Days 53 & 54 - A Tale of Two Challenges

After the Half Marathon jolity on Christmas Eve the plan was to do the C2CTC 5k downhill (2k,1.5k,1k,500m each with 1R), the C2UK Challenge Series 5K and a couple of gym sessions this week, but due to general levels of illness (Anita has been fighting off a fever for the past 4 days) on the 2 Challenges have been done - Total 10k each this week.

Firstly the C2CTC (Concept2 Cross Team Challenge) where Anita and I compete for C2TweetCrew.

Anita went first and set some very good times (Though she didn't see it that way):

2K - 8:23.8 PB (Previous PB 8:35) - 2:06.0 Av
1.5K - 6:18.9 - 2:06.3 Av
1K - 4:17.5 SB - 2:08.8 Av
500m - 2:01.9
Total - 21:02.1

She hadn't been feeling particularly well, and suffered a bit from a runaway heart rate during what is a particularly nasty challenge.

Me:

2K - 6:51.0 PB (Previous PB 6:56.5) - 1:42.7 Av
1.5K - 5:15.4 - 1:45.1 Av
1K - 3:32.0 SB - 1:46.0 Av
500m - 1:38.2
Total - 17:16.6

I lost it in the arms (I haven't done enough metres this month) from 500m into the 1.5k and struggled to keep the time respectable.

Currently we are both in the 2nd C2TC boat for December.

Onto earlier today - the 5K for the C2UK Challenge Series.

I went first and set a 17:53.9 PB (1:47.4), previous best 18:29.7. I feel a bit disappointed as my November Challenge Series of 6344m was at 1:47.6, so I wanted at 1:46 av - again not enough metres this month, which I plan to remedy in January for the Virtual Team Challenge (Rack up as many metres as possible in January for your team)

Anita then set an amazing 21:39.2 PB (2:09.9), Previous PB 22:46.4 (2:16.6)!!!!!!!! She is much happier when she can maintain her HR, and indeed she was at 2:11.5 at halfway and Neg-Splited her way to a sub 2:10 average, which is a massive milestone.

We may or may not retry the C2CTC tomorrow AM, but in the PM I'm going for a dip in the River Stour (Top of Essex) with a few mad friends, current water Temp 10C, but the ambient temp tomorrow should be 12C - It could be a lot worse on December 31st at 52N :)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Wrabness&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=643&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x47d974abf5b46aad:0x167e8ebc38f87fc7,Wrabness,+Essex&gl=uk&ei=wET-Tr6-L5D48QO9hYCyAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CD4Q8gEwAQ

Cumulative Metres since 3rd October: 1706329m (1060.5 miles)

The Journey:

Start - Topnotch Gym Colchester CO4 9ES
Finish - Völs, Tyrol, Austria http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%B6ls,_Tyrol