#63: Don't Let Me Down

Going downhill fast: Yonge St. race report and training update.

Yesterday marked just 2 weeks to Goodlife and was spent running a final tune-up race. The Yonge St 10k was said to be fast and it did not disappoint. I ran a ridiculously quick 33:16 (3:20/k) over the 10km which was almost 3 minutes faster than my previous best (35:56) at the distance. I'll happily take the time but will also place a massive asterisk next to the result given the downhill course (and helpful tailwind). It's technically a PB, but certainly not an honest one.

The whole day was great from start to finish. Got up early and biked across town to Casa Byrne Campbell to catch a ride in the Byrnemobile up to the start. Most of our group (Rob, Doyle, Davey, Melinda and I) did a 3k warm-up on side streets before getting close to the front of the first corral for the start. The gun went off at 9am and the first k was quick as usual in 3:14. It only got moderately slower from that point. I ran with Darren for the first 7k where we hit the 5k mark in ~16:30. I've been tending not to check my watch at all lately and instead run by feel which has worked really well for me. Today, I got the 1k split and didn't check my watch again until the finish. No negative split (~16:30 and ~16:45) but not far off. I ran in a small group for the first 3k and then with Darren to about 7k when we parted ways at the turn on Richmond and then ran solo. The hurt began around 8k and it was a battle to hold on for dear life. I managed to pass 3 guys in those last 3k including one with a hundred metres to go. Final k was the fastest in 3:10 which again goes to show, there is always something left in the tank if you dig deep enough. Once the race was over, I waited for the other guys to come in and we then did a 10k cooldown along the Lakeshore. Rest of the day was spent in good company enjoying some brews with my crew.

A huge congratulations to fellow Longboat Roadrunners including the 5 women (Julie, Tara, Lynn, Melinda and Christine) who WON the women's team challenge and to our guys (myself, Darren, Davey, Rog and Rob) who won the men's!!! (CRS just updated the results while I was in the process of writing this.) Originally, our women's team wasn't even considered and our men's team finished third. We lost to a stacked team that recruited 'ringers' including the eventual winner Reid Coolsaet (28:36; another amazing race from our soon to be Olympic Marathoner) and some African guy who finished 4th. But congrats to all other LB runners who ran great races today including Hiddleston, Simion, Stefan, Kevin G, George, Rob H, Richard, Tony S and everyone else as well.

Reid Coolsaet breaking the tape in 28:35.7, only 0.3 seconds ahead of Kangogo! Also, check out this article from the Star.

Two weeks to taper and given yesterday's result, I'm feeling great going forward. I'm cutting back the mileage in order to rest/recover both physically and mentally and be ready to rock the full. We've got a long but easy 32k to do on Wed and a final dress rehearsal on Friday running 10k at marathon pace. 110k this week and 80k next. Onward to Goodlife. Full steam ahead!