The final push

Well, I had my first race for 5 weeks on Sunday, the Centurion 5 mile race.

Conditions were pretty good for racing, albeit the course was a bit muddy (it's off road). This was the fourth race in the six race series. Need to compete in 4 races to enable you to qualify for any prize at the end.

By my reckoning I am well in contention for the 1st prize - having had a 1st, 3rd and 2nd place finish in the previous races. There were a couple of runners there who had beaten me in previous races, so I stuck to my tried and tested game plan - "run as fast as you can for as long as you can". I was leading after the first mile, then an athlete who had not competed in the series cruised past me (I probably did a 5 min mile!) and as I was pretty much flat out I couldn't keep up. I felt pretty good for the rest of the race and broke MY course record my 16 secs. The winner broke THE course record so he truly was an uhber athlete! I managed to beat all my rivals which was good and shows the training is paying off. My times are saying that I should be about 33m 30s for 10k at the moment.

So, with 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 2nd place finishes, things are looking good for the overall prize. I think I need to run once more - to beat anyone who has a chance of overhauling me, and that should be that. I will be aiming to break my course record again.

Getting itchy feet (or should that be pedals!) and want to go out on the bike. Not been outside on the bike for 3 months. Duathlon season fast approaching, and the new tyres on the ZIPP and disc wheels need to feel some tarmac. March might be a busy racing month depending on the weather. It will interesting to see how I fare over my 20k route after my winter training on the bike indoors.

No idea when my next race will be. Certainly not this weekend - it's Katy's birthday and Valentine's day after all!

Word of the week - "OVERWHELM" ... which is what I have to do to my opponents when I next race!

Tonight's training was tough. Didn't want to run at all, but forced a 2k jog on the treadmill followed by a 10k run. Managed a 34m 50s 10k so quite pleased with that especially as no part of my body wanted to move!