Sunday, March 12, 2006

One happy CJ!

Today's session - Weston Creek half marathon

Time / weather - 7.30am / 19*c, cloudy to begin with but then very warm and sunny
Distance - 21.1km
Time taken - 1hr 38.13min
Av pace - 4.36min/km
AHR - 170; MHR - 178

After a couple of days of feeling slightly below par I woke this morning feeling a bit better. Had some toast with honey and banana for breakfast (plus the obligatory caffeine hit) and then we headed down to the Irish Club in Weston for the annual Weston Creek half marathon. It was an overcast morning to begin with, however the clouds were soon to burn off exposing a very hot sun. Saw FD, Aki, speedygeoff and Strewth before the start. I strapped on my trusty Garmin and ipod and went for a very short warm up before the start. Yep, didn't feel too bad.

Kilometre times:
1 - 4.37
2 - 4.35
3 - 4.39
4 - 4.37
5 - 4.43
6 - 4.48
7 - 4.36
8 - 4.38
9 - 4.34
10 - 4.42
11 - 4.39
12 - 4.34
13 - 4.27
14 - 4.25
15 - 4.18 (!)
16 - 4.20
17 - 4.26
18 - 4.34
19 - 4.38
20 - 4.42
21 - 4.57
330m - 1.35 (av 4.49min/km)

I thought I started conservatively though when I look at my kilometre times it doesn't look that way. However I did run at a consistent pace most of the time. I grabbed water sachets at every drink station that I went through and had an Espresso GU at the 10km mark. I made a game of trying to catch up with the person ahead of me and then passing them - this got easier in the second half of the race when many people were tiring. It was a helluva lot warmer in the last 10km because the cloud cover had burnt off and the sun was hot. Also there is little shade out there and in the last couple of kilometres the course does undulate a bit.

While in the first part of the race I checked my watch every kilometre to make sure I was under 5min/km pace, for the last half of the race I never checked my watch so didn't have any idea of what my time was until I rounded the bend at the end and saw the large time clock. Yay - not quite a PB (although a PB on this course) but I had run under 100mins so I was one very very happy CJ! And I won the W45 age group!
And what's even better, Mr CJ had a cappuccino ready and waiting for me! (He knows me so well!)

**************************************
Looking back - Road to IM 2004
28 days to go


Workout - long run, Lake Burley Griffin
Time - 7.30am; overcast, humid and no wind
Distance - 30km
Duration - 3hr 6.46min

It was difficult running in the first lap - my legs were very tired after yesterday's cycle. I ran the 16km loop, then 7km to Scrivener Dam and return. JD joined us for the first lap. Anyway the run did improve and I felt better in the final 14km.

A month to go!!!!

19 comments:

Wobbly man said...

Way to go CJ - and a age group medal too! BTW - you have the same pre-run breaky as I do.

speedygeoff said...

Well run CJ. Very Good pace judgement too.

Hilda said...

You made it so well!! It was a great race, congratulations CJ!!

Thanks for the link it helped me a lot!

Run for Chocolate said...

WOW, great job. I am so impressed! I wish I lived closer so I could cheer you on! Mr CJ is one smart and lucky man.

Tesso said...

Congrats CJ on a great run, and on winning your category. Any bling?

Its a great feeling overtaking people, the marathon training really does pay off in halfs.

This must be a great confidence booster for you for Canberra.

Friar said...

Good fast km of 4:18, was that the downhill bit before Scrivener Dam.?

Well done with the medal win too!!

Gronk said...

Great course PB CJ ! Congratulations !

Lulu said...

Your first race in your new age group and you take out the top spot. Excellent stuff!

Ellie80 said...

Congrats on a top run CJ! you make it sound so easy...

Robert Song said...

Good run CJ. Though I am hoping for a much cooler day in 4 weeks time.

Is it an accurate course? From your splits it indicates you ran 21.33K rather than 21.0975K or is just a Garmin error.

Jen said...

Woohoo :-)

Well done CJ - gotta love getting some *bling*

Katie said...

Awesome effort CJ!!! That is a nice confidence boost with 27days to go! Isn't it nice when your with someone who knows you so well! Congrats on the win :-)

E-Speed said...

wow speedstrer! Great race!

Rae said...

Awesome job!!! You're so speedy!

Congrats on the taking the age group, well done!

miners said...

Great effort CJ - particularly with the age group win! Hope you won more than just the cappucino though ...

2P said...

Nice work CJ - podium finish, course PB - sub 100 mins - all fantastic ;-)

You are going to do so well in a few of weeks time!

Cliff said...

Great run CJ.

Ewen said...

Good race CJ! Looks like you had a very strong second half which augurs well for 9 April.

BuckeyeRunner said...

Just catching up on some of my blog reading - so many good ones, so little time!!

Great race!! I love the espresso Gu's too - my fave.

Keep up the good running!