MS Fun Run - 10km (9.4km)
Another solid week of training led into the MS Fun Run at Albert Park. The pre-race warm up took some time to shake off the stiffness that's been accumulating. A night of interrupted sleep kept my mind uninterested until it finally realised the race was going ahead. Then it was business as usual.
Checking out the course it was clear the race distance wasn't going to be all of the 10km advertised. Albert Park Lake hasn't gotten any bigger over the years, and the permanently marked 4.7km course has been altered either. Without the missing 300m on each lap being allowed for, the race was going to be fastest over 9.4km.
The horn sounded following a reasonably low key build up. A quick scramble over the gravel, past a dip onto bitumen then under the large trees. The front of the field had broken away from the mass pretty quickly. I was happy to be up there and feeling pretty good. The top ten or so was mixture of changing positions. As the path widened out there was even more movement amongst the front runners. Some guys put in various short bursts to get into positions they seemed happy with. For myself I just kept the pace solid and held off on any significant changes this early in the race. Soon enough, two extended off the front. I tucked in to make up a chase pack of about five.
The main portion of the race was simply a gradual spreading out of the top 10. By the end of the first lap there wasn't a pack. I was in 6th place and as lap 2 progressed it became clear no one behind was ever going to catch up. Holding onto to a solid output I narrowed the gap slightly to 5th place. Unfortunately with a bit of hindsight I didn't put in a big effort, I just maintained where I was. A better tactic would have been to absolutely drop the accelerator over the last 1500m or so to see if I could work my way to 5th or 4th. Even if I blew up I would still hold onto 6th place, therefore I had nothing to lose. For some reason I just went through the motions instead.
Finishing in 36:11 for 9.4km sees me still in line training-wise. I was a bit disappointed to see my name not listed in the results properly. For some reason I'm marked at the end as unknown next to my race number (516) and time. Two days later my legs are hammered. A bit of trouble for my right leg (some bruising and swelling around my rectus femoris and sartorius muscles) has me relieved I've hit the recovery week for Base 2.
Checking out the course it was clear the race distance wasn't going to be all of the 10km advertised. Albert Park Lake hasn't gotten any bigger over the years, and the permanently marked 4.7km course has been altered either. Without the missing 300m on each lap being allowed for, the race was going to be fastest over 9.4km.
The horn sounded following a reasonably low key build up. A quick scramble over the gravel, past a dip onto bitumen then under the large trees. The front of the field had broken away from the mass pretty quickly. I was happy to be up there and feeling pretty good. The top ten or so was mixture of changing positions. As the path widened out there was even more movement amongst the front runners. Some guys put in various short bursts to get into positions they seemed happy with. For myself I just kept the pace solid and held off on any significant changes this early in the race. Soon enough, two extended off the front. I tucked in to make up a chase pack of about five.
The main portion of the race was simply a gradual spreading out of the top 10. By the end of the first lap there wasn't a pack. I was in 6th place and as lap 2 progressed it became clear no one behind was ever going to catch up. Holding onto to a solid output I narrowed the gap slightly to 5th place. Unfortunately with a bit of hindsight I didn't put in a big effort, I just maintained where I was. A better tactic would have been to absolutely drop the accelerator over the last 1500m or so to see if I could work my way to 5th or 4th. Even if I blew up I would still hold onto 6th place, therefore I had nothing to lose. For some reason I just went through the motions instead.
Finishing in 36:11 for 9.4km sees me still in line training-wise. I was a bit disappointed to see my name not listed in the results properly. For some reason I'm marked at the end as unknown next to my race number (516) and time. Two days later my legs are hammered. A bit of trouble for my right leg (some bruising and swelling around my rectus femoris and sartorius muscles) has me relieved I've hit the recovery week for Base 2.
Good solid run. Yes, I can see your point about trying a long kick for home when there's no danger of losing a place. Maybe try it next time anyway (unless you're leading).
ReplyDeleteThat was shorter than a "triathlon 10k" ;) At least with so many Garmins around these days organisers are on notice. 9.4 is probably better than a 9.8 or 9.9 that you think might be 10k.
Hmmm, it became apparent about 3/4 of the way around that they hadn't included any doglegs. I don't mind as it was a charity run, but it would not have taken much work to tack on a little extra.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, well done, good run :-)