Longleat 10k and a blowout!

[andygates]

Normally when I say "blowout" I mean pizza with a side of wildebeest, but this was a tyre at 65 on the way to the first race of the year.

Very exciting indeed - luckily, it was a nice day and the traffic cops came along to play human cones while I changed the wheel on the hard shoulder.  Drama around jacking points (the proper one was too low sans tyre, the improvised one was too high) ended up with some dive weights being used to block up the jack... they've now been pressed flat by the weight of the van (!)  New tyre please.  Lessons learned: (1) check your spare; (2) get a yellow vest to accompany the triangle for roadside repairs.

Having done all that, I exploited the hospitality of despaer and ehutch (it turns out that Bierkeller air-guitar skill translates to GH3) before scurrying off to a truly beautiful morning at Longleat.  Bright sun, blue skies, a big posh house and crikey, xeeny and fialta on the start line!

The race itself was exactly what I wanted: it's a 'C' race to start the year off and make sure I train up for the half-marathon in March.  The course is undulating (hill! death! hill! death!) and about 3 minutes off PB - and I got 1:00:45, which is indeed 3 minutes off my flat PB.  That's encouraging because I trained for the PB and blagged this one a bit.  And now I'm in a nice place where I know what needs work and look forward to doing it.  Left ankle aching from sheer pounding (get down to aboout 90-92kg race-weight from this winter's lurgy high of 97 and that goes away), right knee grumbling (stretch, man, stretch! this is the same knee that blows on long rides).

The gadget says, hooray, that it was a TE5 run.  See, ravenbait, I do them occasionally!  ;)  In fact apart from a little red-zone, I was in the thing's zone 3 the whole time, with an average HR of 165 (max 178).  A steady flat kilo speed of about 5:40 was a pleasant surprise; hills were slow, descents were a bit crazy-fast.  All good.  The pace alarm was of limited use on such a rolling course, but there were a few moments where I zoned out and a quick check got me back up to speed.

And they didn't sic the lions on the back markers either.  Yay.

And in lieu of the official race results and photos, here's an ultramungous composite of the facade of Longleat House.  (Yes, I have blending issues)

Comments

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good race, by the way.

I have no idea what my PB for 10k is, never having done one. If I can't get my back sorted out pronto I won't find out, either. Well done on sticking with it and having a good run despite your recent health problems. that must be really encouraging for the rest of the season.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It was - and it is. That 165BPM area seems to be the sweet spot for my aerobic threshold.

How's the back looking these days?

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

I pulled a muscle on Friday carrying the shopping home and I can hardly move my head right now. Lower back is a lot better, but I have another appointment with the osteo anyway.

The major issue currently is that the structure has lost a lot of robustness (for reasons this is not an appropriate place to discuss, but you know what I mean) so I keep injuring it.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping that it improves - are you set up for regular osteo visits now?

And get Frood to carry the shopping!

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Not sure it's regular, but she insisted I make another appointment at the end of the last session, rather than giving me a while for it to settle and see how it goes.