Into the Teeth of a Gale

I don't think I have ever known Devonport to be so windy as it has this year, and that didn't make it easy for today's run along the exposed Bike Track from home to Tea Tree Lane.

In spite of the conditions I pushed ahead with my planned run, taking into account the invaluable advice I have received from my unofficial mentor/trainer/personal coach. I set off with the decided intention of not running my splits any faster than 6 mins. I held myself back as well as I could until I eased into a steady pace. However, as you can see from the splits all but three of the first fourteen were under 6.00/k. Oh, well! At least I wasn't pushing myself too hard. Perhaps I should say that the outward 14k was wind assisted (50 km/h gusting to 72 km/h) - but that's not totally correct because I was still getting blasted by cross winds that supposedly came from the west but seemed all over the place.

As I was running by the GPS for distance I went further along the route than last time until the 14k ticked over. Then I turned and really felt the force of the wind, which slightly picked up its intensity though the gusts didn't go above 70 (not that that means a great deal when you run uphill over the exposed Victoria Bridge and so much of the journey was into those buffeting winds.

I passed through the half marathon distance in 2:04:56 (1 min 33 sec slower than last time). On the previous occasion that was where I had had enough and then jogged/walked the final 7k home. Today, however, I kept up my steady pace that still felt comfortable. Just before the 23k mark I had to duck into the toilets near the Viet Vet memorial site and, though it was a stop of less than 2 mins, I could feel my muscles and joints begin to tighten up. Starting up again it was into the gusting wind and I was no longer able to get my rhythm going, meaning my final splits were much slower than I had been running.

I thought that I would walk the final steep hill but didn't need to - though a couple of tourists stopped and asked for directions. That didn't deter me and I kept plodding up hill to finish in a time of 2.51.34.53 or 6.07.66/k. That bettered my previous attempt on that course by 4:58, which shows the benefit of trying to run a more even pace.

I'd love to say that I came home to a big hug - but it was not to be. However, there was a lovely hot bath awaiting for me to relax in while reading Karl Barth's "The Church and the Churches". Far easier to understand than William Wilberforce's "Practical Christianity" which I am trying to plough through at the moment.

Splits can be found at: http://connect.garmin.com/splits/97785191