Haha, today was a mixed bag the good news is that the hamstring was alright, the quads are a bit tight now from running on a hard surface. But despite being a lot slower than the half in January it has absolutely battered me!
I started off at a pace I thought I could probably maintain and to try and help a friend who was looking for a PB, I told her to start steady and push on later if she felt good, I was doing fairly consistent K’s around 4:35 give or take a few seconds but after about 7K I knew it was going to be a tough day.
Kept going until about 13K and told her to push on as she was going well and I knew I was starting to suffer. About 15K we turn onto a long soul destroying section on an trading estate, it was also into a bit of a breeze with a couple of little drags. My pace was dropping by about 10s/K but was trying to grit my teeth! It did ease a bit as we hit the end of that road and I started going a bit faster. Then the last K is twisty with a few little climbs and I was completely suffering but jogged round the corner and into the finish.
Official time was 1:38:17, that’s about 4 minutes slower than York in January on a race that I felt comfortable throughout and at the end, I could have kept going. Today I’m absolutely battered, I was sat in the car for about 35 minutes with the heating on to get warm and almost falling asleep.
I’m reasonably sure the blood donation on Monday played a major part and the upset stomach for a few days probably didn’t help. But it was a useful workout at what I’m still hoping I might be able to achieve on a 70.3 on a good day without that build-up.
Liversedge HM today. It’s a hilly, road half marathon with some steepish bits. Normally this would be about 10 mins slower that a flattish HM. Today I did 1:46, which is better than I thought would do. Pretty pleased, tired and little sore.
Ramadan race #2 in 3 hours time. 2km/20km/2km night duathlon on the usual circuit. The course is a club night staple so know pretty much what to expect, except tonight there will be about 60 or 70 people from the various clubs all racing each other.
There’s a bit of a wind tonight so the bike will be slow in one direction and faster in the other.
Just pondering strategy. There are 2 very good runners who will likely run at close to 3m15 / km pace for the first run. Is it worth busting a gut on the run #1 to try to keep them in sight- or is constant effort for the whole R B R the way?
45 minutes should be enough for top 5-ish I reckon
No - no drafting. But am thinking if someone’s a minute up the road after T1, game over, will never see them again. But if they are within earshot on the bike may be able to dig in and hang with them for a while?
Currently have that kind of grim visceral anticipation of suffering, previously reserved for Thursday nights and the Zwift TTT trying to hang onto you, Tups, mw, funkster and others
Why do we do this to ourselves voluntarily
One of the local silverbacks was all over Strava yesterday with a 30 minute session he titled “strides and activation for tomorrows duathlon”
edit: the maths are interesting for this one. being a flat out and back bike course on what is basically a closed road, it definitely favours the heavier more powerful riders. There a couple of monsters weighing 90 - 95kg of pure muscle who will ride at 42 - 43kmh, if previous form is anything to go by, so 28-29 minutes for the ride. But they will take about 9 minutes for each run compared to about 7 for the lighter guys. So a lighter guy riding at 38-39 kmh will usually take it.
Well she did her best and I could not be more proud but she knows and I know that wasn’t the result she’s capable of. She came 14th overall out of about 80 girls. A gap formed in the first 300mtrs and she just couldn’t close it.
She had problems getting her breath but I could tell by looking at her body language that something was off. I’ve watched her run more than anyone else and I can tell when the aggression just isn’t there.
She also said she wished she’d gone with just the vest and not t-shirt and vest as she was a bit warm.
The course was 1.8km with a few little hills and that’s not her happy hunting ground. She doesn’t really hit her gears until about 3km in.
Top 5 go to County Champs and her nemesis and friend (and my friend’s daughter) came 5th overall. LO regularly beats her on track but the other girl has serious XC skills.
LO is a bit upset that she thinks she won’t get another chance to qualify for anything but we’ve obviously told her that isn’t the case.
As a parent, my heart is breaking for her because she’s gone very quiet but it will pass.
Garmin has a duathlon mode but somehow I messed it up
Tell you what, it was a bit of a Bologna tonight and I’m lying here now with the room spinning and my legs protesting.
Everyone went hard from the gun, I went full gas to try to keep up. 3m31 pace for run #1, but this was only good for 7th. My legs literally won’t move any faster than that. The fastest guy ran 3m05 pace . He was a new guy racing for the Irish team looking very Italian and called Valentino, doesn’t sound very Irish to me the racing snake, but checked the rules and don’t think it specifies anywhere that you have to be called Paddy or Rhioghan.
It was warm, windy and dark on the bike. I tried my hardest to turtle down and man up for just under 31 minutes of P2 torture, and managed to move up to 4th with 38.7kmh at 242W.
In T2 Got cramp in some muscle in the top of my right leg putting right shoe on, had to keep hopping around and tried about 3 times before finally managed it, which was not the highlight of my evening. But after that felt good, 3m40 pace for the 2nd run and just managed to catch the 3rd place guy before the end. Who was as predicted the massive Dutch powerhouse, he only managed 40.1kmh on the bike though tonight, the fastest split. Slower than usual I guess because of the wind, and his run was down at around 4m10 pace. So not a night for the bigger gentlemen. Valentino won and his other Irish buddy Vladimir came 2nd (Ok, made that name up, he’s actually called Barry from Limerick so will allow that one)
Scored some points for team Dugong, will report back on placings after the official count. The Irish team are super strong but we have had a decent showing in the middle of the table , so it’s all to play for at this stage.
the good news is that the hamstring was alright, the quads are a bit tight now from running on a hard surface. But despite being a lot slower than the half in January it has absolutely battered me!
. He was a new guy racing for the Irish team looking very Italian and called Valentino, doesn’t sound very Irish to me the racing snake, but checked the rules and don’t think it specifies anywhere that you have to be called Paddy or Rhioghan.