The start of a Terrigal Trotters 10km Time Trial |
The Charles Kay Hill 10km Time Trial was scheduled for this morning at 6:00am, so I got to Terrigal at 5:20am and made sure I was well warmed-up, with an easy 4km through the darkened streets of Wamberal beforehand. Running a race against your friends once a month makes for some longstanding rivalries. I think all Trotters who regularly run the Time Trials have a pretty good idea of who they want to beat, and who wants to beat them. Results are scanned and mental notes made.
Part of the dreaded Charles Kay hill |
The longer warm-up certainly made me feel better for the first kilometre or two, and although I didn't feel I was running fast, I wasn't that far behind several of my old rivals. I didn't expect to catch them, and was wary of forcing the pace, having done little fast running of late. I resolved to settle into a pace that would get me comfortably to half-way and then see how I was going. Perhaps the worst part of this particular course is the "foothills" that are encountered in the middle stages. They cost you momentum, and it's hard not to think about the looming Charles Kay Hill.
Trotters socialise after a 10km Time Trial from a few years back |
Nevertheless, I do feel I'm on the way back to fitness and this hard run was a necessary step along the way. I'm a great believer in hard running and hills as a way of building speed and this morning's race ticked both boxes. There are no short-cuts, and there have to be runs and races where you perform below par relative to your benchmarks (aka friendly rivals). Avoiding these runs and races just lengthens the process of regaining fitness. The trick is to keep everything in perspective and remind yourself that things may well be different at next month's Time Trial.