I left the house a bit late this morning and had to cycle like a woman possessed. I joined the back of a peloton in Richmond Park but they shook me off on the first hill. I arrived in Bushy Park with only 5 mins to go, so got to practice a speedy cycle to run transition, shove my gear in a random car boot and knock back all the water intended for my run.

It was a gorgeous day again, very slippy underfoot but I think the temperature was just about spot on. I finally met my internet stalker and somehow found myself in the middle of the pack as the race began. This forced me into a nippy start with the first km wrapped up in 6:36 almost a minute quicker than the previous runs.

I was trying to do the maths to determine what my pace could safely slip back to and still allow me to cross the finish with a pb. Unfortunately my mental arithmetic goes to pot when I run, probably cos I starve my brain of oxygen. I felt blown out anyway and my pace seemed to be dropping to an all to low while I tried to recover. I almost stopped to walk I was going that slowly. The garmin beeped for the 2nd km and strangely my split time was still faster than usual. This piled on the pressure a bit more – I just had to hang in there til the end.

BPTT 3rd March

The final straight at the BPTT is a killer, a deceptive 1 km stretch that keeps egging you on to sprint but then refuses to yeild the finish line. Hollywood joined me for about 500 m of hell and pushed me to a new max HR of 185 and a hint of a cardiac arrest. The final photo shows me suffering – check out the frown.

Final result: 5km in 35:08
A new PB!

Ok now for the new b.r.a. (that doesn’t stand for anything, I’m just trying to foil the dodgy ads) bit of the post. I mentioned yesterday that my new Enell contraption had arrived. It was my second one of the week but I returned the first as it was far too comfortable. The second one gripped me like a vice which seems to be the recommended consistency. During the run I felt I was being grabbed by the Bachelor’s Hug-in-a-Mug bear but I can safely say that my bits and pieces didn’t budge an inch during that run.

I award this weeks personal best to the Enell sports bra.