Training Log Archive: devil

Event: Australian Mountain Running Championships
 

I'd never run Mt Tennant before so wasn't really sure what to expect for this race. The mens race was 2.5km up, then back to the start followed by 6 km up to the summit. I'd heard that the climb was pretty brutal so just tried to find a nice climbing pace on the first uphill, was just behind stu, who I figured was also taking it easy. There were well over 10 runners in front in the first km, but as we climbed I was gradually reeling them in and was still only 50m back from stu at the first turn and in 7th. I lost a lot of ground on the downhill, which was quite steep, I was trying to find the balance between going fast and not hammering my legs too much and lost two places. After the turn I tried to settle back into the climbing pace, which worked pretty well, and got past the two guys who overtook on the downhill after about 2km. One of them was a very noisy runner which helped spur me on to put a bit of distance on them. From the 2.5 km mark it was just a case of keeping pushing on, I was gaining very slowly on the two runners in front but not fast enough. The km marks passed at a painfully slow rate. There was a little respite with about 1.5km to go, then it steepened up for the last km, with a nasty kick in the last 500m. Was pleased with the time, only 7 mins off the winner and 2 mins back from stu who was first M40.
Definitely a pretty brutal race - but good for anyone needing to HTFU

Spent quite a bit of time warming up before the start as it was basically up from the beginning. Then jogging back down the 6km from the top. The pressos for the other races were already happening when we got down and we had to wait around for the timers to come back from the summit with the results before collecting the winnings. I think all the aldi gear had been given away when we got back as we just got plastic trophies.
Hammies and achilles feeling tight during and after - will see how they pull up tomorrow for Kowen.