City2Sea 15km : Weekend Ketchup
On Saturday Steve at Stromlo (the Stromlo set) 2000m 6:58, 1500m 5:12, 1200m 4:08, 800m 2:39, 400m 72. Another big set for Steve as he gets back into stable training again. Some 3000m races to come and a sub-10 with some specific sessions. Steve also did a snappy 20km on Sunday.
Keith 10000m on Saturday evening in 37:17. With a 36:59 posted in January this was a better run with puddles in lane 1 and not so great conditions. Marty was pacemaker at 30:30 I believe but nobody could stay with him in those conditions.
Helen ran Stromlo Festival 10km rough, hilly, XC. Passed 3 males on the final descent 49:57, 8th female.
The girls ran a long run in the rain
City2Sea weekend was an adventure. Shopping on Saturday morning. In the bag one red singlet for my Melbourne Aths Club, one pair red Saucony racing shoes because they were cheap, one camera phone pouch that takes two phones (Nokia 808 and Nokia 1020).
The weather went to pot. Almost 40mm of rain, strong winds and cold overnight and into Sunday morning. I could see the rain fronts would pass by race start but it almost didn't. Having to drop clothing bags far too early made for a shivering pre-race shelter fest. When it was time to warm-up the rains had almost passed I found the eaves of the MCG (desperate) and the covered 300m bridge with hill from tennis to AFL / cricket as good friends.
The race went to plan pretty almost. 1st M50, a time I was happy with (51:28) and a place I was happy with (16th). The first 5km was mostly sheltered from the wind. Splits: 3:16, 3:41 (up and into wind), 3:14, 3:13, 3:07 = 16:33. Then I made my only mistake of the race, ducked out of the slipstream of Winz (ACT) and Mr Blue to get a water, lost contact just as we turned onto St Kilda Road and into a gale. Splits of 4:15 and 3:55 followed and I was solo until 13km. Winz dropped Mr Blue and powered through the field. I looked back at the 13km mark, saw Scott (ACT) about 30 seconds back. That was incentive to cross the gap very quickly to Mr Blue, give him some very kind words to fire him up ('not far to go, looking good, tuck in'). I ran the last 2km very strongly with Mr Blue in tow and we raced the last 200m crossing in the same time. Scott finished a couple of places back a short time later.
Minnie (ACT) fell at gym on Monday, damaged her bottom. Started reluctantly but did quite well in the end.
Comedy for the weekend. Mr Red asked if Q.I was still going to retire from Athletics Victoria races. (A. I usually spend 1-3 months in France during our winter, makes it difficult. Yes you will see me next XCR season). Q. Will I win today? (A. No, there are plenty here better than me.) Post-race: Q. How does my time compare to the XCR 15km in Ballarat? (A. I didn't race in Ballarat).
Guess who he thought I was...It's happened before, but more often during the decade I lived in Melbourne full-time. 
Keith 10000m on Saturday evening in 37:17. With a 36:59 posted in January this was a better run with puddles in lane 1 and not so great conditions. Marty was pacemaker at 30:30 I believe but nobody could stay with him in those conditions.
Helen ran Stromlo Festival 10km rough, hilly, XC. Passed 3 males on the final descent 49:57, 8th female.
The girls ran a long run in the rain
City2Sea weekend was an adventure. Shopping on Saturday morning. In the bag one red singlet for my Melbourne Aths Club, one pair red Saucony racing shoes because they were cheap, one camera phone pouch that takes two phones (Nokia 808 and Nokia 1020).
The weather went to pot. Almost 40mm of rain, strong winds and cold overnight and into Sunday morning. I could see the rain fronts would pass by race start but it almost didn't. Having to drop clothing bags far too early made for a shivering pre-race shelter fest. When it was time to warm-up the rains had almost passed I found the eaves of the MCG (desperate) and the covered 300m bridge with hill from tennis to AFL / cricket as good friends.
The race went to plan pretty almost. 1st M50, a time I was happy with (51:28) and a place I was happy with (16th). The first 5km was mostly sheltered from the wind. Splits: 3:16, 3:41 (up and into wind), 3:14, 3:13, 3:07 = 16:33. Then I made my only mistake of the race, ducked out of the slipstream of Winz (ACT) and Mr Blue to get a water, lost contact just as we turned onto St Kilda Road and into a gale. Splits of 4:15 and 3:55 followed and I was solo until 13km. Winz dropped Mr Blue and powered through the field. I looked back at the 13km mark, saw Scott (ACT) about 30 seconds back. That was incentive to cross the gap very quickly to Mr Blue, give him some very kind words to fire him up ('not far to go, looking good, tuck in'). I ran the last 2km very strongly with Mr Blue in tow and we raced the last 200m crossing in the same time. Scott finished a couple of places back a short time later.
Minnie (ACT) fell at gym on Monday, damaged her bottom. Started reluctantly but did quite well in the end.
Comedy for the weekend. Mr Red asked if Q.I was still going to retire from Athletics Victoria races. (A. I usually spend 1-3 months in France during our winter, makes it difficult. Yes you will see me next XCR season). Q. Will I win today? (A. No, there are plenty here better than me.) Post-race: Q. How does my time compare to the XCR 15km in Ballarat? (A. I didn't race in Ballarat).
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