Park run number 2

Last week my goal was the Dartford 10 mile which got cancelled the same morning due to "flooding" of the course. I was really gutted about it because it was the first Kent Grand Prix connected with a bit of prize money which is always useful as a student! Anyway I could use the time to finish my "cranial" essay.
This week was densely packed with visceral osteopathy. I don't mind if people prod around in my tummy as it is fairly relaxed. Back in the days when I was training regularly with my Swiss club Oerlikon I was sometimes so hungry I could eat a pizza right before the track training and hardly ever was uncomfortable. Now this time I went after the lessons on Thursday straight to the gym from where I started a run and did some exercises afterwards. When I was relaxing in the jacuzzi I started to get a headache. By the time I was home I seriously felt sick but funnily enough still had a good appetite. It cleared off eventually the day after. My exercise for that day was my regular Friday evening water Volleyball which is great fun!!
As a proud fan of the Detroit Red Wings I watched a couple of periods of their match against Montréal which compromised my sleep and preparation for Saturdays morning race.

I don't accept excuses, looking at last weeks results there was a guy faster than me the week before so I was warned. I warmed up a couple of kilometers to look at the condition of the trail which was a lot better than a couple of days ago.

I am now familiar with the procedure of the event and was ready for a bit more resistance of the combatants. And I was right, Junior James West started off his first kilometer in about 3:03 and I just let him go right from the beginning. He has a good running style and I was a bit confused if I should chase him down or not. I thought I should wait until its my turn on the bottom half of the route.
Just before we reached the halfway point he blew up and I was able to overtake him and ran it home. I knew I was close to the course record and was pushing for it but also realized that its not my time of the year just yet and sometimes you have to be patient to prevent any injury. I crossed the line when the timekeeper shouted '52 which would equal the course record - the official results showed 15:53 just 1 second shy of it. A good reason to get back and claim it once and for all!

The legs were fine for the first 3 kilometers when I had to admit they were not working as well anymore. That is exactly what I want from these events, to keep my legs going and not to relax after a couple of laps like you do on the track where you can recover between the reps.

Here is again the data on strava, a very cool tool to upload your GPS data to and compare it with whoever run/rode at the same places as you did.

Next event: Ashford 10k on 02/02/2014