The whole thing was a good day though so I have yet again enetered what is probably one of the most expensive 10k races in the UK. The best way to stomach the cost is through the knowledge that you do at least get a good running shirt out of it.
This year I am going to take part in a lot of the training runs that they put on, these being held all over London in various parks. Last night was the first of these so I went down to Hyde Park for a nice "flatter than Holland" 5k. My previous best for an outside 5k was 19:40 (treadmill PB is 17:43), but I knew I should go faster than the outside PB as I had since lowered my 10k PB down to 38:03...although not exactly in the 17's because the treadmill is a bit easier to run on and I did that PB with no incline whatsoever. I had also cycled about 50k during the day and swam about 2k in the morning - not really the best preperation for a new PB.
I set off on the run and got to the first km board, quick look at the watch revealed that I had done that one in 3:55..I thought that was way to slow, so started to up the tempo a bit and work on turning the legs over faster. Got to the second km board and the split was a sturdy 3:14, this was more like it. Carried on going at the same pace and soon came up to the 3km board to see that I had just done a 3:04. I was starting to get pretty worried at this point that one of the last km's was going to be really long. As luck would have it, I did not see the 4km board and it was possible to see the finish from quite a way out so I started to hammer it a bit more - a quick look at the watch made me realise I was on for a quick one here.
I eventually sprinted through the finish line in 17:52...I am pretty sure my watch said 17:31 at the time, but it is hard to argue with the electronic timing chips. Still, under 18 minutes outside and only 9s off the PB. I felt that I still had some juice in the tank as well so the aim now is to see how close to the 16's I can get in the run up to the race in October.
The nice thing about the timing chips is that all your runs will be registered when you do these training runs...as you can see below - this includes two times from last year as well.
6 comments:
Good going Ruch, but I have to admit to being a bit confused as to what your PB's are over 5k and 10k.
Is it 38.03 for 10k and 17.52 for the 5k outside and 17.43 for the 5k inside?
How fast can you run a mile? Under 4 mintues I guess?
And how much does it cost to enter this race then? Couple of quid?
Yes, Jonny, those times are right. The inside 5k was done a while back when I was doing one 5k and one 10k every week on the treadmill and trying to beat the last time on every occasion. Trust me, you look like a bit of a wally in the gym when you are doing up to 20kph on the treadmill. I think that the time on Tuesday works out at about 17.5kph.
As for a mile, I am not sure really. I have done a few timed miles, but they are normally part of a bigger set. I reckon I could do it in about 5:20 maybe? Trust me, going under 4 is pretty damn tough!
As for the cost, the Nike 10k was about £25 I think, last year it may have been more. If you compare that to the Regents Park winter series of 6 10k races which cost me £22 (less than £4 each) to enter, you can see the difference!
I see. When you said it was one of the most expensive races I thought you meant a couple of hundred quid. Considering you get a fancy running shirt out of it £25 sounds like a bit of a bargain.
So no Roger Bannister 4 minute miles just yet.
Oh, when you train, do you run or cycle to music on an IPOD or something. If so, what music? I'm just interested, but not in a wierd way. Or is it too distracting?
I never really do my exercise to music unless I am running on the treadmill or cycling on the turbo, which is not too often really.
I would never cycle with music on outside, it is way too dangerous, especially in London.
If I am in the gym though, I listen to a couple of the playlists that I have. I made a lot of them up when I was going for certain times etc, so they all have imaginitive titles like 40 minutes, 50 minutes etc. That meant that I knew it would be the best/most motivational songs at the end, when the pain is the worst. Never one for dance music though - that's what normally on in the gym anyway.
Oh yeah, I forgot that there is the ever-present danger of being run over on the streets of London (and that listening to music would seriously increase those chances).
Motivational music eh? On the theme of running? Surely you've got "Chariots of Fire" on there, or "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush?
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