Race report Lane Cove 10km

Up with the sparrows and it is bloody cold, with a frost on the windscreen. Driving down to the park the temp sensor in the car reads 2 degrees. The light is getting better but it was hard to set up the timing system with gloves on. After fiddling around for a while with the new setup it was time for a quick warmup. I decided to run with the green lycra t-shirt I got from the US a while ago under the Striders singlet, along with Kathmandu polypro gloves and the CR cap.

I had decided before the race to try and run close to 4:05 pace with a goal of getting to 5km in around 20:25 and see what happens coming home. In the past I have gone close to this at 5km but always struggled home downhill and dropped off the pace.

The first few km were at a steady pace and coming down from Scribbly's I caught MikeF which was a tad surprising. Kept the pace going to the bottom of the hill. Rather than busting a boiler on the hill I decided to try and tempo run up and keep a little in reserve. A few went past here, including MikeF. After turning at the top I opened up and pretty much passed everyone back again.

I settled into a small group or runners including Danielle, MikeF, John VY and another female Strider that seemed familiar but I could not place. I usually did not run with these guys in a 10km race. Coming back at different points each of us was a little stronger and surged a little. I had stopped looking at the splits, just focussing on form and breathing. The last hill (at about 1.5km) slowed me up a little and Danielle L pulled away with John VY.

As we hit the 1km mark the unknown female strider drew up next to me and said, lets go, it's a fast last km. I could not match her but managed to stay in contact. MikeF then cruised past and gave me some encoragement, he certainly has better baseline speed than I do. I held the female strider in check but could not close the gap. Sprinted to the line and with no race clock really had no idea as to what time I really did.

After regaining somewhat normal breathing the garmin said 40:28 which mean around a 45 second PB!!!

I found out afterwards that the unknown strider was Jenny W, one of our best females over longer distances and obviously on the comeback after a recent child birth.

Splits were

1km 3:56 3:56
2km 4:01 7:57
3km 4:02 11:59
4km 4:03 16:02
5km 4:25 20:27
6km 4:01 24:28
7km 4:01 28:29
8km 4:00 32:29
9km 4:10 36:39
10km 3:49 40:28

Finally a significant improvement on the 10km time, very encouraging given that I have been doing mostly base work with not much speed. Makes thinking interesting for the City to Surf next week.