So the horn blew and off we were. Right at the start the legs didn't feel that great, especially the calves and that worried me. We turned the first corner and it was so windy that it was like running into a wall. Fortunately, the other 3/4 of the course were shielded from the wind. I still felt I had weakish legs when I hit the split button on my watch at the 1k mark. That is when I realized it wasn't about the legs, it was about the speed => 3:56 for the first km. I had never seen any split below 4:00m/km so that had to be good. There were 2 aid stations on a 1.65k loop, that is a whole freakin' lot of aid stations for a 5k. I finished the first lap nicely and headed into the wall of wind a second time. I was starting to fade a bit at that time. The 2nd k was in 4:05 and the third one in 4:15. I was lucky enough to have someone to draft off at our third time into the wind... that was a blessing as the engine room was deeeeep in the red zone. I made the fourth k in 4:19. At that point, I could see other racers starting to fade and that gave me some energy to pass a few of them. About 150m from the finish, I had 5-6 guys within reach so I went into Whitfield mode and passed probably 3 of them. The others accelerated as well so I wasn't able to get to them and that was it. I ran the final k in 4 minutes flat. I am happy about that performance. My goal of breaking the 20 minutes mark this year is very much alive.

Nothing other than the classic train more.

I watched some of the other racers come in then I headed for the lunch.


Not much rest during the week and the wind.