Striders LCNP 10K and Berowra STaR.

FRIDAY 1PM, 4/2/05- 3.5K

 

Wanted to keep the legs fresh for the 10K but to still remind them of what they were supposed to do, so at lunch I trotted up to the park and did some drills.

 

SATURDAY 7AM, 5/2/05- 12K (2K warmup and 10K race)

 

I matched the time I ran at the Penrith 10K last week (41.54), but this one was hillier and, um, accurately measured. Only the third time I've dipped under 42 on a certified course.

Pretty cool morning actually- there was a mist rising off the river and people's breaths were visibly fogging for at least the first half of the race. I clicked through the first 4 km averaging 4.10- 4.12s, Redback just ahead of me after he went past at about a mile, and Spud just up there as well. Didn't feel very flash on the uphills at all, but I passed Spud on the big uphill just before the Ranger's Hut and informed him that if he could stick with me he'd do a PB. Glenn had shot past going the other way just beforehand- about the time I reached the speedbump- so I could tell he was on for a fast one.

The uphill km from the 4- 5K marks wasn't too good- I hit 5K in 21.15, having estimated I needed to reach it in 21 flat to do a PB. As it turned out, if I had done so- and held it together- it would have been a PB by one second....

At about the 7K mark (another 4.10) I pulled up next to Redback and said that we could still go under 42. His reply was fairly blunt and I passed him not long after, but then he came back at me just after 9K. Spud was closing in again as well, but I didn't see him. I did the last K in 3.49 with Redback just behind me. We cursed each other (in the best possible way!) for pulling each other through the last couple of km.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with that. Hopefully my times are now going to start trending the right way. Looking forward to the next SMC as long as it's not 35 degrees.

 

SUNDAY 6.10AM, 6/2/05- 25K

 

Went up to Berowra for the hilliest STaR going round.  A cool 16 degrees at the start but warming up by the end. I set off with Blue Dog, Spud, Warwick Selby, Dawn Tiller and a few others and, despite the hills and the rocky nature of the firetrail section, we averaged spot on 5min/km for the first 12K until the turnoff to Berowra Waters. This rapidly reduced our average pace to 5.40min/km or so, which was not helped by the 5K long uphill climbing out of there. After negotiating another bush section off the end of Turner Rd I was fading a bit due to the early pace and elected to cut it a bit short and ended up doing 25K averaging 5.35min/km. Didn't see the point in flogging myself for an extra 5K when I was just going to do it slow.

 

Feeling a bit more condfident about my running now than I was a week ago.