Parkrun #16 - Maidenhead

Parkrun #16 - Maidenhead

Hot on the heels of Portrush, only two weeks later I'm back at Parkrun.

This time it's my 10th time at Maidenhead. I needed to do a swim at Bray Lake, so made sure I finished in time to pop next door for this. I didn't feel much like it after swimming 1km, but it was good to see if my 'warm'-up would be successful.

I was aiming for a steady run, starting without a customary sprint, and just see how I feel. I didn't want to pressure myself into pushing hard, as I want to try to enjoy the runs more.

My pace in the beginning was good. I had run the previous day, but I felt ok.

The field quickly spread out, and I found myself behind three people pushing buggies. They were fast enough, and in fact overtaking and pulling away from me.

The ground was firm and dry, an unusual thing for me in Maidenhead. I like it.

I didn't wear my hat, and just shorts and t-shirt, and was glad as I started to heat up.

After the first lap, I noticed my HR was now higher than usual, over 160, and going up. I maintained a good pace, and steadily overtook runners one my one. I even passed the buggies, one in the final two-way section as he was jammed in by a slow runner we had lapped.

Happy to finish, and a little surprised I beat my Portrush time.

Time 21:51.  25th out of 334 finishers.

Links

Parkrun

Strava

Parkrun #15 - Portrush

 Parkrun #15 - Portrush

After the race

After a long break of over a year and a half, I finally got to do another Parkrun.

On holiday in Northern Ireland, and hoping for good conditions, I wasn't disappointed. It's always a bit windy by the sea, but the day was not cold, and not raining, and the breeze was fresh, but not strong.

I drove down by myself, and got the time wrong, again, and was far too early for the 9.30am start.

Read my book, and had a little warm up.

Got a free sports drink from some company doing a promotion - bonus.

I'm quite fit, and working on a 5k plan, but I've not hit the speeds I would like in training yet. I expected somewhere between 22:00 and 22:30 - which is a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy.

The start went well, and I cruised down the beach with the tail wind. I think I took it s bit too easy, and even held back a little, to give me a half way average of around 4:20 min/km. (I'm now monitoring my speed in min/km rather than min/mile). That would translate to my target time OK. 

Having held back, I hoped I'd have enough in the tank to push against the wind and not lose too much time running along the beach to the finish. The third to fourth kilometre was a bit of a mess, but I caught a big group, and once past didn't want them to get me again, so I kept going. I was tired but finished strong, and even caught someone near the line who had overtaken me around the half way point.

I came 36th overall, out of 317 finishers - almost top 10%, with a time of 22:15 (only 1 second different from my last Parkrun!)

Strava link
Parkrun link