2016 City2Surf Race Report – Arnold Bartlett

Race Date: August 14th    Results: 2016
I was quite reluctant to enter my first City2Surf in 2012, however, this race has since been my number one running event and prime indicator as to how much my running has improved.
Previous C2S results:
  • 2015: 51:27
  • 2014: 51:55
  • 2013: 51:46
  • 2012: 1:00.51
With a mixture of injuries and malaise in the past 2 years I hadn’t made much of a dent on my earlier success, but have at least remained consistent.
Training this year has been different, with a slowing of easy run paces and trail runs making up a large portion of my training, plus hard race efforts being further apart to avoid fatigue and injury. For 16 weeks up to C2S I was running approximately 69kms per week. Consistency has been key with an array of extra weekly runs prompted by flyers; making it impossible to make excuses to miss a session.  A wealth of running knowledge from being around the right people and some steady training partners (Loehr, Doyle and crew, and the Sunday run Flyers) have in addition been the vital to quality training and solid results.
​With PB’s this year in the 5km (16.17), 10km (33.54) and HM (1.15.25), I was assured I would get a time in the 46 to 48minutes range for C2S 2016.
I eagerly but impatiently waited for C2Sweekend to arrive and drove down the day before with some friends. Pre-race carb loading was Italian cuisine and done with fellow Flyers. After some laughs and the usual pre-race dialogue, an early bed time was on the cards. An early bed time is not necessarily a predictor of how well I will run a race, but this week I had a tickle in my throat and was worried it would blow outinto something more sinister if not for an early nights sleep. As it turned out a 9pm bed time would turn into nearly an 11pm one after some nervous race thoughts and some tossing and turning throughout the night.
Race day started at 6am with the routine toilet visit, run gear, white bread toast with jam, Powerade and a banana; then out the door at 6.45am to catch the bus from Randwick to Hyde Park. A warm up and assembling with the flyers – that were ordered(and quite well), by predicted race time followed. Start line nerves weren’t an issue and my mood was elevated by Simon Redheads frequent jokes and musings.
The race began right on 7.55am. Thoughts ran (pun intended!) through my head early on as to where fellow flyers were, if my pace was fast enough and why were there so many people in front of me?! I ran past RP and he cheered me on as I made the decision to try and keep my heart rate in the mid 170’s for the duration of the race.
It’s easy to run the first 3rd of the race leading up to Heart break hill fast! If you don’t have a set plan you can be drawn into running too fast with the crowd and this can come back to bite you in the later stages. It is also hard to get rhythm with the undulations and crowd stopping you from finding your constant pace.
As the hill approached I again make the conscious effort to run HARD up it regardless of its effects on the 3rd part of the race. I think a common belief is that the last 3rd of the race is easy because it has a steep downhill finish, but in the early stages there are generous fluctuations in the course to wear you out. The undulations and inclines came and went and then the rapid descent began.  I knew that if I ran them as hard as I could that I could remove valuable seconds and attack the last km like it was an interval. I switched positions multiple times with a Run Lab runner and the 3rd placed female on the descent to Bondi, then ran as fast as I could into the last kilometre. 
With the crowd cheering encouragement, seeing Vlad not yet finished and a chance to catch up to a Sydney runner, had me finish in 48.33!
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