Challenge 10km race in a cruisy 48.35

Sunday May 27th; ran the Challenge fun run 10km in 48min 35, Heart rate at end only 174...so pretty relaxed and cruisy. 5km splits; 24.15/24.20. First 2km in 9.16 (4.38's on average per km), 1km splits after that were; 5.14,4.46,4.59, and for second 5k; 5.15,4.31,5.02,4.54,4.38.

Decided to run with my fremantle dockers hat on as my normal black "tyr" race hat is a bit salty and sandy from beach runs in recent weeks I think...Plus I was feeling rather celebratory still after the lovely thrashing of st kilda that was dished out on Friday night to get the Dockers season back on track for now...Although 9 wins from 13 games is still a tough assignment...

Great to get a race pace sort of run on the board. Pretty happy with the run even though its nothing much timewise....although it is quicker than my very slow Bridges effort this year, on what I rate as a significantly tougher course hillswise, although I did find a pretty good rhythm most of the way on this run...

Saw Epi out there and one or two others I know...Although initially I was planning a 44-46min attempt, I decided to back off a bit especially with the 27k I had done the day before...warmed up very well before (for a change!), as I arrived 30-40 min early for once (another unusual experience for me in recent times). Got a good jump early on the pack of faster runners, and 3k speedsters, to get a fairly good position in the field, and after a quick chat with Epi saw him zoom off into sub 41minute land...After the 3k runners had turned off I decided to adopt a cautious recon approach as I had heard the course was a little hilly, which proved to be true. Ran with pretty much the same runners until about the 6km mark and decided to use the downhill to accelerate hard, and hit Brockway Rd with a significantly faster rhythm. This spurt/change of pace worked well, and I splitted 4.31 which was my fastest 1km split of the entire race, which proves I could have gone faster for
that 46min sort of zone...(4.30 is 45min pace). Had my second mouthful or three of gatorade then and settled in to ensure some sub 5min per km stuff was delivered in the final few km to make sure I beat my Bridges effort of 49.16 earlier this year.
Decided to ditch my gatorade bottle which I had carried with me up until then, so I could concentrate on running the last couple of km better...

Finished reasonably strongly to beat most of the runners which I had been running with, but did not throw in the warp 9/pedal to the metal/sprint finish at all, as I wanted to get a heart rate reading that was indicative of what I had been running at for most of the way. As a result my last 1km was only 4.38, when I am sure I could have found a at least a 4.10 or 4.20 for sure... Heart rate of 174 suggests I ran most of the race with heart rates of 160's and 170's....Reckon I can crank that up to high 170's and low 180s, since most of my reps are done at heart rates approaching 180's and 190's...

Overall a very enjoyable race, which gets my body used to running at the speed I need to for the entire Marathon in July...48.35's would be about 3.20ish marathon pace. I guess the real litmus test of whether I am on track for a big Marathon PB (well under my 3.55 from 2004) will be the Fremantle half marathon in a few weeks time, but it was great to get another race under my belt, and to do the Challenge course as I had only done the 3km in previous years.

It was a good run rhythm wise with lots of bitumen but no concrete of any significance, and a good flat surface, big enough field to keep you motivated, but sparse enough to give you room to run without going up and down a neverending "peloton" like you do all! the way now in the city to surf, and the Bridges to a much lesser extent. I think putting a half marathon in the city to surf is a good thing, cos it might be too far for the recreational runners, and means someone like me who is semi-competitive may have more space to run in. That will only be the case if the Half marathon is run at a different time, or different course to the 12km main race....

So after the race I went for a fast walk warmdown, tried jogging a few times but I had some minor blisters, my shoes are getting a bit worn out, been using the same orange new balances since about late 2006 so thats at least 6-9 months, so replacing my shoes after Perth Marathon on the agenda for sure! Its a big cost for me though at the moment...So the rain started to show up a bit then, so decided to head for Triggs and get my feet into some saltwater as it helps with blisters and my continual battle with athletes foot...Stood on the edge of where the waves were hitting the sure in saltwater for about 10 minutes straight, which hopefully will help, feet feel a bit better now...Surf was like a washing machine today very stormy, would not be much fun and quite dangerous getting out in that today. Was going to go to mailbox next but decided to head for home and see how my pregnant wife was going...

So 37km in two good runs this weekend plus that messy 16km ride on Thursday means this week is now starting to look alright, and I am well positioned for a decent charge foward in the next 6-7 weeks or so....

WEEK 10 (21/05/07-27/05/07);

Volume; 275min + 20hrs MR. Sessions; 3 +MR Best RHR;48 bpm Sleep; 44hrs *


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; 27km trails run in Darlington in 2hrs 55

Races/Time trials;Challenge 10km race; 48min.35

Reps sessions; NIL

Comments; Good consolidation week. A 10km race, a 27km long run, and a 16km cycle.
The most important pieces are in place for this week, which means we took another significant step forward in my Perth Marathon preparations. All indications are that a sub 4 hours, PB effort, is looking good at the moment. The long run was a bit on the short side given I did 42km two weeks before, but good to periodize a bit with a bit of a recovery week, as long as I follow up with some hardcore weeks in June...Reps I am still a fair way behind in that and the related general fitness zone. However the signs are that another breakthrough week (like the 42km effort) is close...Very satifying to keep things on track after a stressful week at work where i got the usual 5-6 hours night sleep, drove over 100km a per day, got some much needed car repairs done (Cv joint was seized!), did two train trips to Gosnells on tuesday, went to antenatal class 1 with my wife Kathryn on wednesday in subiaco, safety meeting for work at Forrestfield on thursday (had to stop work on my round in Merriwa and go to Forrestfield!) and generally just felt under pressure all week. Onward!