19km Aerobic Run

Today was scheduled as a 1 hr 40 min easy run. I’d planned a 17km route down Koala St, through the industrial area to the Oxley Hwy, past the racecourse and through Clifton to Settlement City, Then along the river past Westport Park and Town Beach, before heading back home along the beaches on Pacific Drive. 6 minute k’s would have seen me through nicely. I passed through the 5km mark in 27 minutes, 10km in 51 minutes, and hit the 17km mark in around 90 minutes. So I threw in a couple of extra km to make up just over the 100 minutes planned.

Coming towards the 17km point I was climbing up Pacific Drive from Shelly Beach to Lighthouse Rd, and the hill takes a slightly sharper rise near the top. As I started to slow down I felt the urge to push through, and came out with a surprising burst of power on the steepest part of the hill for about 20 or 30 seconds. It actually felt really good and didn’t seem to drain me at all. Looks like those hill reps are paying off :) I’ll have to keep then in mind for the future, say when I get another crack at the City to Surf or something like that.

I was travelling fairly comfortably at today’s pace, with the feeling that I could have pushed harder for most of the way, and although I did ease back on a few of the hills I found that I made up for it with some strong efforts down the other side. Based purely on this run, I think that 1hr 45min is a realistic goal for the Half. I was only a couple of km short of the distance, and by the time I hit 19km I had a few minutes up my sleeve as I finished before 105min so that would leave me with not much more than a kilometre to make up on the day.

I had some calf tightness (actually on the inside of the leg and right behind the shin) over the last day or so, which I could feel as I started off this morning. By the time I’d warmed up it had gone, and now 6 hours after the run I still can’t “find” it. I was a bit concerned that it might turn into something, but it seems the long run must have done it some good!
The only pain that came out of today is a bit of soreness just back from the second toe on my left foot. Sort of like a callous on the fleshy part of the skin to the left of the ball of the foot. Maybe I pulled the sock on too tight and my toe was a bit cramped or something. I can't blame the new shoes as I was in the old ones today. It’s a bit awkward to walk on but is better now than a few hours ago so I hope it sorts itself out before my next run on Monday!