Monday, June 09, 2008

How Bad Do You Want It?

I ran 10km tonight, from the Meridian building to Greta Point and back. I had no real time goals when I set out. I knew how bad my legs felt on Saturday and I'd done RPM on Sunday and a weights workout this morning, so I had no reason to think they'd be any better today.

Today though I was hydrated. Today I'd eaten properly. Today my mind actually decided to turn up and play nicely. So it wasn't too hard to stick below my 5.40 goal pace as I ran out past Oriental Bay on a gorgeous, calm crisp night.

It wasn't until I was on the way back that I got a little bull-headed. I was picking off runner after runner. I was feeling strong and my heartrate was even. My Garmin was whispering lovely negative split tales into my wrist. I was certainly feeling the exertion but the pain levels were well within bearable limits. I started to push. I ran the last two kilometres at a 5km pace or under. I got back to Meridian in an outbreath over 55 minutes.

If I'd had fresh legs, if I'd pushed harder ... I know I could have cut that down to 52. I'll work on that. However, I had a more pressing question. I went home, fired up my iBook and Googled "Parrot Predictor".

If my legs cooperate on the day, if my head cooperates, if my glutes cooperate, if my ankle and sacro illeac cooperate, if my stomach cooperates .....

My parrot predictor friend suggests it may just be possible for me to run the Harbour Capital half in two hours.

Eeeekkkkk.

1 comment:

Kate said...

You can absolutely break 2 hours busting times like that in training. In fact you could break 1:50, but it's up to you whether you play it safe or put it all on the line.