Rochdale 10k

In a season where the races are all coming in thick and fast, it was the turn of the Rochdale 10K on Tuesday 10th August, a race that had been postponed due to COVID and the restrictions at the time. The weather was pleasant for a change!

RRR and Rochdale Tri were out in good numbers, I had many a chat clubmates. For a nice change, my family were there for support and they seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.

The race starts and ends in Springfield Park, which has cars, speed bumps and potholes to contend with from the off. The race brief was given with folks spread apart, the race though, back to the usual scramble at the beginning.

Keeping to the right 

I exited the park still with the top ten runners or so and thought to myself, "oops, should not be here, that's my race ruined" so took a look at the watch and tried to keep to 4:00 min/km pace on the flat and 4:20 min/km for the uphill. Unfortunately, my heart rate was pretty much 180bpm for most of the race, so full-on, which you cannot/should not do for anything longer!

Garmin heat map of the race

In the picture above, you can see the route and the colours give you a clue about the relative speed.

Most of it is blue, which is the average speed and not necessarily that I am running slow; where you see green that is where I am going quicker. Red is the fastest bit, so looping out of the park and heading east it is green, heading north, it has a flat section then downhill so green again!

It is an undulating course with plenty of "rise and fall". The section to the left, which looks north to south, is straight. However, the pavement is mostly uneven flagstones, so I spent more time on the road!

On the way back into the park, you start to see the finish line, which you go downhill and sweep to the left; you have to keep to the right as the final left turn is sharp, then it is "hammer down" time!

I finished 28th and official time 40:46, RRR and RTC "give you wings!"

On Friday I had a mishap and twisted my ankle on an uneven path, I tried to shake it off but had to abandon the run at 7.5km, which meant a long 2.5km walk home. So my plans and LSR for Sunday had to give up, I am trying to keep the running streak so each day I strapped up the ankle and did a 1-mile run to keep my running streak going and assess the recovery.

This means shifting training around, the Manchester Marathon is looming and picking up injuries is a concern. The message is always to take care and don't get disheartened when you have a setback.

Next week I am racing in the Trimpell 20 mile race in Lancaster, so hopefully, I am back in business!