Today I am going into the city to run the Tan. Old Miler (CR) has a group of guys & girls that have session at 9am on Sat mornings, today it is progressive laps, with the aim to get faster each lap, so with w/up & c/d will be a 14-15km session.
With an open invite on the Ausrun web site and not having Little A's this morning I take up the opportunity. Julie and the little boys are going to go for a walk in the Botanical Gardens and then go to the Shrine (we will then go to the Children's Garden afterwards). Arrive just before 9am and there are about 10-15 people, all VERY fit looking, obviously the Vic 5000m women's champ is there (KSC wife of OM) and lots of Malvern Harriers & Melb Midday Milers. OM suggests that I run with a new guy and settle there and a girl (partner of a Miler) also. My coach suggested to me yesterday not to get carried away & to concentrate on getting this session right.
We start as a pack and very quickly the fast crew are moving away, the 1km mark is 100m up Anderson St and I get there in 4.48, happy with that, 2km mark in 9.32, so I'm happy with start, not too fast (I do have a history). The first lap in 17:52, still with 2 others but the guy (petaljuice) wants to move on and moves away and I move slightly away from the girl from Collingwood Harriers. Get to the 1k mark on 4.36 and I make sure that I work Anderson hill. I watch petaljuice move away bit by bit, but I'm not concerned, its not a race. 2nd lap in 17:10 and OM tells me to work the 3rd and 'make it count', I decide to hold my current pace until the top of Anderson hill, pass the 1k at 4.30, hold this! I get to the top of the hill and decide to use the slight downhill to my advantage and get moving, I finished my last lap in 16:32, very happy with that, a good 30sec + each lap and I nearly caught the guy in front of me (even though it wasn't a race).
Do a couple of km cool down and then walk up & across the gardens to the Shrine where Julie and the boys are. Good session, very happy I came in, 2 years ago I couldn't have run a 16.30 lap at the best of times, let alone for my 3rd lap. :-)
Of course today I wore my CR singlet around the Tan to advertise a great community in a great running environment. Today I met a couple more CRs, Haile (who I picked out straight away, as I had met his brother before) & Ralph Wiggum, both seemed like good guys and were happy to chat, thanks guys.
Weekly kms:72km, happy with this week, but month total of 155k so far is a bit down, but there was alot of racing at the start of the month.
2 comments:
Sounds like everyone had a good morning, StuMac; why does 'Old Miler' give himself that tag? He's not old at all, is he? I suppose I should ask him, but he might think I had a 'bit of a cheek'! LL (The Chickybabe Blogger!)
You've gotta be happy with the set Stu: you worked hard and it paid off! Nice to meet you and chat...
Dave (aka Ralph Wiggum)
PS. Old Miler titles himself this as he was a middle distance star several years ago: 3.46 1500m!
Dont let him fool you, he still cracks out solid sets.
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