The day did not disappoint and there was a record 38,000 participants!! The atmosphere was electric and you could sense the happiness and enthusiasm of everyone around you. It was great to start in the A group up the front this year and not have to dodge prams and families but there were still enough people to pick out in front of you to catch up to and overtake to continuously set a challenge. I absolutely love the start when everyone is close together, thousands of runners around you running up St Georges Terrace then looking back on the top of the hill at Kings Park and seeing a sea of runners both in front and behind, so many people outside and running together for health, fitness and a great cause!! I felt like i kept up a good pace throughout the run, the toughest part was again at the 8-9km mark where you are getting exhausted, then at the 2km mark you get a boost of energy from excitement of the finish line coming, then the 1km mark is pick up the pace time! the best part is it is down hill and you feel like you are flying home! It is the best feeling!! I crossed the line in around 53 minutes on my watch and couldn't believe my official time when i found out... 53.35minutes!! the exact same time as i did last year down to the last second! i had to laugh i couldn't have done that if i tried! my average pace was 4.27 minutes for a kilometer so although i didn't exactly improve my time i didn't go any slower either, but i certainly will be aiming for the sub 50 minutes mark again next year! and i will have a better idea of the sort of training to do also... more long hill runs are needed :P but i was so happy with my results overall:
570th out of 14,342 12km runners, 33rd out of 6,521 female 12km runners and 11th out of 2,589 females in the 19-29 age group! I will make the top 10 next year :)
The winners were:
1st Lauren Shelley 00:44:22
2nd Emma Kraft 00:46:143rd Scarlett Duncan 00:47:06
So what followed after the city to surf? I enjoyed morning runs with friends from Trinity and kept up most of my endurance fitness with longer runs. The odd occasion on the tredmil i would run 10km in around 43 minutes which felt quite cruisey, i am itching to do a 5km fun run or something of a time trial i think i would be the fittest i have been for the 5km! I missed the Bunbury surf to surf fun run in October but maybe i can do the Australia day fun run in January if i can have time away from uni.
The big question is track running. It is December now and i am quite behind in my track fitness, but the positive is there is still 3 months until the states which leaves time to get my fitness back up. I have registered for the season which is a sign i am not done with my running yet! can i reach my goals i have tried to for so many years? can i not only qualify for the national champs but actually be good enough to compete in them?? that is my dream, just nationals that is all i want. Next year they are in Melbourne on the 15th-17th of April. Yes i have qualified for the 1500m but only through winning a bronze medal i didn't actually make the qualifying time. So i have been thinking... since it is late season and i have a much greater aerobic capacity than other years at this time of year, maybe i should try for the longer distances such as the 1500m or 3km or even the 5km. Last season my best 1500m time was 4.47.45 minutes on the 14th of January, from there i went downhill a little with an injury to 4.53.54 in March for the state finals. My goal is to break 4.40 minutes. My best 800m time was 2.19.64 minutes on Feb 18th, i would love to break my 2.28.4 minutes 800m record for when i was 17 but that can wait :) I'm not sure how i would go in a 3000m or 5000m race but i imagine i would have to aim to be around 10.30 minutes or 19 minutes for the 5km. My best 5km time has been 19.14 minutes at a Bunbury fun run, i think i could break that now i would love to try!! So i will make myself a 5km and 3km time trial in Bunbury and work on my 1500m times.
On Sunday i did my first track training session since March this year, i was so scared to see how much fitness and speed i had lost but thankfully it wasn't too bad!! For a trial i did a session where i start at 300m runs and decrease 20m each repetition until i am down to 100m and have about 2 minutes walk back recovery. My times were:
300m - 53 sec
280m - 50.3 sec
260m - 46.9 sec
240m - 43.9 sec
220m - 38 sec
200m - 34.6 sec
180m - 31.6sec
160m - 27.4 sec
140m - 22.4 sec
120m - 18.9 sec
100m - 14.9 sec
They were about 1-2 seconds slower than past runs up to around the 180m run then they were about the same if not slightly quicker due to a tail wind! It was awesome to put the spikes on again (they are now 7 years old though almost time for some new ones i think!!) To break the 4.40min (280 seconds) 1500m mark i need to keep up 18.6 seconds per 100m which is 56sec 300m runs or 1.14min 400m runs which doesn't sound too bad looking at the first track run times! but the longer you keep up a faster pace the harder it is to hold it. I can do it i know i can! The past few days since the track session have been:
Monday - (slightly sore from the sprints) 40 minute bike session (20km) and a pump class/weights
Tuesday - (even sorer from doing a pump class while sore!) 35 minutes interval bike session i.e. 30 min high resistance sprint and 1 min low resistance recovery x 20. then 7.5km run in 30 minutes.
Wednesday (today) - active recovery of a slower 50 min bike ride and 35 minute walk.
I'll give a track session another go tomorrow and try some 400m runs and maybe some 150's, i'm not expecting anything great but it should be interesting! I am feeling some degree of being fit all the same, I am excited to have new goals in sight and be free from uni to get back up to speed and next year i will not be neglecting my running once uni starts! I have learnt so much this past year and one of them is how much i love running and my fitness, something i do not want to neglect or put to the side as i did this year with uni and work. And what else have i discovered? i am not yet ready to give up my goals and dreams for track running yet no matter how small or large they are and i am excited at taking a slightly different approach by trying a longer distance :) But as a side note i know i will always keep going with running in how ever form it may take and have something to add to my bucket list in the future - to complete the Busselton ironman! but that will come in the next few decades... first things first track session tomorrow!! :)
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