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Fantastic 21.1 km run, shame the event was 25 km
Posted by
antracing
,
17 May 2012
·
159 views
Following my welcome return to the 26 minute zone for 5km on Thursday night at Stockdale Rd run, I was off to the 25 km rail trail run on Sunday which goes from Boolarra to Mirboo North and back. The rail trail has been repaired since the big fires of 2009 with 2 magnificent steel bridges replacing the old wood ones that burnt down. My partner did the 10 km option which was up to Darlimurla and back, he PB'ed with about 48 mins.
But the oldest competitor in the 25 km wanted to leave 30 mins early so as not to delay the people doing the timing etc. So I went with him as he may be 73 but I have to be good to beat him and have only just got to the stage where I can have the odd win in the Thursday night runs. The result was that we ran shoulder to shoulder all the way to about the 21 km mark and each pushed the other to a way better time than we expected. I felt so good as I have run a lot of races but rarely "raced", ie I usually do my own thing which is not quite as challenging as pushing to keep up with someone who is going faster. It was lovely and my new style really gave me the ability to lift a notch when needed and run faster than ever up hill.
I don't drink much till the run is over 20 kms so this was borderline and I just had a few sips at the 4 drink stations, but John stopped and had a longer drink. So every time he worked and caught me and it was only at 21 km that he dropped off. But I had also hit the wall, so he ended up going ahead again and winning our battle. My fitness was 3 km short of this race and I walked/jogged from 22 km on to end up with a slow time of 2 hrs 49; when I had been tracking to 2 hrs 30 mins. I am not depressed but in fact very happy that I ran so well for so long when the longest training run I have done is 18km this time up.
In the last 8 km my right calf hurt and the arch of the right foot. It does not seem to be sinister as it has cleared and didn't show at all in a 2km run I did yesterday to see how things were. I did gym yesterday and will do it again today before the 6 pm run in Traralgon. On Monday I did a very hilly bike ride on the 2 towns trail linking Warragul to Drouin (16 km there and back) and that always seems to work the stiffness out of the legs from hard runs.
When I finished the 25 km run I lay down for a while (haven't done that since 6 ft track and Walhalla Woundup), but the promise of coffee got me up and over to the local Boolarra shop, and also a lovely icecream (despite cold and hail) and a 1 metre pack of licorice. Perfect recovery fuel. There was only one burst of rain and hail during the run despite it bucketing down before and after.
Weekly total was the best yet for this comeback = 57.92 and YTD = 553.11. This week is going to be very light, probably the right thing as I had a potential injury on Sunday. Also scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of using my body's reserves needs to be given a chance to recover.
I will enter the half marathon on 3rd June Traralgon marathon as this run shows I'll make it and can try for a PB. Sub 2hrs at least would be good, I may not be as fit as I was at Great Ocean Rd in 2010 when I did the 21.1 km in 1 hr 56 mins. I did 20 kms in 2 hrs 3 mins on Sunday with a much bigger hill than the trip on the marathon course.
But the oldest competitor in the 25 km wanted to leave 30 mins early so as not to delay the people doing the timing etc. So I went with him as he may be 73 but I have to be good to beat him and have only just got to the stage where I can have the odd win in the Thursday night runs. The result was that we ran shoulder to shoulder all the way to about the 21 km mark and each pushed the other to a way better time than we expected. I felt so good as I have run a lot of races but rarely "raced", ie I usually do my own thing which is not quite as challenging as pushing to keep up with someone who is going faster. It was lovely and my new style really gave me the ability to lift a notch when needed and run faster than ever up hill.
I don't drink much till the run is over 20 kms so this was borderline and I just had a few sips at the 4 drink stations, but John stopped and had a longer drink. So every time he worked and caught me and it was only at 21 km that he dropped off. But I had also hit the wall, so he ended up going ahead again and winning our battle. My fitness was 3 km short of this race and I walked/jogged from 22 km on to end up with a slow time of 2 hrs 49; when I had been tracking to 2 hrs 30 mins. I am not depressed but in fact very happy that I ran so well for so long when the longest training run I have done is 18km this time up.
In the last 8 km my right calf hurt and the arch of the right foot. It does not seem to be sinister as it has cleared and didn't show at all in a 2km run I did yesterday to see how things were. I did gym yesterday and will do it again today before the 6 pm run in Traralgon. On Monday I did a very hilly bike ride on the 2 towns trail linking Warragul to Drouin (16 km there and back) and that always seems to work the stiffness out of the legs from hard runs.
When I finished the 25 km run I lay down for a while (haven't done that since 6 ft track and Walhalla Woundup), but the promise of coffee got me up and over to the local Boolarra shop, and also a lovely icecream (despite cold and hail) and a 1 metre pack of licorice. Perfect recovery fuel. There was only one burst of rain and hail during the run despite it bucketing down before and after.
Weekly total was the best yet for this comeback = 57.92 and YTD = 553.11. This week is going to be very light, probably the right thing as I had a potential injury on Sunday. Also scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of using my body's reserves needs to be given a chance to recover.
I will enter the half marathon on 3rd June Traralgon marathon as this run shows I'll make it and can try for a PB. Sub 2hrs at least would be good, I may not be as fit as I was at Great Ocean Rd in 2010 when I did the 21.1 km in 1 hr 56 mins. I did 20 kms in 2 hrs 3 mins on Sunday with a much bigger hill than the trip on the marathon course.
