Melbourne photos and knee soreness

I have done a webpage HERE about our Melbourne Marathon trip.
My race number was 2589. Scroll down for my Melbourne Marathon photos.


-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon Video is HERE
-My 2009 Melbourne Marathon race report is HERE....


I saw another photo on cool running too. When I have the money will buy the last 3 of Kathryn and Jacob, and get them uploaded online. It was a very special weekend I will remember happily for many years to come.

Have finally got the photos my wonderful Wife, and legendary Dad took from our trip online as listed below.



















Here are 7 photos from Marathon-photos.com















Well not much to write home about this week, and thats 2 weeks of very little running. Not good.

4 main runs on the radar;
-2 weeks until John Gilmour 10k at AK reserve on November 6th 1800...
-3 weeks until Peninsula 10k/5k...
-8 weeks til 6 inch 45km offroad trails and big news is;
-(2 weeks away) first Recon Run is in place for Saturday 7thNovember at 0630...

I feel my conditioning/fitness sliding a bit, and am very preoccupied with worries about income for the rest of 2009. May need a 3rd job for 2 months.

Still can't afford to buy any photos from Melbourne marathon (or City to Surf marathon or Perth marathon) at this stage.

Still have not got my mountainbike out of mothballs either.
swimming maybe???
Me and my wife both could do with some physiotherapy, dental work, and car services due soon, but where is the money for that, at the moment, its food, petrol, and rent, and thats a struggle...Can see December being a real challenge financially at the moment...Am trying to load up on the weekend night shifts to make up for my day job going nowhere at the moment...

In addition Ive had very bad left knee soreness in the last 3-5 days, and not very motivated, getting stuck on the couch/internet too much this weekend...
The niggle I felt in the left knee towards the end of the 12km run last saturday 17th October, got very sore when I stepped on some uneven ground on a very bumpy sandy track on Friday night this week. The last 2 days I can feel some extreme soreness in it on sitting down, and when I stand up, trying to ignore my fears that it may affect my running, and it seemed to be ok when I tested it last night..ie. not sore while running, but just at other times...
I think maybe Ive torn the ACL a little further, or reopened the old tear from 2000 or something...

So my attempts at running this week are pretty pathetic, and this is them;

Sunday Nothing.
Hoped to do something big this weekend, but didnt happen, partly cos I am wary/worried about the knee...

Saturday 24th October
2x400m reps at Wellard.
1.27.71
1.24.84.
2 minute rest.

Well continuing my world tour of the large number of little athletics tracks marked on grass ovals in the summer in Perth. Thank God for Little Athletics, and the tracks that are marked out for them. Was keen to test out the knee today. On the way to visit my parents with my wife to beg for help with the rent money again this fortnight, I managed to convince my wife that it would be good for 2 year old Jacob to have a run at the park, and of course I took advantage of the situation to try out the Wellard track and my knee. While my wife headed back to the car to wait impatiently for me, I got a quick 2x 400m reps done. Surface was a little sandy/uneven in places, mostly due to Australian Rules football players boot sprigs ripping up the grass, and the lane one markings were a bit messed up in places, but overall pretty good, and heaps better than Rockingham the previous night. Reckon in a few weeks when the grass grows back a bit, could be a very good track this one...

Felt like I could have done a decent session here if I had more time. Knee wasnt a problem while running so thats good news.

Nice to dip under 1.30 for both 400's. On a better track could probably have taken 5 seconds at least off those times, but at least its a reasonably functional track not like the minefield the previous night. Good news about the knee initially although I am still getting pain especially getting up from a sitting position if I am not careful.

Friday 23rd October at Hourglass reserve Cooloongup (near Rockingham);
2x1km reps.
4.17, 4.08.
Heart rates 168, 183.
3 minute rest.

It was getting dark and I probably didn't really have time to do much after work, but I wanted to see what the Rockingham track was like, and it was terrible. Will not train there again if it stays in that condition.
Its a grass track, and its full of big clumps of weeds, and sand pits. Looks like it would have been a nice track in the past, but it has fallen apart since. First 1km rep I started slowly, just getting used to the minefield of a track, and managed to swallow a mosquito at the 400m mark. It was hard work ploughing through the sandpit sections and dodging the big clumps of weeds, looking for the flatter firmer sections of the track. My low finish heart rate of 168 shows how much I was exploring and not going hard...

Second rep I decided to be a bit more PRE-ish and try and go out harder. This worked well until about 550m into it I stepped on uneven ground in an unbalanced way a couple of times (sandpits/bumpy surface), and copped a couple of sharp pains in my left knee that really hurt...however i was keen to finish the rep so ignored that, the pain went away and I kept going. Was reasonably happy with the 2nd rep time considering what a minefield of a track it is. The knee incident didn't really affect my time much.

Was planning to do one more rep, but thats when the knee pain started kicking in whenever I put my knee in the wrong position....It was getting dark and some of the local Noongyars were arriving to cut sick at the park, so it wasn't hard to leave "Balga by the sea" and head for home feeling a bit uninspired, and getting pain from my knee every time I changed gear on the 45 minute drive home.

Wednesday 21st October at S. Park;
1km 3.59
500m 1.55
felt really sick after the 500m rep, not really sure why, but didn't feel well enough to go on.
so aborted session. mentally! and maybe physically wasn't really up for it anyway.

12k & reflecting on my first 10 marathons

Saturday Ran 12km in 74min Hr 165.
Hilly bitumen course. Was a bit sluggish early on pushing into headwind, and didnt really start to find good rhythm until about 20 minutes into it. Ran well for about 40 minutes or so, and drank my 400ml water bottle. Got to top of hill near lake, then had some soreness in left knee, walked for a bit, then got going again, It was 24 degrees when I started and 27 degrees when I finished, so started to notice the heat a little in the last 10 minutes. Should have taken more drinks...

37.33/ splits. Nice to negative split.
Wasn't expecting much, just trying to get something going again after 5 days off following the Marathon, and celebrating wedding anniversary in Busselton.

Was planning to run a 20km-25km today at Walyunga around 7am..., but got called in for a 2000-0400 shift at work last night (which I couldn't afford to say no to, with the struggle to pay rent next week, partly due to me taking a week off work for Melbourne trip, and wedding anniversary overnighter), and by the time I finished that I'd been awake for 22 hours, and was very tired, needed sleep desperately, and am going to have to ramp up the night work I think in the next few months to catch up on bills, so its not going to be possible to maintain the same focus I had for Melbourne, but can still try and hold onto the momentum, and try and build towards next year...John Gilmour 10k track race in a few weeks, peninsula 5k or 10k, and maybe 6 inch 45km in December are the only goal races on my horizon for 2009. If I had the money I'd go over for the Great Australian Run 15km in Melbourne on November 29th. Some short triathlons, or maybe some track running might be options for the summer, or maybe some mountainbiking...

My first 10 marathons finished in chronological order;

3.55.02 secs (Perth 2004) good focused training for this one

4.32 (Rottnest 2004) 3 weeks prep for this hilly one as mates were going over for it

4.02 (Perth 2005) seriously went after PB but came up short,fiancee and brother there

4.18 (Perth 2006) got married a few months later, didnt really do enough prep

4.33 (Perth 2007) trained well, but major blister break(20min) wrecked it

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4.10 (Melbourne 2007) could have trained better but solid prep, perfect race

3.55.10 (Perth 2008) trained well, excellent race, missed PB by 8 seconds

4.41 (Perth 2009) wasnt really ready, had a go, but was in terrible condition

4.42 (Perth City to Surf) first 20k ok, kings park hills walkfest, solid finish bit of a training run/funfest...

4.11 (Melbourne 2009)Excellent training, 16min toilet, 4min blister breaks, first 14k good, maybe should have been more PRE-ish 8k onwards.

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If I can 1. keep the body from breaking down under the load of injuries I have accumulated, especially in 2008/2009, 2. hit similiar but slightly better training to what I did in August to October 2009, 3. build on the lifestyle and fitness improvements in August 2009-October 2009, 4. get it right on raceday (race pace fast enough but not too fast, toilet issues, blister issues, chafe issues, drinks and maybe gels strategy,)
then surely sub 3.30 and maybe even sub 3 hours is there for the taking.
Reckon I was in 3.30-3.50 condition at least for MELBOURNE 2008 (DNF at 23km due to ankle "explosion"), and MELBOURNE 2009...

Getting married in 2006, our son being born in July 2007, ankle injury October 2008, new night job from December 2008 onwards, moving house in February 2009, hammy injury in early 2009, have been some major events that have made it hard to keep staying focused, and have involved some mini-comebacks for me trainingwise. I'm conscious of the need to work towards buying our own house, and doing some career development, as our family needs both of those, especially the career development for me, and the weekly struggle to pay the bills and pay rent has been such a challenge for us in 2009, we have gone from living from pay to pay, to an even worse situation. I am very grateful to my parents for helping us out during the tough times this year. Hopefully better times ahead.

Interesting article in current edition October/November 2009 of R4YL magazine on page 54 by Cindy King called "Baby on board the fathers perspective", one of the things mentioned is the importance of a supportive wife.
Thats something that doesnt always happen by accident, its usually something you have to work hard at, developing, encouraging a supportive wife. A lot of what God says about marraige rings true here, for example if you are to truly love (i.e take action to encourage the best outcome for another) see 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for example , and truely be at one with them they need to actively share in what you are doing in some way, especially when it is a major interest.

Some of what God says about marraige can be seen in Song of Solomon which is an entire book of the Bible detailing an intimate relationship between Lover (Man) and Beloved (Woman), or Proverbs 31:10-31, or the origin of marraige in Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. Genesis means beginnings. Much other relevant wisdom from God our Creator and Redeemer in the Bible....
Ephesians 5:22-33 has some good thingsto say about the marraige between the Christ and the Church, and some spin-offs on how marraige between Man and Woman should work.
My favourite Perth band Grave Forsaken writes about church groups that have lost sight of what God wants in one of their best thrash metal songs Mother of Harlots...

Thats why I felt it important when I got married that Kathryn learn to run a bit, and she raced the Rottnest 5km and Fremantle Half 5km support races in 2005. Having a baby and problems with her knee injury, have caused problems there, although I attempted to help her resolve the knee injury with a visit to Sportsmed this year. Unfortunately they were unable to identify the problem, and recommended physiotherapy, something we have not been able to afford as yet, but hopefully will soon.

However she has still been a part of things in 2 races in 2008 and 2009, as she took young Jacob in the pram in the City to Surf 4km both years and also got young Jacob (2 years this year) to walk the 5km on the Melbourne Marathon weekend. I think they enjoyed the experience a lot more this year, as last year he was too young to walk all the way, and they went a lot faster in the City to Surf this year too.

When I was doing sports science units in the mid to late 1990's at Edith Cowan Joondalup university, while looking for references for an assignment I came across a very interesting book called "I'll meet you at the finish" (1987, Human Kinetics, Chris Pepper Shipman)which talked a lot about these sorts of challenges, of how serious athletes combine that strong interest (some would say obsession) with their marraige successfully.
Chris Pepper Shipman is from California, USA, and she became a bit of a runner partly due to her Marathoning husband...So it highlights the importance of giving your wife opportunities to run with you, or help with race support, so thats something I have been trying hard to do better in the last year or two...

Have invested the majority of my tax refund on Melbourne Marathon attempts in the last 3 years, and 4.10/DNF /4.11 is a worthwhile return, but still waiting for the big breakthrough. If that was the end of my marathoning (the 2009 Melbourne Marathon), it was a decent way to finish, and to share it with my wife Kathryn and 2 year old son Jacob, and for all three of us to get onto the MCG (photos coming soon) and share the exhilaration afterwards, are moments I will always treasure as something special no matter what happens in the future.

Will we have another shot in 2010/2011, well I'd like to, but I am not sure if we will make it in 2010, as I feel the main goals i wanted us to do as a family have been achieved. The disaster mof 2008 has been erased now, so there is a sense of closure and satisfaction,contentment there mentally for me. job done. mission accomplished.

That said, getting a PB doesnt seem so important, however I still want it and I still want sub 3 hours, maybe better (sub 2.45 for a preferred start would be my wildest dream at the moment with marathons) and might make a lightning dash over for Melbourne Marathon again in 2010 or 2011...

It would be good to explore some other races too, maybe 6 foot, Canberra marathon, Alice Springs mara , Bunbury mara, Great Ocean road, Townsville mara, Sydney Half mara, a 12 hr or 24 hour race, Kep Ultra, or track running, Triathlons, mountainbiking, hiking the Bibbulumn Track, climbing Mountains, going surfing at the beach, playing tennis and golf, Australian Open tennis, my wife wants to go to Bathurst, (holden fan that she is), AFL game in Melbourne, Chicago Marathon? etc etc etc etc If i ever got the knees fixed, maybe even another shot at making an Australian team as a racewalker or runner, although at present I wouldnt make a state team, so a long way to go, if that is still a chance...What does God want me to do, what is best for our family, lots of questions to consider. Are my injuries concerns becoming to serious, has my fitness declined too much to reverse things enough...what about work/family/friends balance...lots of things to consider...
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In fastest time order;

3.55.02 secs (Perth 2004)

3.55.10 (Perth 2008)

4.02 (Perth 2005)

4.10 (Melbourne 2007)

4.11 (Melbourne 2009)

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4.18 (Perth 2006)

4.32 (Rottnest 2004)

4.33 (Perth 2007)

4.41 (Perth 2009)

4.42 (Perth City to Surf 2009)

4.11 Melbourne no PB but my 5th best and 10th one

I'm in internet cafe in Melbourne...here is the initial report...(**update Nov 2009; GO HERE for video, and link to photos from this race)...They had that Shannon Noll song "you gotta lift", playing as I walked around the MCG onetime this weekend, and I guess that summed up how I felt at about 24km into this one...
some more tunes;Shine ... Dont give up(Shannon Noll & Natalie Basingthwaite try to cover a classic Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush song.)...

Sunday October 11th 2009 A.D.;
Ran Melbourne Marathon in 4hrs 11minutes 33 seconds (5.57 per Km)
(16min. toilet break, 4 min. blisters break along the way) 5k 23.10 12k 58.50 14k 68.39, 21.1k 1hr 47.06 then a mess...

Very proud! of 2 year old son Jacob and wife Kathryn walking 5km onto MCG...

Nice to see Jared Tallent (he said he was trying to racewalk it in under 3hrs 10 minutes when he passed me at about 11km and official results show he racewalked it in 3.08.35) ,Jane,Rich, Matt, Phil,Ewen,Aki,Clown, & lots of Coolrunners Mega frustrated that I still! did not land the PB! :-( (especially as I felt like 3.40's or 3.50's was possible at the halfway mark) But my 10th Marathon is my best one in the last 15 months.. so still happy with a good result, although just outside my target zone...a good run...

Was good to have Jane and Richard to chase down, as it was hard to stay motivated after losing 20 minutes and seeing the PB chance slip away... when I restarted at about 23-25km mark after my very long toilet break, silly me had a massive pasta feed at about midnight (7 hours before the race), and I think that was the main mistake in the prep. Blisters not too bad, but needed to adjust socks, and wearing new socks may have been an issue...

Nice to stay ahead of the 4.15 pace group and to stay under 6minutes per K...average speed (despite the 20 minute break)...

Caught up with Big Kev before the race, and he said he did 2.56 so an awesome PB yet again from him...

Course was excellent easily my favourite course for sure!...Weather conditions perfect, slight tailwind at start...

First 5km (23min 10 @ 4min 38 per K) was right on target as I sat slightly in front of or behind the 3.10 pace group...saw Rosemary (WAMC and hills group fame) at this time going well, and also Coolrunner Bazz777 who did a 3.10 and 2 minute PB...had a bit of a chat and was feeling comfortable cruising along at a good pace on St Kilda Rd...

7km 32.59 (4.42 per k)
then legs started to feel a bit heavy...So backed off a little...Tried to stay under 5 minutes per K...(averaged 4.54's 5k to 7k)

9km 43.15 (4.48 per K)
(averaged 5.08 per k for this 2km)
Got passed by 3.20 pace group (Mick and Steve, who I spoke to at the start and had hoped to run during the first 20km), and 3.30 pace group and Matt F....
This was a bit discouraging, but since I was still well under 5 minutes per Km (3.30 pace), and legs still a little heavy, felt I should stick with what I was doing and try and reel them in later if possible...Plus I wanted to slow up a bit at my drinks station...(Went for first powerade at 9km...)

In hindsight maybe I got it wrong here, and should have put the head down and bum up, and worked hard to stay with at least the 3.30 group, maybe even the 3.20 group, or running with Matt might have been a good option too...So I think maybe I was too conservative/soft from 8km onwards...

12km 58.50 (4.54 per K)
(averaged 5.11 per k for this 3km)
Jared Tallent (Olympic Silver Medallist in the Beijing Olympics 50km walk) racewalked past me at a fast pace at 11km, asked him what his target was and he said 3.10, but he had to make up for lost time after starting behind a lot of people...(about 4000 starters in the Marathon)...
Feeling pretty good, and keen to try and pick up the pace a bit once we got beachside...Maybe should have tried to latch onto Jareds racewalking pace at this stage, as it would have got me back onto the 3.20 or 3.30 groups...

14km 68min 39 (4.54 per K)
(averaged 4.55 per K for this 2km)
Had absorbed powerade well, feeling good and well focused, lots of crowd support at about 13km as people lined the streets and cafes near Fitzroy St (after we had finished the circuit of Albert Park Lake), a slight downhill towards the beach, and found some good momentum...

15km 73min 55secs
(5.16km for 14k to 15k)

17km 84min 40secs
(averaged 5.22's for this 2km section)

18km 90min 16 (5.00 per km)
(5min 36 km from 17k to 18k so lost the plot a bit here!)
Probably cos the blister on my big toe started to give me pain from about here onwards, should NOT have worn new socks...

19K 95min 50 (5.02 per K)
(5.34km from 18k to 19k so another slow split)
Beachside I was hoping to pick up the pace after I absorbed my second Powerade at 16km (which was perhaps a bit close to the 9km Powerade...was a worry in my pre-race planning as 16km seemed too far into it for a first drinks stop but 7km seems too short an interval between drink stops), but was finding it hard to stay under 5.15s by this time...toe starting to get sore and wanted a toilet break also...looking for options to sort both these problems out...
As a result of the blister/need to go to toilet issues, was mostly focused on avoiding walking, and wasn't hitting a good speed anymore...

21.1km (halfway) 1hr 47min 06 (5.04 per K)
(averaged 5.38 per k for this 2.1km)
Starting to feel minor pain in my right toe, and wanted to go to toilet, finding it hard to hold pace especially due to pain in my foot, but wanted to hang in there to get a good HALFWAY split, rather than stop at about 20k...

Pulled off the road at Halfway mark and spent 4 minutes cleaning my sock and shoe, and readjusting sock to try and make small blister less painful...New socks may have been the culprit, not sure...It seemed to work and as I pulled back onto the road just in front of the 3.50 pace group, after a few minutes I started to feel good, and alongside the beach, starting to build the momentum again, got to 23km thinking hey I am going all the way this time not like the 23km DNF last year, and if I can just pull away from this 3.50 pace group I can still do in 3.40's maybe even high 3.30's, and knocking off that 3.55 PB looking good...

Then I started to feel the need to go to the toilet bigtime, and started scanning the roadside for a good toilet option, still confident I could get that over with hopefully a quick No 1's stop (probably too much Powerade I was thinking), and then get back on task and try and catch the 3.50 pace group again...So I pulled off the road at a toilet I spotted as my wristwatch read 2hrs 7 minutes...How wrong was I!!!
Turns out it was No'2's and they just kept coming and coming and coming...

...16 minutes later and the watch reading 2hrs 23minutes I pulled back onto the course very discouraged and set about the task of passing lots of slower runners and trying to get motivated again...

27km 2hrs 38min

28km 2 hrs 44min


Got a bit of a lift when I saw Jane and Rich going the other way, and more importantly the turnaround just up ahead, and resolved to try and catch up to them as I figured they would be around 4hrs to 4.20 pace, and I might be able to at least go under 4.20...Caught them somewhere between 25k to 27k I think...Had a bit of a chat went for another Powerade at 25k and decided to not drink it for a few km...went through 27k starting to feel good and working on staying under 6 minutes a K as much as possible in the last 15km...

30km split 2hrs 56min (5min 52 per k)
Starting to feel a bit fatigued and weaving in and out of slower runners (some of them Half runners I think), still passing a few people but probably getting locked into too slow a pace at times...K markers seemd a bit wrong in a few places...starting to struggle a bit hydrationwise, feeling a bit all-over-the-place mentally...maybe lack of glycogen...too scared to try a Gu due to not wanting to reactivate my earlier toilet issue...

A bit unsure of where the course would go after St Kilda Rd...eventually we turned left and went downhill under a road...Rich went past me here, maybe I should have tried harder to go with him there...felt confident of staying under 4.15, and hoping to beat 4.13, and finish in about 4.09-4.12 from about 32km onwards...Hammy a bit sore about 33km mark so backed off a bit, as it was sore after my Tan run on Friday night as well, but it settled down...and was fine again in the last 8km...

Climbing up small hill into "The Tan" for 35km drinks stop I slowed up a bit to get my last Powerade which I was really keen to get and feeling a bit dehydrated...walked to make sure I didn't throw up and Jane went past me and asked how I was going......Once I had downed my 4th Powerade, got going and started passing a lot of people (many of them Half runners I think) but some marathoners including Jane...Got to top of hill in "The Tan", and then felt motiuvated and moving fairly well back down onto St Kilda Rd...maintained an ok pace, looked for my wife and 2 year old in the bunch of 5km walkers going in the oppisite direction, and made sure I entered the MCG at a good speed...

41km split 4.05.

Half-sprinted the last 200m on the MCG, soaked up the atmosphere, no PB, but still felt like a pretty Triumphant MCG Finish to me...So pretty happy...happy days...
Thanks God for the wonderful blessings on this day!!!

Friday October 9th 2009 A.D.;
Ran "The Tan" (3.825km) in a P.B. of 19min 02secs (HR 174) (4min 58 per Km)...
A tuneup race pace type run 2 days before the Marathon...
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WEEK 10 (of 10) (05/10/09-11/10/09);
Volume;271min. Sessions; 2 Best RHR; 41! (alltime best)
Sleep;41.25 (5.89 hrs per night) *00 MR-19hrs

Races;
Melbourne Marathon 4hrs 11 min 33 secs (main goal race for 2009)
OD/LSD sessions;NIL
Short/Medium runs;
-3.8km run around "The Tan" 19min 02 (4.58 per K) (friday)
Reps sessions;
NIL

Thoughts;
No PB. Failed to hit targets again! Encouraging first Half. If I can somewhere hold onto this momentum surely some PB's at all distances ahead...

Its going to be hard to get motivated again after this one, always is after Marathons...
The quicker I refocus on new goals the better I will do at holding onto the momentum and vice-versa...Have a stack of bills, and other stuff, various family issues, looming to be dealt with in the coming weeks, (partly cos I put a lot of things in the too-hard-basket to focus strongly on Melbourne Marathon, so now I can't put them off any longer) so its a good time to back off on the running a bit for awhile, although be good if I can go hard after some shorter running maybe even do some Track this summer, and then there is the lure of trying to improve my 6 inch time again in December, if I actually saddle up for this run again, which I might not this year... The great Australian Run 15km on November 29th, (Albert Park Lake in Melbourne) sounds interesting too, although my money situation makes it unlikely. If I am to do 6 inch I will need to keep the long runs ticking over...There is the Peninsula Run 10km and 5km on 15th November too, might be worth one last shot at a PB if I am going well...Seriously though I think I am going to have to focus on ramping up my hours at work in the next few weeks, and unfortunately my thoughts of running Rottnest 10km are over I think...So plenty to work with (going on my very comfortable 1.47 first Half (could have gone a fair bit faster than that I reckon...) in Melbourne) but a lot of competing priorities, have to wait and see, but the sooner I get back to some running the better!

Disappointed that my failure to eat earlier the night before probably cost me the PB...especially after 10 weeks of trying so hard to get the right sessions done, improve my lifestyle, and dropping out of lots of callcentre shifts in my night job, and spending most of my tax refund on this trip...but still a wonderful memorable weekend, for my wife, my son and I so I guess it was worth it...hopefully can still go one step better, but have to say I feel a lot happier after a good 10th Marathon...

week 9; 10x800m and 10k rep fire things up a gear

Sunday 4th October AD;
Ran Fremantle fun run 5km in 22min 53 secs
Hr 180 at end, 4min 34 per km.
Splits 4.12/4.36/4.46/4.52/4.27

Official results are HERE and show I placed 47th and first in my age category (mainly cos most people my age did the 10k... some photos HERE
Good run from Epi to be just a few seconds shy of going under 38 minutes and A-grade status...!

Had fun with this one, and probably didn't really finish as strong as I could as shown by the relatively low HR of 180 at finish. Probably got a bit soft from 3k to 4k as well, not too pleased with the 4.52 split. The start was very messy although it was nice to start on the grass, and I took it easy for the first 100-200m to make sure I didn't do an ankle, so probably could have found another 10 seconds very easily in the first 1k...My main target was to go under 23 minutes which I did, so thats very pleasing! My reserve target was 23.45, but I knew early on by 2-3k that a sub 23minute effort was a decent chance. dreamed of doing 19-21 minutes, but not having trained specifically for this event I knew that was pretty unrealistic.

My 5k PB of 21.04 from 5/10/03 was also done on this fast flat course which I like a lot, especially once you get past the messy first 500m or so...
Splits from that race 6 years ago are;
3.38/4.13/4.33/4.25/4.15
but I targeted the event a bit for that one. In 2003 I hadn't run any marathons but that year I had run my first two Half-marathons in 1.43 and 1.46. So with superior strength now, I should be able to run a Half in at least mid 1.40's at my current level of fitness, maybe quicker.

Had a lovely time catching up with Coolrunners like Mjail and family, and afterwards at Little Creatures with Trev,Kilee,20thCboy,Loubee,Turtlerunner and others. What a wonderful morning God blessed me with...:-)


WEEK 9 (of 10) (28/09/09-04/10/09);
Volume;178min. Sessions; 4 Best RHR; 42!
Sleep;45.5 (6.5 hrs per night) *12 MR-19hrs

OD/LSD sessions;NIL
Short/Medium runs;
-5km race in 22min 52 (sunday)
Reps sessions;
-10k reps session in 45min 00 secs (4min 30 per k)HR's 171-183 (Wednesday)
-800m and 400m (3.54 per k) (thursday)
-10x800m Yassos=8000m reps in 33.01 (4.07 per km) 3min 18 average for 800's (Friday)
Comments;
Mostly need to just to avoid injury and illness , get plenty of sleep, and get to the start line on 11th October ready to go! Probably my main missions now will be to earn as much money as I can from metering before we fly out, and to avoid most activities that might potentially cause me trouble.

I am confident I have done enough to give my 3.55 PB a really strong challenge.
I think I am comfortable with 4.30-5min K's so that is the pace I want to try and work with for the first Half of the Melbourne Marathon, and then in the second half it will be about trying to stay under 5.30 per K...If I can do both those things I should hit around 3.25-3.45..but its mone thing to talk about it, and another to do it, especially with the Marathon...7 days to go...

Friday 2nd October 2009 A.D.;
AK Reserve Track PM;
Ran 10x800m in 3min 18 average. (4min 07 per KM)
Total time 33min 01 secs + 9 x 3 minute rests...
Light 1 lap warm up and cool down.

2.54.68 HR 186..200m splits; 34/45/52/43
3.19.75 HR 174 200m splits; 44/53/54/48
3.11.03 HR 186 200m splits; 40/52/54/45
3.20.12 HR 186 200m splits; 46/53/54/47
3.14.16 HR 180 200m splits; 42/53/54/45

3.27.62 HR 177 200m splits; 49/56/56/46
3.22.46 HR 183 200m splits; 45/55/55/47
3.25.53 HR 180 200m splits; 46/55/58/46
3.29.13 HR 183 200m splits; 48/54/53/54
3.16.60 HR 186 200m splits; 45/54/54/43

The first 5 800s averaged 3.11.95 (3.59 per km)
and the last 5x800m averaged 3.24.27 (4.15 per km)

So on the basis of this session on the information I have heard it seems a reasonable assumption that somewhere between 3.23 and 3.55 looks to be possible for me.
But thats a big guestimate...so we shall see...besides the quality of my other training will be important too, and I'm not sure how much crdence I should place on the Yasso 800's as a lot of people don't agree with them, and even some of those who do reckon they are more VO2 max thing primarily. Its the first time Ive tried ém (although I have heard of them many times) so hopefully its helpful ...

I thought about doing the 800's at S. Park (but figured too much headwind, and the grass surface not that quick) or Len Shearer in Melville/Booragoon, but when I saw the sand under the grass at Len Shearer, I figured no its going to be slow, and the only track I knew would be fast and I could access was AK reserve, so decided to knock off work early and do the long drive. The times above represent the reward for my persistence, and for choosing a fast track to train on.

Injury report; after being a good boy and doing my hammy stretches th last two days, the hammy didn't trouble me tonight at all, its still a bit tender afterwards, so need to keep the stretches regime ticking over. Shins were a bit sore, maybe running on a harder track, or maybe some other reasons...some minor left ankle soreness, but overall nothing a day of rest, and some showers, icepacks won't fix...so looking good...

Info about Yasso 800's om the web;
1-Hillrunner says Y800's overrated

2-Bart Yasso and runners world the origin of the 10x800m...builds up to 10 x800 over several months with the last 10x800 about 10-17 days before the marathon...

3-Coolrunning.com comments re Y800's

4-Jims experiences with Bart Yasso.

5-Bart Yasso.com

6- Slings 2007Yasso800's thread on coolrunning.com.au

7-More yasso threads on coolrunning.com.au 2009 Yasso thread,
2008 various predictors..200620042004 again
2004 yet again
2003

Thursday 1st October A.D.;
Ran at S. Park after work, felt very sluggish and unmotivated.
800m 3min 24.
400m 1.22.10
Aborted the session after 2 reps, as I just didn't have any drive mentally or physically, partly a big downer after the tough 10k rep session the night before I think...

Wednesday 30th September A.D.;
At S. Park after a pretty big day at work, legs were already pretty tired, and I didn't really feel like it, but forced myself out there, and slept a solid 8 hours that night.

Ran 10k reps session Total time 45min 00 secs...Heart rates 171-183.

Not a PB, (PB is 39.58 from 2003) for this special session I have been doing since 1992 at least. (It helped me get two state U/20 residential records for the 10km walk in 1992/1993) but my best effort in the last 4 shots at this tough session since October 2007. It has always predicted a 10k race time of about 1min slower than the total 10k rep time, so on that basis it means I should be able to run a 10k in 46minutes flat.

Working into a fairly strong south westerly wind that kept hitting me in the front straight.
The last two reps it was dark and getting hard to see the track, and the last rep I could have gone faster but due to moonlight being all I had to see the track, and having to use the light button on my watch when ever I wanted to check my split, I feel I could have found a few more seconds, if I had more daylight...

A hard session, not as high in intensity as say a 3km ladder or 5x300m, but overall I was so worn out! after this one, a fair bit tougher than than the 10x800m session...
In 2007 I did 45.17 for this same 10k reps session a week before I ran 4.10 that year, but looking back at it;
1.- my heart rates were a whole lot higher in 2007...i.e. some 192-201 stuff!,
2.- I dont think I was weary from working before it in 2007,
3.- my conditioning, sleep etc leading in the last 6 days wasn't as good as this time, e.g. I did no training at all between my 10k rep session and the Marathon in 2007.
4.- I didn't have to do the last two reps under moonlight.
5.- I am 17 seconds quicker this time...,
so I reckon I am in better condition than I was in 2007 when I did my first Melbourne Marathon in 4.10, which suggests that maybe just maybe I will smash the 4 hour barrier and my 3.55 PB quite convincingly this time...I'm hoping and praying my little goal is realised this time...