Big weekend

Saturday went up to Mundaring again to do the 26km up to Chidlow (4:25 HR 144). I set out early on a clear and cold morning. The stretch from Mt Helena to Chidlow was a bit weird because it was very cold (I was getting pins & needles in my arms) and the sun was just above the horizon straight up the trail, so I couldn’t see a thing the whole way! Got to the turn, I sucked down a gel, had a bit of water and headed back - it really was beautiful on the way back, lovely blue sky and not much wind at all. I felt pretty good, a big difference from last week was that I was powering up the hill, not surviving. Great run.

Sunday morning I did a 6km recovery - 4:42 HR 130). I felt a little stiff from my efforts of the last few days, but rolled through easily enough. The aim was to keep the pace really slow and effort absolute minimum, with an eye to the 10k race on Monday.

Monday morning I did the 10km race at the Perth 32. I had a reasonable run ; perfect conditions – 12 degrees, light wind. Wanted to pace it right so in that respect a success, my pace was pretty consistent. I didn’t feel overly zippy today, maybe because I helped lug stuff around and set up the finish chute before the race, also I just wasn't feeling quite 100%. The km markers all over the place so pacing was difficult ; I was drafted for 8km ( fancy drafting someone 20 years your senior – I don’t know, these kids…) and then the guy went and I couldn’t quite keep in touch - 4th was what I deserved, the other 2 dug deeper. We were catching the guy in 2nd, but I think he always had it under control. Mentally I wasn't quite there today either (I just didn't feel like scraping the barrel), but a good solid hitout. Course was long as start was in wrong place, so equates to about a 35:30 10km, so happy with that. I know I need to work on that stamina though…

I clearly didn’t push myself hard enough yesterday, as I felt great this morning - 10.34km @ 4:12 HR 148. Actually I felt much better today than I did yesterday, must have been the 48 hour hangover from Saturday’s long run. Clearly I didn’t feel the need for a ‘recovery’ run so went a bit further and faster – the perfect conditions may have had something to do with it!

While I was out I started toying with the idea of doing the Perth Marathon as a long run – the way I’m going ( running economies are almost crazy good - 625beats/km today ) I feel I could almost do 3 hrs as a long run, especially if I have a good day ; the McMillan pace calculator certainly thinks so. I’ll reassess after Elleker Half.