Gold Coast Half 1.44.49 SB!!! Thunderstruck

Sunday 1st July Ran the Gold Coast Half Marathon in 1hr 44min 49secs. HR 189 at end (pedal to the metal finishing sprint after stepping up the pace a fair bit with about 400m to go chasing the sub 1.45....) A bunch of my race action photos coming early next week.

At the start line in the darkness about 5.55am with our course ahead of us lit up only by the streetlights of the Gold Coast Highway which we were about to run down, the PA fired up with ACDC's epic metal tune THUNDERSTRUCK,Thunderstruck link a very appropriate bit of Australiana which further enhanced my racing mood, and I just knew it was going to be a good day.

 Was also nice to see an ex-c-teamer friend at the start and say hello to her. Was keen to get a solid start and hit some 4.15's early on but hold back a bit and avoid getting sucked into sub 4min stuff, and then try and lock into some 4.30-4.45's, with the hope of holding onto at least 5.00-5.15's and sub 5's if possible all the way to the finish...

Gold Coast results link page 67 of half results. net time; 1.44.49 gun time 1.45.06
244th in age group. 1668th of 9035 finishers 1297th male.
net time splits; (based on my wrist watch basically subtracting 17 seconds from each gun time cos it took me 17 seconds to cross the start line from the moment the gun was fired, cos even though I was near the front of A-grade in a field of 10,000 or so, there was hundreds of A-graders and the seeded, elite runners in front of me...)
net times as best as I remember them;
1k; 4.18
2k 8.30  (4.12)
3k 12.58 (4.28)
4k 17.38 (4.40)
5k 22.08 (4.30)
6k 26.51 (4.43)
7k 31.42 (4.51)     
8k 36.24 (4.42)
Started with aim of holding onto 4.15's with sub 1.30 pacers for 2-5k, and then settling into 4.30-4.40's.
Pretty much did that although I lost a few seconds from 5k to 8k...

10k 46.48 (5.12's)
12k 57.48 (5.30's)
14k 1.07.35 (4.53's)
Then I was hoping to hold onto 4.30-5.00's, but was consistently drifting back, and losing ground. My hopes for a PB started to fade.

Superman aka man of steel hahaha struggling to keep up with me but Melbourne Marathon Man is in front of me.

Struggling to hold onto pace and slipping out to some 5.15-5.30 per K rubbish in the last 7k...
18k 1.29.14 (5.24's)
From 14k onwards I could not maintain the intensity and endured the disappointment of seeing the slower 1.40 pacer getting away, and my last hopes for a PB now gone, I knew I was running for something around the 1.42-1.46 mark...leg weary and just trying to hang on until the end.

20k 1.39.23 (5.04's)
21.1k 1.44.49.

dug deep to find a finishing attack and got the reward of a 1.44, by remaining strong and sprinting the last 100m, although cos I started my wristwatch when the gun went I initially thought my time was 1.45.05 (which is about right for gun time, but that includes the 17 seconds it took to get across the start line)...

Giving my all pedal to the metal, heart rates in high 180's/low 190's in the last 150m to sneak under the 1.45 mark for the first time since 2006, 6 years ago in the 2006 Fremantle Half.

Mixed emotions....

Fantastic sensational day in so many ways. Failed to beat my 2005 1.41.07 Freo PB by 3min 42 secs, but I did just manage to sneak into honourable loss/fail status and vindicate my A-grade status, hit a big 2minute seasons best and my fastest half for 6 years, and 4th fastest ever so far(Freo 2006-1.44, Freo 2003-1.43, and the 1.41 in Freo 2005, the only ones faster, my fastest Perth Half is the 1.45 in 2008, and the 6th best the 1.46 in Bunbury this year, most of my 20-30 half marathons in the last 10 years have been around the 1.47-1.54 mark). So got to be happy with progress. Hearing accadaccas thunderstruck before the start was a highlight for me, guitar work like that is pretty motivating for me at the start of this kind of run....Supernatural kind of surreal day. Memorable! these kind of special moments come along only occasionally, so a lot to thank God for.

Its a bit of a miracle again I got to be there, but a couple of cashies loans got the $119 flights paid for, splashed out $134 on accomodation for a night 2km from the startline, and spent about $80 on fast food, bus fares etc to survive the weekend. Hope to come back better prepared again in future years if God allows me to...:-) Joyous for sure.!!!

Photo above having some fun borrowing the victory dais after watching the elite big gun battles on the big screen in the marathon...
A webcast replay of what we saw on the big screen is @ http://webtronwebcast.com/gcam/2012/ ONE HOUR of COVERAGE including expert comments by Michael Shelley (our fastest London Olympics bound runner, and medallist at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games Marathon).

Didn't train much in the 2 weeks between Perth Marathon and Gold Coast Half Marathon due to being too busy/lazy, and also cos I felt it wise to try and give my body a chance to recover well from the Perth Marathon, which I was a bit sore after for a few days...Did 3 run sessions in that 2 weeks which were;

3rd post Perth Mara 2012  session; Thursday, 28/06/12

• 6.0km
• 00:27:18
• 04:33/km

3km splits 13.19/13.59. HR 180.
1km splits 4min 01, 26, 52, 51, 30, 38.
not much winds, fairly calm conditions. good workout high intensity. 45.30 10k pace, so pretty good. would like to be 2minutes quicker, but not ready yet, but I think I am improving significantly.. no injury issues really. ankle well behaved. raceday is game on.

2nd post Perth Mara 2012  session Tuesday 26th June;
2x2km intervals 4min rest. HRs 177, 180.
7min.58 (3.50/ 4.08) (downhill first K and tailwind all)
9min.21 (4.17/ 5.04) (uphill last K and into headwind all)
 Not hugely motivated tonight but I was keen to test out the ankle after 4 days of no run sessions (although I did jog at the park on sunday and across roads at work today.), and with GC a few days away. Dodgy hammy has been a bit touchy lately too, but only a minor niggle at present. Groin inflammation after some runs also becoming an ongoing niggle but just a minor issue after runs only, not during.

Was a bit surprised with the first rep, even with a tailwind it was faster than expected, really nice to be sub 8 again. A good sign. The best bit though was that even though I am still! getting occasional twinges of pain in the ankle (medial and lateral) since I hurt it friday night, it was not a problem tonight while running at sub 4 minutes per K, so provided I don't re-injure it, and I am extra alert to that while running, I think I am good to go as far as racing this weekend. I seem to have recovered from the Perth Marathon to a significant degree, although I won't really know that until near the end of the race on Sunday. I'm going to try and "wing it" on race day, and hopefully my body will be willing to step up. Still a few more days this week to try and sneak in some sessions before race-day, but tonight gives me a big confidence boost. As I type this I am icepacking my ankle as a precaution, to try and remove any inflammation remaining in the ankle. Struggled into the headwind uphill in the last 1k of the second rep and was a bit disappointed with that part, but very happy that I managed to average under 4.20's, and the ankle didn't flare up much, and survived unscathed. Getting excited about raceday now. Will be shooting for a PB (sub 1.41) and I have checked on the official website and raceguide to see who the pacers are...and have memorised the colours of their balloons, for example the 1.40 pacers will have a green balloon. I should get an A-grade start (sub 1.45), although the seeded and priority runners will be in front of me. My main goal with this race is to explore the race, the venue etc with the hope of coming back in future years to have a go at the marathon maybe, but being a fast course, I'd be mad not to have a shot at trying to get the PB (2005 Freo 1.41) too. Will be hoping to at least get a 1.44-1.45 SB on the board, and if it blows out to 1.49 or something that will be disappointing...Will be ecstatic if I can hit 1.40 or better. Trainingwise I can't say Ive ticked all the boxes, its been all over the shop this year as per usual, but I've held onto a consistent 35k a week, and my intervals sessions have showed some progression in them, and the Perth Marathon should give my strength a boost, so as long as I have recovered from the Perth Marathon ok and that is a significant IF......I should be primed to attack the PB again on Sunday...The ankle is something I will have to look after, although it does seem to be healing.....A few variables ahead but looking forward to catching up with some of my CR friends, seeing how my BTrunclub teammates and the Front Runner crew people all go too....see what happens...Its in Gods hands...

1st post Perth Mara 2012  session Friday 22nd June;
Ran 5.4km 30min 19 secs @ 5.36 per Km 90m of climb...
roughly 2.7km laps; 15.09/15.10. HR only 129 at end.
Decided to try and sneak a run in after 
I got home tonight, and test out my new $9 headlamp on my new hilly local roads course.
headlamp was pretty good. It was 8 degrees so I decided to run with my Freo beanie even though I knew it would make me sweat more, cos I figured it would be a bit cold early on, and it might help to keep my headlamp in place. About 5 minutes into the run on a steep hill I decided to run on the grass next to the road to get a break from the pounding a bit..2 minutes later I stepped on a plastic sprinkler or something and sprained my ankle pretty painfully. Walked on it for a bit, and the pain wasn't really going away but it had settled a bit. Decided to get running again, and put my weight on my other leg for a bit until the pain went away. However I had a few more stabs of pain every few minutes since. Icepacking it now. Its not terrible, but its not good. On a scale of 1 to 5 I'd rate it a 2 if 5 is extreme pain, and 1 is minimal pain. Hoping if I manage it well it will heal it self quickly, although I will be alert to reinjuring it now for sure...Other than the ankle the rest of the run I felt very good and was able to move fast with little effort. hammy was a bit niggleish on first hill, but seemed to be ok after that. I stopped being sore from the Perth marathon by Wednesday, and although the quads were very smashed on Monday, I was heaps sorer and for several days longer 6 foot track last year. I think maybe I was too slack on Sunday, it was a good race in many ways and heaps better than last year, but heaps to improve on...Tonights run has me thinking maybe some big breakthroughs are close, I just feel like I have hit a slightly better level...Just need to be gentle with the ankle and try and build a little momentum towards the GC Half, although the main thing is not to wear myself out with any big long sessions over 2 hours, be relatively *UNINJURED* and *UNSICK* , and the rest is icing on the cake for race day. Not enough time left to do a lot of training maybe if I can juggle it around work I can step things up a little with 2 or 3 good sessions early next week...