Tracking to Xodus shoes to attack Swissmurdie!

25th March 2012;Official Swissmurdie 17.3km time is 2.19.17. HR 162 at end.
Full results of Swissmurdie 2012!

Started slowly near the back of the pack this time which was the right thing to do today. Fantastic morning session, awesome views, trails paradise, steep downhills to cut sick down, a neverending supply of ascents to keep the calves burning, and the heart rate up, and beautiful views all the way. It doesnt get much better than this. Performancewise I had to work hard to avoid finishing last, but my main aims of enjoying the run, getting through injury free, testing the new chariots, and getting in some good training in a motivating environment were achieved. My lack of hills running and the 80kg (83kg+ if you include the drinks I took with me) I drag up the hills made uphill stuff into a lot of walking. Missions accomplished, and ecstatic that the quadriceps did not play up at all! The saucony Xodus were a really good option and in my first run in them they more than delivered! Grip, stability, cushioning, no gravel getting into my shoes. shoelaces protected from catching on tree roots, it was all covered, and they look aggressive too. Sensational shoes for aggressive trails...Thanks The Running Centre!!!  I didn't want to go home I was sooo happy today that everything worked out, and hopefully I can rebound and use this as a springboard to a better Bridges 10k than last year...Ive got shoes I can do long runs on trails in again, and its almost time to start Perth Marathon attack numero 9...In a happy place today emotionally, and hope thats the end of the quadriceps problems, and the beginnng of ramping things up from here...

Photo above thanks to Dennis!!! shows me attacking one of the shallower easier ascents. Tried to run a bit more often and a bit harder in the second half of the course especially on the flat/easy climbs like this one...


20th March 2012; MastersWA 1500m in 5.56, 100m in 14.3, 400m in 76.4, 5000m in 23.33.
See link to results HERE.....Good fun....quad was sore in the 1500m and especially in the 5000m...considered DNFing in the 5000m but hung in there...


Short races notes;
10-20min breaks between each race. 1500m in 5.56, 100m in 14.3 and 400m in 76 seconds. HR about 180 after 1500m. Quad tender in the 1500m. Heaps of fun and got my easy targets of a sub 6 a sub 15 second and a sub 80 seconds. A bit go through the motions but at least I got out there. Then 10min after the 400 was the 5k. In all 3 races I had runners close to my time there to chase, which was very helpful...I think I faded very badly in the 400m and alo to a lesser extent in the 1500m. In the 1500m got to 300m in 60 seconds, 700m in 2.37, 1100m in 4.21.

5000m race notes;
HR 177 at finish. 4.13/ 4.55 /4.58 /4.48 /4.38
First 200m 45 seconds and the 4.13 K split was ok, and was able to feed off a few runners around me in that first K... Quad sore for most of the way, so didn't attack much, and was thinking about DNFing...Decided to hang in there and try and hold onto 5 min per K. So plodded for 2k. With 5 laps to go was holding onto 2 min laps, and was able to ignore the constant quad ache, and try to start finding a few seconds under 2 min per lap. Did that and wound it up a bit the last 2-3 laps finishing with a 1.41 last lap. Quad is tender/sore to touch, but not a strong pain. Not sure what to do with it. I guess rest ice compression and hope it comes good in the next few days. Referral would be nice but I have no money for that sort of thing...Not a great run, but a solid respectable one I suppose. I will not be happy until I the Quad settles I have little chance of getting there. Wore the NB minimus for all 4 races tonight. Maybe was a bit flat in this 5k due to the effort in the 3 races before this one. More cushioned shoes could help with the Quad?, as could Compress sports quad guards. Hopefully better times just around the corner...Was good to get the feel of racing a track 5k again...and get the mind thinking about 400m and 1k splits again...

Found a few more running shoe shops at Harbourtown by accident the other day and went to The Running Centre to see if they had the Innov8 Flyroc 310's. They had Innov8 195, but not the 310's. They sold me on a bargain deal for some Saucony Xodus 2.0's instead. Big cost for me even with the seriously marked down bargain of a deal,(thanks The Running Centre) but those 55 hour weeks of driving have netted some good money in the last few weeks, so Ive splashed out and hopefully these ***aggressive*** trail shoes will allow me to survive Swissmurdie this weekend. Seriously missing some decent trail running, so not going to miss this opportunity to be a part of race #5 of the PTS.