5km TT 27:07 + 21km 2:05 PB

Huge Post, I'm afraid! Sorry :)

Saturday: 5km TT @ 27:07

Yesterday I went and did the 5km TT at Shorncliffe again. Sort of knew I wasn't going to do a PB again. Personal Training seems to be playing havoc with my running at the moment - doesn't matter when I schedule it, I end up being sore during one run or another which makes me slower! I had PT on *thursday* and by *saturday* I was still feeling the effects of the weights session - and he didn't even work my legs hard because I asked him not to! *cough* LOL!

Tracey made it to the TT despite having accidentally slept in due to too much champagne the night before (the benefits of catching a lift with other runners I guess - there's no escape and they will come and beat on your door until you get up *weg*) Usual suspects were there... Schultzy, John, Angie, Joan, Phil and Di of course! Saw Shane and his partner too, who seemed really nice, though I didn't get a chance to say hi to her. Next time! Non-running partners who come to watch their other halves at ridiculous hours of the morning on a weekend must really be special people to my mind! Mr Clairie has always blown me away too, in that regard ;)

Angie arrived with an evil glint in her eye and sure enough, took off as soon as we were over the line. Trace and I ran together for the first half and we weren't too far behind for most of the first half, but just as we approached the turn around, she started to feel the effects of the night before and despite me trying to gee her on between wheezes, couldn't pull her with me. Started to speed up, though I knew I wasn't going to do a very good time. Crossed the line in 27:07 which I wasn't very impressed with really, but such is life! Aside from that, I knew I'd be running long the next day so figured perhaps saving the juice was a wise move.

Sunday: 21km @ BRRC 7-35km Self Select: 2:05

Got up at 4:30am and realised winter is definately on it's way - it was quite cold! Got dressed, threw on a jumper and headed to the West End. Clairie was marshalling, but felt like people were missing too - Tesso being a notable absence, poor thing. The Moo Tri is on this weekend, so a few people were up the coast for that, too. Leg muscles felt slightly less sore, although I've got a niggle in my right calf muscle - feels exactly like the intial twinge you get before a big cramp. Am not very impressed with it and holding my breath that it sorts itself out. I'm not sure if it's the start of something that I should rest early or if I should just carry on running and hope it resolves itself, as most niggles do.

I made the mistake this morning of starting the race whilst undecided on quite how far/long I was going to run. Big mistake, huge - meant I couldn't settle into a pace for a while and caused havoc with my 'gameplan'. Technically, I was supposed to do 2:20 for an easy week. I hate finishing mid lap though, so I knew I'd either be doing 21k or 28k (loops of 7k)

We all set off together and I let the pack zoom off ahead, even the people I knew would be running at a similar pace to me. That's the thing about the self select - you can't be sure how far everyone is going, so you can't use them as pacers for the distance. It took me the first 2km or so to warm up and get into my groove, then I started to feel really good. Which came as quite a surprise really - I was going at a faster pace than normal. Even more of a surprise though, was that I started reeling people in and passing them and turns out they were the 14km runners so by all rights should've been leaving me in the dust!

I knew I'd be in trouble if I went too quickly, particularly if I did the 28km at that pace, but I felt so comfortable, I decided to see how long I could hold the faster pace. Zoomed through the 7km mark and didn't need to stop for water - drank as I went. That in itself is an indication to me that I was going well - last month I ran the 10 mile there after a TT the previous day in 1:46 and I **had** to stop for water twice I think.

Passed a few more people on the next loop - had a bit of fun with a girl in green, where we went back and forth for a while, before she finally got me 500m from the end of the loop because she was finishing! (another 14km runner). Even more of a surprise was then passing one of the girls who does tuesday track sessions with me and usually whips my butt ;) When I hit the next turn and could see I was widening the gap between her and me, I committed to just putting everything I had into the next loop and finishing hard at 21km. I must admit, I had aspirations of finally cracking that sub 2 half and I'd been running five-something kms the whole way.

It wasn't until I hit about 17kms that I started to realise I'd gone out too hard... my breathing was fine, it was more a case of tired legs. I started that horrible process where you watch your splits slowly go down the pan with each subsequent km marker. The sun had come out and it was heating up and I basically blew up and started to slllooowwww down quite spectacularly.

Crossed the line in almost exactly 2:05. Which is actually a PB of 5 minutes, since the last half I did was Noosa last year in 2:10. Have to admit to being annoyed at myself though - if I'd paced myself better, I think I could've cracked 2:00 today, but because I didn't decide to go for it until the second loop, my very early kms were slower than they should've been and the majority were too fast. If I'd stuck to bang on 6:00 pace, I might've squeaked in.

Anyway. instead of moaning about it, I'm really just going to try to learn from it:

Things I learnt

- decide on game plan before the race, not during!
- tapering makes me faster, PT and running a 5k TT the day before trying to race, does not.
- gels work for me (thanks clairie!)
- My first half took me 2:30, the second 2:15 and the third 2:10. I've just done 2:05, so next up surely is 2:00? *L*

Up to now, my long slow runs have been exactly that - long and slow. I'd say around 7:00 pace (comfy and feel like I can run that forever) I'm now wondering though, if I should try to amp up the pace in those to 6:00 if that's what I want to do in the marathon. Or should I stay with the same reliable plod for time and carry on doing fast for midweek run and speedwork?