Run > Race

A new PB at last! I have felt pretty poorly over the last 4 or 5 days with a cold and a sore throat. I was still bunged up this morning and I was a bit worried how this would affect me. Fortunately, the weather wasn't as bad as had been predicted. It was raining throughout, but the wind was only about 10-15mph.

My legs definitely felt better than yesterday and I felt like I could get a new PB. The wind wasn't quite in the direction I had anticipated - the first 2.5k was a cross wind, the next 2.5k was strongly wind against, then it was 2.5k wind behind, 2.5k cross wind. The spell into the wind was tough and a couple of other runners were drafting off me throughout which was hard work!

I managed to pull away from the group I was running with after around 7k and then I caught a few runners in the last couple of km. I manually split the laps again today and this definitely helped mentally as I didn't even take notice of the fact that my Garmin was telling me that I was running further than I really was!

I kicked hard in the last km and with around 500m left I realised sub 40 was going to be close. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and I couldn't quite get there. I think I paced the run pretty well, but did wonder if I left just 5-10 seconds out there somewhere!

Anyway, really pleased with a 44 second PB and a well judged run. I have the Bourne Woods 10k coming up next month (hillier course - not expecting a PB) and then a 5k and Bupa 10k in May. I am feeling confident that if I continue to train well up to Bupa that I can knock a good amount off my time. Fingers crossed!

Finished 23rd of 226.

Splits:
1: 3.55
2: 3.59
3: 4.07
4: 4.11
5: 4.11
6: 3.54
7: 3.58
8: 3.50 (short)
9: 4.06 (long)
10: 3.48