Run > Race

The Weald of Kent 10 miler. Good, well organised race, but I had a bit of a rubbish day. I'd give myself a 5/10 today, compared to my 7/10 at Southend two weeks ago.

Race day was going ok, until about 9am (1 hr to go), when the simple act of bending down to tie my shoe up made something go ping in my lower back. It didn't feel good and I ran the race with a rather dodgy feeling lower back.

No excuses though - I don't think it impacted my performance.

The goal today was to see how far under 80 minutes I could get. It didn't occur to me that I wouldn't break 80 minutes!

I set off at a good pace and was flowing along nicely until 4m, although I was getting hotter and hotter on what has turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far.

As I went through 4m, I could feel myself starting to fatigue very quickly - the type of feeling you get when you blow up. By 7m, I was off pace and feeling pretty rubbish, needing to run the last 3 miles in 23-30.

I must admit that when I realised that I wasn't going to get inside 80 mins, I wasn't really bothered what time I ran. I remember coming up a slight hill at 9m and noticing how I felt like I was running on the spot and how terrible my form was as I was knackered.

The 2nd half of this race was much harder than the first half - more undulations and much harsher weather. That said, I only got passed by 3 runners in the last 5 miles and I managed to pick off about 6 - so I wasn't the only one who ran positive splits today. I never did catch Camelbak man and Orange man, who I had been chasing all race and those blokes did pull out maybe 30 to 60 secs on me over the last 3 miles.

Today's HR was bonkers, averaging 178 and hitting 192 max.

Split Summary

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1) - 1m - 7:48(7:48/m) - 166bpm avge - 173bpm max - 118cal

2) - 0.01m - 3(7:21/m) - 172bpm avge - 172bpm max

3) - 1m - 7:55(7:55/m) - 173bpm avge - 177bpm max - 121cal

4) - 1m - 7:56(7:56/m) - 176bpm avge - 180bpm max - 120cal

5) - 1m - 7:55(7:55/m) - 179bpm avge - 181bpm max - 120cal

6) - 1m - 8:05(8:05/m) - 179bpm avge - 181bpm max - 120cal

7) - 1m - 8:14(8:14/m) - 181bpm avge - 185bpm max - 120cal

8) - 1m - 8:33(8:33/m) - 182bpm avge - 186bpm max - 119cal

9) - 1m - 8:23(8:23/m) - 182bpm avge - 185bpm max - 119cal

10) - 1m - 8:25(8:25/m) - 183bpm avge - 186bpm max - 119cal

11) - 0.98m - 7:57(8:08/m) - 186bpm avge - 192bpm max - 116cal