3 hours fartlek partly on Eagle view trail

Ran/hiked for 3 hours 2min 36 secs, HR 129 at end, but much higher on some of the steep trails and steep roads. made it to the "summit" point on Eagle View Trail twice. Awesome views to the plains below.

Saw some kangaroos, aircraft going to land at perth airport, a big black cockatoo like bird, lots of ants on the dark red clay dirt trails, and thoroughly enjoyed rogaining/orienteering-ish type hikes through thick bush on steep ascents and descents to find the trail a few times, when I sort of got lost-ish a bit.

Finished on the steep hills of National Park Rd, Viveash Rd, and on the bitumen roads of Jane Brook.

Had a memorable moment running on Viveash Rd looking into the paddock of a semi-rural house, when to my amazement I spotted about 20-40 kangaroos in their front paddock probably about 20 meters from the house and about 50 metres from the road I was running on!

Excellent long run to keep the 6 inch plans ticking over. 3 weeks until 6 inch! There is an 11km run this year too so thats pretty cool. Sounds like t-shirts are available too. Endura is sponsoring it. Its also an official AURA event, and scores AURA points see
http://www.aura.asn.au/SixInchTrack.html

For more details check out the excellent brand new 6 inch website Rob D. has done @ http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/
Cool running thread shows there looks like many good runners again this year including some interstate entrants again maybe. See cool running thread Here...

Way too busy with work all week, did 55hours plus including one 10 hour day of meter reading when the mercury hit about 37 degrees. Was too tired to go 6 inch reconning on Saturday as I had planned, with callcentre the night before, about 4 hours of meter reading and about 150km of driving around, had to go to head office, to hand in gear in Balcatta, then come back south of river then go back into city for callcentre job, barely had time to eat, let alone train. Bit of a minor stomach upset saturday morning too....So from a training point of view a bit of a flop, but I achieved the main goal for this week which was a decent 3 hr long run on steep trails terrain. Should have lots more free time in the next 2 weeks, to put in some big sessions for 6 inch in between lots of work at the night job...so things looking on track, just would like to crank it up a notch in the next 2 weeks, although all thats going to do is improve my 6 inch time slightly...
Feeling positive...Knees not too bad, although very conscious of the need to manage them carefully especially the left one. Ankle seems good. no hammy issues today at all...
Onward and upwards...!

45min trails run and family soccer

Overall I'd give this week a D grade , i.e. not a pass mark. Failed for second week in a row to do long run. Too preoccupied trying to juggle my two jobs, and get as much done as possible before my metering goes on an unpaid holiday in December. Trying to get more night work to make up for it and clear some of our mounting bills. Some good steep hills in Martin, and Byford (both on the edge of the Darling Scarp, Byford near Wungong dam) for my metering work, and also the steep 45minute trail run was a decent mid-week run. Next week have to focus on work big-time again, but hopefully by the weekend, I can start going after training again with 6 inch only a few weeks away now, I seriously need a couple of 30Km+ long runs, preferably a 40km, so running out of time to get some decent prep in. Left knee in particular is dodgy, but holding up ok so far. minor sprain of my bad ankle in the first 5 minutes of the trail run, but I walked it out, and it seems to be fine. Hammy surprisingly good, although I am still alert to it. Hopefully next week will come good towards the end of it, as my day job comes to an end, and my night job picks up big time.

Sunday 30 minutes of medium intensity soccer with my sister and wife Kathryn. Made a rule that we could only walk when playing against Kathryn as she is about 2 months pregnant now, so didn't want her to run too hard, or risk falling over. Some good short sprints and slow running when I was playing against my sister though. Fun crosstraining option.

Wednesday 45minute trail run HR 156 on steep! trails near Cohuna wildlife park.
After 5 hours of slog on an A grade (the hardest possible grade) round (metering work) in at times persistent heavy rain. Semi-rural area steep hills up and down the Darling Scarp in Martin (between Kelmscott and Gosnells). The rain had finally stopped and I saw this awesome looking trails, so I changed out of my metering gear, and ran to pretty close to the summit of the Darling Scarp. Started on Connell Ave ended up almost on Mills Rd East. Trail bikes spot. Lots of kangaroos, some rabbits, awesome views to the plain below. Some tough steep climbs on the gravel trails. On the way back to my car some deep muddy clay...Got back to car just before nightfall. Very solid run. Very worhwhile with 6 inch just over 4 weeks away.

Tuesday Ran 400m 1min 24 after work at N reserve. lanes hard to see cos some idiots have been doing doughnuts on the oval. Short on time not very motivated, slow spongy oval.

22min 51 another SB in the Pen 5km

Training details from this week at bottom of this post...

This weeks race the WAMC Peninsula 5km;
I enjoyed the Peninsula 5km lots today...
another 2 second seasons best (SB) for me with a 22.51...2.5km? splits of 10.52/11.59...

so I averaged 4min 34 per KM for the 5km (45min 42 10k pace), but my splits suggest I averaged 4.20 per K for the first half (faster than that early on maybe and 43min 20sec 10k pace) and 4.48 per KM in the second half (probably more like 4.50, as I kicked home in the last 400m)...thanks to the people who were there to be kicked past....

lovely still conditions, getting a bit warm to wards the end, reckon it must have been hard work towards the end for the 10k people especially those over 45 min......

when i got home from work last night at 1am i was thinking I shouldn't run as i would be pathetic...but glad i showed up...and had a go... nice to chat with various people...thankyou to N, then R, and Hughdaman for being people to chase...I led very early but held back a little for the first 500m, got to the Windan bridge in 5.34...then just hung in there as best as I could...

saw a few other coolrunners like MJail, Turtlerunner and Pelagie out there.

ultra legends Nate and mighty Mick Francis (on the way back after injury while representing Australia ? in a 24hr race in England a few months back, did the 10km despite some tough hilly 40km 6 inch type training yesterday...I managed to just get to the Bridge before Nate...(had to surge hard for that "sprint stage" hahaha)

DJC another sensational 36min? 10k...

Im happy....hopefully in 12 months time I can run 10.52/10.51 splits...

I am convinced intervals are the quickest way to drop your time, because as DJC said they take your body and mind to places you wouldnt go to otherwise, which means quick improvement and better mental and physiological pain tolerance...and rapid physiological changes for the better...
for various reasons some runners respond better to intervals than others...
The example I gave earlier while trying to play devils advocate a bit, was one I heard Nic Bideau give (so hope I didnt quote it out of context too much, probably did), but it seems clear that many runners improve lots from just doing lots of k's every week, but seems to me that improvement is slower, and tends to plateau a bit, whereas intervals seems to me to have the potential for more dramatic improvement...

another factor is where you are in your running life...if you have been racing on and off for 20 years, it gets harder to improve, and when you lose conditioning it can take a long time to get back to PB threatening level, the bigger they are the harder they fall idea, or the taller you are the further you have to fall...if its your first year or even your first three years of racing, you can often seem to hit PB's every few months, if you keep the upward momentum going...eventually you reach a point where it gets harder to get a PB, and you have to reconsider what you are doing think of ways to improve more...

e.g. some people on coolrunning get another PB every couple of weeks...or at least every few months...i think the last time I had a solid PB was 2005...(1.41 Half)...although I missed my marathon PB by 8 seconds in 2008, and I should have got it in Melbourne this year...I could do what one blogger I know has done and have Mens 35 PB';s for myself and ignore what I did in my 20's and early 30's, but I figure for now i need to get back to chasing my 21min 5k, 41min 10k type times again somehow, maybe when i get to 40 or 50 I will start a new PB setup but not just yet...

so in summary intervals do work very well for many, although they are not the only way to improve.

there are many different types of runners out there, all coming from a myriad of different situations...for example there are ultra-type runners, who come down to race marathons, halfs, and 10k races...and see 10k races as a bit of speedwork. e.g. Nate. Then there are track runners who step up to 10k races, and Half Marathons for something longer and a new challenge, (courtney ? sarah J are two examples...even Paul Tergat (who I think had the world record for the Marathon at one stage, I think was a 10,000m runner (in the medals at olympics) who moved up to the marathon later in life, as his speed started to decline)...
Plenty of people in between. Triathletes, people just trying to get fit, there are heaps of things that motivate people, so the same approach wont work for everyone, it all depends on your situation, your goals, etc etc...

I might try and experiment with running more even when I get old and slower, or maybe when I can sustain 4min 06secs per k all the way for a 10k, if that ever happens again...like it did when I was 24,maybe I am expecting too much now at 35, but thats what I have to do to beat my 41min 10k PB...

seriously though I am glad I just managed to hit my main goal for today [could see the clock at the finish counting up towards 22.53 (which i did in Freo fun run 4th october this year), and had to hold onto strong finish through the line to nail it,] which was to set another seasons best (best 5k time in 2009 for me) in the 5k, and i am pretty sure my intervals work has helped a lot this year, although as always I want to do a lot more...however my target for the year was to go under 21min, and I failed to hit that or any of my other target times this year, so thats frustrating...but I guess I lost too much ground early in the year with the injuries and I should be thankful I am at least in striking range of my sub 21min 5k target now...maybe in 2010 I will get there...My PB is 21.04 from 2003? although I splitted 19.32 for the first 5k of the 1998 Bridges 10km when i did my 10k PB of 41.01...and I may have run faster than 19min at school in the mid to late 1980's...

but then again PB's SB's are just ways to push yourself to be all that you can be, and encourage others to do make the most of their life too, they are just tools, not the be-all/end-all...
so thats just a window into where I am coming from ....icepacked bad knee beforehand as a precaution on the drive into the race, and it wasnt sore after so far, so thats a very encouraging sign...no hammy problems today at ll..another big Thanks God!

now i just have 6 inch 45km to deal with (oh why did I sign up for that!??? again...), and i can have a nice slack summer or try and do some track racing (Masters or Athletics WA)...or maybe some triathlons...if I can afford it...

Training;
Saturday 13th November AM;
2x2000m at N Reserve.
8min 46 HR 177 and 9min 04 HR 186.
8min rest. Total time for 4km 17min 51.
My PB for this session is 16.05, so a long way to go.

Nice to get some stuff around the 4min 30 per km pace mark on the board, hopefully I can do about that in the 5km race on Sunday. (update*** which I did, averaged 4.34 per km) Important intervals session this one even though it was only 2 reps.

Was getting a bit warm,(started about 9am so that Kathryn and Jacob could go to shops play in park, and we could make the most of limited time together before my evening work shift, instead of me disappearing for a run) and I really struggled into a tough North westerly headwind/crosswind, which was taking a lot out of me. Its a spongy grass track as well, which also is hard work. Don't think I will ever run any good times on this track, but it is a nice well grassed surface, and its close to home, but its a footy oval not really designed for running fast on.

Thursday 12th November
Ran 2x400m at Belmont track on the way home from work.
75secs (1min15), & 83secs(1min 23) Heart rates 168 and 177.
4 minute rest. Thought about doing 3 more reps, but decided that was enough for a speed drills workout. Was keen to head for home as I had food in the car to take home, and soccer people were setting up. Second rep a struggle, couldn't see much point in doing a couple more 85-95 second type efforts...Very pleased with the 75 seconds 400m as it shaves another 2 seconds off what I did at the start of the 10km race last week. Its my quickest 400m for a long time...

2009 Melbourne Marathon video and Season Bests

-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon Video at the bottom of this page...

-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon photos are HERE...

-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon race report is HERE....


I have had a lot of season bests in the last month or so here they are;
400m 75secs (12th November.)
1k 3.44 (first 1k of John Gilmour last week...6th November))
2k 8.24 (27th October.)
5k
22.51 Peninsula WAMC run 15th November.
22.53 (freo fun run, October 4th won my age category as all the good people were doing the 10k...hahaha)
10k 48.39 (John Gilmour 6th November)
Half (21.1km) 1.47 (first half of Melbourne Marathon 11th October) and
Marathon (42.195km) 4.11 (Melbourne Marathon 11th October, should have been in 3.50's at least I reckon, but I had a big meal too close (1am) to the race start (7am) which resulted in a 16minute toilet break at 24km mark...,),
So despite no PB's, some big SB's for me in the last month or so...

so although I am still pretty disappointed with what I did in October/November (especially the John Gilmour 10k track and to a lesser extent the Melbourne Marathon), I'm pleased with some good progress in the last few weeks, just hoping i can hold onto some of the momentum over the summer, and have a better year in 2010 maybe...
--------------------------------------------



This video above gives a good idea of some of the sights at the Melbourne Marathon, and shows my finish in the distance...nice to have some video of my finish. Be better if it was a bit closer up footage, but its still pretty special to have this.

best 1km (3.44) for 3 years & 48.38 JG 10k explosion

Have bought 7 more photos from Melbourne Marathon. At least 3 to go (of Kathryn and Jacob), maybe some video too of my finish.

They (the photos) will be HERE....

Official results from John Gilmour 10k track 2009 A race and B race are online HERE...

Saturday 7th November
2 hours 2 min slow long run/walk mix on some tough hills...

Got to Munda Biddi cnr North Spur and Scarp too late (720hrs), to start with Dave and others, so just went for my own short Recon run of the 6inch course on the Oakley dam section, and later on the long hill near the conveyer belt...

Friday 6th November 1800hrs;
John Gilmour 10k track B race...;
48min 38 secs, HR 180 (80% sprint finish at end.)
1km splits; 3.44/4.43/4.47/5.19/4.48 = 23.21
1km splits; 5.13/5.11/5.33/4.52/4.28 = 25.17
5km splits; 23.21/25.17
2km splits; 8.27/10.06/10.01/10.44/9.20
first 1k-3.44 ...last 1k 4.28.


400m splits;
1.17/1.33/1.47/1.55/1.55 = 8min 27 for first 2km.

1.55/1.56/1.53/2.13/2.09 = 10.06
1.55/1.55/2.04/2.03/2.04 = 10.01

2.11/1.56/2.09/2.15/2.13 = 10.44

2.07/1.51/1.49/1.49/1.44 = 9.20

Hit 800m in 2min 50, 1km 3min 44 (shaves 4 seconds off what i did on the slower grass track the previous day, (easily my quickest since I did a 3.40 on March 2nd 2006 see here), plus I had a few seconds in the tank so could have gone sub 3.40 I reckon...) 1 mile 6min 32.

My race plan was to go out strong and hard, in true PRE style, get the lead, and make sure no other runner got in front of me in the first 400m or so. Took no notice of where others were, just concentrated on hitting the fastest rhythm I thought was sustainable for 1km or so...Talking to family and friends after it appears I may have been as much as 30m in front, more than I expected. I know my first 400m was 3 seconds faster than what the A race people did in their first 400m, although they obviously started conservatively for them, as the winner Aaron Patterson did a 76 second 400m towards the end.

I was hoping I would have enough to get through 1k in under 3.50 (which I did quite easily in a comfortable 3.44 with a few seconds to spare), then hold onto about 1.30 and try and get well under 8 minute barrier for the 2km. I felt if I could do that, it might be enough for me to keep in front, and then settle into some 1.38-1.45-1.50's (hopefully nail about 9min 2k splits or better... and hopefully get well under 43minutes by the end, and maybe even give my 41.01 PB from 1998 a shake...was not interested in the soft option of trundling around at 46 minute pace...wanted better...Wasn't confident of my ability to sustain it, but knew I could hit the sub 3.50 first 1km at least, and hoped no others could also do so...

Was a bit surprised to split the first 400m in 77secs, as I was expecting about 80-84secs, and decided it must be just due to the adrenalin/excitement of the night, and a faster track, which both make sense. Throttled back a touch to 93 secs in the 2nd 400m, to go through 800m in 2.50. Still happy with that. Could hear another guy close behind me, and heard Evan Kolbe say my name as the leader on the P.A. which was nice (these fleeting moments of fame hahaha), he passed me about this time which was surprising and discouraging to me. I think I was passed in the back straight, but I still hit the 1km in 3.44 so was very happy still, and although it felt hard, hoped to keep it going, and get under 8 minutes for the first 2km.

However I soon was passed by several people, which again was discouraging and disconcerting.
I lost focus ( I guess I have got so used to training against myself and the watch, I didn't deal with other people being on the track well maybe, or perhaps it was just the lactic acid buildup from a fast start, or the lack of volume in my reps, or the lack of long runs, medium runs, starting to kick in, all closely related my inferior conditioning which has slipped a bit in the 3km+ area since Melbourne..reflected in higher resting heart rates of 45-51 in the last few weeks, compared to 41-44 just before Melbourne Marathon), or maybe I was just too SOFT mentally, whatever it was by 1200m I knew I was fading, and was finding it increasingly hard to get something going and fightback against fatigue, and the processions of bunches of 2-3 runners going past me every 100m, which doesnt help rhythm or mental positivity/focus...Whatever it was I slipped out to 1.47, and then 1.55's...a few weeks ago i would have been happy with an 8min 27secs 2km split (4.13 per k) but tonight I was very disappointed, about 30+ seconds adrift of what I wanted, my delusions of grandeur of a PB attempt were shattered, I was feeling the pain physically, but most of all mentally. Just wanted to drop out and go home. I knew I didn't want to do that, especially with family and friends watching, Dave kindly doing my counting etc etc...and besides, I dont do DNF's that easily, and a host of other reasons. Tried to refocus on 3km and 5k splits, but without much conviction...
Managed to do so in a half-hearted manner until 3km (13.14 or 4.24 per k) then just started to lose the plot mentally and go through the motions totally...Picked it up again from 4k to 5k a little, to go through 5km in the half respectable time of 23min 21 (4.40 per k), although slower than my first 5k in the Melbourne Marathon!

From there on I was struggling to find reasons to keep going. The music was cool, dave was doing an excellent job with the counting, and i even managed to latch onto a few groups of runners going past, surge a little here and there, but just wasn't really fighting, just couldn't find the mental drive/motivation to push through the pain barriers, just wasn't interested. So I strolled/jogged around a stack of 2.03-2.15 rubbish, almost a minute slower than my first lap for the race. Concentrated on enjoying the fun atmosphere, and counting down my laps...

Thought I saw Kate, or someone I knew coming up to lap me with about 2km to go, so that gave me a bit of a much needed kick up the backside, to try and fight a little, get going again, resolved to get going, and make sure she didt lap me. This resulted in some 1.49-1.51's being churned out for 3 laps, which felt a whole lot better, and succeeded, in putting a decent gap between me and her so she couldn't lap me...but more importantly gave me a reason to try a bit again...One that goal was achieved i got the bell for the last lap and I could see a lady up ahead in a bright pink top, who I figured I had gained on a lot, and decided I should be able to beat her, if I was within 20m with 150m to go...So set about doing that, and had to sprint at 80%, so hard, but not flat out, to achieve that in the last 100m. That felt good, gave me a 1.44 last lap, and dipped me under the 48.55 I did in 2007, but not the 48.16 I did in 2008.
No where near the 44-46min zone I think i am currently capable of if fine-tuned enough...

Big thanks to Dave for lap counting.
Also lovely to have my Dad, Aunty Marlene, and most of all my wife Kathryn, and a very excited!!! happy 2 year old Jacob all in the stands watching, that meant a lot to me.
Lovely to share a sensational fun! evening with them...

Even though I was bitterly disappointed with my time, and more importantly the way I fell apart mentally and to a lesser extent physically in this race, I was very happy that we were able to share this night together, and i got to enjoy the fun of racing again, and go really well for the first 1k. So then we settled into watch the exciting A race unfold!!! It didn't disappoint, with some of the memorable moments being the moving around in the front bunch, Todd Ingrahams reeling in and then reloading sprint finish to "photofinish" himself on the line into 3rd spot I think...Nice to see Shaphan Cox the defending champion having a run too. Congratulations to all who helped make this such a special night again. Fantastic state of the art track and venue...a night i will remember for a long time fondly for many reasons even though a little bittersweet due to my disintegration from 2km to 8km...

I know everyone will keep on saying I need to run more even, and to an extent they are correct, but I also know from the past that running even and slow will not extend my limits, or get me PB's. To get PB's now, I have to attack...some days it will work, other days it wont, this was one of those days I went overboard on the PRE-ish ness, and just wasn't ready, my mind was way ahead of my body..., and it didn't work.

So back to the drawing board, back to square maybe try again form PB's in the Pen run and 6 inch or maybe I should just quit racing for a few weeks/ months...comeback later when I have trained up enough, or I have refreshed mentally/physically...not sure right now...
My left knee pain has been bad this weekend, and if it doesnt settle I might be forced to stop running in a few weks, and concentrate on getting it right. A difficult time for me again...Then again a few icepacks might do the trick for a few more weeks,months...
Keen to try and press on somehow and reload for 2010, but we shall see, hopefully not a Hiatus situation, but just take it 1 day at a time...

Thursday 5th November late AM;
1km time trial 3min 48secs.72
HR 186 At S. Park.

One of those mornings when I didn't get out the door before 6am, and got tied up with icing knee, and various domestic stuff...when I did this rep it was too hot really to do much more and I needed to get on with work so ended up only getting the 1 rep done, but ran hard,with ferocious tenacity (a phrase Nic Bideau used in his talk at AK reserve a few weeks ago), and hit the times I targeted mostly, with 200m splits on this nice grass track of;
38/44/52/52/42...
Very pleased with this time as I think its my quickest 1km rep since at least March 2006, maybe 2004, so fastest 1km for at least 3 years! Was hoping to go even faster, but satisfied with that, did what i targeted, and thats always a nice feeling...Yay!
Had 4x1km or 6x1km planned for today, but I consoled myself, with the thought that at least I would be fresher for Friday night...

Wednesday 4th November early AM;
Ran 4x 2,000m reps at N. reserve.
times; 8.43/9.03/9.18/9.32
Heart rates 171/183/177/189

10min rests. Had to be alert due to dog walkers letting lots of dogs off the lead, which made it hard to concentrate on the task. A footy oval with a 400m track hurriedly marked on it for the school sports/little athletics i think, so not the fastest surface, a bit spongy, but well grassed, and no injury issues from it. Started to get pretty warm, and it was a tough session after a late night shift the night before at work, so had the shirt off by the 3rd rep, i was just pouring with sweat...Tough to stay motivated, and I was absolutely spent by the end of the 4th rep, nothing left, out of energy, so abandoned plans to maybe do a 5th rep. Slowish times, but a good solid useful session on a demanding course. This is the type of session I have been missing in the last few weeks, had enough volume in it, to start encouraging some worthwhile progress. I had the unlimited time because it was morning and despite working the previous night and only getting 4 hrs sleep, I was still a lot fresher than i would have been if I had tried to do it in the evening...Satisfied with this one, although disappointed with the slow times, it gave me a little more confidence for Fridays 10k race...

melbourne MARA on TV 1100 sunday pathetic reps attempts

Sunday 1st November 2009 AD;
PM;
2 x 400m 90 second rest.
90/83...hrs 156/162
under moonlight at 2000hrs, hard to see track, but just felt like putting in a couple of quick laps at N reserve on the way back from trip to shops nearby...
Mentally rehearsed a race plan for the 10k race this Friday night.

AM;
Enjoyed watching Melbourne Marathon special on TV. No sign of me, but I saw my 2 year old Jacob in the camera for a brief moment! so that was cool. Very fragmented and all over the place coverage, but at least we got a good reminder of this special day! Plus I got my dad to watch it. Nice to see the fottage of Sarah Jamieson (on state teams with me when she was representing Western Australia in the late 80's early 90's) who won the 10km, and to watch the decisive move by Lisa Flint to pull away from the japanese woman. One thing I was reminded of, was poor quality mens field for an event that is the Australian championship! I mean seriously is 2.24 the best an Australian male can do? I don't think so...The other thing that struck me once again is its such an inspiring atmosphere, deek was awesome, moneghettis commentary was excellent as usual, and the course is so good, why aren't the best Australians embracing this event yet, surely its only a matter of time. Nice to watch Lauren Shelley getting on the podium in the Half.

Saturday 31st October 2009 AD
at N. Reserve;
2k 9.03 HR 186
4.26/4.37 1k splits
strong almost gale force headwinds, felt pathetic...jammed in a quick run before going off to the night job...
spur of the moment decision to run after eating a couple of chocolate bars, not the best mix...glad i did run though...
nice to discover a new track at a school oval/community oval to add to my collection and very close to my house too cool...

Friday 30th October at W. oval/park;
1k 3.57 HR 186
200m splits;
38/48/56/52/43

after tough day at work in cruddy suburb of Calista ( I reckon maybe the second poorest suburb in Perth, certainly in the bottom 10... and the way things are going i could be living there if things dont pickup soon...avoided a pitbull dog by the grace of God at work and dug one meter out of a stream of water about 10cm deep, reckon burst pipes under it,) left heel sore! after...

Hard work, but successfully took out some of my frustrations on this one, and pretty happy with (a) the way I attacked pretty much throughout, (b) going under 4 min per K a half-decent effort, would like to head a whole lot more in this direction...

Tuesday 27th October
at W. oval/park;
2k 8.24 HR 174
5min rest then
1k-4.01 HR 189

89/107/104/105/99 400m splits = 8.24 2km rep. 1k splits 4.04/4.20

200m splits 43/48//54/54/42 = 4.01 1km rep.

Would have liked to have done a whole lot more reps, buts thats all I had time for. Good session...Pleased with that, but need to improve heaps if John Gilmour 10k race is going to be all I'd like it to be...

Be nice to get the 2k under 8 minutes as its been a long time (many years) since I did that, but I know i was running in he low 7's in 1998 when I did my 10k PB...

a week of surviving on next to no money and finding it very hard to be motivated about anything. Hopefully not too many more weeks like this one ahead. I'm using windows 98! (which is very laborious) to blog as our good computer has a virus I think...had minor niggles in BOTH knees most days this week, so feeling like everythings coming apart, but I ignore this and push on, for as long as God allows me to...hopefully its just a HELL-oween thing or something...

Melbourne photos and knee soreness

I have done a webpage HERE about our Melbourne Marathon trip.
My race number was 2589. Scroll down for my Melbourne Marathon photos.


-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon Video is HERE
-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon race report is HERE....


I saw another photo on cool running too. When I have the money will buy the last 3 of Kathryn and Jacob, and get them uploaded online. It was a very special weekend I will remember happily for many years to come.

Have finally got the photos my wonderful Wife, and legendary Dad took from our trip online as listed below.



















Here are 7 photos from Marathon-photos.com















Well not much to write home about this week, and thats 2 weeks of very little running. Not good.

4 main runs on the radar;
-2 weeks until John Gilmour 10k at AK reserve on November 6th 1800...
-3 weeks until Peninsula 10k/5k...
-8 weeks til 6 inch 45km offroad trails and big news is;
-(2 weeks away) first Recon Run is in place for Saturday 7thNovember at 0630...

I feel my conditioning/fitness sliding a bit, and am very preoccupied with worries about income for the rest of 2009. May need a 3rd job for 2 months.

Still can't afford to buy any photos from Melbourne marathon (or City to Surf marathon or Perth marathon) at this stage.

Still have not got my mountainbike out of mothballs either.
swimming maybe???
Me and my wife both could do with some physiotherapy, dental work, and car services due soon, but where is the money for that, at the moment, its food, petrol, and rent, and thats a struggle...Can see December being a real challenge financially at the moment...Am trying to load up on the weekend night shifts to make up for my day job going nowhere at the moment...

In addition Ive had very bad left knee soreness in the last 3-5 days, and not very motivated, getting stuck on the couch/internet too much this weekend...
The niggle I felt in the left knee towards the end of the 12km run last saturday 17th October, got very sore when I stepped on some uneven ground on a very bumpy sandy track on Friday night this week. The last 2 days I can feel some extreme soreness in it on sitting down, and when I stand up, trying to ignore my fears that it may affect my running, and it seemed to be ok when I tested it last night..ie. not sore while running, but just at other times...
I think maybe Ive torn the ACL a little further, or reopened the old tear from 2000 or something...

So my attempts at running this week are pretty pathetic, and this is them;

Sunday Nothing.
Hoped to do something big this weekend, but didnt happen, partly cos I am wary/worried about the knee...

Saturday 24th October
2x400m reps at Wellard.
1.27.71
1.24.84.
2 minute rest.

Well continuing my world tour of the large number of little athletics tracks marked on grass ovals in the summer in Perth. Thank God for Little Athletics, and the tracks that are marked out for them. Was keen to test out the knee today. On the way to visit my parents with my wife to beg for help with the rent money again this fortnight, I managed to convince my wife that it would be good for 2 year old Jacob to have a run at the park, and of course I took advantage of the situation to try out the Wellard track and my knee. While my wife headed back to the car to wait impatiently for me, I got a quick 2x 400m reps done. Surface was a little sandy/uneven in places, mostly due to Australian Rules football players boot sprigs ripping up the grass, and the lane one markings were a bit messed up in places, but overall pretty good, and heaps better than Rockingham the previous night. Reckon in a few weeks when the grass grows back a bit, could be a very good track this one...

Felt like I could have done a decent session here if I had more time. Knee wasnt a problem while running so thats good news.

Nice to dip under 1.30 for both 400's. On a better track could probably have taken 5 seconds at least off those times, but at least its a reasonably functional track not like the minefield the previous night. Good news about the knee initially although I am still getting pain especially getting up from a sitting position if I am not careful.

Friday 23rd October at Hourglass reserve Cooloongup (near Rockingham);
2x1km reps.
4.17, 4.08.
Heart rates 168, 183.
3 minute rest.

It was getting dark and I probably didn't really have time to do much after work, but I wanted to see what the Rockingham track was like, and it was terrible. Will not train there again if it stays in that condition.
Its a grass track, and its full of big clumps of weeds, and sand pits. Looks like it would have been a nice track in the past, but it has fallen apart since. First 1km rep I started slowly, just getting used to the minefield of a track, and managed to swallow a mosquito at the 400m mark. It was hard work ploughing through the sandpit sections and dodging the big clumps of weeds, looking for the flatter firmer sections of the track. My low finish heart rate of 168 shows how much I was exploring and not going hard...

Second rep I decided to be a bit more PRE-ish and try and go out harder. This worked well until about 550m into it I stepped on uneven ground in an unbalanced way a couple of times (sandpits/bumpy surface), and copped a couple of sharp pains in my left knee that really hurt...however i was keen to finish the rep so ignored that, the pain went away and I kept going. Was reasonably happy with the 2nd rep time considering what a minefield of a track it is. The knee incident didn't really affect my time much.

Was planning to do one more rep, but thats when the knee pain started kicking in whenever I put my knee in the wrong position....It was getting dark and some of the local Noongyars were arriving to cut sick at the park, so it wasn't hard to leave "Balga by the sea" and head for home feeling a bit uninspired, and getting pain from my knee every time I changed gear on the 45 minute drive home.

Wednesday 21st October at S. Park;
1km 3.59
500m 1.55
felt really sick after the 500m rep, not really sure why, but didn't feel well enough to go on.
so aborted session. mentally! and maybe physically wasn't really up for it anyway.