Sydney Striders 10km - North Head - 44.41

After a couple of tough days, especially Thursday's Track session, the legs were still a little tired for this one. Still, I was keen to get a tempo 10km into my legs with the Olympic Tri coming up next weekend in the Gong and with North Head only 5 mins from my front door, it was a good opportunity.

Expectations wise I knew I wasn't going to be quick so I wasn't expecting a time in the low 40's.

I left home just after 6.30, parking below the hospital and walking to the new start which is closer to the stone arch than previously. Basically, close to where the start used to be.

After a last minute toilet stop, I settled in next to the 45 minute pacer for the start.

The new route meant that there was a bit of a bottleneck to start with as all the runners funnelled down the hill and then out onto the road towards the stone arch. The course essentally involved 2 x laps of the old course with the last 500m all uphill from the archway and the last 100m basically vertical to the finish line. Basically a lot harder than the previous course then!

Given my location towards the middle of the pack, it took me a while to start running, and even longer to get into any sort of rhythm, the first km taking a touch over 4.30 as a result. Once I was into open road, I managed to pick up the pace to what I thought was 4.15's. Indeed, my Garmin told me I was doing 4.15's, however the 2 and 3km markers came and went, all in the early to low 4.25's.

By this point, my main aim was to avoid the 45 min pacer coming past me. With that in mind, I decided to concentrate on my form, ignore my pace and just run tall.

Onto the second lap and the km's were coming and going all around 4.25/4.30. Nothing too flash, but at least I was consistent. I was also passing people regularly, although I was also being passed.

By the time I hit the roundabout on the final lap I was still feeling relatively comfortable, trying to concentrate more on my form than push the pace.

At the final loop around the arch, I decided I would push myself for the final 500m and harder for the last 100m, managing to take a few people in the process, crossing the line in 44.41. A disappointing time given the 41.xx I ran on this course last time, but still good to get a tempo 10km under my belt.

I didn't hang around afterwards as it was starting to rain and I was soaked through with the humidity.

Km splits

4.32, 4.23, 4.22, 4.33, 4.21, 4.29, 8.58 (2km), 4.23, 4.27