A 5k PB, but....

Up at about 6:20am and I wasn't feeling overly fantastic. Didn't sleep particularly well and wasn't quite 100% in the stomach.

Dropped EliseS off at the start and parked at UTS Rowers so I could get a warm up. Set off from there just after 6:50am, and had the pleasure of Luke Skyrunner and his little bloke through a 3.7km jog in 18:26 (ave HR 128).

Caught up with a few people before setting off with the 17 min group, which included Boof, Fats, Uncle Dave, Sparkie and Action. Splits were as follows:
1k - 3:26
3k (forgot the 2k mark) - 7:11 for 2km
4k - 3:36
5k - 3:34
...giving 17:46 for the 5k, a 12 sec PB (ave HR 168, at 176-178 over the last two km). Felt my effort level was very good, but my upper legs seemed dead - I tried from about the 1.5k mark to move into a longer, more quad driven stride, but was conscious I was slowing down everytime I did it, so felt I did the bulk of the run on high turnover. Might still be carrying a bit from the week.

Bit disappointed with that - I felt I was on to at least get under 17:30. I guess when you're on a run of success it's probably good to get a bit of a 'jolt' like this from time to time, to remind you that it's not all easy, and that you need to keep working hard to make improvements.

In terms of the run itself, Action fell off the back straight away (as he predicted), and I held station behind Sparkie and Uncle Dave as Fats and Boof disappeared into the distance. I managed to ease past Sparkie just after the 3k mark, and was gently catching Unc up until about 4k (he had a bit of a look around to see who was behind him just before we went under the Lilyfield Rd overpass, which lifted the spirts a bit) when he lit up the afterburners and went. Impressive return.

Jogged 5.06k back to the start in 25:17 (ave HR 126) to finish the morning off and have brekkie at Brett Park, ably handled by Aunty Karin and Truckie.

EliseS enjoyed a big PB this morning, finding over 2 minutes off her PB for a 39:09, ably assisted by The Owl. She was, quite rightly, feeling very pleased with herself. Since joining Run Club and enlisting the help of a dietician, she has been working very hard, consistently getting out for her walks during the week, attending Run Club and taking freespirittraining's advice on technique, exercise and diet, and focussing on getting her eating habits right. Her running will continue to improve in leaps and bounds as her weight, strength and fitness improves, and I think she'll be giving the 30 minute runners a big hurry up before the year's out.

Diet and exercise - who'da thunk it?