3Km Time Trial Caffeine Experiment

Time Trials always affect me somehow...

This morning I bounced out of bed and quickly dressed and got on my way. Hubby encouraged me to drink some caffeine to see how it would go - so I chugged it down on the way out the door.

Got there a bit early but could not find a park (all closed off for roadworks) so I had to move the car to the other side which took up all my time. I got there just as Pat was saying for the first group to head out.

Tess and I headed out and then I felt ill (=nerves) so raced to the loo. Came out and found Tess and Tara waiting for me....true meaning of friends :)

We ran to the start line and got there just as Pat was about to start the strides. I never felt great on the strides. I was hot and it was very humid. The sweat was pouring off me and I felt dizzy. Not a good sign.
I asked Min for a mouthful of her water (no-one else had any) and then it was time.

Pat paused us for a moment to tell us about his experience in racing and I smiled inside thinking "elitist bullshit won't work for slow (relative to Pat) people like me" .
He said he used to relax his body when running hard and that got him in the zone without him feeling like he was doing as hard an effort.

So we took off, with such a large group it was hard to get going and I was dodging people and sidestepping to the point of hilarity. We are so friendly I almost expected someone to move aside and say "you first".
Anyhow....there I was trying to do what Pat said and relax. It wasn't easy as all my fellow runners were in front, Tori, Andy, Jan, Tara and Tess. Usually I've got the gun on them until at least the 1km turnaround before they overtake me. As it was I ran well until the 500m staying behind but then started to catch a few without increasing the effort. By the 1km turnaround I was running and quite comfortable with my effort. I remembered telling Tess that the second km is always shocking and real slow so I put in a sprint for 30m to save on any time I lost by turning (pathetic heh) then settled back into chasing Ciaran in front.

At the 2km mark I was tiring but looked at my watch and saw 8:01. How exciting, so I did the same little sprint before settling into a very un-relaxed uncomfortable 1km. It was hot, legs were tired and I wanted to sit down.
Tess zoomed past along with many others and they all yelled out for me - where did they get their breath??? This really encouraged me and I persisted to the very end.
Got to 200m out and Jodi was on my shoulder and said "30sec you can do it 30 more sec" so I groaned and kept it on.
Then it got really hard as I was determined to do as best as I could so I wanted a strong finish. I pushed really hard and sprinted as much as I could - which wasn't that great but it got me there.

Finished at last!!!!! And a bloody great PB too!!! 11:56 and many smiles...........

Did the obligatory vomit and tears at the end *shame* but nothing could wipe the smile.

Daughter just rang and is cooking dinner and her special brownies. Hubby is picking up bottle of wine. Man oh man it is Christmas today :)

All my thanks and gratitude go out to two wonderful women. Tess and Jodie.
Tess for believing I had it in me and not being suprised at all when I finished with a PB!!
Jodi for her magical words "there you are clairie, I was looking for you, hurry up and I'll wait here" - made me feel very special and gave me the incentive I needed to pass Ciaran.

PS. Caffeine Roolz :)