Sunday, March 06, 2005
Striders 10km at Homebush (erasing the demons) and Quarry Rd trail
5/3/04
Well, after last month's debacle I am glad to report that I finished on my feet this time.
Thought I would set out to run 44 minutes today and had company as Bandanna and Professor had never run sub 44 and were quite willing to be towed along by me. Mad rush at the start was made even madder when this bloke fell just in front of me in the first 100m or so. Not what you expect at a Striders 10km. Anyway, we got into some space and went through the first km in 4:20 which gave us a few seconds up our sleeve. Bandanna was bounding along at this stage with a long smooth flowing stride and I was happy just to go with him. We covered the second km in 4:09, which was quite a bit quicker than the pace we needed to run. I told Bandanna at this point that were going a bit too quick and could slow down if we wanted. He ensured that he was feeling fine and continued to bound along covering the third km in 4:14 and I again commented that we could afford to slow down a bit. So we eased the pace off at this point and dropped in behind an older fellow named Keith. We went through the fourth km in 4:33 and were in danger of dropping below target pace. As I felt Bandanna slowing I decided at this point to try and step the tempo up a bit to drag him back onto target pace. In doing this I upped it a bit too much going through the fifth km in 4:12 giving me a 5km split of 21:28 which put me on target for a sub 43. I then consciously eased back and tried to get the pacing back on 4:24 kms. Was pretty happy with the next one going through in 4:21. The seventh was a 4:27 which was slowed down a few seconds by having to stop and tie my shoelace which had become undone. The eighth was bang on 4:24 so I was starting to think 43:30. Then at this point I got overtaken by a few who had timed their run well and were finishing strongly. As I realised that my 2 charges had dropped off the pace I got those competitive juices flowing again and thought I'd tag along on the back of them and was pleased to go through the ninth km in 4:18 which gave me a 39 minute split. Then in the last km another guy overtook me and I thought bugger it so I decided to respond to this challenge and got into racing mode and decided to push him hard every step. This gave me a final km split of 3:57 bringing me home in sub 43.
Was ecstatic at the end to have run such a good time which was only a bit over a minute outside my recent best at SMC in January considering that I was running well within myself for most of the way. I think I've found the key to a good race strategy by mistake.
As for my pacing duties, even though they weren't as good as they should have been, I'm happy to report that both Bandanna and Professor ran PBs but I will leave it to them to report on their respective runs.
It was great to catch up with everyone today with a huge contingent of Cool Runners out in force and also quite a few running PBs as well. Again I will leave it to them to bask in their glory when they post.
Then after lunch, headed out to Quarry Rd to run with Plu, Bandanna and Hefty for a nice run. Some nice little hills there to help prepare us for 6 Foot Track. We have developed a war cry for the tough sections of 6 Foot Track which will be released next week so stay tuned. After running the full circuit in just over 78 minutes, we ventured down to the creek and walked back up to the finish to help prepare the legs for walking the steep bits of Pluvio. All in all, a nice 17km hitout followed by a few cold ones after the run. Thanks guys for the great company today as well as the hospitality.
Bring on 12 March! I can't wait! Only 7 more sleeps!
Well, after last month's debacle I am glad to report that I finished on my feet this time.
Thought I would set out to run 44 minutes today and had company as Bandanna and Professor had never run sub 44 and were quite willing to be towed along by me. Mad rush at the start was made even madder when this bloke fell just in front of me in the first 100m or so. Not what you expect at a Striders 10km. Anyway, we got into some space and went through the first km in 4:20 which gave us a few seconds up our sleeve. Bandanna was bounding along at this stage with a long smooth flowing stride and I was happy just to go with him. We covered the second km in 4:09, which was quite a bit quicker than the pace we needed to run. I told Bandanna at this point that were going a bit too quick and could slow down if we wanted. He ensured that he was feeling fine and continued to bound along covering the third km in 4:14 and I again commented that we could afford to slow down a bit. So we eased the pace off at this point and dropped in behind an older fellow named Keith. We went through the fourth km in 4:33 and were in danger of dropping below target pace. As I felt Bandanna slowing I decided at this point to try and step the tempo up a bit to drag him back onto target pace. In doing this I upped it a bit too much going through the fifth km in 4:12 giving me a 5km split of 21:28 which put me on target for a sub 43. I then consciously eased back and tried to get the pacing back on 4:24 kms. Was pretty happy with the next one going through in 4:21. The seventh was a 4:27 which was slowed down a few seconds by having to stop and tie my shoelace which had become undone. The eighth was bang on 4:24 so I was starting to think 43:30. Then at this point I got overtaken by a few who had timed their run well and were finishing strongly. As I realised that my 2 charges had dropped off the pace I got those competitive juices flowing again and thought I'd tag along on the back of them and was pleased to go through the ninth km in 4:18 which gave me a 39 minute split. Then in the last km another guy overtook me and I thought bugger it so I decided to respond to this challenge and got into racing mode and decided to push him hard every step. This gave me a final km split of 3:57 bringing me home in sub 43.
Was ecstatic at the end to have run such a good time which was only a bit over a minute outside my recent best at SMC in January considering that I was running well within myself for most of the way. I think I've found the key to a good race strategy by mistake.
As for my pacing duties, even though they weren't as good as they should have been, I'm happy to report that both Bandanna and Professor ran PBs but I will leave it to them to report on their respective runs.
It was great to catch up with everyone today with a huge contingent of Cool Runners out in force and also quite a few running PBs as well. Again I will leave it to them to bask in their glory when they post.
Then after lunch, headed out to Quarry Rd to run with Plu, Bandanna and Hefty for a nice run. Some nice little hills there to help prepare us for 6 Foot Track. We have developed a war cry for the tough sections of 6 Foot Track which will be released next week so stay tuned. After running the full circuit in just over 78 minutes, we ventured down to the creek and walked back up to the finish to help prepare the legs for walking the steep bits of Pluvio. All in all, a nice 17km hitout followed by a few cold ones after the run. Thanks guys for the great company today as well as the hospitality.
Bring on 12 March! I can't wait! Only 7 more sleeps!
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