A bit of racing

Time check before it all got rather hard

This is the third time that I’ve raced the Sporting 14 in the last 4 years and it’s been my first event of the season.  On paper, it looks relatively easy with two laps and no major hills to climb, but it is quite frankly, brutal. The start at the bottom of Hungry Hill looks benign enough and as it stretches out before you, calling it a hill seems ridiculous, particularly on the first lap, but after a minute or two I’m usually completely anaerobic with snot and spit pouring from every facial orofice as I desperately try to get more oxygen in.  It just goes on and on and on, slowly sapping speed all the way up. Even worse, there’s a small flat section in the middle which lulls you into a false sense of security, letting you grab a brief respite before the interminable climb starts again.

After the first time up I thought I’d nailed it and felt pretty good, despite the really poor road conditions and cold temperature. My breathing settled as I took the second left to start the long descent back to the start. The second time along Hungry Hill was turgid; particularly at the bottom and despite moving pretty slowly I was absolutely at my limit. Gradually I got into a bit of a rhythm but I felt very rugged going up. The last, bumpy descent merely prolonged the agony and although it was the fastest time that I've ridden the course, it was only a handful of seconds.

This was in stark contrast to the following Sunday, when I ran the Quicksilver Hampton Course Half Marathon. Over the last month I'd managed to get a couple of long runs done that were in double digits for the first time in 6 months or so and I was eally excited about running uninjured and pinning a number on. I wasn't sure what my  speed endurance would be like but I thought something around 1:30 was possible, so I settled myself 50 metres or so behind the 1:30 pacer and sat in. The first half went by quickly and comfortably and I gradually reeled in the pacers, until I was literally tucked in behind them. I should have stayed with them but I thought I'd push on a bit as I was feeling so good. Big mistake! Within a mile I was blowing hard and after being with a nice group being sheltered, I was now out on my own into a stiff headwind heading back to the finish. I was really hanging on over the last couple of miles but I kept my pace constant despite a big increase in RPE, but I was delighted with 1:28:56.