Thursday, August 28, 2008

Sunday 31st August 2008 - City to Surf

Time: 8:15am
Competitor Number: 4892
Race Category: 12km Run, Group B (48 - 58min)
Official Website



Compare to last year.

Taking my own advice from last year, I have some better running shoes and selected a faster group. Will try to start close to the front of the group and pick someone's shoulder to shadow. The rest is up to my mental fitness but I know there has been a big improvement since last year. Leave nothing in the tank!

Photo with the team:

3 comments:

Paul said...

i managed to start fairly close to the front of group b this time (due to arriving kinda late and slipping in from the side) and rather than getting caught up in the rush of adrenaline at the start, tried to fix my own pace from the get-go.

my shins were hurting for the first 2-3km which i'm going to put down lack of warm-up (it was very cool in the morning as well). had to stop at the top of st georges tce to tie my shoelace, probably lost 15-30 seconds there but put that down to being a dumbass.

felt like i was setting a good pace for myself, didn't slack off, pushed hard the whole way and powered up all of the hills.

last 2kms i really stepped it up and by the finish i had no more to give, my legs were very very heavy, sore and i was spent.

time by my watch was 60:08

i felt like my pace was setting me up for ~55min so am disappointed with the time. not sure where i went wrong but gut instinct says the starting few kms were too slow. maybe this is as good as i can do? bearing in mind i don't do much distance running maybe i shouldn't expect more.

no more excuses, time to consider the parameters for next year.

stef said...

if its time to consider next year then you must prepare my friend, menatlly and physically, and you havnt prepared for this one either, so your time is excellent. you are look at 5min kms! thats good, if you had trained up fro it properly, even 3 months of focus, i guarentee you would of come in in under 50mins, if not better! trust me, iv been training with you long enough to know what you are capable of...

Paul said...

when i wrote the last sentence in that comment, i was asking myself whether i want to do the run at all next year and if so, what do i want to achieve?

i have no desire to win the race, i know that is beyond me.

the question in my mind is if i want to do the very best i am capable of in a 12km run (and not be compelled to do it again) i could make that my focus for the next 12 months and set my training up for success.

alternatively if i just want to make incremental improvements over the previous year's effort, i probably don't need to change much.

if i want to give the 55min barrier a serious shake, i could aim to start specific training 3 months out (estimate, haven't considered a plan in any detail) and make that happen.

so the parameters i am referring to are goals, priorities and expectations.

i'm uncertain but leaning a particular way. needs some soak time.