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A short report for a short race, this was the second race in the series with a seemingly fast 4 miles around Rushcliffe Country Park in Nottingham. Weather was a lot nice as it was a lot cooler than Tuesday which was good.

I was looking forward to my first race at this distance not quite sure what I would be able to achieve but aiming for under 30 mins. The start was up hill but we had had plenty of room, I wasn’t far behind Pete when the gun went off and stuck pretty close for the first mile, again I was racing to heart rate but this still meant a very nice 6.45 first mile split but I was never going to be able to keep this up however so slowed a little to something slightly more comfortable.

First mile and second mile seemed short with my Garmin going off after the race marker and this was a little disconcerting however it all seemed to even up in the end I only wish the grass has been shorter for the start and finish as my sprint to the end resulted in me concentrating more in keeping myself upright and in the right direction than all out speed.

Still a great race and a new PB by default at 29.25 by official watches.

Garmin details

Some stats after the break –
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It was the first of the four races today a nice fast 10k around Holme Pierrepoint, well it was a fast course but not fast weather. 36°C when I left work but I think more like 28-26 when I got the the race.

Arrived nice and early with about 45mins before the race was due to start and had a wonder around and a bit of a warm up not that I needed much of one. Following the herd I found the start and as I lined up was spotted by Zoe after a high and a good luck we were off.

Plan was to run in Zone 4 which for me is 85%-89% or 169-176bpm and see what happened and so thats what I did.

For the first half I was nicely passing people sometimes stopping behind someone for a moment to allow the HR to come down if it had peaked a bit and to catch a breath if I had got ahead of myself but the overtaking soon stopped as we got to the half way point. Unfortunately I let a few past me at that point as the heat was now starting to take effect and everyone was searching for shade so I settled down into a nice rythme and just saved myself to make sure I had a bit at the end.

With about 3K to go I realised I had someone sat on my shoulder and every now and then they would try and have a go fortunately this just spurred me on to keep them behind which I managed to do until the last 1K when I realised that they had more in the tank than me and speeded up beyond my reach as I got to about 400 metres I saw Pete walking back and gave him a wave before taking a deep breath and sprinting to the finish.

Official time 49:34

All in all a good run and I finally get to meet a couple of members of the club which was nice now to the next and a nice 4 miles on Thursday for race 2.

Garmin details which shows it all nicely.

Because I’m stats mad here are a few details after the break –
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Sunday 23 May
9AM – 6.21m – Race – 53:34 – 8:38 – hr 170 (85% WHR)

Well like everywhere else in the country it was hot, I did hope that with a 930 start I’d finish before it got too hot but that wasn’t to be.

Got there 830 it was already 18* according to the car, to be told at 915 the start would be delayed by 15 mins because of parking and traffic problems. We were then told at half past this would be more like 10 and in the end it was about 950 we kicked off.

Set off and after half a mile hit the first hill accompanied by some sheep who obviously disturbed by a flock of runners on their land were trying to beat a retreat to safer grounds. Unfortunately this involved crossing the path of the runners, a shriek up ahead indicating some had already tried and the next bunch were eyeing me up. But we managed to avoid too much confrontation a runner next to me made me giggle with his comment “You don’t expect that do you” having that ringing in my head in a Welsh accent tickled me for quite some time after.

Good news was this was pretty much the first and last hill, bad news is we didn’t stop climbing until we’d reached the half way point.

First drinks station was a shambles, only two maybe three people on it desperately trying to fill McDonalds cups and queues forming as I got there so decided to press on.

My left calf was tight and painful but bearable and my right leg had a shin splint which never actually made it out but niggled threateningly.

After a gruelling two and half miles we finally reached the top having climbed 273m our only respite being that a lot of it had been under the cover of trees.

Unfortunately I had pretty much knackered my leg and myself so on the downhill I had to ease off to try and recover a little for the all important sprint finish.

The downhill was pretty uneventful the only annoying this was at time it seemed more like a cross country or fell run and some of the steep bends on slippery surfaces seemed almost dangerous.

Got to the last 400 yards picked up a bit, high fived a mate who’d come to watch to then see a mutual friend sprint past me and I tried but just didn’t have anything left, crossed the line in a disappointing 53:34 on my Garmin later to be confirmed as 53:38 officially.

When I got back in the car temperature had reached 30* popped to Chatsworth Farm shop and then to beer garden for my reward

Garmin details

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It is about time I updated this blog I’ve been a bit busy of late and this has been the last thing on my mind however I’m slowly getting more organised and I seem to have a new lease of life and so I thought I would start sharing it.

This blog is going to be refocused, it will still be about me but less about tech which although is still a big part of my life I see no point in echoing the information already out there even with my slant on things and to be honest I don’t have that sort of time.

This blog is not going to be more of a diary for two of my new favourite pastimes, my diving and my running. My running has entered a new life of its own.

I started in April last year accompanying my then girlfriend as she went out running, she had already been running for some time and competed in various races including the London Marathon, Great North, and various 10k’s and last year she was training for the Birmingham Half.

I never figured I would take it anywhere I was happy to go out and lose a bit of weight and keep her company but after a few runs and some well placed compliments I started to get the idea I could actually do this running malarkey so with not much arm twisting I too signed up to the Birmingham half.

I managed it in 2:09:39, which was 9:39 outside the target I had set myself but still a time I could be pleased with, that was it I was bitten.

I have since done over 260 miles and joined the UKNetRunners running club and this year I’ve competed in various races knocking up a time of 2:21:50 in the world first Kilomathon, 47:45 at the Derby 10K and a new PB for a half at Sheffield of 1:59:26.

But I need to do better, so I have written a new training program and with 10k’s and half marathons coming up and a wish to run a marathon next year, this will be my diary of training and racing with the odd dive report and other ramblings dotted around to mix things up.

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