Stromlo XC 18km Steady Run ; Cadbury Hobart Half Marathon preview

5am run at Stromlo XC circuit of 18km. Now starting in the dark for 10 minutes meaning a very slow warm up to alert the kangaroos that I am coming. Weather cool to warm, no wind, air quality is good. No need for a mask.

The run today faster than yesterday's recovery run, felt much the same. 2km warm up and warm down. Splits: 619,547,442,436,434,431,426,424,422,421,421,417,419,408,407,402,450,450. Saturday afternoon will be an easy run from the hotel near Hobart.

It's been three weeks since I began my 'rehab' from a thigh tear. It's around 90% healed. I still have to be careful for a couple of weeks. The rehab has consisted of longer solid or tempo runs, almost all on grass XC surface. In the first week I ran two Parkruns, winning both in 18:35 and 17:22. I've done 12 long runs in the last fortnight of 17km or more, replacing two days with indoor bike when the smog was awful. I think my legs will stand up to 21km on bitumen in the Cadbury Hobart Half Marathon.

I am running the Cadbury Hobart Half Marathon as preparation for Marathon de Paris in April. On Sunday I'll be looking for a steady run under 80 minutes. I'll be wearing the same shoes and clothes as I will in Paris. Pre-race nutrition will be similar. I had rice and vegetables for dinner on Thursday evening. Friday and Saturday will be about staying hydrated. I'll be testing both gel and fluid at 60 grams/hour during the race, 30 grams of either/30 minutes.

I've raced the Hobart Half Marathon twice before in 2010 (73 mins) and 2016 (76 mins).

Course is mostly down first half, mostly up second half. There is some flat in the middle 8km. In 2016 I struggled in the last 10km. We begin to encounter some slower marathon runners early on in the race, starting 30 minutes before us. I remember from 2016 the bridge near the half way turn point was crowded.

Race fields are thin at my level. There will be some faster elite male and female runners well ahead. I should end up near the top ten runners with only a few runners near me to key off. I'll be looking for race splits in the 3:20s in the first half, slowing to the 3:40s in the second half as we climb back up to Claremont and the Cadbury Chocolate factory. Weather is expected to be warm (23 degrees) and some head wind in the first half. Saturday will be a cooler 18 degrees.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Long Intervals

Surf Beach Tempo Run 14km ; Training Plan, Racing Update Australian Masters Athletics Championships 2024