First Target of the Year Achieved

The weather today seemed pretty good so decided to go out for a bike ride on my usual route, even though my legs were still quite sore from yesterday's 10k. My best on this course is 49.27 in late 2006 for what I thought was a 14.5 mile course. Well having now measured it on mapmyrun it appears that I was a bit optimistic and it is actually only 13.6miles (basically the same as my half marathon run but with an extra half mile on the Lichfield Rd towards the end- map attached on my previous blog post a couple of weeks back).

As you can see from the elevation profile the first part of the course is fast and mainly downhill though it feels flatter than it looks with a few short but sharp climbs. The two main climbs are towards the end of the lap with a short but very steep ascent in Shenstone, then a very long steep ascent from Little Hay to the TV mast. The low point of the course is 89 metres and the highpoint 174 metres.

I decided to go as hard as I could, but very early on I could feel that my legs were still very tired from yesterday and so eased off for 30 secs before picking up the pace again. Although I didn't intend it this way I ended up doing it as a time trial, so it became the target to beat my 2007 aim of going round in less than 48 minutes.

After the first 10 minutes things began to settle down and I found it reasonably comfortable, using the largest gear possible on my mountain bike (although 24 gears I could do with some more, as even on the flat I'm using the largest gear possible so am not going as fast as I could). I did get someone beep their horn at me as I couldn't be arsed to wait at the junction, but it was a left turn and safe enough.

In the end I got round in not just under 48mins but in a new best time of 44.47!!! This equates to an average of 18.25mph (it is was well above 20mph before I hit the last hill). Sooo... that's the first 2007 target achieved! Even though I've had a couple of disappointing 10k runs over the last few weeks it does show that I have got a lot fitter since last summer having beaten my previous best by 4.40 which in cycling terms is a country mile.

I reckon I could go faster still, but the traffic would have to be in my favour all the way round, the weather perfect, would need a road bike, and the odd risk or two which I'm not prepared to take. One target down, three to go!

Comments

  1. Steph Cooke9 April 2007 at 20:23

    So you're the one responsible for my camel spider nightmares! Only joking, well done on your 10k, you are much faster than me- I completed the Belvoir Half in 2hrs 11mins 51secs.
    I have been reading your blog and am going to attempt to link to it from mine!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spine Race - Some Stats (2012-2024) - Updated following 2024 race.

Image
This is an update to a post I originally published in following the 2023 event.  I have now updated it to reflect the 2024 race. Over the years there have been a number of stats published about the Spine races, usually focusing on finish percentages etc.  I decided to take a look and see whether I could do something different with the data.  I've focused purely on the Winter Spine Race and none of the other races in the series. Some headline stats: 28 countries are represented in the finish results (increase of 2 as a result of 2024 event). There are 610 recorded finishes by 478 people Only 16 people have gone sub 100 hours (exc. 2015) - an increase of 4 during as a result of 2024 event. I've attached the spreadsheet I put together.  To explain it in a bit more detail take Jasmin Paris (row 6): She was the 230th recorded finisher The 185th individual to have ever finished the Spine The 5th fastest recorded time (includes people who have multiple finish times) The 5th fastest in
Read more

Ranger Ultras - High Peak 100k

Image
Over the coming months I've got three 100k races coming up and the High Peak 100k was the first of these.  On paper it should have been the easiest, more so as the weather in September is usually benign.  The reality was somewhat different, weather forecasts were stating it was the hottest day of the year hovering around 30c with very high humidity levels.  It was clear that the weather alone was going to make this a sufferfest and it didn't disappoint. I decided to be quite conservative with fluids, reverting to my expedition pack which is designed for multi day races.  It holds 2 x 750ml bottles, plus space for my 2 litre bladder.  Although there were 7 water stations along the route, I wanted to ensure that I could drink freely from the start and get a feel for my consumption until I was properly settled into the race.  The downside to this strategy was a rather heavy race pack... At 9am the race started and it was my initial plan to try and finish the 100k in somewhere betw
Read more

Ranger Ultras Pennine Bridleway 270km

Image
Since the Spine Race I have had a bit of a void that needed filling.  I spotted the PB270 as it is more commonly known that would fill the gap whilst still being a significant challenge.  The Bridleway runs from Middleton Top, near to Matlock in Derbyshire through to Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, running slightly West to the better known Pennine Way.  The Bridleway runs along well defined tracks and roads and there is still some 6,500 metres of elevation to contend with, albeit there were no real individual ascents over 400 metres. Start at Middleton Top Start (Middleton Top) to Checkpoint 1 (Hayfield) - (37 miles) The first 15 or so miles are along an old railway bed so were very flat and runnable.  I knew this was going to play to my strength so the plan was to just go out at a pace that felt easy and expect to take an early lead.  This was pretty much exactly what happened and despite there being some long straight sections I was out of sight.  I always knew that I would eventually run
Read more