Last week the run for SAAC was ‘Run for Ray’, out at Troopers Creek.
There we had to run up one killer of a mountain! No, I’m not joking, it was hard work, I had to walk 3/4 of that hill, but I wasn’t the only one who walked. Even the best had to walk parts.
But what goes up, comes down, so even though the 1st half of the run was hard, it was all downhill from there.
It was supposed to be 10km, but according to Garmin, it was less at 9.79. Either way, I finished it and under an hour.
This week was ‘King of the Mountain’ out at Halls Gap.
The distance, well that is kind of up in the air. First, it was 3km, then we were told 4.4km. In the end, the Garmin told me it was 3.65km, however, it was all uphill. So yes, no pb on this race. I ended up placing 9th with the handicaps (handicap time of 7:55). My race time was 30:09mins, but my actual time was 22:14. My pace is about 6min p/km. But considering it was all uphill, I’ll take it.
My lungs felt like they were bursting, ok not exploding bursting, like how I use to feel when I just started running, but I could tell they were getting an above-average workout.
I did forget my heart rate monitor, I realise halfway to the Gap that I left it at home. So I’m not too sure what my max heart rate was, but it would have been fairly high. I also think the cold air didn’t help as well, but at the end of the day, I did it, and I didn’t stop and walked.
I also got practice at spitting. I’m not very good at it, and well for whatever reason I was producing more saliva than I could handle. I know weird, and laugh, it is funny, well in a weird obscure way.
All in all it was a good run. I also ran back down the Mountain (as it was a one-way track), crazy? Possibly, but it was all downhill (until the last 50m when I sucked it up and went hard), so my time yes my time back was faster, but what do you expect when it’s all downhill. Also, I wasn’t the only one who decided to run back. So I’m not the only crazy.
Some runners even ran back (no joke) back to the gap where we had planned on having afternoon tea. Now THAT is crazy (dedicated).
Next week I don’t plan on running the SAAC event. As I have another even on the Sunday, and I want to have a rest from running. I find I run better when I have rest days in between my runs.