The striders half this morning so an early start, up at 4.45 for a light feed and a wash. That is a little superstition I have, I like to have a shower and a shave before I race. Sometimes I dont if I sleep in, but I like to feel fresh when I am lining up to race. Today wasnt exactly a race but a handicap formula, but with points counting to the clubs super series, people were taking it relatively seriously. To be honest though that real edge of a race wasnt there but it was willing enough.
I picked up 26 from the mean streets of the inner west and headed off to Lane Cove. We had a fairly indepth conversation about the plan of attack and eventually came to the conclusion that we would just get out there and run!
I lined up with the 85 minute group and as always I wasnt sure what to expect from the legs. The group I started with included Coaster and Cam A. with his little fella in the pram. I basically decided to head out and run as comfortably as I could in 4.0's (meaning anything between 4.00 and 4.09 depending on the terrain). I was also very conscious(sp) of the hills and knew that they would be a massive factor if you went out too hard. So a firm pace with a little breathing space.
Because I was running (just) within myself I felt relaxed and I find this is when I run best. After completing the first 1.1km on the western side of the weir we headed over the normal striders 10km course to be completed twice.
Cam set the pace straight up and we settled into 4.00minute pace pretty much straight away. Once we started hitting the more serious hills we edged(only very slightly!) away from Cam. I was pretty close to Coaster the whole way, either just in front or just behind. In hindsight we could have probably eked a little more out of each other but as I said, that real racing edge wasnt quite there.
The climb up to Scribblies was a little longer than normal and this probably made a stronger mental note about not eating all my lollies early. I also made a point of not charging the downhills as it can take more out of you than you think.
My 5km splits confirmed that I was able to maintain my Captain Sensible approach and run a very well judged 84.33 half marathon. This equates pretty close to exactly 4 minute pace, what I set out to do.
Most pleasing though was that it finally shook the post marathon monkey off the back. I have really really really struggled with my running since. 4 weeks on, I feel I have finally recovered.
Onwards and upwards.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Glad to see you're back in form after your Sydney Marathon. Sounds like you had a good run on what I'm told is quite a hilly course.
Yah!! Excellent run Nick on a tough course and not that long after your fantastic run in Sydney. Well done!
J.
I don't know if you returned to form. Probably just shaking the post marathon rust off Nick. A very good run on a tough course. I feel that it is you that we will all be congratulating for going sub 3 in the not too distant future. Congratulations on yet another great run.
Post a Comment