Offerton 10K

After enjoying the hills of the Lyme Park parkrun it was time for a different sort of torture altogether - the Offerton 10k

This race sounds attractive as it is all within Woodbank and Vernon parks with a track start and finish. However there is one problem, or three to be more accurate: you have to climb the Vernon park hill three times. This hill starts near the bottom of the river Goyt valley and climbs up into Woodbank Park, a rise of about 150 feet. Most of the climb is too steep to be attacked so you just have to trot up it and recover a bit at the top.

Last year I did the race in just under 44 minutes. This time looked very beatable and a sub 42 minute performance would represent good progress.

The route consists of three laps of the parks and the hill occurs on the even miles so the plan was to alternate between 6:30 and 7:00 miles.

A first mile in 6:20 felt very comfortable and then it was time to race down the valley and struggle back up the hill. Thanks to a good pace down the hill I managed to do the second mile in 7:00.

During the third mile I gradually recovered my pace and managed a 6:30 thanks to it ending halfway down the hill. I went through 5k in 20:40 but knew the second half would be slower as I would have to do the hill twice.

The fourth mile had very little downhill in it and resulted in a 7:20. Ouch!

The fifth mile was flat and then downhill so I should really have done better than a 6:40 but I was getting tired.

Up the hill one last time and then I managed to speed up to a decent pace as I knew the end was close. A 6th mile of 7:20 wasn't too bad.

Back on to the track and I managed to finish at 6:00 pace. There was no one to overtake sadly but I was very pleased to see a time of 41:57. The Garmin had measured the course slightly short so I was going slightly faster than I thought.

A two minute year-on-year improvement is very encouraging and suggests that two complete marathon training cycles have made a difference.

As for the race, I can't say I enjoyed the second half at all. The hill totally dominates the race and is all people talk about afterwards. However it is a good challenge and I will be back next year. I am not expecting another two minute improvement though.

Next up is the Sale Sizzler - 5k, no hills and no traffic as it is all on Wythenshawe Park. There will be no excuses there!