Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Leeds Half and another 5k

Last Sunday(8th May) it was the Leeds Half Marathon, which i'd hastily entered, not quite realising it was sandwiched in the middle of a series of 5k events. I did the same silly thing last year and somehow forgot just how silly it was.

It was humid conditions last week which suited me well for the race. My plan was to set of steady and try to have something left for the last 4 mile section along Kirkstall Road. The course is hilly for the first 7 miles. Last year I 'overcooked' the first half and then really struggled along the final section. I planned to use this as a tempo session and a 'train through race' therefore no tapering for this one. I 'locked on' to Duncan Clarke after a few miles and managed to then overtake and gain some ground.

The Leeds Half has now turned into a large event with approximately 3500 runners taking part. The absence of 'serious' club runners helped my cause with a 25th placing and second vet45 - missing out on first v45 by 13 seconds. Setting off with the frame of mind not to race was probably the right thing to do and made fully sure I didn't suffer too much and saved at least something for the Wednesday night.

Last Wednesday nights race was the second of 3 x 5k races at Esholt. This one was not the Yorkshire Vets 5k Champs so there were some different runners to before. Calm and humid conditions were perfect. I set off steady and hoped to gain ground on Rob Gray at the 2.5k mid point. Just losing out by a few seconds at the end but dipping just under 17 minutes at 16-59, with one second between me and Rob for second v45 over the two races.

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