Not the Roman IX 2017

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January 15th 2017

7.5 mile road running race

Aside from huge mass participation events, I realised I had never really entered a running race before - so I diaried this one on the advice of my coach to him give myself a goal in the void that can be a triathlete's winter. 

As my first race of this kind, I turned up to the start decidedly nervous! The hoards of club-vested runners didn't help, so I went off for a solitary warm-up along the road. With a race plan in my mind, I headed along to the start, which turned out to be a long way from the facilities and probably could have formed part of my warm-up... 

The start was a gradual uphill leading to a flattish section. I resisted the temptation to sprint off and kept my HR well within Z3, letting others come gradually past where necessary. Turning left after a few miles I was faced with the long, gradual climb which formed the central section of the race. Again I asked to keep in control, letting my HR gradually rise into Z4 but not above, and keeping a consistent cadence. 

Training had gone well up to this race, so I was confident that if I could get to the peak of the climb in good shape, I'd be OK. Another left turn at the top gave way to a slightly steeper section, the top of which marked the end of the climb. 

Pushing on over the top and onto the downhill (pictured) I suddenly found myself being overtaken! Need to work on my downhill running perhaps, but I am cautious of injury and downhill presents more impact to my running style. 

The gradient soon levelled out, and a few miles of flat ensued. I tried to keep the same pace but these miles seemed endless! I banked a nice 10k PB but after that I really was just pushing for the end, managing to re-overtake most of those who had come past me on the downhill in a painful but productively long sprint finish. 

Overall I was very pleased with my time as my best case target had been sub 1 hour, and I feel I executed the race well. Onto the next!  



Times
Total time:             00:58:51

Standings
Female <35            18 / 60      30 %
Female                   56 / 239    23 %
Overall                  264 /604    44 %

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