I brought my racing year to a conclusion last night at QSAC with a 16;52.84 5000m at a rare Queensland Masters evening Meeting.
Conditions were extremely humid (80% and 26 O C) and windy down the home finishing straight.
There was also a plague of flying ants!
The field included a bunch of youngsters, the usual Masters and Clay Dawson and Osman Saleh.
Clay and Osman immediately gaped me at the start but I had help from Andrew Willey for 5 laps.
Andrew kindly offered to pace for 2000 and managed 6;30.Our first Km was about 3;08 so we were slowing and when Andrew stepped off it was just a case of survival. I really suffered both because of the conditions and my fitness level. I wore the heart-rate monitor and managed another 179bpm maximum and 166bpm ave.
I need to regroup and target over the next 4 weeks. Since Perth I have been using races instead of sessions and racing in warm weather with high humidity seems to be taking a greater toll on me.
As mentioned previously I will be looking at racing and training more for 1500 for the rest of the Summer.
Next winter I will probably race the Half at the Gold Coast on 2nd July and try for some quick times on the road at 5KM and 10KM.
Results from 7th December
Conditions were extremely humid (80% and 26 O C) and windy down the home finishing straight.
There was also a plague of flying ants!
The field included a bunch of youngsters, the usual Masters and Clay Dawson and Osman Saleh.
Clay and Osman immediately gaped me at the start but I had help from Andrew Willey for 5 laps.
Andrew kindly offered to pace for 2000 and managed 6;30.Our first Km was about 3;08 so we were slowing and when Andrew stepped off it was just a case of survival. I really suffered both because of the conditions and my fitness level. I wore the heart-rate monitor and managed another 179bpm maximum and 166bpm ave.
I need to regroup and target over the next 4 weeks. Since Perth I have been using races instead of sessions and racing in warm weather with high humidity seems to be taking a greater toll on me.
As mentioned previously I will be looking at racing and training more for 1500 for the rest of the Summer.
Next winter I will probably race the Half at the Gold Coast on 2nd July and try for some quick times on the road at 5KM and 10KM.
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| Andrew Peter Me Paul and Clay |
2 comments:
Hi Dave, I look forward to watching your progress over 1500m this season. I'm fortunate that your schedule in Perth didn't permit the 1500! All the best, Scott
Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when I opened the mail to see I'd won a prize to be paced by the Garmin Lama at his 'returning back home to country ' park run extravaganza at Minnippi . I was there a few years back when he'd won the world age graded challenge . Just a face in a very big crowd . I'd camped out overnight to get a good vantage point that day and watching him snatch a nail biting age graded victory in the last stride certainly was the highlight of my life and running career up to that point . Since then I must admit I've become a bit of a Garmin Lama tragic collecting all the gear and memoribilia including a rare GL doll that squeaks , " pause me ," when you squeeze him . So I turned up on the day and was introduced to the man himself . To say was I nervous would be to ask is the Pope a Catholic ! I was pissing myself but the GL put me at ease straight away . He had a veritable plentitude of platitudes to put the neophyte ( such as I was ) at ease . I told him I only age graded at 28% but he said that was fine without blinking and with enough conviction that I believed him . We obviously had security with us to clear the path as we ran . Well it was more a slow jog . My pulse was 180 mpm just on the starting line which was due a lot to nerves . When you run next to the GL it's a surreal experience . You can feel the raw animal magnetism . You grow use to seeing him on those massive billboards smiling benignly down on you as the international face of Garmin . In real life he's smaller and his dimensions more human . Grey flecks in the hair the only concession his graceful frame has conceded to the ravages of time and rather than a liability they add gravitas to a persona that intrigues and excites female park runners . They were certainly in evidence as they brazenly threw running apparel at our feet , nickers bras and such like which , while distracting to me , the GL took in his graceful stride . All part of being a celebrity I should imagine . The GL was very encouraging and I could palpably feel the jealousy of the field as they tried to grapple with the fact that it was me and not them that fate had chosen for this singular honour . 'Suffer' I thought to myself . The experience was over far too soon and knowing that I'd be allowed only a scant 4096 characters to relate my expereinces on the GL's blog I reluctantly decided that I'd serialise my experience so as to convey the full impact of the experience to the general public . So stay tuned ....
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