"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Lee Valley 2 Mile Race - March 10th 2024 - Cheshunt

Back in lockdown, I worked hard on my speed and then on my speed-endurance, and had my 2-mile times down to the eleven-forties which felt like an achievement, having turned 50 back in 2018. Since then, I've been able to up my distances and focus on some longer events, like my second Ironman and more recently some ultra-distance hikes and runs. This has taken its toll on the short distance speed and race sharpness. It's hard to juggle speed and endurance, running and cycling, without something having to give.

On my last Lee Valley 2-miler on the same course, I remembered giving it all I'd got to get just a shade under 13 minutes, just to be In The Twelves, but this time I took a conscious decision to swallow my pride and take whatever came. With the whole length of Dartmoor still in my legs from 2 weeks before and a 2.5 hour speedwalk the previous day, there wasn't much hope of a fast time! I'm grateful to have been able to switch up to ultra-distance though, so I can't complain.

The weather in Cheshunt was dull and misty, with deer mooching in the woods and geese guarding the lakeside paths as I set up the course. Then I handed over to Mridanga to act as starter and timer, so I could take part. The race prayer was one of Sri Chinmoy's simple rhyming couplets -

Run, run, my heart! Run extremely fast. Ignore, ignore The voices of the past. (From the book Sail my heartbeat sail, part 2)

Well my heart may have been willing to run fast but I wasn't sure the body would too. Mridanga gave us the on your marks, get set, go! and then we ran, out along a well-kept tarmac path that was as wide as a road, then on to a narrower path by the lakeside, over a wooden bridge and on towards the turnaround. At first I was just a metre or two ahead of Suswara, the two of us keeping up a steady pace of around 6.55  then I started to ease very slightly ahead. I was running at what felt like my 10k pace, but I bet I couldn't have kept it up that long. The course unwound slowly and the landmarks I knew from before took a while to appear....but I was out front, feeling OK, for once having set off at a sustainable pace.

When I came around the bend I saw Tejvan, the turnaround marshal, had wandered down the course and was a bit like a goalie who had come off his line and was in danger of having the ball chipped over him. He turned around and headed back to his mark but I was gaining on him fast - he won that race within a race though and was on the spot ready for me to make the turn. I didn't look at the time, but my watch gives the pace for that second half mile as 6.40. Fortunately I did manage to speed up for the return leg and power my way up to what felt like full speed. Retracing my steps past the lake and into the woods I was clocking 6.20 pace then slowing to 6.30. On the way back, I saw Kokila in her first event for a long time - doing the 1 mile option - back on her feet after a long haul back from covid.

In the end, I came over the line in a relatively slow 13.16, but I was happy to have done a decent second mile at sub 6.30 pace. And, importantly, there were no niggles or injuries to worry about. How to have both speed and endurance? I guess the answer is to run lots of miles and include some quality sessions, but I know of old that my body tends to break down with either injury or illness if I push the weekly mileage too high. I'm planning to keep training at all 3 Tri sports, but keep including some hills or speedwork in the hope that  the speed will return. I'm missing that lockdown-era fitness I had, but on the other hand I am now back out at ultra-distance, so perhaps I shouldn't complain. There's a part of our nature that wants it all, I suppose!
 

 
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