new car Gregson and 3 hour long run

23.75km (approx.) in 3hrs 00min 10 secs. HR 126 at end.
10.87km splits 1.17/1.27. + about 16min going up and down my 1km hill reps course.
Started with temperature of about 27 degrees and 49% humidity, by the end the temperature had dropped to 22 degrees but the humidity had steadily risen to 84%!= a lot of sweating and fluid loss. Was a bit low on fluids by the end, but a good solid OD style session.
Keeps my 6 inch plans ticking along, although need to work on my shorter runs in the next few weeks. I think 2 more long runs should see me well prepared for 6 inch in the long run department.
Saw 4 rabbits and a tortoise! on my run tonight. Thunder and lightning kicking in by the end of it. Fairly hilly run with a mix of bitumen, a little bit of grass, but predominately limestone/sand trail…

Its been a tough week. work has been flat out, and in some ways that offered some benefits and I think slogging it out in Salter Point in the 36 degree heat on Thursday, and again on Friday in 39 degree heat, were pretty good crosstraining, and I lost 1kg to dip back down to 79.0kg just from the metering on Thursday and Friday. I was also sick with the flu all week (but couldnt afford to take time off work) , combined with settling on the new car, meant I had many good reasons not to run. 1. Too busy with work. 2. too sick with the flu. 3. Too busy getting new car sale finalised. The weekend was very busy with family oriented stuff and I knew I was in no condition to race the Pen run. However by Sunday I was determined to try and get my long run done to consolidate the strength gains I made in the last 2 weeks with the 2 hours at Lark Hill last weekend and the 4 hours on the Munda Biddi 2 weekends ago.

This week I bought a new car, its a 2006 model with only about 34,000km on the odometer. My old 1994 model has about 346,000km on the odometer and I've had it for 10 years. It recently suffered someone running into the back of it, and I'm worried it won't be up for the new job I plan on exploring in an attempt to hold onto the lifestyle advantages I had during my Melbourne preparations, and also which hopefully would raise our family income significantly. Its a big risk, but you have to take risks to make progress in life, and I have not burnt my bridges at my other jobs just yet. December is the ideal time to explore what may be a better option.

left too late for the Ryan Gregson breakfast put on by the Running Centre on the Friday, and the traffic was horrendous, I was about to turn off at Canning Hwy and head off to work, but couldn't get to the left lane so decided what the heck I'll just drive right in and see how late I am. Sure enough I was about 35 minutes late and only caught the tailend of Ryan answering questions from Raf. But it was cool all the same and once again as I have for Mottram and Bideau talks in the last 2 years I took some notes. Was nice to see Ryan and Dave there. Different sort of group, mostly schoolkids this time, which is fair enough given Ryan is only 20 himself, but still a bit surprised not to see more older runners. Good to get a feel for where Ryan was coming from, and he was saying 160km weeks was his staple when he ran the Australian Record 1500m in 3.31. It was also obvious too how much the incredible running culture in Sydney and Melbourne is what we miss here in Perth. Falls creek of course got a mention as usual...Glad I got there, although it didn't have the same buzz as Mottram being there, you still felt like here is a bloke who could medal at Olympics or something like that if he gets it right in future years. His training is not that incredible, its just obvious he has 1. a driving desire/single-minded focus over many years to be the best he can be, and he is consitent about getting the good sessions done again and again. Runs 130-160km a week, but only races 800m-1500m with a few 5,000m and 10,000m races occasionally. Hasnt run a marathon yet. Clearly closely directed by Bideau. says he always wanted to be a professional athlete from a young age. I'm reminded of Sarah Jamieson talk a few years ago. Its maybe too late for me now, but its been obvious for me since about 1990 that if you want to compete for Australia you need to either move to Sydney/Melbourne etc or travel there a lot each year, or we need to construct a similiar racing/training culture here in Perth. The Monaghetti camp this year was a step in that direction, and the Running Centre and the BT Running Club, 6 inch race, Comrades training groups in Darlington all have potential too, as does the runners in Perth that Blog or use Strands, you need that running community, driving each other on to greater heights if we are to have sustained success. Once again this talk highlighted that again.

I'm also reading John Gilmours Lasting the Distance book at the moment, and its interesting that this one bloke was a major driving force in 1. WA Marathon Club getting started, 2. Canning Districts Athletics Club with its rich running history getting started. 3. Masters Athletics WA, 4. Coker park where the annual John Gilmour 10k is run. This bloke was either a state champs medallist or a world Masters medallist (mostly the winner in both cases) over distances from 800m to the Marathon for 67 years, not many people can eveen claim to have run for 67 years, let alone run under 40 minutes for a 10k for about 60-67 years...Utterly amazing bloke. He is 1. a non-drinker, 2. almost a vegetarian (eats chicken and fish) but other than that eats whatever he wants, 3. avoids illegal drugs, 4. doesnt smoke. Its not hard to see why he was so good for so long, and it confirms something Ive thought for a long time which is that the main reasons people dont play sport as they get older is because they get too busy, too lazy, and too slack with their lifestyle choices. You are as old as you want to be, and the single most important thing people can do is not retire until they get to 85 or older.
It truly is a run for your life situation. My old coach is about 82 now and he still is competing still has Australian Masters records, and he ran in the 1948 London Olympics, and although he is about 9 years younger than John Gilmour, there are a lot of similarities.
I'm also reminded of the Book of DANIEL in the Bible where Gods chosen ones chose to not drink alcohol and be vegetarian in obedience to what God commanded them to do, and they were stronger and healthier than those who did the opposite much to the Kings surprise.
So some lessons and inspiration there for us all, to keep trying to head in the right directions as much as we can. The rewards are great.

I only ran once this week, but I hit the main key session target well which was a 3 hour long run, which keeps my 6 inch plans well and truly intact. In many ways I lost a bit of momentum again this week, but still a lot to work with, if I can get things ticking over again. I think thats about 15 weeks with a resting heart rate of 40 or better, although the latter part of the week I was slipping out to 43, 48 or even higher with being sick and busy.
I think the next 2 weeks are my best chances to get long runs done for 6 inch 46km race, but I have a bit more confidence now I have the 3hr and 4hr ones on the board from the last 3 weeks, plus the 2 hours at Lark Hill last week. Need to get after the short stuff again like crazy, and maybe this week, it will happen...No point in racing 5k or 3k or 1500m on track until I get my short stuff happening again.

2009 Season Bests; 5k-22.52 10k-48.39 Half-1.47 Marathon-4.11 6 inch 46km-6.16 (PB)
2010 Season Bests; 5k-22.06 10k-46.53 Half-1.46 (calf injury) Marathon 4.05 (calf injury)
Ive done slightly better in 4 out of 5 of the above distances so far this year. No PB's yet but if I can PB in the 6 inch, it will have been a better year in all 5 of my main distances this year.

In addition Ive raced an 800m in 2.46 a 1500m in 5.34 and a 2k in 7.55 this year, so while I have not been able to land the big breakthrough yet, the signs are its not far away if I can maintain the momentum. In particular Melbourne was immensely disappointing in that regard, as I think the calf injury scuttled a likely big PB.

So hopefully I can get something happening in the next few weeks for a big 6 inch, and now the difficult task of getting a new car has been negotiated, thanks God!! and my Dad!, there is a very good chance we may be able to put in place big plans that hopefully will net some big PB's in 2011. Keeping injuries at bay, and some higher level track racing and training will be important, but also doing lots more high quality runs more often too. I guess an attempt to pursue the higher mileage is something I've been wanting to do for awhile. Maybe in 2011 things will go better in that regard, or maybe I'll get busy with something else...we shall see...