A breakthrough performance?

BRRC 25th Anniversary 5k - 2nd out of 70 in 17:28 (PB) 3:28, 3:35, 3:31, 3:29, 3:22

Fronted up for another 5k on Sunday, this time at West End for the BRRC 25th Anniversary race. I was hoping to run 3:33's for as long as I good and hopefully slip under my 17:45 PB if it all came together. Andy Clowes went straight to the front and David Patten tried to go with him whilst I let them go ahead, settling into third place. At the 800m, local Masters legend, Ronnie Peters loomed alongside and then moved past me. I let him go without hesitation as he is a 33-34 minute 10k runner and a few classes above me on his day.

The first k was fairly well timed in 3:28 and shortly afterward, I moved past David into third. The second k passed in 3:35 (it took in the hill behind the boatshed) and the third in 3:31 and I was feeling pretty good. Andy was about 50m in front with Ronnie 25m behind in second and a further 25m to me in third. I knew I was a huge chance of a PB so made sure I worked strongly up the incline around the milk factory so I wouldn't lose any time and was stunned to see Ronnie just 10m in front of me after rounding the bend. I instinctively thought 'Hey, I'm a chance of getting second here!' Over the next 400m I steadily worked my way up to Ronnie's heels and as soon as I caught up to him, I surged, putting a three metre gap on him. However, the surge took a lot out of me. I could feel myself tiring and my cadence started to lose rhythm and Ronnie quickly took the opportunity to surge past me less than a hundred metres later. Ronnie was unable to break clear of me however and this gave me the confidence to have another go and as we turned right off Montague Road I surged again. With the finish line drawing closer, I felt much stronger this time and was able to maintain the momentum after the surge. I sneaked a rare glance over the shoulder shortly afterward and saw Ronnie about 10m adrift. A quick look at the watch confirmed that I only had 90 seconds to the finish line. "I can do this!" I thought about the brutal speedwork sessions we had done on Tuesday and Thursday and it gave me confidence that I had the toughness and speed to hammer it home over the finishing stretch.

Every fibre of my being was in agony but I kept the pedal firmly down and charged home like a man possessed. A glance at the finishing clock 50m from the line ensured I kept up the momentum right to the end to dip under 17:30 for a 17 second PB. I was exultant after passing the line. More important than the PB was the opportunity for a fair dinkum head to head match race with a quality runner as we both fought it out for a placing. These opportunities don't come along very often and it was a huge confidence boost for me to accept the challenge and come out on top in the duel. Gees - it had shades of Deek taking on Juma Ikangaa down Coronation Drive in the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games if you don't mind me saying so :) Theres a lot to be said for racing these lower class races sometimes so runners such as myself have the opportunity to fight it out for a placing rather than finishing 20 places back where you are really running against the clock more than anything. I spoke to Ronnie afterward and asked him if he was just doing a time trial or something but he was adamant he was having a fair dinkum crack at it. I guess he must be coming off a flu or injury as I would normally be eating his dust but as Mona said after the Noosa Half - if you toe the starting line, you're fair game.

All things considered, I would have to say that it was my best ever performance to date, especially considering it came after a week of intense training that left me quite sore. Am looking forward to running some much quicker 5k's later on when I race on the track, taper and wear racing flats.

Here's a link to a shot of me at the 1800:

http://www.pbphotographics.com.au/BRRC/Pages/23_09_2007.html#37

and hammering it in the last 50 m:

http://www.pbphotographics.com.au/BRRC/Pages/23_09_2007.html#82

XXXX powered 5k race

Sun - River Run 5k, 8th out of 250, 17:49

After sinking something in the vincity of 15 beers at the Big Fella's engagement party on Friday night, I lined up in the River Run on Sunday morning looking for a solid hitout - call it a 5k Time Trial if you like. I wanted to do 3:33 pace and perhaps slip under my 17:45 PB if it all came together. I settled into about 12th place early where I stayed till the 2k, just running nice and controlled. As the rabbits started to come back to me I remained strong and moved into eighth place by 4k and just worked home steadily from there. The run felt like a low 18 minute effort so the course may have been a tad short.

Tues - 5 x 1min, 10 x 30 sec with 30 JR

Really asked some questions of myself at this morning session and answered them convincingly. I was no more than 1o metres from Andy C in the lead for the whole session and it was clearly my best session in a month. Absolutely flogged myself on the two sprints around the carpark clocking 35 and then 36 seconds.

Wed - 90 mins, 18.4 k's @ about 4:56 mins/km

Yesterday's gutbuster coupled with an hour spent wielding a sledgehammer to smash up concrete at my place left me sore and sorry for the mid week run. Doing the Green Bridge loop with Mike and Tenzing, I battled my way through the run which was done at a significantly slower than usual pace with Mike dragging me along all the way. I could not possibly have gone any faster. I was so sore and tired that whilst in Ipswich later that morning, I had a 20 minute nap in the car at 9am!

Thurs - 2 x 3 min, 1 x 6 min, 2 x Gold Coast Hill

Spent as much time as possible wearing the Skins yesterday as well as doing an extra cold water wading recovery to give me every chance to back up for today's session. I started off well, struggled a little on the Riverwalk but worked home strongly over the last two minutes and put the finishing touches on with strong efforts up Gold Coast Hill. The legs were still somewhat sore, but I got the most out of what I had this morning.

"No comment"

Sun - 90 mins, 18k's @ about 5:00 mins/km

Volunteered at the Intraining Women's Classic helping to set up the course and observed the proceedings for R4YL. Then battled around the CBD for 90 mins, trimming 30 mins from the usual two hours for the recovery week. Not the best long run, but its done.

Tues - 15 mins of hills

The monthly hill session on the grass in the Botanic Gardens this morning. I improved further on last week and am starting to catch up to those I was running with before the Gold Coast, having already caught up with some. As usual, Glenda and I began our cooldown run immediately after the hard efforts finished and as such, led everyone back to the Ship Inn. Coming off the Goodwill Bridge we were ambushed by an armada of television cameras. As I still had 10 minutes to go for my cooldown, I only offered a brisk 'No comment'. After rolling down to the Cultural Forecourt, I returned to the Ship Inn to discover that the media were actually there to interview Premier in waiting, Anna Bligh :)

Finished off the morning by setting a new PB of 50 Tess-Ups - adding two to my previous PB of 48. For the uninititated, 'Tess-Ups' are actually push ups in honour of our old mate, Tess who introduced the concept!!

The week so far

Fri - 2 x 1500m, 1 x 2k with 1min SR - 5:20, 5:13, 7:13
Legs still not where I want them to be but otherwise a fair session.

Sun - 120 mins - 24k's @ 5:05 mins/km
Sluggish long run - battled through a few rough patches

Tues - PCRG 3KTT - 10:16 - 3:19, 3:36, 3:20
Thought I had a 10:15 in me and targetted consistent 3:25 splits. That didn't happen as I went out a tad too fast and the legs were starting to fatigue in the middle section. Got a second wind over the last 500m when I set myself the challenge of making up a 30 metre gap to James M(who is still flu affected) and rocketed home to nail him in the last 5 metres. Quite pleased with the run, being only 17 seconds off my season best time despite only being back in full training for a little over two weeks

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ about 5:00's mins km
Easy run along the river with Mike R and Tenzing.

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:15 mins/km
Legs very tired after the previous two sessions - an easy 50 minutes at my slowest pace.

Fri - 2min/1min/30sec sprints with 30 JR
Worked strongly in the Botanic Gardens with the PCRG - body is feeling good.