Lake Joondalup 10km Run

Another 10km race in my program, as Bill's way of making me run hard and not to slack off after a pretty tough training week. I heard that it was a fast course and a PB is pretty much guaranteed. As much as I wanted another PB and possibly crack the sub 40 minute mark, I was a bit doubtful. My quads felt tight the whole day yesterday after a 4 hour ride.

On a whim, we decided to eat out for dinner last night. I thought it would be a good idea to get some carbo in before the run, I'm preparing like it was an Ironman race haha. We went to good ol' Fratelli in Sorrento. We did not have a booking but as we were early, we just managed to get ourselves a table before it was all booked out.

Service was really quick, the food was ready within 5 minutes from ordering! Very tasty, I had the chicken fetuccine and Li-Ann had the seafood risotto. As always, we swapped plates halfway through. Due to the quick service, we were barely in the restaurant for more than 30 minutes. We then had dessert at San Churro at Hillarys Boat Harbour. Unfortunately, our black forrest trifle was a bit of a letdown.

Race day morning, I got the Lake Joondalup by 7.15am for the 8am start. Organized by the WA Marathon Club, it was a two lap 5km course. I didn't feel fantastic during the warm up. My quads were still tight, and my breathing was a bit laboured. I had chaffing from yesterday's ride and I felt it while doing some short sprints.

I met Dennis Tan from North Coast Tri Club and Steve Gleeson from Break Your Limits. Both got their PBs, well done! I could not find any toilets for the pre race leak, so I followed some other guys who went to the bushes. Not sure where the ladies went!

Race start, I got caught up in the surge of the other runners, clocked the first km in 3:53, but the second km in 4:06. I guessed the 1st marker was probably a bit short then. There was a slight slope down just before the 2.5km turnaround, meaning an elevation after it. It annoyed me a bit, as I expected a TOTALLY FLAT course but really, I shouldn't be complaining at all.

The was a bit of wind too, but wasn't too challenging. Throughout the first lap, there were kids no taller than my chest, who were keeping up with my sub 4 minute per km pace, some even faster! Gosh, they can really run! As I made the 5km turnaround, the the finisher clock showed just over 19:40 something, I thought to myself, if I can maintain the pace, sub 40 is mine!

I didn't negative split for the second lap but I kept the km splits under 4 minutes. Reached the finish in 39:43, a PB by over 40 seconds! And I broke 40 minutes for 10km, something which I never thought I could. Definitely breaking my limits! I guess the interval runs really help.

Looking forward to an easy week of training...