with a cherry on top

It appears that my wits went begging when I moved to Rockhampton and I've only just discovered I hadn't posted anything on my final long run before tapering (and my last run in Brisbane!). Here is what I had written on the Sunday (the day after).

Yesterday I went for my second 25k run. My beautiful back posse group deliberately paced it slower, as last time we had gone far too quickly and it destroyed me for the entire weekend. It was a lot of fun. One of the fast runners decided to join us and we were actually able to talk the entire distance (rather than gasping for air). Brilliant!

It was a new route, too. Up in the same direction but on the other side of the river this time. So I knew the first 6k out but the last half was a mystery. There were a few big hills. Not really steep but looooong hills. The kind where you think you’re at the top turn the corner…and there’s more uphill!

With 2k to go I ran past a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. In a quick flurry we decided I’d finish my run and then head back to catch up with her while she continued to walk in the same direction as I.

I finished my run – 25.5k! Farthest distance yet. And, perhaps most importantly, longest time I’ve spent on my feet: 2.39.44sec. In “long slow distance” time on your feet is actually more important than speed – that’s what speed sessions are for.

And just to add that extra cherry on top, I did a slow (super slow) jog back another couple hundred metres to meet up with my friend. I think it was more a flail than a jog, but I did it.

On a final note, I’m writing this from my new living accommodation in Rockhampton – about an 8h drive north of Brisbane. There is a running group up here which I’ve yet to meet, but I shall dearly miss my Galeforce Running Squad! It has been an amazing year of training and I’ve come so far. Group workouts, baby! It’s all about the group workouts.

Dreams vs reality

Oof! What a day! I ran my first 25k today. Farthest distance I've ever been by 3km! I dreamt that I finished it and found it super easy...and then woke up to reality. Sadly, I never run as fast in reality as I do in my mind.
There were only 13 of us doing the 25k, so we mostly stuck together as a group on the way out. I passed the 10.5k mark where I usually turn around and falsely believed it "wasn't that much farther". The distance seems to stretch out sooo much farther when you don't know where you're going! It was along the river, so a nice pretty route that was flat except for the hills when we had to go over the bridges.
I made it out in 1h11min something (I was too exhausted to look closely). On the way back our group split into four natural groups...the faster, the fast, the back posse, and me. :P I just couldn't keep up to the others! So I set my legs to a "comfortably fast" pace and trekked those 12.5k back on my own. I actually passed the back posse as they were stopping for water breaks and I was too much in the zone to stop (and too fearful I wouldn't start again).
Total time: 2.29.37!!
A quick math calculation shows that this is justover 10k/hour, or justunder 6min/k split times. I am feeling fairly satisfied with myself. I had hoped to get a time under 2.30 and I did. The last 2k I couldn't quite keep up my rhythm, so I fell into the mental mantra of "almost done, almost done." And total unstopped time was only about 5min slower than that, so clearly I didn't stop too much! Actually, I only stopped once on the way back when there was 2k to go, as I was desperately thirsty. My mistake, as that threw my rhythm. But then, I don't know how much faster I would've been if I hadn't had the water.
And now the reality is that my muscles are exhausted! As in, really, really exhausted!