An easy 5km

Saturday 31/12/05; Ran an easy 5km @ ArenA Joondalup in 28min 41 HR-159... been a bit sick and tired the last few days, so very nice to get to the ArenA and have a relaxed run...Just took it easy at just under 6 minutes per km...Did the hilly 2km loop to start with but got swooped by magpies so decided to do 3000m on the 400m track there to finish, rather than do battle with the magpies again...dont know what Eddie everywhere was doing in WA... ;-) just kiddin...*LOL* Hope to get to the WAMC NYE run tonight at Burswood with KL as well, be very! nice to finish 2005 with a run along the Swan...

A quick! 2km at the Emerald

Wednesday 28/12/05; Ran 2km in 8.01 at Emerald Park. HR 165 Splits; 4.07/3.54...Attacked this one a fair bit...trying to get a good sweat going...it worked...mission accomplished...very short run, but meant something to me to get this one done...as usual had to traverse my way through the local dog-walkers with the dogs illegally! off the lead of course...anyway as Scaterd Few once said;
"enough noise...now lets get serious about this..." Tried out the new socks my Brother sent over from USA as well...they arrived today...

A ride and...a puncture :-(

Tuesday 17th December 2005; Cycled 17km 62 MINUTES. Walked the last 1.5km home with a puncture to front tyre...Was planning on a much longer ride...but not to be...at least I was close to home when this downer hit...Have to regroup...

Beachside walk

Monday 26th December 2005; 30min walk with KL uphill to lookout and along the beach at North Mullaloo...

A quick 11km ride...

Monday 26th December 2005; Cycled 11km in 27minutes 48 (HR-144 at end) on the mountainbike on my Edgewater to Whitfords "freeway" course...Used the black repco bike again...Reasonably solid ride. Rather short, but thats all I had time for... Saw a tandem bike, and had a little bit of a stoush with a bloke on a racer on the way back, was making ground on him on the uphill after he flew past me on the flat...but eventually I let him go, wasn't feeling like hammering myself into the ground all the way back, but it was fun...Nice to get something on the board for the first day of this week. My goal is to do about 6-7 hours (360min-420min) at least for this week, and then try once again to put the pedal to the metal in the new year, as ideally I'd like to be putting some 600minute (10hours)+ weeks on the board in 2006, instead of the slack 7hrs a week stuff Ive been averaging in 2005...although its been good to have a slightly easier year volumewise after my big jump in 2004. Went from 269hrs? in 2003 to 416hrs in 2004 and its looking like about 365hrs for 2005...(Total training and racing etc time for year) Onward! Pretty keen to do New Years Eve 7.5km on this Saturday night 1830 at Burswood WA Marathon Club clubrooms...KL should have a run also?
See http://wamc.proboards41.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1131977684

Keeping the stomach strong III

Monday 26th December 2005; Did 300 Ab-crunches. Don't think I have done anything since the 400 I did on 10th December in this department so well overdue to get this going again....

Christmas Run

Sunday 25th December 2005; Ran 2km in 9.33. Night run at Emerald Park, would have gone further but did not like the look of the teenagers in cars congregating near my car...Busy most of the last 2 days going to various Christmas gatherings for my family and KL's family...been meaning to get out for a long ride, but the opportunities just keep slipping away...Lack of sleep too...Less than 6 hrs a night average for 2 weeks in a row...Had a look at some airline prices for my planned trips to Melbourne (Commonwealth Games...I have tix for two of the Athletics sessions) and maybe Sydney (6 foot track) in March...Found some Virgin ones for $298 return to Sydney...Looks like I have enough frequent flyer points from my USA trip in 2001 to get to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games , but for that only....Its going to be very tricky financially but I am not throwing in the towel just yet....

First run after 6-Inch

Thursday 22/12/05; Ran 14km at Kingsway in 96minutes...Heart Rate 159 at end. Splits 23.00/23.49/23.56/25.00 Just under 7 minutes a km, relaxed but not too slow...Did 4 laps of my 3.5km course around this large group of ovals, and about 95% of the run was on soft grass which is good....Did this one on the way home from work...Have got to find my vaseline!!! chafing! argh...plus the pectoral area was starting to get a little bloodied so I jettisoned the shirt for the last 7km to stop the rubbing.....Pretty happy with the run...Both knees rather proppy today but ok for the run. Was a little careful with them though and the right one was giving me trouble on the stairs at work today...Onward! Next race probably the NYE 7.5km...

6 foot dreams A crazy!!! notion...

An email from one of the people who ran 6-inch last weekend has triggered again a very!!! crazy idea which kinda sneaked into the back of my mind in the last few weeks which is; Why dont I run the 6-foot track marathon on 11th March 2006!....There I've said it....that wasn't too bad....was it???....I have to admit I did sign up for 6-foot track newsletter a few weeks back...but with it being so close to my planned trip to Melbourne, and my limited finances, I didn't think it possible...Plus I would only go if KL is happy to come also....anyway I will have a think about it in next few weeks and maybe I will do it??? http://www.coolrunning.com.au/sixfoot/
Biggest issue would be the finances...

Relaxed Ride

Tuesday 20/12/05 Went for a very! relaxed cycle on the mountainbike did 7.5km in 21min 58, HR was only about 100...so very cruisy...just trying to alleviate some of the soreness in my tired legs from the weekend....

Week 7 Stats Summary 6-inch race week!

Week 7 Stats Summary
6-inch race week!

WEEK 7 (12/12/05-18/12/05);

Volume; 491 min Sessions; 4 Best RHR; 48 Sleep;38 ( 5.43 hours per night) *57

RACED 45km 6-inch Track 6 hrs 25minutes of running hilly gravel tracks...see; http://wamc.proboards41.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1127100618&page=7

Reps sessions;4x500m (1.42/1.46/1.47/1.50) Ab Crunches; NIL

This is the last week I will be recording weekly stats on the blog, until I decide to target another Marathon.......

Off the beaten track: 6-inch track 2005 Conquered!

Sunday 18/12/05 Ran 45km six inch track Marathon.
Finished in 6 hours 25 minutes....
Although I failed to go under target of 6 hours, pretty satisfied with a rewarding, memorable and challenging!!! run... :-)

Successfully finished my first ever ULTRA run,
the toughest run I have ever attempted.
Conquered the 6-inch track! WUHOO!!!!!!!
(Link to the results from this inaugural 45km challenge can be found @ http://wamc.proboards41.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1127100618&page=7)

This race began with the surreal sight of our own moon-shadows as we ran up goldmine hill at the beginning of 6-inch 2005....

Jon's thoughts on personal Challenges and Positives
from the 2005 6-inch track marathon;

Challenges;Turned out to be tougher than I expected, some of the main challenges I encountered;

1. -my right arm cramped up/got very sore about 18km-19km mark just after Del Park Rd...So only had the left arm to help drive me up the hills from there onwards...
2. -The hills between Del Park Rd and Oakley Dam really put me through the wringer....Ended up walking a lot of the final 15km.
3. -my last hour I was battling mild dehydration, I had run out of water and powerade, and I had "spent all me pennys" in the legs.....
4. -the heat/sun just before Marrinup where the big powerlines are, was significant...but mostly there was plenty of shade so any heatstroke was minor...(it was 32-35 degrees by 1154am according to TV news later that day, and I finished at about 1040ish...)...
5- made a minor navigation error near Whittakers that took me a little off course, but soon rejoined the MundaBiddi...can't believe I missed a turn somewhere especially as I had run that section with Dave on Recon Run #2 a few weeks earlier...[but not as big an error as some others, who decamped on the Munda Biddi in a Northerly direction instead of a Southerly direction?? which handed the lead to Dave...]...When Dave came out on the mountainbike looking for me I was still a chance to go sub 6 hours (my easy goal time for the race--{my hard goal time if I had trained better was sub 5hrs, although I perhaps would revise that to sub 5hrs30 in hindsight}) at Marrinup if I could have put together sub 6min K's for the rest of the way...but after digging deep for about 13minutes or so...threw in the towel and walked the last 45 minutes or so to the finish... the last 30minutes or so was with my Fiancee who came out to walk to the finish with me...legs just didnt have any juice...

Some positives;
1.- I finished the toughest run/race I have ever attempted and did not let the 6-inch beat me...
2-my new DMH-Hydra hydration pack was comfortable to run with, and pretty much did the job, although I should have stocked up with more fluids at the halfway mark, but thats my error of judgement. So very happy with that.
3.-got to see some very beautiful and varying scenery, including the view looking back from top of Goldmine hill, the conveyer belt, views near Marrinup...
4.-revisited some of the trails and SCARP RD near Whittakers AND OAKLEY DAM where I did hiking camp 1987-1990...some of the hills remind me of Cardiac Arrest hill which was on Day 2 of hiking camp between Jarrahdale and "The Swamp"...
See Hiking camp link here;
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/7549/hikingcamp88.html

5.-was a very special time with my Fiancee who I really appreciated being there for me...
6-had some good chats with Suzy and Kate near Whittakers..., and enjoyed running at an easy pace for a lot of the first 17km to Del Park Rd; 2hrs 17min...
7-enjoyed the solitude and time alone away from the city, especially from Del Park Rd onwards, and enjoyed cranking up the pace running sub 6minutes per km for 4km (Del Park Rd-17km to Drinks stop on Scarp Rd with Gary 21km), and also for a short while before that when I tried to catch up to Cota,Warren and Andrew not long after Whittakers...(had them in sight, but couldn't quite get onto the train...) when they returned from their detour towards Dandalup Dam...
8-The whole experience was rather surreal at times for me in a nice way, and despite coming into the run on less than 2 hours sleep, my 2005 6-inch experience was enormously rewarding, and I am very happy and satisfied to have finished the course...

Here is link to my post about how I located my DMH Hydra @Compleat Fishing & Camping World Shop 13, 200 Winton Rd, Joondalup WA Ph. 1800068788
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000213#000020

2P's post sent on 16th March earlier this year set me on the right track it is here;
http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=9;t=000213#000011

Some more of Jon's thoughts and experiences out on the trail;
While out on the trail, I had a few songs going in my head which I used to inspire me, especially in the final 24km-28km after Del Park Rd.... mostly leftovers from my Fiancee's memorable!!! 30th Birthday "Jane Brook Idol" the night before...including Shannon Noll's LIFT, Lee Hardings version of EYE OF THE TIGER!, and a vivid visual and audio mental image of Steve doing an EMINEM song...dont know the name of the Eminem song or the lyrics really, but the tune stuck in my head....Tuesday update; KL says its called "sing for the moment"....
I had about 2hrs sleep before this run as I was busy trying to sing along to Shannon Noll's CMON AUSSIE CMON (in my AUST one-day cricket shirt) and Lee Hardings Eye of Tiger as part of KL's 30th celebrations the night before...was really cool fun, they had a lights,bubbles machine, the cds in the background and a good mike...Enjoyed the performances and the chance to sing myself a lot, another special! night. After 2300 KL and I drove off into the night by the light of the full moon for the 4am start of my 45km run........what a night/morning!/weekend...This explains why KL did all the driving cos I needed to rest slightly more...owe her heaps on that...

One of the other things I used a lot after the 21km mark to stay motivated was to have my MundaBiddi photocopied map out just checking my progress on the route to the finish...trying to calculate if I was still a chance to go under 6 hours....

Extremely happy with the debut performance of my DMH Hydra hydration backpack....

Monday update; I am extremely sore in quads,calves, arms,shoulders, back,and generally just tired, and trying to restock on fluids, but hope I will have the chance to improve my 6-inch time in the future maybe....

Injury report;
Minor blister on right big toe, and left knee a little sore, but overall no major injury worries that I am aware of at this stage...I had a few major slips on gravel...(or as KL likes to say "I went for a few trips")but managed to arrest my slide on every occasion without injurying the knees..or ankles...My shoes look a lot! older now...gotta go drink more powerade and ice the left knee...

Tuesday update; Many Thanks to the CoolRunners who have commented on my blog means a lot to me to get a few comments on the blog in the last few weeks...oh yeah and if you haven't guessed it my Fiancee, she is a huge Lee Harding fan....and an even bigger Shannon NOLL fan, but we also enjoy another Australian artist in Nathan Tasker see http://www.nathantasker.com/whose visit to Perth earlier this year we both really enjoyed.

1on 1 basketball

Thursday 15/12/05; Played 1on 1 basketball with my Fiancee for 55minutes. I hit 3 three pointers, but she got the win 21-20.
Fun to do something different....

Its the EYE OF THE TIGER, the thrill of the fight....

Tuesday 13/12/05 Ran 4x500m reps 1.42/1.46/1.47/1.50 @ ArenA. HR's 159/168/180/192. A bit hard to be sure on heart rates cos my watch light doesnt stay on for 10 seconds. Didnt start til after 2000hrs (8pm)...Pretty happy with that...Just felt like doing a speed session tonight, enjoyed the higher intensity attacking, although I wasn't enjoying struggling to breathe but its all part of the reps experience to paraphrase some pollie...Grass track, and left knee seeemed ok with it...iced afterwards anyway cos it is still a little proppy....Pretty happy with this session even though its not a P.B...
Too tired and short on time to do much more. Have only slept 3.5 hours for each of the last 2 nights. (7 hrs total)

Rising up to the challenge of our rivals.....eeeeyyyyyyyyyyyeee offff the tigerrrrrrrr

Recovery run (and left knee sorenesss again...)

Monday 12/12/05 Ran 5.5km in just a tick under 35minutes. A night run again. Started at about 2100hrs(9pm). A recovery ride after cycling more than 60km yesterday. God held the rain off as well which was a nice and pleasant blessing...Enjoyed the run, and I think it probably was also good in that it helped alleviate a minor headache to some degree which I had battled with through much of the day...

Injury report; my left knee flared up sore again probably a bit worse than last Tuesday 6/12/05 after my 11km run there. Again I am icing it (actually have a cold pack on my knee as I type now....) mainly as a precautionary measure...but the last thing I need is my knee blowing up on me or making six-inch painful on Sunday....I'm quietly confident that it will be ok for Sunday, God willing...however I'd say that I about a 90/10 chance of starting at six inch now...I.e. there is a 90% chance I will run 6-inch, whereas before this knee flare-up there was a 100% chance of me doing it...No, should be right but will be watching it closely...Its been 5 years since I tore the ACL and if it gets really bad on me I will stop...would prefer the torn ligament does not become a ruptured ligament.......

Anyhow enough doom and gloom, to paraphrase scaterd few; "now lets get serious about this"...A successful six-inch campaign that is....A good recovery run...did the job very nicely...

Week 6 Stats Summary

WEEK 6 (5/12/05-11/12/05);

Volume; 309 min Sessions; 5 Best RHR; 47 Sleep;43 ( 6.14 hours per night) *64

OD/LSD/LFD sessions (At least 60min);Ran 11km 63minutes (6/12/05), Cycled 58.75km 3hrs 40minutes (11/12/05)

Races/Time trials;NIL

Reps sessions;NIL Ab Crunches; 200 (7/12/05), 400!--PB! (10/12/05)

A tough 3hr+ ride!

Sunday 11/12/05 Cycled approx. 58.75km for 3hrs 40minutes on the black repco mountainbike. HR only 138 at end, but it was extremely tough pushing into some very gusty headwinds most of the way. Legs felt like lead by the end. My ride started in Edgewater and I arrived at Burswood Casino 1 hr and 34 minutes later (just over 31km), where I caught up with a mate of mine James, who I havent been able to catch up with for many months... Then we did 19km into some of the worst winds, began by riding to East Perth, and then along the river all the way to Narrows Bridge (the winds on Riverside Drive &the Narrows were diabolical to ride into), along South Perth foreshore all the way back to Burswood. He headed for home on the train, and I gutsed it out for another 8.5km, taking 30 minutes or so to crawl (to China? no sorry thats my Tourniquet obsession rearing its head... *LOL* :-))the Leederville train station, where I finally called it a day, and caught the train to Edgewater.

Then for my 3rd session of the day a quick 7 minute ride back home battling those infernal winds for one last time. Used 1.8 litres of Gatorade, and 2x50g Carboshotz in total on my rides.

Got stuck into some salted peanuts after that to replace some of the salt I had sweated out, but mainly cos I like ém....

Caribee drink holder experiment I

Sunday 11/12/05 Ran 2km 9min.20 HR -156. at Emerald park (2 laps).
Test run for how it felt with the Caribee Drink Holders. Put two Gatorade bottles in ém, and they stayed in ok, but the bottle bounce, and moving around is a little annoying. This option works but I still think a Camelbak or some other way of using Fuel Belt has to be a better option. I dont want to use the Fuel Belt bottles because they have red plastic residue inside them, and I don't want to drink plastic... My thoughts at the moment are 1. invest in a Camelbak, 2. try some 250-300ml bottles in the fuel belt 3. dont carry drinks around my waist, but use the 20km drink stop or my trusty helper KL to refuel, or 4. go with the annoying caribee drink holders which are great for cycling or hiking but a little bouncy/annoying for running....

Fuel Belt experiment I aborted

Saturday 10/12/05 Ran/walked for about 10min. Tried Fuel belt with powerade bottles in it at about 2350hrs, but the powerade bottle worked its way loose and fell out, so had to abort session early and will have to try something else. I think maybe if I attach my caribee drink holders with gatorade bottles maybe that will work.. Might try that tomorrow....

Keeping the stomach strong II

Saturday 10/12/05; Did 400 Ab crunches which is double what I did 3 days ago, so a bit more of an UTGuts! (literally *LOL*) effort this time...My fiancee though, she is still very much my hero when it comes to these with what she has been doing in recent weeks. (She does 5x150 for a total of 750 per session, which targets different abdominal muscle groups according to her). I just do the same ones for the whole session at the moment. The 400 is my best effort ever since I first started doing these occasionally in 2002. They are good cos the stronger I am there, the more I can offset the strain on my back caused by stress fractures in 5th Lumbar vertabrae, which flares up for me every now an then. Since I kicked things off with 100 on 17th October 2005, I have done the ab crunches 11 times now I think, and my Fiancee KL doing them many times a week has been a good spur to get me doin'ém and keep doin' ém....

Keeping the stomach strong

Wednesday 7/12/05; Did 200 Ab Crunches. Trying to keep this going at least on a weekly basis. Inspired by my fiancees efforts with hers...

Working INTO it (not OUT of it)

Tuesday 6/12/05; RAN 11km (approx) in 63minutes 17...
HR 150 at end. (HR=Heart Rate)- A night run. 3.5km splits; 22.12/19.00. Started run at about 2000hrs (8pm), and ran 4 laps of Emerald park plus 2 laps of my 3.5km course from Wedgewood Drive along Joondalup Drive and back. Started slowly well over 6 minutes per km and then worked into running at about 5 minutes per km during my second 3.5km split. A good solid run. Very glad to get this one on the board.

Week 5 Stats Summary

WEEK 5 (28/11/05-4/12/05);


Volume; 213 min Sessions; 3 Best RHR; 47 Sleep;42.75 ( 6.11 hours per night) *71

OD/LSD/LFD sessions (At least 60min);2 hours 27 bushwalking up and down Bluff Knoll

Races/Time trials;NIL

Reps sessions;NIL Ab Crunches; 200 (29/11/05)

A stroll in the Stirlings

Sunday 4/12/05 Went for a 30minute bushwalk with KL enjoying the beauty of the Stirling Ranges...

Bluff Knoll IV: a very!!!!!!! special walk.

Saturday 3/12/05 Climbed/bushwalked up the 1073m Bluff Knoll in the Stirling Ranges with KL. Took us 81 minutes 31 to make it from the carpark to the summit on the ascent.

We rested awhile and enjoyed the beautiful panoramic views... See Bluff Knoll II photo page....then one of the biggest moments in my 3 decades or so of life so far....felt about as nervous as a National Championships race...Changed into jacket, shirt and tie, and "popped the question" UTG! Kl said yes,she is now officially my fiancee and we will hopefully live happily everafter...

Then we hotfooted it down the mountain in 64minutes 35, which was absolutely "warp 9 captain"/terminal velocity etc etc for my poor torn ACL in knee...Total time of ascent+descent; 2 hours 27 minutes of bushwalking.

It was necessary to make a speedy descent as we left the summit at 1900hrs (7pm WST), and similiar to one of my Toolbrunup climbs, we were racing the night darkness on the way down...I did have a torch, but didn't have to use it, as the Bluff Knoll path is very well maintained, and there was enough residual sunlight (leftover from the sunset) still wafting around the western peaks of the Stirling Ranges near Albany, for us to just make out the steep track we were traversing down. By the time we made it to the carpark it was after 2000 (8pm), no sunlight at all, and dark enough to make out the "saucepan" pattern of stars in the sky.
Pretty romantic stuff....a very special day and night, and weekend for me and KL...Could quite possibly be one of the top 10 most special times in a lifetime I think for us both...

Symbiotic Lighthouse

Friday 2/12/05 8.30pm; Ran for 35 minutes 35 relaxed pace. A night run from Hillarys Boat Harbour. While the girlfriend was busy with a work dinner, I took the opportunity to grab a run session. Really enjoyed my run which wen out past the WA fisheries office, along the North Groyne? past Spinnakers Cafe which I had never come across before, all the way to a lighthouse, which I ran up the steps to the viewing platform. Exploring part done I got off the road surface and ran on some softer terrain, the grassy slopes of Whitfords Nodes park where I had my 30th Birthday last year. Scared about 20 rabbits or so, it was such a funny sight seeing all these rabbits scattering helter skelter in front of me as I ran through the park. the ran back past Portofinos continued up past Sorrento Beach a bit then back to my car near Portofinos. nothing incredible but a very enjoyable run, it felt soooo good to be out there and I feel strong. Feel like I am moving well when I am running....

Underoath reinventing your exit etc...

Have not done anything not a single session in the first 3 days of this week, been too busy recovering from Recon Run #2, and visit to Ironman at Busselton, plus celebrating 7 months with KL...and dealing with various other work stuff...Its been a very big week so far and promises to continue to be extremely busy just one more day of work left for this week. TGIF!...Some interesting developments to do with 6 inch this week too... Hope to dust off the runners or jump on Dad's mountainbike soooooon!....
Have decided to put my weekly stats thing on this blog as well see template below for this week;

WEEK 5 (28/11/05-4/12/05);

Volume; min Sessions; Best RHR; Sleep; ( hours per night) *

OD/LSD/LFD sessions (At least 60min);

Races/Time trials;

Reps sessions; Ab Crunches;