Towards Perth VI week 1 of 10

Monday 27th April 2009 AD;
Ran about 15km (hilly) in 1hr 35minutes 24 seconds. (6min 21 per km) HR 162 at end (after steep climb to my house).

Ran in middle of day at about 30% humidity, 27 degrees, so a bit on the warm side, and the powerade I took with me was pretty important. Course was pretty hilly and bitumen all the way mostly, so was a challenging course in less than ideal conditions. Took it easy on the hills as I was testing out the hammy, and didnt want any flare-ups. Seemed to come through ok, but its still suspect on hills for now for sure. Pushed the pace a bit on some of the flatter sections.
Went from home out past the railway line overpass, and then followed the road all the way back to the main shopping centre, before returning back home. Lots of hills.

A good run that gave me some confidence for coming weeks. Hard to guage where I am at, because the course is a challenging one, and the conditions were hard, and the distance is a bit approximate. Beautiful scenic views to the ocean and lighthouse in the distance early on.

The rest of the week too busy driving 150km a day between jobs, and trying to cope with a difficult sleep/work balance, plus the excessive driving. Worked Waikiki one day, and Secret Harbour 3 days, including a monster day on thursday where I cleared 472 readings in 6 hours, under pressure from work to avoid this round being late, and partly due to me being very lack-lustre on Wednesday, and just not getting enough done that day. Body clock has gone a bit off, with me getting used to a 2am-4am bedtime due to the late-night shifts 5 nights a week...

Just struggling a bit in the last few weeks to cope with not enough sleep or free time, and the pressures of family needs, the neverending bills, plus minor concerns about the state of our cars, and trying to find a way to crack open this housing market, and find a way to land that elusive home loan (God willing...maybe we should just keep renting) at a price that is affordable, in a location that is going to set us up for the the next 3-10 years, and a house that is going to be good for our needs in the next 3-10 years. Keen to try and make a wise decision, and to land the right deal for our needs and wants. So a lot of soul searching, and net research lately (a lot of my spare time) going into trying to work this one out. Its looking to be a tough challenge, and after talking to Keystart this week, I think we are a chance, but its a steep learning curve, and I am very conscious of the balancing act between getting the right price, but getting value for money too and not buying a dud...Probably one of the toughest challenges I have ever considered taking on, and we are only at an early stage of this thing. However the alternative seems unacceptable (continue in an overpriced increasingly unpredictable, unstable rental market, with the likelyhood that we will have to move house again next year anyway), so I think we have to try and get on the front foot here, be pro-active, and try and buy some stability and security for my little family's future.
However if we can't land the big fish, we may just have to try and play the rental game for longer, and I have to say our current location is something special, which I am still ecstatic about several months later, so thanks God for that.

But I digress, back to running, well basically this weekend, I had good intentions of putting in at least 2 key sessions towards my Perth Marathon plans ( 9 weeks away now!) but have ended up not doing either of them, and just trying to recover from a tough week. Feels like the weekend is over before it started. Really enjoyed the derby win though. Awesome to see Fremantle keep the eagles on the back foot and maintain our intimidating derby record in recent years, with some scintillating play and goals from rookies Stephen Hill and first gamer Matt Deboer (suspect he may be related to my old UWA teammate, and national level runner Chris Deboer ???), to ensure Pavlich enjoyed a good day on his 200th...

While I am not happy with a fizzer of a week trainingwise, I still think I am well placed to attack well, but I need to get on with it soon, and also need to lose some spare-tyre (almost 10kg heavier than last year at the moment), like the incredible Sarge Bob (and daughter-in-law Tiffany) from Lake Clifton, WA, did in winning the biggest Loser TV show recently...love the photo of the commando pointing the way on Wombats blog..., be interesting to see what Wombat (a 2.13 marathoner and total all-time legend in the WA running scene) did for the Half marathon in the Busselton Half Ironman triathlon today, and I see six-inch and Ironman legend Suzy did 1hr 51 for her Half, with a total half IM time of 5hrs 23 minute. Congrats to her!

My hammy seems to have turned the corner, and although proceeding with caution still, I think maybe I have finally obliterated that injury concern, and hopefully it wont return beyond minor niggle status again this year...

So maybe week 2 of 10 towards my dreams of a sixth consecutive Perth Marathon, (and hopefully maybe finally that elusive PB, still 3.55.02 from 2004) will be better...