Doncaster AC had over 100 senior endurance performances this weekend from Parkrun to 55 Mile Ultras!

After a slack week of training, due to a trapped nerve and some laziness (I am a bit tired from the Marathon Training) I travelled to Hull for my last long run, a race which I first ran in 2015 (and had a fantastic run), in 2016 I had a shocking run and the forecast for 2017 was a bit rubbish with 20 mph wind.

I did not have a plan (well I had several but did not know which to implement until I was on the start line).  I felt ok(ish) so decided to run at TMP and see what the wind would do to my attempt at this.

On the start I spotted lots of familiar faces including Simon Newton, Gareth Cooke, James Thompson, Melvin Wallace and Richard Spooner.  I ran some of the race with Simon and some with James.

I went through 10km in 38 minutes and half marathon in 81 minutes.  From 10 miles the headwind hit us basically all the way to the finish.  Those who wanted to, faced the wind and fought hard to maintain pace.  I was not one of those and my pace dropped off, 4 or 5 people passed me in the second 10 miles.  However, I did not feel really tired until about 17 miles where the course was totally exposed to the wind and my pace dropped off quite a lot.  I knew I should be safe for a 20 mile PB and I finished with an average pace of 6:21 minute miles, in 19th place with a time of 2:07:08.  That will do, a very tough long run and time to ease back for London.  I ran to perceived effort as always and the perception of this race was I don’t want to do it again (until next year).

So that rounds off my full suite of PB’s in every distance in the last 4 months, 3km, 5km, 10km, 10 Mile, half marathon, 30km, 20km and some more obscure events.  Just one more PB to get this year in about a month.  I do wish I was brave enough to ditch the garmin but that’s never going to happen, my watch is set up about a simple as it can be.  Distance, Timer, Pace and Average Pace.  I use to have all sorts of data such as Heart Rate, Zones, Cadence, Stride Length but gone back to basics.

What a tune