A PB, and still beaten home...

Little to report over the last week - took the week off after smashing myself up last weekend, and work was pretty physical which didn't help much. Still, felt like I had earned it.

Last week, my training partner proposed a challenge - I would give her a 45 minute start, and we would see who would complete the anti-clockwise version of Pinnacles first. Her best time around there is about 2:42, mine 1:54. So, basically, to be first home, you had to do a PB. Seemed a good race simulation, with the added bonus of not knowing where the other was.

We were joined by the third member of our Kokoda Challenge squad, who was the one who actually completed the event with me. I think she'd been suffering a bit with the old post-event let down, but news during the week that she was pretty much qualified for Six Foot has apparently perked her up and given her new focus. She is very strong and should go very well there - some work to do, but we're six months away...

So, they set off at 5:30, which is when I was getting up. I arrived a bit after 6 on a slightly overcast, cool and humid morning, got set up and did some stretching, and at pretty much 6:15 on the dot, I went.

Managed to jog the first mile or so of what is basically all climbing from the start. The first target is the old gate at around 10.3k or so, and when pushing I'm generally looking to hit this gate in under 65 minutes - today it was about mid 63, which is a touch outside my best to this point (long term goal is to get through there in under an hour) but I knew was only a matter of seconds, so well in touch.

The next target is the second gate, at around 12.6 or so. There are some nasty climbs, and some good downhills through this short stretch, and I'd normally be a little over 16 minutes through here, today it was a bit under 15 minutes as I was starting to imagine catching my quarry. Amazing what a little competition will do.

From there, the course pitches and rolls a lot, with some of the tougher climbs, but also with some of the sharper downhills. The good thing today was that with the rain on Friday and Saturday the surface was much more stable so I was able to attack the downhills much more confidently, even sections I'd normally crab down.

So, on top of the 2 minutes I'd gained between gates 1 and 2 on my best around here, I picked up another 3 1/2 minutes over the last 5 1/2 km, desperately pushing to see if I could run down my opponents. I feel a lot faster on good quality downhills now - even the small amount of speedwork seems to have helped my form here.

Into the last stretch it became apparent the girls had beaten me home but it was still all to play for, with a major personal goal of sub 1:50 around here attainable. I made it home with a bit to spare, at 1:49:22, so a great result, the outcome of the handicap race notwithstanding. Credit where credit's due - the two girls had huge PBs today and should be very pleased with themselves. The comment was made that they were dawdling along at one point when one of them raised the spectre of my bearing down on them (must have been around when I was starting) and mentioned that I wouldn't be slowing to chat or showing any mercy. So they motored off...

Which I wouldn't have, and didn't. That's the point, right? Competition improves the breed.

This should become a regular part of our training - it worked really well, and to be frank I'm not 5 minutes faster than 10 days ago. Just properly motivated!