Alagastlauf 2017 – Gau Algesheim 10km

Alagastlauf

On Friday I didn’t even know that the Alagastlauf was on this weekend. I had planned to swim and bike on Saturday, then run a bit longer on Sunday.  Then on Friday evening we were out at Katha’s until quite late. Katja and I went into town on Saturday to have a coffee and a general potter around, when Jochen asked me on Facebook if I fancied running the Alagastlauf on Sunday.  I hadn’t run it before, so though – why not?

The Alagastlauf is a 10k, but 4 x 2.5km loops. I didn’t know until i arrived that it isn’t very flat, there aren’t hills, but it rolls all the time and has a good bit on cobbles too.

Top 3?

Jochen had run it last year and had run a good 38:45 time for 3rd place.  I had expected that I could run a flat 10k in 37:30, but with the bumps, I thought 38 minutes would be okay. Hopefully that would be good enough for a top 3 place, who knows.

So after running a loop of the course as a warm up and getting ready and signed in, I was pretty much on the start line and could get away clean at 1pm.  There was a 5k and a relay that started at the same time, so it was hard to know what was going on in the 10k race. I knew that the firmenlauf winner was there and would be much faster than me, but other than that, 2nd place seemed up for grabs.Alagastlauf start line - i got crowded out a bit, but no harm done

1st corner, started too fast, but not for too long

GO GO GO – but not too fast!

On a slight uphill on the first loop I saw my heart rate was 178. That is danger territory for me, I made an effort to slow it down to 170ish for a while and seemed to find my groove.

Had overtaken crazy starter behind me after 1.5km

must be the 1st loop, I'm not fully sweat through!

I ran with 2 other guys for the 2nd and 3rd loops, and realised that they were with me on the downhills and flats, but dropped back on the uphills.  As the loop starts and ends with an  uphill, I decided to move early to get away from them on the 4th loop.

Kid running the 5k, pretty impressive

A young guy passed me at the start of the 4th loop (not him in the photo above, he ran the 5k), I was 100% sure he was a relay runner though as he had flown by me!  He didn’t get away though and I was soon running with him again.  2 other guys were also just ahead of me, but though I tried, I couldn’t bring them back.

Fast last loop

that isn't my hand!

So on the last little uphill I tried to outsprint the relay runner, but failed, I knew I was at least 4th, as I could see 2 ahead of me and firmenlauf winner was long gone.  My time was 38:03 or so, not great but okay too.

Fatty

Jochen came in in 39:45 and Torsten from TCEC a minute or 2 later.  We stood around and chatted afterwards and I said that I am not training so much at the moment, he gestured towards my stomach ands said that it was clear that I wasn’t in form…  I don’t love hearing that sort of stuff, as I always have problems with my weight, but it was also a wake up call of sorts, I would have to weigh myself and see where I am at.

Age Group Win – 5th place overall

Me and Jochen left before the prize giving, but when I got home I saw that I was 5th and that the definite relay runner wasn’t a relay runner at all!  I could see 2nd place ahead of me too, so I wasn’t far off. I had won my age group, as had Jochen, so maybe we should have hung around for some prizes!

An on we go

Anyway, it was a nice race, it wasn’t easy, but a good work out and intorduction to the running season.  I would love to set a PB or 2 in winter, but realistically that will have to be a 10k, as there aren’t many half marathons so late in the year, and my time is hard for me to beat.

The Offenbacher Mainuferlauf is in the middle of October. It is flat and hardly has any turns. On today’s form I could probably do a 37:30, I want to go at least sub-37, which will mean losing some weight.  82.5kg is far too much for me, I need to get sub-80 asap, then get into running shape, which is more like 77kg. I got myself into this mess, I need to get myself out of it! Weighing 5kg less should be worth up to 2 minutes over a 10k, I hope that is true!