A quick review of my Shropshire Summer Series then...
The Wrekin Streak was a non-event for me, I was saving myself for the Three Peaks on the following weekend. I did at least manage to make myself useful, marshalling at the summit.
The next race was the Caradoc Classic, just 10 days after the Three Peaks. I had a really good ascent and descent, but the steep descent trashed my feet and I couldn't really run in the field, so finished about 10 places further back than I should have.
I sat out Batch Bash, timing the juniors race instead of running to spare my achilles at the height of my struggles with it.
At Pontesbury things started to turn around with a better performance, even though I was holding back a little on the ascent and quite a lot on the descent. I ran according to plan, I just wish I hadn't let Kathryn pass me in the field at the end!
Moving on to Stiperstones, I can definitely say this was my worst race to date. Maybe not in terms of performances (I had some percentages in the low 60s when I started) but just in terms of the experience. I'd had virtually no sleep, way too much booze the night before, and a terrible day, so didn't make much of a fist of it at all. My descent was ok, but the feet were burning when we hit the road...
The final race, Ragleth Inn, was so much better. I managed to deliver on the promise I'd shown at Clee and then at Caradoc, but keep it going to the end. Indeed I think I could probably have been a minute faster if I hadn't been running with the sprained ankle from Sedbergh. I finally realised that I can push a lot harder in races than I thought, sustain a higher effort rate and be breathing a lot harder than I'd previously have done.
Hopefully this will stand me in reasonable stead for the winter series, but first there's the Wistanstow Walk, Stretton Skyline (maybe, if I'm not absolutely gone from the Walk), and the Long Mynd Hike...
No comments:
Post a Comment