Perth Marathon 
.
Perth Marathon
. 
Wanneroo Nationals 8km Walk 1989,
My 6th Freo Half
Sunday 21st September; Ran 21.1km (Freo Half) in 1hr55min.08 HR 183 at end.
Enjoyed catching up with people I know online (Gunner,Coops,Nate & Kate F.) and including some hills group people, and saw about 6 or 7 cool running hats or tops and yelled out the obligatory "GO COOLRUNNER!" and briefly said hello to Pelagie,Mjail, and 20thcenturyBoy afterwards... Made the run a lot more fun...
Ho-hum another pathetic time, although ran well in patches and finished off strongly (and passed a lot of people which was a good feeling although thats not what its about), although I didn't bother to sprint finish today. Disappointed I didn't get into the low 1.40's today, but I felt like I was capable of it, just made a total mess of the race, again!...But I think its a good leadup race for Melbourne still, and my PB is most certainly strongly on the radar for Melbourne Marathon in 3 weeks time. Especially after some of the running I have done in the last week or so.
Reasons for slow time today;
REASON 1; The concrete sections on the new course were very long and this disrupted my rhythm and made my worst knee very sore, even though I ran on the grass whenever I could.
REASON 2; However the biggest problem was yet another episode of "disorganisation plus" (maybe partly due to 2 hours sleep last night and 3 hours Friday night), where
(a) I drank too much H2O before the start, and had to do a 3 minute toilet stop at Cottesloe turnaround, then
(b) realised I had forgotten to tape my nipples as the blood started to trickle, so ducked into my car at the end of the first of 2 laps on this out-and-back course, grabbed some bandaids and my gatorade (had noone to give my drink to out on the course) wasted a few more minutes and kissed goodbye any chance of going sub 1.50 today, and certainly any chance of challenging my 1.41 PB.
REASON 3; Only KM marker on the entire course was at 2km (did 9.03 for the first 2km which was good and reasonably comfortable too (could see Gunner & Coops, Nate for some of this time..., so very hard to tell how one was going anyway...way too much guesswork involved.
Not much rain, some strong winds around but either an alternating tailwind/headwind or crosswinds, and my strength from marathon training meant I knifed through the winds no problem today. Some little inclines more than expected but overall a nice flat course mostly. The bitumen cyclepath sections were good and I was able to run well on those bits...
Although I dont think it slowed me down much today, my recurring "hamstring strain"? has been bad this week, probably cos for once I have got some trackwork done. Have been icepacking it again in the last few days, probably need to start a daily intensive stretching programme, and talk to a physio about strengthening my hamstring muscle in that leg or whatever else as I clearly have something in my biomechanics which has not been right in recent months, and I don't want it to (a) stop me finishing Melbourne Marathon, (b) become an ongoing injury problem that cuases me to breakdown at training all the time, or (c) stops me from training for Melbourne in 3 weeks time (if thats possible)... Felt a twinge at about 18km, so shortened the stride and increased cadence and that seemed to help. Stretched it a lot afterwards, and will icepack tonight again...
My wife said after maybe its a good thing my PB wasn't under threat cos I might have done the hammy real bad trying to get it if I had been close, and IMO its easy to train up for a Half, whereas the Marathon takes a bit more long-term commitment and less opportunities to do them...
Friday 19th September PM;
2x500m at Dianella/Inglewood 1.55,1.50 (2minute rest) HR's 162,171.
Too rushed after long day at work, and family stuff to do that evening, so just jammed in the shortest possible track session. Hammy needed to be icepacked afterwards again for sure..pretty sore this time.
Thursday 18th September PM; (Dianella/Inglewood)
10k reps session 46.16! (4.37 per km) Highest HR 189.
Mostly high but comfortable HR's of around 180-186, so probably could have pushed a bit more on some of them. Fastest 1k 4.12, Slowest 1k 4.57.
Saw the Cattermoles there training...
Faster than the 46.41 I did in February this year see HERE...A tough session this one...
Had the Living Sacrifice & Scott Albert Project track: "Distorted" playing in my head through most of this session as it got dark, floodlights came on for soccer players for my last rep. Finished off with the cut-sick!!! tune by Final Axe; "Vengeance is mine"...(Holy and Divine...) which was playing in my head helping me to stay focused and motivated. Nice to chat briefly with Cattermoles too that was also motivating.
Final Axe etc is on my Retroactive Records sampler CD ("Lightning strikes twice again"), which has been on my car stereo on way to and from work all week, also has cool tracks like Fearful Symmetry, Royal Anguish (black metal combined with classical music ala Believer : Dimensions trilogy), Circle of Dust, and Jimmy Browns (frontman for speedmetal legend Deliverance, still enjoying their live version of "The Call" on the intense live series...) alter ego side band Jupiter VI "Back from Mars"..."I'm back, I'm back from Marrrrrs..." "I Cant rember this, I do remember that"....
Oh yeah I icepacked hammy after this session.
Wednesday 17th September AM;
60min on exercise bike. 35.86km according to dodgy speedo.
250 ab crunches.
Monday 15th September PM;
Ran 6km in 29 min49 (4.58 per km)
HR 183 2km splits 9.04/10.10/10.35
Night run 3 laps of Hull park course.
Leg weary from 36km run the day before...
MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 9 (15/09/08-21/09/08);
Volume; 299min + 23hrs MR work Sessions;5
Best RHR; 46!!bpm Sleep; 36.25hrs (5.17hrs per night) *0!
OD/LSD; Well yeah sorta 60min ride.
Races/Time trials/LFD; Yes Freo Half 1hr 55.
5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-Yes kinda 60min ride.
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-Yes! finally I have a week where I do that. Yay!
3-Abs done- Yes. 250. good.
4-cycling done-Yes.
5-swim done?-Nope...
Comments; PB in Melbourne looking likely, IF I can keep Hamstring under control.
A few more good runs would be nice too but need to be careful not to flare up the hammy too much. At the moment I think a 3.40-3.50 marathon might be possible, to do better than that I may need to get in a few more good runs in the next 21 days...
Also need to make sure my raceday organisation is much better than most of my races this year or I will struggle to go sub 4 hours, and the 3.25-3.30 will only be possible if I get things right on the day...Getting nervous now... Very happy with what I have been able to do in the last 7 days, while nothing stunning, I have the key sessions in place now.
Enjoyed catching up with people I know online (Gunner,Coops,Nate & Kate F.) and including some hills group people, and saw about 6 or 7 cool running hats or tops and yelled out the obligatory "GO COOLRUNNER!" and briefly said hello to Pelagie,Mjail, and 20thcenturyBoy afterwards... Made the run a lot more fun...
Ho-hum another pathetic time, although ran well in patches and finished off strongly (and passed a lot of people which was a good feeling although thats not what its about), although I didn't bother to sprint finish today. Disappointed I didn't get into the low 1.40's today, but I felt like I was capable of it, just made a total mess of the race, again!...But I think its a good leadup race for Melbourne still, and my PB is most certainly strongly on the radar for Melbourne Marathon in 3 weeks time. Especially after some of the running I have done in the last week or so.
Reasons for slow time today;
REASON 1; The concrete sections on the new course were very long and this disrupted my rhythm and made my worst knee very sore, even though I ran on the grass whenever I could.
REASON 2; However the biggest problem was yet another episode of "disorganisation plus" (maybe partly due to 2 hours sleep last night and 3 hours Friday night), where
(a) I drank too much H2O before the start, and had to do a 3 minute toilet stop at Cottesloe turnaround, then
(b) realised I had forgotten to tape my nipples as the blood started to trickle, so ducked into my car at the end of the first of 2 laps on this out-and-back course, grabbed some bandaids and my gatorade (had noone to give my drink to out on the course) wasted a few more minutes and kissed goodbye any chance of going sub 1.50 today, and certainly any chance of challenging my 1.41 PB.
REASON 3; Only KM marker on the entire course was at 2km (did 9.03 for the first 2km which was good and reasonably comfortable too (could see Gunner & Coops, Nate for some of this time..., so very hard to tell how one was going anyway...way too much guesswork involved.
Not much rain, some strong winds around but either an alternating tailwind/headwind or crosswinds, and my strength from marathon training meant I knifed through the winds no problem today. Some little inclines more than expected but overall a nice flat course mostly. The bitumen cyclepath sections were good and I was able to run well on those bits...
Although I dont think it slowed me down much today, my recurring "hamstring strain"? has been bad this week, probably cos for once I have got some trackwork done. Have been icepacking it again in the last few days, probably need to start a daily intensive stretching programme, and talk to a physio about strengthening my hamstring muscle in that leg or whatever else as I clearly have something in my biomechanics which has not been right in recent months, and I don't want it to (a) stop me finishing Melbourne Marathon, (b) become an ongoing injury problem that cuases me to breakdown at training all the time, or (c) stops me from training for Melbourne in 3 weeks time (if thats possible)... Felt a twinge at about 18km, so shortened the stride and increased cadence and that seemed to help. Stretched it a lot afterwards, and will icepack tonight again...
My wife said after maybe its a good thing my PB wasn't under threat cos I might have done the hammy real bad trying to get it if I had been close, and IMO its easy to train up for a Half, whereas the Marathon takes a bit more long-term commitment and less opportunities to do them...
Friday 19th September PM;
2x500m at Dianella/Inglewood 1.55,1.50 (2minute rest) HR's 162,171.
Too rushed after long day at work, and family stuff to do that evening, so just jammed in the shortest possible track session. Hammy needed to be icepacked afterwards again for sure..pretty sore this time.
Thursday 18th September PM; (Dianella/Inglewood)
10k reps session 46.16! (4.37 per km) Highest HR 189.
Mostly high but comfortable HR's of around 180-186, so probably could have pushed a bit more on some of them. Fastest 1k 4.12, Slowest 1k 4.57.
Saw the Cattermoles there training...
Faster than the 46.41 I did in February this year see HERE...A tough session this one...
Had the Living Sacrifice & Scott Albert Project track: "Distorted" playing in my head through most of this session as it got dark, floodlights came on for soccer players for my last rep. Finished off with the cut-sick!!! tune by Final Axe; "Vengeance is mine"...(Holy and Divine...) which was playing in my head helping me to stay focused and motivated. Nice to chat briefly with Cattermoles too that was also motivating.
Final Axe etc is on my Retroactive Records sampler CD ("Lightning strikes twice again"), which has been on my car stereo on way to and from work all week, also has cool tracks like Fearful Symmetry, Royal Anguish (black metal combined with classical music ala Believer : Dimensions trilogy), Circle of Dust, and Jimmy Browns (frontman for speedmetal legend Deliverance, still enjoying their live version of "The Call" on the intense live series...) alter ego side band Jupiter VI "Back from Mars"..."I'm back, I'm back from Marrrrrs..." "I Cant rember this, I do remember that"....
Oh yeah I icepacked hammy after this session.
Wednesday 17th September AM;
60min on exercise bike. 35.86km according to dodgy speedo.
250 ab crunches.
Monday 15th September PM;
Ran 6km in 29 min49 (4.58 per km)
HR 183 2km splits 9.04/10.10/10.35
Night run 3 laps of Hull park course.
Leg weary from 36km run the day before...
MELBOURNE 42k (12/10/08) ASSAULT;
WEEK 9 (15/09/08-21/09/08);
Volume; 299min + 23hrs MR work Sessions;5
Best RHR; 46!!bpm Sleep; 36.25hrs (5.17hrs per night) *0!
OD/LSD; Well yeah sorta 60min ride.
Races/Time trials/LFD; Yes Freo Half 1hr 55.
5-point strategy measures;
1-long run/ride etc done?-Yes kinda 60min ride.
2-2x reps/race/timetrial sessions done?-Yes! finally I have a week where I do that. Yay!
3-Abs done- Yes. 250. good.
4-cycling done-Yes.
5-swim done?-Nope...
Comments; PB in Melbourne looking likely, IF I can keep Hamstring under control.
A few more good runs would be nice too but need to be careful not to flare up the hammy too much. At the moment I think a 3.40-3.50 marathon might be possible, to do better than that I may need to get in a few more good runs in the next 21 days...
Also need to make sure my raceday organisation is much better than most of my races this year or I will struggle to go sub 4 hours, and the 3.25-3.30 will only be possible if I get things right on the day...Getting nervous now... Very happy with what I have been able to do in the last 7 days, while nothing stunning, I have the key sessions in place now.
posted by trailblazer777 | 9/21/2008 02:22:00 pm
10 Comments:
TB, no point pushing too hard in a long run. esp seeing the hammy has been causing grief. One little tip, slow down your first few km's as I think you push it a bit hard from the start.
All the best with your taper
Hi TB,
I'd definitely recommend steering clear of fast and hilly runs until your hammy calms down. It should probably cope with slower and flat running so you dont lose fitness in the final 3 weeks.
Good luck
Look after the hammy in the next few weeks Jonathon. Maybe go easy on the speedwork.
I'm thinking your early pace may have been too ambitious (95min half) - I mean, there's a fine line, and early 'too quick' speed always comes back to bite. This happened to me in the 10k last week... 4:11s turned into 4:5Xs.
The 10k session looked a bit of a strain too, unless the 4:57 was the first and the 4:12 the last rep!
Thanks for the comments Ewen,Clown,Epi appreciated, even if I feel at odds with some parts of the comments, but I want to hear advice,constructive crit. (which you all do) cos always something to learn from other points of view, and who knows I might even change my mind sometimes.
My thoughts; I start races strongly. Thats my style and I'm unlikely to change that, dont agree with the idea that a fast 1-3k wrecks the rest of your race, although it might take a K or two to bounce back. same applies with the 10k rep.
I do agree with the general idea of "working yourself into a race, rather than working yourself out of it", but there are other variables to consider.
The dilemma I have is do I;
1. play it safe by avoiding speedwork, hills,and faster running and concentrate on getting hammy right for Oct 12th as you seem to be suggesting, and rely on what I have already done, going straight into taper mode for the next 21 days... OR
2. do I try to make some more fitness gains doing more faster running and try to manage/aggressively use treatment on hammy (assuming of course that my guesswork diagnosis is correct) at the same time, and hope it doesnt blow up on me, monitor it.. and taper for 3-14 days...
OR 3.
book into a sportsdoc->physio spend lots of $$$ to be told to do maybe the same things as I intend doing...??? and maybe get some more specific more detailed advice from professionals in that field. I am no physiotherapist although I do understand some of the basic principles of sports medicine.
I also have a good sports injuries book from my Uni days which gives me some ideas for treatment...i.e. copious daily stretching of hamstring, icepacks
for 2 days, then hot packs
then try to go back to speedwork in about 4 days or longer...
Guess I could post on coolrunning...but thats a bit hit and miss too...
4. Maybe just play it by ear, might end up being too busy with work and forced into a 21 day taper anyway...
What to do, what to do...
Option 1 (play it safe) might be the way to go...cos i really want to get that PB...I dont really care if its by 30 seconds or 30 minutes just as long as I get it this time! But I so would like to get under 3.30 too...
I finding it hard to believe I am actually talking about doing a significant taper for once...
Option one does sound like the best advice. The sports physio type option would be a useful longer term stategy if you are getting recurrent hamstring problems to look at the cause - more likely to be a biomechanical issue. They probably wont help a great deal in the short term beyond what you do yourself.
There is a chance that pushing yourself through would work, but the extra gains would be minor and the potential losses great - to have gone to the effort and expense to get there it would be terrible not to be able to finish at all.
Good luck!
Thanks Epi.
For sure it would be terrible to not finish with what is a *large* (in my setup) expense for me,Kathryn and Jacob to be there. Plus a big emotional letdown to waste what has been my mental focus for months.
I think my strategy then will be;
A- No more *steep* hills for me in the coming weeks.
B-Maybe 1-3 more speedwork sessions, plus be careful not to overstride, as thats where it may have been getting worse, and icepack/stretch heaps afterwards.
C-Aggressively treat with the ideas I have, hope that helps.
D-Do a few "Tempo" type runs on flattish courses, again being careful to not overstride, and icepack/stretch lots after.
E-Maybe one more longish run but no steep hills.
F-shorten stride a bit, try to be gradual in acceleration and deacceleration.
G-look at getting an MRI after Melbourne, and consider a possible scaling down of my running at least for a few weeks.
Result (hopefully)= PB in Melbourne, although a sub 3.30 might be hard to get to, but may still be possible.
Hi Jonathon, I wouldn't do ANY stretching until the pain is gone. Just do GENTLE strengthening exercises. Start all runs with a crawl pace and gradually build up. Same if you try tempo pace - don't go for maximum speed.
Re the marathon goal. Just my assessment of your training for Melbourne - I don't think 3:25-30 is a realistic goal. I think that sort of pace (esp if you start at your usual 4:40-45s) could see you blowing up and running 4 hours.
I think you'd do better aiming at 3:45 from the start (5:20/km) - that gives you ten minutes if the last 10k is harder than expected.
Ewen; re my marathon goals, might just have to try and prove you wrong then hey...but its a lot easier to say than to do...we shall see how it all goes.. 20 days is a long time, I might be forced to go out at 3.40 pace or something...or I might go out a lot quicker than that (my preferred option) but a lot of variables in play now!
I may have already torn the thing too badly and end up like that chinese 110m hurdler in Beijing Olympics be unable to get much beyond the start line, but I will be in Melbourne for sure. My flights are paid for and not refundable, so will be there to run it or watch it either way...
I'll certainly be easing into any runs I do from here, and for sure I wont be stretching "through the pain", thanks for the reminder on that...
Ah, Ewen is so wise. I am fast becoming a hammy expert, having done something to both in the last year or so.
The first time it wasn't until I stopped stretching that I could feel improvement! This time I didn't even start stretching.
If you want to know some strengthening exercises to do (probably best to start post mara) I can give you a squillion :)
Thanks a million Tesso!!!
for sure email any advice, exercises you know to
jontheroadrunner@rocketmail.com
Pleassse!
I'll listen to anything right now...
I'm going to see sports doc this friday...see where things are at and what I can do in the last 2 weeks, and after that if its that serious, judging on the last 7 days or so looks like I may officially have an ongoing issue now...
Post a Comment
<< Home