The last time I ran at Burnley was back in 2004, i finished in 31st place in a very competitive field of runners, i was not happy, i really wanted to make it into the 20 something placings!
looking back on the result now i can see i finished just behind a guy who could break 27 mins for 5 miles, the truth was i was flying, but i didn't appreciate it at the time!
Once again i had a very heavy night at work, but this time managed to get 3 hours in bed before getting up, i was in for a shock as I opened the curtains to see a thick covering of snow outside. Niz was made up, she has only seen snow a couple of times in her life [ you don't get much snow in the Philippines!].
Phil drove Joanne, Tracey, Niz and me to the race, the local roads were like an ice rink, that and all the Christmas shopping traffic meant it was a slow journey to the motorway, but once there we made good progress getting to the start with just 20 mins to spare before the womens start at 2pm.
It was -3 a
nd bloody cold, I opted for a thermal cycle top and trackster bottoms, thermal hat and gloves, 'toastie' I would be, cold is not my thing you understand!The plan was to use the race as a good tempo run, set off steady then make my way through the field and 'ENJOY' the event, the marathon is 4 months off and racing well now is not really my priority!
setting off from the start everyone sprinted off, it took me a couple of minutes to get warmed up and then I started to accelerate through the field of runners. the course was one small lap and 3 big un's, the fresh snow was good fun to run on much better than horrible mud!
i was starting to enjoy myself, i didn't really have the legs to kill myself but i was keeping a good tempo effort going and it felt good!
getting near the end of the race i thought we had a small half loop to go, but all of a sudden i saw the finish and didn't even have time to sprint, I wondered why a guy I'd been catching suddenly surged off!
I finished in 55th place feeling fairly fresh and happy :]
10k on snow in 40.03
It's been a good week of training, with 20 miles inc the club fartlek session on Monday and one hour and forty five mins over the big sandhills inc speed drill and plyometrics on Wednesday. I have also done 3 resistance training sessions during the week.
next week i plan to take it a bit easier before i start my Marathon training program.
photo; Tracey in action in the women's race, Burnley X/C
1 comment:
Well done, Rick! Sounds like a fun race! And way to play things smart as well, and still finish with a good time.
Post a Comment