Glasshouse Trail Series: 11km (Glasshouse 50)

Days to Australian Ironman 2008 - 323

Today's Journal
This morning I was off up to Woodford for the first race in the Glasshouse Trail Series. A faboulous day, however, it did warm up a bit by the time we started. The race for me today was 11km, starting at 9.00am. I was there about an hour and a half early, plenty of time to prepare myself and get to the start. I was feeling a little flat and lathargic since I got up and my mind really wasn't on the race. The other thing that I was unsure of was the course, it was an unknown. My preparation into the race was off a big week and no taper.

This year this race was starting in a new location and an impressive on at that. There was a heathly field assembled at the start and then we were off. The first couple hundred metres were on the road and then we were onto the trails. Much of the course was trails that vehicle travel along and the running surface was relatively sound, however, in parts it was a little sandy. Throughout the course there were a number of challenging hills that got the heart rate up into the Redline zone.

Much of the race was spent within the anaerobic zone.

Race Evaluation: Not happy with my performance, the overall time was 47:37 for the 10.4km. I believe there were a number of factors influencing my performance:

1. Doing the race off a full week of training, and no taper...not an ideal prep. (but its about a the big picture)
2. Unfamiliar course.
3. Not mentally prepared.