Second 10k Race Report

Todays race was a 10k Sri Chimnoy event in the Eastern Parklands. It was 5 and 1/2 laps. Quite a small field and I think this was a factor in going out too fast. I new I was going too fast but thought lets just keep this going and see how far I can get. After 3k I was starting to regret this decision but with such a fast start I convinced myself that I should go for a 5k PB and then just see what happens.

As it happened I staggered through 5k in 28min27sec, a minute PB after putting on a little 100m burst. Next came the hard slog of actually making it to the 10k finish line. slowed right down, but with just over one lap (2k) to go I was determined to break 60mins and put in a big effort for the 9th kilometer...this got me to the 9k marker with 7mins to do the final k and with relief I slowed down and cruised into the finish in a 5min PB of 58min38sec! (Included split chart just for fun to see how stupid my race was) WOW! dropped 5min in 4 weeks! Getting closer to that 2006 goal.

Other exciting events for the day...meeting my first CR in person, Sunni, who came up and introduced herself after recognising the wonderful red Coopers Sparkling hat I am still wearing in anticipation for my CR Cap. She claimed 2nd place in the female 5k event I believe with a sub 25min run.
Now for the HM!

April in review.
Running
MTD 172.6km
YTD 421.7km

Weight
MTD -3.4kg (116.7kg)
YTD -8.7kg

50th POST!

Dragged myself out of bed this morning after skipping a planned run yesterday morning due to the body winning the battle over my weak mind. Once I got going the run was refreshing, I love the feeling after a morning run, the feeling that you are alive and have enough energy to face the day. It was a freestyle run to as the Garmin died after the first k…someone forgot to check the remaining battery life…I was startled by someone asking me if I lived here while waiting for satellite lock and didn’t look at the battery life. It must look really odd, someone just standing around in their driveway at 5:30am in the morning twiddling their thumbs…at least the neighbourhood watch thing is alive and well…I thanked him for being concerned and assured him that I did infact live their…I wonder if he saw me run off in the opposite direction when I looked down to find that the Garmin had come to life after locking onto some satellites?
Considering going down to the East parklands on Sunday morning to check out a Sri Chimnoy event and maybe do the 10K…see if I can’t bust out the 60min 10k…should be good prep for next weeks half marathon.
Today’s summary…easy 10k in 1hr10min roughly speaking.

Wow, 50 posts, who would have thought I would have kept up this ridiculous charade of being an athlete for so long...roll on 100...

The other other X-training

No run yesterday. Sore feet and lower legs from a late night party on Monday night (bosses daughters 21^st, couldn’t refuse invite!) so I slept in and did some cross training in the afternoon. I like to call it cross-training but in reality it was some very, very bad golf, nice weather for it though. Other activities yesterday included a trip to the aquarium to populate some recently acquired aquariums, some Black Mores, Zebra Danios and comets and a 13 day old Murray River Turtle named Squirt.
So made up for yesterdays non-running day with a run this morning…oh it was so hard to get up…I can’t remember the last morning run I did as last week was mostly afternoon runs due to cramp issues, as a consequence I started off very, very slow…in fact I thought I was running on the spot, the first two k’s took a little under 16mins. Wore my headphones…not to listen to music but to keep my ears warm…I didn’t turn any music on till the 7k mark, ended up coming home in 1hr10 for the 10k., not that I was concerned about speed but I thought I was headed for an 1hr20. (Which would be the same as my 20k on Sunday if you believe everything I write, sorry Spark Driver I am still slow and did not grow the extra cardiopulmonary system required for me to run that fast,
Just found out that my only footy game for the year (an annual old v current Lincoln College footy game) is on the afternoon of my first HM, hopefully I am not required as I don’t intend to be able to stand by then and if I can, beer is provided to help with the such ailments as the ability to stand.

Last Long Run

Decided that todays was the last long run before my first HM in two weeks time. Ran 20k in 1hr20. (Edit: OK 2P your right I am not Superman, it was 2hr20!) This run like a couple of weeks ago was along the HM course bit this time the second half of it. I used to walk to uni along this bit a lot but it wasn't till I was running it this morning that I remember all the sharp climbs and descents. I adjusted the 1min drink/walk breaks to every 5k, corresponding to drink stations. Felt like a good run, but I felt like I was getting tired toward the back end, looking at my Garmin data now it looks like that from about the 13k mark I started speeding up and went from an average pace of 7:20min/k to finish with an average pace under 7min/k! Might have been all the other runners, bikers and walkers some of which passing me. Once again ran without MP3 player until about 12k when I was beginning to go through a mid run struggle. (did this attribute to the faster pace?). Confidence now high that I can finish the HM, probably targetting a pace of 6:30min/k for my first, but the plan at the moment is to go out easy and see how I come home, I at least want to finish.

Change it up.

Headed out this morning about 8 to make-up for yesterdays missed run (no cramps last night, yay!) The weather was nice and cool and overcast and I ran around 8km without the MP3 player just for something different and it felt pretty good. Tagged on a couple of extra ks to the end of my loop to to take it up to 12k at an easy pace. It is amazing to me that my easy pace got me around those 12 undulating kms in the time it took me to run my first fun run (C2B 12k, 80mins), all bodes well for my 2006 goals. Planning a long run tomorrow in preperation for the HM next month (aagh 3 weeks!). Probably about 2hr30mins, hopefully I can cover over 21kms in that time!

2 from 2

So missed this mornings run again. Was semi-awake last night when I tried to shift positions resulting in a cramp in my right calf (That is 2 legs, 2 nights)! Oh the pain, luckily I was semi-awake and just clenched my teeth in a "you are not going to beat me" kind of mentality/insanity...no screaming this time.
Not sure what went wrong. Took the magnesium tablet last night with light dinner. Went for the 10k run. Stretched. Weighed myself. Ate dinner and rehydrated back to pre-run weight. Maybe I am expecting too much too soon from one magnesium supplement so I took another one this morning with breakfast to try and ease the tension still in my right calf.
I wonder what would happen if I cramped in both legs at once instead of one one night and the other the next! It would be like the time I woke up to my alarm going off but both my arms were asleep (dead) so I couldn't roll over, or lift my arm to turn off the alarm or move!...it was very frightening at the time but must have looked so funny to anyone watching! I think I would have looked like a fish out of water.

The Miracle of Magnesium

Well, after some good advice I took a magnesium vitamin with a light dinner, then with the calf feeling better, headed out the door 90mins later after a particularly bad rain squall. Had a long sleeve body hugging top on under my white t-shirt and for some reason this gave me the euphoria that I was actually a real athlete. As a consequence the first couple of k's were more of a medium run no matter how hard I tried to make them easy. Luckily I had totally changed up my mp3 play list and had a classic 90s album (No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom) on, the song Sunday Morning is definately a song to lift the tempo and pump up the legs, it was much needed as I faded up the slopes of the last couple of kilometers, in the end I put in a concerted effort to clock up a sub 5:30min/km split up the last gentle slope before jogging the last couple of hundred metres downhill to my house to warm down.
Might start taking these little magnesium pills on runnning days and also might regret the non-easy pace of tonights 10k in the morning when I head out for another.

Dreaded Leg Cramp

Well, the dreaded calf leg cramp in the middle of the night struck me again last night. Not so frightening for me, but when you share a bed with someone and wake up basically screaming, I imagine that is quite frightening. Any way after that happened I reset my alarm for 7:30am as I knew my leg would be too sore to run the 10k this morning (from experience) How common is this sleeping cramp and what causes it? I don't know but my leg is sure sore this morning and I have been doing a few stretches to try and get it right for another evening run...not after a big dinner though. Will post again after that.

Lesson Number 2 learnt

Can't remember what lesson number 1 was but it is back in the posts somewhere.
Edit Lesson 1: If you are going to run harder than normal don't expect to find hills easy
Lesson Number 2 is, don't run too close after dinner.
Decided this morning to wait another half day after a poorly monday evening so set out for a 10k evening run 8:15pm. Big mistake. had to walk after 4k to stop the onset of regurgitation and then my heart was never in it...but my stomache was...coming home in a shortened 9k 1hr8min on the watch. Lesson Learnt. I will stick to my early morning runs.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Ah, time to add some pictures to my blog, Below are images of my two Easter runs/bush bashing in Mildura.

Friday's 10k


Saturday's 20/25k


Then just for R2B my weight chart.