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On Sunday 27th January 2019
@ 9am
John, my sister Fidelia and I did the Hemel 12 miler on Sunday 27th January. We’ve run it many times before. It was incredibly hilly. To add salt to the wound, it was freezing cold and with howling wind in that morning. When our club chair Alan who ran 3 miles from his house to the start line at the Boxmoor Cricket Club to send us off arrived, he was shivering. We were all staying inside the car to keep warm. When I took a selfie of us, it reminded me of James Corden’s Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke.
The official start time of this event is actually 9:30am but since this is a training run event for those who prepare for the upcoming marathons, the organiser allowed slow runners to start at 9am. John, Fidelia and I decided that we might just start at 9 since we had the opportunity. The first 3 miles on the towpath was very wet and muddy. I was just running zigzag to avoid the puddles. I tried to maintain 10’00”/mile. That was not happening. I couldn’t make myself hit that pace no matter how hard I tried. The head wind was pushing me backward and the wet weather condition didn’t help. By the time when I hit the 3-mile mark, I was over 33 minutes. It was quite soul destroying. Then here came the ascending climb all the way up to mile 4. I had 2 choices: (1) Keep moaning; or (2) embrace the hill and conquer it. I chose the latter and just kept pushing and pushing. Hill running is hard but physiologically speaking, it can increase our aerobic capacity that enables us to useless oxygen at increasingly longer distances. It can also improve our running economy that enables use to use less oxygen to run at a faster pace. It goes without saying the hill running can increase our stamina that enables use to run father at a given pace as it helps us build strength in our gluteals, quads, gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. Therefore, when I was descending from mile 5 to mile 7, I was able to keep well under 10 minute a mile pace even with very strong head wind. I think hill running is beneficial.
Between mile 7 to 9, it was mostly uphill. I was very tired. I think hill running causes my body to fatigue more quickly, or it’s just me! The final 3 miles were mostly downhill and a great opportunity to pick up my pace but the last mile was very muddy when we were running next to a sports ground then back to the canal. I finished in 2:10’12”. John finished in 2:29’ and my sister Fidelia finished 2:14’. I think it was the mostly windy condition we had ever experienced in all the running events we have taken part. The wind was still very strong after we had finished. When we drove back to Barnet, we saw the traffic light posts shaking. It did look scary. I hope the weather condition will improve in the Hemel 17 miler in a month’s time. It
will be 5 more miles and 2 more hills!!!
BREAKING:
I’ve just received an email from the Regent’s Park 10K organiser saying that due to the icy condition at the park, they have decided to cancel the race tomorrow 😣😣😣