Wind and Rain

I remember a great story I heard about Stirling Moss, and why he abstained from sex the night before a grand prix. He reckoned he went to the starting grid the following morning with the thought in his mind that he deserved to win more than the other blokes because he'd gone without sex.

Following that line of logic, I battled through the weather-inflicted chaos of Sydney public transport and got myself to Centennial Park. I figure I can line up on Saturday chasing a sub 36:30 and C2S Preferred Start thinking that since I did that bloody session in such awful conditions, I deserved to run my goal time.

With the conditions SW changed the session somewhat to go up and down the paths along Federation Way, an 820 metre loop return. I got through a fairly unenthusiastic 2k warm up in 10 minutes, did some stretches and some sprint throughs and lined up.

SW told myself and Keith to take it reasonably easy, with the first 4km (well, 4.1k, with 5 laps of the loop) somewhere between 10k and HM pace, knowing we both had the Strider 10k race on Saturday. Got through in 16:12, which was a little slower than I was hoping for, but the ends were very slippery and SW was keen to see people take it easy through there. I had a nice rhythm going and it seemed a shame to stop.

Quick recovery jog for a couple of minutes and then to the 820m (most others did 3.2k) - it would normally be 1k, but given the circumstances. I was told to relax and take it at a good, relaxed pace. Got through in 2:56 and was quick without pushing.

It rained solidly through both runs, and the wind just whipped into your face. I had a cap which helped a fair bit, but jeez, it's close to the worst I've run in. The worst would be that run in October with the really strong easterly where it bucketed down the whole way, and running across the Tarban Creek Bridge was like someone standing 4 yards away and letting you have the full pressure of a garden hose in your face.

Jogged with Mohammed for a 3.2k cooldown around the normal grass course which actually proved itself to be in reasonable condition, but with a little bit of standing water.

So, no nagging guilt on Saturday morning about missing that session. Oooh yeah.