Timinator

I did 20.3 km today at exactly the same pace as I did last weekend (5.5 min/km). It was harder going today; I had to push my body more. It was also tougher environmentally: there were huge ponds of lying water from last week’s rains and my feet were soaked for most of the run. Doing the same time in those conditions feels like a bit of an improvement, then.

I’ve still got to pick up a lot of speed on race day if I’m going to set a new half-marathon personal best. I think I’ll ramp up the sprints in the next few weeks.

I feel great.

On May 20th I’ll be running the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon. It will be my fifth half. My goal is a personal best, which means doing it quicker than the 1:44:12 net time I achieved in this same race in 2010.

However, I will be two years older than I was at that time, and have not raced a half in a year. Even then I was running to support a first-timer; I haven’t raced a half at capacity for about 20 months. Nevertheless, I’m feeling good about my training right now, so I’m optimistic I’ll do okay.

They’re keeping the new one-lap course they used last year. Organisers are including staggered start times, though. Last year there was a serious bottleneck at the end of the Cahill Expressway, so I think that makes a lot of sense.

Tomorrow I’ll run the 2011 Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon.

It looks to be a cool, clear day, with the largest ever attendance for this race (more than 10,000). It’s also the 20th anniversary of the race, and there’s a new single-lap course that takes in even more of the great sights of central Sydney.

This will be my fourth half marathon. I’ll be running with someone else who’s doing their first ever half, which I think will make it a new and exciting experience for me.