I picked up Tim just after 6am and we made our way to Lane Cove for the next in the Strider's 10km series. I was actually in 2 minds whether to race given the lack of any sort of decent preparation, but decided that at the very least a tempo 10km wasn't such a bad idea.
We arrived super early and yet still had to park near the roundabout and after a short warm up we were off.
As seems to be customary in these events, we started too far down the field, and as a consequence, the first km seemed to take forever despite showing 4.15 on the Garmin. From here, the route is largely flat which meant that the second km took 4.04, which surprised me at the time. Looking ok so far then! Tim was running with me by this point as we diverted up Scribbly Gums, Tim taking the lead with his mountain goat climbing ability dragging me past a number of runners in the process. The next split blew out to 4.52 which suggested that perhaps the km markers weren't all that accurate, a fact born out by the Garmin readings.
From here the route dropped again before a flat section and then the big hill to the turnaround point. Already I could feel that the legs were starting to struggle with the km splits started rising towards the mid 4.30's. Tim was also starting to gap me as we reached the top of the climb.
By the time I reached the downhill section I knew I was going to struggle to keep up with Tim and so let him go, deciding instead to maintain sub 4.30 splits if I could and then push the final km to the finish.
With that plan in mind it was just a case of holding my form and trying not to let too many people past me.
After some less than flattering km splits I eventually made it to the 9km marker knowing that it was now all downhill to the finish, eventually crossing the line in 44.09. Not my worst time for Lane Cove, and not that bad considering the past 4 weeks, but nowhere near my best. Still, it gives me something to work on between now and next month's race which is again in Lane Cove.
Tim ran well to dip under 43 minutes. Something which I will try and aim for next month.
Km splits: 4.15, 4.04, 4.52, 4.19, 4.36, 4.38, 4.20, 4.34, 4.28, 3.59.
No comments:
Post a Comment