AK reserve visit sparks intensity as taper kicks in

WEEK 8 (of 10) (21/09/09-27/09/09);
Volume;176min. Sessions; 3 Best RHR; 46
Sleep;39.25 (5.60 per night) *32 MR-17hrs

OD/LSD sessions;102min (12km/62min hard, 40minutes easy (saturday)
Short/Medium runs;
-Ran 12km 62.36 (Saturday)
Reps sessions;
-5x300m 3min 14 per KM average (Friday)
-5x600m/5x800m AND later 2x200m/2x300m=8000m reps in 31.51 (3.59 per km) (Tuesday)
Comments;Feel like I am still building some momentum, with 2 weeks to go. The trip to AK reserve (and to a lesser extent the 300's on Friday night) was very worthwhile even though it was a bit of a messy session trying to make the most of my time there. I made some gains there, (could feel it the next day), and mentally it was just so inspiring! The 12km is another good run logged. So the aim now is to drop the volume, by dropping the long run out of the training, but to attack the reps, and some short runs (5km-12km) with MAXimum intensity!, so that will be my focus in week 9 pretty much the same as it was this week. Then in week 10 I will do no sessions beyond 4-5km...Probably the first time I have really done a proper taper...I feel my prep is the best its ever been for the Marathon in some ways, just hope I have (a) compensated for my overweightness (although this has dropped 1-2kg in recent weeks to be sitting around 79-80kg...) and (b) got back to a good fitness level (the resting heart rates of 42-46 suggests I am back on track in that regard)...Although I need to be careful as I didn't really get enough sleep this week, so need to be careful not to lose the momentum there, and keep on turning up the power!

I got my Melbourne Marathon number in the mail this week, and its all looking good. I feel I am almost ready to hopefully (if enough things go right on the day and I get the training right (and keep the injuries under control)in the last 2 weeks), hopefully...smash the 3.55 PB finally, and give my 2009 target of a sub 3.40 a really good shot!


Saturday AM 26th September 2009 A.D.;
Ran approx. 12km in 62min 36 (5min 13 per km) HR 168...
Hilly bitumen course (4 big hills). Headwind /Tailwind...
6km splits; 31.41/30.55..so a negative split which is very pleasing...was a bit sluggish early on into the headwind but felt better as the run went on...Hammy a bit tender especially early on and on some of the steep hills, but seemed to survive reasonably well.

Then 5minute walk break down to local grass oval, and 40minutes of jogging to make this into a long run effort, i.e. a multipurpose session(instead of doing the fastish 12km one day and a 100min-120min run another day, I just added on the extra 40min to the 12km fastish run to make it into a 102-103min long run...HR down to 126 at end of this...

Hot conditions although a very cool wind...had some hassles with swooping magpies so ended up running on one side of the oval to avoid them, and so was a bit unsure of the distance I ran...
Hammy a little tender but ok.

A good warm-down after an excellent 12km. Wanted to be under 5min 30 per KM for the 12km as I am wanting to simulate Marathon Pace hopefully...I think 5.13 per km is about 3.37 marathon pace, and on a very hilly course, with hopefully still some major tune-up fitness gains still ahead, thats pretty much what I want to be comfortable with now. So on target...:-)


Friday PM 25th September 2009 A.D.;
5x 300m reps at S. Park grass track...
55.06/59.28/58.66/59.50/59.93 = 4.52.43 total for 1500m.
HR's 165-186...
Which is a PB for this session by a few tenths of a second on the 4.52.98 I did on March 18th 2009. The last 2 reps I was running on empty, struggling to hold it together. The first one the 55.06 was very pleasing...Important short sharp session to help me go faster in the 800's...
1km pace 3min 14.95...

Tuesday PM 22nd September 2009 A.D.;
My first run at AK reserve!!!;
5x600m,5x800m and 20min later 2x200m + 2x300m;

5x600m (2 minute rests);
2.12.56 HR 165 1st 400m 1.25
2.28.57 HR 183 1st 400m 1.36
2.21.97 HR 177 1st 400m 1.29
2.20.40 HR 180 1st 400m 1.33
2.21.53 HR 186 1st 400m 1.35
TOTAL = 11min 45.03 for 3000m.
average time is 2min 21...1km pace is 3min 55.

Ran the first rep with Clown, and he probably made me work a bit harder which was good. However he was using a Garmin to measure his 600m distance, and taking 90 second rests.
(a) I don't have a Garmin and I don't like the idea of running the distance blind relying on someone else to know how far I have to run at high intensity...Especially in reps sessions like to have a high degree of control over the session so I can get the best out of myself...and (b) I thought 90 second rests was too short for me...I like to have 1:1 rests...although for some of the 800's I was having rests of less than 1:1...
So after the first rep running with Clown I ran the next 4 on my own...

My target was to stay under 2.30's and try and get close to 2.15's or better. I stayed well under 2.30 in all reps, so mission accomplished there...but need to work harder on going sub 2.15 the tougher goal...

3minute rest then;

5x800m (2-3 minute rests)
3.14.25 HR 183 1st 400m 1.30
3.22.38 HR 186 1st 400m 1.41
3.28.72 HR 183 1st 400m 1.42
3.26.15 HR 183 1st 400m 1.42
3.16.37 HR 192! 1st 400m 1.42
TOTAL = 16min 47.87 for 4000m.
average time is 3min 21.57...1km pace is 4min 11.97.

I tried to get Clown to join in with the 800's but he wasn't too keen, and reckoned he'd done 20km for the day and that was enough, so I had to do the last 2 on my own as Epi and Biscuitman were finished for the night.

Well I struggled a bit after the 600's but the 3.14 and 3.16 are good, the rest are slow but, did enough to keep the average at 3.21 and so under a 3.25 average so pretty happy with that.
Had to put in a total "go for home/pedal to the metal" "PRE/Bekele/Andrew Lloyd" finish to nail the 3.16 too...was shattered at the end of that one as the 192 heart rate shows...

For the first three 800's I was starting behind Epi and Biscuitman who were going after 2.40's! Well done to them!!! Biscuitman in particular looks destined for great things, with a 2.41 average for 10x800m!! Epi only did 8 or 9x800m I think but was right up there pushing Biscuitman all the way (and running wide into lane 2 a lot of the way too!)...

Just to sit behind these two legends I had to hit the first 200m in about 36-38 seconds, so doing that at the start of every 800 was hurting a bit, and probably my attempts to recover from that, cost me a few seconds on most of my 800 reps. However in the long run I think thats good, cos its helping my body to get better at absorbing a fast surge, while not losing too much...It was inspiring just getting a feel for their pace....

I'm thinking maybe my 800m local B. oval course is perhaps a little short so if anyone with a Garmin wants to make the trek up my way and measure it for me it would be much appreciated, and give me some closure/definiteness on how good or bad my times on that course have been this year...

After the 800's, 20-30minute rest chatting with Epi,Biscuitman and Clown, watching State 10km champ Courtney,Kenji, State rep Deboer, and National 800m finalist Stingy? doing 200m sprint/200m float laps...After Clown went home, and the others had gone to the showers...I Put on my Freo Dockers tracksuit pants, and slipped on my Nike spikes for the first time in about 5 years...(I ran in my normal Reebok"Road Plus KFS VI" training and racing shoes for the 600's and 800's.)
Did some work on my finishing kick under lights at this glorious $73million facility...;
2x200m + 2 x300m;
200's; 33.16/35.68 300's 67secs,64secs...average pace 3min 20 per KM.

Hammy starting to get a little tender in the 300's...

Total for entire session;
8000m of reps in 31min 51...@ 3min 59 per km...or 3min 11 per 800m.

About 16-20minutes of rest between reps, which I tried to make somewhat active recovery by jogging between reps, although Clowns active recovery of jogging continously around track between reps is at a much higher and more sustained level of intensity of active recovery than mine...As I have to stop to write down my times and heart rates, and to take my heart rate for 10 seconds using my finger on my carotid pulse, etc etc...

Also an extended 20-30min rest between the 600's/800's and the 200's/300's was not very active recovery oriented at all...At that stage I was tossing up mentally whether or not to try out the spikes...

Then it was onto the long 1 hour drive home, and a visit to Subway and red rooster for some much needed sustenance! first meal of the day as I decided not to eat before metering work that day (several hours of walking around the streets before this session)...so as to minimise toilet stops...

Tired!!! but very happy! what a venue!, Inspiring people to run with! A good nights training!...If only I could do sessions like this every 2nd night...

HERE and HERE is some links to info about AK reserve, the site of the 2010 Commonwealth games trials and the 2010 Australian Masters championships.

The AK Reserve facility was designed by Cox Architects who also did the SIAC see
HERE
(Sydney International Athletics Centre or SIAC was the warm up track for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and I was marshalled there before we went through the tunnel into the Olympic Stadium for the Australian 20km walk championship in February 2000 see HERE
) Arena Joondalup, the northern stand redevelopment of the MCG etc etc
HERE


Many thanks to Clown for inviting me along, and to Epi and Biscuitman for being great people to run behind, and chat with afterwards.

Black or white a good song from the king of pop MJ...then there is the other MJ(Michael Jordan) both MJ's bring back memories of my brother Tim (been in USA for many years now), and his cut sick PRE-ish attitude with the Black Torana when he played basketball in Mandurah before heading for USA...Hope to approach this race with a similiar attitude...
READY STEADY GO!for my (MEL)Bourne ID III...I'm in the mood for some AP2 or Argyle Park as they were formerly known, that feeling of intense momentum...Industrial metal is great for that...Then there is always some time for Mortifications Nocturnal(a reminder of some of the night runs I have done to keep things ticking over this year) or Noah was a knower hahaha but soo true too God keeps his promises..., or Grave Forsaken...or maybe an oldskool onslaught or Tourniquet(e.g. tire kicking, drawn & quartered,K517 or the Deliverance WOOW vid that was on MTV...or nu-metal like Demon Hunter's Lead us Home or some hardcore old skool death metal e.g. Believer or some unblack metal which I discovered in the last year or so like Royal Anguish or Horde...etc etc etc...So in 2 weeks time its time To give me an Answer as to whether there is still some PB's to hammer out and NAIL this year...FREE to Take it to the limit and see how far I can go into overdrive with Gods help...
...Love on the line...something that has been a big comfort during some of the tough dark times this year...
Hopefully this can Re-animate my PB Flashpoint this time...

Week 7; 5x800m, 3hr run, 6k keeps things on track

WEEK 7 (of 10) (14/09/09-20/09/09);
Volume;301min. Sessions; 5 Best RHR; 42!
Sleep;39.75 (5.67 per night) *9 MR-26hrs

OD/LSD sessions;3hr run/walk (saturday)
Short/Medium runs;
-Ran 6km 31.48 (Sunday), 6k 39.09 (Wednesday)approx 2 miles 13.56(Tuesday)
Reps sessions;
-5x800m 3min 18 average Yasso style... (Friday)
Comments;Well its been another successful week. Still lacking in 20k runs, and very much so in the track intervals domain...but otherwise on track...

The 3hr run/walk on northern trails to Thornlie, was important and is my last major long run done...Caught train home...Might do an easy paced 2hr run next weekend, but other than that don't plan to go over 10-16k much in the last 3 weeks.

Did my first of two WA Marathon Club duties on drinks station at the Fremantle Half Marathon, chose not to run it this time after doing this race for the last 6 years. if I had known at the beginnning of the year they were reverting to the old South Beach course I might not have signed up to this one...

I like that South Beach course. Quite fitting that I should be in South Fremantle with my Freo beanie, scarf, sunnies, lanyard and tracksuit pants, on the day South Fremantle won a WAFL premiership grand final and Jeffrey "The Wizard" Farmer and Peter Bell played their last games...Legends!!! I know my uncle in law would have loved it, as he is South Fremantle through and through!...For me I had to go against my normal WAFL team (Subiaco since 1983) because I have to go for any team Jeffrey Farmer is playing for...such a legend!...Its going to be sad not seeing Farmers' heroics anymore for Melbourne and Fremantle, South Fremantle......well at least he got to salute the heavens one last time with his kids, and a WAFL premiership medallion around his neck. If it were not for the silly Freo youth policy this year, and the sydney swines beating us in the 2006 Prelim final, it might have been on the MCG with an AFL premiership, but at least he got to be a part of that Prelim final, many Western Derby trophies, and now the WAFL grand final win, so nice to see one of the legends of the AFL game finish on a winning note, same goes for Peter Bell too, who adds this WAFL Premiership, to the two premierships he won with North Melbourne. Thanks for the memories!!! Bringhs some tears to my eyes...
Some highlights and tributes; HERE... HERE HERE Looking to the heavens thanking God;HERE...channel 7 news 2008 HERE...HERE

Had fun chatting and watching everyone for a change, madly scrambling to get enough drinks for everyone. Something different. Part of me was aching to race it, but figured I was better off avoiding a hard 21k at this stage...maybe/maybe not...Saw Clown, Epi (pacing?), Sugar, BigKev and a few Cool Runners going well...Well done to all!!! Also saw two racewalkers!?

Happy with the "Half a Yasso" the 5x800m at 3.18 pace (3.14/3.18/3.18/3.26/3.16) Heart rates 177-183, and 195 for the last one, the 3.16...Felt weary after a tough day at work on Friday, but decided to go see if S. Park was marked with a track again, and it didn't disappoint. Was ecstatic when I saw the track had been marked. Had to go out and try a few 800's although I felt like food, and an early night watching TV, I resisted the urge to give it a miss and got out there with the aim to get through 1 or 2 800's at least, and once I got into it, I had to go for 3 800's then I figured half a Yasso should be the goal...3min 30 rests. So very pleased to average under 3.20 for those. Oviously the next step is to go for the full monty, the full Yasso of 10x800m, and also work on getting the times down closer to 3min per k, maybe even do some of them under 3min per k...I am pretty sure my local oval course might be short, as the 2.40 I did the other week seems a bit faster than the times I was hitting...Either way looking good for going under 3.55, and hopefully under 3.40 in Melbourne...

The last 3 weeks its going to be all about maintaining my short quality stuff (3k-16k...), and getting to the start line in best possible condition, will try not to be too PRE-ish at the start, although I still want to start well under 5min per K, but hopefully wont start under 4min per K...but I have known in my mind for several weeks what my general race plan is, just hope it works...

The 31min 48secs "6km" (5min 18 per k) on a very! hilly course on Sunday night, was very pleasing gettimg more excited of chance of PB in Melbourne 3 weeks to go!

Melbourne flights booked and hilly 34k in 3.53 logged

Saturday 12th September 2009;
Ran approx. 34km in 3hrs 53min 12secs HR-135
With hills group starting in Darlington, ran first 20min with some fastish runners I didnt know, then backed off a bit, eventually settled in with Di and Jo (who is also doing Melbourne Marathon and likely to be in my targeted range of 3.30-4.00) on pipeline trail near Mundaring Weir, about 3 or 4 ankle deep creek crossings (Helena River) (squelch,squelch,squelch), and a lot of big puddles on the hilly trails,on the hills I was finding it hard to stay with Joanne, but thats good as it was taking me well out of my comfort zone early on...then through Fred Jacoby Park, up the hill for a long while, where I ended up throwing in a few 20 second walk breaks,(hammy was tender but behaved itself ok) and was on my own as Jo and some bloke in an orange top got out of my sight...then along the Munda Biddi trail to Mundaring....Felt like my first 100-120min was pretty good speed on tough elevation changes...and the big climb out of the valley near Mundaring Weir, I plodded mostly...

Got to Mundaring (about 24km of mostly hills)in 2hrs 38min and had drunk most of the 600ml powerade and 300ml water I had taken with me...saw Nev there who kindly offered me a GU, which gave me a lift for the last 9-10km back to Darlington. A bit of a hard slog at about 7min a K although I did take the luxury of a few stops to get gravel out of my shoes...from there even though it was the nice slightly downhill trail mostly, went through 27km in about 3hrs 5min, and 30km would have been about 3hrs 27min...Finished in 3.53.12 which is 30 seconds slower than what I did for this course back in June 2007...but I think I worked harder in the first 15k this time around maybe.

Pretty pleased with that, as that puts in place a backup long run after the City 2 Surf Marathon 2 weeks ago, and should see me pretty much ready for a good chance of a sub 4hr in Melbourne...

Relaxed afterwards at the bakery with Nev,Di, Jane, Richard, ironman Alice?, and others...
Was good chatting about various stuff...Jane and Richard are back for the Melbourne Marathon again too, so along with Clown, meter reader Matt, and BigKev, Joanne, Coolrunners Serena and LouB, there are a few of us West Aussies doing the Melbourne Marathon which is nice. Nice to see Slingrunner, Sugar? and a few others are doing the Half in Melbourne too...should be a large contingent of us from the wild west in it again this year...

Sitting there at the bakery a Bandicoot was rustling around under out feet looking for food scraps and one of the magpies stole a piece of toast off Di's plate, I felt its wings brush my head as it made its getaway.... Also we had a stack of 28 parrots flying around amongst us, so a nice spot although the cold windchill eventually got to us all...
And I headed off to get onto my meter reading, and put in another 3-4 hours of walking around the streets reading meters, plus jammed in a visit to the Perth Christian mens convention for 30min, so after 135km of driving my tired old car, I was pretty weary that night, and asleep on the couch by 2115hrs...


WEEK 6 (of 10) (07/09/09-13/09/09);
Volume;258min. Sessions; 2 Best RHR; 42!!
Sleep;46.75 (6.67 per night) *00 MR-26hrs

OD/LSD sessions;Very hilly 34km
Short/Medium runs;
-Ran 5,000m 24min 46 (Tuesday)
Reps sessions;
-
Comments;
The Sub 4hr looks a real possibility now that I have both the City to Surf Marathon (42km) and a 34km long runs logged, plus a 3hrs run/walk a few weeks ago and a 2hrs 25min run last week also. Probably need 1 or 2 more 2-3hr long runs to consolidate, but the big two long runs I wanted are done. Repswise we are looking a bit thin with some good quality mile reps and 800's done, which should see me in good condition for 1-4km, but my ability to sustain sub 4.30 per k for 8k-15k or more is not looking the best at the moment, and the 15k-30k area is a real concern...I think there is still time to address these areas, but I need some 15k-25k time trials or tempo runs, and some 10-16k reps sessions to push home the advantage. I bumped up the meter reading hours this week at work sufficiently to hopefully start seeing me going under 80kg if I can maintain that in the coming weeks...so its starting to look promising...
so just need to work on the reps and medium length runs, plus maybe try the Yasso 800's if I can find a decent track and a big enough time block to do them...I'd be aiming at 3.20-3.25's or better I think, although I would be happy to aim for a sub 3min one on the first rep, and maybe a few after that...I really am very keen to smash that 3.55 PB, its been 6 years and maybe, just maybe it will all go according to plan in the next 4 weeks...Its starting to look like we have a decent shot at it again this time...

Booked Melbourne flights and accomodation on Friday, and despite lots of searching for cheap flights, was only able to get the 3 of us over there and back at about $400 a head (Jacob is 2 years old now so he cant fly for free this time), which means a large chunk of my tax refund bonanza is used up on the flights, if only I had got my return in earlier, maybe we could have got cheaper flights...My wife Kathryn is entered in the 5km walk, so we can try and make it into a bit of a family holiday, and hopefully the extra money spent will be worth it...

Tuesday 8th September 2009;
Ran 5,000m in 24min 46 HR 165 at Gerry Archer track (4.57 per K pace) in Belmont.
Was working on metering nearby so decided to go check out this track see how the sand on the track was going.
The lane markings were reasonably well visible even in the twilight, and the sand on the track (presumably to raise the height of the grass and encourage good drainage)seems to have firmed up a bit, but reckon it was still slowing me up a bit.
Started off planning to do reps, and my first 200m was 36seconds which is good, but when I hit 400m in 1.28 I knew I was going to struggle, so aborted the reps plans and decided to do a 5,000m tempo-ish type run instead, as it was obvious the sandy track was slowing me up too much. 1k splits were 4.25/5.30/4.54/5.10/4.47

So a good run to kick off the week getting some more practice at running around that 5min per K mark...Although I really want to be working towards 4min-4.30 per k...or quicker...I need to average under 5.30 per K in the Melbourne Marathon to do a big PB...
Didnt sprint finish as I was a bit disappointed with the time, I guess the soft sand can only make me stronger though...

An easy week with 5 weeks to go

Well my internet connection is down but hopefully will be back next week so I dont have to blog at the library! Like I am doing now...
So 247min volume, 5 sessions 44.25 hrs sleep (6.32 per night) Best RHR 45 *32
= a pretty good easy week now to hopefully crank it for the next 3 weeks...tax refund came in so time to book flights too woohooo...

6/9/09 60min badminton in the PM with my brothers and family... good workouit...

An easy week post City 2 Surf Marathon.
6/9/09 Ran 2x mile reps 5.47!!! massive PB! HR 186 (800m splits 2.55/2.52) and 6.15 (3.11/3.04) HR 183 so 12.03 for the 2 miles...average speed if distyance is correct is 3.46 per k, and the mile rep is 3.36 pace, so maybe my course is short, either way its significant progress...

5/9/09 Ran 21km in 2hrs 25min HR 129 did a lot of walking and a 5min poo stop...On north east trail exploring with Dave who had already done 38k and 4 hrs worth when he got to me...horizontal rain kangaroos alive and dead, and awesome trails plan on spending a lot more time on this one in future...

4/9/09 Ran 2 miles 14min 49 HR 156 on oval 800m splits 3.40/3.38/3.55/3.36

2/9/09 Ran 10min (HR 135) after work in my meter reading gear mostly to keep warm while waiting for someone to come and bring spare key into my car which I had locked the keys in, and didnt want to wreck the door rubbers again! doing it myself...A

1/9/09 visited AK reserve new track but its $6 to use it, and my right quad was still sore from marathon so after a bit of jogging in pouring rain and a brief chat with Olympian Kylie Wheeler, I decided to give it a miss that night.