Smashed again!

After killing my 10k PB a couple of weeks ago, at the Dambuster Duathlon, I knew that for the Lincoln 10k I would have to be quite focused to better my recent PB of 43.53. With this in mind I knew that to have any chance of beating it my first few miles would have to be paced at around 6:45 minute miling leaving a little leeway  for tiredness in the latter miles - i was not going to risk a negative split as they dont aften work out good for me on 10k's.

 As you can see in the following i did manage to do this and even over paced the first  km due to race day adrenaline. Lincoln 10k is a banded start with the elites at the front then the sub 40 minuters followed by sub 50 ers and so on. I put myself in the sub 50 section and to give me that bit of extra motivation i stood quite close to the front of that section.

The race was pretty flat and straight forward with my only gripes being about the lack of common sense on the parking front - they sent us in a big circle only to park where we had just driven passed!!! a circle that took 35 minutes. The medal was a quality item, as always with Lincoln, and an OK t shirt was thrown in this year. 

Last years Linc 10k was 49:09 and so with a new PB of 42.07 i have a bit of training to do to get into that sub 40 minute front section next year.  My run cadence needs a little work and a few more lbs lost wouldn't hurt but i think that Ill be wearing a yellow number in that race in 2013 :)

Next year I may well drop down from full on iron distance training and concentrate on Middle / Olympic and sprint distances but still do an iron distance event if that makes any sense. I know i can gain a lot of speed next year with dedicated training whilst this year still will see my base endurance grow further to hopefully carry me over to a couple of late season marathons in October and November.

Dam busted

What was I on about - slower 10k times !!!!    never. Race day adrenaline got the better of me and as the horn blew off I went, not really taking into full consideration of the bike leg and 5k run to follow.

my 10k mile splits were:
7.10 / 7.20 / 7.18 / 6.46 / 7.15 / 7.18
giving me a 10k time of 43.53 beating my previous PB by 3:11. so the up coming Lincoln 10k needs to be pretty special. All that winter training has really paid off.

The 26 mile bike leg wasnt too much of a surprise as it is the same route used by the Vitruvian tri I did late last year but was completed in 1:20:38 and another PB. My previous PB for that loop was 1:22:50 and that was a stand alone loop - no run before - so that was my second personal win of the day.

Things couldnt get much better, or could they? the last 5k run felt like running with concrete thighs and all the way through it i felt like i was loosing ground but after the race I waited for friends to finish and headed for the Race timing computer to get a print out of my splits - I was pleasantly surprised to see a 21.30 5k split time, even quicker than half of my 10k time.

So with an end time 2:28:20 i was 10 minutes off European qualifying or 16 minutes off World Qualifying time which is what is going to make me train harder and faster this and  next year.

Dambusting

After a good start to the year February given me an insightful glance into the probable outcome for the year ahead. With the winter base training nearly over I can confirm that Fink does indeed know a thing or 2 about training plans - my endurance seems to have improved with me running sub 8 minute miles without going into zone 3 or higher than 85% max heart rate. One unfortunate by-product of this is that my 10k times will/may be significantly slower this year, it appears that whilst endurance training all winter is fine for stamina it doesnt translate into increased speed over 10ks, to be honest I did feel like i should have been doing more speed work but then if i did would i have ended up injured?

My first event of the season is almost here -10 march - the Dambuster Duathlon, run 10k / bike 42k / run 5k, which is host to the BTF national championship and a  ITU world champions qualifier. I didnt realise this when i entered but checking the results from last year im definately not going to be at the pointy end of this race.

Feb totals updated on training page