Week ending 22/4

After a couple of solid weeks this week I am backing off on the kms a little and concentrating on the intensity. Have already taken monday off and felt a lot better for it. I came out full of beans tonight(tuesday) after over 2 days off.

The plan for the week is as follows:

Mon 16/4 -Rest

Tuesday 17/4 - was supposed to be a 15km tempo hour but I got a bit toey when I got to the bay tonight via Balmain Rd and Victoria Rd. When I got to the steps at Iron Cove Bridge I decided to have a good crack at a solid 5kms and ended up really pushing myself. Bit dissapointed with the end result of 19.05 as it felt a lot faster but I can say that I really gave it pretty much all I had. I had also covered the 6kms to Iron Cove Bridge at 4.00 minute pace so the 11kms to that point were quite solid. Had a bit of a rest then ran the 4kms home in a comfortable 17.24. Very humid tonight, had to wring out the super absorbant striders singlet when I got home.

Wed 18/4 - Tonight was the mid week longer run but we had to go over to Earlwood to do a few things. By the time we got home fed bathed and put the kids to bed it was after 8.00pm. So I swapped tommorows session to today and will attempt to get up early tmrw morning for the longer run. The program asked for 6 * 1km but I decided to try and push it a bit further by running 8 * 2 laps of Henson Park. Henson measures 451 metres on the aussie rules markings so it was 8*900 metres. What a great spot to do repeats, a soft and spongy longish grass, not a pothole in sight, just perfect. The repeats were all 3.11 to 3.15 with a half lap slow jog recovery (1.10-1.25). I am very happy with the run, really forgiving underfoot but a really solid leg workout with the soft grass. Not desperately quick either but the repeats were run on a minimal recovery which mimicks running on fatigued legs. Lets see if I can get up in the morning to run 18ks...11.5kms all up tonight. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=870222

Thu 19/4 - Originally had intervals and swapped with my long run. Surprise surprise I didnt make it out of bed so I headed out for a 10.5km tempo run around the uni at lunch for 44 minutes. Midweek long run has been rescheduled again for tmrw morn....

Friday 20/4 - 17.5kms 75 minutes. Knew it wasnt ideal to do this run so close to sunday but it was important to get it done. Up early running in the pea soup, felt fairly clunky today but was pretty happy with the outcome.

Sat 21/4 - 7kms with 15 minutes of 30/30

Sun 22/4 SMC 21kms(5km warm up/3km warm down) . 81.02 pb, I am still trying to work out where I managed to jag that one from! I cant bring the words out of myself to describe how I feel about my run today. I am ecstatic, relieved, stoked all in the one breath.

The plan wasnt too scientific - just go hard and find that point where it hurts but you can hang on! I also wanted to get to the hill in good shape. If I did anything today I wanted to run that hill hard after 10kms at a solid clip.

At the start I actually led the way to about 300 metres until wriggler rightfully put me back in my box! But I wasnt going to be intimidated by anything, I just wanted to run my own race even if that meant looking like a tool by going out hard. I got to 10kms in 38.10 and felt pretty good but knew there was a long way to go. One thing I wanted to do today was to really attack the hill. I was running by myself and split the climb into 3, the first rise, the bit where it flattens out and the last pinch. Again no science, just tick each section off. At the top I concentrated on a quick recovery and back into my rythym. I really wanted a sub 20 split on the 3rd 5km and today for the first time ever at Smithfield I got it(19.45).

I tried to work out what sort of time I could expect to finish in at 15kms(57.50) but my maths ability is pretty ordinary at the best of times so I just put my head down and concentrated on being strong, forget the clock until 20kms. At the turnaround I had probably about 300 metres on 3rd but knew he was a strong runner and actually expected him to come past at some point.

At this point a couple of things went through my head. The first thing which really pleased me was dont worry about anyone else, run your own race. Run your own race. The second was that the gap appeared to be similar to the first lap which whilst not filling my heart with unbridled joy, said to me that I was travelling okay. The third thing was dont make it easy, be strong to the finish.

I ran the 15-20km split in 19.14. The last 2.5 kms is lots of little milestones, that bloody truck before the lights, the lights, the corner, the 20km mark, the 1km to go mark and then bring it home! I got to the grass and gave sub 80 whatever was showing on my watch a shake but missed out on sub 80 whatever(1!) by 2 seconds.

No rest for the wicked - after an easy day tmrw a tough week begins again on tuesday. Today was really pleasing but it will be like playing my grand final in round 5 if I miss out on sub 3 in Sydney this year. Here comes september!

Kms for the week: 90