Racing in the gorge! for the Perth Trail series

26th February 2012; 7AM;
Perth Trail Series Qi Gong 14.1km 1hr 44min 08 secs 70th of 102 finishers.

These 4 photos thanks to Tim Pearce!


Heart rate 171 at end. Really good hitout. I reckon I worked a lot harder in this one than in the Busselton Half Marathon because of the hills and the duel with another runner for about 20 minutes or longer...

THanks to ROLF for these wonderful photos.


Gave Ingraham, Mighty Mick and co something to chase for the first minute, had a few chats, and then started walking up the first of some brutal climbs and descents that just kept coming up and down the gullys of the Darling Scarp...and the main valley which I called "the gorge" in the 80's.

This photo of the gorge from many years ago...looking from the byford or western side...


Had a good duel from 40 minutes to 60 minutes with a runner Ive trained with before.(she was one of the many 6 inch people racing in PTS)... Got the heart rate into at least high 190's for some of that I reckon, at the top of some of the hills, a few times I was just gasping for oxygen...

I'm still sick, and had my doubts about even running today, but I think I am well past the worst of it, just have an annoying cough, that may take a few more days to get rid of...Saw a few monarch butterflys...Awesome view to the ocean over the gullys and main valley. The descent was a bit difficult for me into the valley with my dodgy ACL and difficulty maintaining balance on such a steep incline. Creek crossing at the bottom, went for a well earned powerbar drink...Tried to get going again on the easy flat section through the valley in the last couple of K's, but my legs had not much left after the sustained assault of the hills in the first 70 minutes. Still managed to pass a few people who were fading, so I feel I finished fairly strongly...Glorious run that hopefully is the big trigger to get back into some sustained serious attack, and get the training and racing momentum back...No major injury issues and very happy that the quadriceps behaved this time...hopefully good to go hard again from here...awesome morning! Thanks God! Heart rate 171 at end. Really good hitout.
..

Creek crossing...Thanks to DENNIS TAN for these wonderful photos....filled my hat up with the nice cool water from the creek to help get my body temperature down a bit...


Tried to get going again on the easy flat section through the valley in the last couple of K's, but my legs had not much left after the sustained assault of the hills in the first 70 minutes. Still managed to pass a few people who were fading, so I feel I finished fairly strongly...

These photos thanks to Tim Pearce.

Glorious run that hopefully is the big trigger to get back into some sustained serious attack, and get the training and racing momentum back...No major injury issues and very happy that the quadriceps behaved this time...hopefully good to go hard again from here...awesome morning! Thanks God!....
Results here....

---

26th February 2012 6PM; Ran 5km in 24min 32 secs. HR 174. 1k splits 4.42/ 5.03/ 4.48/ 5.09/ 4.50....leg weary and headwind in last1.5k to fight.
Was keen to catch up with the BTRC crew who were all racing this WAMC race as part of the Swan twilight series...Roberto and Cody were some of the top 4 around that 15min mark at the front taking out the cash prizes. Tina Major in the women I think...Initially I was hoping my wife would run, and I organised things so my wife and kids could meet with mother in law to take the kids for a play in the playground by the river at Burswood, but Kathryn reckoned her knee was sore and she didnt want to run, so I decided to line up on tired legs, and go through the motions, plus see firsthand how the BTRC crew went...Was fun. Matt smashed his PB with a 20.12, which is where I'd like to be, and maybe if I can put together several weeks in a row of good stuff it may just happen (I start running around the 4.15's or better all the way in races is the pie in the sky goal) in April or May...
Anyhow it was good to get out there and make the legs work for 24 minutes when they didn't want to, a good double session day backup. Saw "swinger" there backing up too and told her she was crazy for racing twice in the same day, (she thrashed me in both races just for the record as she normally does), I'm guessing her husband was probably racing too. Good run from SJ of BTRC with her first 5k, and Doug, others...Had a lot of fun, and a good followup although I think it made the bruise from sharp rocks in the morning race worse on my foot. So hopefully I can shake the last of this yucky virus in my bronchial? area out of my system get my foot right, deal with the demands of work and build some momentum from these two races into next weekend, and the coming weeks...Now tht we have our rental issue sorted I am a lot happier, but I still have the tsunami of bills to outrun...

Busselton Half in 1.49.31

Busselton Half Marathon 1.49.31 HR 174...51.25/57.54 slits...

A lot of things went right today the temperature was lovely, there was a a few winds but nothing major, I had a good powerbar drink at 51minutes, and a hammer gel at 83minutes.....But my legs felt heavy and didn't want to hold onto 4.40 to 4.50 per K, they wanted to plod at 5.10-5.30 per K from about 5km onwards...Most will say thats cos I had too much lactic acid in them after putting a 10m gap on the eventual winner at the start for about 500m. They maybe right, but I suspect maybe its more to do with a combination of wearyness from the 27k on Saturday and the 20k on Monday, a big loss in conditioning in the last 2 weeks due to minimal intervals/running due to house dramas (still ongoing still deadly urgent to get resolved), and perhaps residual tiredness from the 4am drive to the race, on the back of a very intense 55hrs or so at work on the roads this week. Maybe other associated factors. Either way I tried hard today and 2min better than last years Busselton effort, but about 5-10minutes off what I was aiming for. Frustrating day results wise.


1km in 3.58 I thought was still a little conservative although I didnt hold back in the first 300m especially. The next 2km was about right I thought to get me through 2.5km in 10.49, and 3km in 13.10 (4.36's (about what I was aiming for)). M and Ca caught me just before 4km, as I slowed to a 4.48 (too slow but not unrecoverable) to get to 4km in 17.58, (was planning to try and keep within 15metres of them, but that plan lasted about 500m and I blew out to a 5.05!) to get to 5km in 23.03 and the 5.27km turnaround in 24.15.

Lost the plot a bit here and just tried to hold on, but was hitting around the 5.40's (way too slow). Even so my halfway split of 51.25 wasn't that bad (still 1.42.50 pace although I knew I'd slow in the second half, so figured maybe I should try for about 1.45-1.46. Took my powerbar drink at halfway, which although a bit late, was the only option I had but maybe cost me a precious minute or two. Carried another drink with a gel for later form here, and while I was guzzling the powerbar drink I slipped out to about a 6min K...with about 8.7km to go my watch said 57min 45. Found some rhytm and intensity a bit from here on, and managed to find a few 5.09-5.15 per K type K splits, but pacing a bit all over the place with some 5.45's too maybe. Got to 15.82km in 1.20.30 (the last turnaround), and with 5.1km to go my watch said 1.22.30. Used 6 minutes on the next 1km as I slowed to a walk to get my hammer gel into the system, for the final push for the finish. Was holding about 5.14 per Km for the next 4.1km which I did in exactly 21.00minutes. No big finish really although I did stride it out a little on the grass. Heart rate at the end 174, so guessing I ran most of the way around 165-171 sort of zone. Perhaps a bit on the slack side. Overall a solid hitout, but I am disappointed. I have hopes for much better things than that this year, and a sub 1.40 or at least a sub 1.45 would have been a pass mark for today but not to be. So its back to the house dramas and hopefully back to some training again soon, and hope to reload for another race soon, but probably need at least 3-4 good weeks in a row first before I want to go after a big race again. I will be there for Bridges cos that is a tradition and Perth Marathon is a must as well, but need to work hard and get the pacing more even (although it was better at times today than in previous years) and maybe sharpen up my racing resolve with some track racing...Is it a disaster no. Is it a success not really. Its a so-so same ol same ol sort of result...:( I shot my mouth off about this one a lot too, so I guess I deserve the egg in the face to some extent this time...but thats ok I cop that sweet, and come back and blow away a lot of doubters later. I'm happy Mat and Cal ran well and were a part of the Busselton experience, and hopefully the 3 of us will be going hard at it at Bridges, and I can maybe backup my mouth with some actions...But I've been around long enough to know sometimes you just have to be patient...
Thanks God for a wonderful mornings racing, and a solid start to my racing this year in an awesome location!