25km at Smithfield on Sunday morning and this was always going to be a benchmark test to narrow down my target pace for Canberra (hoping for 2:59:59 or under).
A heap of Striders and CR at the start and I had the GPS riding shotgun today to manage my pace. Off we went and there were quite a few that had the same idea as me but I just hung about 5m off the back of the "bus" as we went through the first km in 4:22. At this point I was running with my old school buddy Silver Fox and a young guy from Woodstock. Next km was a tad faster with a 4:06. I was determined to stay on 4:15 and not go too hard so headed up the hill for the first time after the 2.5km drink stop I let a gap develop as they went a little faster. Through to the 5km mark and bang on pace, but there is a short up/down/up section out the back for the longer SMC runs which dented the avg pace. Coming back past the 5km drink stop and Blue Dog caught up and I slipped in behind him. As we went around the corner it seemed that he did a serious lift in pace (which I confirmed later on) and I could/would not match it. However kept him in the same range for quite a while after that. I started to feel pretty good through this section and was steadily running 4:22 pace. However back out to the up/down/up bit and it really hurt this time. Only 6km to go so just ran it home the best I could. At around the 5km mark the GPS battery died (did not seem long ago that I changed it...) but it made no difference. Was a pretty ugly last couple of km as run42k went past with another, they ran a well paced race.
Finish time was 1:54:24 which is avg pace of 4:35 and avg HR of 171.
A wild set of emotions re this performance, certainly not delighted but not distraught either. It was a very humid day and the hills at SMC seem to get bigger every race! Many others also struggled but Silver Fox ran very well! Not forgetting that I also did no taper and the 25km meant 80km in the last 7 days.
Anyway regardless of the above rationalisation/justifications I am really thinking that breaking 3 hours at Canberra might be a step too far. Too many benchmark runners posted times that I should have achieved and we were all in the same boat.
Some more thinking to do, but I don't want to embark on a race at Canberra at a pace that will break me at some point over the 42.2km. A PB clearly beckons and I need to focus on running that the best I can. At the moment I'm shifting a likely target to around 3:10 - 3:05 and more importantly run a pace that I should be able to negative split and come home faster if the body allows. I've only been running seriously for 18 months and have made tremendous gains over that time, this year I'm planning 3 marathons vs just one last year. Need to focus on continuing the building process and having goals that stretch me but are not out of reach.
Anyway, everything might change if I carve up my 10km PB at Homebush but that is the thinking at this point in time.
The good news is I pulled up real well after the race, I am sure the Endura Optimiser is improving my revovery abilities. Regardless a rest day today before a pretty big week, culminating on the weekend with the CR 5km challenge on Saturday and the the 6hour Metrogaine with Horrie on the Sunday. The plan is to train all the way to Six foot with no pronounced taper, just a couple of lower intensity runs before hand as the Canberra preparation continues.
5 comments:
While you did not meet your target time yesterday, either did a lot of other people due to the tough conditions. Being 4 minutes behind Blue Dog and 6 minutes behind vat_man is probably where you are at as Blue Dog is a sub 40 and vat_man a sub 39 10km runner. I think if you want to have any chance of doing a sub 3 marathon, you have to be at least be doing sub 39:30 and probably sub 39. So, you are wise when you keep talking about getting 10km down to sub 40 as this will be the first step to the sub 3 hour marathon quest. Keep training consistently, stay in one piece and you will eventually get there. You have plenty of time to get there Dave so just be patient. Good luck with the continued quest.
Keep the training up Dave, but don't focus on the elusive sub 3hrs mate. Just focus on finishing strong with possibly a PB. You don't want to go into a major race expecting disappointment.
3 Marathons in one year plus countless other races and long runs is quite a schedule. You can't expect to keep the numbers reducing with every race. Chalk this one up as a training run in hot/humid conditions. I think you did well regardless. :)
OR, you have achieved so much in the short time you have been running (I can hope that I achieve half as much as you have). Don't beat yourself up over this race. You didn't taper, it was at the end of a long week and was run in tough conditions. 6ft, followed by a good taper, and you will be flying in Canberra. Good luck on the journey.
Dave don't worry about today. It was obviously very humid and you may have been more effected than others. Just look at what period in the race you did the worst and focus more on that, I'm guessing 'the hill'.
good show, dave! you raced wisely by letting the rabbits go. your recovery would have been tough had you left everything on the course.
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