Sydney Half Marathon

At the start of August, I set myself some goals for the next 6 weeks. I didn't want 2008 to be a right off. I was running OK and thought that running PB's in all distances from 5k to Half marathon would be a tough yet achievable goal.

I came into last week needing only a half PB - 89:23 or better to match the C2S (10 Aug), 5k (30 Aug), corp cup (3 Sep) and 10k (6 Sep) PB's.

I was far from confident as I had hardly run at all in the past few weeks. In the last 6 weeks my weekly totals were 76k, 17k, 44k, 36k, 28k and 13k with only 1 run longer than 12k! The last 5 weeks of work had been a complete nightmare, working every weekend and I very tired. Funnily enough though I felt pretty fit and my easy runs were being done at a pretty good pace.

Caty and Rachael were both entered in the half and we shared a cab to the start. The plan was to go at exactly 4:10 pace which would give me an 87:55. A hope more than anything else. The first k is a tough one and gets the HR going. It was hot and muggy and I immediately began to sweat. It was only 6:30am, and I was glad I wasn't doing the marathon. I went through 4k in just under 16 mins and was 4o secs ahead of target and feeling good. I slowed down a little from there, especially going up to Norton St the first and second time. I went through 12k in exactly 50 mins and right on 4:10 pace.

I was on top of the hill, however I was starting to tire. The pace down the hill wasn't less than 4 min k's and I felt like everything was starting to slip. I reached the 17k marker 10 secs down on the plan and I was hurting. The section down Hickson road and under the Opera House was painful and hard to keep going, I felt like I was fading and close to falling apart. The coolrunning chearsquad perked me up and got me through the last k. I stopped the clock at 88:02 (later to be a net time of 87:58) - 3 secs behind the goal time.

I headed up to the ING tent and got stuck into a sausage sandwich. ING had over 600 people in the various events and it was fun just chilling out in the sun watching various people come in and share their story. Caty and Rachael both did really well. Rachael knocked 7 mins off her PB with a 1:44. I think she may be a convert.

So the PB's are in the bag and I am over the moon. I simply can't believe that I have got the results I have with such low k's in training. It is amazing what you can do when you have a period of 3 months where you don't get sick.

Sunday signified a closed chapter in my training/racing as a new one opens. I have learnt a few lessons this year and have learnt that you can't do everything. I need to set realistic goals while still challenging myself and having a bit of fun. So no half ironman this year. The next 3 months I will focus on Bogong to Hotham. I have been reading a lot about the run and am very excited. It scares the hell out of me and that is a good thing. I am approaching it in a pretty relaxed way. I will pick up the bike again and get in the pool just for some fun and to keep the fitness up, but I will make sure that I start to get some long runs in regularly. Hopefully I can get 7-8 long runs in before the end of the year and a couple over 50k. All training will be easy. It is base building time.