Sunday Morning
I ran the Sri Chimnoy Williamstown Foreshore run yesterday and really enjoyed it:). I usually do races with my dad, which is handy because he drives me and pays for my entry:P He decided to give this one a miss though because he had some work to catch up on. "No problems", I thought "I'll just catch the train". Went onto metlinkmelbourne only to discover that the first train I could catch would get me to Williamstown at 10:30 lol. I went back downstairs and pleaded with him to reconsider, but it was to no avail. So I got out the melways and tried to work out whether I could get to Williamstown on my bike. Crossing the Westgate bridge was going to be tricky. The punt that used to ferry people across had stopped operating, and I couldn't really see a way to get around it. Luckily my bike trail guide had a description of how to get to Williamstown from Flinders St station without relying on the punt. So after discussing it with my mum, who offered me a lift but in such a reluctant manner that I couldn't take it without feeling extremely guilty, I decided I'd get up at 4am to give myself plenty of time to get there. Before I went to bed, I was telling Schultz about it in a "aren't I nuts?" kind of way and mock invited him to come along. To my surprise he agreed at 11pm the night before to come along:D
So we met outside at 4:30am and started riding. At first it seemed like I'd allowed far too much time because we were cruising down the trail at 20kph when we only needed to go be going 13kph or so. We were joking about helping the Sri Chimnoy guys set up, we'd get there so early lol. It was lucky I did allow such a big buffer though because once we got to the city, the trail guide was outdated! The trail it directed us to was closed off because of a multitude of construction sites near the Maritime museum. We eventually figured out how to get back on to the trail it connected to and the rest of the ride was quite pleasant. Breathing in all the fumes from the oil refinery probably wasn't that great for our lungs, but ah well. We got to Williamstown at about 7.10 and with a little help from EarlyRunner, arrived at Sadler reserve and signed up.
The ride was actually a really good warmup. I could feel a bit of fatigue in my legs, but I was a lot more limber than I usually am. I managed to almost touch my toes when I was doing hamstring stretches:O Normally I can't get far past my knees hahaha!
I didn't do much of a warmup after that, just a short jog and a few striders and then walked over to the start line. It was nice to hear that Sri Chimnoy are going to keep on holding races into the future, I was a bit worried after he died that their excellent events might be postponed permanently:) When the race started I was caught off guard. I've never stood in the front row before, I'm used to shuffling along for a few seconds before I get across the line, so to have to sprint out immediately to avoid getting trampled was a bit of a shock. Good motivation though:P I didn't really have much of a race plan. I've decided I'm going to race by feel now (not really any other choice after losing my ForeRunner lol), so my plan was to get into about 10th place by km 1 and steadily pass people until I found someone going my kind of pace.
The first km felt really good, I was a bit worried that my quads wouldn't enjoy the first hill after the bike ride, but I barely noticed it. I went through km 1 in 3:30, completely in control. Not sure what place I was coming then, probably a bit closer to the lead than I had planned. When we got to the turnaround just short of km 2 (split was 7:08 or so), I counted the 5kers in front of me and was surprised to find myself already in 5th place. I was still feeling strong and passed a few more people. The pace felt ok until we got back to the start line, and then I began to struggle a little. I got passed by a blond guy about my age who said "I reckon I can take the two guys up ahead". His comment threw me a little, the guys up ahead were 10kers. I decided he was doing the 10k (tried to peer over and look at his bib, but couldn't see it for some reason) and let him go. At that point I thought I was in 4th place. The last km was punishing, I faded quite badly. I could feel one of the guys I'd passed on my shoulder and put on a quick spurt to fend him off, but apart from that I didn't have much of a kick.
I went through the finish in 18:42, which I was really happy with:). I really wanted to crack 19:00 this year and I certainly did that:) I'd written off my chances of getting a medal because I thought I'd finished fourth and the guys in front of me all looked like they'd be in the 18-39 age group, so I was very surprised when they called out my name for 3rd in the award ceremony:O I must've been coming second for quite a while. I would've fought a bit harder to keep up with the blond guy if I'd known that:P I was also a bit shocked at how close behind me 4th was - 18:43. He must've put on a powerful finishing sprint!
The 10k winner was very impressive, he finished in 33:20 or thereabouts. He was waaay ahead of the 5k leader (who was way ahead of me haha 16:52 or something). Schultz did very well for his first race - 27:20 and he would've gone a lot faster if he hadn't done a craazy negative split (1-5% works well, but 30% is a bit too big haha).
The ride home was quite torturous. I was doing fine for the first 30k, but the last 10k up steep hills trashed my legs so badly that even first gear felt impossible haha. It was a good workout though, 80k cycling plus a 5k race, over 6 hours lol. When I got home it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep until my grandparents had left:P
Now there's just one more chance to PB again for the year! I reckon I might be able to do it if I catch the train instead of riding in:P
So we met outside at 4:30am and started riding. At first it seemed like I'd allowed far too much time because we were cruising down the trail at 20kph when we only needed to go be going 13kph or so. We were joking about helping the Sri Chimnoy guys set up, we'd get there so early lol. It was lucky I did allow such a big buffer though because once we got to the city, the trail guide was outdated! The trail it directed us to was closed off because of a multitude of construction sites near the Maritime museum. We eventually figured out how to get back on to the trail it connected to and the rest of the ride was quite pleasant. Breathing in all the fumes from the oil refinery probably wasn't that great for our lungs, but ah well. We got to Williamstown at about 7.10 and with a little help from EarlyRunner, arrived at Sadler reserve and signed up.
The ride was actually a really good warmup. I could feel a bit of fatigue in my legs, but I was a lot more limber than I usually am. I managed to almost touch my toes when I was doing hamstring stretches:O Normally I can't get far past my knees hahaha!
I didn't do much of a warmup after that, just a short jog and a few striders and then walked over to the start line. It was nice to hear that Sri Chimnoy are going to keep on holding races into the future, I was a bit worried after he died that their excellent events might be postponed permanently:) When the race started I was caught off guard. I've never stood in the front row before, I'm used to shuffling along for a few seconds before I get across the line, so to have to sprint out immediately to avoid getting trampled was a bit of a shock. Good motivation though:P I didn't really have much of a race plan. I've decided I'm going to race by feel now (not really any other choice after losing my ForeRunner lol), so my plan was to get into about 10th place by km 1 and steadily pass people until I found someone going my kind of pace.
The first km felt really good, I was a bit worried that my quads wouldn't enjoy the first hill after the bike ride, but I barely noticed it. I went through km 1 in 3:30, completely in control. Not sure what place I was coming then, probably a bit closer to the lead than I had planned. When we got to the turnaround just short of km 2 (split was 7:08 or so), I counted the 5kers in front of me and was surprised to find myself already in 5th place. I was still feeling strong and passed a few more people. The pace felt ok until we got back to the start line, and then I began to struggle a little. I got passed by a blond guy about my age who said "I reckon I can take the two guys up ahead". His comment threw me a little, the guys up ahead were 10kers. I decided he was doing the 10k (tried to peer over and look at his bib, but couldn't see it for some reason) and let him go. At that point I thought I was in 4th place. The last km was punishing, I faded quite badly. I could feel one of the guys I'd passed on my shoulder and put on a quick spurt to fend him off, but apart from that I didn't have much of a kick.
I went through the finish in 18:42, which I was really happy with:). I really wanted to crack 19:00 this year and I certainly did that:) I'd written off my chances of getting a medal because I thought I'd finished fourth and the guys in front of me all looked like they'd be in the 18-39 age group, so I was very surprised when they called out my name for 3rd in the award ceremony:O I must've been coming second for quite a while. I would've fought a bit harder to keep up with the blond guy if I'd known that:P I was also a bit shocked at how close behind me 4th was - 18:43. He must've put on a powerful finishing sprint!
The 10k winner was very impressive, he finished in 33:20 or thereabouts. He was waaay ahead of the 5k leader (who was way ahead of me haha 16:52 or something). Schultz did very well for his first race - 27:20 and he would've gone a lot faster if he hadn't done a craazy negative split (1-5% works well, but 30% is a bit too big haha).
The ride home was quite torturous. I was doing fine for the first 30k, but the last 10k up steep hills trashed my legs so badly that even first gear felt impossible haha. It was a good workout though, 80k cycling plus a 5k race, over 6 hours lol. When I got home it was all I could do to keep from falling asleep until my grandparents had left:P
Now there's just one more chance to PB again for the year! I reckon I might be able to do it if I catch the train instead of riding in:P