09 September 2006

C2S, Perth HM and new ventures


The last few weeks have been pretty good. 

First, I slowly recovered from the anterior tibial tendonitis. Could not really force it but with time and lots of patience it sorted itself out. A niggle stayed for a while but in the last two weeks, it has been perfect.

Then, the City to Surf was excellent. I was in the B Group pretty much at the front. Whilst the hill up to Kings Park was crowded (and the HRM strap decided to come loose and I nearly lost it), the rest was quite cruisy. I thought it was all painless until we got to City Beach oval and there is this small dip into the oval - had it all figured out in my head and went according to plan, but forgot about that one. Didn't have a problem with the burning sausages greeting the sweaty runners. But somehow the stretch around the stalls to the finish line was longer than last year.
Gun time 52:50, net time 52:30, who's complaining. Certainly not me.

The following Sunday the Perth Half Marathon was on the menu. Again, gorgeous weather. Tons of participants, I found out later that the participation was a record since 1991 (which was apparently the height of the running boom in WA). I planned on trying to keep a 4:30 pace and that was quite fine until the turning point at UWA. Then I fell into a hole and felt like treading water until the Brewery. From there on I was fine, but nevertheless not as quick as I should have been. I was sure I was not going to make the 1:35, but was still surprised when I missed my goal by more than a minute. 
Still a PB, so once again, who's complaining.

In the past few weeks I had started riding my bike to work and got back into the swing of things, a bit like 25 years' worth of time travel.
But the old bike just isn't up to decent biking which means that a new one has to be found:
I am now the proud owner of a Giant TCR C1 that rides and handles like a dream.
Only got it yesterday and have taken a half an hour ride in Kings Park, but I'm hooked. 
So, what's next, maybe triathlon, we'll see. For now I'll just get used to the clipless pedals and do the Rotto Marathon.
The training is coming along nicely with hill training at Reabold Hill earlier in the week and 33k long and slow (average HR 133 = 65%) today.
Hopefully the weather is nice tomorrow so I can go for a spin on the bike.