RHR 34!!! and 4.15 in my 12th Marathon

69.7km or 420minutes for the week. RHR of 34! Friday morning and 35 on Sunday, so my heart is pumping out massive amounts of blood with each stroke, by far the most ever.
My 12th Marathon finished and the 12th time I have finished a Perth city to Surf race since 1997. see here...Only my 14 year-old Bridges funrun streak beats my City to Surf racing involvement for longevity...ands thats only because I didnt do the city to surf in 2000 and 2006.
Perth City to Surf Marathon had a Kenyan 1-2-3 with a winning time of 2.14! from Chelimo Luka Kipkemboi, who had to sprint finish away from Lilan Kennedy Kiproo. Reuben Kosgei was 3rd.
Pretty sure that the fastest marathon ever in Perth. I got to run stride for stride with them early on. See THIS video about 46-47 seconds into it...exciting...
The top 3 women in the marathon were; Ethiopian Mulu Seboka in 2.35, Kenyan Emily Chepkemoi Samoei in 2.45, and last year's winner, Magda Karimali-Poulos of Australia was 3rd.
See HERE for link to the major winners of all events.
There are 49 photos HERE...I am standing next to the eventual winner Kipkemboi in photo 3.
Some video from the Perth City to Surf; VIDEO: City to Surf 2010...
Disappointed in the Perthnow and channel 9 coverage so far, its just a hotpotch mess of random shots of the 40,000+, the race coverage is pathetic...nothing at the start of the Marathon (of course I have a vested interest there but still...), no coverage of the thrilling sprint finish at the end of the marathon, or anything else of consequence just random shots of stuff...some small negatives; some "directional issues" for some runners, no personal drinks in the marathon...no public transport to the marathon...water!!! should be available in the marathon recovery tent...I liked the free powerade and mars bar though...

Full results @ HERE ...and photos coming soon...

Sunday;
City to Surf Marathon 4.15.59 hr 150.
Half splits 1.53/2.23
6km 30.30 10km 52.34 15km 1.19 20km 1.47 21.1km 1.53.34
25km 2.19 28km 2.38 30km 2.51

Good solid hitout!! Very pleased with it. The hills from 22km onwards were pretty savage, as usual, and my hammy was playing up on all of them, so had to take it very easy on the hills, and walked on most of the big ones. Managed to finally outlast the ambulance from the medical marathoners, happy about that, well done to all of them...good battle, and ran well with AP early on on Riverside Drive, and Young Phil about 28km in towards the end of Kings park. Saw Coolrunner Peekie near the end, and caught up with Jeannie and Nathan beforehand. Got a heap of encouragement from other runners and spectators out there, nice to see fellow blogger Epi out there. I should be on TV tonight as I ran with the front bunch of Kenyans and Ethiopians at the start... Good run on a very tough course, with my hydration pack on. I carried 4 drinks with me, which slowed me down a bit, and used powerade cups once or twice, plus a GU that I got given out there. Excellent run, although I need some physio or icepack/exercises on this dodgy hammy...pretty happy with the run.

Thursday;
20.5km 2hrs 10min
First 12.5km 74min...
Slowish LFD or fast LSD session. Felt very apathetic, and aborted planned 25km session as it was taking too long, and I couldnt get any speed happening, on a more hilly than expected new course...also a few walk breaks and stops to sort out dodgy hammy and sand in shoes...
Hip very! sore afterwards and hammy pretty sire for the next few days...

Wednesday;
7km in 33min 22 HR 186. 4.46 per K.
3.5km splits; 16.24/16.58
700m splits; 2.48/ 3.11/ 3.24/ 3.35/ 3.26 3.22/ 3.22/ 3.34/ 3.26/ 3.14

Oval course 10 lapper. A big PB, this time by 51 seconds…No torrential rain to contend with this time, just occasional kids spraying soccer balls at my head, a few close calls, but its all good, although I may have wrenched my hip/hammy trying to dodge one of them abruptly...Kicked pretty hard for home at the end, so HR 186 at the end, although probably could have kicked a bit harder, found a few seconds. short on time so aborted planned intervals session and did this instead. Good solid even run all the way, that time will require some work to beat, not as soft a PB now…Not feeling really good, a bit leg weary, and some ankle soreness, and very sore left hip afterwards, a bit bizarre. Also had some knee soreness since Monday, but it seems to have settled down. Solid improvement and nice to dip under 4.50 per K which is significant improvement on this course. Aiming to be sub 30 minutes by the end of September…..

Week 4;

Volume; 420min . Sessions;3 Best RHR;34 Sleep;38.5 (5.5hrs p/night) *6
1. OD/LSD/LFD;42.2km long run done. Raced it. 52.34 10k 1.53 Half. 2.38 28k.Target achieved. yay.

2a. REPS;Long reps; FAILED to get session done...

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); Ran 20.5km in 2:10.20 slowish, and shorter than I wanted but good enough, to still be Target achieved. yay. in terms of the minimum targets of my program...

4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); 7km in 33.22 PB very even and great to get this one down to 4.46 per K...

5. RACE; See long run....

IN SUMMARY;

69.7km or 420minutes for the week. RHR of 34! Friday morning and 35 on Sunday, so my heart is pumping out massive amounts of blood with each stroke, by far the most ever. Thats only one aspect of general fitness, but its the most important one, so a pretty good indicator I am on the right track to some big PB's...
Just need to maintain the training momentum, get the body used to holding onto the speed a bit longer, keep the injuries under control, cope with money worries, and Melbourne is looking good...Some recovery needed for a few days from the City to Surf Marathon, then ease back into the program towards end of next week...Might need to see a physio/chiro about this hammy, but a few days rest might do the trick. Steady progress in the Marathon on a tough course, and with the quicker 7km. Biggest negatives from this week, were not getting intervals done, apathetic, slow effort in the medium run, and the hammy and hip issues. Hopefully can get past all of those things, and maintain the training momentum, which is considerable!! at the moment as shown by the resting heart rates...After 4 weeks and So with 6 weeks to go things are going well, but still some work to be done...Ive hit about 6 out of 11 target sessions so far so thats a C+ or a B- in my book for the first 4 weeks, and the last 2 weeks I have nailed 4 out of 5 target sessions, so just need to keep building, especially in the next 4 crucial weeks, then try to taper for the final 13 days or so...Its starting to look good...

moonlight 26km rhr 36! sb and 1.41 20km=B+

57km of running this week = 367min of training volume for the week = a B-grade training volume target achieved for this week.

Sunday PM (just after midday);
Ran/walked 6km in 50min 29secs...with 3 year old, 16kg, Jacob in the pram. (NOT a running pram) Fun and a good easy!!! recovery run/walk after the 3 hours on the trail last night...

Saturday PM;
Ran 26km in 3hrs 12min 45secs. HR 138 at end but probably a lot lower during some of it...

long RUN/walk…started very slow with a walk with my wife and kids for the first 5 minutes, then got a slow jog going, got onto some good trails and started to click into 6-7 minutes per K pace, maybe a bit faster, got onto the main trail and started to find some good K splits around about the 5.40 per K stuff, which is ok on this tricky trail…which also has a few undulations and some difficult terrain. Was carryin a heavily loaded hydration pack. A chance to work through some of the streeses of the election day, and finally get a long run on the board to ensure this is a successful training week. Had to divert at one point to soft sand to avoid a dog running free… Walked for a bit as I downed my powerbar drink…Did the bit from 9km to 13km in 21minutes, which is about 5.20 per K…that got me to halfway turnaround in 1hr 30min 48 secs. Then started to get a few patches of drizzly rain. It was getting dark as I made it to 17km on a nice smooth (but hilly in places) trail section in 1hr 57 min meaning that this 4km section took me about 26 minutes, so a lot slower at around 6.30 per K…Saw one kangaroo cross the trail here…almost full moon snuck out from the clouds every now and then giving me better visibility. Had a handheld LED light that started to get used in some of the darker parts of the trail, especially where the trail gets tough terrainwise. Just before the last tunnel got hit by a heavy burst of rain. I’d already put my phone in a plastic bag, so wasnt too worried, but when I came out the other side of the tunnel, The rain had petered out again, although there was puddles for about the next 3km as a result. Tried to avoid too much walking, and hit some decent pace at times as I splashed along in the darkness of the trail, which at times had pretty good night vision visibility due to the moonlight periodically making an appearance. Then the trail area got pretty dark as I heard a few calls from the very nocturnal bats near one of the lakes. Could also hear a lot of frogs there enjoying the light rain n o doubt, so kept a keenm eye out for any tiuger snakes or dugites that might be around hunting the frogs maybe. Heard a big movement in the bushes by the trail at one point, that had me on super alert, but no definite sightings. Then it was through the parks section, where I had hassles from dogs off the lead twice, and my heart rate cranked up a lot to 138 beats per minute as I had just climbed the steep hill to home. A slowish run with some good surges especially from 9km to 13km, and a few walk breaks, a nocuturnal moonlight section for more than an hour to finish, a fair bit of mostly light rain, but otherwise good conditions. A good long run, which puts my training well and truly on track. Keen to avoid the nocturnal componment in future if possible, but its all good fun so far…

Thursday PM;
Ran 5000m in 22min 06.0 secs HR 189 at end (Mostly due to the 40 secs last 200m kick)
4.25 per K average....
3.48/ 4.35/ 4.42/ 4.40 / 4.21 for 1km splits this week.
3.44/ 4.24/ 5.02/ 4.24 / 4.34 for 1km splits on 22/7/10...
Main difference from the 22.06.6 I did on July 22nd last month, is that my middle KM was a lot faster this time, and my 2nd and 4th K splits were a bit slower this time, but I kicked well for home in a desperate attempt to land the SB which I did. So not the perfect race by a long way, but nice to get the SB and hopefully next one will be a big breakthrough, feel I am close to hitting a much better level of performance...

first 200 36 secs last 200 40 secs.
first 400 82secs last 400 101 secs.
first 800m 3.00.
Lead the field for the first mile or so. First 400m too fast, no sub 20 minute people there, so found it hard to get the pace right early. leg weary from work (only finished work 45min before,, and the 20km the day before), but still managed to season best by half a second. Not that happy with my time or pacing, but happy with my effort level and a solid kick for home in the last 200m. Hopefully next time a big jump in time…

Wednesday AM;
Ran 20km in 1.41.53 HR 168 at end. 5.05 per K.
its a course PB by more than 4 minutes!! on what I did 1st June 2010. 10km splits 49.32/52.21…very pleased with this run,ecstatic with the time, a few more like this and it will be celebration time in Melbourne! the first 4km and the last 4km is extremely hilly, but the middle 12km is very flat and the freeway bikepath section is excellent to run on… trialed the powerbar drink for the first time ion training, reckon I’m onto a good thing… heart rate at end same as last time, so a lot lower than last year…attacked really hard on the flatter sections, and carried 2 drinks for most of the way… southerly headwind but conditions pretty perfect...


Week 3;

Volume; 367min . Sessions;4 Best RHR;36 Sleep;44.25 (6.32 av) *5
1. OD/LSD/LFD;26km long run done.Target achieved. yay.

2a. REPS;Long reps; NIL

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); Ran 20km in 1.41 PB!Target achieved. yay.

4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); NIL

5. RACE; 5000m in 22.06.0 @ 4.25 at Masters, a SB by 0.6 of a second.

IN SUMMARY;

A more than satisfactory week. Totally ecstatic extremely happy with another PB resting heart rate...Just need Tony to take on governing the country and I will be very happy...So I give myself at least a B grade for this week. Especially since I hit my target B for training volume this week which is 360minutes. (target C is 240minutes, and Target A is 600 minutes. Been using Target A, B and C for a few years now but rarely hitting those sort of weeks. Last year when preparing for Melbourne Marathon 2009, I had 4 weeks in a row where I was hitting Target B or C in training volume. I will be trying to replicate or preferably exceed that effort especially in the next 4 weeks...Its do or die time...A big positive step in the right direction. Its an easy week, so only had 2 key sessions to hit which were the long run and the 20km, if anything I ran a bit further than I targeted and also raced a solid 5k, so a great weeks training, just need to step up a gear in the next 4 weeks, and everything will be on track...

10k of intervals 7k course PB and RHR 40 but no long run

14th August Saturday AM;
10.5km of long! Intervals @ 4.41 per K, HR's 171-174.

Beat what I did in early June by 20 seconds so a session SB and very soft PB.
Solid effort without anything spectacular, and kept the heart rate down by not kicking for home much on any of the reps. Did the first interval at 4.30 per K pace (mainly due to the first 700m being at 3.44 per K pace, although it didn't feel as hard as it normally would, (i.e. I think I am not far off doing a shorter intervals session like say 4x1k reps at maybe 3.30-3.45's)) and the rest of the session was at about 4.50 per K pace, and the last 2-3k was pretty hard, so I know I made some gains. This was one of my 3 main target sessions for this week, so very pleasing to nail this one.

Toughish evening at work the night before so wasn't feeling the best but when I woke up with a RHR of 40,(and my second lowest weight reading of this year in 77.6kg) I knew it was game on for the reps session...So negotiated with my wonderful wife to look after the little ones breakfast, ignored the hunger pangs, and with no Saturday shift at work to goto, made it down to the oval by 10am...weather was excellent, and had minimal dog issues, and only one small bit of a soccer game/training during my last rep. Good session.

Thursday 12th August PM;
7km in 34.13 (4.53 per K) HR only 165.
Ran a small course PB (by 6 seconds) in heavy persistent rain, on a run that started as an attempt to do the 10.5km intervals session, but early on I realised that trying to do that session in the weather I had served up was going to be very depressing/hard ineffective/hard to measure, so decided instead to push on to a 7km run instead, as I knew I wouldnt want to run again once I stopped with my waterlogged shoes, and shirt. Couldn't remember what my course PB was while running, so wasn't really gunning for it, besides too busy dealing with heavy rain, which meant I pretty much had the oval to myself, as most people were not game to venture into it...The rain was making me go slower and slower until about 3 laps to go when it settled down a bit, and then got pretty wet again in the last 1.4k...

My notes from Strands.com read as follows;
Poured with rain throughout this run, pretty heavy rain early on, at one point the rain was so heavy i could hear it hitting my hat. My waterlogged shoes and shirt slowed me down considerably. Finishing heart rate a lot lower than last time I did this oval course, and its a small PB by 6 seconds on this course. I think I am pretty much over the flu now. Fastest 700m 2.56 slowest 3.40. Didnt finish hard, just coasted through the last lap in 3.28.

So a bit short on the distance, not lightning quick but the low heart rate and the fact that its still a course PB confirms my training momentum is considerable and headed in the right direction. A good solid run in atrocious weather conditions.

8 weeks to go need to get the long runs and medium runs ticking over, and build on the few good short sessions (5k in 22.06 @ 4.25 perK , 8.6k tempo run at BT @ 4.51 perK, 7k in 34.13 @ 4.53 perK and the 10.5K long intervals @ 4.41 perK) I have been able to get done, and get serious about the charge towards Melbourne. Its do or die time. Fremantle is guaranteed an AFL finals campaign now, but whether they finish 4th, 5th or 8th is yet to be determined. Its a bit the same with my Melbourne campaign.

I can do near enough is good enough for the next 8 weeks, and limp onto the MCG with another 4 hour effort, a bit like the Dockers finishing 8th and getting bundled out of the finals in the first week in Melbourne by Carlton or Sydney...
Or I can do most, all, or more than all my target sessions and the sky is the limit, with a marathon PB to enjoy at the finishline on the G...
I bought another powerbar sachet at our local shop the other day, reminds me of when they had powerbar sachets in Melbourne I think it might have been 2008 or 2007. Dont think it was last year. Its awesome being able to by Powerbar stuff just a short walk from my house...

Current dilemmas include;
* friends wanting me to do the City to Surf Marathon. Cost and logistics, family matters course etc all negatives for me...catching up with friends rellies in city beach, the first 20k being a nice course the buzz of running with some of the better marathoners in the world early on again, maybe getting on TV again a chance to maybe run a bit better than my pathetic 4.30 in the Perth, and various other things are positives. My City to Surf webpage HERE.........potential for injury=high unless I walk the Kings park section like last year...
* friends inviting me to do the Stirling Ridge walk (summiting about 5 of the highest mountains in WA, and run/hike for about 14hours+ straight through alpine terrain...) in a day the day before the Freo 10k race...negatives costs and logistics family stuff very challenging. very hard to get to Freo and run a good time after that...although I could try and do it at lake Gwelup the week before. It could clash with the Dockers in week 2 of the AFL finals, and it clashes with Mens Convention...Positives would be an awesome day hanging out with some cool people, and if I avoid major injury or death, the fitness benefits would be utterly sensational. Also its one of the things I have wanted to do for many years, the opportunities dont come along very often, and just being in the Mountains would be awesome, its such a wonderful part of the world...My Half ridge hike webpage HERE........Potential for injury=high.

However Melbourne is my goal race, so no matter what I do I will be trying to keep focused on that...
i had big plans for a long run on Sunday but at the end oif the day, nothing workedm just couldn/t get out to do it...Big FAIL on that front can't afford to miss that too many more times...


Ive decided to bring back my weekly stats summary thing which I have used in the past to help keep me on track for the next 8 weeks;

Volume; 103min . Sessions;2 Best RHR;40 Sleep;44 *9
1. OD/LSD/LFD;FAIL (plans to go to Walyunga or locally didn't eventuate.)

2a. REPS;Long reps; 10.5K @ 4.41 per K.Target achieved. yay.

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); FAIL
4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); 7km @ 4.53 in very wet conditions tempoish except I coasted home with no kick at all, partly due to the conditions. Still a course PB.
5. RACE; NIL.

IN SUMMARY;
Well 1 (reps) out of the big 3 done is better than none, but not a satisfactory week, unless I get at least 2 out of the big 3 training priorities done. That said my weight and RHR are still on track, my times for both sessions were good, but I need to step on it in all departments if I am to get to where I want to. Hopefully the last sub-standard week. can't afford too many more without a long run...Still game on but getting into do or die zone soon...

Pic of me on page 3 of MM booklet

My Melbourne Marathon booklet and number arrived in the mail yesterday, and one of my facebook friends spotted my Cool Running Hat sneaking into the far right of picture on page 3 of the race info booklet, so thats my second appearance in widely distributed printed form this year after the page 78 effort in RFYL...maybe this is my "testimonial year"...hahaha *LOL* happy. :-)

8.6km tempo run and I am fully sick!

best RHR this week a solid but mediocre 43 beats per minute. so still in the ballpark, but nothing like the breakthrough alltime best of 37 bpm from last week. Big news is I recorded a weight of 77.4kg this week, which confirms things are slowly heading in the right direction in that regard, although another 5-10kg would be good...

Thursday PM; 12.5km slow jog run in 1hr 27 min HR 132 at end.
Planned to do intervals this day, but felt sick all day, no energy, and decided instead to go on a slow easy jog/run exploring my lakes course to Adventure world and back. Stopped about 4 times to get little bits of stuff out of my shoes, didnt lace up tightly enough. Motivation was at 1% or so, totally didn't feel like running, and had no energy, but forced myself out there in the hope that by Sunday I would be feeling better and ready to race...The early trail bit was ok, but then I found they had put new bitumen on the trail section where the tiger snake sign is...great...(a) it meant the nice trail I was looking forward to had been replaced by harder bitumen duh! and (b) it was new bitumen so it kept sticking to my shoes...horrible...the next bit up to adventure world was better, and I got some ok slow running done, but then on the way back just jogged home via the rail/parks course as I wasnt going by the tiger snakes sign again on that sticky bitumen. A depressing grind of a run, , but probably helped in my quest to drop my weight a little, and confirmed to me that I was indeed sick, and not just imagining it.

Wednesday PM; Ran 8.6km in 41min 40 HR 174 at end. (4min 51 per K).
With Simon at the new BT running club, which I think is a cool initiative.
Was a progression run, i.e. the idea was to start at easyish but solid pace then try and step things up in the last few km to target of about 4.40's...

Enjoyed the run a lot, and had some good chats about various stuff. An honour to run with such an accomplished and experienced runner. He had his toddler in a running pram, but it was me that struggled to keep up all the way. Early on running at conversational pace...just...I found the going toughish, and sensed maybe we had started a touch too hard but wasn't sure, but with my inexperience at tempo/progression runs, I am still learning how to do this kind of run well, not a style of run I am used to or good at doing...

Was a spur of the moment decision to run. Was reading meters in Attadale that day, but could see that if I went home straight after work as I felt like doing I'd probably not run, and waste yet another day...so resolved to go check out BT even though I didn't really feel like it, and force myself out for a run...very glad i did.
Apart from the concrete near the ferry terminal the course out to past the Narrows was excellent, flat and fast mostly, and seeing the city lights of the CBD across the river on the way back in darkness of the night was surreal and a touch of awesomeness. Simon got me to accelerate after the ferry terminal, which was good, but probably overdid it a bit, and only lasted about a minute or so, before I backed off to jogging...we restarted agin on the road towards the finish in the last K or so, which was a solid continual but shallow uphill, and as we increased the pace up this hill I knew I was making some gains here...felt good. Finish was a pretty good downhill, and afterwards good chats with "Comrader" Kevin (who is slightly ahead of my times at the moment, but behind some of my PB's maybe?, so running at a level which is good for me to aim at beating...i.e. a challenge but an achievable one in the short term), Simon and others. The Mizuno Strands top is awesome, and I have got to get back to BT sometime soon, a really good addition to the training arsenal this one...

Planned race this Sunday was the Perth Half, but instead of attacking that (have to admit I wasnt keen on the last minute course changes through east perth...way too much concrete), I spent the weekend blowing my nose every 5 minutes, and learning about the federal election...
so pretty depressed about this week, although the wednesday night run was good, right now I am as sick as a dog...fully sick....so need to get better before I can resume the Melbourne attack...9 weeks left to get it right...need to get the long runs going, and also the quality in the week sessions going, know what I want to do, just cant get to it until I get better from this cold/flu...plus its tricky finding the time to do sessions, but I know I can do this...maybe next week I will get better from this siockness and blast off in earnest...need to get on with it, and a few other non running things I might add...so a bit :-( down in the dumps right now, but the moment I can snap out of it, hope to start training hard and often...

RHR 37!!! and 10 to 10-10-10

Sunday;
AM;
Ran hilly 9km in 43min 23 @ 4min 51 per Km. HR 168 at end.
To Chooks and back 2 laps...
Terrain is a bit varied with some trail/soft sand sections and a lot of bitumen and grassy sections. Mostly a good course, but the terrain variations, crossing one major road, and the 3 small but steep hills make this a lot tougher than a standard flat course on an oval or a track or a road, although a lot of this course is on road so some of it is fast, but a bit hard to get into a good rhytm all the way so a bit of a stop/start surge-ish course...which does suit my kind of pace changes...The hills and soft sandy trail bits makes me work a bit harder...Pretty happy with this run, not really an easy run, attacked too much for that, but too hard to run this as a proper time, trial so somewhere between a tempo run and a time trial in run purpose/style...Needed a good hitout to get into right mental state for my 3 year olds birthday party today, and to clear the cobwebs after the busy week...This certainly did that, and its clear I have hit another level of running in the last 2-3 weeks, even though Ive only run about 2 or 3 times...

Started out hard at about 4.25per K pace, slowed a bit on the return lap to about 4.36 per K, then the 3rd lap I lost the plot a lot, slipping out to a plodding 5.20 per K or something like that, although its not that long ago that I would have considered that a decent pace...but I have stepped up in the last week or two...last lap was back on track at about 4.38 per K...
2.25km splits; 9.59/10.47/11.42/10.55...

So I am ready to go and tomorrow the 10 week attack starts in earnest. 2nd August hopefully the dawn of my best 10 week block of training since the early 1990's...when I was racewalking at Nationals...

Recorded my lowest resting heart rate (RHR) of all time this week on Friday morning of 37 beats per minute!!! Oh for a race! Guess I will just have to try and hang on for the Perth Half next weekend, maybe a trip to Masters for a short fast hitout might be good too. The 37 is a sensational stat. Its 3 beats lower than I have ever recorded before, its my first ever sub 40 RHR since I started recording them in 1995, and if I remember correctly its the resting heart rate Mona said he started at when he first started training seriously. With 10 weeks to go until Melbourne Marathon on 10/10/10 its a big mental boost to my morale. Reinforces to me that maybe just maybe 10/10/10 is going to be my big PB day...Weight was also down this week around the 77-78kg mark, my lowest since 2008 when I ran 3.55 in the Perth Marathon and missed my PB by 8 seconds off minimal training. I know to make it happen from here I just need to hit my key sessions, continue with my lifestyle improvements and keep holding together the juggling act which is my family and 2 jobs mix. It won't be easy, but I am optimistic that the tough times of June are behind us, and things are picking up. Ive made some roster adjustments at work so I can get a better work/life balance and do more metering which will help supplement my limited training time. It seems my return to metering in recent weeks/plus lifestyle improvements/watching my weight/eating a little less/better is already paying off bigtime, with;
1. the RHR of 37 this week...which = more efficient heart/lungs= faster times with less effort.
2. the 22.06 5000m seasons best (SB) (only 17 seconds off my admittedly very soft track PB of 21.49)..confirmation I am progressing, despite the pathetic muck up of the Perth Marathon...again...
3. the weight dipping under 78kg for first time since mid/late 2008= better BMI=better power to weight ratio = faster times with less effort.
Admittedly the weight drop to 77.2kg was partly due to me not eating much that day after being too tired from juggling metering with a tooth extraction and losing a lot of blood. Spent an hour spitting out blood every 5 minutes after my tooth extraction while walking fast around the streets metering to finish off a round before the end of the day.

Its been a hardish week as per usual, but I have been attacking my metering, and between that and my other job, and Jacobs 3rd birthday party this weekend, its been a chaotic week again. But good to make some progress on my dental issues which I have been putting off for months, rather than have a situation to deal with a few weeks out from Melbourne. A PRE-emptive strike George Bush style or PRE style if you like. Which I do. which reminds me;goodbye lemons........
Running? well none of that in the first 6 days this week, but did get out this morning for a run...

10 weeks to go til 10/10/10. The next 10 weeks is hopefully the time to get serious and to get my key sessions done, get better at my juggling, so I can;
1. repay the debts (which have built up thanks partly to the terrible economic situation we are stuck with at the moment partly due to the government failing to govern),
2. end the waste (in my lifestyle...eating too much fatty junk food, not sleeping enough, working too many hours and straddling two jobs too much etc etc etc),
3. stop the boats (of doom in my mind, and in the injuries and environmental and socio-economic and other obstacles to racing well),
and
4. stand up for real action in improving my times, eventually smashing my PB's and maybe just maybe hitting my targets of sub 18 5k, sub 38 10k, sub 90 Half and sub 3 marathon in the next few years...
oh and elect the coalition too on Aug 21...
thats my action contract with myself. ...