4 hour run and intervals

All the best to Epi in Canberra Marathon, and Sugar in Boston Marathon in the next few weeks as you both chase some sub 3 hour action...

Well my plans of double sessions on the easter holiday have not eventuated, but have nailed the one key session I wanted, the 4 hour run, and the intervals on Tuesday was a good thing to explore.

Saturday;
Ran 33km from Darlington to Mt Helena and back in 4hours 17min 31 secs, Heart rate 126 at end.
Very low intensity, lots of walk breaks, and even some "stretch the hammy and gluteals" breaks at Mt Helena and Mundaring. Thankfully not too warm as I only took two gatorades, barely enough, was a little dehy by the end...Nice to see Jane and a few others from the hills group out there on the trail but ran on my own all the way...Took it easy as I knew I would struggle with the lack of long runs in recent weeks, its my last ditch attempt to get some strength on the board before the 40 miler attempt on Monday...better extremely late than never...meant to go last weekend but slept through alarm, no late shift (2am finish,home by 0240) at work this friday night, for first time this year, thanks to easter, so much easier getting going at 4.45am...Kind of symbolic mentally too, as I touched the sign at Mt helena, and did my stretches on the table at the start point of the 40 miler, so preparing myself mentally to try and show some guts and get out there again for this 64km attempt again...(made it to 46km last year but wasnt injured then)...

hammy wasnt too bad during the run, but I did get some soreness in the left hip, and overall, just feel like the body is falling apart...days like this just wonder whether I should just chuck it in, and pull out of this running caper alltogether for a few months, years, but I know if I do, I will lose the base that has taken me months/years to put in place, remember that from 1994/1995 when I quit racewalking to concentrate on Uni, and when I tried to get back a year later a 2km was hard yakka, so not keen to do that again, would rather ride out nthese injury issues, manage them until they heal, or I can get sufficient medical help to fix them, or maybe finally give up fighting them...so even though I enjoyed the run a lot, and it was my first really successful long run since the nocturnal 3hrs with Dave on February 8th, plus the "aborted at 26km 40miler recon run" with Bernadette and Rob D. on February 28th I am a bit apprehensive about the 40 miler...but hoping I can get out there and at least;

goal 1; put a decent 32km on the board,

goal 2; 46km would be a successful day emulating last years effort,

goal 3; 55km under 5hrs 45min would be a big step forward,

ultimate goal for 13th April 2009; and if I somehow knock off the entire 64.4km in under 6 hrs 45min,
on this ridicoulous hit and miss, "here one day gone the next 3", so-called training regime of mine then that would be a major highlight of my running journey, so going to try and give it ago, despite my worries and doubts...

Hoping my meter reading work, the freeway bikehike on March 22nd (3 hrs 41min), and this 4 hour run, and my sub 50 Bridges 10k, and my many years of mental racing smarts, are a mix that might work for me on Monday 13th April.
What ever happens its an adventure I can't resist trying to explore, now with the extra variable of a storm risk and a max of 28 degrees thrown in...should be interesting anyway, plus keen to see how Dave K., Jane,Rob D., and others go, plus be heaps of other people I know there...Biggest headache is having to leave Kathryn and Jacob at home for half the day on their own, if there is some way we could do better on that, I'd do it...But have to make sacrifices if you want to try and achieve something, live...which is what easter is all about living life to the full, because of the new life Jesus gave us when he came back to life against all the odds after being dead for 3 days...so we can become "living dead"...e.g. Luke 24:5-6

Tuesday;
I visited intervals at perry Lakes, organised it so Kathryn and Jacob could visit my Uncle & Aunty in City Beach afterwards, which went really well. Long trip though (2 hours of driving altogether), so wont be doing it every week, but pretty solid session that I certainly made some gains from, so maybe if I can get there once a month that might be achievable, besides I prefer to do my intervals alone, have more control over what I am doing, but for the sake of variety, being social, and having the incentive of chasing others, I think it might be a good option once a month. JK clearly is very experienced and knows what he is doing, and I can see that a lot of people have made gains due to those sessions...surprised how many was there, very large group...was able to hit the front on the first 15second sprint a couple of times, so as sugar observed I have the speed to mix it with anyone who was there this week, but my fitness was nowhere near up to scratch as i expected, so ended up dropping back down the giant train a lot to get my breath back, but hey if I can get the intervals going a lot more consistently (2-3 times a week, every! week) I will start to have a lot more staying power, and the times will come down like an anchor...

Was only going to do 3 whistle sessions, but as usual my competitive streak got the better of me and I had to try and hang in there for all 5, so was really struggling by the last one...
Big thanks to Clown for making me feel welcome, and nice to see Sugar, Epi, and Dave H. (sub 3.30 Perth marathon bus) there too. So to plagiarise rampantly or as the pollies like to say in parliament;
"and I quote from clowns blog";

Tues pm Intervals Whistle Type Session 15 sec hard,15 sec slow,15 sec hard,15 sec slow,30 sec hard,30 sec slow,1 minute hard. All up 3 minutes running with 2 min break *5

All the best to Epi in Canberra Marathon, and Sugar in Boston Marathon in the next few weeks as you both chase some sub 3 hour action...