Time trial

Riding to the track this afternoon, I wasn't feeling very confident at all. My achilles hurt, I'd eaten a far too large breakfast, I was under a bit of time pressure because I had to get back to uni by 3. So all in all I'd written off my chances and was expecting to either run something dreadful like 20:00 for 5k or simply not be able to finish the time trial. In the end it was somewhat better than both extremes, but still not fantastic.

My spirits began to buoy as I neared Burwood. It was just too nice a day to be feeling glum! One of those lovely winter days with bright sunlight, which nevertheless is weak enough to leave the air nice and crisp:) After jumping the fence and being told off for doing so (and I later realised the gate was actually unlocked, so all in all a colossal waste of effort:P), I strapped on the GPS and did a warmup lap. I was amazed to see "4:09" on the dial, because it felt like I was jogging! Then, without waiting for negative thoughts to creep in, I sped off for real. I was blown away by how fast I was able to go. Last night I averaged 6:26/km with my dad and that's all my legs felt like they had at the time, but today, the fatigue was shrugged off even for just a little while.

I went through the first lap at about 3:16 pace before realising I should probably slow down a little. That meant I was already breathing hard after about a minute, but I slowed down a little on the second lap and was still feeling strong when I went through 1km in 3:28. That was almost certainly the fastest I have run 1km in my whole career, and yet it felt easy! There was a bit more effort over the second km, but with a split of 3:36, I was right where I wanted to be, on track to break 18:00. With each passing lap though, I could feel my legs growing weaker and weaker. I managed to hold on to go through 3k in 10:43 (3:40 split), but my calves were just shot and after 3.82k, I threw it in, and gingerly walked back to my bag. All the way down my shins, the muscles were tensed as could be, and it just would have been impossible to continue to run at that pace. Happily though, I felt recovered almost immediately and am happy to report that I resemble the athlete in one of Arthur Lydiard's talks, who after a time trial remarked "I just don't know coach, I'm not tired, but I just couldn't go any faster!". More than anything else, this shows my endurance base is rock solid:)

Looking at the conversions for the 3k time, I find myself not believing the calculators. It definitely wasn't an all out effort. I was slowing towards the end, but it had much more to do with my legs than my lungs. Had I been able to keep running, I'm sure I would've run close to 18 flat. I still had a monstorous kick left in me, so a 3:30 last km would've be within my grasp I reckon. Perhaps I'm just being optimistic though:P. It would be rather depressing if I hadn't gotten any fitter since my last race (which is what the conversion would argue).

To meet my goals for the year, I'm going to need to get my 3k time down almost a minute to 9:50. It sounds a lot, but I think it's possible, because once I start doing speedwork, my times will drop rapidly (at least I hope!:P). I'm looking at joining a running club (Glenhuntly's sounding good), so I can have some other people to train with and so I don't have to feel guilty about using a track I'm not paying for:P

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A bit of concern though is that my achilles problem is just not going away. I'm going to be very aggressive and try and head it off before it gets really bad. Probably won't run much next week and if I do, it'll be less than 30 minutes. I'm also going to start a strengthening program and hopefully that'll sort things out. I should probably go and see a physio, but am just recoiling from the cost.