Adelaide Marathon 10km Race

Pre - Race
Like all races these days I try not to think about them or more specifically get excited about them until its the morning of. Mostly because now I have this little guy who is completely dependant on me and quite frankly "unpredictable", I know that there is always a chance that something may crop up and I will have to forgo a race.

"Go run Mum, I'll look after daddy"


So as I walked to the start line with Big A and Little A, I had a mini-panick attack. I had no race plan, I hadn't even spared this race a thought! Arriving at the start with only 5 minutes to go didn't leave much time to do anything either. I said goodbyes to the boys and made a dash for the loos. Cutting it fine .... I know!

I made it back just in time for the count down. Usually I would join the back of the pack but today I was going for a PB and negotiating traffic can chew up precious seconds so I nestled in to the middle of the eager to start (it was about 9 degrees!) pack of runners.

My race plan was formulated in the first 500m. I was going to run at a pace that I thought I could JUST maintain for 10km and then give anything I had left in the last km. A 10km race pace for me is running at about 7/10 for perceived effort. In the first Ks I glanced at my Garmin and was a little freked to see the number 13 on my speed screen... but I felt comfortable so I went with it.

This turned out to be the perfect plan.

My Time
I crossed the line in 46 minutes and 22 seconds. My race pace must have been smack on as my splits were very even:

4.39
4.41
4.40
4.38
4.39
9.24 (oops missed a km marker! average = 4.42)(2.06km)
4.27 (.95km)
4.36
4.34

The Course
Do you remember me saying that I was scared to run the Adelaide Marathon because of the twisty turning course. Well the 10km still had some loops and turns (but nothing like the marathon). I think the course was inspired by the London Olympic Marathon course with its 111 turns!

Despite the winding nature of the course and nearly colliding with a pole in the middle of the foot path AND nearly being taken out by a runner who didn't see the fountain in the middle of the path, I loved the course. The South East corner weaved through the botanic gardens and was all new running territory for me.

The last 200 meters came off the road, up a path and into an oval. It was awesome to finish a race along a path lined with supporters and friendly faces.

Highlights
Looking back on the race there are so many things that make me smile. Here's just a few:

1. Shaving 13 minutes and 38 seconds of my last 10km time in just 17 weeks! I know this is largely thanks to the massive "returning" to running gains after baby but I still put in all the hard work and clearly my training program (written by me!) wasn't too shabby either!

2. How in tune I have become with my body and pace in all things running. To achieve those (almost) EVEN splits on "feel" I was pretty happy!

3.Seeing hubby and bubby at the 9km marker. Even though I had arranged to meet the boys at the finish line. Big A surprised me a couple times along the course. The 9km sighting was completely unexpected and gave me that final kick I so needed!

4.This was my first race in which I have associated myself with a charity and run for a reason. It added a whole new dimension to the experience and I thank everyone again for their support. It sure feels good to mix my passion with giving back to the community.

Final thoughts
I have to confess I didn't go into the race confident of achieving my goal. In the 2 weeks leading up to the race Little A had been teething and quite unsettled. This meant that a lot of my runs were done with the stroller (at a slower pace). Having not ran much at my desired race pace I was a little psyched out as to whether or not I still could. Turns out the thing that "did my head in" actually makes me a better runner. But I'll tell you all about that in another post dedicated to the wonderful BUT challenging world of "stroller running".

So now that I have achieved my 10km goal whats next? Well this is worthy of another post too so stay tuned to hear about the next training goal and race in 7.5 weeks... my last HooRah!

Adelaide Parklands 5km loop

Such a little distance yet so much to say. . . But first let me share this with you

Yep not only did I achieve my goal of sub 25 minutes. . . I smashed it! With 32 females in the field I came in 2nd with a time of 22 minutes and 56 seconds.

I woke up this morning feeling PUMPED, which was suprising since I didn't get to bed until midnight and was up at 2.30am and 5.30am with Little A! After enjoying lots of cuddles and playtime with the little guy I headed off to the race. . .

I arrived with enough time to do a 10 minute warm up jog before lining up at the start line. The course was a 5km loop and already out there were the 10km and 25km runners. It sure makes you feel fast entering a field of runners who have already been going for an hour and are doing double or five times the distance you are!!!!!

I really wasn't sure how to pace myself for the distance and ended up deciding to run it on "feel". Heading out I felt great and for the first time in all my race history my first km wasn't my slowest and my last km wasn't my fastest.

My splits were:

4.27
4.38
4.34
4.37
4.40


Even though this isn't my typical style I raced well and finished knowing that I gave it my all. I am loving this shorter distance racing. . . I have enjoyed the post race high all day without the tired sore legs that come from longer distances. I am looking forward to a nice easy run tomorrow and working towards my next goal. . . Sub 50minute 10km!

Out with a Bang!

This weeks training has finished with a bang. . .

Today I ran my first race since Little A was born 8 weeks ago and it couldn't have gone better.

I didn't anticipate that I would be able to run the whole 10km after only 3 weeks of training and was planning to run as much of the course as I could and walk what I needed to. All I can say is you can take the girl out the race but not the racer out of the girl. Even after 10 months off from running my race face came on like the flick of a switch. Heres my race wrap up:

Conditions were perfect with a cool 19 degree day, no rain and no wind. As always I took the first km easy and found my place in the pack (towards the back!) Initially I just hoped to finish sub 1 hour 10 minutes but by the 2km mark it was clear that everything was going my way and I was going to give this race everything I had so I revised my expected finishing time to 1 hour 5 minutes. The first 5km flew by and I had comfortably built up to a 6 minute pace. The last 5km however were much more of an effort and by the 7km mark I was really working for it.

At 55minutes I reached the 9km mark and realised if I could just pull out a 5 minute km I could achieve a sub 1 hour time. I dug deep . . . but I didn't have it. I hadn't run this far in 11 months and it took everything I had to get out the final km let alone achieve a pace that I save for my speed sessions. In the end I finished up at 1 hour and 42 seconds. Big smiles. Not only did I exceed my every expectation but I was feeling good too.

As I crossed the finish line I was met with an unusual amount of cheers and applause. I smiled and lapped it up but little did I realise all the fuss was not for me. Just meters behind me was the first finisher for the 1/2 marathon. Oh well, it was nice for a moment.

I am still buzzing from my first race back and I just can't wait for the next one. As the day has gone on though my body is feeling that it raced today and raced hard at that. I have decided to make tomorrow a rest day and will just enjoy a nice long (recovery) walk with Little A followed by a long date with the foam roller.

Big thanks to Little A who slept from 7pm - 7am last night waking only once for a 15minute feed. It was such a bonus to line up at the start line so fresh and well rested!

Here I am all sweaty and worn out post race with my little supporter...