10 km Kickdown

This is my first training session after the road champs and the beginning of my training for the Long Distance champs at Labour weekend. I asked Jim for more of these sessions after my drop off in speed during the race on Saturday. My aim today was to average 7:20, 7:00, 6:40 and 6:20.

At the start I found it hard to achieve 7:20 pace so I expected to struggle to increase pace as planned. Fortunately I did warm up and was able to get the increases even with head winds on the return.

My 2.5 km splits were: 17:52, 17:22, 16:16, 15:21 or average paces of 7:09, 6:57, 6:30, 6:09. My overall time was 1:06:57, average pace 6:41 and average HR 137 bpm.

I could probably aim to start a bit faster for a better average overall but I felt really good after this workout so the slower start seems to suit me.

10 km Kickdown

Saturday 1 September - NZ 10 km Road Championship

The race was scheduled to start at 2:50 so I had a good breakfast and another meal at 11:00 am even though I wasn't hungry.  We took Jim to Mt Victoria to get a good view around the city and harbour then headed to the venue before 1:00 pm.

I made sure I got everything organised and had a good warm up before the race. The wind was getting up which pretty much ruled out getting a PB so my main concern was to get past the judges. Despite that I made a good start, averaging better than 6 min/km for the first 3 km. I had a few warnings early on and one card by 5 km.  Two laps later another card appeared. Jim kept reminding me to stand up straight and tuck my butt under. I was grateful to get to the end without being pulled off and very pleased when no late cards arrived. My time of 1:02:07 is probably my best at a national road champs though well over my PB. Average pace 6:13 min/km and average HR 157 bpm. The Garmin did not cope well on this course. My splits from the timekeeper were:
5:50, 6:00, 6:06, 6:12, 6:12, 6:18, 6:18, 6:26, 6:26, 6:19

10 km NZ Road Championship

Thursday 30 August - 3 km Fartlek

This was a chance for Jim to give me some feedback on my technique.  We found a spot near a favourite cafe where I could do some small laps. I  warmed up for a short time then went into the workout. I had to avoid walkers, runners, dogs, pushchairs and bikes so it was hard to maintain an even pace. The amount of instructions I heard whilst walking made me think my technique was as bad as ever but afterwards Jim assured me I was much better and he was just tweaking. Overall time 19:16, average pace 6:25, average HR 161 bpm.

My splits were:
6:12
3:31 + 3:01 = 6:32
3:28 + 3:05 = 6:33

Not great speed but I didn't want to go flat out two days before a big race.

3 km Fartlek