Official time 36:40 for 9.86km.

All the km markers up to 9 were correct, and I was busy out sprinting a dude so it didn't occur to me to run past the finish line.

On pace for 37:20. Dry heaving for a few seconds afterwards for the very first time ever, not sure where that came from. Thankfully I had only liquids and a protein bar for breakfast. Full race report in a few hours.

Mark - Great effort.  You still held a good pace during the fade.  It sounds like a tough course and it doesn't take much for the wind to become a problem out in the country with little shelter when you're running into it for 7km.  If you'd been able to run Christchurch on a calm day I think you could have sliced off up to 5 more minutes.

Watson - Your last 7km or so look familiar to my 2020 races so I know you would have had to suffer hard to get to the finish and still a great time.  What a comeback from a frustrating first half of the year and I agree with flavio that you're on track to go even faster.

flavio - So fast!  As I'm a kiwi and the boss around here, I'm recording your official time on the front page.  Kiwi certified is good enough.

me - good week, and nailed my Wednesday workout and felt really comfortable.  Came out of that feeling so confident about my fitness but as has been the way this year, the Saturday run put me back in my place.  Had to work really hard in warm and windy conditions to hold only 4km of close to HMP.  I think over Spring and Summer I might need to do workouts at Hagley Park when the conditions are tough.  The wind is much more manageable when you don't have to run straight into it for more than 10km and the trees provide some good shelter.  Another near miss on Saturday - was running on a path next to the motorway for part of the run.  On my way back, a car had spun off the motorway and crashed through the fence over the bike/running path.  I didn't see it but must have missed it by 2-3 minutes.  I've had a few this year with spare wheels and tools flying off cars!  This one was less of a near miss than the wheel flying past within 5 metres.

Weekly for period: From: 05/10/2020 To 11/10/2020

Total distance: 72.29km

Steve - nice week.  I certainly thought about how similar my race to your recent races!

Watson - yeah, from a quick look at Strava it looked like everyone had 9.8

Steve - ouch, scary stuff. Nice workouts, that progression is gold!

Mark - I'm with you on the whole marathon thing. It's such a long race, the odds of stuff going wrong are just so very high.

me -

Pisa Ten race report.

2020-10-11

9.86km - Official time 0:36:40 20th overall 3rd in AG 40-49M

Fun fact: I was 3rd AG with 36:39.77, 4th place was 36:39.92. I beat him by 15 hundredths of a second. Always run to the finish line haha.

Apart from the obvious fact that the 10k course was short, the race was extremely well organized, considering all the covid restrictions imposed by the health ministry and everything that needs to go well in a race of this size.

I had my usual breakfast (some gulps of juice, water and a super caloric protein bar). I mostly stick to liquids and perhaps some bar containing lots of calories in a compact size.

The first step was to be at 8am at the main gate where you deliver the No-Covid self declaration (a printed, signed piece of paper) and they measure your temperature.

There were explicit instructions not to warm up before passing this gate cause the increase in body temperature could mean you'd be barred from entering.

Once past this gate, you got into a very large area where you could then do your regular warm up.

The start waves were by BIB number, so up ahead there was another gate where they let people who would be on the next wave go into the start checkerboard-like space.

I got into that area as I was on the very first wave at 9am.

Weather around 15c, 88% humidity and wet ground. Thankfully no rain.

I saw a lot of people doing their regular warm ups and I did my regular routine. Sat on the sidewalk and waited to conserve as much energy as possible.

With 40 minutes to go I did my usual body mobility routine which involves arm circles, shoulder elevations, hip circles etc, aimed at letting loose a bit of tense energy.

30 minutes to go and we can go to the checkerboard space (Basically they had runners separated in 5 rows, and there were positions marked on the ground. I noticed immediately that they were not controlling for time, so a lot of slower runners were already up front, thus, I also entered my row and got into a position, otherwise I'd be too much behind and I'd have to pass too many people.

As I stayed in place, I kept moving arms and legs to try to keep warm, but not too much to avoid wasting energy. A lot of energetic speeches about how runners were scapegoated during the worst part of covid with the government banning outdoors exercise (they didn't actually ban it, but social pressure was immense at the time) and how now finally races are restarting.

I ran 3:34/km for a 5k a few weeks ago, so I figured I could probably run 3:45/6 per km for the 10k, so my initial aim was 37:30.

I was concentrating on those last minutes on not blowing up at the start and spending everything on the first km.

Then they played that starting solo from The kids aren't alright (the offspring). DAMN!

As we started (you walked orderly to the start line, then started running) I was electrified and glancing at the watch a bit to keep the pace honest. Especially because there was an underpass which meant going down and up the other side. Also the ground seemed to be a bit slippery though thankfully I didn't slide at any time. 

I had memorized details about the course so that I would know where to run in case volunteers were missing/lost. Incredibly, I have not noticed any of those landmarks during the race. In part because the volunteers did a perfect job, but also probably due to the race adrenaline.

The first few kms were clicking by easy and I've noticed that I had forgotten to re-enable auto lap. That turned out to be a good thing though as the lap buzzes are distracting.

The mud section was less than ideal having to dodge puddles and avoid slippery surfaces, but it was thankfully short, maybe 500-600m. Once out of it right into the bridge and then we started running next to the river Arno.

Around 5 or 6km I was already suffering a bit which seemed to be a bad sign. Kms 7 and 8 were slower as I was really struggling to maintain pace and I could see the runner ahead opening up some distance. I was trying to maintain contact with 2 runners ahead.

Now here Mark would obviously state their names, social security numbers, full addresses from the past 5 years. But I honestly just know them as the guy in black t-shirt and the guy in the green t-shirt.

Over Ponte di Mezzo, an iconic bridge in Pisa and now I knew I was close to the end. 2km to go and I somehow found a second wind. It was guy in black up 10m ahead, guy in green 5m ahead and me. No idea who was behind as I never looked behind the whole race.

As we approached the 9th km the guy in black started fading a bit and we both passed him a bit later. 

The last km is super interesting because you can see the leaning tower from 600m out i think. During the race I didn't see a thing LOL

All I know is that with maybe 300 to go I had closed in to guy in green running side by side almost. I tried to speed up a bit but he matched my challenge. I then turned the jets on and side by side we started our sprint, he initially matched again the challenge but when I put the next gear on he couldn't do it anymore and I sprinted ahead with all that I had. 

I'm pretty sure that the video of the finish line will show me as the guy with the funny gait, but at that moment I felt like that dude winning the London marathon haha.

Across the finish line and as I catch my breath, I suddenly dry heave a bit. Never happened before, weird. But thankfully gone just as quick.

I then proceeded to try to catch my post race bag, but something was going on that I couldn't understand, but eventually got my bag and headed off. 

It was then that I realized that the course was short. Damn, I was super happy with my PR, until I realized it wasn't.

Anyway, this race shows that I have a good possibility of running sub 18 for 5k in 20 days. Let's see what happens.

James - I hope the hamstring clears soon. Agree with Piwi on the recoveries.

Piwi - solid week.

Watson - sorry about the fade. Uphill and upwind is a hard finish.

Marky_mark - congratulations on a 16 minute PR () Ditto to Watson - an uphill/upwind last 7K is tough. I think it's tough whether you are in a marathon or a half - in the marathon you're more tired when you get to that point; but in the half, 7K is a greater portion of the entire race.

And I think that one should never run marathons if one doesn't enjoy them at some level. The world is full of shorter races too.

DPS - good to see you, and glad you checked in.

Steve - crazy story on Saturday. Is that what Blindspot is a reference to?

Flavio - your race report is fascinating. Was there enough room to jog a few miles in the warm-up/post-check area? I am sory about the short course.

++++

My week:

64 miles, 1000 yards of swimming, and 3 hours of pool-running
M: 70 minutes pool-running and upper body weights/core.
T: 12 miles, including a track workout in 2x1600, 2x800, 2x400 in 6;34, 6:24, 3:07, 3:05, 90, and 89. Recoveries were about the same duration as the interval, except for 3:30 after the second 800. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards swimming.
W: 12 miles very easy (9:30), plus drills and 6 hill sprints, followed by streaming yoga.
Th: Upper body weights/core and 65 minutes pool-running.
F: 12 miles, including a tempo workout on the roads of 2x2 miles at 10 mile race effort with 4 minutes jogging recovery (13:18 as 6:38/6:40 and then 13:17 as 6:38/6:39), then full recovery before 6x30 seconds hard, 60 seconds easy. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards swimming
Sa: 12 miles very easy (9:09) plus drills and 6 steep hill sprints, followed by streaming yoga.
Su: 15 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 9:14, next 5 averaging 7:49, next 5 averaging 6:58, plus mile cooldown. Followed with streaming yoga, leg strengthwork, and 45 minutes pool-running.

So more improvement, which is nice.  I bought some ankle supports (like compression socks, but shorter and firmer) and have started running in them - they seem to help a lot.  I get my right ankle injected with PRP this Tuesday but I suspect that even after the healing from that I may just wear these for all hard runs/races (in the past, I've taped my ankles before races).

darkwave - No, Blindspott is an NZ metal (maybe alternative metal?) band who played on Saturday night after a couple of Covid re-schedules.  A great night but not a great Sunday morning!  If you're into that type of music, you may like this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7Kxim2wZ4o

piwi - Sounds good.  That's a week before Queenstown so definitely no park run for me!

Congratulations to all the racers.  Even finish-into-the-wind races and short-course ones are more fun than no races.

Looks like I'm getting an extra couple of days off to rest my hamstring, which may not be the worst thing in the world.  Our son worked through a stomachache to turn in some university applications on Friday a few days before the deadline and then came home early from school feeling sick.  We thought rest would help, and he's finally resting now, but in the hospital after his appendectomy.  For covid reasons, only one parent can stay with him, and it has to be the same parent - no switching in & out.  That's me, because -- like most 17-year-old boys, I assume -- he would rather not be fussed over, and I'm much less likely to take pictures of him and text them to friends & family.  Sounds like he'll go home tomorrow (Monday).  Good thing he got the applications done.  His school counselor says she's going to talk about him next year when she's telling kids why they should listen to her when she says to get applications in a few days early.

P.S.  As if yesterday wasn't interesting enough, as I was rushing him to the ER, the tornado watch became a tornado warning complete with sirens and Voice of God loudspeakers ordering everyone to take shelter immediately.  Seems to have been a spinoff from the fringes of Tropical Storm Delta, but as far as I can tell it didn't do any damage.

 

 Mark once the world gets back to normal book in a trip overseas and do a big city marathon. You will get that Moosemug and sub 2.40 no problem with atmosphere and other runners to pace off.

I know Mark said he is done, but this is so true. I looked at those results. That wasn't a race. Thats like you just ran a time trial marathon. Very difficult to do that. That marathon does qualify him for Boston, so 2022?

I'll save some of my other thoughts for Mark when he write up the race report, but the entire yo-yo nature of his taper could not have helped. Perhaps more importantly than any other race, training and racing for a marathon is about peaking at the right time. I rarely feel "ready to go" until about 2-3 weeks left in my training, and I know if I trained beyond probably 6 weeks past that, it woul all go to shit. Not to mention the mileage being all over the place due to the unknown of racing.