47.45 Matilda Bay 10k Keeps foot in door of opportunity!

Sunday 17th February 2008; Ran Matilda Bay 10km in 47min 45. (4.46 per km)
Heart Rate-195 at end. 5km Splits; 23.32/24.13.
1km splits; 3.57,4.40,5.01,5.01,4.53
and....... 4.43,4.50,5.05,5.17,4.18...

Had a great run today! My best 10km for almost 3 years! So very happy to finally have a good race where I hit my main target which was to go sub 48 minutes.

Woke up this morning after the obligatory 5 hours sleep (better than 3 or 4), and resting heart rate was 47 which is my 2nd best this year, and maybe a bit of an omen for my target of getting into the 47minute zone today, although I don't place much credence on, or pay much attention to such things.

Yesterday I was tossing up whether to go today given my nil running training in the last 2 weeks, and the fact that money is very tight. I had $28 in my wallet, and my next payday is not until 28th February! So should I spend money on entry fee??? Also
had some good reasons to run though, and they were in no particular order (a)I had almost a full tank of petrol, (b) I was hoping to catch up with Craig, Steve or any other runners I know, (c)the ill-fated beach to bluff trip..(d) I wanted to see if my 10k rep session of 46.41 a few weeks back combined with my long runs with the fantastic hills group would be enough to get me under 48 minutes...despite my lack of training in the last 2 weeks.
Was banking on my last two weeks of 41hours+ meter reading work in some difficult terrain and weather to help me hold onto the fitness I had picked up earlier this year in my 2 good weeks...So after chatting with my wife decided to make sure I was there.

My 4.30am alarm did the trick for once, and soon I was heading down the freeway with almost no traffic, cranking out my mindbender CD, and feeling really psyched up for a good run today...

Got there well before 7am so early for once another good thing, had time to warm up properly while dodging the mosquitoes, and chat with other runners a bit...
Weather conditions were absolutely perfect! No wind, and light rain, quite cool temperatures, but not cold. Sculled down about 500ml of water beforehand, so I wouldn't have to drink too much while I was running.

Started strongly with a comfortable 3min 57 first 1km, felt like I had another 10 seconds in me at least...Saw Colin Francis, Craig, and Ian go past...Then settled down to deal with the concrete path sections, which as usual I avoided by running on the grass next to the path at every opportunity. Went through 2k in 8.37 so a 4.40 km, then my mediocre but slightly improved cardio-respiratory fitness became a factor and I backed off a bit as I saw Don P. from hills group cruise past. Figured if I could keep him in sight I should hit a reasonable pace, so tried to do that. A couple of 5.01 k's and then as we made our way along the parklands by the beautiful Swan River, with UWA on the other side, I picked up the pace a bit for a 4.53 K which got me to halfway, with a 5K split of 23.32 which I was pretty happy with. I knew I was a good chance to break the 48minutes by then. As we headed off the concrete path and down the slight downhill of Hackett Drive alongside UWA, I knew that it was time to crank things up a bit, plus Don P. was getting almost out of sight. Threw in 4.43 and 4.50 1Km splits between 5k to 7k, which meant I hit 7k in 33.05 and I knew I was looking good.

Also knew though that the concrete section was still there to be negotiated and that from 7k onwards was roughly about where I struggled in the 10k reps session a few weeks back so expected to struggle a bit in the last 3k. This proved to be the case with 1K splits of 5.05 and my worst of the entire race a 5.17! (terrible). At that point I looked at my watch which said 43.27 (about 7-27 seconds slower than I wanted, saw Christine P. coming up alongside me, and I knew I had to put the "pedal to the metal" NOW, if I was to nail a 4.32 last K to finish with at least my 2nd fastest 1K split of the race. Got a bit of encouragement from a few spectators who knew me, ignored my lack of oxygen, as I went hard for the finish line with a few hundred metres to go...When I saw the raceclock at the finishline counting up from 47.37 I knew I was home and hosed, mission accomplished, target achieved for today. Was an awesome feeling, felt like I had done a PB, which I hadn't but, emotionally I feel like I achieved something worthwhile today. My last 1km split was 4.18 which was quite good I thought.

After the race chatting with other runners, saw dolphins frolicking in the Swan river, jumping high into the air!
Also sampled some rockmelon, Nutragrain, and Sustain! that the WAMC put on for breakfast. Excellent value for an $8 non-member race entry! Continued a good chat with Craig afterwards about our respective times, and goals for the future, and then headed for home very happy and satisfied.

So once again I feel I have kept my foot in the door of the window of opportunity to chase some PB's this year with a good run. If I can build on this one in the coming weeks maybe I can get my Bridges 10k time under 45 minutes this year for the first time since 2005, and prove there is life still in my 33 going on 34 year old legs... My best 4 Bridges in the last 11 years so far have been 44.40 (2005), 43.43 (1997), 42.40 (2003), and 41.01 (1998, still my PB)....I have about 7 weeks to shave 3 minutes off my 10k time from today...A very achievable goal I think (the sub 45minute 10k), if I can consistently get my core 5 main sessions (long run,reps/race/time trial x2,ride,abs, and swim) done in the majority of those 7 weeks...

Looks like Meelup triathlon I can't afford to do, although the Karri Valley and Hillarys Triathlons, plus Freeway Bikehike still look real possibilities at this stage. If I can then translate this 10k speed into a Half marathon PB (currently 1hr 41min), the next step up would be to hopefully smash that elusive marathon PB of 3hr 55 that has hung around like a bad smell since 2004, in July and/or September/October. If the Melbourne Marathon (12th October) starts and finishes on the MCG I think I will try and do that one, and leave Sydney for another year.
Then there is hopefully 6 inch and 6 foot 2009, Canberra and Gold Coast in 2009 or 2010, and the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games.... So good to remind myself of where I am trying to head with all this racing and training by listing what are the main goal races on the radar.
The 40 miler is also on the list of things to do, as is Beach to Bluff, and a 6 hour race in Bunbury whether that is this year or more likely another year I don't know...Busselton Half IM looking less and less likely this year but not out of the question just yet...

Thanks God for a great run today!

PM; Went to Triggs beach today with Steve, Shannon,Bruce,Julie,Jade,Brandon, my wife Kathryn, and our little Jacob. It was young Jacobs first ever trip to the beach! Spent 45 minutes trying to bodysurf, swimming out of rip, getting dumped (did a few forced somersaults underwater and swallowed a bit of saltwater in the process.), finally got a good ride at one point and generally using a lot of energy for about 45minutes in the surf...Was really great to finally get to the beach even in fairly rough conditions...Felt rather refreshed after some time in the ocean, in a week that saw me only get 38 hours sleep for the week (less than 5.5 hours per night).
Perfect way to recover from 10k race this morning.

Its been a tough week again but I think we achieved some special things this week with Gods help so that is very satisfying. Just got to make it to next payday somehow....Next week is week 1 of my 20 week program for Perth Marathon in July. Not too sure when my next race will be, probably Freeway Bikehike on March 16th maybe...