....time passes

I had intended to post daily, but I think I will just have to be realistic and post when I can. Training for the 6ft track marathon has been going reasonably well thanks to a fellow 'Trioddity' who has been dragging me out to Mt Coottha for hill repeats up the 'Chapel Hill' trail (2 km up hill!). All hills and no races makes David a dull boy, however, and so I did a shorter triathlon on the weekend and had a ball. It was Race 3 of the Bribie Island Triathlon series (see http://www.theruninn.com.au/bribie.php). Bribie Island is an hour north of Brisbane connected by a bridge (photo) and these races are relatively small, inexpensive, cheerful and enjoyably short! The distances for Race 3 were 1000m swim, 28 k bike and 8 k run. I did the swim in 20:28 which is perhaps slightly slow given that the tide was running with us. Nevertheless, I'm not complaining! I spend 2:28 in transition 1 (fast for me) and then started the 4 x 7 km loop flat bike course finding myself doing battle with two other riders for the entire 28 km. None of us seemed able to break away from the other two for long and studiously avoided gloating when we would eventually grind past one of the other two, only then to slow down and be passed a few minutes later. I did the bike in 45:23 averaging about 34 kph (good for me) and spent 1:48 putting on my running shoes and hat before bolting out onto the 2 x 4km run course. Running is my best leg and I did catch a few guys in my 'oo' age group (45 - 49 male). Some of my fastest run times have been in shorter triathlons and today was pretty good - 8 km in 37:26 (about 4:40 per km). I have (I think) done faster than this, but distances in triathlons are notoriously 'rubbery' so comparisons are difficult. Overall I did the race in 1:47:55. I'm not sure where I came in my age-group (about the middle, I suspect).

Unfortunately, a short triathlon is not really ideal training for the '6ft track marathon' and so after a lazy breakfast and midday sleep, I went out to Mt Coottha in the evening for two loops of the 9.5 km road circuit. Almost two and a half hours later I felt I HAD done enough training (for today, at least).