Hi all,

Sorry this is a week late, but y’know, I’m busy and a bit lazy, and I figured you weren’t all desperate to hear about my 13th place at the NSW State 3k Champs. My comments on the race will be kept reasonably brief. Basically, I’m not fully fit, and 3,000m is too short for me without a few track sessions under my belt. I figured if I ran close to 8.15, I’ve done pretty well, but after 400m when I saw the lap split of 66 and how quick that felt, that I was going to struggle to achieve this. The lead group was already pulling away and would go on to run 8.03-8.09. My km splits went 2.45, 2.48, 2.51 and I struggled my way round to 13th place in 8.24. In previous years I have run 8.02 for 2nd (when fully track fit) and 8.09 for a win 3 weeks before my marathon PB in Fukuoka.

However, with the benefit of hindsight writing this blog 1 week late, this race has helped me and I’ve felt much more comfortable in sessions this week and I expect I’d be much closer to 8.10 if we ran it again. A real rustbuster and shows that racing can really help move things along, even though the result may not be pleasing.

Here was my training leading into the race – glad I didn’t taper for it!

Monday – 66 mins steady home from work at 6.31/mile (10)

Tuesday – AM – 35 mins easy (5.5)

PM – 3 x (4 x 400) off 30secs for set 1, 45secs, 60secs. 5 mins between sets. The track was ROCK HARD and I tried wearing spikes. I fear my already complaining calves won’t be happy. 65, 64, 64, 64,  64, 63, 63, 64,  63, 63, 63, 61 (10)

Wednesday – AM – Pilates

PM – 90 mins steady at 6.45/mile. Sore calves. (13.5)

Thursday – AM – 38 mins easy. VERY sore calves. Not painful, just so incredibly tender.  5.5)

PM – 40 mins easy (5.5)

Friday – 30 mins easy. Calves a bit better. Race tomorrow should be ok. (4)

Saturday – NSW State 3k – 8.24 (9)

Sunday – 2.15 Long Run at 6.23/mile. Took my frustration out on the run a bit. (21.5)

84.5 miles. Race wasn’t brilliant but a decent week otherwise.