19.2km run of today..........

G'day!

Firstly I'll announce I did train on Sunday, - a 12km run in the Hills. Saturday was 30 mins on the turbo followed by a short 15 min run before we headed to watch the footy. Friday was a day off training. Last Thursday was a 9.6km run effort around 'The Bridges' run. Anyways I'm getting in about 4 good intense cardio workouts a week on average and maybe a piddly resistance workout once a week, - ya know push ups, sit ups and various crunches, plank, lunges, sit against wall thing, tricep dips, walking lunges with not much rest in between various exercises. With the resistance at this stage I just make sure I last 15 mins and usually do some stretching after.

Early Mon morning I COULD have done some training but was still quite pleased with the run the day prior and just bummed around kinda till 10am which I headed out for the days activities. Yesterday after work I blew off a swimming training session to undertake another un-mentionable mission I felt held priority at the moment :-)

Work has been busy and active as per norm.

Anyway it has occured to me a few times that I'm doing a 21.1km half marathon in just over 3 weeks now. Since my last half marathon in 2008 on the Gold Coast my longest run since has been 14km, (which was 'Run for a Reason' race this year and last year). And if running alone my 'long' runs have still been no longer than 12km. 'Short' speed runs are generally around the 5.5-6km.

If I tried 2 laps of my 12km run or 9.1km run in the Hills close to home I know I'd be discouraged by times.........in seeing how I could improve on my current half marathon PB. 1 lap at the fastest pace I can manage is sure enough!

However for being a slacker in regard to organising training the last 2 days and to see how far 'off pace' for half marathon I am I decided to run 2 laps of the 9.6km 'Bridges' run today to see how I went. Not just the one lap where I hold a PB of 51 mins. Obstacles for me were two flights of steps for going up and down, the other cyclists and pedestrians out on the route such as trying to pass a pedestrian on a bridge while looking out for cyclists in all directions, also stopping and jogging on a spot at a couple of intersections till walking lights turned green.

I formulated this plan yesterday and it worked wonders.

The only time available for this run was after a very busy energetic work day on feet. So at the time the last thing I felt like doing! Nutrition had been OK, not magical. Rest, - on feet so not really rested.

And on a 12km run I wouldn't take a water bottle. But on a new 19.2km run I thought I better take a screw top Mt Franklin 600ml bottle as that was all I had on me. So I carried that in one hand and a building swipe card and shop keys in the other.

In general I HATE running carrying a water bottle! I feel lopsided, lost in stride somewhat and slower than I'd like. However my goal was to consume the bottle over the first lap, then ditch it by start of second lap, then speed up on the second lap just carrying swipe card and key.

Successful!!! I had to deal with head winds the first lap, mostly over first 3km! I didn't go out too hard as I knew I had 19.2km to do. Carrying a jiggly water bottle was awkward! I could tell my pace over the first 9.6km lap didn't feel fast, (but it didn't feel hopelessly slow either). I clocked in at 57 mins 30 for the first 9.6km lap and felt like that was just a warm up as I ditched my empty water bottle. 10km/h feeling like a warm up was a tops feeling! For the first few kms of lap 2 I sped up, feeling mighty pleased with myself. At about the 14-15km mark I felt a bit sore, slight cramps but nothing major. I did expect it but I still maintained my pace. In the final 2km or so I guess what, - SPED UP! I was trying to finish under a various time and managed it.

Anyway my time for today's 19.2km run was 1 hour, 51 mins, 54 secs. And I don't feel as if I have particularly gone hard at race pace, - such as I could have put on my 'sprinting' pace earlier rather than reserving. I don't reckon I will be sore tomorrow like I was after 'Run for a Reason 14km'. My first lap was a bit slower cause of holding a water bottle, a min or so in total would have been cause of traffic, I was somewhat tired at starting after a busy work day plus I was running on my own rather than trying to topple my ability.


So today I finished slightly over 2 hour half marathon pace. But I feel I could have gone faster and would have etc if in racing conditions. I felt at the end of today I could have held a decent pace for another 1.9-2km to complete a half marathon! Today's run felt like a training run more than a race................yet if I raced at this pace I would be pleased!

And to get where I needed to go I had an easy 3km or so of walking after finishing my run.

Weight wise I haven't been on the digital to 100g scales but the others show I'm around 64kg these days.

Talk soon,

Pip