Monday, September 26, 2011

2 x 10km

Yes last weekend was the TMC a 38km trail run I was going to run, Yes I was on the mountain, but only taking pictures (see last weeks post).
Now weekends don't end on Saturdays and Sunday saw the running of a new race on the Cape Town running calendar, the Vlei 10km. My leg was holding out and I decided I would have enough time to run it and still pick my wife up from the Airport!!!

Yes Dawn's plane was landing at 08h00 and the race started at 07h00 so I had 40min to run and 20min to get there... It's all about timing!

I started the race with a friend of mine, Candice, and I set the pace at just under 4min/km knowing that I didn't have the legs to run any faster and running slower would get me in trouble with the wife!!!  Things went well till about 6km when we started to lose a bit of time. With 2km to go I kicked for home leaving Candice and some other guy who had been running with us.


I want to say I changed gear and the running of old was back... it wasn't!! I thought I would be able to put in 2 3:45s for the last 2km but I had to settle with 3:54. (3 weeks of almost no running will do that to you!)


I finished in 39:45, and without stopping I head for the car and the airport. I was on time, but Dawn and her 88year old Mom (she had taken her to England and Scotland for a holiday) took another 40min to to emerge with their luggage.


Role on this weekend and the Cape Town Marathon... A marathon was never on the cards, but I was up for another 10km, and with a week of running under the belt I set my sights on 38min. I didn't have the best of starts and only caught my wife, Dawn, 150m down the road, Mr Garmin was telling me I was running at 3:37/km and I was going to blow... lucky for me we turned and the pace settled. I found myself running with Jo-Jo a 40+ lady!!! I didn't get away from her till 5km and at this stage I could see the leaders heading back they had past 6km in about 17:30 and were flying...


I could now see one of my athletes ahead of me and I just focused on not losing him. Then at 8km he lost it and I started to close in and with 500m to go I had him. The clock was ticking and I was running flat out crossing the line in 37:59!!!

The race was won in 28:45 with the leading ladies finishing in 33:20, with the Marathon won by a Kenyan in 2h15:55 (a little slow in comparison to Berlin's 2h03:38!!!)

6 comments:

  1. Nowadays, I'd be happy to settle for a 3.54 after three weeks of no running. I'm afraid those days are long gone! But well done you.
    Hope Dawn and her mom enjoyed their holiday over here, in spite of some appalling weather. A heatwave is forecast to start later this week but don't suppose it will last long.

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  2. okay, so what are you trying to say? Your comeback run is my PR?!! HAaaaa, actually a few seconds faster! I really don't know what to say! But congratulations!!! That is a rockin fast time for being laid out with a bad injury for a few weeks. I bet the best is yet to come! Glad you're back out there!

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  3. PLEASE!!! If I could finish with that kinda time, I'd send a press release to the paper! You ROCK!
    Congratulations!

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  4. Thanks for the advice Coach!!! I'll run more drills. I only tend to do that when I'm training for a race and I want to PR. I always get little lumps on my ATs (Both of them!) when I run drills, though. Any advice for that?

    I too, always find myself looking for a trail or a nice stretch of road when I visit or vacation anywhere! The run is in my blood, but I'm not sick with it like my heroes.

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  5. I am always so grateful for your advice, Coach! Thank you so much!!!

    I am doing my regular course tonight and it's almost exactly 5km and I will try short Fartleks. I do enjoy those. I don't typically time them though. It's usually "Run at 90% to... that pole", but I will start actually timing them like you say. I'll let you know how it goes.

    And I *love* the "TV cameras on you" advice! I'm all over that! Thanks again!

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  6. Hi Coach!!! I took your advice on my last run. It was great!!! Thank you so much. Got more speed than I ever had before on that route.

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