Saturday, 23 August 2008

Was supposed to go for a long run today - a two hour slow run. After six days straight of running tomorrow was to be a rest day

I wanted to coincide my run with the Princes Park club run, but left home a little late (as usual). Got to the start line at Princes Park about ten minutes after my scheduled start time. It was tough going for the next half or so and I just couldn't relax or get into a good rhythm

I did a couple laps of Princes Park and lost count after a while. Started to feel good through the start of the second hour until about 20 minutes from the end, which I think was just the anticipation of finishing making the seconds and minutes drag along

As I was going I timed every kilometre or so and was stunned to find I was running between 4:05 - 4:25 per kilometre. I was bitterly disappointed to find I was running at such a "cracking" slow run pace, as I should really have been around the 4:40 mark.

Still, it felt just this side of comfortable without feeling like I was pushing too hard. But there was definitely a feeling of push there. Nevertheless, I ran a PB last year running a two hour run beforehand at this pace, so hopefully that's a good sign for two week's time

And boy was I glad to finish. Picked up a few flags from the club run and stopped for a bit of a chat with the guys and Liam gave me a lift home. A lighter moment towards the end of my run where he decided to tag along as part of his warm down and the pace was too hot for him. Funny, in a sad kinda way I guess. I really should have been running much slower. At least with all the pace verifying I was able to do, this slow run's total kilometres will be much more accurate rather than just my averaging it out at 5 min/km which does understate the distance

Off home to do some more packing and cook the children their dinner

TOTAL DISTANCE : about 27 kilometres