STRIDERS 10k, LANE COVE

Felt fatigued upon waking, lacking any spring in my step or even nervous energy. The good news was that my tight right glute/hamstring was ok, seemingly remedied by the application of some Pain Away and by using the compression tights overnight. After the coffee and toast I felt a bit better.

Conditions were, to my tastes, perfect for racing. Warm but not hot, no breeze and a dry pitch. Within the first 500m a good group had shot off for a commanding lead. I stuck to my race plan (listed below) and found myself running with Tom Highnam. If I could stick with him I knew the time would be decent. We were also joined by another bloke (who turned out to be Saxon Moseley) who tacked onto the back. Felt comfortable (as comfy as it gets in a race I suppose) throughout, just sticking to the plan. Crossed 5km in 16:47- a solid time on this course.

Between 5-6km, Tom drifted off the back and Saxon came to my side. With about 3km to go he bumped up the pace and hit the lead, which suited me quite well. On the short hill with about 1800m to go I pushed up the pace and he ended up dropping off. I could see a blue singlet (which I later found out belonged to Anthony Murrell) ahead of me, however I was more concerned with keeping my rhythm together in the final stages.

I snuck a peak at my watch at the 9km mark which revealed a time of 30:00, so I knew a PB was within reach if I gave it a red hot go. From there on I picked up my cadence with the intention of pushing back the sprint finish to the final 400m. At this point Anthony was within strike, so I thought to myself 'dammit, be greedy, go for the scalp'. Managed to pull out a sprint finish to duck across the line in front of Anthony in a new PB time and a 33sec negative split. Stoked! The best part was that I did not have ANY back pain, not even stiffness. Very happy about that. Actually, the BEST part of my day was the waffle breakfast with my Diana post race.

Looking back I could probably improve by pushing the pace a fraction more during the first 8km. I don't think I could have made up much more time in the final 2km. Running of tangents went well, I had brilliant pacing and 'carrot' runners throughout, and conditions were ideal. Perhaps a taper may yield some more improvement.

Heaps of ERS runners flying the flag and running well: Adam L, Brett M, Pete F, Jodie F, Debbie L, Kim C were all amongst it with some impressive times. Tom Crasti was also at the pointy end of the race. Pete F had a brilliant sprint finish, displaying all the benefits of the speed work we have been doing at the ERS sessions.

RACE:

1) 10min w/up (4:00 to 5:00/km with 3 x 10-15sec surges @ race pace). 3 x 10-15sec run-throughs @ race pace.

2) RACE 33:01, 16:47 (5k split) 16:14 (10k split). Avg HR 183BPM (195BPM MAX). Avg Spd. 3:19/km.

TRAINING:

AM: 45min spin. Avg HR 150BPM

RACE PLAN:

0-2km: Smooth steady state, working into rhythm.
2-4km: Push slightly up hill and then back down, hitting steady rhythm on flat.
4-6km: Push slighly up hill, push hard on descent.
6-8km: Steady state, picking up pace slightly.
8-10km: Surge before hill, faster pace towards finish, sprint move with 500m to go.