away too catch but made up ground all the way home finishing 8 seconds behind him.

The time was 44:15 for 67th place which I was surprised at. Considering everything (and how my legs were when the DOMS hit 2 days later) I'm happy with how I judged my effort. While my breathing was not 10k effort until the last km my legs were pretty shot at the end and I think that I got as much out of the race as I could have.

Report from London is here

overpronator wrote: »

Report from London is here

That's a wonderful report to match a great performance - a fall, 3 cramps and some walking but you still managed a negative split! Great stuff.

Background
I’ve been following the P&D up to 55, 12 week plan, for a few weeks mostly to try and build a base again but nominally with a view to doing Dublin. I started it 11 weeks out from Dublin and if I get any kind of a niggle that stops me from running I don’t plan to do the marathon as I just haven’t got the endurance and don’t want to take any big risks with the bigger picture of being able to run consistently in mind. I’m surprised that I’ve got this far in actually and am cautiously revising my thoughts on my chances of running – still only about 40% but well up from the 10% chance I gave myself at the start.

So the plan called for 9m w/4@tempo last week. As I’ve been struggling to get the right effort levels in for tempos and the week I’m skipping includes one of the tune up races I thought I’d swap the week around and do this 5 mile race.

Warm up
Well I screwed that up – something about a race being close to home plus an early morning airport trip allied to a latish night meant that I was a bit blasé about getting going and I didn’t leave myself enough time to warm up properly. I did a lunge matrix and the Myrtl routine plus about ¾’s of a mile running which was just enough to warn me that my hips were stiff. I took a minute to do what I could to loosen them which helped but I knew that they were too tight.

Race
I’ve run this race once before 2 years ago (33:31) and it’s not a great course – lots of twists and turns allied to numerous undulations plus the number of footpaths used mean that you can never settle into a rhythm. Also the start of this race is mad. It’s not a big race with 258 runners yesterday but after about 200m we go through what is basically a gap in a hedge which can fit one person either side of a bollard (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7433078,-1.8259641,3a,75y,259.03h,68.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2UQxMm0zcX3xeE5mDGuYog!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1).

Goals
I’ve only run 5 mile races twice before and my PB is from 2 years ago which is at a slower pace than my half PB so a PB is my minimum. I’ve got my time from the Tullamore half in mind, on it’s own it suggests about 35 mins but it was a half and I figure that I’m better suited to the shorter stuff so 32:30 is in my head as a good time. It’s indicative of how much thought I put into the race that I only had 2 goals rather than the 3 I like to have in any race.

Start
What I should have done particularly in light of the limited warm up was ease into the race but with the gap in mind and the usual adrenalin of the start of a race I found myself going on to the grass to get past people. It doesn’t help that the first half mile is up and down footpaths with plenty of overgrown hedges. You get the usual couple of people who start too near the front of the race for their fitness and I found myself running through unkempt hedges a couple of times to get past them. I wasn’t just passing people though as one of the ladies from the club whom I thought I might be close to swept past me at this stage at a pace that didn’t invite any thoughts of tagging on. She was followed by 5 or 6 other members of the club who were tagging on to her. 6:37 for the first mile represented a pretty good pace judgement though I was working a little harder than I would have liked.

The second mile has the main uphill parts to it and I started getting that feeling of stiffness that we used to attribute to lactic acid but is apparently something else. My left calf complains that I didn’t do any dynamic stretching beforehand and a glance at my HRM showed 162 which left me cursing my lack of warmup again but I back off slightly as I won’t sustain that effort for 5 miles. About halfway through the mile one of the guys in my club goes past. I haven’t run with him for ages but I’m still a little surprised to see him go past. We yo-yo a little for the next half mile.

Around about the start of the 3rd mile a quick body scan tells me that I’m all over the place so I settle back and relax into a shorter more controlled stride. Almost immediately I overtake my clubmate and start pulling away (he’s a minute back by the end). I’m reviewing my pace at this stage and thinking that a small PB is still on the cards but far from certain. The mile itself is probably the least pleasant of the race, up and down footpaths and lots of twists and sharp turns. I’ve started to catch and overtake people though. I have one annoying moment as I come up behind two runners who force me on to the grass to overtake which was totally unnecessary. I use momentum as I duck under an overgrown hedge to pull away from another.

Mile 4 is the deceptive one as you head back towards the start/finish you think that you’re closer than you are but you still have an extra loop to do at the end of the race. I make up time on the downhills and lose a little on the uphills but continue to gradually make up a couple of positions. Heart rate is now at 165 but I’m not feeling the burn and can sustain the effort. I’ve started to catch the group from my club that swept by me in the first mile and pass a couple between now and the finish.

Mile 5 has that annoying loop I mentioned with more sharp turns though thankfully at this stage not many other runners to fight for space with. I notice that my left foot has gone numb which I’ve never experienced before. Wonder if it’s going to have any impact and adjust my stride slightly which seems to help a little. As we come into the park I’m closing on another guy from my club and contemplate sprinting. I tell myself that this is a substitute for a tempo and don’t sprint (more likely reason is that I wasn’t sure that I could sprint!). 33:11 on the clock, 33:07 on my watch which is adjusted to 33:08 when I get my chip time.

Aftermath
Afterwards I caught up with the others from the club. There were free massages which I thought would be a good idea for my calves but it was a mistake and I end up cold from hanging around for 40 mins so I skipped the extra miles that I should have done.

I know that I shouldn’t be disappointed but I am a bit although mostly I’m annoyed with myself. I don’t know that I would have gotten to 32:30 with proper preparation but I should have given myself the chance. In any case my time fits in quite neatly with what I was hoping was marathon pace at the Tullamore half. I get the chance to make amends in 3 weeks time at the Bournemouth marathon festival 10k which if it’s calm will be a lightning fast flat course with just 3 sharpish turns on a pier to slow runners down. I was asked for a predicted time when I entered and I put down 41 mins which is 32:30 equivalent I think. There's also a couple of VO2 max sessions between now and then which should help.