Day 4

I stayed up late last night, getting to bed at 11.30, so I was tired this morning. The usual post marathon soreness, not triple soreness, just normal and nothing really to worry about other than a slight twinge on my right knee. Maria will sort that out I thought as I headed to the Physio Rooms where she got cracking straight away. She found the culprit and dealt with it as best she could.

It was cold so the only real worry was what to wear. Vest? No, too cold. Short Sleeve? maybe but, no, still too cold. To be on the safe side I used a heavy long sleeve and reckoned I wouldn't be all that fast or hot today given yesterday's madness.

I wanted to start out easy but got dragged along with the whole notion of running freely again and found that I was knocking out 8.40's pretty consistently, up to the first real dreaded hill at mile 8. The other ones are non existent at this stage, we just get over them and don't bother to groan anymore. In fact the course is leveling out to be made up of one tough climb in the first half and a series of buggers from 14 to 18. Then it gets a bit friendlier until mile 22 which we call Ice Cream Mountain - there's a very tempting ice cream van at the top!

Once I realised the chosen attire was completely suitable to the cold snap I turned my attention the the niggling knee which was playing up from the off. I fretted but reasoned that it wasn't getting any worse and I could easily maintain the 8.40 pace so I went with the flow and settled into my race which really doesn't start until the second half now.

Getting to mile 14 I started this really annoying counting, 2, 4, 6, 8 with every second right leg step. While the rhythm was nice, it really started to pee me off when I got to 2,000. I tried to shake it off and nearly lost the plot when 3,000 rang through my head. I focused on my breathing, and life, and mars, and anything that didn't include numbers until 'Count Dracula' gradually got off my back.

Before I knew it I was closing in on Anna again, and passed her at mile 18. Then I noticed that the pain suddenly disappeared from my knee, in around the 3,000 mark. Yipee! The relief was intensive allowing me to drop a gear and take off again. This time a bit earlier though. 8 miles to go. What could I do?

7.59... I can't remember the rest of the splits to home but none went over 8.10 bar an 8.40 over Ice Cream mountain, as far as I remember. All the time, mile after mile I had confidence that I could hold the pace, hold my stride and stay out of trouble. I bounced up the mountainous drive and clocked in with 3:41 something, the fastest time yet.

I really didn't see that one coming! Definitely time to slow down tomorrow.

Physio reported no injury, just general fatigue and tight areas but noting serious at all. More confidence!

:-)



 

Day 5

Onwards to the half way point, day 5 is a day of mini celebration. We've made it this far, hopefully nothing will prevent us from going further!

The usual routine that I won't bore you with, so on with the race.

I got strapping to my knee which worked really well and I felt virtually no pain from the off. Such a relief. Another day of run as I feel and I felt great settling into the now familiar 8.30 pace, with just a little wobble at mile 4 when I hit a 7:54. It's very strange to have to keep reminding yourself to hold back and it looked like this could be the main focus today. But the slower I ran, the more twinges I felt... so I ran easy and comfortable slipping into 8.20's every now and then.

The weather seemed perfect and my choice of long sleeve was again serving me well. Through half way in 1:49 I was still a bit aprenhesive that I was going too fast, but it just felt right. As the first hill approached I accelerated and passed 'Foxy' Dave again. He was running very steadily and it took a 7:59 mile uphill to get past, again feeling very comfortable. The hilly section passed in a blur and I was looking forward to seeing the 18 mile appear on my Garmin so I could really get going. the problem this time was mile 17 brought a 7:50 so I was already speeding up even through a massive hail storm which felt like an ice bath, I was loving it again.

Cruising through the last 8 miles and over the big hill for the fifth time I was easily knocking out 8's. I was also getting better at the maths and figured I'd finish under 3:40 if I kept it at 8.30's... I didn't though. My last 9 miles went like this:



7:50



7:44



7:55



7:52



8:34 (ice cream mountain)



8:00



8:03



7:58



8:04



8:19



for a 3:36 finish.

Over the moon and no serious injury.

A couple of others in camp had a very tough day today so fingers crossed they will recover well tonight and join us for day 6.