For the first time in a long time I felt like I was able to actually push a bit on the run, though I had decided not to look at my watch for pace, just run at a decent effort level. I was steadily picking people off most of the time, almost as if they specialised more in the warm ups and less in the run itself, which makes me wonder why they signed up for a running event in the first place, but I guess that's just one of life's mysteries. I had no idea of what pace I was going because basically my legs were trying to work out why I had done so much nonsense as a warm up rather than the usual half-arsed gentle run and pretend-stretches.Īfter about a mile or so though the calves had settled down and I relaxed into it. From the start my calves were twitchy and I was concerned they would cramp up at any moment, so I stopped and gave them a quick stretch out before I headed up the hill that was very early in the run.
#Chitchat gamesdonequick trial
It's quite somehting to be toddling along on your 300 quid road hybrid to have someone whizz past on a several thousand pound time trial bike.Ībout 48 minutes after I started the 20k cycle warm up I got back to race HQ, racked my bike, put on my running shoes and started what I was actually there for: the 5k race! My socks were still a bit wet as I'd not had the chance to fully dry my feet after the swim, but that was the least of my worries as I felt as if I had over-warmed up.
I passed and was passed by a number of other warm-uppers, some who had really expensive bikes. The swimming warm up obviously helped as I set a bunch of strava segment PBs on the bike (it was on roads I usually cycle round). He was a bit bigger than me so we basically swapped back and forth through the cycle with me leaving him behind on the hills and him flying past on the flat. The first thing I did was get stopped at traffic lights where I shared some jelly babies with another person out for the warm up. They didn't let me get changed afterwards, I was basically hustled to the bike area so I shrugged my shoulders, dried my feet off, stuck my socks, cycling shoes and helmet on, and made my way out for the second warm up. The warm up went pretty well, swimming isn't my stroing point, but it engaged the core a bit and got the heart rate up so was a useful 8 minutes or so. I raced this weekend! It was a local 5k (with weird multisport warmup) and it went pretty well! They were taking the warm up seriously as I had to rack my bike when I arrived and leave my running shoes there, and eventually made my way poolside for the mandatory swimming warm up.