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| Park Run |
Went for a swim on Friday night to see how much my swimming had fallen away. Not disappointed. It was very ugly. Managed not to drown and ploughed through the water for around 15 minutes. One positive is that my breathing was ok and I did not feel too out of breath. Must be as a result of improved fitness following 9 weeks of training. The stroke disintegrated pretty quickly and by the end there seemed to be little discernible catch. Too many problems to think of. At least I managed down and ticked the box. It is always like this when I have a break but the good news is that it comes back fairly quickly. Have another bash next week.
Got in the Park Run at Pollok Park this morning and managed 18.56 which was slightly disappointing given this is week 9 and I have a PB of 25 seconds quicker which I did last year during the Boston build up. Got 16th and 3rd in my category of 40-44 and that was pleasing. There was a good turn out with 389 braving a cold start to Saturday. Jen and Emma came along for moral support. Amy was off playing hockey. At the start I bumped into Gary Goldie who was a trainer at The Western Baths and had a chat about how his winter was going. He said that he was in fair shape and on the basis that I spent the whole race looking at his back from a distance he was spot on finishing just off the podium in a shade over 18 mins. Didn't feel too bad - he is 20 years my junior.
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| Get a bucket! |
At the start I felt a bit nervous which was a bit strange. We fired off down the hill and by 500m the HR had really cranked up. It was only to get tougher as every Park Run I have done can testify to. Into 1 km and thoughts of why am I doing this come to the fore and stay with me for far too long. Heart bursting through my chest - a bit like that feeling when you are running for the bus - but the bust stop is 3 miles away! The course is a two lap affair with a nasty incline in the first and third km followed by a brute of a hill at 2.5km and at 4.5km. Held on as best I could up until the fourth km when I got passed by three guys. Managed to hold on to their coat tails but could only pass one of them in the last 200m. The last part is downhill and I blasted - well that's what it felt like - to the finish taking one of the guys that had passed me. I must have sounded like a steam train as I passed him I was breathing so hard. I collapsed over the finish line, did my jakey shuffle and tried to catch what breath I had left. I was absolutely shot to bits wretching away. The Central Governor was tested once again. Thankfully the feeling does not last for long and after a couple of minutes I was able to converse with the guys that I had battled with. It is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the event the camaradery amongst the runners and the shared sense of achievemnt of every runner. It's just a great event.
Having now had time to reflect on this morning efforts it is a bit concerning that I was so far off the PB given the effort put in. I did take 20 seconds off my last time in December and I recall that at the end I felt simarly shot to bits. A work in progress is the positive that I can take from today. May have another crack at it next week as Amy is playing at Craigholme. My form collapsed in the last km and need to concentrate on that next week. Achilles is a bit sore but only to be expected given the strain put on it. Emma's comment after the race was "You look as if your are about to vomit" - what encouragement!
Numbers - 3.07 miles - 18.56 mins - 6.10 pace - 172 avg HR - 181 max HR - calories 416
Splits - 3.44 - 3.48 - 4.04 - 3.55 - 3.23
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