Refreshing 22km trails run in the hills

Saturday 30th June Ran 22km in 2hr 18.23 HR-138. Splits; 67.45/70.38.

Darlington to Great Eastern Highway (past Mundaring) and back on Railway heritage trail. Which is my favourite place to do a long run these days, especially since I discovered the excellence of trail running in the last 3 years.

Had the usual 4-5 hours of sleep (which has been the norm this week, my obsession with watching Wimbledon on late night tv is partly to blame...), and woke at 5am just in time to see Safin and Federer battling out the third (tiebreaker) set. Very good to watch, and after about 3 toilet stops I finally got away...partly due to the encouragement of my wife who told me "I'd better get out there as she didn't want to hear me whinging about not doing a long run for the next few days..."..
Which is very true and fair enough...so I'm glad my wife, said the right thing...

Got to Darlington about 0730hrs, and of course the hills training group had started about 30-40minutes earlier, so it was a solo run for me...Which was fine, as I wanted to take it pretty easy this morning with TAPER time starting to come into effect (only 8 days now until the Perth Marathon)...Plus I wasn't sure how my dodgy toes would go, or whether my right thigh (the dog bitten one from Monday) would go, as I hadn't run on 'em all week really. Right thigh was a little tender in the first few km but once it got well warmed up it was fine. Also wasn't sure how I'd go running with all these antibiotics in my system...so lots of reason to take it very easy today in my last long run before the Perth Marathon on July 8th.

As I ran up the gravel trail with the beautiful refreshing sounds of a winter creek on one side and birds and frogs all around, I thanked God for the chance to share in some of his less spoiled creation...It doesn't get much better than this...

Saw a few of the regular runners (and some of the recent Comrades 89km finishers)just before Mundaring and exchanged waves and hellos....
Was hitting about 6min 30 per km in the first couple of km, but started to gradually get faster, going through the 9.5km in Mundaring in 57min 45, and then the next 1.5km in just 10 minutes to turn at 11km (great Eastern Highway) in 67min 45. Took a 4 minute break here to drink 500ml of powerade, and get gravel out of my shoe...Ran with heavy inserts again seemed ok...Then relished the downhill to split the next 1.5km in 8 minutes which is about 5.59 per km. SDecided that was faster than i wanted if I was going to keep the heart rate under 145 today, so backed off the pace a bit,and just enjoyed the run back to Darlington, qdrinking my last 100ml of powerade at about the 100min mark...

The rain stayed away for my entire run, although I didn't really care that much it was nice to not come home with wet shoes...A refreshing long run done, which ensures I am ready for next weekend. Hope to have a good 10k race tomorrow, and then its mostly logistical challenges to deal with if I am to smash the 3.55 PB, and hopefully have a shot at the sub 3.30.....

Resting heart rate was 43!!!!!! yesterday my equal second best ever, so looking good, despite a disaster week at work, dog bite and only 20 hours worth....due to various hassles, commitments. Although we did do a Resus course so get paid for about 26 hours...


WEEK 15 (25/06/07-01/07/07);

Volume; 138min + 20hrs MR. Sessions; 1 +MR Best RHR;43!! bpm Sleep; 38hrs (5.4 hrs per night!) *00


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; Ran 22km 2hr 18 HR 138 30/6/07.

Races/Time trials; NIL
Reps sessions; NIL

Comments; Cruisy long run, which was an enjoyable way to push aside some of the mental, financial, relationship and physiological frustrations of the week, plus it put in place the final long run I was keen to get done before the Perth Marathon next week as my taper is now fully operational. Physiologically I should be in top notch shape if I can maintain the good and extremely significant lifestyle adjustments made in the last 7-8 days, get a lot more sleep!, and get off the antibiotics, plus fully recover from dog bite. Spent most of the week, dealing with dog bite I received at work (still on antibiotics for it to avoid infection), doing resus course at work, getting a flat tyre at work, locking keys in car at work and basically having a pretty pathetic week in many respects. Enjoyed watching wimbledon on tv, but it cost me way too much sleep time, so by saturday night I was a total wreck, from less than 5.5 hours per night all week long. Then ate lots of exotic tasty (but very unhealthy high in fat) food at resturant for my mums birthday, along with way too much potato chips (while watching the Wiz (Jeff Farmer) and the Dockers destroy carlton on tv, and emerge as a finals chance once again!) ,plus too much chocolate and lollies in the last 24 hours, which resulted in a lengthy procession of diahorrea starting last night and continuing this morning...Between another 4-5 hour sleep night on the couch (4th night in a row), and the regular visits to the toilet, any chance of heading to lake Monger to race a 10k was killed off, so I stayed at home and tried to get my worn out body sorted out instead while the stormy winds and rain raged outside. So sunday a wasted day trainingwise, but I think we have enough stuff banked for a serious shot at PB next weekend if God allows me the opportunity, and helps me to fight off these satanic attacks that have struck at me all week long...must be doing somehing very right tt to cop so much attack from the evil one, maybe its the lifestyle adjustment, something I have been hoping to do for years...Anyhow have a win or two on the myriad of hassles I am dealing with right now, trust God, and hope Kathryns baby stuff goes relatively smoothly and the crucial things will be ok....Hopefully look back one day thank God, and be glad I persisted through the storms of life....

Secret 10k reps session II yields improved 43min17 effort

Sunday June 24th; Ran my secret 10k reps session in 43min 17, [+ added a 300m rep (1min 06 HR 186) at the end cos I felt pretty good]. Heart rates 183-198. Rests; 7 minutes of active recovery (jogging) between reps. Average speed per km for 10k reps session 4min 19.79 per km.

This morning I woke up with a resting heart rate of 44 beats per minute!!! Wuhoo, my best this year so far by a long way, and pretty close to my all-time best reading ever which is 42 from 2003. My second best ever is a 43 in April 2005. I hit the 44 once in March 2006, 5 times during 2005, several times in 2003, twice in 2002 and none in 2004. Some detailed data on this on one of my webpages @ http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/7549/data1.html

So this is the best indicator so far that I am hitting peak cardio-respiratory fitness just in time for Perth Marathon 2007, so if I can continue in this direction, smashing my 2004 P.B. of 3.55 looks very likely! Two weeks to get it right.

So I knew what I needed to do was to head for the track to do a 10k reps session and push home the advantage further!...Knowing I was physiologically and mentally ready to take on this demanding session. Decided to stay indoors yesterday and ride out the stormy weather plus catch up on online stuff, have a cruisy r and r (rest and recovery) day, after another solid week at work. Weather looked the best its looked for about 48 hours so made the most of it.

So onto the bumpy Noranda grass track with the camber in lane 1 (maybe I should find a better track, but its just too far to travel). South Westerly winds blowing throughout, so front straight was hard work, and the back straight had a nice cruisy tailwind.

Decided to really attack my first rep and work on getting as close to 4.15 per km pace as possible. Went through my first 1k of this session in 4.05, and a HR of 186, so good solid start. Heart rates were in 190's for my next 2 reps, as I pushed the pace hitting around 4.14 to 4.16 per km pace. Vomited water a bit after the 198 heart rate, and decided to take it easy on the next rep. (A heart attack is not my aim.) Then cranked it up to 192 again on one of my last reps but the rest of my reps were in the 183-189 zone as I persistently churned out 4.17-4.34 per km pace.

Felt surprisingly good after my last rep, and thats when I thought I'd add an extra 300m sprint at the end, just to add one extra edge to one very satisfying reps session! Then it was warm down jogging, and stretch the quads,hammys, and calves which is my normal warm down routine after every race and track session especially.

An excellent session very happy with it which is only a few split seconds shy of a 1 minute improvement on the 44min 17 I did on 20th May 2007 A.D. see;
http://runmara2005blog.blogspot.com/2007/05/10k-reps-session-i-and-triggs-beach-run.html.....

WEEK 14 (18/06/07-24/06/07);

Volume; 90min + 36.5hrs MR. Sessions; 1 +MR Best RHR;44!!! bpm Sleep; 42.5hrs *27


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; NIL

Races/Time trials; NIL
Reps sessions; 10k reps session 43min 17 (4.19 per km) 24/6/07.

Comments; An instant replay of last week almost. Another hardcore week at work, culminating in a tough slog in the rain for several hours on Friday afternoon. On the bright side hopefully Kathryn and I will be ready for some of the myriad of bills coming our way in July, as the birth of our baby draws ever nearer. Should be sometime in the next 1-6 weeks I hope. i.e. before 12th August.

No training in the week, and I once again really needed to recover from work on Saturday, despite Daves tempting offer of a group trails run, plus the possibility of catching up with the intrepid comrades (89km) runners at the Hills Training group. Plus the need to ration petrol money also obvious. The stormy weather of heavy rain, gusty winds, and lightning strikes was not very inviting anyway. Clarkson substation non-operational due to lightning strikes leaving much of northern suburbs without power. Our power flickered once, but no problems really here. Glad I stayed indoors. So that left only sunday to train, and once again, like last week it was a case of which session is priority numero uno. Reps was the answer, so long run and time trial were relegated to "maybe next week" status.

Two weeks to go, and I am quietly confident my Perth Marathon plans of a 3.29-3.49 are looking good, and that elusive P.B. is a strong possibility (assuming of course God allows our baby to come on the right day, if not, I'll just have to wait for some different races, cos even though it would be a huge disappointment, Kathryn and our baby come first for sure!)...

Very happy with the 10k reps session, the one minute improvement there and the 44 resting heart rate huge positives.
So the Nine challenges remaining;
1-need a new watch
2-90% sure I need new shoes
3-both bikes are barely operational.
4-a couple more reps sessions would be nice although the most important one is on the board as of 24/6/07.
5-my race times have been mediocre/poor mostly so far in 2007.
6-the whole baby,work,money,bills thing is proving to be tougher than expected, and hoping for things to just stabilise a bit more in that department in the coming weeks.....
7-I'd like to nail 1-2 more timetrials over 10-20km next week.
8-I'd like to get one more decent long run of at least 19-22km next weekend.
9-I'd like to keep best weekly resting heart rate under 46 for the next 2 weeks.

Eye of the tiger stalks a 16km run in 84min and Cruisy 16k ride on MTB

Sunday 17th June PM; Ran about 16km in 84min 24 secs
Heart Rate; 165. (5min 16 per km average speed)
5.4km Splits; 26min.44/ 28min.38/ 29min.02. A time-trial session (not a slow (LSD or OD) long run and too short to be an LFD run).


Did a downhill/uphill out and back course from near Swan Rd (corner of Morrison Rd and Pechey Rd) to Balfour Rd (incorrectly signposted on the trail as Innamincka Rd) and back along the Railway Heritage Trail, which is a gravel walking track where the old railway went many decades ago. The spot where I started near Swan Rd still has a well preserved remains of "Swanview Station". Railway Tunnel is on other side of Morrison Rd. Unsure of the exact distance but after checking distances on the signposts I've decided to go with about 2.7km per section which makes it about 5.4km per lap and about 16.2km. Initially I thought from old measurements I had done on the map that it was 2.5km (5km), and therefore thought I had run 15km, but for now I think it was 16km. Might have to take the mountainbike up there and see what the cycle computer says....

As this weekend went on I realised my plans of doing a 32km long run, a 16km timetrial and a reps session were not going to happen, and the best I could do was to decide which were the most important sessions, and how much time I had to do them, and how I felt mentally and physically in taking them on. In the end I decided the timetrial was the one I most wanted to do this week. Better one good session this weekend than none. Figured the 32km was going to take too much continous time out of my day, and that I wasn't ready physically and mentally for reps today.

So instead of having a shower after my ride, I had a bit to eat, said goodbye to my wife as she went off to her "girls day out" stuff, and then decided to head up to the trails to Pechey Rd where the beautiful bush meets the trails. Put the heavy inserts in my shoes, and they were not too bad, maybe I should have run with them in the Freo Half...

I tried to get some lighter shoe sole inserts at Jim Kidds yesterday but the cheapest was $40, and that is half the price of a new shoe, so unless I can get some cheap from Kmart or something, I'm going to have to persist with the heavy sole inserts until I buy some new shoes, hopefully in 2 weeks when I get paid again...Cos I'll need to wear 'em in a little before the Perth Marathon in 3 weeks.

Going to Swan Rd brought back a few memories of good times Ive had in this location in the past, as I ran down the trail with powerade stashed at the start for use on lap 2. Beautiful views of the city down below the scarp in the distance, I guess thats why they call it Swanview. Downhill for the first 2.5 to 2.7km and I made it to Balfour/Innamincka Rd in 11min 49, which was the 3rd road I came to. A few walkers, mountainbikers, dogs, but pretty peaceful run most of the way, and a little softer than running on bitumen. Found it hard to go under 15 minutes on the uphill leg, and wasted a bit of time drinking and carrying powerade on the second lap, and it got rather hard as I expected on the 3rd lap, with a sub 14min for the downhill the best I could muster. Felt a bit sore afterwards, so I know I got the fast K's into the legs that I missed out on getting at the Freo Half (due to the blisters)...

If I can nail two more of these sort of runs I'll be a lot happier going into the Marathon. If I can get some reps done, I'll be able to run these sort of time trial runs much quicker. Ideally I'll be aiming to try and run around the 4.45-5.15 per km pace for a large part of the Marathon (42.2km) in 3 weeks time, which I need to!!, in order to nail that 3.29 to 3.49.

So a very satisfying session, which I hope keep things on track, and makes this week a half successful week instead of a pathetic week.

Sunday 17th June AM; Cycled 16km in 52min 47 on mountainbike Heart rate 141.
Splits; 26.55/25.52. 2 laps of Thorburn avenue,Lord St,Cuttler,Small,etc course...

Just trying to get into a better frame of mind mentally for the day. Not really going after anything substantial, been busy at home this weekend, with the wife 35 weeks pregnant tomorrow, its all go,go,go at the moment....Plus had a reasonably full-on week at work as usual, with not much sleep and 36.5 hours of meter reading this week, so needed a bit of r and r (rest and recovery) this weekend. Thinking of those comrades runners from the hills training group today See http://www.comrades.com/

WEEK 13 (11/06/07-17/06/07);

Volume; 151min + 36.5hrs MR. Sessions; 3 +MR Best RHR;49 bpm Sleep; 44hrs *53


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; NIL

Races/Time trials;
16km time trial 1hr 24 (84min 24) HR 165---17/6/07
Reps sessions; 3k ladder 11min.58.---12/6/07

Comments; Only 3 weeks to go now until the Perth Marathon...Managed to catch up on a bit of sleep this weekend, as by Friday night I was pretty frazzled after yet another week of less than 6 hours a night stuff...So this weekend it was all about sleeping in, and recovering from work, much to my frustration. Feel like my training is sliding again a bit like the Dockers last night in Darwin. Juggling demands of work, my heavily pregnant wife Kathryn (she is 35 weeks tomorrow), and various financial and emotional pressures was all becoming a bit too much this week again, so decided on Friday night, that I really needed to take it easy this weekend for at least 24 hours....cos there is too much responsibility on my shoulders, if I lose it emotionally or physically the consequences are significant, so I have learned from the past from when I was at Uni and other times there are times you just have to go into recovery mode.

I guess now is a good time to count the blessings God has given me, and reevaluate where I am at and where I would like to go from here, which is the process and the attitude I try to keep coming back to, so as to make the most of "the journey" (like Tommy Emmanuel song...), rather than get bogged down in the frustrations and disappointments.
Twelve Positives;
1-Did a 3k ladder this week, nothing incredible, but still a good little session to get done.
2-Paid my WAMC (marathon club) membership.
3-Nailed a pretty hardcoreish week at work.
4-Got the sleep counter above 42 hours (6 hours per night) for the week.
5-Managed to get another sub 50 resting heart rate week.
6-no new major injuries that I am aware of.
7-my worn out mountainbike is currently operational (although the top cog of the top 5 gears is non-operational)...which gives me a useful cross-training option.
8-Kathryn and baby are soldiering on into week 35 tomorrow, and no major problems (other than a lot of discomfort and back pain for her as the stomach stretches towards maximal size.)so far that we know of.
9-still have a pretty substantial endurance base in place from the last month or so especially.
10-I've had some useful hitouts in the Challenge 10k and Freo Half (21.1km), plus done some occasional reps in the last 2 months.
11-nailed a 16km timetrial run which gives me some more confidence in my chances of a PB this year, and something to build on for the next 2 weeks.
12-sub 4 hours and a P.B. still looking very likely.

Eight Challenges;
1-need a new watch
2-90% sure I need new shoes
3-both bikes are barely operational.
4-disappointed in my lack of reps sessions.
5-my race times have been mediocre/poor so far.
6-the whole baby,work,money,bills thing is proving to be tougher than expected, and hoping for things to just stabilise a bit more in that department in the coming weeks.....
7-I'd like to nail 2-3 more good timetrials over 10km-20km.
8-I'd like to get one more decent long run of at least 22-32km done before the marathon in 3 weeks.
9-I'd like to get the resting heart rate under 46 bpm.

3k ladder @ Noranda

Tuesday 12th June 2007; Ran 3k ladder at Noranda track in total time of 11min 58.36.
500m-1min 48.68/1km-4min.03.22 /// 1km-4min.15.33/500m-1min 51.13
Heart rates; 168/183 /// 180/186. Rests 4min 30ish...

Finished 8 hours worth of hard yakka work in Morley, and cos' I was pretty close to home and had the sense to pack my training gear in the car this morning, I headed for the track on the way home, to get in a quick ladder session to sharpen up my speed a bit. Was way too worn out from work to do anything particuarly hardcore, but figured a cruisy 500m/1km/1km/500m wouldn't be too daunting to get done quickly, and if I get to planned 10k reps, 2k reps or 4k reps later in the week, this session will help me to be ready to really go after some decent times. Have done too much running around 4.30-5min per K (in races) and 5.45-7min per K in my long runs, so feel the need to do some intense work around the 4min flat per km zone, and to get some heart rates in the 180's as I need some high intensity work if I am to be fit enough to go deep after the 3hrs.25-3.40 marathon time, sort of zone. Lights were on at the track and some runners there running 600m's just as I finished my session. Ran with the heavy inserts in my shoes (can't risk anymore blisters!), which felt a little awkward sometimes, and certainly felt heavy made it hard to maintain fast pace, but that can only make me stronger. In the 500's i was hitting the first 100m in 18 secs, and the 4.03 1km felt good. I knew I had worked it fairly strongly (as evidenced by the heart rate of 183), but still felt I had a little left, so pleasing to get that one on the board. Struggled a bit to hold it together in the 3rd and 4th reps, probably due to (a) tired legs from the 8 hour slog at work, and (b) not having done reps since the 10k reps I did on May 20th so about 3 weeks ago. Shame shame shame on me (as derryn H used to say), for not doing reps for 3 weeks! Hopefully I can get 1 or 2 more hardcore sessions done at some stage this week, maybe if I do it on Saturday, and do my long run on Sunday that might do it....Other thought is maybe I will run the first 16km of my long run very hard to simulate a time trial and then cruise the next 16-19k after that...so I can get my time trial over 16k as well as my long one done in the one session since I am so time poor these days...
Reps and 16k time trial the main priorities this week followed by 32k-35k long run...
So nice to get the week off to a good start, heres hoping it all comes together this week. Must sort out watch and shoes issues........2 more sleeps until payday...

Finished my fifth Freo Half despite blister fiasco

Sunday 10th June 2007; Ran Fremantle Half Marathon (21.1km) in 2hrs 11minutes.
Heart rate at end 156. Splits 52min/79min.

Coming off 4 hours sleep, with a broken watch, shoe problems, barely enough petrol to drive to the location, and as usual leaving my heavily pregnant wife at home, combined with my failure to get any reps done in the last 2 weeks, it would have been very easy to just stay at home and not run today. I had plenty of excuses not to run. However I wanted to keep the streak I started in 2003 alive, and run my fifth Freo half. More importantly I need some racing mentally and physically to improve, and its the best race opportunity I have close to the Perth Marathon to do a half marathon and get a feel for where I am at in my marathon preparations. Plus I was keen to see how Epi and others would go. Another major reason to be there was because its a beautiful location to run in with the ocean, ships, and islands alongside all the way, and some truly beautiful views, which didn't disappoint.

Its also a relatively easy course, so a fast time is always a possibility. Arrived 15 minutes early, and was able to warm up a bit which was good as the wind chill was noticeable, although nothing like as stormy as it has been in some previous years. Decided to put some black ducktape on the holes in my sole inserts in my shoes which appeared after last weeks 34km long run. The other inserts I ran with on Monday for the 5.25km I figured would be too heavy to race in. This proved to be a very foolish decision which destroyed any chance of a good time today, and made it tough,tricky and painful to just finish. Although the ducktape holding my watch together has done its job as a temporary measure to keep the watch operational in the last few days, until I make it to payday. Wore my Freo hat again, and they negoiated a stubborn bunch of tiggers, who fought to the end that afternoon. Freooooo way to go! Hit 'em real hard send 'em down below...

Got a fairly good position in the bunch and worked fairly strongly, to hit McTaggart Cove (a street), in 8min 54secs. Went through 2.5km in 11min 33 which was a few seconds slower than I wanted but still not too bad (my target time was 11.15) at around 4.39 per km. Then the course modifications for this year kicked in and the loop turned out to be a lot longer than I expected... Started to get passed a bit during this time so suspect I started to drift out towards 5 minutes per km so running at a similiar pace to my Challenge 10k a few weeks ago (about 4.40's and 4.50's), which is what I expected given the lack of reps in the last 2 weeks. Was hoping the distance work I had done would be enough strength to get me deep into the 1.40's for the Half, and maybe even a PB and/or a 1.39.... Went through Mctaggart Cove again at the end of loop ONE in 25min 12. Decided to try and target about 45-48 minutes for the turn near Woodmans point which is roughly about 10.5km. Felt good for a few km, then started to struggle a bit and stopwatch (which was taped onto an old watch to keep it there) said about 35minutes as I passed a Coogee jet ski hire sign. About this time my feet also started to feel a bit sore on the balls of the foot where I had my thorlo socks sitting on top of the ducktape repairs. About 39 minutes in I decided to drink half my powerade, and save the rest and my GU for about 80 minutes in. Felt a lot better after that 200-300ml or so of powerade Started to find a good rhythm again, and had high hopes of going at least sub 1.50, and hopefully sub 1.45 at that stage, although the 1.39 was starting to look unlikely.

Then my feet started to get very sore, and the pain was starting to get a little too intense and constant for my liking. Pushed on but lost rhythm a bit, hoped it would go away by itself, but in the back of my mind I knew I was in trouble. When I rounded the turn in 52 minutes (about 4 minutes slower than I had hoped), I knew that sub 1.50 was starting to look a bit of a challenge now...
Eight minutes later as my stopwatch hit 1 hour my feet were very sore, my pace had dropped right off, and I knew I couldnt keep running like this any longer, unless I wanted cut feet, and a lot of pain. Mindful of the need to keep my feet in good nick for work and training in the next few weeks for the marathon, I decided to stop fighting the pain, and see if taking the inserts out would help. Stopped and did that, and walked for awhile like that, but running seemed to be too painful, and soon walking with no sole inserst was getting very umcomfortable and painful too. So I put the inserts back in near the drink station, and decided to try walking it out. After walking briskly for a little longer I started to find the pain subsiding, and decided I would make sure I did not DNF even if I had to walk/hobble all the way to the finish. However I could see that walking the last 6-8km would keep me on the course until about 2 hrs 30 or longer, and as most of the back marker runners passed me, I decided to try and run/shuffle again just to try and get to the finish a bit quicker, ran on outside of my feet (deliberate pronation or whichever one it is) mostly and shuffled my way up to a decent pace. Soon I was passing the odd slow runner, and my splits through the McTaggart loop section were 1hr 37,1hr 48 at the turn and 1hr 59 with about 2km or so to go...
During this loop section I got a good pace going passed a number of runners and the pain was mostly avoided although it was a rather awkward way to run, at least i was no longer walking. Found a half decent rhythm, and the last 2km or so alongside the beautiful ocean views went by fairly quickly at just over 6minutes per km. Finished in 2hrs 11 well under the revised target of 2hr 20 that I set when I got to McTaggart Cove in 1hr 37. Heart rate was very!!! low for a race in 156, and I was pretty fresh apart from my blistered feet.

So a very disaapointing result timewise, but still a valuable race session, despite the disaster with the blisters. I estimate I am in about 1hr 44 condition at this stage, but my endurance is superior to the last 3 years so a 3.40-3.50 looking likely still at this stage. Four big missions for the next few weeks though is 1. buy new shoes, or run with my heavy inserts, or maybe buy new light inserts 2.
buy new watch, 3. do lots of reps and some decent time trials maybe!!! 4. a couple more long runs/rides to ensure the endurance base I have is maintained.

WEEK 12 (04/06/07-10/06/07);

Volume; 321min + 24hrs MR. Sessions; 3 +MR Best RHR;48 bpm Sleep; 41.25hrs! *36


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; Cycled 47km in 2hr 44.

Races/Time trials; Ran Freo Half Marathon (21.1km) in 2hr 11

Reps sessions; NIL.

Comments; Race was a big disappointment, have to sort out some logistical issues there, other than that going well still. Indications from race are that I'm looking good for a sub 4 at this stage. Enjoyed getting out to race again in a beautiful location despite the blisters... Urgently!!!!!!!!! need to do reps though. Failed to do that again after a very tricky week at work...Its getting a bit wearing just now for me, but hopefully some major positives ahead...Overall looking good for a 3.29 to 3.49 I hope. The next two weeks are crucial with reps, 13k-21k timetrials, an easy 32km and an easy 22km. Although I could do the Perth 32, I will probably do both long ones in the hills, as I do know "the excellence of trail running"!
Have to activate my WAMC membership, and if everything goes to plan, and the baby doesnt come on the wrong day, a 3.29 to 3.49 is what I will be aiming for.

slow 47km ride on MTB

Saturday 9th June; Cycled 47km in 2hours 44min 24 from Beechboro to Narrows Bridge in South Perth and back. Heart rate 138 at end.
Splits 1.21/1.23....

Well the red baron seems to be non-operational at the moment so unfortunately my fast light bike not available for me at the moment, and I can't afford to buy one at the moment, although I am thinking of laybying some $200 mountainbikes I saw recently...after i pay my WAMC membership and do 500 other things....Ive told myself a million times not to exaggerate! :-) *LOL*

So I got my tired old Mamba mountainbike puncture fixed at Bikeforce earlier in the week, and decided to take it easy this weekend, and do a ride into the city for something different (variety is the spice of training life), and also to keep something in reserve for Fremantle Half Marathon race tomorrow. Had a lot of trouble with the third cog on my bike, so just rode using the middle cog, which meant I didnt have the top 5 gears of my 15 speed mountain-bike. This combined with the rickety nature of a bike that has done well over 10,000km since I bought it, meant that I was going to be making heavy weather of it all the way....However it was nice to take a break from running my long run as I have done the last 2 weeks, and to have an easy long session. Enjoyed the riverside views of the Swan River, including the scenic helicopter flights ($60 a go), a speedboat going through the water , and lots of other runners,cyclists, and all sorts of people along the south perth foreshore...Was struggling to keep my average speed around the 17-18km/h mark which is the slowest I have been for awhile. I let the stopwatch run for 2 minutes when I got to the Narrows Bridge while I rested and downed my powerade (which would make my second split a 1.21 too.... On the way back, i tried to push the pace a bit doing the old "phantom tri-bars " routine as usual and even getting down low once or twice to reduce wind resistance. This seemed to nudge me into the 20-25km/h zone a bit despite not having my top 5 gears. Even on a steep downhill my max speed for the entire ride was only 32km/h which shows how slow it was...

Still I think I did enough to retain/maintain the long endurance base that I have developed over the last few weeks especially.

I did just over 24 hours at work this week in 4 days (public holiday monday), and would have done more, but they sent me to nedlands/claremont 4 days in a row, which combined with trying to get ahead and ante-natal class III in Subiaco, for our baby due next month, meant I drove to the Nedlands/claremont/subiaco area from beechboro and then back no less than 6 times in 4 days. Its a very tricky location to get to from beechboro during peak hour heavy traffic, even with my secret route to beat the traffic, its a tough drive. By Thursday I was had it from all the driving!
Friday night I had an even more harrowing drive in the darkness on wet stormy roads to get home in time to watch the Eagles (my wifes team) lose to the bombers by a point. Next week will hopefully be better. Worked very hard at work (when I wasn't driving to and fro from it), so that will hopefully help me with the Freo half race tomorrow.

Monday 4th June; Ran 5.25km in 25min 48 secs HR 138 Splits 12.14/13.34 Did 2 laps of Ottawa Park course...Pretty cruisy trying out running with special inserts in my shoes cos my normal sole inserts are getting rather worn out from the long runs I have been doing...

Tough hilly 34km run in 3hr 52

Saturday 2nd June; Ran about 34km in 3hours 52min 40 secs. Heart rate at end of 126.
Some times along the way; 24km; 2hr 36 (6min 30 per km), 30km 3 hr 24. Took a lot of drinks/toilet/rest breaks along the way, plus spent time removing gravel which kept getting into my shoes. Had two such breaks between 24k and 30k, which is one reason that section was so slow...

Was in a hurry this morning and only just managed to get to Darlington by about 0635am, and got my two powerades, 2 GU's & carkeys into my hydration pack which had a full 2Litres of water in the bladder. Quickly applied Bodyglide, and headed over through the chilly wind, a minute or two before the run started.

I started with the C-team on Pine Terrace and a few others on the same 22km pipeline trail course from Darlington (which follows Victor rd for a large part of the course) which I did with them back in March this year. See; http://runmara2005blog.blogspot.com/2007/03/hilly-22km-pipeline-run-in-darlington.html
Ran at the front of the bunch mostly and decided to follow Comrades legend rr's
pace as I wanted a fast and sustainable early pace...As we descended and ascended hills in true six-inch style alongside the pipeline through the magnificent valley, with the full moon fading, and sunlight sneaking over the tops of the scarp high above, again and again I was reminded of the beauty of God's creation and was just enjoying being out there! Started to find the pace a little challenging from about 40-60minutes in...
As I was with the C-team the traditional copious amounts of breaks was of course being taken though so lots of rests...and time wasting...and the usual good chats...sm was there again, and eventually headed off on a secret route. had another good chat with him about Freo half and Perth Marathon...This is the last long training long run before the Comrades 2007 89km race in South Africa in 2 weeks time, so I wished a few of them all the best for that. Ironman Lady sb was giving out jellybeans to everyone.

As they headed up Phils Hill, I continued along the pipeline with 4 other intrepid souls on my first attempt on the infamous hilly 34km course. It soon became apparent that these 4 runners (who all looked pretty experienced to me), were intent on getting a much faster pace happening. On one of the first hills I let them go, but made a pact with myself to keep them in sight. Had to work fairly strongly on some tough hilly stuff to do this. As we ascended the scarp I knew it was going to be a tough challenge to keep the others in sight until we got to the Mundaring sculpture park. Something I was very keen to do, as I had no real idea how to get there from where we were, except that I vaguely knew it was in a northerly direction to my left.

I guess I would have got there eventually if I had got lost, but it might have cost me an hour or so and that would spoil the run and turn it into a bush survival situation instead of a long run. Not a lot of difference really between the two, but the long run is a lot better situation to be in in this instance.

Soon I recognised the smokestack at Mundaring Weir dam, as my stopwatch ticked over to 1hr 44minutes. About this time we spent around 30-40 minutes or more climbing a steep, windy, neverending uphill bitumen road (which I have just established by looking at the map is called Mundaring Weir Rd) from below the dam up towards the summit of the scarp. Had my first GU at Fred Jacoby Park, and had to work hard to keep the other 4 in sight, although they did wait for me a few times. Then we finally got off the bitumen and away from the occasional car, and onto a nice trail called the Karramoota trail or something like that. Can't remember the exact name.
We also crossed the Munda Biddi Trail a few times, and at one point I saw a plain yellow triangle like they used to have on the old Bibbulumn Track (before they moved it inland). Beautiful bush. I was hurting a bit, and struggling to keep the other runners in sight by this time. However I knew that the Mundaring Sculpture park would have to be only a few km away as I had been running for over 2 hours at a pretty good pace on a neverending ascent. Finally I recognised familiar surroundings again as the railway heritage trail loomed ahead, and the Mundaring sculpture park just ahead of there. Stopwatch hit 2hrs 36minutes, and I knew there was only 9.5km on downhill trail to traverse, plus I knew where I was! At this stage I let the other 4 go, and settled down to about 7minutes per km pace or slower. Soon after had a big break getting gravel stones out of my shoes, and walked for a bit. Was really starting to hurt by this time, and then I saw a few other regular hills training group people up ahead on a late edition (they started 0830am I think? so very late start indeed)19km?..they were taking a drinks break before heading towards the Sculpture Park I had left a few km before..., and jokingly formed "a guard of honour" as I ran through their group. Gave me a big boost mentally that did, as by now I was on my own for the now very painful haul home...Took a moving walk break at about 28km mark to savour my tri-berry GU, and the mountain blast powerade that I had saved. They tasted wonderful, and I then set about trying to run some 7-8 minute K's for the last 6km. Saw one of the runners who had run with me earlier about this time, I reckon he must have either detoured or taken his own break. Was hitting just under 7 minutes per km in the last 4 k, as Isettled into a good although a little creaky rhythm again...Mentally ticking off the familiar landmarks along the way. Saw a kangaroo, and a few locals walking dogs, jogging or riding mountainbikes, but mostly it was the solitude of the long distance runner for me...Was very nice to finally get to Owen Rd, satisfied that another good long run on the board, means my plans to go deep into 3hour territory for the Perth Marathon this year are looking on track at this stage. A very tough run completed...
I think I want 1 to 3 more long runs in June, although I may do a few long rides instead. The long run component is looking good after a 5hr run (42k), 3hr run (27k), and a 4hr(34k)run in the last 4 weeks, all on the Darlington trails...

WEEK 11 (28/05/07-03/06/07);

Volume; 233min + 35hrs MR. Sessions; 1 +MR Best RHR;46! bpm Sleep; 45hrs! *31


OD/LSD/LFD sessions; Ran hilly! 34km in 3hr 52.40

Races/Time trials;NIL

Reps sessions; NIL.

Comments;
Excellent long run. Tough week at work, my best resting heart rate reading so far this year. Sleep a little better this week overall, mostly due to a few sleep in days. Big sleep in sunday morning, and a very relaxed day after a hard but this time satisfying week workwise. I think I made a significant step forward in general fitness and endurance this week. The lack of reps and failure to do more than one session disappointing, urgently need to work on reps now, My plans to target my Half Marathon PB (1.41) In Freo half Marathon looking a little shaky now, but still a possibility if I get things right next week, if not it will be tough. Otherwise still looking good, a good tough! long run to get on the board, not as long as the 42km I did a few weeks earlier but still pretty legendary long run I think. Huge thanks to Hills Training Group for once again giving me a lot of the motivation and the opportunity to nail an A-grade long run. That sub 4 hour Perth Marathon looking very likely now...How far I go into 3 hour territory will depend largely on what I do in the next 3-4 weeks. Of course the other big factor is when our baby comes, as that may stop me from even starting the Marathon, but pretty low probability of that, and all I can do is be well prepared for both events, and hope they both go well on the day, and hope they are not on the same day, God willing.