The Coles Classic is now less than 3 weeks away, and again I haven’t done as much training as I’d have liked to. I’m again doing the 1km swim – its a distance I can comfortably do but I would have preferred to have had more practise in the sea. Its a big difference going from a swimming pool to the ocean, and its probably holding me back from doing a longer distance.
Still – I’ve got 2 weekends still so I might take the kids to the beach on Saturday and get some practise in.
Blackmores Half Marathon 2011
Today I did my second half marathon.
How did I do? I beat my last time by about 4 minutes, but I just missed out on beating 2 hours. I was a bit annoyed about that – 2hrs 32 secs but then I reasoned its an improvement on last time, and I can continue to improve.
One thing I did notice this time is that at about the 19km mark I hit the wall. This was a first so I must be pushing myself harder. I had nothing left and I walked about 100m before running again. If I hadn’t done this I would have beaten the 2hr barrier 🙁 I thought I was further behind than I was and assumed I was well over two hours. That’ll teach me.
The next one will be the SMH Half Marathon next year. I’m not going to do the run before the Cole Classic – it was too damn hot then.
City2Surf Starting Line
That’s another City2Surf run, my 3rd now!
This year was a wet race, apparently the first for many years although by the time we were off the rain stopped.
Last year I was under 80min so I got to start in the “green” group, this is the second group after the elite and front runners. I did better than I expected – my main aim was to keep my time under 80 minutes and in the end I did 75min 56sec.
I was really please with my time, that’s nearly 4 minutes off last year, another minute off would have seen me in the elite “red” group next year – unfortunately due to the number of entries received they’ve changed the times for next year and I need to get under 70 minutes to get into this group.
Deanne entered again this year, she’s now up into the “yellow” group and knocked nearly 50 minutes off the time, she was just over 120 minutes. There’s no reason why she shouldn’t be under 100 minutes next year!
This year was a little more difficult, I think it was a bit more humid and I was struggling a bit with the heat. I normally run the City2Surf in Skins, but this year they were uncomfortable so I think if it rains again I’d probably ditch them.
Next challenge will be the Blackmores Half Marathon in October which reminds that I need to enter soon!
New Toy
I bought myself a new toy yesterday, a Merida 88 road bike.
After catching up with some of the guys I went to high school with, Brad has been trying to encourage me to get into the Hills Triathlon Club with him. Obviously the first thing I needed was a decent bike – the $150 K-Mart special just doesn’t cut it 🙂
Its by far the most expensive bicycle I’ve ever owned, although at under $1000 its still an “entry level” bike. Still – it’ll do me to get started. Its much firmer to ride than the mountain bike, and a lot more complex as far as gears etc. 16 gears – sheesh!
The first step is going to be to check out the brick sessions the club do every Saturday at Parramatta Park, so its an early start – 7am. Should be good fun, all part of my aim to keep fit. Later in the year I’m also looking to do the Sydney to Wollongong ride in November. I’d better learn some basic maintenance on the cycle before then – don’t want a flat in the middle of nowhere with no idea how to change a tire :-S