Wheaton Aston 10k
In what is now a post Christmas tradition I made my third appearance at the Wheaton Aston 10k that I won in 32.22 last year and still stands as my PB. Whilst I no longer focus on the shorter races any more I was pretty confident that my PB would be smashed.
In the lead up to the start the conditions were really poor - plenty of standing water some of which covered the entire width of the road, it was blustery, near freezing and started to gently snow about 10 minutes before the start although this cleared before the race began. I quickly decided that the conditions were not particularly conducive to fast running and decided to just go with the flow and run it as a race rather than go for a time.
In the first km I was in a lead group of 4 and whilst we went through the first km in a decent lick of 3.18 I was well in control. Over the next 3km the pace slowed considerably - 3.36, 3.30 & 3.31 and despite the conditions it was really slow. After about 3.5km I'd had enough of this and decided to just go it alone even if any chance of a PB was already out of the window.
Being the way I am I found it difficult to gradually wind up the pace as I prefer to just 'lock' into a rhythm and hold on so was somewhat disappointed with the next 3 km of 3.19, 3.22 and 3.15 but in fairness these were mostly gradually uphill and directly into a significant headwind.
The final 3km I wound up the pace even more and started to hit some pretty decent splits - 3.05, 3.08 and 3.05 and if I'm honest I had quite a bit more in the tank so it was a pleasing end. I crossed the line in 33.13 which is miles off my PB and in all honesty with the benefit of hindsight I should have just run hard from the start and see what time I could do. None the less I was very pleased with the strong finish and shows that I'm pretty strong overall even if the overall time might suggest otherwise.
In the lead up to the start the conditions were really poor - plenty of standing water some of which covered the entire width of the road, it was blustery, near freezing and started to gently snow about 10 minutes before the start although this cleared before the race began. I quickly decided that the conditions were not particularly conducive to fast running and decided to just go with the flow and run it as a race rather than go for a time.
Relaxing in the lead group.
In the first km I was in a lead group of 4 and whilst we went through the first km in a decent lick of 3.18 I was well in control. Over the next 3km the pace slowed considerably - 3.36, 3.30 & 3.31 and despite the conditions it was really slow. After about 3.5km I'd had enough of this and decided to just go it alone even if any chance of a PB was already out of the window.
Being the way I am I found it difficult to gradually wind up the pace as I prefer to just 'lock' into a rhythm and hold on so was somewhat disappointed with the next 3 km of 3.19, 3.22 and 3.15 but in fairness these were mostly gradually uphill and directly into a significant headwind.
About 9km in and feeling in control.
Home Straight
The final 3km I wound up the pace even more and started to hit some pretty decent splits - 3.05, 3.08 and 3.05 and if I'm honest I had quite a bit more in the tank so it was a pleasing end. I crossed the line in 33.13 which is miles off my PB and in all honesty with the benefit of hindsight I should have just run hard from the start and see what time I could do. None the less I was very pleased with the strong finish and shows that I'm pretty strong overall even if the overall time might suggest otherwise.
Crossing the line.
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