Highlights:
- Sub-39 minute 10k (38:54)
- Debut into the world of proper cross-country running...with hills
- Longest cycle ride to date - 75km in 3h 20m
February
- Baby Robin arrives 5 weeks early on the 1st
- On the 7th, I ran my first, very hilly, cross-country race, the Bookham 10k, finishing 25th (of approx. 250) in 50 minutes dead
- Spent the rest of February, not getting much sleep due to new baby and an energetic 2 year old to keep tabs on. Training for anything, holding down a job and attempting to help your wife look after two little ones is tough
- Ran my first sub-40 10k in the Bushy Park 10k on the 7th, finishing 2 seconds outside the top ten, in 11th place (out of ~300) in 39m 47s
- On the 28th, I managed to better that PB, breaking 39 minutes and finishing 12th (of ~320) in the Brooklands 10k, official time 38m 54s. Worth noting that this is an extremely flat and fast, tarmac'd course, perfect territory for a PB
- Started a new job on the 1st which has meant having to let my training drop off while I'm finding my feet
- Sunday the 11th, I took part in the Denbies 10, a fantastic cross-country race through the North Downs, starting and finishing in the beautiful Denbies Vineyard. I was very happy to finish in 26th place (of ~350) in 1:09.28, but realised just how punishing hills can be and think there's quite a bit of work to be done there
- Completed my longest cycle ride ever (having only ever really commuted on a bike before) on the 17th. This took the form of a 75km loop starting in the heart of East Sussex, heading towards the North Downs before turning back towards Brighton and stopping to take in the view from the top of Ditchling Beacon. It also racked up over a kilometre of ascent over the 3 hours something, which is something I was keen to try out, given the climb I have ahead in the Alpe d'Huez triathlon!
- Finally, I entered the ballot for next year's London marathon, just before the end of the month
