best 1km (3.44) for 3 years & 48.38 JG 10k explosion

Have bought 7 more photos from Melbourne Marathon. At least 3 to go (of Kathryn and Jacob), maybe some video too of my finish.

They (the photos) will be HERE....

Official results from John Gilmour 10k track 2009 A race and B race are online HERE...

Saturday 7th November
2 hours 2 min slow long run/walk mix on some tough hills...

Got to Munda Biddi cnr North Spur and Scarp too late (720hrs), to start with Dave and others, so just went for my own short Recon run of the 6inch course on the Oakley dam section, and later on the long hill near the conveyer belt...

Friday 6th November 1800hrs;
John Gilmour 10k track B race...;
48min 38 secs, HR 180 (80% sprint finish at end.)
1km splits; 3.44/4.43/4.47/5.19/4.48 = 23.21
1km splits; 5.13/5.11/5.33/4.52/4.28 = 25.17
5km splits; 23.21/25.17
2km splits; 8.27/10.06/10.01/10.44/9.20
first 1k-3.44 ...last 1k 4.28.


400m splits;
1.17/1.33/1.47/1.55/1.55 = 8min 27 for first 2km.

1.55/1.56/1.53/2.13/2.09 = 10.06
1.55/1.55/2.04/2.03/2.04 = 10.01

2.11/1.56/2.09/2.15/2.13 = 10.44

2.07/1.51/1.49/1.49/1.44 = 9.20

Hit 800m in 2min 50, 1km 3min 44 (shaves 4 seconds off what i did on the slower grass track the previous day, (easily my quickest since I did a 3.40 on March 2nd 2006 see here), plus I had a few seconds in the tank so could have gone sub 3.40 I reckon...) 1 mile 6min 32.

My race plan was to go out strong and hard, in true PRE style, get the lead, and make sure no other runner got in front of me in the first 400m or so. Took no notice of where others were, just concentrated on hitting the fastest rhythm I thought was sustainable for 1km or so...Talking to family and friends after it appears I may have been as much as 30m in front, more than I expected. I know my first 400m was 3 seconds faster than what the A race people did in their first 400m, although they obviously started conservatively for them, as the winner Aaron Patterson did a 76 second 400m towards the end.

I was hoping I would have enough to get through 1k in under 3.50 (which I did quite easily in a comfortable 3.44 with a few seconds to spare), then hold onto about 1.30 and try and get well under 8 minute barrier for the 2km. I felt if I could do that, it might be enough for me to keep in front, and then settle into some 1.38-1.45-1.50's (hopefully nail about 9min 2k splits or better... and hopefully get well under 43minutes by the end, and maybe even give my 41.01 PB from 1998 a shake...was not interested in the soft option of trundling around at 46 minute pace...wanted better...Wasn't confident of my ability to sustain it, but knew I could hit the sub 3.50 first 1km at least, and hoped no others could also do so...

Was a bit surprised to split the first 400m in 77secs, as I was expecting about 80-84secs, and decided it must be just due to the adrenalin/excitement of the night, and a faster track, which both make sense. Throttled back a touch to 93 secs in the 2nd 400m, to go through 800m in 2.50. Still happy with that. Could hear another guy close behind me, and heard Evan Kolbe say my name as the leader on the P.A. which was nice (these fleeting moments of fame hahaha), he passed me about this time which was surprising and discouraging to me. I think I was passed in the back straight, but I still hit the 1km in 3.44 so was very happy still, and although it felt hard, hoped to keep it going, and get under 8 minutes for the first 2km.

However I soon was passed by several people, which again was discouraging and disconcerting.
I lost focus ( I guess I have got so used to training against myself and the watch, I didn't deal with other people being on the track well maybe, or perhaps it was just the lactic acid buildup from a fast start, or the lack of volume in my reps, or the lack of long runs, medium runs, starting to kick in, all closely related my inferior conditioning which has slipped a bit in the 3km+ area since Melbourne..reflected in higher resting heart rates of 45-51 in the last few weeks, compared to 41-44 just before Melbourne Marathon), or maybe I was just too SOFT mentally, whatever it was by 1200m I knew I was fading, and was finding it increasingly hard to get something going and fightback against fatigue, and the processions of bunches of 2-3 runners going past me every 100m, which doesnt help rhythm or mental positivity/focus...Whatever it was I slipped out to 1.47, and then 1.55's...a few weeks ago i would have been happy with an 8min 27secs 2km split (4.13 per k) but tonight I was very disappointed, about 30+ seconds adrift of what I wanted, my delusions of grandeur of a PB attempt were shattered, I was feeling the pain physically, but most of all mentally. Just wanted to drop out and go home. I knew I didn't want to do that, especially with family and friends watching, Dave kindly doing my counting etc etc...and besides, I dont do DNF's that easily, and a host of other reasons. Tried to refocus on 3km and 5k splits, but without much conviction...
Managed to do so in a half-hearted manner until 3km (13.14 or 4.24 per k) then just started to lose the plot mentally and go through the motions totally...Picked it up again from 4k to 5k a little, to go through 5km in the half respectable time of 23min 21 (4.40 per k), although slower than my first 5k in the Melbourne Marathon!

From there on I was struggling to find reasons to keep going. The music was cool, dave was doing an excellent job with the counting, and i even managed to latch onto a few groups of runners going past, surge a little here and there, but just wasn't really fighting, just couldn't find the mental drive/motivation to push through the pain barriers, just wasn't interested. So I strolled/jogged around a stack of 2.03-2.15 rubbish, almost a minute slower than my first lap for the race. Concentrated on enjoying the fun atmosphere, and counting down my laps...

Thought I saw Kate, or someone I knew coming up to lap me with about 2km to go, so that gave me a bit of a much needed kick up the backside, to try and fight a little, get going again, resolved to get going, and make sure she didt lap me. This resulted in some 1.49-1.51's being churned out for 3 laps, which felt a whole lot better, and succeeded, in putting a decent gap between me and her so she couldn't lap me...but more importantly gave me a reason to try a bit again...One that goal was achieved i got the bell for the last lap and I could see a lady up ahead in a bright pink top, who I figured I had gained on a lot, and decided I should be able to beat her, if I was within 20m with 150m to go...So set about doing that, and had to sprint at 80%, so hard, but not flat out, to achieve that in the last 100m. That felt good, gave me a 1.44 last lap, and dipped me under the 48.55 I did in 2007, but not the 48.16 I did in 2008.
No where near the 44-46min zone I think i am currently capable of if fine-tuned enough...

Big thanks to Dave for lap counting.
Also lovely to have my Dad, Aunty Marlene, and most of all my wife Kathryn, and a very excited!!! happy 2 year old Jacob all in the stands watching, that meant a lot to me.
Lovely to share a sensational fun! evening with them...

Even though I was bitterly disappointed with my time, and more importantly the way I fell apart mentally and to a lesser extent physically in this race, I was very happy that we were able to share this night together, and i got to enjoy the fun of racing again, and go really well for the first 1k. So then we settled into watch the exciting A race unfold!!! It didn't disappoint, with some of the memorable moments being the moving around in the front bunch, Todd Ingrahams reeling in and then reloading sprint finish to "photofinish" himself on the line into 3rd spot I think...Nice to see Shaphan Cox the defending champion having a run too. Congratulations to all who helped make this such a special night again. Fantastic state of the art track and venue...a night i will remember for a long time fondly for many reasons even though a little bittersweet due to my disintegration from 2km to 8km...

I know everyone will keep on saying I need to run more even, and to an extent they are correct, but I also know from the past that running even and slow will not extend my limits, or get me PB's. To get PB's now, I have to attack...some days it will work, other days it wont, this was one of those days I went overboard on the PRE-ish ness, and just wasn't ready, my mind was way ahead of my body..., and it didn't work.

So back to the drawing board, back to square maybe try again form PB's in the Pen run and 6 inch or maybe I should just quit racing for a few weeks/ months...comeback later when I have trained up enough, or I have refreshed mentally/physically...not sure right now...
My left knee pain has been bad this weekend, and if it doesnt settle I might be forced to stop running in a few weks, and concentrate on getting it right. A difficult time for me again...Then again a few icepacks might do the trick for a few more weeks,months...
Keen to try and press on somehow and reload for 2010, but we shall see, hopefully not a Hiatus situation, but just take it 1 day at a time...

Thursday 5th November late AM;
1km time trial 3min 48secs.72
HR 186 At S. Park.

One of those mornings when I didn't get out the door before 6am, and got tied up with icing knee, and various domestic stuff...when I did this rep it was too hot really to do much more and I needed to get on with work so ended up only getting the 1 rep done, but ran hard,with ferocious tenacity (a phrase Nic Bideau used in his talk at AK reserve a few weeks ago), and hit the times I targeted mostly, with 200m splits on this nice grass track of;
38/44/52/52/42...
Very pleased with this time as I think its my quickest 1km rep since at least March 2006, maybe 2004, so fastest 1km for at least 3 years! Was hoping to go even faster, but satisfied with that, did what i targeted, and thats always a nice feeling...Yay!
Had 4x1km or 6x1km planned for today, but I consoled myself, with the thought that at least I would be fresher for Friday night...

Wednesday 4th November early AM;
Ran 4x 2,000m reps at N. reserve.
times; 8.43/9.03/9.18/9.32
Heart rates 171/183/177/189

10min rests. Had to be alert due to dog walkers letting lots of dogs off the lead, which made it hard to concentrate on the task. A footy oval with a 400m track hurriedly marked on it for the school sports/little athletics i think, so not the fastest surface, a bit spongy, but well grassed, and no injury issues from it. Started to get pretty warm, and it was a tough session after a late night shift the night before at work, so had the shirt off by the 3rd rep, i was just pouring with sweat...Tough to stay motivated, and I was absolutely spent by the end of the 4th rep, nothing left, out of energy, so abandoned plans to maybe do a 5th rep. Slowish times, but a good solid useful session on a demanding course. This is the type of session I have been missing in the last few weeks, had enough volume in it, to start encouraging some worthwhile progress. I had the unlimited time because it was morning and despite working the previous night and only getting 4 hrs sleep, I was still a lot fresher than i would have been if I had tried to do it in the evening...Satisfied with this one, although disappointed with the slow times, it gave me a little more confidence for Fridays 10k race...