Saturday, August 7, 2010

City2Surf 2010:The Brain Vs Heartbreak Hill!!


6AM this morning and 20 or so Westleigh Warriors piled into 3 cars to take on the crowds and hills of the City2Surf 14km race.........freezing start at around 8 C but warmed up very quickly to around 17 or 18 by the end...

Here's a good video of the start

I started the race feeling very strong with little weaving in and out in the Green Group....hit the 4km mark at a pace of about 5.2km/min which i felt very happy with, kept this up right to the base of Heartbreak Hill, a 2km ascent......things slowed pretty severely then.....the feeling I have when I am running well is one of my brain being in charge of my body but as the hill finished lots of negative thoughts started coming in, ones that let me justify a slower pace than I had planned for.....by the time i hit 10kms i was running a 5.4.....from my finish time of 76.55 things must have deteriorated further from there to about a 5.5 or 5.6.......I really stopped thinking strategy and all my energy went to coping with the slog to the finish.............my finish time put me at a 5.49 pace...slower than I normally run 14kms but there were alot more hills than many of our routes...

This is how much the end hurt...

athlete photo

Looking back on it now Ive got some perspective, i was certainly disappointed at the end...my time last year though was 89mins and there is now a clear goal to get under 75 for 2011......

The Warriors all made it, special mention to one who kicked ass with 67 mins and to those running for the first time....the trip back took a whopping 3 and a half hours but to my delight my family was sitting down eating Lasagna when i got back and i had a piece the size of a small car....oh yeah..and four chocolate biscuits and some chips.....oh yeah..and some nuts, a Powerade....a coffee...

Two weeks now to the Pub2Pub 13kms race......last years time was 82......this year I aim to get under 70....a pace of 5.38...Ill live to fight again !


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the comment on my blog Paul. Very identical race plans and results indeed. I may need to check if there is an opening in the Westleigh Warriors towards the next race to join in on some training :) Good luck with Pub2Pub!

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