Westlink M7 Blacktown Running Festival

This is a horrible, horrible race, but one I'm quite fond of. It's a bit of a trek (had to hire a car) and is an out-and-back along an undulating bike path that borders the M7 motorway. Last year it was made all the tougher by a significant hangover, seeing me break whilst running a 96:37 and Vic run her half personal worst in over two hours!

The route

All that said, it's small and personal, with a good goodie bag, parking right at the start/finish line, and access to changing rooms and showers. It has a good community feel. Hence, I returned. Victoria did not, unlike her dinner last year.

Desperately in need of a good race. The SMH half-marathon had been a disaster, but was trumped by the Sydney Harbour 10k. Confidence is so important when racing, allowing you to push through the hard times rather than giving up.

Didn't taper particularly for this race. Slightly reduced the weekly miles, but maintained the quality, and didn't go out on the beers the whole day before. I think I got nutrition right and will note it here (for my benefit): grilled fish, two fishcakes, and a few chips from QVB for lunch, two late afternoon white rolls (peanut butter on one, jam the other), pasta with a tomato base and a chicken breast for dinner, and a jam sandwich (white bread) before bed. One banana about one and quarter hours before race start. Of course Chester White was visited (Friday). Hydration wise I didn't force it. Urine was still concentrated before bed, but clear when I woke in the night for the toilet and again in the morning. This on the background of a much reduced calorie consumption over two weeks for weight loss.

Start of the marathon

Decided to run with the 90 minute pacer, but soon abandoned that idea as he shot off well under 4:00 pace. Eventually myself and a small group caught him (around 4km) where he apologised for his "excited start". He started talking about building a buffer and running the second half slower (thus positive splitting), so I abandoned him again.

Just tried to keep ticking along at 4:15 pace, speeding up on the downhills and running even effort on the, many, uphills. Half way came and, whilst not feeling entirely comfortable, sub-90 started to look possible. Passed 90 minute pacer around 12k, a massive improvement on last year after I was dropped by the pacer at 8k never to see him again. On this occasion he was to come flying past (4:00min/k's) a few kilometres later. WTF?

The last quarter becomes tougher, with a few hills in fairly quick succession, and I felt myself start to slip. Only to around 4:20s, and with a small buffer I still had a sub-90 on the cards, but it would be tight and would likely need a quick last kilometre. Not to be sadly, and I realised I had about 30 seconds to go as I hit the track with 300m to the line. Decided just to maintain pace and crossed the finish mat in 90:18 (according to my watch).

Race analysis from Strava

So pretty pleased with the morning. It's a fairly tough course, with plenty of hills, not much in the way of scenery to take your mind off things, and low numbers of participants so you're running completely alone for a lot of it, but I managed to record my second fastest half marathon and improve by six minutes on last year.

Not much to report in terms of friend's results as only Mike Ho made the effort of turning up. What an effort it was though, with him coming third in the marathon.

Mike Ho coming in to take 3rd in the marathon

City2Surf is hopefully the next race and then Blackmores. I ran Blackmores seven minutes faster than Blacktown last year and I'd be pretty pleased to emulate that ;)

Sydney Harbour 10 debacle

Sydney Harbour 10k

Festival of the Feet was postponed, due to storms, and Gold Coast cost was prohibitive (around $800 per person for flight, hotel, and race) hence the pin was pulled on that, so the next race post-SMH half marathon would be the Sydney Harbour 10km (SH10).

If we'd have done the two above races I may not even have entered the SH10, and certainly not ran it hard, but fate decreed otherwise. It's a fast course, so good chance of a PB, but I was feeling very tired after a heavy mileage week including a tough 24k along the City2Surf course and the coastal path and a big night out on the Saturday (Teresa's 30th birthday). Also my confidence was not great given my poor performance at the SMH half.

Friend Neil Pearson (a 32:xx 10k runner) was pacing 40 minutes so decided to try the same tactics as at Sydney10 i.e. stick with him till the eighth kilometre and then

push on for the final two. The final kilometres here would be flatter than Sydney10, so hopefully a PB would be on the cards.

Not to be. A very crowded start with many slower runners meant I lost a lot of energy merely trying to keep with Neil and a ten metre gap quickly opened. Truth was the legs were feeling very tired also and the gap may have opened anyway. The gap, combined with the tiredness and low confidence, gradually worsened and at 3km it became all about simply finishing the race. The split paces make for very grim reading (4:04, 4:34, 4:48, 4:52 over timing mats at 2.5k intervals) and I ended up finishing behind the 45 minute pacer in 45:35. A lot of people went past me. Humbled, yet again.

Great news for Victoria though. Saw her pass with the gun 45 minute pacer in Barangaroo and she finished strong to break the 45 minute barrier (44:32). Has been a bit of a psychological barrier for her and it'll be interesting to see how fast she goes now.

No mention of Timmy Lindop as yet, but needless to say he cleaned up on all his bets....until news filtered through that he was disqualified for running with a girls bib and finishing fourth fastest female. Legal advice is awaited.

So a pretty underwhelming result given I ran last years race, on an arguably tougher course with more wind, in 39:57. It was wet however and my taper had not been good, even non-existent. Also, other than Victoria and Timmy (doing a mid 36 minute again), PBs were lacking and there were a few people disappointed with their times.

We put on a Sunday roast post race and drowned my sorrows with a thousand beers that Timmy brought round and then watched Andy Murray win his second Wimbledon. Shit morning, cracking night.