Wimbledon Common 10k

A very lucky bib number, a run 24 seconds away from my 10k PB..

A late night after a rainy day, I had expected boggy conditions, luckily it turned out to be a day of wonderful sunshine.
Basking in the warmth of the Sunday morning sunshine, in a sleeveless top and shorts, chatting away with Vinnie, a fellow late-stage over pronator (we used to be asics twins) making a debut back to the racing circuit :)

- this was the type of race I wouldn't mind - relaxed atmosphere, close enough to home. A bit of negotiation got us a discount for 3 races - 2 of which would be half marathons on the same track in 7 week's time - which I would trial during this 10k...Hubby had other plans, saving me £11, and gone off before the 10k start to do his own loop around Neighbouring Richmond park...
The course was a loop - first 2 uphill and last 2 coming down, and flat trails in between.
Up hills did feel like the Farnham pilgrim , trails and all not easy, but it contributes to us not starting too fast - because we simply cannot!
I always wondered how big Wimbledon common was and whether it was just a loop of parkland or was there much more? A lot of what we ran that day was close enough to traffic - hear them, see them... Walkers with their Nordic sticks, riders on their lovely horses... Lots of activity, but no deer like itsneighbour. Oh well.
It was a good training run, it got warmer, one was tempted to skip the water station at 5km, but breathing thru my mouth and recovering from a stitch , I just had to. (Then I saw a girl with a similar pacing to me cut a corner to avoid the stopping!)
The race 'starts' in the second half so as
I reached 5km I took stock. >27mins (ie Parkrun speed) this again was a goner. :(
Well I can only make the best of it and capitalise on the downhills and trick myself that my legs were still fresh. Failed on the latter (although it wasn't terribly bad!) but on the 9th kilometre I release my legs within reason and did a 5:10 lap!
The last kilometre was all flat and as hard as I could drive my turbos..I can see the clock ticking in the distance - 55:xx - it kinda didn't matter, how much can I make up for it? Like an Olympian gold medallist by reaching out my hands for the photo finish? (The race chip was on the bib- unfortunately I couldn't keep my lucky number close enough) --- I finished

But officially 55:48, 24 seconds off my PB at Bushy Park 10k on my birthday 2 years ago.
24 seconds! Less than half a minute, every second counts. As I have learnt through the course of the week - the hard way to put it simply.
Am evaluating my training if I were to break 2 in a half marathon by end July. Have just signed up for a few practice opportunities. But need to get out there and get some quality speed on those legs !
Started reading Ben Ainslie's 'Close to the Wind' ( oh what a feeling!) and on the first pages he recalled one of the best advices he got from his coach: 'we want to be in a position when you're good enough to win gold even whe you're not sailing at your best'.
Need that feeling that my training can prove that I have capacity to achieve.
But achievement is very different in everyone's eyes and in the midst of so many priorities. I stayed on near the finish line for another 10-15 minutes to wait for Vinnie (with her dad and my hubby) as well as the team that were fundraising (wearing T-shirts with a photo on it)....It is also great to see my colleague cutting out her Parkrun barcode in the office last week and coming back this week to tell me she's done her first in prep for a charity 10k. Or another telling me he's smashing PB's in training for an upcoming race.
It's great hearing from my dinner guests how they have overcome their injuries and am easing back into the activities they love with some modifications and greater awareness of what their bodies can do..
It is good signing up for yet another appearance at the jpmcc this year (not totally susidised by my professional org this year as some people have not turned up!) and the organiser thinking that I don't need to train.
Am glad to inspire and be inspired! (Hmm..using what i learnt during London 2012 games maker training! )
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a gr8 Monday...Richmond Park Take Two

Who will buy, this wonderful (Monday) morning,
Such a sky, you never did see!

Who would rise at 8 in the morning
To drop a cyclist off for a ride to the sea...

And then the day's left for me to enjoy
Should I do another Parkrun?

2 loops of 5 (to train for a 10km)
Or bonus miles to a Freedom (5km unscheduled Parkrun)

Chose the latter,and had fun!




Who will try, a shortcut thro the middle
Who would know, there's 2 lakes in between!



Me, oh my, I don't want to lose my way

So what am I to do,
These signs are not useful too


I persisted, 8 miles later - I survived!






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2 secs...and heaps of sunshine

The glorious first may long weekend has just flown past, and its been great spending much of it in Richmond Park.

After a long week of work (not new anymore) and into the night...I pushed ourselves out to beat the non existent Saturday traffic to the 9am Parkrun

Got there too early, without a coffee, a tired me to the starting line.

It's the first Saturday of the month - and usually there's pacers...I see miss Sally(?) with 27:30 bib on, and vowed not to see her all the way...

Due to potential land degradation issues, they've changed the place for starting announcements - and one had to walk between those at the start toget to the bad to start...which means, an earlier forced start...

Miss 27:30 pacer explained the route to a few followers 'and it gets steeper towards the end, killer hills'..since I was slowly passing her in the downhill first kilometer... I let the chatter fade in the distance.

I know this track too well.. And when it gets harder, and when it gets steep. And today, I knew wasn't my day. I did the thing one isn't supposed to do. Walked for a minute - it was a hard push...
Near the second dip of the track miss 27:30 caught up, and so did the few followers, missing a few.
They asked me not to stop...so I pushed on....and can only hope...



Failed a sub-27, and missed official PB by 2 secs!

What could I have done better? Earlier nights, a coffee and warmup.
In contrast to my other half, I don't loathe Parkrun. I recommend it for those that needs encouragement - what I can achieve in a Parkrun is often played back at the final 5kms of a marathon (when one realizes benefits of fresh legs!)

A little tired visit to Isabella plantation after, not quite in full bloom. What a Saturday !





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Faux Filet

April in Paris, only just. And just an overnight stay.

Stayed near Bastille - and to Marathon de Paris veterans, that's the 5km mark and the first drink station / bottleneck.




Spent most of the Saturday walking around, visiting old haunts - escaping the labyrinth from the chatelet metro via a walk east, with the bastille insight, and out of sight again....the brasseries made commercial via too much word of mouth reviews, the marche at the mouffetard (Left Bank) open on a Saturday afternoon (my mouffetarte shop has given way to a clothes shop!)

The highlight being the evening meal at a lovely little establishment at the Marais, run by 2 (female) lovers - the recommendation of the night being Faux Filet !
My poor French turned suspicion into 'false beef' = horse but lucky it wasn't- a nice protein fix it was (lately I just need meat, don't know why)




What wasn't faux there was: c'est deliceaux!

Of course, how can a Sunday morning not start with a beautiful run (my hotel selection, of course was strategically to facilitate such pursuits).
Late checkout requested (a pattern here) and of course I had to lead the running route (professional run tour guides charge €75 for this luxury!) -

Along the right bank of the Seine we went - a quiet stretch that runners/cyclists/rollerbladers would go on the middle of the road (where available) and where not, the minimalist/barefoot shoe runners would suffer on the cobblestones.





It was nice being there, jogging the memories of 2 Sunday mornings in April few years ago, when we were racing and spectating against time. The only clock this time, was the possible late checkout charge ....so the logical point to turn back was in the jardin Tuileries - as pretty as before...

And some customary stretching with the louvre in the background



And then..a straight run, traffic permitting , down rue rivoli...



Not quite 10kms (would've been if we reached halfway up the champs élysées near George V)...but at least we did it!

***
Things aren't always what they seem, faux imaginations are easily found with a bit more thought, but its the initial idea, and the necessary logistics with a diversion, that gets me out there.

Back home, I've finally tried a day commuting with the bike and train alone..ok, with a lift to my old station with faster trains in the morning.

On the way back, I explored the options of heading home by cycling totally, by using my return ticket and changing to the slower train that will take me a 5 min ride home, or by using the return ticket and cycling the 5 miles home.

I chose the 3rd option, which meant I didn't have the 20 minute dead time on the platform for the train change (I got home quicker than waiting for the train!)

Alternatively, if I had decided to cycle my whole way without interruptions, I wouldn't have wasted time on waiting for the train even.

Faux pedal economy. Real exercise. Just more planning required for a proper workout. But how many balls to juggle?

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