2km to go, my lungs start to burn with lactic acid burning my esophagus, positioned 14th, telling myself “keep going you’ve got this.” As of my last article, I had the NZ Cross Country Championships and I would just like to comment on how that went and what I did well and what I need to improve.
The race was held in Upper Hutt, Wellington, NZ. My race was U18 men and it was 6km long. The race was very tough and we had some of the top runners in the country competing. When we finished our first lap in 6 minutes, some of us younger boys couldn’t match the pace of doing 2km in 6 minutes and the group separated. The race was very competitive and everyone was fighting for places.
On the last lap I lost the front pack as my body could not keep up as I was exhausted. I managed to finish in 20 minutes and 18 seconds for 6 kilometers, so I was pretty happy with this, although I would have liked to get top 10. Being top 15 in the country is pretty good. with the most of the top runners finishing all within a minute of me.
Things I need to improve, is trying to get that extra boost for the end of the race to overtake people at the end, as this is something I have always lacked. Another thing I need to improve on is being able to hold a faster pace for longer. For example, my body couldn’t handle with the lactate acid because my body was not used to running that fast for that long. This might mean I need to improve my VO2 max and/or get my threshold higher so I can hold a faster pace.
Overall, I have to thank my parents for giving me this oppertunity and Coach Ray for preparing me for this race. And how I recommend the training for anyone who is keen for challenge or who wants to get better.
Now the cross country season is finished it is now onto road and track, and I will talk about my next event/s next time.
Luke Clatworthy (Clatters Chatter)
Read Luke’s article from last week:
All Luke’s previous articles can be found here:
https://www.coachray.nz/category/client-stories/clatters-chatter/