Saturday, February 04, 2012

Striders 10km Homebush - 11th in 34:32

Well, not the start to the season I was hoping for but it's under the belt.

Caught a lift with Ben and Big Sam and arrived with plenty of time for some run throughs to get the heart rate up. Big crowd at the start with some very good runners fronting up - Tom do Canto, Uncle Dave, CT, Farrugia, the Horne, Tucks etc. I lined up in the second row (behind Timmy, I think he was racing EJ to the first corner - and lost) and set off pretty hard (at least I thought it was). However, before 1km was reached the front group of 6 had already gapped Tucks and I by about 20m. At the top of the hills on to the footpath and crowd behind of Tongey, Bleasel, Dean Degan, Brendan Davies and an Asian chap I didn't recognise had caught Tucks and I. I struggled around the very wet horsetrack and was gapped by Tucks and the Asian chap. At 5km (16:52) they had about 20m on me. The time at 5km depressed me a bit and I immediately lost concentration and started to drift. Bleasel then came past followed by Tongey and I was running with Dean and Brendan. It stayed that way until the end, with me pulling ahead of them in the final km.

Legs felt heavy the whole way. I thought I was turning them over OK but apparently not. Pretty ugly negative split. But it's in the bag and the training continues. The body feels great with no niggles.

Cooled down with Tucks, Timmy, Kanser, and Big Sam. We all struggled today. My head to heads looks a bit lop-sided but at least I got Timmy on the handicap system.

Couple of photos:

50m to the finish...



Me gurning, Tucks, Kanser looking fucked, Young Timmy and Big Sam...

4 comments:

Easy Tiger said...

The influx of asians was as impressive as the depth in the women's field, suspect I would've been 4th in the 'Yellow Division' if I raced.

David said...

That was fine Tommy, though your 5000 suggested better today.
Might seem like atall order to shave 2mins but lets see where you are in 3months.
Your tan appears to have worn off!

Tim said...

Look at that picture......Notice anything strange? Not a sign of Tucks, He'd long gone and wasn't waiting around :)

Unknown said...

Mate, you could have crossed that road, leaned over the side of the bridge, got the zoom lens out and still failed to see any sign of Young Timmy - the consolation being that when he did come into sight, you might have got a nice shot of Anna White too..