It's difficult to explain exactly what happened. I suppose in short, it was just one of "those" days. I really can't complain too much - I've had far more good days than bad this year, however the feeling of disappointment is still there when you do have a poor run.
I had worried all week about the conditions, and the forecasts weren't looking good, with 45mph winds and heavy rain given for Leeds that morning. I have to be honest though and say that this absolutely was not the reason for my bad run - sure it was windy, but nothing like as bad as the forecast.
No, today was simply a bad day at the office, and one that proved mentally quite challenging as well as the physical exertion. Once it became apparent that my legs weren't going to allow me to do what I felt capable of, it became a mental battle to keep going and to at least try and grind out some sort of time of note, rather than just giving up.
To that end, the race wasn't a complete write off, in that I did at least somehow set a new pb, albeit not the time I was looking for. I don't have the official confirmation yet, but I ran somewhere in the region of 32:26, which would be a new best by 10 seconds. So at least we have still moved in the right direction...
I had targeted closer to 31:30 if truth be told. The way I have been performing in training, and the increase in mileage over the last 12 weeks led me to believe I was capable of such a time - especially when the field was of such a vast quality as this one.
The first couple of miles did actually see me "on pace", I had aimed to run 5:05 pace throughout and so my first target had been to arrive at the 2 mile stage in and around 10:10. As it was, the first mile was a tad quick, as I had expected it would be, as I went through that in 4:58. Mile 2 was bang on target at 5:05, meaning I went through the first two miles in 10:03.
It was at this stage that it started to become clear that I wouldn't be able to maintain this pace however, as my legs started to feel heavy and my rhythm became sluggish. Mile 3 saw the pace drop to 5:18 and I found myself starting to run in surges rather than a steady rhythm. Whether this was a mental thing because I had become aware that I was dropping off the pace I don't know, but by now I really wasn't happy with how the run was panning out.
After the turn around at halfway, I had hoped things would pick up again, as the course started to slope back downhill gradually. The pace did come back down slightly, but nowhere near as much as I needed it to. Mile 4 was clocked at 5:13 and mile 5 at 5:15. I had hoped that I would at least find something in reserve for a final push in the last mile, but unfortunately mile 6 was actually my slowest at 5:20 as I just had nothing left.
As I say, it wasn't a complete disaster and a pb was at least recorded. I won't be beating myself up about it, or licking my wounds for too long, it will be a case of straight back on the bike as they say - with Wesham 10k in a fortnight's time. I might actually run that one without the pressure of the watch and just run on feel to try and get the rhythm back. Then I might have a full month off from the racing in which to evaluate everything and train up towards one last crack at the distance for this year at Ribble Valley post-Christmas.
On a positive note, I did at least make the most of my first visit to the city of Leeds and made a nice weekend of it away with Molly, and we spent Sunday afternoon grabbing some lunch and doing some early Christmas shopping!
