Oxshott 10k

This was all a bit last minute - watching the 10k at Nonsuch last week (wish I'd done that one now) I really felt like doing another race. Okay - I hadn't trained that much on running since Elmbridge, but I did think I'd probably got faster, and I wanted to see by how much. Plus there was the little matter of getting under Vrap's 10k time of 47:49 to make for an interesting challenge!

I'd been tinkering with the Virtual Training Partner option on the Garmin, and figured that if I set Gary Garmin (that's what he's called - honest) to run the 10k in 47 minutes, then all I had to do was to stay ahead of him and I'd be home and dry. Only problem was that I tend to run a fair bit to HR, and the screen that shows Gary Garmin doesn't show HR. Still - it only needed a quick press on a button to flick between the two.

So - to the race. My lift turned up early, and after a quick wind up about being lost in Worcester Park (donut!! :-P), we were off. The journey was without incident, and the only problem before the race was getting into the men's cubicle to have the customary pre-race dump. In the end it was a close call. I ran half of the distance to the start line, hoping that the Garmin would find the satellites! I noticed several others tutting at their wristware, and was worried. If it didn't tune in in time, then I couldn't use Gary Garmin :os. The pre-reace announcements were being done, and it was still seeking satellites - eek!

We were off - and I noticed a Sutton Runner (my club) who normally does about 42 minutes near me. Hmmm - too fast - my HR was already pushing 170. I was streaking away from Gary Garmin though! I tried slowing, but the HR didn't drop, and I was still gaining on Gary. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea using this option - particularly as I was in some doubt as to whether the staellites had locked on in time. Maybe he was still left on the start line, desperately looking for satellites. The standard screen I use showing pace, total distance, HR and time has served me well, so I switched to that, and didn't look back.

The second kilometre is uphill a fair bit, and although there is a downhill, it's hard work. It also contain a roadworks sign, that was lying on the ground, presumably because the roadworks were finished, but for some reason they hadn't removed it, so while busy looking at my Garmin, I managed to trip over it. I did the mad cartoon running to try to regain my balance, and then crashed onto my hands and knees. I was up fairly quickly, but was fairly badly grazed, and someone asked if I was okay, which was good. I said yes, and pressed on - fed up to have wasted time.

In the end it wasn't a bad kilometre - only two seconds outside of my target of 4:42, in spite of the hills and the trip. Hmmm - I was supposed to be trying to get my heart rate down wasn't I? The course then undulates quite sharply, with alternating uphills and downhills (the race blurb says it's flat apart from one hill between 8km and 9km). I slowed on the uphills, and took advantage of the downhills to make up the lost time, so pace really fluctuated quite a lot in the short term, but as you can see from the splits, was pretty even, as was the HR until the final few kilometres which were mostly uphill, and of course the sprint finish!

Kilometres four and five both saw me under my target split, and I was pleased to hit half way in 23:12, which was udner my Bushey Park time from a few months back - and I still had 5k to go. I reckon I must be under 22 minutes for that if I do it again, but we'll see. I had plenty left, and out in a good sixth kilometre. I was making use of the downhills to gain speed, knowing that the back few kilometres contained uphills. It had to - as we'd had a lot of downhill as well as a fair few uphills.

Between six and seven it's a very slight but definitely there long drag uphill. I was feeling a bit whacked here, but I'd worked out that I could afford to lose a bit here as I was 18 seconds inside my target at halfway, plus a sprint finish would gain seconds too. A slight downhill at the end of the kilometre, got me closer to the target split, and I ended up just one second outside. Nice!

More uphill followed, again slow, but in some ways that takes more out of you. I'd figured that I could do about 5:00 for the remaining kilometres and still get under Vrap's time, so I relaxed and just tried to focus on the runner ahead and not losing ground. In the end it wasn't a bad kilometre - only seven seconds lost. I was still ahead of schedule!

The next kilometre was the worst, as it did indeed have a "proper" hill - a steep climb over the railway that really left me gasping. Still - there was a downhill the other side, and my legs weren't feeling too bad. I did lose another ten seconds, but that was okay - I was tired but feeling okay, and knew there was only a kilomtre to go. I started to push the pace, as I knew the finish wasn't far away. Then I saw the entrance to the race HQ, where the finish was located, and pushed harder. HR had hit 180 by now, and I was gasping now, and hadn't really got enough air for a sprint even though. It was great to see Heather cheering, but then she decided to push me into a sprint finish by racing me to the line! It did make me speed up though!!

I crossed the line in 46:46 - well inside my target of 47 minutes, and that was including the fall in the second kilometre. That's got to be good - it was without much speedwork, and on two runs (or less) a week. I'm getting fitter - in spite of the weight going up to 89.5kgs.

So - all in all, a good day, and I know I can go a lot faster if I put the run training in. Therein lies the problem - finding the time with all the tri stuff! However - I do think having challenges along the way keeps the trainign itneresting, so I've entered the New Year's Day 10k in Hyde Park. I may well be close to knocking ten minutes off my time from Jan 1st 2006. Probably not quite, but I should be a decent chunk under 45 though. Mustn't go crazy on speedwork though - need to build endurance!

I ran the race in the kayanos, which felt fine, but have tried the nirvanas on the treaddy for ten minutes, and although they felt different, seem to be okay. I'll be using both and building up the mileage in the nirvanas to see how they fare. At the moment my future shoes are undecided! Kayanos are great for short distances I think - but we'll see!

Anyway - thanks to David Denton for organising the place at the last minute, Heather for the lift and support, and 26.2 for the cakes which I didn't want to knick but Heather assured me you guys'd be okay with it! Oh yeah - and Vrap for making an interesting target - I'd have probably just been content to beat my Elmbridge time otherwise. Make it a tougher one next time though eh? ;o)