Crazy people

I've been feeling a little more energised this week, although the running economies have been slipping a bit as the temperatures have been rising, but that's not really surprising. That said I feel like I may have gone back over the threshold of whatever deficiency has been holding me down for the last couple of months and now the down days are one-offs if they happen at all.

Friday was an easy 9.5km with Sas out to Pt Majestic and back @4:46 HR 144. The weeks hard efforts caught up with me so the first few k's were a struggle, but my demeanor improved as the run went on.

Saturday we headed for the hills and did the now standard run up Darlington road, through John Forrest Park, up Oxley/Hedges rds to Brooking, to the Shiraz tap and down the hill (map) for 21.55km @ 4:39 HR 142. Very strong easterlies this morning which we felt in places, but they blew us down the trail and definitely kept things surprisingly cool. I felt great today, I think because it was cooler than it has been of late, and I'm just feeling a bit better ATM. Sas is running well but still struggling to get a decent nights sleep so these are a bit of a mental battle. Time for a week at a health farm I think....

On Sunday I was at the race-director's seminar which was informative and very useful, seeing as Kim & I are the RD's for the Point Walter run on Feb 14. Any WAMC members who want to help out, I can guarantee a plum job....

After the seminar, the attendees helped to set up the Burswood Twilight race, which was fun in the 43° heat. Getting the finishing chute barriers out of the shed was fun, it must have been over 50° in there!  I think doing this helped acclimatised me for the race, along with a bit of 'pre-cooling' i.e. a couple of cups of refrigerated water down the back of the neck just before the start.

Numbers were definitely down for the race, for which  most people scaled back their efforts I think. it was still 41° at 6pm. I ran it fairly hard but always well within myself because a bout of heat exhaustion at this stage would be somewhat idiotic. I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt in the conditions. I had Tina Major on my right shoulder for a lot of the run and also seemed to be running comfortably. I finished 4th in 17:50 - my target was 18:00 so I was rapt! Scored a new max HR for the season which was surprising because I never felt that bad ; the radiator boiled over a bit after I finished, but that was bound to happen.