Training Log Archive: Craig

Event: WAMC Darlington Half Marathon and 8km
 

Jogged down to the start with Rachel then a few laps of the oval with Craig Berg after registering and toilet.

Darlington 8km. Heart wasn't too happy before the start but settled down as soon as I started running. Quite a big field with about 400 doing the half but I was pretty close to the front so got a pretty clear run from the gun. Settled into a good pace pretty quickly and felt quite comfortable going up the railway trail. I could see the leading women and a few guys I knew should run a bit under 4min/km for the half so I thought my pace was probably about where I hoped it would be.

Tried to let myself go on the downhills and not push too hard on the uphills on the road lap around the school. Got around the loop without blowing up or losing any ground to those around me and still feeling capable of pushing the downhill run home.

Only two people in sight after the split were Visha Jareb about 50m ahead and a young guy a bit further ahead with the vast majority going on to do the half. Visha passed the young guy and stretched away from me a little before I passed him too. Once it got a little steeper I started to close on Visha a bit. I was close enough to think about challenging her when we hit the bitumen with about 500m to go but I really didn't want to hurt that much and I remembered that my cardiologist had suggested I avoid sprint finishes so I just tried to keep a good strong pace to the finish.

Really pleased with how that run went. Always felt quite strong and controlled and my pace at the end was faster than I thought it felt which is a nice change. Feel as though things are heading in the right direction.

Jogged back to meet Rachel plus a lap of the oval after she finished.
Also walked back up the hill to home (about 1.5km and 110m climb).

Had a bit of a hit with Dion.

Short easy jog in KP. Felt pretty good apart from a little tightness above the right hip.

Wasn't sleeping anyway so thought I might as well get out early. Didn't actually get going until almost 5:30am but it was still pretty dark for the first half. Didn't expect to feel good and I didn't but I think it did feel a little bit easier than the last couple of weeks for about the same pace.

Woke up at 5:53 and decided I was too tired to get up and run with the group. Started thinking about running after work and changed my mind so got up at 5:54 out the door about 3 minutes later. Had to run over to the school to make the 6:00am start (I usually walk) and felt really awful doing it. Fortunately had a couple of minutes to rest and didn't feel quite so bad starting with the group.

Somehow found myself on the front with Kate and Ben gapping the rest of the group a bit on the way down to UWA. Daniel crossed the gap to join us just before crossing back into KP. It was already feeling like a tempo run to me so I thought I was going to drop off as soon as we hit the hills. It did get harder and Daniel did his usual surging off ahead up the hills but I found I could sustain a harder effort than I expected and I was able to stay with Kate and even pull away a little at the end.

I was feeling like I'd done a race by this stage so thought I should try to take it easier coming home but found myself at the front with Kate again and she seemed to be wanting to push the pace. Going up past Hale Oval I kept thinking about dropping off but by the time we got to the top of the hill I was starting to feel more comfortable and it just got better as we continued down the hill. By the time we got down to Rosalie Park I was feeling like I wanted to try pushing a bit harder and I did stretch out a bit coming back along Aberdare at the end which felt good.

Up to Frasers and back mostly on grass and sand. Pushed the pace a bit coming back to make sure I was home in time for Rachel to leave.

Pennants vs Bassendean. Won doubles with Ben 6-4, doubles with Dion 6-3 and singles 6-0 against the same guy who beat me 6-2 in my first pennants singles match. All of us won our singles 6-0 but the doubles was fairly close so we need to work on our doubles a bit.