Run for Gold 10k – New PB!

10km – 46:39

Today the weather was perfect, nice and cool and I knew I had the chance to break my sub-47 bogeyman. The previous day I ran 18k and felt strong (I was actually meant to do 26k for marathon training but didn’t feel up to it). I had a nice warm-up for 15 mins which I think made all the difference. As we set off at 8am I made sure to have a decent first km, as I normally start out way to slow. I was pleased to do it in 4:52 and from then on I knew all I had to do was keep the pace slightly faster. After that my 1k splits varied between 4:25 and 4:43, with the fastest being my last km. It’s always good to have something in reserve for that last km, I felt I paced the race pretty much perfectly. Last year I did this in 49:40 so a big 3 minute improvement.

My right leg is feeling a bit sore around the knee so a day of rest tomorrow.

C2S Marathon – 6 Weeks to go

I pulled up pretty well from the Perth Marathon two weeks ago. I took 4 days off running then I hit the road again, training for the next Marathon on 30th August. This is the inaugural City to Surf marathon and I’m very excited about it as it promises to be something special. However it is much more hilly than Perth…so my rather lame 4:25 may not be bettered, but I certainly will be having a go.

Last week I did 43km and this week I’ve started off with a 19k long run. Met Knoddie half way who mentioned the Northern Suburbs Running Group had a 7am start at the Botanic Golf Club. I should make the effort next week to join them.

I’m basically following Hal Higdon’s 8-week between marathons plan. All going well so far!

Perth Marathon 2009

42.2km - 4hr 25mins

Well, as a marathon virgin I didn't really know what to expect, and I turned up with my hopelessly optimistic pace band of 3:58 (ha!).
It was a glorious Perth morning as we set off and I settled in a comfortable pace of about 5:50min/km. My plan was to do a negative split of 2:01/1:59 to get me a sub-4. Oh how naive I feel now!

Almost immediately I needed a toilet break
Passed the Coolrunning cheer squad at Raffles, thanks guys it really made a difference. Caught up with TB777 who seemed to be struggling, good on you for finishing regardless. It was great seeing all the speedy guys run back the other way and I applauded as many as i could.

I felt really good for the first 21k, passing it in about 2:06. But already I was 5 mins behind schedule. No worries I thought, I'll just go a bit faster now! Bad idea. Damn you Garmin Virtual Partner for taunting me so, that pixelated dude was now 800m ahead of me.

I caught up with Mjail who was going great guns at that point, I'm so sorry the wheels came off but you did slug it out to the end, which is a huge achievement in itself.

Running along the river was beautiful, I was enjoying myself as I passed Raffles and got another lift from the gals and a jelly sweet from Lou! But now, my plan was starting to fall apart. Hitting the freeway at 30k I realised I was slowing down and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to sustain 6min/k but it was becoming a slog. The field had really thinned out and it was starting to feel like a solo training run. I felt a little better passing Como at around 35k. But soon after I had to walk as I simply could not even shuffle. I didn't feel too bad about this as I assumed I would recuperate and be able to run again. However, the last 6km was pure torture and consisted of walking interspersed with shuffling along at about 7:30min/km.

Orlando passed me at about 40km and compared to me looked positively flying! I could see the WAMC clubhouse in the distance and really had to force myself along. It was also getting quite warm by now. With about 800m to go I started to run again as I wanted a good finish photo! By this time I was almost delirious (as in nauseous) and was blurting out all sorts of rubbish to random people

Once again the indomitable cheer squad were at the end for a final Go Coolrunner as I took off my hat and smiled at the camera whilst trying not to throw up! I crossed the line at about 4:25, so I missed all my targets but I wasn't concerned at all. 2 years ago I couldn't run 500m, so I ain't complaining.

Afterwards I had plenty of food and drink courtesy of WAMC. It was great. I even had a champagne toast thanks to Pelagie (by the way congrats on winning your age group!).

Well done on everyone involved, competitors, spectators, marshalls and caterers. It really was a very special day that will live with me forever.

Now...who's up for the C2S marathon?

P.S. Mcmillan calculator had me down for 3:45! Basically I didn't train enough, but lessons definitely learned.

Tomorrow is Marathon D-Day...

I'm gonna aim for 4:10 with a hard goal of sub-4. I've printed the pace bands for my wrist with a 3:58 goal. We'll see what happens. I hope there's pancakes at the end like last year (I only did the relay then).

Let's hope I get a good night's sleep!