Run Auckland Race 5

Run Auckland 5 was interesting to say the least. Not my best race by a long shot. Still I feel pleased I started today and get through what was fairly miserable conditions.

Time hasn't come in yet but not expecting anything flash at all - in fact I'll be pleased with anything under 50:00 but not holding my breath. Will update here once the provisionals come in. UPDATE: Better than expected 44:47 17th out of 51 in 30-39 men category. Pretty much 4:30 min/km pace and considering the stomach cramps I got in lap 2 (see below) makes me feel pretty good in hindsight.

The forecast was for crap weather last night and it was hosing down intermittently before the start.

My little sister T was going to do the race as well and we had planned to go in her car (taking turns I drove last time). Somewhat predictably my phone goes at 7am and got some feeble excuses about running in a storm. When did a little rain ever hurt anyone eh? So it was a bit of a lone effort from our family today.

For half an hour before the start I was trying to shelter underneath a tree. Not so many people lining up today (funny that!) and the rain was dumping down pre-start. It did mean there wasn't so much congestion at the start but running with squelchy (not sure if thats a word) shoes/socks and a soaked top is certainly different. It is all mental but it does make you feel like you are being weighed down. I guess the trick is to ignore this feeling.

There is a map on the race details page

Lap 1 felt pretty steady if very wet. The initial hill wasn't too bad found the very steep downhill around the 3km mark more tricky and had to be very careful not to take a tumble.

Lap 2 started ok and keeping pace with a group up the hill. The rain had eased off quite a bit by then. Round about 7km I got hit with stomach cramps, don't know if it was something I ate, and that was quite bad. For about 300m I had to slow right down but managed to keep going. Good to keep in theme with this blog title :) Got passed by half a dozen people which was a bit tough. Luckily the cramps went after maybe 300m soon after and got back to a reasonable pace.

Finishing Racecraft
The finish was probably the highlight for me. Caught up with a bloke that had passed me at cramp time. Towards the home straight we ended up neck and neck. Exciting stuff. In the diagram I would be the red egg* shaped runner. Couldn't pull away because my pace was being matched but luckily had the left which was handy because the finish chute was also a turn to the left. Essentially blocks you from being passed. Shades of Schumaker taking the inside...vrroooom!


The lesson's learned for me out of this race is twofold. Don't cramp up your internals (it is pretty painful to be honest) and ignore the conditions as best you can.

Hope others racing today had a good day out...

* I'm not shaped like an egg but did have a red top.

The July Race - North Shore City Half

Kathy posted a comment wondering which half Marathon I was training for in July.

Well it is the North Shore City Half (also known as Run Auckland Race 6). There is also a course map here.

I don't live on the shore so the area is not that familiar to me it looks relatively flat. As Jon Ackland says in his Half Marathon book I'm not going to get sucked into predicting a time for my first go at this distance. Just putting some training in and the race will take care of itself. I don't know about crushing the event but hey let's just see what happens :)

In two weeks time I have my last 10km in Race 5 of the Run Auckland Series. This is a circuit around the zoo and western springs. My little sister T is doing her second 10km then as well. Should be fun!

Reading and Races

Reading

Instead of going running today I took a rest day and went to the local library. Lucked out and found a book called "Complete or Compete" by Jon Ackland. Needless to say have borrowed it. As well as some training programs there seems to be a wealth of useful info in here. Will post a review once I've finished reading it.



Races

In terms of races post Run Auckland 2008 am thinking of one of these two - in order to keep the training up especially into the warmer weather. Need to hurry up and start saving so I can enter :)

Auckland Half Marathon - http://www.aucklandmarathon.co.nz (2 November 2008)
ADRA Charity Half Marathon - http://www.adracharityrun.org/info.htm (30 November 2008)

On location in Whakatane for a couple of days this week and have a couple of good training runs lined up.

Run Auckland Race 3

Flat, fast, and furious?

Provisional results in : 42:49 placed 22/66 in 30-39 men. A PB and quite pleased with the time compared to the last race!!! :)

The course itself was 4 laps of this scenic route. Dead flat aside from judder bars and traffic islands.



Course map is here: