Maidenhead Easter 10

This is my third time running in my local ten mile race. It is run good Friday every year and it only 10 minutes down the road so it's a bit of a "must do" race. I really like the course, well apart from the first three miles where you are running around a business park. But once you get this piece out of the way you are out on a nice cycle way through yellow fields of rape and down some nice country lanes. I use the course (apart from the business park piece) as part of some of my training runs so know the course very well.

I've run pretty well here the past two years and again would try for a PB. I would aim to run a pace to give me a time of 56m59 and see how I faired up. I hit the first mile a little quick (around 55 minutes pace) and kind of struggled from there on in. I was running in a group of about 4 runners, including one local runner I see down the gym and out running quite regularly. We are a fairly similar standard, but he probably has a bit more pedigree over the shorter distances. So I was just trying to hang on with these guys. I did a few stints at the front of the group to push the pace but in hindsight I should have just sat in behind.

The group of 4, and I'm struggling already!

We reached halfway in around 28m50 which if I could hang on it, would just give me a PB. However, I never anticipated holding on and by this stage the race was already just turning into a tough training run. Around mile 7 I was feeling quite strong so I again hit the front of the group of 4. This was a bad move, I was in front of the group for all of about 2 minutes, then we emerged from the shade of the trees and were exposed to the sun.

I kind of melted...my legs stopped working...and the group I was with started to move away. I didn't say but it was a pretty hot day. In the 9th mile there is a bit of a climb and in the previous years running this event I have been really strong here and taken over a few people. This year I had nothing, and even clocked a 6m39 mile...ouch.

I struggled home in 59m28, so another sub 1h 10miler. Can't really complain. Interestingly in the second half of the race, other than losing the group I was with, no other runner overtook me and from speaking to the other runners, a lot struggled today. The finish was great though, as I ran into the finishers chute two lads starting cheering "C'mon Harry!!" It took me a second of two to figure out who they were, partly it was the oxygen debt and partly I really wasn't expecting these people here. My good friend Alain, from Switzerland was visiting London with a friend and decided to do some sightseeing by coming to the Maidenhead Office Park!! Great to see him, probably be his last weekend relaxing now as he builds up to race Ironman Switzerland.

The Swiss invasion...but seriously you made a trip to Maidenhead as part of your holiday..why?

The result wasn't great, but in heavy training for Edinburgh marathon, I am not too worried. It does point to the fact that I probably don't have the speed endurance I maybe had this time last year. But I guess that's what happens when you train for 100km races...Two runs on the bounce where I have been totally off my target. I think the speedwork I have been doing recently should help me refamiliarise myself with the correct paces to run.

Black Park parkrun - 5km Time Trial

Ok so it has taken me a while to get round to this one.

Having only run the 100km two weeks before, I wasn't really sure what to expect from a 5km run. I wanted to use it as a bit of training and just to see where I was at.

I was aiming for 16m40 but am obviously not in that kind of shape at the moment. I came in around 17m03. I raced it fairly sensibly, well at least relative to the others at the front.

Two young kids went off like a shot as did two older guys. One of the older boys was dropped at 1k (we hit around 3m21 which is 16m45 pace). One of the younger lads had gained a 10-15 meter lead and it looked like that would continue so I didn't think I'd worry too much about him.

The two other runners I found myself with at that time seemed to be breathing very heavily since even before the 2km marker, they were dropped somewhere between 2 and 2.5km. The guy who had gone off the front hadn't increased his lead so I just focused on keeping with him. Hit 3km around 10m08 (which is just under 17m00 minute pace). So I had faded a little but felt strong (again it's all relative). Somehow around 3.5km I reeled in the leader and at this stage I wasn't breathing too heavily so I thought it was the right time to start pushing. Bring on 6 minutes of pain, and a half decent performance for a Saturday morning.

Quite nice to work my way through the field in this little run, and felt pretty in control of the race. Still pushed a bit too fast at the start, but so rarely do I run this distance that I just do not know my threshold for the distance and I think your performance on this distance is so sensitive to this. I look forward to the next one, but maybe I will aim for 16m55 and if I'm strong in the final km I might be abe to get closer to 16m50. Still not bad considering the over-distance work I've been doing.