Saturday, August 4, 2012

"Special Events"

After many disrupted and atypical training weeks I really felt like I reconnected with my normal running life this week via a few different events.

It started with me running the Bush Capital Half Marathon at Goorooyarroo Nature Reserve last Sunday (photo near finishing line). Since I'm a long way off being race fit, this half marathon was a "special event" for me and not a "race". Now while some people may think this is just a semantic difference, for me it's a real distinction because I see a race as an event that I've specifically prepared for and in which I aim to run the best I can, whereas a special event is more like a formally organised training run conducted under race conditions. I don't think it matters that the same occasion can be a race to some people and a special event to others. After all, long distance running is a truly individual sport :)

My second reason for sticking with this legitimate distinction between a race and a special event is that when you upload your Garmin GPS data to GarminConnect there's a range of "event types" that you can choose to categorise your run. Two of the options are: "Race" and "Special Event". If it's good enough for Garmin, then it's good enough for me :)

Anyway .... I enjoyed the Bush Capital Half Marathon although I found it hillier and more scrabbly in places than I remember. I finished in 1.49. Good enough for a "special event".

Two other events that I got back into this week were the Wednesday West training group and my Easy Fridays with Pam.

So, if this week was my reconnecting week, then I hope next week will be a consolidating week.

5 comments:

Ewen said...

The BC16 was a 'special event' for me too. Worked out well to get in a faster long run than usual. And there's no way I'd run in those temperatures unless it was a special event!

Looking forward to a coffee catch-up the Saturday following C2S.

Jog Blog said...

Post Sat run coffee soon would be great! Hope Ruth & CJ can join us. It's been ages ......

I'm away 18-19 Aug so w'end after that? Perhaps @ the war memorial cafe?

Ewen said...

Sounds good. I'll pencil in 25 August at the WM Cafe. We've been running 'late' and having coffee/lunch there. CJ's in Half IM training but hope she can join us too.

Jog Blog said...

Excellent! I'll pencil it in too :) I'll also email Ruth & CJ to see if they can put it in ink in their diaries :) Shall we say 11am?

Ewen said...

I'll start my long run at 9, so 11ish should be fine. See you then!