Running20:00 4.05 km (4:57 / km) +62m4:36 / km ahr:111 max:130
11 AM
Running32:10 5.84 km (5:30 / km) +1m5:30 / km ahr:118 max:157
Running race 1:05:00 21.15 km (3:04 / km) +100m3:00 / km ahr:176 max:187
Inverness half, 2nd - 64.58
The appeal of this race was that it was reasonably flat and Robbie Simpson would be there as competition. I hoped that we would be reasonably similar and could help each other run quickly. The aim was sub 65 and so I am happy to have (just) achieved this.
We started off at a good pace, with Cameron Milne for company for a bit. It was a bit faster than would have backed myself for, but I felt pretty comfortable. I held back a bit on the main hill between 4 and 5 miles, worried about going into the red too early. We were still working well and, although Robbie was definitely pushing the pace more than me, I felt like I was holding something in reserve.
We went through halfway in good time and with most of the climbing done. I was still feeling good at this point but Robbie was definitely starting to push on a bit. I was slowly dropped from 11km - 14km as I just didn't feel like I could keep the pace we were doing to the finish. I split 9.05 for this 3km so Robbie must have been 9.00. From this point I was just trying to keep the gap as small as possible. It was only growing quite slowly into the last 3 miles where I started to really struggle.
I had a bit of a buffer on 65 minutes built up, but this started to fall away very quickly in the last few miles and I needed to really dig deep to just sneak under.
Happy with that. I still think I'm better at 5km/10km, I just don't have the ability to sit on that threshold as well as the marathon guys do, but I'm happy to achieve what I set out to. Looking forward to seeing Robbie at the commonwealth games.