R4YL RHR 41 A 34.19 7km and 78.0kg

-Sensational! resting heart rate of 41 on Monday, second best of all-time, and second best this year.

-Tuesday I ran a 58 second course PB on my B. Oval grass surface 10 lap course with a
;...34.19 7km (4.54 per Km)
HR 174 at end is pretty low so probably had a fair bit in the tank in reserve.
;3.5km splits 16.55/17.24
;700m splits; 3.22/3.16/3.24/3.34/3.19/// 3.42/3.37/3.30/3.26/3.09

Felt yuck after a tough night at work the previous night, RHR was up 10 beats to 51 on Tuesday.
Knew i needed to get out there and run to clear my head, even though felt like going back to sleep. After a few hours of changing my toddlers nappy and getting him breakfast, feeding cats, doing stuff around the house, by 9-10am I was finally out there determined to get a run in before I went off to metering for the day...
So got out there sweated out headache, and aimed to try and go sub 5min per km (sub 3.30 per 700m split) for as many laps as I could. Figured I'd probably do it for 3-4km and then tail off. Had to run in and out bunch of primary school kids doing school sport on every lap, as they were doing tunnelball which was a little annoying for 10 laps, but the most annoying thing was the dogs off the lead that hassled me on one lap that cost me about 5-10 seconds I reckon.
The further I went the better I felt. Last lap of 3.09 was my fastest for the run, and I did it without kicking for home. Heart rate at finish is around about anaerobic threshold level I reckon maybe, and the 58 second improvement on what I did for this course 24 days ago on 1st of May is more evidence maybe that I am operating at a far better level of fitness than I was a few months back.

So a good run to kick off the week with. After that it all fizzled out to nothing, as I struggled to deal with a lot of hassles.

-Measured my weight this weekend it was 78.0kg, so am starting to lose some of the fat I need to lose to smash the PB on June 20th in the Perth Marathon, got my entry done for it this week.

-The rest of the week I have been preoccupied with hospital visits and getting as much work done as I can, as my metering work goes into recess for about 5-6 weeks, so paying the rent is going to be a very tough mission in the next few weeks unless I can find some other work, but I will have more time to look after my 3 year old while my wife settles in with the new baby.

My wife is 41 weeks pregnant tomorrow according to the medical people ( I think 39 weeks is more accurate), and the med people are selling the elective (so-called, more like you elect to do it or we wash our hands of you) caesarian with all the evangelistic fervour of a Dem-tel salesman. They are offering us a free pair of steak knives (thats what it feels like) if we sign up for a caesarian. The information we have is that the baby is extremely big, and having it the normal vaginal way may not work out too good, so a lot of pressure for my wife to have a Caesar again. I'm trying to encourage what is best for both the baby and her, and all of us but it just seems very difficult with the caesarian obsession that seems to exist in this day and age on one hand, and the need to get this baby out safely on the other hand, and the third consideration is that the birth experience will be a lot more special and memorable if the baby can come vaginally, plus my wife wont have to care for a 3 year old and recover from a chest wound again for several weeks, but then again she might get abdominal tears if we go VBAC, and the way its going looks like maybe the baby wont come vaginally anyway, so looks like its Caesar all the way, which is very disappointing.

We have a few more days to hope and pray and walk and do whatever will help the baby to come vaginally, and I am hoping we can still get VBAC but I get the feeling thats about as likely as the west coast Eagles making the finals now...

Went to a birthday party after work saturday night, and enjoyed seeing David Kennedy get another photo in R4YL and even spotted a photo of Jane Elton and Clare at the end of the 40 miler, plus an awesome photo of all-time racewalking legends and ex-50km walk world record holders Robert Korzenowski (Poland) and Nathan Deakes (Australia) doing a mountain run on Mt Kosciusko in March this year. Was almost a 25 hour day awake as I woke up too early on Saturday morning (2am), and then after about 150km of driving and work that night, I got to sleep at 0230 that night.

Today I ate,slept, watched sport on TV spent time with parents and my almost 3 year old Jacob, thought about running but didnt, watched a little bit of the Fremantle Dockers demolition of the Kangaroos by 10 goals to shore up their 2nd spot position in the AFL, and not much else.

So its an F (for fail) for training this week, but I worked hard on my last week of metering, and the baby stuff has to take precedence a bit, and will again in the next 2 weeks especially, was pretty stressed out on Wednesday, and never really recovered properly until today...Have another 2 weeks to put in some hard short stuff, but mostly its taper time from here, maybe one more 2 hour long run, not much point in doing anything thats going to mess me up for the Perth Marathon on June 20th. So if I can find the timeslots, and I am confident I might, plan on some reps, and some 10-20km attacks, but running out of time to do much...
More focused on the new baby, and how are we going to pay the rent for the next few weeks...

RHR 45 long run for 4 hours struggle to survive

Sunday Ran for 4hrs 12 minutes HR 123.
Have to check the distance but my first guess is about 34km.

Walk/run/jog/ stop to get stones out of shoe or mud on one occasion, was the routine of the day, and night by the time I got home...Saw 6 rabbits about 40 crows all in one spot, no bandicoots this time, think I heard a kangaroo near the end at night, but not sure...

Saturday 2.1km run 10min 09 @ 4.50 per Km. HR 162
700m splits; 3.25/3.22/3.22
Just a wake up run to try and get my brain alert before work, after a tough night the previous night.

Life very hard for the next few weeks, bills/work/new baby still not yet come/3 year old getting very active/ juggling act just was one big mess this week...
Reminds me of a Deliverance song from the As Above So Below album called Screaming...

The long run is a good one to have done about 4 weeks before Perth, so hopefully I can be blessed with a little more order in this chaotic world of mine, so I can go after some mid length high intensity runs in the next few weeks...In the long run department I think I am pretty much right for the Marathon now no matter what happens from here, although I may do few more shorter long runs...

RHR 40!!! 7.55 2k and 190min long run a half decent week

Firstly I recorded my best ever Resting Heart rate of all time with a 40!!! beats per minute reading this week, which beats the 41 I got the week before Melbourne Marathon last year. A good indicator I am making some good progress....

Congratulations to Turtlerunner on the 4.44 in the Great Ocean Road 45km today, and to Bernadette on being the first woman and 4th overall in the Bunbury 50km today in 4.16!, with a marathon split of 3.37!. Well done to Dan Kehoe on 2nd place in the 50km in 3.49 (3.09 Marathon split)...Also well done Anne who I have been attempting to provide coaching tips in the last few weeks, on completing your first ever half marathon at Bunbury and going sub 7min per km. Bunbury results are HERE

I see Jonathan Blake did 245km, and Michael Lovric managed 226km in the world 24hr race in France on the 14th May, and the Australian women were the 3rd team in the world to finish thanks to Sharon Scholz, Meredith Quinlan and Susannah Harvey-Jamieson (did nathans 12 hour track race in February and is entered in Badwater 100miler in 46 degree heat in USA)...
Results are HERE...

Nice to see Jared Tallent (3rd) Chris Erickson (15th) and Tom Barnes still doing Australian proud in the 50km walk, with Jared making it onto the podium again in Mexico on the weekend, see HERE for results. and HERE for Athletics Australia writeup and a podium photo at the world racewalking cup, following in footsteps of Nathan Deakes, Simon Baker, Willi Sawall and others.

Only 3 training sessions this week, a races/intervals type session, an easy short run, and a LSD/OD style 3hrs 10min long run.
While I am still not doing all my ket target sessions for the week, I at least got a pretty good long run on the board this week, and the races at Masters on Thursday night, proved I am still heading in the right direction, as did the mini-break through with the RHR.

The 7.55 in the 2000m race first up was very positive as the last time I went sub 8 minutes at this distance was in 2005 and starting to get within striking range of my 7.07 PB from 1997 at the 2,000m distance, which was around the time I ran a 41.01 10km with a 19.32 5km split.
Only 20minutes break before the 5k race which I spent most of going to the toilet, didnt have time before, rushed over straight from metering work, to jam in a couple of races before going home. Masters results can be found HERE

16/5/10; Ran about 28km in 3hrs 10 min HR 120 by end.
14k splits; 1.24.12/1.46.
First 100 min was good. started a bit slow, but worked into it and started to find some good rhythm, was running sub 6min per K on difficult terrain, and my halfway split of 1hr 24min is 6min per km ...Saw about 40!! kangaroos mostly just before Ranf. road turnaround. Also saw two rabbits and a bandicoot. Pretty cool seeing these animals, and added to my enjoyment of the run a lot. However i had left it a bit late and the last 100min the sun had gone down and I was fully nocturnal for the last 90min, sent my wife a text to let her know I would be home late, and my approximate route, and expected arrival times at some key landmarks...to protect my dodgy ankles I threw in a few walk breaks where the terrain was not very flat, as my night vision wasnt good enough (no headlamp, handheld or any light with me at all)at times.
Missed the turn off to get off the trail as it looks so different at night, but found another good exit point further up.
Overall a very good session, that will maintain and even make some gains in leg strength, towards my Perth marathon numero septem plans. will try and avoid going nocturnal again, but the main thing was to get out there. pleased I did that.

15/5/10; Ran 2.1km in 10.48 HR 156. 700m Splits; 3.51/3.28/3.29.
Easy short run to try and clear a headache before I went to work.
I think it helped.

13/5/10; Masters 2000m 7.55 (first sub 8min run since 2005) & 5,000m 22.42

2000m ; 400m splits; 1.21/1.38/1.39/1.47/1.30= 7.55 (3.57 per KM) HR 171 at end.

Tried to hold back in the first 400m a bit, and then just to stay solid and keep the leaders in sight. Went through 800m in 2.59, and 1600m in 6.25. In the 4th lap I started to struggle a lot, but worked hard in the last lap. Felt pretty bad afterwards physically but surprisingly my heart rate was only 171. Ecstatic to go under 8 minutes as its something I have been aiming to do a lot in the last 3 years. I know I can do a heap better, if I keep working at it, however I think its more important to work on sustaining that sort of speed for 3k and 5k,10k etc...I think the new approach of trying to be a little more conservative early on, and work harder later in the race, is working and paying off.
20 minutes later;

5000m; 1k splits; 4.10/4.32/4.43/4.54/4.23= 22.42 (4.32 per KM) HR 183 at end.

Once again let Bjorn go and tried to be conservative, got sucked into a silly surge past Kim, which probably cost me a few seconds, but settled quickly , but didnt have much left in the tank, and my 3rd and 4th 1k spits tell the story. I think the 2k race took too much of my racing edge off me. Made sure I hit the last 1k hard, and got well under 23 minutes. All things considered to be only 13 seconds behind my last 5,000m was I thought a pretty decent effort. Beating my track PB of 21.49 will have to wait for another day...

A solid week. RHR of 40 a massive highlight. weight ok at 78.6kg but lost ground on that a little this week. The long run will help a lot. The 7.55 2k a major highlight. The 22.42 straight after, pretty significant. I'll give myself a Pass mark for this week, although I need A's and B's not C,s and D.s

Chris Solinsky post race interview and BMI madness

Firstly huge thanks to running blogger Biscuitman for sparking some interest about this one...seems there was two Australians (Robert Curtis and Shawn Forrest) from the Nic Bideau [I had the honour of hearing Nic speak at the WA Athletics stadium a few months ago along with people like David Kennedy (223km in Coburg 24hr race a few weeks back), and Courtney Carter] connected Melbourne Track club (which links to Strands, and organises several annual high altitude training camps for its athletes) in this 10,000m race. The 27.33 from Curtis is only 4 seconds outside Birminghams Australian record, and Forrest is only about 40 seconds back from that, although admittedly these times were done in the white hot intensity of USA college track running, (something my brother Tim would have an idea about from his days of college basketball and running cross country many years back...) and the fastest race in American history by a long way!

On the subject of sensational outstanding legendary racing, it seems my crosscountry running nemesis from school in the early 1990's in Raf Baugh is spending a lot of time on the top step of the Dualathlon podiums of some big races in Spain and Europe at the moment...some nice photos here

Chris Solinsky interview 26:59 10k American Record 2010 Payton Jordan | 2010 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on Flotrack

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M 10k F01 (Chris Solinsky *American Record 26:59 video, 2010 Payton Jordan) 10k | 2010 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational on Flotrack

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The final results of this race on May 1st 2010 at the Stanford University Payton Jordan Cardinal invitational at Palo Alto, CA, USA; are below; I found them @ HERE Apparently Solinsky is a 5000m specialist, with a PB of 13.12 and recently finished 11th in the 2009 World Championships 5000m, this was his first ever 10,000m race, and at present he does not plan to do too many if any more, preferring to work on his 5000m specialty.

Results:

1 Chris Solinsky Nike/Kimbia 26:59.60 AR
2 Daniel Salel Kenya 27:07.85
3 Sam Chelanga Liberty 27:08.39 CR
4 Galen Rupp Nike 27:10.74 (also under old AR)
5 Simon Bairu Nike/Kimbia 27:23.63
6 Chris Thompson Otc 27:29.61
7 Tim Nelson Nike/Kimbia 27:31.56
8 Robert Curtis Melbourne Tr 27:33.38
9 Kensuke Takezawa S&B 27:55.02
10 Carlos Romero Mexico 27:57.52
11 Takeshi Makabe Kanebo 27:57.53
12 Scott Bauhs Adidas 28:03.99
13 Brent Vaughn Nike/Kimbia 28:05.33
14 Boaz Cheboiywo Kimbia 28:06.60
15 Brett Gotcher Adidas 28:09.21
16 Chris Barnicle New Mexico 28:10.59
17 Andy Vernon Adidas 28:11.43
18 Shawn Forrest Melbourne Tr 28:12.48
19 Jason Hartmann Nike/Kimbia 28:25.99
20 Patrick Smyth Nike 28:33.14
21 David Jankowski Zap Fitness 28:34.27
22 Sean Quigley Puma/Kimbia 28:37.85
23 Brian Medigovich Unattached 28:40.54
24 Josh Moen Team Usa Mn/Strands 28:43.27
— Simon Ndarangu Kenya DNF
— Mathew Kisorio Kenya DNF
— Anthony Famiglietti Saucony DNF
— Alistair Cragg adidas DNF
— Mark Kenneally Unattached DNF


All-time U.S. List

26:59.60 Chris Solinsky (Nike) 5/01/10
27:10.74 Galen Rupp (Nike) 5/01/10
27:13.98 Meb Keflezighi (Nike) 5/04/01
27:16.99 Abdi Abdirahman (Nike) 6/08/08
27:20.15 Keflezighi 5/03/02
27:20.56 Mark Nenow (Puma) 9/05/86
27:22.28 Dathan Ritzenhein (Nike) 8/17/09
27:22.81 Abdirahman 5/28/06
27:24.10 Keflezighi 4/30/04
27:25.61 Alberto Salazar (Athletics West) 6/26/82
27:28.80 Nenow 7/05/86
27:29.06 Salazar 7/09/82
…………………………………………………………………………………..
27:29.16 Craig Virgin (FRRT) 7/17/80
27:31.34 Todd Williams (adidas) 4/06/95
27:31.56 Tim Nelson (Nike) 5/01/10
27:33.38 Bobby Curtis (unat) 5/01/10
27:33.93 Alan Culpepper (adidas) 5/04/01
27:34.72 Alan Webb (Nike) 4/30/06

Started thinking about Body mass index values after looking at Science of Sport blog analysis of Chris Solinsky's (BMI of 21.6) recent American record in the 10,000m with a 26.59, which is a major moment in the history of the 10,000m as he is the first non-african to go sub 27 minutes, and only the 31st person to do it. All of this started off though because of the video about Solinskys race. Australian record of 27.29 currently held by Collis Birmingham who has a BMI of 20.1... The wolrd record holder Kenenisa Bekele is the same height as me in 174cm, but heaps lighter at 66kg, so a BMI of 21.8.

I am the same height as Bekele at 174cm, but my weight is currently 78kg, so my BMI is 25.8 I seem to remember my weight being between 64-74kg when I was younger and fitter, although its hard to say when I have had the most muscle mass to fat ratio, that might be a bit closer.
So one way I can improve my performance is to drop my weight to at least 74kg, without losing muscle mass, which would get my BMI to 24.4 which = PB's...If I could get to 69kg then my BMI would be 22.8... But i'd need to maintain and increase muscle mass and lose the weight via reduced fat %...

Looking at data from http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/index.html reveals some interesting info, for example Based on data from the IAAF, and using a BMI calculator from HERE 2.08 marathoner and 27.47 10,000m runner Steve Moneghetti has had a BMI of 19.4, Beijing Olympics silver medallist in the 50km walk (with a PB of 3.38) Jared Tallent has had a BMI of 18.9 and ex-world record holder of the 50km walk (3.35) in Nathan Deakes has had a BMI of at least 19.7 at one point or another.

There are many factors to consider with BMI for example in athletes BMI can be a bit higher than in a non-athlete as athletes generally have a higher ratio of muscle mass to fat mass.
Also as people age disgracefully, they tend to have less muscle mass, as part of normal ageing process...

Don't often post midweek, but just too much stuff that had to be mentioned...

RHR 42! a SB A course PB and preparing for new baby

Highlights;
1. Resting Heartrate down to 42 on Friday,
2. weight down to 78.0kg on Wednesday, and
3. on MOnday I ran a 32 second improvement on my previous PB for my 3.5k course with a 15.39 at 4.28 per K pace...
4. Fremantle Dockers did it again knocking off Brisbane at the Gabba for the first time in 15 years!, to nail down either 2nd or 3rd spot on the ladder, with a games gap between us and Geelong,Sydney. unbiased (cough cough) natch report here! :-)The next two games against the Eddiewoods and the sydney swines are the purple armys chance to really make a top 2-4 spot and potentially even minor premiers look very likely.

5.eagles finally managed to win another game, which means getting the wooden spoon for them is unlikely now, and making the finals is still mathematically possible, even plausible, if they can step things up a little...another unbiased (cough cough) match report probably here.

This week has turned into a fizzer..i.e.my hopes of nailing some big sessions fizzled out.
So very disappointing to have another failure week...I think I am taking periodising from one extreme to the other e.g. 300min training last week, and 51 minutes this week, talk about slightly hard week and pathetically easy week. Just finding it very hard to find the 1-3 hour slots of time I need to put in some big sessions. I dont like doing half-baked 5k runs but thats about all I am finding time for, so thats all I did this week was 3 short tune-ups. Never really got out there long enough to put in a good session, there was always something of a higher priority, today I had to choose between doing a long run and going to visit my mum for mothers day, so I chose to give the run a miss. In the morning I had to choose between changing my 3 year olds nappy, getting him a milo milk, and sleeping in a bit or going on a long run, and I chose the former as well. In the mid morning I spent time taking 3 year old to see ducks, and to the shops. Maybe I just need to toughen up, or get my 38 weeks pregnant wife to do more stuff in the mornings, but its hard to get the right balance...

Worked pretty hard this week, and am focused on the struggle to try and pay the rent, and maybe make inroads into the mountainous tsnuami of bills that is crashing over our heads, while trying to make sure my wife is well prepared for the birth of our second child. Due date is mid May, so really it could come any week now...She is doing really well, and looks like that is going to go well. But both my jobs really are terrible at the moment. I think things will pick up for us from July onwards, but getting past the next 6-8 weeks, especially until I find a good new job is going to be a major challenge and I am praying for some minor miracles/breakthroughs. Things can change so quickly for the better in just a day or two, but right now it all seems a bit hopelessly desperate.

So 3 short runs this week. The first one was race type intensity and have to be happy with a massive course PB in that one, and the other two runs were pretty pathetic, and I didnt really attack at all in them.

Sunday Ran for 10 minutes with my Dad who is in his mid 60's and who I have recently been able to persuade to start running again after several decades of inactivity at that level from him.

A bit fartlekish (which is good) as I ran hard early to catch up to him as I didnt realise Dad had gone until 3-5 minutes after he had left the house, and then slow jog with him...Mostly low intensity, felt like I was moving very well though...feel primed to run extremely well if I get the opportunity in the next few days...

Thursday Ran for 25min HR 129 just trying to clear my messed up head after a tough evening at work the night before. It worked. Short on time available, and exploring local trails and roads. Unsure of distance, and dont really care.

Monday Ran 3.5km in 15.39 (4.28 per Km) HR 183 at end.
Did 5-laps of course on local oval.
700m splits; 3.07/ 3.13/ 3.02/ 3.17/ 3.00

Massive PB by 32 seconds!
Very pleasing to negative split with my fastest 700m being my last one, and I feel like I didnt really sprint hard for the finish line so probably could have found a few more seconds.
I think this PB will drop further a lot if I keep progressing the way I am.

Pretty slow start really as my PB for this 700m course is 2.34 which I did earlier this year. That combined with the 2.46 800m I did the other week at Coker Park, plus the fact that I know I can go faster than that for the 800m if I work on it, means that 3.07 for 700m is a pretty cruisy start for me on this course here and now. Wasn't sure what to expect but by the second lap I knew I was going ok and feeling very fresh, so made sure I worked hard on the 3rd lap (3.02), and then tried to hold a pretty solid pace on the 5th lap (3.00) without really kicking hard for home...So a 32 second PB with a slow start, pretty average 2nd and 4th laps, and good but not that fast 3rd and 5th laps. Guess it was a lot more even splits than previous runs, and I am certainly running at a higher level and feeling fitter! than what I was running at a few months ago...

Ive run this 700m course many times, and it just felt heaps easier this time, could be because I ran more evenly, didn't start as hard, or because my weight is starting to drop, and my resting heart rate is also dropping both indicators the 32k I did last week, and some solid metering rounds where I have pushed the pace, and a conscious effort to eat a little less, I dont know one or all or some of those factors must be paying off...whatever it is, I am certainly on the march this week, and based on the RHR of 42 (on Friday...the best for this year so far), and my weight being 78.0kg (Wednesday..also my best this year) I feel I am about 2-3 weeks good training off getting back to the level I was at for Melbourne Marathon 2009, in terms of general fitness and ability to run 5-10k fast.

However I know that doesnt automatically translate into a good marathon time. I still need to work on running 16-25K fast , and also to log some more 30k+ long runs. However I have already got a reasonably solid base of long runs maintained throughout 2010, and I know I would finish a marathon easily with a good drinks and carbs strategy right now, so I think the key from here is doing some good 16k-25k work, some more reps/intervals work as a secondary priority, plus a couple more long runs to maintain what Ive been doing all year, and then taper for a week or two, and get it right on race day.

a 3.28 run RHR 43 300min and 7 weeks to go!

Another Derby another Dockers win of course...top 4 looks like where we belong this year, but we need to keep winning to stay there, and if we beat Brisbane or Collingwood in the next 2 weeks that will help a lot...

Nice article and photo about David Kennedy and his plans for world domination in the world 24hour race in todays Sunday Times page 72. This is a well earned write up on the back of his 223km in Coburg a few weeks back...

Well I ran a 3.28 marathon on monday, sounds good, well it felt like a marathon anyhow especially in the last 90 minutes, unfortunately it was only 32km.

300minutes of running, (3rd best week in terms of time running for the first 17 weeks this year) and 4 sessions this week, got a resting heart rate reading on wednesday of 43 which is my equal best so far this year, so a good week, although didnt do a lot of the things I had planned...7 weeks til Perth Marathon I feel I well positioned for a very good tilt at this stage, but getting a good new job is the key to a lot of things going well, or hoping my current job environments (especially the night job) improve considerably (unlikely says I)...
Problem is until July I dont really want to move, and the complication of the new baby on the way also comes into it...I am extremely edgy and full of angst at the moment, about a lot of things, need God to rescue us in so many ways...

Wanted to go to track on Thursday night, but felt yuck, and decided to spend time shopping with my wife and 3yerar old instead...

Sunday; 15 minutes easy run HR 126...near my Summit course, just trying to get into a better mental attitude before I went to "war is hell", I mean work...it worked well...

Grave Forsaken that legendary Perth based Christian Thrash Metal band just back from their trip to play at Easterfest (in Toowoomba Queensland and included well known christian music like Stan Walker, Newsboys, KJ52, Rosannas Raiders, Glenn Kaiser,Resurrection Band, As I Lay Dying and so on...), have just released a most excellent single called WaR is HElL,, it sounds awesome and I will for sure be getting a copy of their 4th studio album called fight to the death from Soundmass...looking forward to that!

Saturday; Ran 7km in 36.38 (5.14 per K) at B Oval. HR 150.
Relaxed Tempo-ish run...trying to sweat out some of the rubbish in my head from another horrible night at work...I soooo want a new job....
Pretty good run in the end...10 laps, 3.5k splits 18.05/18.33
Given the way I was feeling a very pleasing and suprisingly good run...

Friday; Easy 40minute run exploring new course options over near Y Lake...HR 150.

Monday;
Ran about 32km in 3hr.28min 21. (about 6.30 per Km)
random dodgy splits;
K markers were a bit unreliable in places, with the 24k one being way off for sure, so a bit unsure how I was running...
2k-10.29 (5.14 per K)
8k-43.49 (5.28 per K)
11k-62.39 (5.41 per K)
21.1k-2.05.53 (5.57 per K)
25k-2.32 (6.05 per K)

30k-3.15 (6.30 per K)
32k ish (course may have been 32.1-32.5k)
3.28.21 (6.30 per K)

Felt pretty yucky after a rotten night at work the night before, was very tempted not to run, but figured it would be very good training for Perth, and was keen to explore this course as had not done it before, plus catch up with various people. No long run that weekend meant it was too good an opportunity to miss.

Would not have made it though if my almost 3 year old son hadn't come and woken me at 0630.
Race was at 0730, so I went to toilet, grabbed some gear and forced myself out the door. My 36 weeks pregnant wife was positive about it. Dropped into servo on the way there and grabbed a water and a gatorade for race drinks...Very inadequate drinks strategy for a 32km race...!!!

Arrived at Burswood at about 0720 for an 0730 race start, after playing maniac on the road once again for 25minutes. Fast run to rego area, good warmup although faster than I would normally run in warm-up as I was just trying to get there before the race started. Did my rego, (threw a 10 buck note at rego people and said keep the change, didnt have time to wait for it, and certainly nowhere to put it) and made my way to start line and was able to get numbers fastened on my singlet just in time for the start...a bit like the 40 miler race, only this time I was even more rushed, more like the 6 hr race earlier this year...So I have been way too rushed trying to get to races this year read running horrendously late...

Started off with a half-hearted surge in front of the Joxster Express group, but didnt bother challenging David Cane, (who went on to to run the 10k race in about 36minutes) then after about 100m of that, settled back...going over Windan Bridge about 1.5km in I could hear the cheerful tones of BBC just behind, and just after the 2k mark which I got to in 10.29 she went past and soon after her partner Rolf (in his first 10k race). The Pattinsons got past me just after the Causeway, and then I got to 8k in South Perth in 43minutes which I was happy with as that was still under 5.30 per K.

Was feeling yuck and knew I was in for a tough day, also knew my drinks were not enough, and I should have grabbed a gel out of the car before I went, but in the rush to get to rego, I forgot. Saw heaps of familiar faces, and got heaps of encouragement from runners, and official helpers many of whom I knew, so that was very nice especially on a day I knew I was running very poorly...Nice to see people like Jane and Cool Runner Rosie (who I have never met before in person, but now I have) out there doing a wonderful job. Got to about 15-16k still around the 6min per K mark, but from UWA onwards, I was too busy dodging the concrete path (running on the grass wherever possible) to stay in the 5.30-5.45 per K range... Saw Biscuitman and Jon Pendse both going extremeley well...

The sub 3.30 group and various others said hello along the way, when we finally got to the turnaround about 18k? in, which seemed like a mirage that was never going to arrive, I was greeted by the surreal sounds of the Marshal from Hell who was in very good form on this occasion, managed to threaten me with a DQ felt just like the good old track racing days...gave him a thumbs up had a good laugh to myself, and resolved to try and get to the half-marathon point around the 6 min per Km mark...Managed to do that quite well and the 2.05.53 is about 5.57 per K, so I felt mission for the day was accomplished, problem was I had grass/pebbles in my shoe, I was out of my own drinks, and I still had 11km to struggle through...Cool Runner Pelagie went past at about this point.

So I got the grass out of my shoe, and tried to get going again...Tried to pick up the pace again between UWA and the Narrows bridge. Did well with some sub 6 min per K stuff, but
I also encountered a way off 24k marker that gave me a 1k split of 3.40 which I knew was about 2 minutes off, that was annoying, and then when I finally got to 25k (1k split was about 7-8 minutes or something which was very discouraging, (in hindsight I figure the 24k marker was wrongly placed or got moved during the race)...In any case by 25k I had had enough was keen for drinks and it was just survival to the finish from there on...

I walked over the Narrows bridge this time, so I wouldnt have to run the concrete on it, and by about 27k I was getting very dehydrated and was extremely desperate for a drink, so went for a tap I saw in the playground in south perth...

The last 1k was nice as I found some energy again, and got to watch some very impressive and fast moving water skiers on the river skiing along alongside me as I entered the final 1km...

Was so glad to be finished, had to ask race director where my keys had ended up, had a good chat with Sugar, and then with Pelagie and Millie (South Australian who finished after me), headed back to car to find a gatorade!!! and then had a good chat with meter reader Matt...
Then it was on home .

Extremely disappointed with my time, hated the course around the UWA section, my drinks were woefully inadequate, but hey I got in a great training run for Perth...so happy about that and trying to see the big picture...

Nice link on Cool Running via the Runners Tribe of all the 2010 Australian Championships Track finals its HERE...