Dewsbury 10K Road Race

[Jack Hughes]

This is the popular Yorkshire season opener.

An out and back course on a closed main road from Dewsbury town centre. It's a bit of a drag on the way out - about 80m over the 5k, all up hill. Then off course, it's down hill on the way back. So expect to negative split.

This might have been Stage 3 of the Battle of the Dinosaurs as both jon.e and I had entered. However, the work/life balance pendulum swung firmly in the wrong direction for jon.e.

So this was more of a training outing and a test of my new racing shoes!

My knee has been a bit dodgy since foolishly running a HM at Christmas, so I was a bit nervous about the new shoes. They are inov8 Road Lite 155 - 3mm drop, and almost no cushioning. In my large size 10s, they weigh in at 185g per shoe. Very light, and with quite a hard (relatively) plastic sole (still very flexible as all inov8 shoes, but they make a bit more noise than the softer rubber ones). Keeps the weight down I guess. These feel phenomenally light. The idea being that at 90+ cadence for 40 minutes, that's a fair bit of shoe to move around, so light shoes should be fast time. Of course, the acid test will be when I get to run Bradford 10k in March, on a course I have run 5 or so times before.

A big field of around 1200 entered, so the start was a bit cramped. I positioned myself in what should have been the first 100 or so, as I tend to start relatively quickly. Of course, there are still a load of people who get to the front and still run at over 5 mins per K (when the people around them are trying to run at 3:00 - 3:30/k). Leads to a bit of confusion. With a field that size maybe some seeding would have been sensible as the start was narrow too. All part of the fun I guess.

The field was quite a strong with, with 188 people finishing in under 40 minutes, and only a second separating the first four home at 30:24.

a shoe lace started to come undone at 2k. And completely undone by 3k. Not sure how that happens, as it had been double tied! Good to know for future though. I decided to struggle on with the loose shoe until the turn around - as it was a U turn I would be slowing to almost a stop in any case. So I reasoned that I would only have one deceleration and acceleration if I stopped at the top.

For no particular reason I had my average pace showing on the watch. This gradually declined from 3:50/km to 4:10km by the 4th K. Then, with, a rise in the gradient, and my loose shoe, I lost focussed a bit, and the average pace started to drop. I switched to HR at the turn as I felt I just wasn't pushing hard enough. This, combined with the downhill of the return leg, was a great help. Finally felt warmed up and running steadily at the right sort of pace. On the outward leg it was all about being overtaken, but with the 20 second pit stop (hands were to numb with cold to tie lace any quicker), I was mainly catching people up on the return. My calf had been bothering me a bit in the run up, but felt fine. Until the last 1.5k when they started to cramp a little. Not enough to put my off. The course had markers at every km, which is something I really like.

Over the line in about 41:49 for a chip time of 41:42. Might have dipped under 41:30 if it wasn't for the pit stop, so not too displeased given the lack of training since Christmas, with only 4 runs since Christmas under the belt (2 park runs, 1 fell race, and 1 treadmill run).

Knee seems to have survived. Calves rather tender, as to be expected after the cramping. The 3m drop probably exacerbated them a bit more. The 6mm shoes felt like stacked bouncy heels afterwards. Will revert to these for the next run.

Splits from Endo (via the Garmin)

1 03:54
2 04:08
3 04:11
4 04:23 (Steeper)
5 04:28 (Steeper and Lazier)
6 04:13 (includes the stop)
7 04:01
8 04:09
9 04:15
10 04:02

Splits from Strava (this removes the "stopped" time, but seeing it comes from the same data source, the Garmin, the difference is fascinating)

1 03:49
2 04:08
3 04:11
4 04:23
5 04:28
6 03:57
7 04:00
8 04:10
9 04:14
10 04:02

Another nice Strava feature is the times adjusted for gradient

1 03:43
2 04:00
3 04:06
4 04:08
5 04:21 (definitely lazy)
6 04:01
7 04:14
8 04:14
9 04:22 (dying)
10 04:07 (Sprint at the end, otherwise dying)

Which gives a different picture (or rather my normal one of starting too quickly, then dying after 8km, although it was into a stiff headwind at that point, which isn't adjusted for)

Just need to manage to get some training in ahead of the next one, in March, which, if all goes well, should be my chance to claw down a few more much needed seconds in the BotD ahead of the start of the swimming season.

[jonathon.e]

I think my slow time on the next TT will be due to having to tie my shoelace as well.

[Jack Hughes]

:D

I think my slow time on the next TT will be due to having to tie my shoelace as well.

Of course it will.

[IanM]

The 3m drop probably exacerbated them a bit more

They're some seriously high heels!

Great time, especially so given the lack of run training!

[CCS]

The 3m drop probably exacerbated them a bit more

They're some seriously high heels!

Great time, especially so given the lack of run training!

You do have to practice walking in high heels!!

Great time!!

[Jack Hughes]

They're more stacked wedges than stilettos. So not as bad as it sounds.

[IanM]

Ah, so more like Mick's new footwear then?

[Jack Hughes]

Ah, so more like Mick's new footwear then?

Exactly!

[Worrying Will]

finially count up this, cracking read jack and enjoying the insight in to the way you break it down.