Big June

There was a thing when I worked in the Branch called Big June which was basically a sales push. That was 20 years ago though but it looks like I'm bringing it back but replacing the sales with training miles ! 

Following on from Ironman Lanzarote a couple of weeks ago, I have Challenge Roth at the end of June , so it has been back into a couple of big weeks for that.  This meant some bigger runs that resulted in a couple of races being thrown in and as I was organising the Wheelers TT on 6th June - I thought I'd do a rare outing ! 

Derby Half Marathon 1:49:39

This was my second outing with Northern Pacing Volunteers and given the proximity to the Ironman just past, and the 100 mile ride yesterday, I opted for a conservative 1hr 50 min flag, and it worked perfectly. Unsure of the exact distance , I had a mile pace for bang on - 8:24, and if it was long at say 13.2 miles, that was 8:20. As it transpired, I managed to keep the miles to an 8:21 average, and on a hot day where the sun really burned, came in on a 13.14 mile course, 21 seconds under target.  Really pleasing to have so many people say thanks afterward.

Woodhall Spa 10k   47:39

This one was the long run which was scheduled two weeks before Roth. I had done the long bike the week before and the long swim the day before with a 39 mile TT ride in the afternoon - this event would round off a 3 hour run and therefore a great training weekend and the start of the taper period. I turned up early and was the first car in the car park, well, a win is a win. The plan was simple do a 2 hr-ish run before hand and then have a pick up in the 10k. It was the morning after the Champions League final so of course I wore my City shirt for the 14.5 mile warm upo which went well (let's hope I can run like that in two weeks time). Onto the 10k and I lined up near the 50 minute marker. I guessed I could up my pace to sub 8 miles, but had 10 mins to wait and in that time had started to get a little stiff in the legs so first mile of the race was difficult to pick up. Then the magic happened and easch mile got a little quicker - it was very warm, but I was sensible and ended up with a 47 minute finish which was a good result all things considered.

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