20 Oct - Surrey League 1 - Roehampton

ITB been bad lately so fairly dubious.

Warmed up one lap at walking and slow running pace (40 mins) 4km
Few strides and some stretching closer to the start.

Found this really helped my nerves and preparation to get away from the crowds, plus useful to have a practice run of the course.

Course was extremely muddy for 50% and gravel for 50%.

Went off reasonably easy, found my own pace/rythm which felt OK, behind pat and Kristian. Allowed my legs to build into it and started to open up a bit on the flat gravel, all felt really good. Found I was a very comfortable tired, especially on the hills, leg strength work is definitely working.

Was around 40th at the halfway mark but felt good and strong with breathing relatively under control. One thing to think about is that I got more out of breath on the downhill, perhaps implying I could work on efficient running downhill.

Second half I kept strong and steady on the uphill and then really opened the stride on the flat, cadence felt good and form, just slightly droppped onto my heels but I think this was mainly because of the spiks on the gravel was painful on the feet.

Final 1km was downhill and I really opened it up on this. Caught Will Cockerall and Ben Paviour right at the end, I have never beaten either of these before.

20th Overall.

Extremely pleased with the race, although place is not the best there were 6 kent in the top ten which technically makes me close to equivalent 14th. Going to carry on with the strength work and up the mileage on the mud. My most enjoyable race to date.