An old friend: Brooking Rd 27km week 4

Saturday 16th August 2008 AD;
Ran 27.5km in 2 hours 46min 29 seconds (6min 03 per km) HR 144.
15 minutes faster than what I did in January this year!!!, and at similiar intensity...so effectively a PB on that course...


Early on I was thinking of going on the ZigZag course with the terrific trio Terry,Graham, young Phil, + others, and almost did, but then decided the Brooking rd course might be of more use to my Melbourne plans...

Ran with some A-teamish runners for the first 80 minutes or so, they stopped twice to let me catch up which was nice of them. Found the pace a bit hot at around 5min per km or maybe a bit faster, but hung in as best as I could had a good chat with Mike the Mechanic early on (3 hr 24 in Perth a few weeks ago) and then DJC (sub 3 hr marathoner doing Boston Marathon next year). Got to Pechey rd in 49min despite taking a toilet break, so I reckon we must have been doing about 4.30-4.45's per km...

Beautiful views as usual, kangaroos, birds, and the waterfalls flowing, reminded me of the times my wife Kathryn and I used to hike along this section a few years ago...
Hovea falls was going well, and as I saw the Eagle view trail markers, I was reminded of the group going there today...Hung in there with the other 6-7 runners until not long before the Falls rd turn off...

Then I had good old Brooking Rd hill to myself (hills are your friend), I reached the bottom in 1 hr 39min. I got to the top of Brooking Rd in 2hrs 2 minutes, so it took me 23 minutes to get up (and partly down to cross Great Eastern Hwy) the thing!
Just like old days, but I didnt walk any of it. Then I was a bit confused which way to go and had my 4th and last 5 minute break for the day (so I actually ran walked for 2hrs 26min if you take out the breaks which I leave my stopwatch running for, in 3which case my average running speed would be 5min 19 per km despite the tough long Brooking Rd hill) and drank most of my second powerade, before deciding to take a guess on Strelitza Rd and followed that all the way to a road I later found out was Bailey Rd, just heading in the general direction of where I thought the Darlington bound trail was, when I got there in 2hrs 23 min and the sign said 3.9km to go I was pleasantly surprised, and got going stronger again, especially when one of the other runners getting an extra 4km in passed me, my last 4km taking 23 minutes, so hitting sub 6min per km again...

Excellent run very happy with it, and hopefully it will help me shake the flu I have been plagued with this week, I had a lot of mucous still in my system this morning...
Finally got one of the big guns out of the Training arsenal, and put it to use... YAY!

MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 4 (11/08/08-17/08/08);

Volume; 166min + 23hrs MR work. Sessions;1 +MR
Best RHR; 49bpm Sleep; 40.5hrs (5.75hrs per night) *13

OD/LSD; 27.5km 2hrs 46min (LFDish in the first 90 minutes)
Races/Time trials/LFD;NIL
Reps sessions;Nil.

5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-YES,
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-No
3-Abs done?-Yes.
4-cycling done-No
5-swim done?-No
Comments;Still trying to get over the flu, get rid of the congestion in my nose, until that happens I cant attack training properly. Just have to wait it out, hopefully be able to go hard at it in a few days time...Great to nail a tough! and very important long run, the tough Brooking hill course combined with fastish early pace, my first decent long run since Perth Marathon on the back of that mediocre 18k last week, means thats one crucial Melbourne Marathon prep session done, just need about 10-20 more if I am to seriously give that sub 3.25 goal a shake. In a good position to attack if I can just avoid anymore illness and develop some good daily routines in the next few weeks...

Olympics is inspiring, the usual Australian swimmers, Hackett just failing to get his 3rd gold in 3 olympics in the 1500m freestyle, despite holding the world record from the heats, same as Eamon Sullivan did, Opals beating Russia in the Womens basketball, as did the Boomers,

but Especially enjoyed seeing the surprise bronze medal from Jarrad Tallent (who I had a chat with in last years melbourne marathon which he was racewalking in about 3 hours something...) in the 20km walk yesterday, and the 38 year old Romanian woman winning the womens marathon today, with Kenyan Catherine Ndereba getting the silver from a chinese woman....With 3 victorian women from australia Benita,Kate and Lisa all doing really well for Australia, but no top ten finish, although not expected...Moneghetti's commentary was great, and some interesting info about the origin of the blue line on the road, it was made by an old president of the victorian racewalkers club for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics...