City to Surf HALF M week 6

Sunday 31st August 2008 AD AM;
Ran City to Surf Half Marathon in gun time 1.55.30 (net time 1.54.48),

HR 174 at end. Average pace was 5min 26 per km...

895th? of about 1400.
7km; 36.03
14km 73.13 (37.10 7km split)
21.1km 1.55.30 (42.18 7.1km split)

2008; 6km 31.01? 12km 63.25 18km; 98min 18
(2007; 6km 30.03, 12km 63.05 18km 97.15 )
...1.54.48 in 2008, 1.54.20 in 2007...

Official champion chip results @ HERE

PHOTOS coming soon via FUSE PHOTOGRAPHY...

My webpage about my City to Surf running (and racewalking) since 1997 is HERE, includes lots of photos, and shows my 12k PB of 52min has stood for way too long.

My messy 1k splits as best as I can remember from my wristwatch;

5.30 (4.48 actually, because it took 42 seconds to cross start line,and includes Malcolm st hill)

4.51, 5.15 x2 (didnt see 3k marker),5.32,=26.23 first 5km.

4.38?(downhill in kings park with John,Mike?...),5.02,5.13,6.32,(talking to Jane and others,dropping GU,drinking my powerade,trying to digest it)5.52
=53.40 first 10km.
4.50,4.55,4.54 x2 (missed 13k marker)=14k 73.13...

then missed 15k,17k,19k,20k,21k markers, so;

roughly 6.11's,6.30s (stopped to have GU, caught by 12k runners),
5.30's-5.00's partly with Hunna in the last 3km to finish...
So I was comfortably able to hold around 4.50-5.30 pace for some of the race, but had some 5.30-6.30 rubbish after a slow start for a bout at least a third of the race...

Cranked up Grave Forsaken on the way to the race, but forgot bodyglide, although it didn't seem to matter...
Got there early and decided to run around to stay warm, but got too far away from the start with a minute to go...

First 10km was 53.40 which is very slow..., I was just too lacking in sleep and not up for a good time today, turned out to be quite hard to organise things so Kathryn could come too, but I felt it was more important today that we all got to enjoy the City to Surf experience as a family than I did a really good time, but still got in a great long run for my Melbourne plans so a successful run in the grand plan scheme of things...

Ran slowly for 30min before start to stay warm and jogged back to Perry Lakes (35min) afterwards so I could walk the 4km with Kathryn and Jacob. So did about 3 hours of pretty much continous running, so a good long run in the end...

Lost interest/motivation in attacking my time once I knew I wasn't up for a PB today, from about 15km onwards, but ran well with a friend in the last 1-2km, and I think we enjoyed pushing each other a bit through that section, which allowed me to get well! under 2 hours and finish just 28 seconds adrift of last years 1.54.20 which was nice. Always good when you can run with a legendary runner of similiar pace.

Official time of 1.54.48 quite a bit quicker than the 1.55.30 on my wristwatch which shows I wasted 42 seconds stuck in the crowd at the start trying to get across the startline after the gun went... I didn't finish all that stroungly and just cruised in tried to keep heart rate from ballooning today, so probably ran most of race at heart rates of about 160-170's which is a bit slack on my part...Saw a few cool running hats, including a guy with a nick of "Vurt"...

Was great to catch up with many people I know briefly especially from the Hills group, and my wife Kathryn with 1 year old Jacob in pram did their first ever City to Surf, plus caught up with uncle and aunty after the race, so a successful (and challenging day logistically) day! Coming off about 4 hours sleep, but really had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the day even though the time is pretty pathetic, a worthwhile training run for Melbourne. Very proud of Kathryn for making the effort to get to the start line which was a challenge for her and Jacob...So nice to have her there on the day, plus the time with Uncle and Aunty after the race was really wonderful too...Jacob got to walk some of the City to Surf on oceanic Drive, and he was very good the whole way...:-)

More than 37,000 in it today am very glad I did the Half Marathon! Heard Cathy Freeman talking before the race. Saw Phil B, Macca,Terry,John,Mike,Jane,Gary, Hunna,Pete and Anna?,Dave,the Swiss bloke and others so good to catch up with a few legends of running like that! A good days running at about 180 minutes, plus more than an hours walking with Kathryn.

Saturday 30th August 2008 AD AM;
Ran 2km in 8min 19.66 on Hull Park Course Heart rate; only 171!
(4min 09secs per km)
Vistula St splits 1.13/1.32 (6.47)
Small St splits 2.31/2.47 (5.32)
Hull Park bit; 3.01...
Its a PB again on that course YAY! :-) and I think if I keep improving the fitness,
I should be getting into the 7min zone for 2km again, which is something I havent done for a few years...

The most pleasing indicator though was my heart rate at the end of this short wake-up in the morning run, which at 171 was quite low, and is a sure sign I am ready to go for a good run in my second City to Surf Half Marathon (21.1km) tomorrow. Might even give the 1.41 PB a bit of a battering maybe, although the 3 hills and my lack of speedwork (reps etc), plus a lingering flu sickness I have almost shaken out of my system now, might just stop me but we shall see, looking forward to it. Its more a training run for Melbourne in October, so don't really care what the time is as long as its under 2 hours, but the faster the better ! My wife Kathryn and I got our racepacks last night, she is doing the 4km walk with Jacob in the pram, which wil be her and Jacobs first City to Surf! Ive been car reading again this week, so body should be pretty fresh and ready to go this weekend, back to walk reading next week...

MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 6 (25/08/08-31/08/08);

Volume; 188min + NIL MR work (car reading) Sessions;2
Best RHR; 52bpm Sleep; 39.5hrs (5.64hrs per night) *37

OD/LSD; Yes 3 hour long run by adding an extra hour (warmup and warm down) of slow running to City2Surf Half.
Races/Time trials/LFD; Yes 2km-8.19 (4min.09secs perKm),
21.1km (C2S)-1hr 55 (5min.28secs perKm)
Reps sessions;NIL

5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-Yes achieved
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-Yes, just.
3-Abs done?- Nope...
4-cycling done-Nope...
5-swim done?-Nope...
Comments;Well I am keeping "my hat in the ring","foot in the door" of a good Melbourne Marathon, with two good key sessions this week. While I am pretty disappointed with my pathetic City to Surf half marathon time of 1.55, I just wasn't dealing with the hills, and wasnt able to go anywhere near the PB...If I had worked harder a 1.48 or 1.49 might have been possible but I just couldn't be bothered busting my gut for that this time round. If I had been able to get through 10km in under 48 minutes like in the Perth Marathon this year I would have had a go at the PB, and gone for broke, hopefully can have a serious go in the Freo Half or perhaps even the Sydney Half...we shall see. Enjoyed my running though, and thats " one small step" again for my Melbourne Marathon plans. Still feel the need to ramp things up a lot, maybe next week??? Although the state election is going to make things busy...Need to get more sleep this week, the last two weeks have not got enough...Looking forward to trying to step things up as September Spring is sprung tomorrow...