Wilmslow Half Marathon

Second time for me, looking to improve on last year's time of 1:28:15. Felt good & confident yesterday; usual race nerves this morning but got to the start feeling ready. Paced it much better than last year using my GPS watch, heart rate and feel. By 10k in good shape so pushed on and started to reel a few people in. Took an energy gel with about 5k to go and managed to finish strong. Made it in 1:22:58 so a big PB, placing me 140th and 18th in the 40+ cat. This time means that my longer distance running is almost on a par with my shorter stuff, so a great confidence boost for the coming season :-)

Cross Country

It's XC season again, with the first race at Heaton Park back in October. This Sunday it was race 2 at Sherdley Park. I finished in 39:31, i.e. almost 5 minutes faster than a year ago - well chuffed - still way down the field, 86th out of ~260 men :-) This year I'm using spikes instead of fell/trail shoes - this makes a huge difference in the mud! Conditions so far have been good but in two weeks time it's off to Boggart Hole which is always a quagmire. I like this picture, showing a close finish between 3 Man Tri runners. For more pics see the club pool on flickr.

Plans for 2011

Been off-line since Antwerp but certainly not off training. After pretty much taking all of August off, "winter" training started in earnest 10 weeks ago and it's been going well, with 100+ hours logged so far. Picked my A races for next season - UK70.3 at Wimbleball in June and then IM Regensburg in August. As IM is such a big commitment I decided to hook up with a coach to make sure my training is as efficient as possible - so far really enjoying the sessions. Hopefully now I will get back to posting more regular training updates.

Antwerp 70.3

This was my last race this year so I pushed the boat out. Taking the race line at the swim start meant a lot of biff but it paid off; 35 mins - PB. T1 was crowded but uneventful. I made the most of the flat bike course and managed to push hard for all but the last ~5k; split = 2 hrs 33. T2 also ok. Although my running has come on a lot this year, I've been disappointed with my run splits in races. I convinced myself I just needed to suck it up and stick to my target pace. This seemed to work and I even gained a couple of minutes; very happy with 1:38. My dream target before the start was 5 hrs, with a realistic goal of 5:05, so when I saw my final time of 4 hrs 50 I was well chuffed.

As a consequence of pushing hard, I was in a bit of a state at the end. No swanning around the finish soaking up the moment; even though it was a hot day, within minutes of stopping I was cold to the core and shaking, so it was straight back to the hotel, hot shower and into bed for 30 mins under a blanket just to ward off the body-shock. An hour or so later I was fine, went back to the finish and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Swim: 35:01
T1: 2:24
Bike: 2:33:10
T2: 1:50
Run: 1:38:11
Total: 4:50:38

371st out of ~1160 finishers, i.e. 32%.

K-Swiss City of Manchester 10k

One of my goals for 2010 was to go sub-40 mins in 10k road race. I avoided the BUPA Great Manchester Run in May as this race attracts >25,000 people, making it hard to get a good time. So I signed up for a smaller event, the City of Manchester 10k organized by Sports Tours Internationals, which attracts about 2,500 runners. The race started and finished on the athletics track at Sport City - see here for the route - making it good for spectators.

The weather was cool and dry so good for running, but not perfect as there was a bit of a headwind in places. The legend that is Ron Hill took part and got the race underway. Encouraged by Howard, I pushed right to the front for the start so got off to a flyer. I then settled down into a good rhythm and in the final 3k still felt strong.

I had been checking my watch periodically so I knew I was on course but I only ever looked at my pace, not the actual time, so I was shocked when I came around the final bend and saw the official clock reading 37 mins something. I pushed on and finished in 37:32 - a massive PB, placing me 32nd! In 2007 and 2009, my 10k times were 45:41 and 41:22 respectively, so well chuffed with this big improvement.

Had a good chat with Neil and Howard after. Will do this again next year!