Training Log Archive: gg

Training with Central AC!
Was down at the Uni, it was a warm night and they were running on the grass, so I joined in.
1,2,3,2,1 with 1 recovery, then 5 mins and same again.

Fair to say the speed was pretty damn fast, with a certain Olympian pushing the pace. Fastest session I have run for a long long time.

C • Chasing the Orange One 2

Making a warm up map for JEC, plus a few updates

With Shminty.

How did Kris know?

C • I'm behind you 1

Hanging shadowing collecting test run of JEC sprint

Nothing gonna happen today!

9am bus from hotel to Sofia, then flight home via London. Home about 8pm.

Morning jog

Warm up around Saperava Banya. Quite warm down in the valley.

Start wasn't wide enough, so there were runners 12+ deep. GB were lucky enough to be lined up at the front, but I was 5th runner in the line, so starting just in the front half.

Start wasn't quite as manic as I had feared, but I was very glad not to be starting further back! First km was out of the town and into the woods, and the pace wasn't ridiculous. After 2km the leaders were only 20-30s ahead.

Got into a good rhythm, and I was pretty close to Chris F and Tom, with Max a bit in front. Watched my HR pretty closely as I didn't want to blow up like I did at the trial. I knew that the 4th km and the end of the course were where it would be decided and I wanted to be strong there.

Moved up alongside Chris F at the steep section, and passed a lot of people struggling/walking already. Worked along steadily with Chris for a lot of the race. We passed Max and quite a few others, and Chris was really pushing along on the flatter sections. Had a bit of a minor disaster at the water point - got a bottle of water, a gel and a wet sponge and basically had too much stuff to hold. Sponged myself, then threw it away. Then I realised I was still holding the sponge and I had thrown my gel away...

Anyway, stuck with Chris all the way to the final 'kick' - 1.5km with the steepest gradient and roughest surface of the course. He let me past, and a cheer from Jackie had me powering up the worst part - there were disappointingly few people in sight in front of me, but I managed to catch and pass a couple of people - including one American who seemed to be doing a fartlek - each time I caught him he would sprint off again.

Felt like the 800-600-400m to go signs were about a km apart by this point, and I thought maybe I had pushed on a bit early, but then the finish was in sight, the American was just in front and nobody was close behind. Tried to get a bit of a sprint finish going, but my hamstrings started cramping with 100m to go.

Hobbled over the line into 31st place, and did a pretty good 'Swedish roll' onto the ground.

Andy was 11th, Chris S 13th, then me, then Chris F 34th, and Tom and Max in the 50s. Decent team effort, but we were 13 points from a team Bronze, and 1 point (?) from 4th.

I was happy with my race - paced it well, was strong in the second half, not getting passed by anybody after about the 4km mark. I also was a scoring counter for GB which was one of my aims. I had no expectations position-wise, but I'll take 31st, and hopefully I can do even better next time!

It was really beautiful up the top, so after some food/drink/pictures we walked/jogged a bit further up the hill to see the 'famous' lakes of the region - it really was quite beautiful. Then chair lift back down and jog back to the hotel.

Decent party/after-party too...

C • Out of the comfort zone 4

Bus down to Sapareva Banya, then back up the course to the hotel with Tom.

Easy jog plus some strides - checking out ankle strapping for tomorrow

Team run from the hotel, over to the course (joined about 5.5km mark out of 12.5km) and ran up to the top. Really nice course - variety of surfaces, gradients etc, with a real sting in the tail.

Then chair lift down and jog back to the hotel.