Corporate Cup 2009 – Run 4 – 7.0km

I only scored  31 (out of 40) points for last runs improvement, so this week I set Gary to 36 minute pace (1 minute improvement) and set off to keep him in sight. There was no marathon the Sunday before this time, but I did go for my first bike ride in…well more than 5 years…on Sunday and found quite a few muscles in my legs that apparently aren’t used to run with.

Apart from this general soreness, which I tried to six with an active recovery 10k session yesterday morning, I put in a faster than normal first kilometer warm-up as I new I was getting close to my pace limit on this run. Surprisingly when that first kilometer was over and I glanced down at Gary, I was 30m ahead of him.

The weather was surprisingly warm for 7am in the morning at this time of year (20°C I’d hazard a guess) and I set the cruise control over the ups and downs around Frome Rd. My cruise was a little too slow this time and Gary had caught up by the turn around, but with a little boost off the turn around and again belting down under Frome Road, I was back out to a 40m lead.

I had to concentrate to stay on pace for the remainder of the run with a few rises and sharp turns and it felt like I was running at about 85-90% capacity, but I made it. Official time 35min58secs.

The next run is the Wednesday after Yurrebilla Trail 56km Ultra, so I think I might use that as a recovery run, however Run 6 I will be going for 100% effort. Will that equate to a sub 35minute time? Only time will tell, but I think I may need more than Gary to hold the right pace…I will need a real pacer.

Race	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
2006 Time	24:36	24:30	23:01	DNS	25:43	22:30	22:29
Pace	5:41	5:40	5:19	-	5:52	5:10	5:10
2007 Time	22:46	21:43	20:50	20:30	21:59	DNS	22:53
Pace	5:17	5:03	4:51	4:46	5:07	-	5:19
2008 Time	24:18	22:56	22:30	22:59	DNS	22:51	24:39
Pace	5:23	5:06	5:00	5:07	-	5:05	5:59
2009 Time	38:15	37:49	37:00	35:58
Pace	5:28	5:21	5:17	5:08