Sat 15 Oct, AV Shield, Rd 2

15km today and 61km for the week so far

An absolutely lovely morning at Little A's and the arvo is looking just as good, 24 degrees and very little wind, lots of sunshine.

I arrived at the Aberfeldie track at 1.30pm, a hour prior to the start of the first 800m men's race. After chatting with burkie in the morning we have decided I will run the 5000m today to try and get some experience on the long track races prior to Zatopek, but I also want to 'double' up and run the 800m too. So on arrival I took off for my 12 min run a hour out from when I expected to race. On return some stretching, concentrating on holding for 15-20 sec, all the basic stretches and also adding glutes, lower back and groin. Then a short 5 min jog and then 5x40m strides at race pace.

I got myself allocated in a race which was for the 2:20+ group, but I knew there were a couple of guys wh would be faster than that and the race prior was way too fast for me. Ten in the race and I started in lane 1, the first lap I was sitting in 4/5th position and ran 67-68, feeling fairly comfortable, but I knew I still needed to be! Along the back straight I consolidated 4th and was closing in on 3rd who I could see was nearly gone, but a Melb Uni guy was closing in on me around the bend. When I entered the straight I moved into 3rd, but nearly immediately was passed by the fast finishing Melb Uni guy and I finished 4th in a PB of 2:19.22 very happy :-)

Went for the normal 12 min slooow run afterwards to get rid of the bad feeling and start to feel normal again. From the finish of the 800 until the start of the 5k I had only 55 minutes, so Burkie suggested that I basically just keep moving around and not really cool down, so that's what I tried to do, and I think I did what he suggested.

I was running in our Div 2 team to ensure the team was filled and some faster guys could run in the 3000m Div 3 race, but I need to run 18:45 to qualify, but happily 15 minutes prior to the race one of our faster runners turned up to run, which meant all our teams were full and I could just run as an invite with no pressure of time. A small field, 6 Melb Uni, 4 Western A's, 3 Coburg, 1 Preston, 2 or 3 KSB & 3 girls, there may have been 1 or 2 others, I knew the majority of the field, I knew a handful would lap me and I knew a few would be just ahead of me. The plan to break 18:45 was I must run 90 sec per lap, so I planned 88-89 sec per lap which would give me a slight buffer and also give me the opportunity to go faster if I was capable.

Splits: 1:24, 1:26, 1:28, 1:27, 1:28, 1:29, 1:30, 1:32, 1:33, 1:35, 1:35, 1:35 & 46sec = 18:52.74 PB (previous track 20:15 & road 19:40)

So the first 7 laps were on target, but then the hard stuff was happening and I just couldn't get back into the swing of it, but I was very happy with my efforts and I hope it can only get better. I know I will need to work on more 2 & 1k repeats and maybe reduce my recovery time a little.

Finished the day off with a 15 minute cool down. Had a few beers later in the evening with Burkie & John at the pub over dinner, a good way to finish a hard day.