Busselton Half

1:27.12 for the half and I seem to be getting slower every year!!! But before I get all depressed about a disappointing result, I actually feel like I had a pretty good race. Went out at a good pace 3:50 through the first k, 16:00 through 4k and then held 4min/k until 9k. The course is flat but it was a very windy day and I found I struggled when running into the wind (2nd and 4th 5k sections). At about 7k I was passed by a group who I guessed was the 84min group and I held onto them until about 9k and then let them go as the pace was a bit hot for me. In the group was a women and I resolved myself to the fact that I would be beaten by a girl. I later found out that it was Kate Bevilaqua, who I'm pretty sure won the Busselton IM last year so that was comforting.

Anyway I felt like I finished quite strong over the last 5k and picked up a few places. I could have dipped under 87 but didn't want a sprint finish. I felt controlled today and certainly much more comfortable at 4min/k than in previous years, even when I had run faster. All in all I am pretty happy with the first race of the year.

What I have noticed is that the 400's I have been doing seem to have had little effect on my speed. After speaking to my 'Coach' it was decided to extend the intervals to 1k. My first sesion was last night with a 4x1k w/ 2 minute rest. These were completed in 3:45, 3:43, 3:41, 3:38. What I noticed was that in a 400 I'd run about 83-86 seconds and be stuffed, but I was able to comfortably run 90 second laps yesterday and then kick hard over the last 200m. It seems the longer the interval the better I can do.

Feb is a really key month for me this year, being my main training month for the 40 miler in early April. I'll be looking to average about 120k/week with long runs of 4hrs @ around 5-5:15min/k. Uni begins this month as well, which in turn means dropping back to 2 days a week at work. I think I'll be busier that I am now though so hopefully this doesn't affect my training too much.

Nate