C'MON! 8k PB and 2010 review

Celebrated the first day of 2011 with my wife and 7 month old daughter Jordan watching Leighton Hewitt win last night at the Hopman Cup, and then seeing him and Alicia Molik get across the line for a win in the mixed doubles, which gave Australia a 2-1 win. Inspiring!!! Aussie Aussie Aussie! In the womens singles an Australian Open past winner in Justine Henin was too consistent for former world no 8 Alicia Molik who showed some of the form that got her into the top 10 at her peak, and found it again when it was needed in the doubles, but wasn't consistent enough to take a set off Henin or challenge for a win in her singles match.
Kathryn and I enjoyed our annual tradition (our 5th year in a row together at Hopman Cup, and about my 7th year in a row.), at the Hopman. I ran out of time to run on Saturday, and again on Sunday slept in after 6am after the big night out, so had limited time to run. So after promising sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week, the weekend was a bit of an anti-climax.

This week in summary;
M-8km in 42.25 Tu-17.5km on trails. W-2.7km in 15.16 (first 1400m in 6.38) F-8km course PB in 38.40 Su-AM; 11.25km run/walk fest... 10min shooting around...PM; 4.25Km warmup/700m t.t./3x1km hill reps.

That said, still a solid week of 55km of running, including a course PB by 11 seconds in my 8km run on Friday with 38.40, and the first 1400m on Wednesday in 6min 38secs was a return to high intensity running also, as was the 700m in 2.39 on Sunday night and the 1km hill reps on sunday night. Spent about 10 minutes chasing my 3 year old around a basketball court after church today, plus got in a few 3 pointers and layups myself, so that won't hurt the conditioning, especially as we now are in the process of outlasting the 38degree+ heat today...
Still time for another run session this Sunday evening, to see if I can find the last 80minutes I need to beat my 2009 training volume total (for training book purposes I am including January 1st and 2nd in my 52 weeks of training for 2010, so my 2011 total will kick off on the public holiday on January 3rd.)...

SUNDAY 1928hrs; 4.25km warmup easy run in 30 minutes exploring hilly roads, and waiting for some of the dog walkers to exit the oval, so I could try a fast rep. Last 1k around the oval. Then 700m time trial in 2min 39.36...Pretty good effort I thought, especially in semi darkness, hit the halfway mark in 1.14, (about 3.30 per Km pace) but struggling with breathing a bit before that, and couldnt sustain the pace. Still white hot intensity that one for me at the moment, so pleased with that especially as I have not done any speedwork for awhile...
Then first of 3 jogging recovery 12 minute recoveries, followed by 3x1km hill reps on my black swan course. Tough hill this one, and due to the fact that I dont want to increase risk of injury I purposely held back a lot on the first rep, went fairly hard at it in the second one and lobbed in somewhere in between for the 3rd rep. My aim with these is to develop the hills strength which I am severely lacking in, so as to run a better time at 6 foot, but need to be very careful with hammy and calves...
So the times; 6.15 HR 126. 5.06 HR 165 5.39 HR 150.
So for a reps session very low heart rates, but working hard enough to get some strength gains without "hitting the cover off the ball", to use a golfing analogy...
Mission accomplished in a very tough evening session I finished about 9pm. Wore my compress sports calf guards of course for this one, and calf muscles seemed to be ok. Left hammy (the dodgy one for the last 2 years) has been a bit tender afterwards, (it required a stretch during my slow longer run in the AM also today) but hopefully will settle down...Will beaiming to do the hill reps once a week or at least once every 2-3 weeks, as I try to harness some extreme hills strength for 12th March...

SUNDAY 1100 AM; 10 minutes of shooting 3 pointers,layups and chasing my 3 year old around basketball court at church...

SUNDAY 0740 AM;
90 minutes 34 secs to do 11.25km with some running and a lot of walk breaks. HR 126 at end.
Alternated between running and walking throughout. Mental and physical (proprioceptive too) practice for 6 foot, as I know I will be walking a lot of that course, but tried to attack a bit when I was running.
Started with the hilly bitumen roads section, and temperature a nice 23 degrees, by the time I finished it was up to about 28 degrees, and my drinks were becoming important. Some limestone trails for about 4-5km, good to do some trail running for first time since Tuesday this week. Short on time as I slept in past 6am this morning and as a result got tied up with getting cats and my 3 year old into good routines, instead of getting out early for a run. Also keen to try and make it to church today, so took a shorter route back home on the nice grassy parks route, which my knees appreciated, after a lot of bitumen running this week. Very relaxed run/walk, but very important to get out there today. Had an awesome evening the night before with my wife at the Hopman Cup watching Leighton Hewitt and Alicia Molik find a way to win against Belgians Justine Henin and Bemelmans. Inspiring stuff. This week has been better with almost 50km done, including some higher intensity 8km runs, but need to step things up, ramp up the training a lot if I am to have a good race at 6 foot. Pleased with what I did on Monday, Tuesday and Friday this week, and Sunday is halfway there, so thats about 3.5 out of 7 for this week, so thats a pass mark so far. If I can do a good evening session tonight its a 4 out of 7 for this week, which is better than the usual 1-3 out of 7, but still plenty of room for improvement…Time to step on it! in the new year hopefully!

FRIDAY 0815AM;
Ran 8km in 38min 40 secs HR 186 at end. 4k splits 19.08 / 19.32.
1k splits; 4.16! (down) 5.25 × 2 (up) / 4.02!! / 4.25 / 5.11 × 2 (down) / 4.44 (up)
A course PB by 11 seconds yay! Lost about 1.5-2 litres of fluids on this run due to heat, effort (HR 186 at end), and wearing a long sleeve top to avoid sunburn from the extreme UV sunlight. Temperature only about 24-26 degrees, with 45% humidity, according to the Jandakot weather data (although it may have been hotter in our nearby suburb) but by the end I was starting to overheat a bit. See http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDW60901/IDW60901.94609.shtm for Jandakot weather data
Started a bit faster than before on this course. Backed off a bit from 1k to 3k, but was still on PB pace by 7 seconds.
Tried to step it up a bit on the flat section from 3k to 4k, and succeeded in doing that for sure, with a 4.02! the fastest 1k split I have done on this course. Then I got a bit cautious when I spied a large dog loose and wandering all over my course. Was finding it hard anyhow, and was a bit disappointed with the 4.25 which got me to 5k in 23.33. In some ways probably paid for the 4.02 a bit from 4k onwards, as I worked a bit too hard maybe on that 1k split, although if you want to PB and progress you have to push the limits…The 23.33 5k was still just under Pb pace by 4 seconds. I worked hard on the mostly downhill next 2k to hold onto some 5.11’s which was enough to get me to 7k in 33.56, overheating, and struggling to hold it together, and keep my course PB hopes intact. Gave the last 1km a red-hot go, probably not a total sprint finish, but really worked hard on this last UPHILL 1km, and the 4.44 for the last K is my equal second best split for the last K, so a solid kick home. Heart rate of 186 and very big gulp down of staminade and water afterwards plus a drop of 600grams-1.5kg in weight (into the 78kg zone but not sustainable yet as it was due mainly to fluid loss) after the run tells the story of the way I felt after this tough hit out.
a good run and a course PB by 11 seconds. Resting heart rate was 36 this morning which is the best reading Ive had since 9th December, and its good to see the RHR dipping back to mid 30’s again after sitting around 40-45 in recent weeks. That would suggest the momentum is building again, and I am ready to start thinking seriously about attacking the track again hopefully, as well as stepping up the mileage in readiness for hopefully a 6 foot start in March with some assistance from the 100 day challenge on cool running (aiming for 300km per month, only managed 152km so far in December, although I did taper for 6 inch.)…So a good run that gives me some confidence, now need to start putting in some even more intense targeted sessions if I want the improvement to continue.

WEDNESDAY 0615AM;
Ran 2.75km in 15min 16. HR 120 by the end.
700m splits for first 2.1km; 3.18 / 3.20 / 4.02
Started with aim of running 5×700m laps of oval (3.5km) and hitting about 17min or better.
Felt really sluggish, and was finding it hard to find any speed, but first too laps were on about 4.44 per K pace, so not terrible, but not far off for this type of run. In the 3rd lap I was confronted with two very large dogs, one of which had a muzzle. Owner had about 5% control of them and both were off the lead running at great speed all over my course, and I stopped, walked, waited for them to move out of my area, and managed to complete the lap albeit in a slow 4.02. I was able to dodge the sprinklers on all 3 laps, but I knew I had just lost 40 seconds, and that trying to complete the last 2 laps was fraught with danger with these two dogs there, so gave up in disgust, and jogged back home about 600m up a nice steep hill. heart rate down to 120 by the end, Im guessing it was about 150’s/160’s while running on the oval…Not a great run for a lot of reasons, but no injury issues, and a good way to get the brain ticking over in the morning plus a reminder that I have a very big need to spend some time at a good track…..Im up to 28k and 202min for the first 3 days of the week, so just have to keep building, and this should be a very good week to finish off the year. I need to beat 420min this week, to beat last years training volume total of 149 hours, so thats giving me some extra motivation, plus I am doing the 100 day 6 foot challenge on cool running now, (try and hit 300km per month), so hoping some of these things will help push my training volume up a lot.

TUESDAY 0556AM;
ran 17.5km in 2hrs 24min 35 secs HR 126 at end.
8.75k splits; 73min/71min.
Exploring a new variation on an old course designed to reduce my time on bitumen, and eliminate the hills at the start and finish a bit. Started very slow, and had a lot of chafe problems early on, but got through it. A bit leg weary from the tempo run last night and the 18k on Sunday, so a bit of a recovery run early on…Saw about a dozen rabbits along the way, and I was struck by how fast they were running away from me. One time I saw this rabbit go scooting away from me down the trail, and then it did like a slideout burnout type of move on the soft limestone dirt, as it quickly changed direction…A few enforced stops due to spiderwebs and sand in my shoes, and some walk breaks, due to not wanting to wreck my shoes on the loose blue metal bits, plus there was a steep sandhill (deep sand) section to get through which is hard to run through in shoes…Picked up the pace on the way back as I finished off my last drinks, and as a result did a slight negative split on return journey, despite a big stop to get a lot! of sand out of my shoes. Starting before 0600 meant I avoided the heat and the UV sunburn issue I had on Sunday, although I wore a long sleeve shirt and a floppy quiksilver hat this time to protect me from the sun, as I got badly sunburnt on sunday. A really good run to consolidate the attempt on a bigger training volume this week, so my first 2 days this week have been excellent. Just have to make sure I follow up on the first 2 days, as I go back to work tomorrow, and the pressures of work and bills etc hots up again. Need to start building a big base with a much bigger training volume so I can be ready to give 6 foot my best shot in March, and hopefully start picking off the PB’s in 2011 in deadly earnest. A bit of a slow run, even for a trail run, but some bursts of speed, and I know I am running the best I have been since about 2004, so just need to keep building on the momentum, and not let things slide. A lot of positives to work, with, and hopefully can start to drive home the advantage a bit this week, and get out of just maintenance zone, which has been a bit the trend since Melbourne…:-)

MONDAY 1839hrs;
Ran 8km in 42min 25 secs HR 165 @ 5.18 per K.
4k splits; 21.40/20.45 About 27 degrees celsius 50% humidity.
1k splits 4.40 / 6.03 x2 / 4.53 / 4.24 / 5.34 x2 / 5.12
Started out not feeling very good. The large amounts of junk food and soft drinks I have been consuming in the last few days, probably contributed to the stomach pain I had for much of this run. Took it very easy in the first few km, although on the first downhill 1km I found a bit of rhythm to be under 5 min per K which is pleasing. On the flat section I did the 4k to 5k bit in 4.24 which was good. Held it together well in the second half, and a solid finish uphill, without really pushing that hard. A nice solid tempo run to kick off training for this week. Just over 1 min faster than what i did 10 days ago, so not my worst/slowest one, although would hope to be chopping several minutes off that one at least in the next week or two…

IN CONCLUSION;
A solid week heading in the right direction, just need a whole lot more of it in 2011.
This week very symbolic of my entire year of running in 2010. Promising signs, small PB's or season bests, slight improvement on my season bests in 2009, with my main target race in Melbourne Marathon a significant seasons best with 4.05 and a return to the sort of running I last did consistently in 2004/2005 when I first started marathoning, but due to calf injury no major PB breakthrough in road races. A lot of minor highlights this year.

The Moneghetti camp will be a lifelong memorable moment no matter what, and possibly I may consider going again in 2011, if I can find the money before the spots run out, although I am not as keen this time around. My 1500m in 5.34 at the Australian Masters for 4th place in my age group, was a good result, and a sensational experience. The 6 hour track race, the 46min 10k at Freo, John Gilmour 10k race, some Masters 5k races in 22min, a 2k in 7.55 and an 800m in 2.46, were all reminders that my PB's are still beatable, if I can consistently put in a higher training volume, and build the training and racing momentum combined with a healthier lifestyle. As a result I left my night job in early September searching for a better Melbourne result, and more time with my young children and wife. However the month of December has been extremely difficult financially due to the car accident I had in late October, and my attempts to adjust to a new day job. Hoping that in the next few weeks/months the dust will settle, I can get the insurance company to finally pay up!!!, and my running can hit a much higher level. The big PB at 6 inch this year of 26 minutes, (after a 9 minute PB last year) despite being unwell that week is arguably my biggest highlight for the year, and a strong definite indicator that if I can keep the improvement coming, keep my injuries collection under control, and overcome everything else with Gods help, maybe, just maybe 2011 will be the year I smash PB's left, right and centre. I feel I am very close. had a solid 5k race at WA Athletics Stadium the week before 6 inch, I'm pretty confident I will make my 6 foot debut in March, and with resting heart rates from 34-40 through most of the second half of the year (about 21 consecutive weeks), I feel the really big breakthrough races have to be just around the corner...
I know God blessed me with the 6 inch sub 6 hour run, and being able to hold on at Melbourne in spite of the calf problem was a big blessing too, would have been very easy to DNF in that one, and many others would have.

So results wise 2010 has been slightly but consistently better than 2009, training has been slightly better, I have learnt some useful things this year, I've made some major changes in my life jobswise to try and keep the momentum ticking over, and I am very hopeful that 2011 might be the year I hit the jackpot, as I feel still a little disappointed with 2010. Getting sub 6 hours at 6inch in 2010 was a significant goal achieved, and gives me great confidence as I attempt to make my 6 foot debut in March. Anyhow if I never raced again, I'd die happy after a wonderful year of running in 2010, and with a treasure trove of photos and true stories to share with my kids and grandkids after the last 12 months or so. So lots to thank God our Maker for, but as my racewalking coach in the 1990's once said; "if you are ever satisfied you will miss out on what could have been achieved." Its been a good year, but when you are on a good thing, why stop, so I plan to (God willing) try and step on it, try and push home the advantage a lot in 2011.