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A couple of easy runs, and QR XC 5k
Posted by
vat
,
07 July 2012
·
177 views
Rounded out the working week with a gentle 7k or so cruise around the UQ trail - still felt a little heavy in the legs, pace was around 4:50 or so. Felt better afterwards, and it was a pleasant afternoon for a run.
My cycling partner is in NZ skiing this weekend, so I took the opportunity to sleep in. I was planning on catching up with some running friends for brekkie, so to kill some time before leaving I got out for a little 3.6k trot around my little circuit at home, at around 4:47 pace. Took quite a while to loosen up but was running quite freely towards the end.
After a morning of running errands, got out to the Queensland Running Cross Country event over at Pine Rivers Park, Strathpine. This series is a favourite of mine, although I haven't been able to get to a lot of the races this year. I wanted to race the 5k today - I think some shorter races will be a perfect way to round out my Brisbane Marathon preparation, reinforcing speed, fitness and form improvements. Plus they're fun.
I rolled up with plenty of time and did the 2k event as a warm up, cruising around in 4:30 pace which felt really easy. Got through some drills and run throughs, and lined up for the 5k. I was looking something around the 18 minute mark, but the race also provided an opportunity to try something I've been doing in training, i.e. running in a forefoot strike style. I decided to run in the smaller of my VFF Bikilas.
Grass made it fairly soft underfoot although otherwise conditions were close to ideal, cool with a gentle breeze and generally fine.
Ended up running 18:04 (official results), or 18:03 (by my watch), or 18:02 (announced as I finished). I was one of three runners and the next was six minutes back or something like that. Held the forefoot style the whole way fairly comfortably, pace was pretty steady, just eased out no more than 2-3 seconds per km over the distance and the heart rate in a constant window of 178 to 181, although it did see 186 with the final push home to the uphill finish.
Happy with the time, although something in the 17s would have been nice. Has me intrigued what that would look like on the BRRC 5k course.
My cycling partner is in NZ skiing this weekend, so I took the opportunity to sleep in. I was planning on catching up with some running friends for brekkie, so to kill some time before leaving I got out for a little 3.6k trot around my little circuit at home, at around 4:47 pace. Took quite a while to loosen up but was running quite freely towards the end.
After a morning of running errands, got out to the Queensland Running Cross Country event over at Pine Rivers Park, Strathpine. This series is a favourite of mine, although I haven't been able to get to a lot of the races this year. I wanted to race the 5k today - I think some shorter races will be a perfect way to round out my Brisbane Marathon preparation, reinforcing speed, fitness and form improvements. Plus they're fun.
I rolled up with plenty of time and did the 2k event as a warm up, cruising around in 4:30 pace which felt really easy. Got through some drills and run throughs, and lined up for the 5k. I was looking something around the 18 minute mark, but the race also provided an opportunity to try something I've been doing in training, i.e. running in a forefoot strike style. I decided to run in the smaller of my VFF Bikilas.
Grass made it fairly soft underfoot although otherwise conditions were close to ideal, cool with a gentle breeze and generally fine.
Ended up running 18:04 (official results), or 18:03 (by my watch), or 18:02 (announced as I finished). I was one of three runners and the next was six minutes back or something like that. Held the forefoot style the whole way fairly comfortably, pace was pretty steady, just eased out no more than 2-3 seconds per km over the distance and the heart rate in a constant window of 178 to 181, although it did see 186 with the final push home to the uphill finish.
Happy with the time, although something in the 17s would have been nice. Has me intrigued what that would look like on the BRRC 5k course.
