Clapham 10k Report

Had to really struggle to get out of bed at 7am to drive up to Clapham for this. Was considering the train but it looked like I'd have had to sleep in a station overnight...not really an option. So got up and breakfast consisted of a banana and some Tropicana! Hardly the ideal start.

Made it up to Clapham in plenty of time, done a quick stretch and a bit of a jog to warm up. Started towards the back of the pack, and it took me the guts of 40s to cross the start line. Started off a bit too fast, as usual, doing the first 1k in under 6m and completing the 2nd in 12mins (non-stop). Started doing my usual run-walk routine from here, with the walks consisting of 30secs.

I made it to 5k in 30mins 20secs, easily my best time yet (1m 40s faster than Dorney) but thats the only good news to report. The second 5k were unbelievably hard by comparison. It took me 8 mins to reach the 6km marker as my legs were totally shot. I picked it up a bit until about 7.5km, where I really struggled for another km. Eventually got to 9km and the homeward stretch...how come that last km is always easier than the couple beforehand.

Completed the race in 1hr 5min 40s, which was 20s faster than my previous best at Dorney. But given the 5k pace, it was a bit disappointing that it wasn't a bit better.

So what went wrong...well my preparation on the day was hardly ideal. Thats definitely something that needs to be looked at in future. But I think the main problem was probably my training runs in the previous two weeks...all except one (of 9 I think) were 30-36mins. No wonder I didn't have the legs after half way, considering the pace I'd set up to that point. I'll be making a conscious effort over the coming weeks to do more longer runs (at slower paces) just to build the stamina up.