Pat Carroll Running Group 3K Time Trial - August

After the emotional high last Thursday of averaging a 3:19:75 PB for 4 x 1k reps on an average 58 second Standing Recovery(SR), I was wildy optimistic of breaking my 9:55 3K TT PB set on Melbourne Cup day last year, shortly before I broke down. However, come this morning, I knew there was a better than 50% chance that my 36k's on the bike on Sunday would take its toll. The enormity of taking a massive 30 seconds off last months lung busting 10:24 TT also sank in.

So, I took the rare step of setting a B goal of 10:10 but resolved to go out at 9:54 PB pace to see how the legs held up. On another perfect Winter morning, I bounced straight to the front and felt ok in clocking a 3:16 effort for the first k as Aaron drew alongside me and clocked an identical split. A small pack of Slash, Daniel, Aaron and myself then formed until the 1400m mark when my legs went dead and heavy - no mistaking the feeling - too much time on the bike on Sunday! At this point Daniel surged and Aaron responded immediately with the two proceeding to go hammer and tongs the rest of the way pushing each other under sub 10 with Aaron just pipping Daniel 9:52 to 9:54. Not far behind, Slash and I were in a duel of our own. We swapped the lead 3 times and managed to push each other to a PB for Slash and under my B goal time. Slash nudged ahead of me in the shadows of the Moreton Bay figs recording 10:04 to my 10:08. The beneficial effects of running closely to a team mate in a race or training cannot be underestimated. Slash probably ensured that I went 5 seconds faster than would have been the case if I was running solo. Hitting the line behind us was an "eyecatching" Phil K wearing the pink melon dress as punishment from Coach Pat for his sitting recovery during 1k's last Thursday - Being a past wearer of that infamous pink dress myself(voted the "honour" by my team mates) , my sympathy for Phil was non-existent!

So, I'm a satisfied man at the moment. I think I got everything there was out of myself today in clocking 3:16, 3:28 and 3:23 on the way to 10:08. Importantly, I've preserved my proud record of never doing one of my TT's slower than the previous month. I clocked 10:19, 10:05 and 9:55 in consecutive months last year. This year its 10:24 and now 10:08. History suggests I'll be ready for sub 10 next start!

Recovered from the session with a wading recovery in thigh deep water at South Bank's Breaka Beach before bouncing into the office with far too much enthusiasm and vigour for some of my colleagues to handle :-)