Day 147 - City to Surf (among other things)

LONG POST FOLLOWS - APOLOGIES

Exercise Summary:

• Perth HBF City to Surf: 12.1km
• Time: 1:04:27
• Avg Heart Rate: 166bpm
• Calories: 1062

It has been ages since I posted so apologies to all the loyal fans regular readers those with a passing interest.

The last few weeks, as Ive posted before, have been pretty hectic at work and I have not been as diligent as I could have been with my updates. I have been keeping to a mild regimen but nothing like I was.

Last weekend I was in sunny Queensland and managed a 4km walk (tried to run but just couldn’t) and then a couple of 3km runs at the Novotel resort on the Sunshine coast.

This week just gone there has been no running and I was pleased that I ran up a flight of stairs - how sad it that?

The City to Surf

So to the event that I registered for 77 days ago - the Perth HBF City to Surf. A 12km run with quite a few climbs, not overly harsh but long and that takes it out of you me.

We kicked off at around 8:23am as I crossed the start line. The day was cold to start with but no wind or rain so in the end the weather would be called perfect as there was no heat and no debilitating cold. You were able to generate your own heat without the sun beating down on you. My sunnies were perched on the top of my head for most of the run.

The initial climb (Malcolm St) is a 900m climb that takes a lot out of you right at the start. Fortunately the next 3-odd kms are pretty much down hill so you get to recover after the climb.

They set up the run in categories of A-B-C-D and walkers to help those who take off faster to have an easier path. Unfortunately, many walkers just started from the front causing runners to veer round them while trying to get up the hill. I started in D (slow runners) to make sure I kept out of the way of the faster groups (shouldn’t have bothered! )

I had a couple of goals today:

• run all the way (I haven’t run anything like this distance)
• do it in under 70 mins (under an hour would be a stretch goal)

I felt if I could do the above I’d be happy. I’d run the course before (well, an edited course of 11.3km) in 66 mins so the 70 mins was a fair target, I thought.

Preparation - The Night Before

This turned out to be not the best preparation. Both kids were out on the town and were coming home at various hours.

CN1 (daughter) sauntered in at 3:15am.

CN2 (son) slept over a mate’s place after work so we hadn’t seen him for a while.

When there is alcohol involved you just never know what will happen and while our to kids are pretty responsible we have to do our job as parents and worry a bit! They have now been told that “when dad has race there is to be no night time activities.” (Why are you laughing? I’m serious!)

I was up at 5:30am. Had a good breakfast and then realised the race didn’t start till 8:15am and I didn’t need to be in town until 7:45. Back to bed. Up at 6:30!

In the end, I hit my two targets so I’m a happy man. Running all the way was a huge bonus as it really was back to the “mind over matter” issue that I’ve raised a couple of times. Though my legs felt like jelly afterwards, I knew that if I stopped at all, all I would think about after was “I didn’t run the whole way.”

Resolutions

1. Waiting to start this morning I realised my lack of training may count against me. I know that if I plan to do more of these I want to be ready. Today was good but I did put my effort at risk simply by not keeping up the training. So, as of Tuesday (tomorrow’s a rest day) I’m back in training.
2. Prepare for a half marathon. I’ve just downloaded a half-marathon training program that I plan on keeping to.
3. The diet needs to be reviewed and re-established. I’ve had a good weekend food wise and it hasn’t helped the weight loss.
4. Write shorter blog posts!

Oh, I know at least one other keen blogger have had a significant run today. I’m going to be keen to read their progress.

Tagged as: event, Exercise, hbf city to surf, planning, running