Andover Sport Relief

On Sunday I took part in the Sport Relief Mile at Andover, I went for the 6 mile event there was also a 1 and 3 mile option. There people of all ages and abilities taking part and was a good atmosphere and there was even a mascot race.

At the start those doing 3 and 6 miles had 1 1/4 laps of the athletics track to do but those doing 1 mile just had 3/4 of a lap to do but started at the same time, this did lead to a bottleneck within 30 seconds and required a lot of dodging around people. Once on the start straight again the amount of dodging around people eased off. For the longer option was 3 big loops and a smaller loop about half the size. Some was on footpaths but mostly was around some football pitches on teh grass which was a bit muddy in places.

I had been there before for matches but always on the pitch in the middle of the athletics track and I did not realise that there was a lake in the park as well. I went off a bit too fast and I was struggling near the end but I think I was in the top 10 doing the longer distance and managed it in just under 50 minutes which I was pleased with after the days previous efforts.

Due difference between their web site, email notification, local radio and the actual run start time I was there nearly 2 hours before the actual start!! So before collecting my number 30 minutes before the start I decided to do a warm up. It turned in to a 7 mile run at a fairly fast pace for me around the course. Luckily I had brought some sports drinks and gels with me.

So that made a total run of 13 miles in just under 2 hours only a short distance form doing a half marathon.

On top of that I got up early so I could do a cycle ride to Andover and back and get changed for the run due to the differing weather conditions. It was a just a 40 mile cycle ride in over 2 1/2 hours but I did learn that the route was an undulating route with over 1,000 ft of ascent. Plus that some of the traffic lights en route are traffic controlled and not just in a loop, which is good to know apart from they did not detect me on my bike so I had to wait for a bit traffic.

So in total I had done just a bit under 5 hours of training on Sunday, I think I will have a well deserved rest day tomorrow.