Resting Heart Rate 40 beats per minute

Recorded my equal best resting heart rate of 40 beats per minute mid week.

Busy with a lot of work and family stuff. No training, every time I tried to get out for a run got tied up with more important things.

My 10 week Melbourne attack starts in August.
Other plans for the next 3 months or so include;
-18th July; May run Lake Joondalup.
- 30th July?; will visit Dave K's 50 miler race, but doubt I'd be silly enough to try and run the whole thing...
-8th August; very keen to do the Perth Half Marathon on 8th August, and hoping for at least a seasons best in that one (i.e. beat the 1.52 I did in Busselton in February.)...knocking off the 1.41 PB might be asking a bit much but depends how things go in the next few weeks...dont think Perth Marathon has taken much out of me to be honest...

-29th August; City 2 surf I'm not very keen on...the 12k is an oceanic crowd of runners, which I dont like...the Half and the Marathon include some horrible sections in Kings Park, which my knees and back dont deal with well, and I walked a lot of last year...the first 20k of the marathon is nice though, so maybe I'll do the marathon again, and then either DNF at malcolm st, or walk/jog kings park section, bring it home in the last 10k like last year again...or even better maybe just walk the 4k with my wife and kids...

Keen on some racing in September 10k the preferred distance.

-MELBOURNE MARATHON 10/10/10 !!! Please try again, please try again , please try again...maybe this time I can finally smash the PB...I knew in october last year this would be my main goal race again in 2010...nothings changed in that regard. Very disappointed with my Perth result this year, very keen to make amends in Melbourne.

-I'd like to do the 10k in Rotto, but probably wont...

-19th December; 6 inch offroad 46km (North Dandalup to Dwellingup) is on 19th December, undecided at this stage, but more than likely I'll be there again for number 5, and keen to trim a few more minutes off last years PB of 6hrs 16minutes, I'd like to get under 6 hours at least.

If I nail it well in Melbourne and 6 inch, plus find a lot of money I'd love to have a shot at 6 foot track in 2011...we shall see...based on last year will have to have money set aside in advance just for entry, as last year entries sold out like greased lightning...

Hope to get some long runs ticking over, planned to do so today, but spent the entire day looking after 3 year old instead...Its tricky working out the right balance. Got it wrong today, but at least my son had lots of time with his Dad...

Massive struggle to survive financially at the moment. Hopefully only another 2-3 weeks before some streams of income start kicking in...

Will spend most of July trying to catch up on bills. May lose internet connection in the next week or so, due to unpaid bills, but I will be back...

C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lleyton Hewitt in his fourth round Wimbledon match against Djokovic tomorrow night.

4hrs.30 and 7, the number of completeness

UPDATE****OFFICIAL RESULTS are HERE...
Dash Photography has photos HERE...

Update***Thanks to the good people at WAMC interim results for Perth Marathon 2010 are online @ HERE...

Firstly I should say I am overwhelmed with the incredible amount of support and encouragement I was blessed with today. Much appreciated so thanks!!! everyone. Felt like there was a cheer squad all the way. Should mention my Dad who has been there for all 7 of my Perth Marathons.
Havent seen the results yet but reckon Clown may have done the big one...
Update*** Massive Congratulations to Clown on the 2.59!!! thought he might do it today, and good to see the intercostal didnt stop him...
Biscuitman looked like greased lightning out there in the relay too so look out whatever races he does....

I have finished my 7th Perth Marathon and my 11th Marathon overall.
My time of 4.30.49 (unofficial on my wristwatch), lets face it was more on the disappointing side than the promising side. Its my 7th best time in 11 road marathons finished, and my 5th best (out of 7) Perth Marathon times, and its a 10 minute improvement on my 2009 Perth Marathon.
Half splits; 1.56.40/2.34.09.
14km splits 74.09/87.10/109.30*
* last split is for 14.2km...

Other times along the way as best as I remember them;
3k 14.05
4k 19.23 (5.18)
5k 24.35 (5.12)
6k 30.00 (5.25)
7k 35.00 (5.00)
8k 40.41 (5.41) dont remember this one too well guessing a bit
9k 45.22 (4.41) dont remember this one too well guessing a lot.
10k 51.16 (5.54)

11k 56.50
12k 1.02.32

14k 1.14.09

20k 1.50.10
21k 1.56.09
21.1k 1.56.40

23k 2.09.22

28k 2.41.19

30k 2.55.10
31k 3.02.22 (6.48)
32k 3.08.57 (6.35)
33k 3.15.53 (6.56)

40k 4.17.57
42.2k 4.30.49 (5.50 ish for last 2k)

If my only reason for running today was to run a P.B. I would have been tossing up whether or not to start today and I would have dropped out by 30km for sure.

Things went very smoothly to start with. I got 6hrs sleep which is better than usual before a marathon, and saw the Australian goal against Ghana on TV before I fell asleep, glad I did fall asleep cos sounds like the rest wasnt worth watching...Decided this time to try and avoid toilet mishap of Melbourne 2009, by not eating close to race, so yesterday I ate a big feed of pasta and silver beet for breakfast, went to Burswood to put drinks in and then straight to work, and had a sustagen at 1600hrs...Did not eatr anything except a little honey after that, and as aresult two small toilet stops was all I needed this morning, one at home and the other at WAMC. For one of the few times that I can remember I got away early and arrived at 0630 just in time to get one of the last 2 parking spots on Camfield drive. Yay for that...
Saw heaps of people beforehand, including Jeanie, Matt, Joxster, Clown, Big Mike, Big Kev, Bel and my Dad....

Had a bad night at work last night, which affected my run today in a big way...although I seem to have avoided getting a cold, and even early on I could feel the zip wasn't there, and hitting 4.40s and 4.50s didnt feel sustainable...although I still felt a sub 3.55 PB might be possible if I had a near perfect race...

A few very minor course changes. Didn't like the start line position too much but at least no hairpin bend in the first 10 metres...I liked the new bitumen path section after Raffles, hated the white concrete path near Coode st, but I guess its better from a traffic control point of view, although I'd still like to see the old course back in that section...
Nice to see a few portaloos in the carpark at the clubrooms before the race, way to go WAMC...

As usual the start seemed extremely slow, its a western australian tradition maybe to start marathons ultra slow...or maybe its just my affinity with fast running, either way had a good chat with Clown and BigKev early on, and CoolRunner Brewer (from my last 2 Melbourne Marathons)said hello and told me something I didnt know which is that he was right behind me in the 2008 Melbourne Marathon when I did my ankle in the first 1km...interesting...nice to see someone coming over from Melbourne for the Perth race too...also saw a Sydney Striders top too...did the obligatory surge up to the front of the pack for about 3 seconds, and then pulled off to the side a bit so as not to get in anyones way, and tried to settle into a conservative start... Was a little surprised to see Epi appear on the Windan bridge...and saw Clown powering away under the bridge on the northern banks of the Swan river, as Epi and myself ran above still on the bridge...good timing...Soon after Matt came past...then the sub 3.30 bus (well the main part of it led by Dave Henderson, I actually saw a sub 3.30 top in the top 10 runners, reckon he would have done sub 3) as we left that nice little cove in East Perth...

At this point I was sitting on around 5.10-5.20 per K and while it was slower than I'd hoped my hopes for a PB were intact, and I was trying hard to back off and conserve energy with the plan of attacking from the Narrows onwards...Problem is when I got to Narrows just couldnt step it up enough, legs felt heavy and sluggish...

The sub 6.30 bus;
Around this time when i was getting discouraged I met Chris who was in his 14th Perth Marathon and had sub 6.30 bus on the back of his shirt HAHAHAHA *LOL*...except he was running at about 4.00 pace...he told me you get a different colour spartan number when you get to 15 marathons...(Spartan number kicks in when you do 10 Perth Marathons ( I am only 3 away, but not sure if I will do this in 2011...)) He said he was expecting to retear his calf muscle so was getting as much time in the bank as he could early on...I pulled away from him for about 4km and he caught me again at 20km where he was the first of two people to trip on the concrete paths...some dangerous spots there...and then tore his calf muscle which forced him to walk/jog the rest of the way...I saw him finishing in about 5.40 at the end...his son was doing it too...

Cool running cheer squad gave me a big lift with their efforts at Raffles, which has become the traditional cheering spot for CR's now...Then there was the abusive marshal from hell, and I scored a free gel...didnt take any with me (forgot again...)...Then I got the nice surprise that some of the concrete had been ripped up so we got to run on yellow dirt (awesome...) and bike path (much better than concrete)...then it was onto a lot of concretre with some bitumen a section I always find hard to maintain rhythm...DaveK was out there with his kids (his wife was running her first road marathon), and was one of the best encouragers out there, as was Biscuitman...Saw Terry, and heaps of others, and of course my Dad was doing his usual awesome job of popping up every 5km or so... Couldnt find any zip and was slipping into 6min per K stuff, which meant my PB chances were slipping away... My half split of 1.56 was about 7 minutes too slow, but still a lot better than last years 2hrs+ one and also the 2.05 in the Perth 32k... Tried to hang in there and deal with the concrete....Was having trouble finding drink stops as they seemd to be 100m past the K markers all the time... Felt goo to get to the turnaround, and saw Pelagie, Jane, Bel and Jeannie only about 2km behind me just after that...Knew I had to get going as I knew they would reel me in...

My target time for 28km was to get there in 2.00-2.35, so set about trying to get as close as possible to that...On the boardwalk I got some momentum going again and started to throw in some sub 6min K's again...Averaged 6.23's from 23k to 28k which is not too bad, but not that good either...When I got to 28k in 2.41 I was pleased that I was only 6 minutes adrift of my target time, and figured that while the PB was unlikely maybe some drinks might fire me up for one last shot at it...My last drinks wree at 21k and I was sure looking forward to the 29k drinks stop...saw a drinks table about 28k but didnt look too hard at it as figured my drinks must be at 29k 30k since thay had been slightly longer than the distance so far...Was tired, and this was a fatal error of judgement...because I couldn't find my drinks anywhere...by the time I was getting to Raffles I was desperate for drinks, and had to settle for the sugarless sports drink provided which (a) wasnt enough (maybe I should have taken more cups) and (b) made me feel sick... Still it kept me going for a few km...took more water at Como beach jetty, but by that time it was too late, I was in big trouble hydration and carbs wise...
Got a nice boost from the CR cheer squad again at Raffles and tried hard to go strong in my favourite part of the course from Raffles to Narrows, but all I could find was 6.30-6.50's and it was getting harder and harder...

Took a pee for 1-2 minutes about this time, and I think CR Martin passed me here...By 35km I was in big trouble physically and started to feel lightheaded, so walked for about 1km and Kate gave me a gel, which I saved until Narrows as I had no water...Was torture getting to Narrows Bridge , but finally got there with some walk /run 8min-9min per K stuff..any faster and I think I would have fainted...Guzzled down gatorade and some water with the gel at the Narrows and probably did it too fast as it almost made me blackout...started seeing stars, and my vision got blurry. Couldnt read my watch properly for the next 10 minutes. A bit scary...and forced to walk for another 1-2km...At this stage I was thinking I may have to walk to the finish, and I may actually faint before I got there...I think maybe the sudden change in body physiology was too much, but also makes me wonder if there are other issues I need to address. A bit scary never really been there before in a marathon...although I remember feeling like that a bit in 6 inch some years very briefly...Anyhow by 38km I started to get my vision back properly, and the gatorade and gel started to kick in I think, so was able to get running again...Jane and Pelagie got past me...Was expecting they would get me sooner or later and wondered if Jeannie and Bel would catch me too...Turtlerunner (and much earlier Loubee) came past, and was nice to see more Cool runners out there...Started to get some 6.50-7.20 per K stuff going...got my pepsi drink at coode st 39km point, and then I was away. Felt really good then, and knew I could step it up for the last few km, and my goal was no longer beat the 4.41 from last year but try and beat the 4.33 from 2007...When I got to 40km in 4.17.57 I knew I was a good chance to knock off the 4.33 if I went hard at it...passed a lot of people here as i cranked out some 5.50-6min per K stuff not real fast but after the last 17k!!! all being slower and the walking at 8-9min per K feeling like I was going to be unconscious stuff it felt very good...saw the waterskiers on the river again...

and just before the 42km mark (some bloggers i know gave me a revup with "show us your trademark sprint TB")...so did what I usually do and caned the last 200m in about 49 seconds...
See photo here (with Burswood casino in background) thanks to one of the MONAGHETTI campers;


and was very pleeased to beat the 4.32 i did at Rottnest and go sub 4.31...after wondering if a stretcher was a more likely outcome at about 37km...

felt very spent at the end...Maybe the toughest marathon Ive done...Happy that I finished and bonus 1 that I beat last years time AND bonus 2 that I beat the 4.33 in 2007 making it my 5th best Perth Marathon...A memorable mostly enjoyable marathon...(except for 34k-38k...)...

will I do it next year...maybe not...will I try and get to Spartan status maybe one day...
Now Ive got just over 3 months to turn things around and peak for Melbourne on October 10th...and I sure hope I smash the PB there...sick of trying..its been 6 years now...
should have got it last year...so going to try a few major life changes to try and make it happen in the next few months IF we can still pay the bills...

Thanks everyone!!!


Training in the week;
7km long intervals in 32.58 total time @ 4.42 per K...
heart rates 174...

Monday night 4.5km in 23.19 @ 5.10 per KM...good run...
HR 165...

F minus week RHR 43 early in week and 6 days to go!

****Monday evening update;****
Was feeling a bit negative when I posted this morning. looking forward to seeing all the dozens of people I know out there in my 7th Perth Marathon...if my time ends up being rubbish it doesnt matter that much, just be good to be there anyway and catch up with heaps of people...This evening ran about 4.5km in 23.19 which is 5.10 per K pace so that gives me hope the PB is still a possibility this weekend...
***********************************

Only 6 days to go...
last week the only run I did was a 29minute jog on Wednesday night...explored a nice new short trail option north of here...
So an F- week...

6 days to go I dont feel very ready...Legs getting plenty of rest, I think way too much.
stacking on the fat again up to 80.2kg last week...best RHR was 43 which is ok...
But just getting snowed under every day trying to cope with work, a lot!!! of babysitting, and a massive struggle to pay the rent in the next few weeks...and rent inspection...I'll be a whole lot happier when my metering work comes back in July...

I keep telling myself the ship is on an even keel, the new baby and almost 3 year old and my wife are happy and doing ok, so Im happy about that butt physically I feel as flat as the Freo Dockers were against St Kilda yesterday....maybe flatter...maybe even as flat as the eagles...

still time to fire up for Sunday...but need to be careful not to overdo it, but need to get out for a few brisk but short runs early this week....

Photos of Jordan Grace Ashleigh 4kg and 55cm

Kathryn and Jordan came home on Monday, much to the delight of young almost 3 year old Jacob, and of course myself. Special times.
Here is a sample of the 22 photos I put on Facebook.

Jordan Grace Ashleigh & See page 78 of R4YL Trailblazer is (im)famous!!!

Jordan Grace Ashleigh born at Fremantle (Kaleeya @ East) Hospital to my wife Kathryn on Thursday, she weighed in at 4.01kg and is 55cm long. Big feet could be a swimmer or a basketballer. My wife recovering in hospital, so I have been juggling work with looking after my almost 3 year old and visiting the hospital for a few days. Its been tough. Photos of Jordan are @ http://runmara2005blog.blogspot.com/2010/06/photos-of-jordan-grace-ashleigh-4kg-and.html.........

But all worth it for the special moments Kathryn and I had sharing this incredible moment. She has dark hair, and midwife was excellent. Operation (C-section) went quickly and smoothly no complication, I was very happy to be a part of the process all the way this time, was able to help Kathryn get through it this time, and we invented a new product the stress wallet along the way hahaha...patent pending...
Extremely happy that Kathryn was able to start breastfeeding Jordan within 20 minutes of birth. Massive blessing that. Have lots of photos from the first few special moments of birth, and a few hours after as close family all came around to see this beautiful big girl!

Massive thanks to Kathryns' Mum and my Mum and Dad for the help with babysitting and their wonderful support of us during this time. Kathryns' Mum gave up several days to be there for Kathryn. A lot of driving around and long days for all concerned, but Kathryn had the toughest job physically of course on the Thursday, and now busy feeding and getting used to our new baby girl. Hoping she will be home from the hospital soon, but also know its best to be patient with her until she feels she has recoverd from the Caesar enough to make the transition back home. So trying to be patient on that. Its hard for me and for Jacob too, maybe harder for Jacob since he is only 2 years and 10 months old, and not sure how well he understands why his MA is away so much at the moment. In some ways a lot easier for me this time around. Very thankful to God that despite the fact we didnt get to do the normal Vaginal delivery it was more of a "dream come true" type experience than the nightmare of Jacobs birth, where Kathryn had to have general anaethesetic (sp), and neither of us were part of the birth moment, her because she was unconscious, and me because they didnt allow me to be there. So Thankyou K hospital and your staff, especially the excellent midwife, but also the Dr and aneasethitist, and others for a much better birth experience. Praise God! How great Thou art! (to use some archaic King James version/Shakespearian style english..).

Ive finally done it, I have made it into the covers of R4YL magazine. Its in my 14th Bridges funrun this year. See page 78 of the June/July edition. Famous at last!

Dave Kennedy is in there also doing his incredible 223km in Coburg page 62 from memory.
Jane Elton and Claire Walkley are there finishing the 40 miler on the next page.
Todd Ingraham winning the Bridges 10km for the 5th time.
Michael Mezzatesta (sp) winning the Bridges 5km, who wins a few races at our Thursday night Masters at Coker Park.
Another awesome photo in R4YL is of Nathan Deakes and Robert Korzenowski two ex-50km walk WORLD record holders, (Korzenowski arguably the best 50km walker of all times, gold in several Olympics for starters...) summiting Mt Kosciusko in the inaugural run up Mt Kosziusko run (10km and 900m of climbing...Photo is also HERE...

Kep Ultra 100km and 75km is on today Dave Kennedy and Kate Sommerville are both doing the 100km can follow live results @ HERE thanks to Rolf (Bernadettes friend who was at the Monaghetti camp.) Bernadette is race directing, and Rob Donkersloot who invented this race and the website along with the new 6 inch website (I did a long run with these 3 at the Monaghetti camp) is a late withdrawal from the 100km with a calf muscle tear in the last weel or so so big commiserations to him...

Training;

Sunday;
2pmish; 2 minute run carrying Jacob. Planned to go further but it was just too hard...

11amish; Ran hilly 7.8km in 62minutes of fartlekish speedplay Hr 153 at end, @ 7min 56 per K pushing 16kg Jacob in the old rickety pram not designed for running with. lots of stops and walks to keep Jacob happy along the way, so a bit stop/startish...

Wednesday; 10.5km (49min.33 @ 4.43 per KM) of intervals + 20 minutes of jog/walk recovery between the intervals. Heart rates again surprisingly low in the 162-174 range. Dodged dogs, and soccer players and did most of the session under the soccer lights at the local oval. using my trusty 700m course on the grassy oval...Again a good session to get on the board before Perth, and another indicator I am on track to challenge the PB this year.

Tuesday; 20km 1hr 46.39 @ 5.19 per Km HR only 168
10km Splits 51.18/54.21

Singing the new "War is Hell" tune from Grave Forsaken in my head fr a lot of this run...
On my Gibbs Rd via Freeway road course. First and last 3km is extremely hilly and difficult from a dodging traffic point of view. Plus a tricky intersection to navigate near Gateways shops. Its a 9min PB on what I did 10th June 2009, the last time I tried this course. Took it easy in the hilly sections to look after my knees, probably why the heart rate was pretty low at the finish...Very happy with that...sets me up for my 7th Perth Marathon nicely.

I think thats a pass for this week...an effective week, which keeps me on track for a PB in the Perth...

Nice to See Grave Forsaken putting out some legendary rippin new tunes on their new Fight to the Death album...I had "War is Hell" tickin over in my head while running that 20km this week for sure...looking forward to getting my hands on their cover of the brutal speed metal classic track by Deliverance called Bought by Blood from the Weapons of Our Warfare (WOOW) album back in 1992?...Heard some interesting stuff about the Jesus racing team on the radio the other day...

MM attempt numero quattuor and Perth numero septem Comrades and Kep

Well I am now entered in both the 2010 Melbourne Marathon and the 2010 Perth Marathon.
Had 2 good sessions in the last 2 days which has done my confidence for Perth numero septem a world of good, but more on my training in my next post in a few days time.

Melbourne will be attempt numero quattuor and Perth will be attempt numero septem.
In other words this will be my 4th consecutive attempt at Melbourne (Successful in 2007 and 2009 so far and an ankle injury sustained in race generated 23km DNF in 2008) and my 7th consecutive attempt at Perth Marathon (all 6 attempted finished so far since 2004)
The Melbourne entry cost me a pretty! penny, at a time when I am really struggling financially but after seeing how 6-foot sold out in about a couple of hours last year, I figured I would get in at the earliest opportunity this time, rather than say I'll do it in August when I have more money. Field limit is 4500, but in just under 48 hours there is already more than 600 entries if my estimation is correct. If my estimation is correct and things continue at that rate (I'm guessing it wont due to there being a rush at the start from paranoid types like me, and thena plateau effect) the field limit would be reached and the marathon sold out in about 2 weeks time. I would have even less available money then. So its done and I can relax for awhile mentally until the time for airfares and accomodation needs to be organised, and concentrate on preparing for Perth, new baby and the struggle!!! to survive in the coming weeks.

Massive congratulations to the WAMC people who finished Comrades on the weekend especially those who did PB's. I should mention Big Kev who not only did a massive PB but also snared a coveted Silver status with his 7 hour effort in this 89km race, as he has been planning and working for over many months. See the Cool Running thread here Awesome!

All the best to everyone doing the WA version of poor mans comrades the Kep Ultra100km and 75km this weekend. After his recent 223km I think David Kennedy will be doing something extra special if he finishes the Kep this weekend at all. Apparently there is something on Channel 9 news this thursday night or friday night about Kep, and they are going LIVE with the results about once every hour, so plenty to enjoy there. Get down and support the runners, or maybe offer last minute help if you can.