RHR 45 raced a 2.46 800m and 22.29 5000m

Thursday;
Ran 800m in 2min 46 (3.27 per K pace)
200m splits; 33/39/48/46
then 25 min later (jogged lots for active reovery)
5000m 22min 29 secs HR 192 at end. (4.29 per K pace)
1km splits;
4.13/4.34/4.48/4.17/4.37

In the 800m got a great start, was surreal running in lanes for first 100m, expected to struggle but found myself in front at 100m as we moved into inside lanes.
Was feeling good, and new I could run under 3 minutes, so kept the pedal to the metal til 300m mark, was a bit surprised to hit 200m in 33 secs, as I expected about 35to 37 secs.
Coming down the home straight still in front I could feel VIS athlete and Davbid Cane getting closer but tried to stay strong, without going all out, set myself goal of getting to 400m still in the lead, which I did in 72 secs. didnt feel all that spent, although I could feel the lactic starting to build a bit from about 350m onwards...decided to switch off at 400m a little and the entire field bar one bloke had all passed me by about 500m-550m...Didnt check my 500m split but my 600m split of 2.00 suggests I hit 500m in about 1.36...Just tried to keep a solid pace from there to the finish and bring it home a touch in the last 200m, tried to avoid the gap between me and the 5th place guy growing too much...Basically the first 5 were well ahead of me with 600m to go. feel like maybe I should have pushed harder in the 2nd 400m, but if I had tried to stay in front, figure I would have blown up bigtime by 550m or so, and probably would have struggled to stay under 3 minutes at my current fitness level. Pretty happy with a great run, especially to get under 2.50 barrier. best 800m in a long time. Not that far off my 2.16? high school PB and my 2003/2004 PB of 2.23.
Felt pretty lactical afterwards. But the jogging for 25 minutes seemed to do the trick and I was confident of a good run in the 5000m.

In the 5000m I decided to make a strong effort to avoid starting too fast, but still found myself shadowing David Cane for the first 200m (he ran about the high 16minute range again in the end), so throttled back and let Bjorn, Kim and 1 or 2 other Masters legends go past...
Felt very easy, and I was a bit surprised to get to 1k in 4.13, felt like 4.25-4.35...
Decided to persist with the "work myself into it not out of it" strategy (as my old racewalking coach used to like to say), and concentrate on trying to stay around 1.45-1.55 mark for my 400m laps, with the aim of trying to bring it home a bit with 2k to go...

That seemed to work well, so I wasn't too concerned when I got to 2k in 8.47 which is pretty slow by my recent standards(e.g. I went through first 2k of Bridges 10k in 8.36 when i ran 48.39 on 28th March this year. )...and was a 1k split of 4.34...Got a bit tough in the next 1k, and I think I got passed by 2 more blokes. David Cane started to lap me, but I was lapping some of the slower runners like Jane, and the racewalkers. 2k to 3k was a bit messy and I was just trying to hang in there without going over 2min per 400m. 1k split of 4.48 was my slowest of the race, but I got to 3k in 13.35, which is pretty solid without being fantastic or anything. At this stage I was thinking well its going to be tough to come in much better than about 23.10 at best, and I knew I had floated my way into it, and it was time to try and attack a bit, instead of just hanging in there. Started throwing in some laps in the 1.40's again, and not entirely sure of the 1k split but I think it was 4.17 or maybe in the 4.20's...
Then it started to get a bit hard, but I tried to stay around the 1.50 mark, and when i finally got the bell I was feeling very good, and I figured I could go well under 23 minutes for one of my fastest 5k races in the last few years. Figured the 22.35 from November 2008 was probably a little out of reach but steeled myself to make sure I kicked for home in the last lap. Was surprised that Masters president and legend Bob Schickert had not yet caught me. He ended up doing about 22.57... Tried to give it my all in the last 150m to 250m and wound it up as much as I could, I think my last lap was about 1.40 or quicker...Pushed hard to the line as i could see the clock counting up through the 22.20's, and was ecstatic to dip under 22.30 and go sub 4.30 per K for the race, which to me is a major milestone in a 5k race at the moment, and was equally stoked to knock off the 22.35 from November 2008 which makes it my 2nd fastest 5000m race ever, 40 seconds behind my track PB a 21.49 I did in the state 5000m at McGillvray in about 2003/2004. My road PB is 21.04 from 2002? although I splitted 19.32 in the first half of my 41.01 10k road PB in the 1998 Bridges.

So two very encouraging results, which along with the 5.34 1500m in the Australian Masters a few weeks ago confirms to me that I am approaching PB form, something I havent really done much since 2005, with the possible exception of the melbourne Marathon mess in october last year, and also in the Perth and Melbourne Marathons in 2008.

Really enjoyed the nights racing and so glad I made the last minute maniacal drive to the track to have a race. Then quick drive back home to be with heavily pregnant wife and toddler.
Was great catching up with a few people there too. No sign of Stan though...maybe next time...

However money and work seems to be getting messier by the week, and my wife is up to 36 weeks on April 26th, so not confident I can sustain the improvement...might have to try and hang in there like I did in the 3rd KM of the 5000m, and wind up for home in July or August, hope for the big PB's in September/October/November.

Tossing up all week whether to run 32km race on Monday 26th. leaning towards giving it a miss, but I might still go have a bash.

Very disappointed I failed to get a long run or other sessions done this week. meter reading seems to be helping me maintain my fitness a fair bit, just as Mona suggested it would.
will try to do better in coming weeks, but its not high on the priorities, and if things slide so be it, but will try to avoid it.

Injury front; no problems while racing at all. However have had a lot of severe knee pain lately, especially in right knee which gave me a lot of trouble in last weekends long run.
Every time I step on uneven ground or changes in elevation (e.g. front door step) my right knee is giving way not holding my leg in position and I am getting severe stabs of pain. That is a scary sign for me, because it suggests maybe I have opened up the tear on my meniscus a few notches or done something else. I cant afford the time and money to get medical assessment at the moment, so just have to live with it, so afr surviving ok at work, and it hasnt stopped me running yet, but eventually will have to get it checked out, as time and money become available. Also my left hip/thigh area has been bad again. Again ZERO problems while racing on Thursday, but its a concern...

So particularly with the right knee I wonder if I should stop running, but for now I plan to ignore it, but see if that works or not...

very pleased about David Kennedys 223km Coburg 24hour result last weekend. Awesome to hear about Epi doing 3.01! and Clown 3.02! well done to them.

Western derby in footy next weekend, and if we win that should cement our grip on a top 4 spot for now, especially as FREOOOO accounted for the tiggers . If we lose, we drop to 5th-9th, but my poor wife would be a whole lot happier if the Eagles could finally win a derby...

Dave K. 223K! Me; RHR 45 181min run PERTH wk1

Firstly I think I should mention the awesome feat of David Kennedy in making it past 223km in the Coburg 24 hour race yesterday. Which from what I can see is the 3rd best effort by a West Australian behind Mick Francis 231km in Coburg 2008 and Joe Record 230km at Crystal Palace UK in 1979. It also puts him in the top 25-30 or so all time best Australians on the AURA list..., and stakes a serious claim for his selection in an Australian Ultra Runners team. They are known as the EMU's, so David Kennedy has to be a very good chance of being a new EMU after that effort...More on cool running thread

All the best to Craig and Robert in the Boston Marathon tomorrow too, while on the subject of WA runners going places...

Nice to see Sugar and Charis have decided to target New York, and Biscuitman Gold Coast. Looks like Sling Runner, maybe Clown and I will be going after Melbourne if we can...

now onto my sorry running story...the scene; a Runners Anonymous meeting;
My name is Jonathon and I havent had a run for 13 days, is what I could have been saying this morning...hahaha...

Seriously though I decided to take a week or two off after the 40 miler attempt, as I felt my body needed a rest, and I wanted to focus on getting ready for the new baby (wife is up to 35 weeks tomorrow!), and trying to crank up my hours at work a little...after taking a lot of time off for the Monaghetti camp, and to a lesser extent trying to get ready for the Masters Championships.

It was nice to have a break from the pressure of those events, and to work on some of these other important things, get my car serviced, and pay some urgent big bills.
Need to continue on that path for a few weeks, but also I want to start week 1 of my 10 week program to try and get to the start line of my 7th consecutive (hopefully!????) Perth Marathon, although I suspect it may be more about doing enough to finish under 4.30-5 hours than about getting a PB this time, but then again with the momentum I have had in recent weeks, perhaps some sub 4 hour action and maybe even a solid PB may still be possible, although I am not that fussed about it this time...

Also, although I won't be racing anything big for a few weeks probably, although I hope to make it to Masters on Thursdays, as I need to put aside time for the new baby coming hopefully in May, I intend working on trying to start my races a little slower, and trying to reduce my falling apart in the second half of races...Sure heaps of people will be saying "Ï told you so", but I think many of them don't understand where I am coming from on this...However if this doesnt improve my performance I won't persist with it, maybe I work best with a quick start...anyway I hope to be exploring some slight adjustments in race tactics...

This week I managed to hit a resting heart rate of 45, so I feel I have not lost too much ground since thats still my 3rd best weeks reading this year, behind the 43 and 44 from previous weeks. Considering I have not run for 13 days, that suggests my meter reading work is helping in maintenance a lot. A tough hilly round in Roleystone, in wet weather certainly would have helped I think...

So only 1 run this week, and it was a bit of a rubbish run or junky jog...
181 minutes (3hours and 1 minute) on the rail trail...a bit fartlekish, with running,jogging, walking and so on...had a lot of trouble with a weird pain under my right knee, which has got me worried...initially I thought it was just a pinmched nerve, but it keeps coming back and going away, so a strange one...hopefully will disappear of its own accord...
also got that pesky pins and needles loss of feeling thing around the groion area which i have had a few times over the years since 1996, although that went away after about 15 minutes...
Herat rate was 141 at the end and it was starting to warm up...after feeling really yuck with a sore throat after a yucky night at work last night, I felt a million doallars better after that 3 hour run, and a good hot shower... spent the afternoon playing one of the best table tennis games I have ever played to finally beat my dad (not an easy task), and thrash my brother (although he beat me in the first game), then watched a thrilling top of the table tussle between Fremantle and St Kilda, where it was all tied up for 3 quarters, until the last quarter, when the saints finally got a 2goal break, which Freo was unable to bridge...brave effort Freo!!! close but no cigar this time...but as Dockerland put it, we now have a 2 week holiday, i.e easy wins over Richmond and the eagles coming up so that should see us move firmly back into the top 4 after our slide down to 5th spot on the ladder after the 15 point loss today, brought an end to the unbeaten run...

Tried to convince my parents and brothers, sisters that we should make the trek down to Mt Claremont to watch the Australian championships (and Commonwealth Games trials) at the track,
as I couldnt afford it myself, but they were not convinced, so I had to miss out on it this time, maybe sometime again in the next few decades, (then again I have been to watch plenty of things like that in the past. The 400m, 1500m and 5000m races in particular, plus the pole vault and long jump sound like they all would have been worth seeing.

Its pathetic that they don't have the marathon and the walks on the same weekend, but I guess the T& F mob dont like those events.

After throwing nearly all my available spare non-rent money $400 in this case to clear my over expensive phone/Internet and electricity bills, to avoid disconnection/suspension, I was at the beg my parents for petrol/food and mobile phone credit money stage...Basically the bills are mounting up a lot, and with 70% of my income going on rent, fortnight after fortnight, despite the two jobs, there are times when it gets a bit wearing, plus I am conscious of the need for my wife to get her final prep done for the new baby. trying to find a balance between doing more hours at work to increase money, and still find more time for Kathryn, toddler Jacob and the new little one due in the next few weeks. Its going well, but I'll be happier come tax refund and baby bonus time. Also figure I didnt work enough in March /early April. Of course a better day job would be great, but I think maybe I should wait til after the new baby? or should I...? The Air race to promote red bull would have been cool to see too, my lawyer brother watched it but I couldnt.

So hopefully will get past the injury and illness niggles, and although work and the new baby is going to be a major focus from here, I hope to still mount some sort of attack on Perth again for the 7th time.. Guess the next 9 weeks will tell the story of what occurs....

photos FREOOOOO! a 42km and time for some RnR

The start of the 40 miler race with me leading on the left of picture with my gold and blue cool running hat on...
Thanks to DJC and big K for the sensational pictures from this event...




2 fantastic closeup pictures of me about 350m into the Australian Masters 1500m on 3rd April, sitting about 3rd overall, and in the gold medal position for my age group at this stage, the WA bloke in front of me is in the 40-44 age group. There is a Victorian in front of him...Huge thanks to NSW athlete who took these 2 photos...





3 photos from the Australian Masters M35-39 1500m last week...with me leading the WA charge for my age group at 400m in about 70 secs...we ran with the other young guns of the championships, the 30-34, and the 40-44...Massive thanks to Techno Kate for taking these photos...
FREOOOOOOOO! what a win over the cats...as TV commentator BT said..."I feel a purple surge coming on...." poor cats went home with tails between their legs...
http://www.dockerland.com/index.php/Latest/cop-that-premiers.html will tell the story of the purple surge towards providing a real challenge to st kiilda for the minor premiership if they keep this up all season! For starters we have a top of the table clash with St Kilda next week, which will be another good test as to where the FREOOOOOO! mob really is at now...
As one of my Facebook friends, (and passionate Freo member) has been saying for 3 weeks now; Cop that! you just got given the old heave Ho!

Only made it to 42km in the 40 miler on Monday this week...
but very happy with my first 27km which was under 6min per K.
splits for first 23km very similiar to my previous best effort in this event in 2008...when I made it to 46km...
2010 splits included; my first 7k slightly faster in 34.38 14k about 73min 23k 2.13 32k 3.14
Comparing my best two failed to finish efforts in the 40 miler so far;

2008 splits (2010 splits in brackets);
7k-35min (approx. 5min per K), (34.38 in 2010)
14k-70min 38 (5min02 per K) 73min 11 in 2010,... See More
23k- 2hours 03min (5.20per K) 2hrs 13min in 2010,
32k-2hours 59min.50 (5.37 per K) (3hrs 14min 58secs in 2010)
39k-3hours 53min (5.58 per K) 4hrs 21 in 2010,
42k(marathon)-4 hours 23min (6.15 per K)4.54 in 2010,
46k-4 hours 48min.15 (6.15 per K) did not get there in 2010

Guess as usual I probably could have backed off a bit more from 7k to 14k, and most of all my training wasn't good enough to get me to 39k, 46k, and 55k quick enough to have a decent shot at finishing the entire 64km...back to square one on that score... Very happy to see people like Jane, Kate, and Rob D. go all the way though...and enjoyed catching up with various people there...was a great days racing still...

more on my 40 miler adventure for 2010 when I get time to post....

Took the rest of the week off which wasnt hard with work commitments and my wife now up to 34 weeks as of tomorrow...so time to rest up freshen up before easing into my Perth Marathon 10 week program this week...however I will be easing into it, and the new baby on the way is the main priority for the next 6-8 weeks or so...
With the Perth my main aim is just to finish another one, not fussed with the time, but obviously will go for it on the day...the better I train the better the time will be, but my main aim here is be ready for the new baby plus maintain endurance as best as possible, then ramp things up again bigtime for Melbourne in October...

Hope to also get down to Masters at Coker park and have a chat with my old racewalking coach, congratulate him on his swag of medals at the Australian Masters again, and maybe get some good short stuff done in the coming months in preparation for Melbourne and Perth Marathons...

So a lot to thank God for right now. Performances not quite where I want to be, but some promising signs and I know with the 5.34 1500m I gave my all in that one for sure, just need to race a bit smarter, and train a whole lot more often (the Mona 2x7x52 session (hahaha)is inspirational, and I will be aiming to move closer to that about the middle of the year, but the better I can do in the next 2 tricky months, the better foundation I will have in place...Hopefully can keep the momentum going like Freo has the last 3 weeks, and really hit Melbourne hard. Need a lot of assistance and wisdom from God to do that, and probably a brand new day job...but one step at a time...Its time to concentrate on choosing baby names, earning some money to beat the bills, and trying to finish my 7th consecutive Perth Marathon in late June... All the best to Epi and Clown in their Boston Marathons, and well done to everyone at the Masters and the 40 miler!

RHR 43 and 5.34 1500m as I miss Bronze medal by 11 secs

Happy Easter all!

Australian Masters results from this weekend can be found @ http://www.waathletics.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=214&Itemid=215....Good to hear Paul Mitchell won the 5000m and Ray Boyd had a run. Outstanding performances from Sugar in difficult conditions now to trawl through the results in the next week or so, and discover exactly what happened on all 4 days once the races have all been run and the results become available....

Photos from my 1500m race coming soon... Massive thanks to Techno K for taking those...

Was really nice seeing some familiar faces at the track on Saturday like Techno K, Emailstar, Charismatic,Sass,Sugar,Biscuitman, and others, helped me to settle my nerves a bit before the race.

Caught up with my old coach Stan again on the Friday he got a Silver that day, got there too late on the Saturday to see his race, I know he was in the medals, but he had a big challenge on his hands to get the Gold again like in previous years, as a bloke had moved up into his age group in his las year before he moves up again...

Sunday; Ran a low intensity 3.5km run in 20minutes 24. HR 129 at end. Pushed it out to about 4.40 per K pace for 700m, from 2100m-2800m but mostly took it very very easy to try and remove any lingering soreness from the last 2 days... but still get to 40 miler tomorrow with fresh legs...Did 4.05/4.07/4.13/3.11/4.48 700m splits, not that it really matters...

No other training this week other than my 10k race on Friday and my 1500m race on Saturday, been too busy with work and a trifecta of hospital visits re Kathryn and I's baby on the way. My wife is almost up to 33 weeks, and we finally have an ultrasound confirmation this time on what sex the unborn baby is, so can now start getting serious about choosing baby names...

FREOOOO has retained 2nd spot on the AFL ladder, with another thrashing this time of Essendon at eddies hat stadium Did the ladder predictor thing and I know I'm dreaming but I think maybe this is the year we finish 2nd...

Another 40 miler attempt from silly me on Monday...

Saturday Day 2 thoughts;

I was in the bronze medal spot for the Australian 35-39 1500m with 200m to go today , but NSW bloke kicked and I had nothing left to give...bittersweet 5min 34 (29 second improvement on what I ran a few weeks ago, but came up 11 seconds short)..for my 1500m today is 3min 42 per Km pace...well outside my high school 4.52 PB, but wasnt expecting to get anywhere near that...

If I can build on this (more likely to happen in second half of year after the baby is born, but be better if I can somehow maintain the progression now, either way its nice to get a look at the potential improvement window opening up this early in the year, and my resting heart rate drop to 43 this week another indicator we are almost back to the level I was at for Melbourne last year, so the combination of Mona Camp, Coker park/Australian Masters and Bridges, has kind of revived me, and snapped me out of the slide I was going into after 6 inch, but with the baby on the way/the need to ramp up work, doubtful if I can stop the slide any longer, but then again maybe if I stay focused it can still happen, especially if I can get a better job...) and keep progressing at some point this year, I should start to see some sub 8 minute 2k and sub 12 minute 3k times, something I havent been able to do for about 6 years or longer...The raw speed is there, its just about putting the trackwork or fartlek or anaerobic threshold work, long runs etc in. All of those roads lead to the Rome of better times.

splits were;
a subdued 52secs first 300m (I held back a lot in the front straight),
then 400m splits of 1.32/1.35 and 1.34 last lap included me grinding to a halt in the final 100m as I ran out of steam trying to stay ahead of the NSW bloke...

I hatched a last-minute race plan in my mind while warming up, decided to try and hit 300m in about 50 seconds, and then try and hit about 1.30 for all three 400m splits. I knew I had to get to 700m in under 2.30, and 1100m in under 4 minutes to have a decent chance of coming in around the 5.30 mark or better. I followed that plan as close as I could, and am satisfied I almost pulled it off. I think my tactics were pretty close to right.

Started well, and hit the lead with a first 100m in 15 seconds, (they had a trackside clock in the backstraight as well which was cool,only at an Australian Championships do you see things like that!, thats how I knew I hit the first 100m in 15 seconds, didn't look at my wristwatch at all during the race) and lead the field, until about 250m, where I eased off a bit, as one of the blokes in the other age groups passed me.
The first 300m was maybe a touch slower (by 2 seconds) at 52 secs than my race plan, but I made it to 400m still ahead of WA runners Kim Thomas and Paul Burke (the gold and silver medal winners in my age group in 4.56 and 4.59), as photo coming soon will illustrate.

When they surged past me in the back straight, I struggled hard to keep the momentum going, but the clock said 2.24 at 700m, (I made a conscious effort not to look at my watch as my old coach Stan reminded me at Coker Park the other week, that it costs you a second or two.) and I knew that was well under my target of 2.30, and a 1.32 was almost about what I had planned.

As pretty much all of the field had passed me by the 3rd lap it was hard to stay focused, and keep the momentum going, as my legs were screaming to stop, and the mental feeling of being passed by about 5 runners is hard to ignore. Did my best to ignore that, and focus on my own race. I knew EJ was still behind me, so I still had a chance of doing a bit of a Steven Bradbury and fluking an undeserved bronze medal. Tried to dig deep and keep at it. I was so focused I forget to even check for my 1k split, and I sensed EJ was catching me, and sure enough he was right on my hammer going into the front straight. Got to 1100m and caught a quick glimpse of the trackside big clock saying 3.59, which was 1 second under my target of 4.00. looking back now a 1.35 was probably a bit slower than what I wanted, but I doubt I could have come up with much better at that stage.


So for a brief micro-second I congratulated myself for hitting the target time in the last minute race plan of 4.00, but I knew I was slowing down, and felt like stopping then and there, instead as EJ was ready to attack, I surged hard with 400m to go, with the aim of trying to gap him enough to make it to the finish ahead. Had to dig deep for that one, and it worked initially, hard to tell as I wasnt looking over my shoulder, but I sensed I had about 5-10 metres on him, but with 200m to go though I felt like I had run out of steam. I steeled myself to kick for home, as I got a bit of a nasty shock as EJ kicked past me, I tried so hard to kick and hit back with one last surge, as I knew there was my bronze medal slipping away there and then, but with 100m I knew he was going away from me, and my legs had nothing, absolutely nothing left, I had done the classic example of having my kick burned off me, by what I had done in the first 1300m, not often that I have reached that point in a race, but I remember that feeling of optimal lactic acid concentration from some hard sessions in training last year, and many times over the years. I know when you reach that point there is nothing you can do, and sure enough I staggered over the finish line in 5.33, knowing I had given my all, but experiencing that bittersweet deep disappointment, of not being able to kick when it really mattered in the last 200m, and not only that losing my window of opportunity for a bronze as well. That hurt mentally, and as I struggled not to throw up I just wanted to go home, but I stopped briefly to hear the medal presentation as I left the stadium. The last 400m split of 1.34 is pretty good considering I probably staggered the last 100m in about 30 seconds or slower, so I'm guessing I probably ran the first 300m in about 63secs, so if I had done the training to hold on and maintain pace, I would have done the last 400m in about 1.24, which would have been a photofinish for the bronze medal, but I had nothing left, my kick was totally burnt off, I was beaten by a a better man on the day.

I knew I had to hurry home anyway as my night job was beckoning (I ended up going to work with my race singlet on still with my race numbers still safetypinned on...took em off at my first teabreak... under a polo shirt), and I needed to make sure my wife and 2 year old found my sisters place ok and on time for Darcys 4th birthday...

After the race Wests Tigers fan EJ said to me "I thought you had me with 400m to go", which was my last successful attempt to dig deep, and surge away from him, but when he went past me at 1300m, I went to the well and tried to kick for home/hit back with a finishing surge, and the legs just wouldnt respond, in fact I spent the final 100m staggering to the finish. I reckon if I'd done a blood lactate sample at the finish line the lactic acid levels would have been one of the highest levels of concentration in the blood Ive ever had. Even 5 minutes afterwards I was trying very hard not to throw up, so I reckon I pushed hard enough to be in that throwing up zone by the end.

so Mens 1500m 35-39 years; Gold Kim Thomas 4.56 Silver Paul Burke 4.59 Bronze EJ Davies 5.23
4th me 5.34 If I could have beaten EJ it would have bean a WA 1-2-3...duh duh, duh!!!


Bjorn Dybarl (spelling wrong) won his M55-59? 1500m for WA, an outstanding sit and kick at the end effort...

David Cane also ran an outstanding race to pick up the bronze in his 1500m race M45-49?

very memorable two days...:-)

full results will eventually be @ http://www.australianmastersathletics.org.au/
photos @ http://www.mastersathleticswa.org/Championships/championships-gallery.html

2 more days of competition to come, but my Australian Masters 2010 experience is over unfortunately. Its been wonderful although a little bittersweet with my 10k disaster and the 1500m just coming up short of a Bronze medal...but I'm pretty satisfied with the 5.33 for where I am at now, and I didnt seriously come into this championships expecting a medal...so overall I got what I wanted from these championships, and I know I gave my all in the 1500m...

David Cane is in the 5000m on Sunday, and Ray Boyd is on entry list but he didnt show for 10,000m so may still be injured...8km cross country still to go I think...

Just found a pic of Bjorn Dybarl (my spelling is wrong sorry) in front in the M55-59 1500m on an ACT runners blog @ http://runningtourdefrance09.blogspot.com/
heaps of photos of various events and even some videos..understandably dominated by ACT athletes...

Friday Day 1 thoughts;

Well done Tiger Boy on getting on the podium in a great time in less than ideal conditions, could be a good collection of medals you take home...Be interesting to see how long Sheeds stays with Western Sydney...

Really enjoyed catching up with various people (including my racewalking coach from a few decades ago, who was adding to his massive collection of Australian Masters medals (but not the gold like usual this time unfortunately) today at the Australian Masters...

awesome to be a part of the event as a spectator and as a try-hard runner...

not the best lead into it, as I had a long day Thursday with an early hospital appointment to check on my wifes baby (well into third trimester now), then had to check brakes on my wifes car, then juggled my day job with 2 hours of driving to the track and back to get my race numbers because I thought my 10k race would be at 0745..., then worked my night job from 9pm to 3am, (couldnt find any shift swap takers), then slept 3 hours 4am-7am, long 40-60minute drive to the track then raced at 10amish...
probably explains why I was trying not to black out/micro sleep after a few hours in the sun waiting for a medal presentation for my coach to finally occur, that kept getting delayed.....2hour nap when I got home seemed to recharge the batteries...guess I'm getting old...
but then again you are as old as you want to be, although age does catch up with all of us sooner or later, but later is better...and later is a personal choice to some extent...as the efforts of my coach and all the people I saw out there today highlighted for us in a big way again...

My 10,000m messup;
Conditions about 25 degrees and 60% humidity with a 1015am start...at the WA Athletics stadium...

-couldnt resist getting caught up in Paul Mitchells pace for the first 300m, and then took my lead foot off the accelerator to ease through the first 400m in 74secs.
-My first 2k (8.47) in the 10,000m was good.
-my 5k split of 24.12 was a lot slower than the 23.03 I did at Bridges on the weekend, so not good enough, disappointed in myself...
-my next 4k (20.10) was almost acceptable...
then I had a toilet stop for a few minutes got the ok from the officials to keep running, did the last 4k at about 20minute pace...(5 min per K)
- hammered the last 200m to split the final 400m in 92secs...
official time including toilet stop = 54min 16secs.

Not a race I'll be remembering as a good one, although I still had a lot of fun...
Second time the pressure of trying to raise the bar for myself, has turned into a major muck-up...
but you try and learn from mistakes, and make gains...

Paul Mitchell led early but was targeted by an ACT legend, who ran away with the race in the end I think. Paul finished in about 35 minutes, way outside his 31minute PB...but the warmish pretty humid conditions were overheating us all a bit...not good weather for fast times...I think 10k races should always be done early morning or late evening but it least it wasnt 35 degrees like the 6 hour nrace in February...and its tricky with so many 10k races to do in one go...tough job for overworked organisers...and their efforts mean so much to many...

They ran separate races depending on age-group we were in the 30-54 group.
In my category (35-39) the medallists were Paul Mitchell gold (by a long way), Kim Thomas from WA , and EJ Davies from NSW.

Im scheduled for the 1500m tomorrow at 1220, although I felt pretty unwell after this one...

Random thoughts;
-Saw patron John Gilmour out there for the offical opening of the championships.
- my coach from my racewalking days still has several more events...

-saw some WAMC/hills group people there...one of the "Simon Says Sub 4" ladies (last years Perth Marathon) did a PB in the 10,000m so I heard...

-Gary Hastie still going well with about a 6.33 in the 1500m walk.
-Mark Donahoo, Robin Whyte and Andrew Jamieson all there for the racewalking, so some names I recognise from Nationals results in previous decades...

-I'm reminded again just how fast that track is...my 74 secs first 400m felt like I could have gone several seconds faster, and I was not wearing spikes either...see what happens if I show up for the 1500m...

-one of our WA people has expressed a desire to try the marathon, so be interesting to see how he goes when he attempts it...

-felt special to pull on the black and gold again as its been 10 years since I represented the state officially, although I am glad they dont have qualifying times, otherwise I probably wouldnt have been there...first lap sitting on Pauls shoulder had that Nationals feel to it for sure, and being lapped by Victorians, Tasmanians, ACT, and NSW runners, also brought back many of my old memories from the 80's and 90's...