Completed the non-championship walk in 5:57:51 on a hot and windy day.I arrived at the course to find that it had been shortened from the 2km loop used last year to a 1km loop. I wasn't sure whether this would be a good change or not: it would mean twice as many turn arounds, but it would also mean twice the access to the drinks table. Also, instead of counting to 25 I would be counting to 50 – just a small thing, but it does make a difference when one is tired!
My target for the day was to start at 7:00/km and hold that for as long as possible. This would result in a marathon time approximately equal to my PB, and a 50k time of 5:50:00. I had also publicly announced that I was "hoping to squeak under 6 hours", so I only had a 10 minute buffer.
What can I remember of the 50k? The temperature at the 7am start was pleasant for walking in a singlet, but by mid day parts of the course were extremely hot. It was also very windy. Heading north from the start line we were walking in to the wind, and that seemed to be quite strong later in the day. But heading south on the return journey was entirely exposed to the sun, and there was a stretch of perhaps 100m where there was no wind.
The field initially split into a lead pair of David and Peter, followed by Cliff and me. Both pairs separated, with David opening a reasonable lead on Peter. The gap between David and Peter closed up again after a while, with David and Peter either walking together, or one behind the other. When they lapped me for the 3rd time at about 13.75km, they were walking together and it looked like it could be anyone's race.
My race started fractionally fast, but then slowed as my shins once again tightened up and slowed me down. But it didn't take long to get back on track, and I went through 10km in 1:10:14, just 14 seconds behind target. I went through 20km in 2:19:25, now 35 seconds ahead of target.
At around 23km Peter started to gradually drop behind David. After a while it was evident that Peter was slowing considerably, and even I started to gain ground on him. I eventually caught up one lap at around 30.25km, but only a few km after that Peter withdrew from the race.
I completed 42km in 4:57:51. Given the time for my 43rd kilometre, I would have completed the marathon distance in about 4:59, which would have been my fastest for the year, and my second fastest ever. Although I might have been well behind the race leader and travelling at what seemed like a fairly slow pace, I was doing well by my historical standards.
With 6km to go I had a slow lap as I gathered my mental resources for the final 5 km. At about 3km to go I decided it was time to pick up the pace, but looking at the pace chart it appears that nothing happened! Before long there was just two laps to go, and then one. This time I did manage to pick up the pace and finished relatively strongly. 5:57:51. I had completed the 50k and squeaked in under the 6 hours!
Analysis of my race
I did well compared to my marathon times, but I was perhaps 10 minutes slower than what a key training session 3 weeks out from the race would have suggested. My 5k race performance clearly also tailed off in the last few weeks. Although part of that was due to weather conditions, I can't help feeling that perhaps I peaked to early, or possibly lost form due to the absence of 5k races in September.
Overall Results
Name | Time | ||
Championship | |||
David Sim | 5:15:20 | ||
Peter Baillie | DNF | 4:00:44 at 38km, | |
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Cliff Harrison | 5:33:56 | Andrew Shelley | 5:57:51 |
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