7-35K Self Select Run

WEEK - 17K
MONTH - 154.5
YTD - 362.5

Firstly I will start with the answers to the questions posted by Tesso and Lulu. The questions were; Was the 5kTT result a PB? and how does it compare to my pre-injury times?

To be honest I cant remember my exact 5k PB but I think it was high 17's. That was my teenage years so my old man PB is probably yesterdays time. The only TT I did before my surgery was a few days prior and I ran 18.38 so I am running better now than before. My training is a little more regular now, running with others and having goal races to train for has certainly caused my times to improve.


This morning at Brisbane Road Runners was the self select run, a 7k loop that could be done up to 5 times. As usual I hadn't made a concrete decision on what I wanted to do, however it wasn't going to be anymore than 3 laps as I had no gu's or gels which I really need beyond this distance.

I arrived at 5.30 and whilst lining up Clairie asked what I was doing today, on the spot I said 14k there the decision was made. I then intended to cross the line and get my place card and then continue on for a slow jaunt as a recovery for 3k.

Lining up you could tell that most were doing some serious K's the atmosphere was casual, no point bursting out of the blocks when you are about to run 21+ km. I have to admitt I hate running a slow pace, well maybe not hate but find it hard to ease up and run casual. The starters gun went and I took off immediately blowing my late decision race plan off and making an entirely new one in a matter of seconds.

The plan now was to run a decent but not flat out pace for 1 lap (7k) and then 10k easy, which I am pleased to announce worked almost perfectly. As I mentioned most were doing long runs so the pace apart from a few was quite tame, so I sat with Claire G. She was also doing some ridiculous distance but is also an outstanding athlete so the pace was good. We were consistantly running under 4 min k's and got to the 5k point in 19.43, I eased off a little as I was probably annoying her, messing with her race plan and completed the first lap in 28.40 odd minutes.

This is where the plan became unstuck for a moment, I had an unforseen pit stop to the loo which chewed up about 4mins of my time before rejoining the run, It didn't worry me at all, the time was here nor there. This is where my slow part of my run started, I must say I find it quite hard to remain focussed on sticking to a consistant easy pace, which is something I will need to do for the GCM. I did however manage to keep to the plan and was running slightly under 5min/k pace for the remainder of the run.

The total for the day ended with 17k, 7k medium-fast, 10k easy paced, total time 82.02 mins including the pit stop. It was good to get more than an hour into the legs even though 20 mins is not much it is a start, I might take the plunge and increase my next long run to 1.45, I think I need to skip a few weeks and increase the distance a bit faster. I just hope this doesn't take a toll on my body, time will tell.