Time/Position: 54.34 (118 from 468 [4th V50])
I 'retired' from this event after running a few seconds under 1.22 in 2011. I was fairly certain that I would never be able to better that, and I still think it remains one of my better mountain running performances. In the event, I never got to put the theory to the test today after 'emerging from retirement', as the nasty conditions meant the race was shortened to the start of the climb to Clogwyn, about 1km beyond halfway house. This all meant that the pace was more frantic than it might have been, especially the descent. I climbed well initially, but only to the top of the steep tarmac out of Llanberis. After that, I reverted to recent type, struggling to hold any kind of decent pace. I reached halfway house in 28.15 from the start, then slowed for the windy and very wet final trudge to the turnaround (35m). The descent went much better though - still very wet with high winds swirling around unpredictably, but a pretty quick 13.07 from halfway house to Victoria Terrace in Llanberis, a little more of course for the whole descent which gets very fast indeed in some places, particularly the steep tarmac but also higher up where it was so enjoyable that it almost made up for the shortening. There is a price to be paid for this sort of thing: muscle damage lasting several days!
No comments:
Post a Comment