Striders 10km Homebush 4.7.09

My second Striders 10km run in a year and I was actually pretty amped for it. I didn’t realise how much until I dreamed about it two nights before!

It was bloody freezing in the morning - 7 degrees according to my car thermometer - when Andrew, Chris and I arrived at Olympic Park. A quick turn around the car park to warm up and we were ready to rock.

My last pre-injury 10km in June 2008 was 37:11. The previous month at North Head I’d gone 39:50. Today I thought I totally want to get somewhere in the 38 minute range, a goal I kept quietly inside my own head, but felt was achievable. So close to the front I got and off I darted at the start!

I managed a pretty quick first km at 3:43 and saw Andrew a good hundred metres in front of me, so once we got out of the single file track I started picking off people trying to get closer. Andrew had managed to stick with a group of 6 runners and try as I might, I could not gain any ground on them. They all stayed about 20 metres in front and I was at what I felt was my limit. I thought - this is it, Andrew has got me. I’m never going to catch him at this rate. The first few kms ticked by, then I saw the other punters in the group pick it up and took off beyond my vision, at which point Andrew couldn’t stick and slowed down imperceptibly. I kept trying to wind it up (although I feel that I only managed to keep a pace, rather than increase my speed) and at about 4km I managed to catch Andrew and just ease past him.

The kms kept passing and I was feeling ok at my pace, again I ran without the footpod, but pressing the Lap button on my Polar at every km marker so I could tell if I was slowing or maintaining. As usual in the 2nd half I started dropping the pace slightly, then realising and pushing again so I was running in spurts. There were a few guys around me that I’d marked and I just tried my darndest to stick with them.

I saw a bloke in a white hat who kept passing me on the hills (Nick) and I kept getting him back on the downhills and I liked his pace and thought if I can stay with him we’l do in the 38s, so I gritted my teeth and kept with him. It wasn’t nearly as tough as it had felt the month before when I had been trying desperately to stick with Kathryn, but it still wasn’t easy. Up to the bridge and the final straight and a few guys around me rushed off, but I was at my limit by that point and grinned happily as I saw the time on the clock, crossing the line in 38:51
Andrew had a mighty race as well, coming in just behind me and smashing his PB from last month by at least 30 seconds. I knew that once he’d finally got under 40 minutes there’d be no stopping him. Chris did well at about 43minutes, not his fastest, but I believe one of his better results lately and he said it felt good.

The stats:
Time: 38.51

Km - Time - Average HR
1 - 3.43 - 157
2 - 3.52 - error
3 - 3.49 - error
4 - 3.54 - 168
5 - 3.52 - 170
6 - 3.54 - 170
7 - 3.58 - 174
8 - 3.54 - 173
9 - 3.59 - 175
10 - 3.54 - 177