Mallory Park 5k
On Monday and Tuesday I had two 'away days' through work which was held at Dunchurch Park, near Rugby. The main problem was that at every turn there were fresh cream scones, cakes, Mars Bars and it was hard to resist. Even so I managed to go out for a quick run on Monday covering just over 4 miles. I went a little too hard considering I had a race two days later but I don't think my pace was too detrimental.
I rested Tuesday and today was my first 5k held at the Mallory Park racing circuit in Leicestershire. I was hoping for just under 17mins, but taking one look at the circuit told me it was going to be unlikely. There was one very short but sharp hill which we had to run up twice plus a couple of other very small inclines. In a long race it wouldn't make much difference but in such a short race it can be critical. The main issue though was the wind - it was blowing very hard in places which killed any chance of a good time.
Mallory Park itself is nothing like Silverstone which is the other racing circuit I've been to. Its only 1km long (Silverstone is 5km), tight and twisty, and the facilities were crap - basically a circular strip of tarmac, a couple of toilet blocks and that's just about it. As a result the course involved doing a lap and a bit of the circuit clockwise, before heading into Kirkby Mallory village and then returning back to the circuit for another lap, this time anticlockwise. As a result I thought it was a fairly dull course, more so considering it was only a 5k.
There is not much to report other than I went fairly hard to begin with, and after a km when things began to settle down a bit I caught a few people up, but after 3km I was just about spent and couldn't keep up the pace so dropped back a fair bit over the last 1.5km. I finished in 17.46 26th/261) which is way off what I was hoping for and is not far off my 10k pace, but in fairness it wasn't the course for fast times. I think one of the other reasons why I was not at my best was because of still feeling quite bloated/sluggish from the work event the two days before. On the plus side I got two pairs of running socks as a memento which was nice...
I don't think I learned a lot from the experience, other than the distance is way too short. In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I needed to think about my priorities and I think this has made my mind up for me - I'm going to concentrate on half marathons and above as anything less is just too short for me. I need to try and find some suitable races between now and Christmas.
I rested Tuesday and today was my first 5k held at the Mallory Park racing circuit in Leicestershire. I was hoping for just under 17mins, but taking one look at the circuit told me it was going to be unlikely. There was one very short but sharp hill which we had to run up twice plus a couple of other very small inclines. In a long race it wouldn't make much difference but in such a short race it can be critical. The main issue though was the wind - it was blowing very hard in places which killed any chance of a good time.
Mallory Park itself is nothing like Silverstone which is the other racing circuit I've been to. Its only 1km long (Silverstone is 5km), tight and twisty, and the facilities were crap - basically a circular strip of tarmac, a couple of toilet blocks and that's just about it. As a result the course involved doing a lap and a bit of the circuit clockwise, before heading into Kirkby Mallory village and then returning back to the circuit for another lap, this time anticlockwise. As a result I thought it was a fairly dull course, more so considering it was only a 5k.
There is not much to report other than I went fairly hard to begin with, and after a km when things began to settle down a bit I caught a few people up, but after 3km I was just about spent and couldn't keep up the pace so dropped back a fair bit over the last 1.5km. I finished in 17.46 26th/261) which is way off what I was hoping for and is not far off my 10k pace, but in fairness it wasn't the course for fast times. I think one of the other reasons why I was not at my best was because of still feeling quite bloated/sluggish from the work event the two days before. On the plus side I got two pairs of running socks as a memento which was nice...
I don't think I learned a lot from the experience, other than the distance is way too short. In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I needed to think about my priorities and I think this has made my mind up for me - I'm going to concentrate on half marathons and above as anything less is just too short for me. I need to try and find some suitable races between now and Christmas.
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