Homebush Hustle

Woke up at 5am to the sound of torrential rain. After vascilating for 5 minutes got up and prepped to go. Amazingly the rain pretty much cleared as we headed off. Straight away the ITB started complaining but I ignored it hoping that after a km or 2 I would be warmed up. As usual the 6:10 group was a little too agressive on pace but I hung back with Blue Dog for a chat before chasing them down as we entered Olympic Park. By then everything was warmed up and I felt pretty good. Tried to calm down the speedsters which worked for a little while but as we ran towards Parramatta River we were still cracking along. Now I dropped back with Gnome who was finding the pace a little hot. We ran together for a while and I managed to make a small navigation error which put us a little bit further back. I left Gnome when we caught one of the 6am groups and again set off after the 6:10 bunch, just catching them as we got to Silverwater prison and the water stop.

Over the other side of the river and along the bike path and I felt pretty good and moved to the front. Some of the runners who were hammering along earlier were just starting to struggle a little and so I upped the ante :) Through the back of the Ermington industrial area with a few ups and downs we really got going as langswd and I pushed things along. In keeping with my immediate plans for Sunday I took the shortcut that would give me 25km as everyone else went long. Ran it out hard home and I think the distance was just right as I just started to feel the pinch in the last km or so.

Stats
Distance 26.4km
Time 2:06:54
Avg pace 4:48
Avg HR 165 (quite pleasing)

Looking back through the log I ran the same option as my last longish hit out before Canberra 2005 and ran 2:04 so am happy with todays run.

Aiming to get a little more consistent this week and work on loosening up the ITB while still watching the achilles which is fine after 2 hard days running :)