Thursday, September 30, 2010

Monster Month

September: 612km @4:10 pace Avg HR 151 beats/km 629.

Big month. I feel like I have recovered well from the big weeks132/134/143/155km - this last week has been a cut-back of sorts (110km scheduled) knocking 12 minutes off my hour runs, taking intensity off Tuesday intervals, and a bit off the Thursday evening run. No long run this week, racing Fremantle Half on Sunday. It will be a good test of where I'm at.

38 days to go...

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Fremantle 10k 7th in 35:07

Fremantle ‘Fun’ run on a very breezy day ; I had a good race, not maximal effort but not a lot off. I felt better as it went on ; to be honest I found the wind worse last year, it was more of a cross-wind on the groin and you  only really felt it in the kilometre down to the railway crossing, but then you get a tailwind home.

Course map here.

Pre-race meal of soaked-overnight oats and honey was a big improvement, and I didn’t have the coffee either, just green tea; I felt a lot better at the start. Also did a Gu rather than the Torq Gel/Powerbar. Average HR was 176 – two beats lower than C2S but 5 sec/k quicker; it is a flat course though. Pretty happy with the way I’m feeling and the way it went. Stockwell again was 30-40 metres in front pretty much from the start, but I couldn’t close. Good turnout – Busi, Bailie, Ingraham, Hill etc.

Splits: 3:29/3:31/3:31/3:36/3:29/3:28/3:33/3:33/3:37/3:19 = 35:07 (too bad about #4 and #9 !)

Interestingly, kms 4 and 9 were the ones where the wind was most into us ; looks like a mental lapse though - I slowed down, but the heart rate dropped as well, so the slowing wasn't because of external factors, it was mental. Tut tut!


On the back of two 135km  weeks I'm happy with the way things are going. I'll add a second run (recovery)after the long run to my week, and try to peak out at about 150km before the taper. Freo HM in three weeks so I'll rejig a bit for that, but overall I feel in great shape, its a matter of tuning for the best performance on Nov 7. I'll organise an iron test for next week to keep an eye  on it. I was feeling very fatigued on some runs last week, but feel pretty good now.