Astwood '10', 13th May 2009

After forecasting horrendous weather for today, in actual fact the conditions weren't too bad.  The wind has been coming from the east all week, which has made it rather cool.  The other consequence being that the outward leg of the event should have been pretty quick, and the return somewhat harder.

I was feeling a bit wobbly in my stomach as I lined up at the start - probably due to the excessive consumption of fried finger food at lunchtime.  It was also much colder than last week, which wasn't great.  Fortunately, I had Tony P a minute behind me, which I hoped would spur me on a bit!

Pretty much as soon as I started, I noticed two things - firstly my heart rate was staying resolutely in level 2 (possibly because I was quite cold by this time), and the wind wasn't offering quite as much assistance as I hoped.  Anyway, I bashed on down the road, finally making it into level 3 by the rise up to Chicheley.  Turning left after Chichelely, I'd expected the going to be pretty hard, though as it turned out the headwind really wasn't too bad, and I found myself cruising at 28mph or thereabouts, at least until North Crawley.  By this time, my cardiovascular system was firing a bit better, and I was moving quite well as I raced along the drags after North Crawley.

I actually felt pretty good as I crested the final climb to finish just outside Astwood.  Possibly that means I hadn't tried hard enough, but hey...  I finished in 4th place with 24:01.  Would have been nice to go a wee bit quicker and do a 23, but I was quite pleased with the time, which I think is my fastest on this course in 2009.  Congratulations to Lindz Barrall, who did another course PB, and thanks to the start/finish crew. 

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