Henlow 10

Wednesday saw the running of the Henlow 10, a local 10miler that finishes at RAF Henlow. This was to be my first B race of the season and the first chance to assess how these first few months of focused run training have improved (or not!) my speed endurance. The race started at 12.30pm from an old aerodrome near Old Warden. I wasn't sure I had quite got my nutrition correct before the race and set off feeling a little heavy-legged which wasn't surprising given I had raced on Sunday. The aim was to complete the 10miles in 1 hr 25 which meant averaging 8.30min/miles. The first mile was very fast and I thought the mile marker came up a bit short, my new RS200 SD beeped its autolap mile marker around 15seconds later.

A quick word on the HRM. Dom Phipps of Generation Bikes Ltd (www.generationsportsandcycles.com) provided me with this to help aid my training and I love being able to see how fast I am running though it is mighty distracting as I need to keep sneaking a peek at my wrist every so often! As I learn what different paces feel like hopefully this will pass! It is a funky red colour and I am really enjoying it and I am sure it will help my trg come on in leeps and bounds!

The second mile however I was still under target but this time the mile marker was about 15 secs after my autolap had beeped. This was the case for the rest of the race with the markers progressively getting further from the actual mile point as measured by my new friend. I did mapmyrun it later and found it was a good 200m long which wasn't surprising as they confirmed afterwards that they had measured it using a car odometer - not the most accurate!

I had forgotten quite how lumpy the course really was or 'undulating' as race directors like to term it and certainly for the first half the downs did not outweigh the up. Still, I was easily under time hitting the half way in about 42mins. There are some faster miles in the second half, notably the seventh which is a nice long run down into Shefford but the long drag coming out of Shefford more than takes away the speed it has just delivered. I felt like I would easily make it as all my splits had been under 8.30 but as the time ticked down I felt sub 1hr25 slipping away. The course was definitely long but a sustained push to the end, which saw me make up some places, took me across the line in 1hr 25mins and 24mins. I definitely begruadged the course those 24secs but knowing it had been more like 10.2miles definitely helped, the HRM had me cross the 10mile point a 1hr 22 44mins which I would have been thrilled with and I still took 3 1/2mins off last years time so everything is headed in the right direction.

I had really wanted to have a short break, eat and change and then hit the treadmills for another 5miles to really help start shoring up the endurance work but the gym had been closed for the run and I couldn't face heading back out into the rain so I called it a day and used the opportunity to head home early.

It was a wonderful surprise when I headed into the pool for a swim the next day to find that B/W/H had actually won the Men's and Ladies team prize. The team prize counts the first four qualifiers and I had actually recorded the faster B/W/H Ladies time leading the team to victory! This was totally unexpected as I never win anything so I was quite shocked - I should have stayed for the medal ceremony after all! I have now received a little wooden shield which will take pride of place on my desk. A fourth place at the local 5k and now winning the Ladies prize, it's not international glory but it is a definite step in the right direction and shows me that maybe the middle/back of the pack attitude I have always had needs to be rethought! :)