This is the third time I have run this race and the slowest I have run it, its almost the slowest 10K I've ever done - only the very hilly one in Blackburn I did earlier this year was slower though only about 7 seconds slower. I'm quite happy about my time for today, I shouldn't be but I am.
I was tired when I woke up this morning, partly due to late night and partly just being (not sure how to describe it really) hormonally? tired. Today would normally be a day I did not much of anything except eat chocolate and fub about the house but I was racing and it was always going to be difficult. One of the reasons I didn't rest before the race as I normally would is I knew no matter how fresh my legs were I'd always find it diffcult today so no point wasting a day not doing something.
I set off a bit later than I normally would have and I had to pick up a parcel from our local sorting office (Paclite trousers). It was freezing outside, my car said -1 when I set off. There was a bit of a queue to get parcels and it took a while to get mine so I was running a little late. Its not far to the race start in Salwick really and I got there ok though the temperature refused to climb above -1. The fog was also quite thick on the Fylde.
It was about 10:30 by now (I normally try to get to races at least 50 minutes before the start for faffing) and the marshals were directing people to the overflow parking. However they managed to sort out another couple of spaces so I got on the car park right next to the start. I went to get my numbr straight away then came back and pinned it to my vest. I got ready to run a bit of a warmup, put gloves, jacket and buff on and set off.
My hands froze instantly, it was so cold. I didn't have much time to do a proper warmup but I did just under 10 minutes and didn't feel particularly warmer. As I went back to the car to take my jacket off I did think briefly about jumping in it and going home but I didn't, I got my Ipod out instead as I realised I was going to need all the help I could get to get round today - I don't normally race with one.
My plan was always to take it easy for the first few miles then speed up but I now just wanted to get round. Lots of people had ipods with them but it still felt weird to have it with me (I hadn't switched it on yet). We set off and I took it very steady, I didn't let my heart rate get above 170 for the first 5k which is low for me racing. The first two miles felt very hard so I looked at the frost on the hedges (there was no view due to fog), it was quite pretty really. I decided to put the ipod on after about 2.5 miles as I was now in a bit of space and it made me feel a bit better but I took pity on the people around me and didn't start singing along.
I had a watch on but I didn't look at it once, I did think about hitting the lap button at the 5k mark to get a split but I didn't but I so wish I had. At about the 5K mark I suddenly started to really get into it. There is a bit of a long gradual downhill, very gradual but enough to make it a bit easier for a while and I started speeding up. Then speeded up some more and was suddenly enjoying myself.
I spent the last half of the race constantly overtaking people and constantly being amazed at how strongly I was running. About 1K from the end I put in a bit of spurt just to see it I could which would have been better left to the end but normally at this stage of a 10K I'm just about hanging on so it was fun.
I crossed the line and looked at my watch: 52:47 when I stopped it but I was kicking myself for not taking a split at the 5K mark as I would have really liked to see it. My overall pace was 8:30 mm but I think the first half of the race was closer to 9mm and the second half closer to 8mm. It was good to be running strong at the end, which is why I'm so happy about it because I really did enjoy the second 5K.
It didn't take long to start really chilling down once I stopped. I was going to do a cool down run but when I got to the car I just shoved my hat and down jacket on and got in - too cold! It had warmed up to a whole 0 degrees. I spent the afternoon feeling a bit dopey so will be having a rest day tomorrow.
There are a couple of 10Ks over the next two months that I may have a go at as I start building up the long runs.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Uneventful Ride Home
Left work a little earlier than usual to get home and go pick up a parcel (the TV stand I had to reorder). It was really cold as the wind seemed to be coming in from an easterly direction which means I had the cold air in my face all the way home, had very cold fingers for a while.
The road surfaces were a little unpredictable so I rode more sensibly than usual, no massive leaning of bike into turns or anything like that. There wasn't any ice but where they had salted the road it was very greasy, there were also some wet patches and some very dry patches but it varied quite a lot. The greasy salted areas were the worst but there were very few of them by the time I got to Preston.
Tranway was dry but absolutely baltic, I was glad to get to the end of it and get home. I only had time to get changed and have a drink before heading off to a humungous parcel depot to pick up the TV stand.
We then spent the evening putting it together and having some wine, however it took longer than expected and I was quite late getting to bed and was shattered (I knew I was shattered as I didn't want to finish my wine!) which wasn't ideal as I had a race tomorrow.
The road surfaces were a little unpredictable so I rode more sensibly than usual, no massive leaning of bike into turns or anything like that. There wasn't any ice but where they had salted the road it was very greasy, there were also some wet patches and some very dry patches but it varied quite a lot. The greasy salted areas were the worst but there were very few of them by the time I got to Preston.
Tranway was dry but absolutely baltic, I was glad to get to the end of it and get home. I only had time to get changed and have a drink before heading off to a humungous parcel depot to pick up the TV stand.
We then spent the evening putting it together and having some wine, however it took longer than expected and I was quite late getting to bed and was shattered (I knew I was shattered as I didn't want to finish my wine!) which wasn't ideal as I had a race tomorrow.
Slippy ride to work
Rode to work this morning. I managed to get my fleecy layer dried last night but I decided to wear a thin Helly under it for riding to work with the Paclite, would be a good test of the jacket. It was absolutely baltic stepping out of the house but roads were ok, I again stuck to the main roads but the few puddles I saw were liquid rather than ice.
As I was heading out of Preston, just approaching the roundabout at the Audi garage, I took the centre of the road to go round and the front wheel slid away, then the back wheel slid a little. I managed to ride it out but it made me breathe deeply (new expensive jacket jinx trying to make me fall off). I didn't see anything so I'm guessing it was either black ice or a diesel spill.
It was quite frosty and slippy from then and off course they hadn't gritted the cycle path (turns out they hadn't gritted the road either, sure they will have tonight though) so I took it fairly steady. The climb was ok but as I was approaching the Texaco garage I saw a bloke on a road bike trying to get going again but his back wheel kept spinning. I unclipped my feet and put them on the flat side of the pedals at this point as there was a short downhill coming up. It was very frosty and I gained a little speed but I didn't dare touch the brakes and so stayed upright.
Once I got onto the Marsh Road and the roadside cycle lane things were a little better, there was the odd bit of frost but ok. Then I saw lots of brake lights up ahead, not a good sign. I continued riding up past the traffic and could see the blue flashing lights. I could also see a white Corsa facing the wrong way on the verge of the opposite carriageway though I think it was a separate incident. When I got closer to the blue lights there were about four cars who had obviously been bouncing off each other, lots of damage and crumpled crumple zones. Everyone seemed to be out of their cars ok though. I cycled past with the traffic trying to avoid getting the debris into my tyres.
It was frosty until just leaving Warton then it was fine all the rest of the way to work. I had passed Stu heading the opposite way just before the Texaco garage. He said the section of road where the Corsa was and the accident happened was actually very icy as did Jez when he had to drive past it later. its been a sunny day today so hopefully it will have dried off for the way home.
Jacket was great, I was just right temperature wise on my top half and there was hardly any condensation in the jacket which is great. The new jacket jinx still got me as I spilt half my coffee onto the left sleeve onto the nice white stitched Gore Tex logo - its coffee coloured now.
As I was heading out of Preston, just approaching the roundabout at the Audi garage, I took the centre of the road to go round and the front wheel slid away, then the back wheel slid a little. I managed to ride it out but it made me breathe deeply (new expensive jacket jinx trying to make me fall off). I didn't see anything so I'm guessing it was either black ice or a diesel spill.
It was quite frosty and slippy from then and off course they hadn't gritted the cycle path (turns out they hadn't gritted the road either, sure they will have tonight though) so I took it fairly steady. The climb was ok but as I was approaching the Texaco garage I saw a bloke on a road bike trying to get going again but his back wheel kept spinning. I unclipped my feet and put them on the flat side of the pedals at this point as there was a short downhill coming up. It was very frosty and I gained a little speed but I didn't dare touch the brakes and so stayed upright.
Once I got onto the Marsh Road and the roadside cycle lane things were a little better, there was the odd bit of frost but ok. Then I saw lots of brake lights up ahead, not a good sign. I continued riding up past the traffic and could see the blue flashing lights. I could also see a white Corsa facing the wrong way on the verge of the opposite carriageway though I think it was a separate incident. When I got closer to the blue lights there were about four cars who had obviously been bouncing off each other, lots of damage and crumpled crumple zones. Everyone seemed to be out of their cars ok though. I cycled past with the traffic trying to avoid getting the debris into my tyres.
It was frosty until just leaving Warton then it was fine all the rest of the way to work. I had passed Stu heading the opposite way just before the Texaco garage. He said the section of road where the Corsa was and the accident happened was actually very icy as did Jez when he had to drive past it later. its been a sunny day today so hopefully it will have dried off for the way home.
Jacket was great, I was just right temperature wise on my top half and there was hardly any condensation in the jacket which is great. The new jacket jinx still got me as I spilt half my coffee onto the left sleeve onto the nice white stitched Gore Tex logo - its coffee coloured now.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Cold Run with the Club
I got down for a run with the club last night for the first time in what seems like ages. I parked up outside the cricket club and got out my car to be faced with a house which I can only describe as being "festooned" in Christmas lights, Santas, Snowmen, reindeer and god knows what other festive fripperies. It's still November, FGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not normally given to Bah Humbug outbursts (I leave that to Jez) but I had one.
It was really cold and took a while to get into it. Well most of me was quite cold but I couldn't find my running fleecy tights so I had my thicker cycling ones on. They are unpadded but they have panels which it turns out are not particularly comfy when running, the seems at the bum bunch. They are also quite thick so my legs were boiling after a while.
I haven't really run hills for a while so it was a bit of a shock to the system, they were undulations to start with but there was one quite early on that I thought was a short one and was about to power up but looked up just in time to see it going on for ages and slowed down so I didn't die spectacularly half way up.
We ran past buy-a-bike on the the A49 but I wasn't sure where we went after that, I think it was into Charnock Richard then back through Coppull but at one point I really didn't know where we were (that's not unusual for me though). We were out for just over an hour in the end and did just over 6 miles so a good evenings running.
It was really cold and took a while to get into it. Well most of me was quite cold but I couldn't find my running fleecy tights so I had my thicker cycling ones on. They are unpadded but they have panels which it turns out are not particularly comfy when running, the seems at the bum bunch. They are also quite thick so my legs were boiling after a while.
I haven't really run hills for a while so it was a bit of a shock to the system, they were undulations to start with but there was one quite early on that I thought was a short one and was about to power up but looked up just in time to see it going on for ages and slowed down so I didn't die spectacularly half way up.
We ran past buy-a-bike on the the A49 but I wasn't sure where we went after that, I think it was into Charnock Richard then back through Coppull but at one point I really didn't know where we were (that's not unusual for me though). We were out for just over an hour in the end and did just over 6 miles so a good evenings running.
No Riding Last Night
Various snafu's including people not actually coming and stuck at work late and my shoulder meant that we decided not to ride. Jez and I had gone to Abbey Village and normally if I've bothered to get myself and bike there then I'll ride but I was worried about my shoulder and controlling the bike in the inevitable slippy stuff as I tweaked it lifting things into the car. I surprised myself at how happily I agreed to go home and do some more sorting out.
Shoulder is better today but still but still needs constant stretching, letting my head drop down seems to really pull it. I am planning on cycling to work on Friday to make up for not riding last night.
The paclite arrived. Its not quite the blue I was expecting, its more a grey/blue which isn't super visible but it is a very light shell in comparison to the heavy Altura so now I'm wondering whether I'll need more layers ?
I also ordered a pair of the Gore Solid Paclite MTB pants, they are described as loose fit which means my thighs have a chance of fitting in them. I realised that I have been planning to buy some light weight waterproof bottoms for walking for a long time, the ones I currently have are very good but they are also very heavy, only really suitable for the depths of winter (or summer in the Cairngorms). The Paclites should fit the bill and get some use other than just for fubbing about on a bike.
Shoulder is better today but still but still needs constant stretching, letting my head drop down seems to really pull it. I am planning on cycling to work on Friday to make up for not riding last night.
The paclite arrived. Its not quite the blue I was expecting, its more a grey/blue which isn't super visible but it is a very light shell in comparison to the heavy Altura so now I'm wondering whether I'll need more layers ?
I also ordered a pair of the Gore Solid Paclite MTB pants, they are described as loose fit which means my thighs have a chance of fitting in them. I realised that I have been planning to buy some light weight waterproof bottoms for walking for a long time, the ones I currently have are very good but they are also very heavy, only really suitable for the depths of winter (or summer in the Cairngorms). The Paclites should fit the bill and get some use other than just for fubbing about on a bike.
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