June - The month of racing!

Race Kit at the ready!

Since leaving the UK, racing for me has been very hit or miss! Therefore the month of June has actually been really nice for me getting to race a marathon, my first one mile race and this last weekend I finished off with a multi-terrain 10km over in Jacks Point here in Queenstown.

The Jacks Point races is a monthly series of 5km and 10km races what Active QT put on. Last month I did the 5km as it was the week in between my 100km in Australia and my Marathon in Christchurch, but this time I decided I would race the 10km course and see how I went. Around Jacks Point it's actually quite hilly and undulating the whole way round but for me I was looking forward to having a good tough race. We set of 10:10am from the start line and instantly there was a group of 3 of us hit the front and was pushing up the first major climb with the aim to break away from the rest of the field. The first couple of KM's went by and the pace was good, myself and another runner pulled away a little on 3rd place by this time I was enjoying a little of the down hill running apart from each stride out on my left leg caused my calf head to pull and get tight but Gem had strapped it up for me in the morning what helped a great deal. As we approached the 4km mark I started to feel a little tired and decided to  ease back off the pace to try an maintain a more consistent pace for the final 5km rather than just fade km by km.. At this time the 3rd place runner was really moving well, his plan from the start was to obvious work his way into the race and finish strong what worked very well for him.

Race Start Location

As we approached the 8km mark I had faded slightly and have gone into 3rd overall but was still moving at a happy pace for myself seeing that I don't particularly do any 10km specific training. After a few more ups and down in the course and some headwinds on our return 2km I crossed the line in 3rd over, exactly 60 seconds down on the race winner.

After race picture with Gem and Rachael..

Overall I was pleased with how the race went, time wasn't the quickest but good enough to climb a podium place. My calf has been a little stiff since but am slowly working the stiffness and soreness away with massages and some rock tape. Hopefully after a few days rest I can get into some good winter training over the month of July. As of this minute I don't have any races planned for the month of July what should give me some good time to actually just rack up some miles and find some fitness for some good racing in August!

Thanks again to Nathan Sports NZ who continue to sponsor/support me with all the latest hydrations bottles/packs/belt. For anyone who would like to check out some of their range : http://www.nathansports.com and to everyone who takes time to follow my blog posts and leaves supporting messages before and after my races on my FB and Twitter accounts. Much appreciated!

This week I also did a Radio Interview this week on 'Endurance Running' and how I have got into the longer distances over the years, if any one would like to listen please click the link here: https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=7589a39719d5832c&id=7589A39719D5832C%21200

Paul x