Saturday dawned warm (18C) and dry and Andrea (3rd time half marathoner), Chris (first timer), Stephen (seasoned marathoner), Geoff (only his third or fourth half, but a very good athlete nonetheless) and I (half marathon No. 12) were itching to get to the start line of the Southern Lakes Half Marathon. At the start conditions couldn't have been more perfect, the temperature had a dropped a few degrees, it was overcast and hardly a breath of wind.
We all had high expectations for the race: Stephen, Andrea and I were aiming for PBs; Geoff was hoping for a placing and; Chris was aiming to beat 2 hours in his first half. In fact I was aiming for 1:45, but I knew I hadn't done enough long runs to warranted that target. I was bouyed by my PB in the 5km on Tuesday so was still hopeful. I was well on target at the 5km mark (23:27) and still close at the 10km (48:40) and even with 6km to go I was bang on target pace. Unfortunately the wheels feel off a little over the last 5km (confirming my feeling of being slightly underdone), but I still managed a PB of 1:46:40 (2:44 off my old PB set at Cromwell last October and 4:52 off last year's time for this course). Chris also broke 2 hours, Andrea smashed around 15 minutes off her old PB, Geoff placed 4th overall and 2nd open male and Stephen did another sub-1:30 half just outside his PB. All-in-all a hugely successful race!
I was feeling great on Sunday and decided to get Carleen and the kids to give me a head start and head off on my bike before they left for home. I jumped on my bike at 9:30am and headed off with Carleen and the kids to leave at 10:30 and pick me up en route to C
romwell. I expected to do about 30-35km before they caught me at about 10:45 so set off at a reasonable pace so as to make the most of the 75 minutes of so. There was a slight cool southerly which slowed me a little and by the time I got to the 35km mark I was only managing about 25.5km/h. Carleen and the kids were also nowhere to be seen so I continued on, thinking they'd be along any minute.At 52km (2hours) they finally caght up and I was less than 13km from Cromwell so I decided to keep going. I finished up in Cromwell at 12:06pm, 65km from Hawea (see route above) and 2:36:30 on the bike - just under 25km/h. My arse was killing me and my quads had about as much as they could take. It felt great though and I am really looking forward to more long rides.
Today has been a day of active recovery. 30 minutes in the pool at lunchtime - it wasn't pretty but it got things moving again - and a 30 minute run this evening which has pumped the legs clear.
I feel completely knackered, but strangely I feel more alive than I ever have. If my legs aren't slightly sore everyday, I feel something is not right and feel a weird kind of guilt if I miss more than a day's training, even if it as supposed to be a rest day. I think I have well and truly caught the bug now! I am just going to have to be careful not to overdo it (as my folks so frequently remind me).
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