Lindsay rightly pointed out that there were no photos from my London trip so here are a few…places in order.
London’passing through, Hampton Court, Howletts Zoo, Canterbury and surround, Whytecliffe on Sea, London; Natural History Museum, London Eye, Thames Trip, Covent Garden, Bus Tour….2 days traveling and 8 days on the ground, family friends, tourist stuff…done!
None are great, they are all taken with my iPhone and/or Instagram or Hipstermatic…like I said lazy tourist!
Additionally I threw in two simulated training runs, did a course recce (although that would prove to be geographically embarrassing), lost 21lbs even with a vacation and practiced my hydration and nutrition plan which was zero input; no gels, no drink although I took a cup of water to cool off around mile 10. So while there are never any guarantees and while I stood on the start line a nervous panda I had put ticks in all the boxes I owned. The one that I couldn’t control and was of major concern was the weather; a late heatwave has gripped the local area and temperatures where pretty high; the thermometer in my car hit 118f on Saturday and the forecasts where for it to continue, the only saving grace was the race start was at 7:00am!
So Sunday morning I stood one row back from the starting line and with a 3, 2, 1, go we went! Obviously I went out too fast! but I found my stride and focused on running my race and racing the clock rather then racing anyone else. To be honest that was way of the race, there was some cat and mousing with other runners on course but I had set my Garmin with a pace alert range of 6:40-6:55, I needed 6:52 to hit the target time of sub 1:30. The sun proved to not be as big an issue as the route I had recced soon deviated through a residential street and so I enjoyed the long shadows cast by apartment buildings etc.
I knew that come mile 10 I was on borrowed time and that proved true as my pace tailed off as you can see from the splits below, miles 10, 11 and 12 were long well at least 7-15 seconds too long but by then I had just enough in the reserve tank to carry me through
A re-focussed effort for the last mile and when turned the last corner I could see the Finish, as I neared I saw the clock had 1:2x but someone’s head obscured the third digit and in the closing meters I saw 1:28:41 and that was that...done!
Final details: 1:28:41 OA 19/440 AG 5/51 File me under Happy Panda.
First half: 44:01 second half 44:40 no negative split thrown by slowing off in miles 10, 11 and 12 from being 33 seconds off pace…numbers junkie, yeah you bet!
Beyond my results this was a great local race, low key and relaxed but well organized, a regularly updated website and emails as the event neared, the results were posted overnight. The course was great with some great beach views, mile markers and ample well stocked and supported aid stations…seems simple enough but these thing are easily and often overlooked!
I will be writing up more extensively on the training plan and on my transition to mid foot running in Newton shoes which I am sure contributed to this result.
Sometimes the most simple of things are overlooked, if like me, and the majority of runners, cyclists, triathletes, gym rats (the list kinda goes on), you wear an iPod, let’s just call it that but I know it could be a mp3 player, an iPhone, Blackberry etc when you work out there is often the issue of cable management. With the best will in the world they do tend to get caught up on things, sometime resulting in the most unceremonious “pop” as your earbud is forcefully extracted…sometimes it’s a little more extreme, see the video below!
Seems too simple right! Well like I say sometimes simple does. To use you feed the cables through until they are in place after that you “clip” it to and voila you’re all set.
And that ladies and gentlemen is simple!
Just to reinforce the point
Available online through Amazon for $7.95 you can choose a fancy schmancy design one or plain and simple colored, there are 9 to choose from!
So with my readers in mind I have one to give away. It will come as no surprise that the usual things will get you an entry.
Show them some love on Facebook will get you an entry, follow them on Twitter and tweeting this message gets you another;
I have just entered the @Quadrathon contest to win a @myclipe you can too at http://bit.ly/o6x148
Add a link on your blog to this post for a third. Leave a comment below telling what you’ve done (honor system folks) and I will draw a winner this coming Sunday and get it in the mail as soon as I have winners addresses!
Have fun!
This product was provided by Amna at Mocha7 Media If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.
