My 11th Bridges; 10km in about 49min 16

Sunday April 1st; Ran Bridges 10km race in 49minutes 16. HR 192 at end. 5km splits; 24.07/25.09. 1km splits; 4.15/4.36/ about 5.10/about 5.10/4.56 for first 5km Second 5km 1km splits of 5.01/5.02/5.48/4.52/4.26...

Official results show I was 442nd of the 1306 runners who did the Bridges 10km this year. You can view all the results for 5km and 10km at the WA Marathon Club webpage.
see http://www.wamc.org.au/results/results_2007/BFR2007results.pdf

As has been the norm in the last year or two, I rushed to the start, and tried to get a good position early by running the first 1km strongly. Lack of reps, cardiovascular fitness meant that the 4.15 for the first 1km felt pretty hard, and every time I tried to run at the pace I wanted to (4-4.30's) I just couldn't handle it. Missed the 3km marker again! Duh! so unsure of my splist from 2km to 4km.
By 4km I knew that hitting sub 5 minutes a km was going to be more realistic, so settled in for another mediocre run with the aim of staying sub 50minutes for the 10km. My 5km split of 24.07 was ok, and confirmed that any plans of sub 45minutes today was not going to happen. I drank a little water, but mostly just used the drink stations to cool down. Conditions were almost perfect with just a gentle southerly wind. Ran with pretty much the same runners from 4km to the end, so found the right pace group for me today early on. Between 7km and 8km as we approached the Causeway I kinda lost the plot a bit blowing out to a shocking 5.48 1km split.
Just wasn't very motivated, and battling the poor fitness which meant I paid bigtime for any minor surge. After that 8km split of 39.58 I knew I had to hang tough a little and go hard in the last 2km if I wanted to stay under the 50minutes in my first 10km race since the Bridges 2006 race 12 months ago. So I accelerated up the slight rise onto the Causeway bridge, and set about ensuring I wasn't passed by anymore runners. Lengthened my stride on the small downhill coming off the Causeway onto Riverside Drive, and gradually increased my speed, while holding the bigger stride length, and was very happy to hit 9km in 44.50 with a 4.52 split to be back on track. Thought to myself then that another 4.50 will see me under the 50minutes....Made sure I was now passing runners regularly, and as we crossed to the other side of Riverside Drive I saw Dave give us a wave, and soon after put the pedal to the metal a little in the last 100 to 200m or so ensuring I mowed down a few more runners. Felt like I was running about 19 second 100m speed by the grass section at the finish. Quite pleased to do the last 1km in 4.26 which got me well under 50 minutes which my wristwatch made as 49min 16. A little surprised to get a heart rate of 192, considering it wasnt an allout sprint to the line, but only a 85% effort...Saw Daves sister Kate come through in 59 minutes which was great to see her break the hour mark after only a couple of races at this distance.
After catching up with Dave and family started the long trek over many roads to my car, with the lure of a mountain blast Powerade in my car something I was really looking forward to. Then back home to my heavily pregnant wife.

Look forward to seeing the official results and seeing how various others went.
At start of race they said Lauren Shelley (Aust rep in Commonwealth Games Marathon last year)was running after coming back from injury.

Great to finally get a race on the board. Need to really crank up the training though if I am to make any progress on times...
Next race I want to do is the 40miler, although I'd prefer to run it more as a training run and hopefully do the relay option as 64km is a bit far for me...

Others ahead are the Challenge 10km, Lake Joondalup 10km or 5km, Fremantle Half Marathon, and the Perth Marathon although I'll have to put a contingency plan in place with Kathryn (my wife) and I's baby boy due in late July.

heres hoping I can do a lot more races and sessions like the 5km ladder I did last weekend, and who knows I might just break into a better level of fitness required for good times in races. RHR was 53 today,and had some 48's earlier in the week. Going on past experiences I need Resting Heart rate to be about 43-46 at least to be in PB threatening fitness level.

No other training this week, been way too busy, did about 31 actionpacked hours at work this week, including some tough at times stuff in hills of Maylands, and a climb up 9 flights of stairs at one residential complex. I feel pretty strong from a muscular endurance level, just need to work on fitness a lot (i.e. lots of reps!), and build on the 22km run/long rides I have done so far this year......

Perth Marathon 2007 Plan;

WEEK 2 (26/03/07-01/04/07);

Volume;49min + 32hrs MR. Sessions; 1 +MR Best RHR;48 bpm Sleep; 48hrs *50

OD/LSD sessions; NIL

Races/Time trials;Ran 10km Bridges 49min 16.

Reps sessions; NIL.

Comments;
Well it was a struggle but I managed to make it to the Bridges 10km and have a half-decent race. The time is poor/mediocre/pathetic, all of the previous descriptors, but at least i was under 50 minutes. Good to get some sub 5min per km racing on the board for my first 10km race in 12 months. Did a little better on sleep this week, which was important after not getting much in recent weeks. Somehow I have to breakthrough and get reps and long session happening, as its been utterly all over the shop,cactus, or more likely non-existent mostly this year. I will not do PB's if I just rely on my endurance from work, even though that is obviously helping significantly...

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