Great Orme Challenge 15K, 2010

From David Yelland
22nd August 2010
Preparation for this race had been a little aimless. I had not had any long term plans to do this race, my A race for the season is the Angelsey Half Marathon in late September, and I had just returned 2 days before the race from a 4 day break away with my wife and girls. My recent running has been very good. After the disaster of the Chester Marathon I had decided I was lacking in aerobic fitness. So the last few months had seen my weekly and monthly mileages ramp up. June had 23 hrs of running and biking, July saw 30 hours of running with me setting a new monthly record of 178.59 miles. August was going well when my wife decided we needed a short break! My expectation for August is in the 165 miles region. I hope, by the middle of next year to be consistently putting out 200 miles a month.
I did the Great Orme Challenge last year but since then the race has changed. It has grown from a 5km sprint straight up to the top of the Orme, to a 15km race around the perimeter of the Orme and back!
The combination of scenery and a clear blue sky made this race pretty challenging. The course is basically a 2 mile hill followed by a .5 mile flat section and a 2 mile decent, turn around and repeat!
On the day I was running a little late, lots of domestic stuff to sort with 4 girls at home for the holidays.
In the end I made it down to the start line with 5 mins to go before the 12am race start. I immediately pinned my bib number on and started warming up. My friend Richard had already arrived and so off we went for a warming jog. My wife and youngest child had decided to support me on this race and went off to park the car. As 12 o’clock approached I checked my 2 drinks bottles, High 5 4:1 as normal, and the horn sounded. I was trying to keep the pace pretty even for the first part of the race as my heart rate would be a major factor in this race. I had worn my ICE Skins compression shorts to help keep the heat down, but with a 20C plus forecast and 20mph easterly winds this race was going to be all about pacing.
The first mile ends with a 1000m stretch up an easy hill of about 100ft. My pace was around the 8min region which was nice and easy. My target for this race had been 80mins. This would mean around a 8.30min pace average. Considering the elevation gain, just under 1000ft, this would mean a good days work.
As the race started at 12pm I fell into a nice even pace. I was running a 10 min run 1 min walk routine for this race. I sometimes reduce the walk interval at the beginning of a race but with the constant hills this course was not suited to short recoverys. Everything was going well past mile 1 and into mile 2. My average heart rate was a bit high but it fell 17 beats during the first rest interval so everything was fine. Through mile 2 my HR only dropped 11 beats which was a bad sign. As the main hill awaited my average HR was too high to keep the pace up. My pace for mile 3 was 9.33min. Far too slow. By the end of the mile I was on the flat so my HR dropped a full 19 beats during the walking minute. By the beginning of the 4th mile I was trying to keep my HR down while running the decent. Keeping my cadence around 90 had been easy in training but now it felt much harder. At this point I saw my wife and youngest child by the road side. A quick kiss and a high five later saw me push on to the drinks table at the turn around point. The turnaround was at 41mins. I had 39 mins to get home. As I started the assent I noticed that my race number had fallen off! I turned and ran back about 10 meters to pick it up off the floor. As I picked it up it became clear that the problem was that the paper had become so wet as to be useless. I tucked it into the front of my shorts and returned to the race! The return leg went really well. I spotted a few runners in the distance and went after them. As I approached them I would need to take a walk break but by the end of the race I had them in my sights. Unfortunately the final section of the race came earlier than I had expected. I felt like I had loads of energy left as I ran the final mile in 7.23! My finishing time was 1.20.13.
I had achieved one of my goals but there was still lots more to come.
My next race is the Angelsey Half Marathon in September. My PB for this is 1.50. My target is to break 1.45 – sub 8min here I come!