Justyna, I know how you felt!

This title may sound a bit exaggerated but I am sure I realised at least in 1/5 how exhausted she felt while struggling for the Olympic gold with the Norwegian star.

On Saturday I started in a special cross-test in Ruda Pabianicka. My watch estimated the distance to equal 8,16km. It included 4 loops of 2,04km. The climb is believed to be about 200m. The weather conditions were surprisingly good. Although it was a bit cold, the sun was shining and there was no rain/snow falling from the sky. The ground was covered with a small amount of snow, which meant that it was worse than last year but judging from the previous days I actually hadn't expected it to be that nice!

I was extremely motivated to beat the time of 30:05, which I managed to achieve one year ago. I dreamt of having a magical 2 in the front. It was exactly the same goal that Pasza wanted to pursue. I was sure it wouldn't be easy to defeat him. What's more, I was uncertain of mysterious Łukasz's abilities because his shape has been magnificent lately. However, I decided to do my utmost, do a really tough training out of this race and simply enjoy every meter of the course!

My starting position was unbelievably promising because I started one minute behind Chrupek, 2mins behind Zielu and 9mins behind Łukasz - it meant a great possibility of catching them all and I took advantage of it. But first things first...

I did a long, appropriate warm-up with lots of speed-ups to prepare my legs for the coming intensive effort. I began my race at 11:11. I didn't want to start too fast but obviously I couldn't prevent my legs from flying on the very first straight. That's why I finished the first loop with the time of 7:15 and began to feel that my legs are a bit too tired in such an early part of the race. However, there was no other way now than to clench my teeth and carry on...

I succeeded in finishing the second loop, during which I managed to pass Chrupek, with a quite satisfying time - 7:29. Nonetheless, somewhere in the middle of the course I had thoughts of ending my race at that moment. Fortunately, I am just too ambitious and strong-willed to do so! I only needed to think of these terrible pricks of conscience I would have.

Seeing Łukasz and Cilu some 100m ahead of me made the next loop much easier for me since the only thing I wanted to achieve then was to catch them! Although I was even able to run past them, my split time (7:36) wasn't delightful...

Fortunately, I managed to find enough power in my legs and mind(!) - what turned out to be much more important, I think - to run the last loop faster than the previous one (7:29). On the final straight I felt as if someone tried to stick nails in my forehead from the inside. I wasn't capable of straightening my legs while finishing. The only thing I was sure of was the fact that I beat the magical time of 30 minutes. Once I had punched the 'Finish' control, I fell down and breathed deeply. Immediately I heard that I won with Pasza with the advantage of about 8 seconds, which made me unbelievably happy and satisfied! I could easily start my compulsory jog after such a tough competition;-)

Split times

Now I would like to present a short comparison with the last year's competition.

Times (and splits) + HR:

2009 - 30:05 (7:42, 7:32, 7:28, 7:23) + 185/192

2010 - 29:49 (7:15, 7:29, 7:36, 7:29) + 185/191.

As you can see, this year I made one considerable mistake - I just started a bit too fast! However, I still managed to achieve better time than one year ago. Furthermore, snowy ground made it even tougher. That's why I am sure my shape is much better than last year - what makes me unbelievably happy and self-assured. There is one little thing I would like to add: certainly I am not going to make the same mistakes as one year ago just before the more important cross-test in Podlesice. I hope to be dangerous there;-)

P.S. Today's middle pace training:

12,72km

48:44

3:49/km

HR 161/169

any questions? ;)