>Well, the overflow event anyway. The main event closed on a 59:21. Both events were organised by the Welsh CA.
My training has been dropping of the last few weeks as I try and protect a minor injury. Although my fitness is going, I’m more rested and my recent ’10’ times seem to have benefited. I’ve been struggling at ’25’ though, so I was apprehensive about this event. I knew the course was fast (I was doing personal bests here in the 70s and 80s) and the day was good. It was just my engine was a bit iffy.
We got there ridiculously early and I warmed up for 2 hours off and on. The early starters had a headwind out, tailwind back but by the time I started it was the other way around. I felt good going out and even managed to power over some of the rollers in the lanes section. However I cracked big time rejoining the double carriageway and crawled back up the hill to the Raglan interchange. The last 5 or 6 miles always seem to take forever, but I kept it rolling and even kept the rhythm going on the final junction.
As I crossed the line I checked my steam powered watch and thought that I’d just missed breaking the hour (by 20 seconds or so). Back at the HQ the time came through as exactly 1:00:00 – just one second off. Damn… But a 1:21 improvement on my PB last three seasons, second fastest ever and another sub-target knocked off. So plenty of positives as well.
It was good to catch up with the guys from the Ross club.
Race stats: (these are a bit iffy because the GPS didn’t like going through the tunnel!) 25 miles in 1:0:0 (25.00mph). 18th out of 77 finishers. Slowest mile (7): 2:45 (21.82mph). Fastest mile (1): 2:01 (29.75mph). Top speed: 39.5mph. First 12.5 miles: 29:21 next 12.5 miles: 30:39. Max heart rate: 169bpm, average HR: 160bpm. Winner: Simon Coles (Northover Vets) 52:36
Lance Woodman 