Sherwood Forest 5.9k - 4th - 20:02

Sat - Sherwood Forest 5.9k - 3:12, 3:30, 3:28, 3:27, 3:25, 2:59 - 20:02

Officially a 6k course which has remained unchanged for 25 years, the course is universally acknowledged as being 5.9k or even 5.85k which doesn't stop 60 or 70 runners turning up for a 2,4 or 6k hitout every Saturday morning. I had taken Friday off speedwork to run this race and with no 10k race in the leadup to Noosa, the plan was to run it very hard.

After an easy warm up, the race got underway and I was thankful that some speedy teenagers shot clear ahead of me because I had no idea where I was going? I settled into 7th place with no idea of who in front of me was doing 2,4 or 6k. I pushed hard up the slight incline over the first 400m and worked strongly up the hill that followed, clocking 3:12 for the shortest k on the course. I settled into a good rhythm on the second k as we raced through the beautiful streets of Chelmer but was losing half a second here and there because I didn't know the correct racing line to take. At one point, I lost sight of the lead pack and ran towards a T-junction in the middle of the road, not knowing whether i would have to turn left or run until I regained sight of the pack! The leader turned around at 2k whilst the remaining runners in the pack ahead of me continued - I was now 6th and fighting to hold it after being joined by another runner - who I don't know by name - but he has talent. We worked strongly together for the next 2k before I was able to shake him at around 3.5k. By now the lead pack had fragmented and I was running down the first bloke to be spat out the back - got him at 4k. The fourth place bloke was running strongly, but I reminded myself that I was here to hurt like I had run a 10k and so I dug deep, catching my target just before 5k. He tried to latch on for a little while but I shook him off pretty quickly, racing through 5k in 17:03 on my watch. Allowing for the short first k and slightly short 2nd and 5th k, I make the adjusted time to be in the vicinity of 17:15-17:18. That would have given me a 5k PB by 8-11 seconds which is very pleasing considering I had down a considerable amount of uphill running in the first k and was yet to reach the downhill stage on the return leg! That came soon enough and I took full advantage flying home the short last k in 2:59, taking care not to overstride the downhills. Quite a satisfying run and I'm looking forward to returning later.

Sun AM - 170 mins - 34k's @ 4:59 mins/km
Sun PM - 30 mins - 6k's @ about 5:10 mins/km

Backed up the next day for my first 2hr 50 min long run of the marathon campaign. The legs were feeling the effects of the previous day's race so I didn't push it too much, but relaxed and got the job done. From memory, I pulled up much better than my 170 min runs on last years marathon campaign.