59:08 and a 15 sec PB but quite disappointed.
The lead up to City to surf was pretty good this week with 4 x 8k runs fro Tuesday to Friday (inc. corp cup PB) and then a rest day on Saturday.
We celebrated Rachael's 30th on Saturday night and I tried to be good, but it was hard. I hit the sack after midnight with a few beers in the belly.
I woke up a bit dehydrated and tried to down a few waters to catch up. I headed to the start line and looked for the CR's. I barged through the crowd and found myself in the second row. Chatted with Horrie, Spud, Miners, Superflake, Vurt et. 1o mins before the gun, the waters I had in the morning had done their thing but it was to late to bolt to the toilet - damn!
As we were talking, the gun fired and we were off. I was quite close to the start and was not caught up at all. It took about 10 secs to cross the start mat. I was running well but knew I wouldn't make Bondi without a toilet stop, so stopped at the edgecliff toilets. Looking at sportstarcks, it took just on 30 secs. Not a good start to the race, however I pushed on. I was feeling really good and ticking off some good sub 4 min splits. I got to the 6k mark in 24:12, so with the 30 sec stop, I was going well.
The 7th k up Heartbreak hill took 5:06 and a few people were passing me but I was not worried. Hit halfway in 29:18 and I was stoked. Even with the loo stop I knew I could negative split and was looking at 57:xx.
As I got to the crest of the hill, I felt a slight stitch. It got worse and worse and really slowed me down quickly. The same thing happened at Woodford to Glenbrook and caused me to walk. I cursed myself as I was going to give the area a good massage the morning of the race at the advice of Easy Tiger.
I hoped it would go away but it didn't. It is such a hard thing to run with. It is just so uncomfortable that you just have to slow down. At one point I stopped for 10-20 secs to try and stretch, but it didn't do anything. I slowed right down and was doing 4:30-4:45 pace. My heart rate came right down but there was nothing I could do to push harder. People were passing me and I was very frustrated.
Things got a little better at the bottom of the hill near Bondi and I was able to push a little harder to ensure the PB, but it was a case of a missed opportunity. I was running with Nando for most of the first 7k and found out he ran 56:40, so I am sure I could have run low 57's. Oh well.
Mixed feelings, as I really enjoyed the first half and it shows that I am in good running form, but it is another 12 months to make amends and 2 races and 2 stitches is a real worry and I have no idea of the cause.
After a quick chat with a few guys including miners, Sub 50, Tall Geoff and Spud, I caught the bus back to the city.
Splits were (last year in brackets):
3:48 (4:07)
4:33 (3:52) loo stop
3:53 (4:09)
4:11 (4:19)
3:48 (4:02)
3:59 (4:15)
5:06 (5:18) heartbreak hill
Halfway in 29:18 (30:02)
4:19 (4:33)
4:01 (4:06)
4:44 (4:30)
4:47 (4:27)
4:07 (4:00)
4:02 (3:46)
3:50 (4:02)
59:08 (59:23)
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4 comments:
I suspect your diet the previous night might have something to do with your stitch HB, but mate a PB is a PB - you still ran a good race despite advesity, don't worry about next year though focus the frustration into your next race.
Don't be too hard on yourself. That is still a GREAT time in anyone's book, let alone in light of the interruptions in your training throughout the first half of the year. Congrats on the PB :-)
That's a shame about the stitch! I reckon you would have run in the 56s for sure off that first half. Next year!
Hamburglar that is an awesome time and a great PB, you know you will thrash it next year with soe stich-management (whatever that involves). I just read the previous couple of posts too, congratulations on the wedding anniversary and making your way back to civilisation in Springwood!
Oh and I saw you crossing between the bikes the other day at the Spit! I was near the back so didn't recognise you (plus my eyes were hanging out of my head trying to keep up so I wasn't mentally acute at that point), but I remember thinking "A runner! I wonder if i know him?"
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