CCC

Saturday was Cross Country time, so I packed the wife in the car and set off to PENTEC for the meet. Not just a league, but champs:

I had taken Wednesday and Thursday easy, so my legs had a bit of spring in them, and I was ready to race.

So much for being ready to race we were running late and I didn't really have any time... but Dawn entered for me so I had a bit of time to warm up.

The Race: 40+ 8km around the fields. We started on the track and I felt like a real athlete again, but after 300m we left the track, and it was time to see who was in the mix...

Graham, Johnny and Saun took the lead and opened a gap on Tobias, Seppy and Myself. There were another 2 guys in the group, but after the 2km loop they had fallen off the pace. With 2 loops of 3km to go I was losing ground...

I could see the race unfolding, Graham and Johnny up front, Saun running hard trying to keep pace (he is an 800m guys and I was hoping this would be to far for him, but he has had a good CC session and was holding on.) Tobias was mine and with 2km to go I caught him, passing him on one of the little hills. I didn't look back and went for Seppy (this guys was a 28min 10km boy in the 90's) and I was now chasing him down... Running as hard as I could I closed the gap, but was left wanting he crossed the line 5 sec ahead of me in 4th place leaving me to 5th.

Sunday saw me line up for a 30km race:

30km on the road is a long way... I had planned on a just running easy 4min/km and dipping under 2 hours. Ha Ha Ha that isn't easy anymore...

There is a little hill at 3km that goes on for 6km climbing 250m, so we lost time and only passed 10km in 41:06. With the help on the down hill I was back on track by 15km, but we were now running into the wind and the next hill lay ahead of us. This hill was 'easy' and with a bit of work I stayed at 4min/km dropping the guys I was running with... The 2nd half was a long lonely way, but I had to keep going.

With the next down hill I tried to recover, but I was now running hard and not fast (not a good sign.) with last 10 were along the coast and the wind was now behind us so keeping the pace was easy, but the legs were getting sore. I finished strongly with 1h57:55 and a 2nd 40+ place.

Now it's time for an easy week and then next weekend we are into the mountains for some fun...

see you then.