This is the first race in a long time where I didn’t know what to expect in terms of a goal.
I was sure that I wasn’t at my very best but didn’t know just how far away from it I was.
In the end I was pleasantly surprised by how well the race went.
Just before Christmas I tested positive for COVID-19 and had a rather rough week with it, then for a few weeks after I struggled with my training due to issues with my breathing.
Luckily recently things have started to improve and I am able to train almost like I was before.
On the day another issue with my race plan was that the weather was awful. 20mph winds and rain with some huge puddles on the course.
With the course being 4 laps of a rowing lake it was very exposed and meant that almost 50% of the race would be into a headwind. Of course it also meant that the other half would have a tailwind.
Starting with a short period of the headwind was ok as we were all fresh. Then going into the tailwind I made the most of it. This was the way I tried to treat the race, do what I could when running into the wind and make up as much time as I could going the other way.
I felt the race went really well, I knew it wasn’t going to be a PB with the training and the conditions but to come in with the time that I did gave me some confidence for the few races that I have coming up.
markrepton26.2 