16km 79min 31 @ 4.58 per K = reassurance

Finally nailed the session I have been trying to psyche myself up for this week on the 3rd attempt this weekend. My theme song today was Grave Forsakens thrash metal goodness "Coming Home" off the latest album Reap What You Sow released this month. Goal was to get it under 80 minutes which I just managed to do.
Was really "In the Zone" tonight, and as things got nocturnal the temperature got cooler and the wind dropped which really suited me a lot.
Hit the start pretty strongly to try and set things up. Its a fast course this one the same one I use for Intervals and the hilly bits are not very steep or long, and the rest of it is dead flat. Was using my 3km course so had to do tight turnarounds 5 times tonight which probably cost me a few seconds each time...Stashed a gatorade and a 300ml water near the start so that I could grab it just after the first 6km, but not have to run with it the whole way, as tonight was about attack, attack and more attack...and required a high degree of focus on the task/intensity, with precious seconds being chased that i didn't want to lose from carrying drinks with me the whole way. Because its a 3km course (6km loop), (used 2x2km for the last 4km), I covered the same section 6 times (3 times in each direction), so a bit repetitive, and very much like track racing in that regard...
HR 162 at end, no sprint finish, just kept things solid all the way to the end.
1k splits;
4.11/  4.28/ 4.57=13.36 for first 3km.
5.02/  4.34/ 5.03= 14.39 for second 3km. 6km=28.15.
Next K was slow! 6.17 (stopped to find my drinks stash in the bushes and walked a bit while sculling the gatorade)
6.17/ 4.56/ 5.01 = 16.14 3rd 3km.
Got to 10km in 49.30.
5.01/ 4.37/  5.15 = 14.53 for 4th 3km...
5.10/  5.03/  4.47/  5.09 =  20.09 for final 4km...
significant checkpoints;
1km 4.11 2km 8.39 3km 13.36.
5km 23.12 6km 28.15 10km 49.30
12km 59.22 14km 69.35.
 It started to get a bit dark towards the end which makes it a bit tricky to keep a fast pace and the mozzies and insects came out to play but this time I was ready for them with strategies...*LOL*
 Insect defense plan MKI; pull hat brim down so they cannot fly into my eyes as easy.
 Insect defense plan MKII; breathe through my nose not my mouth, or put hand over mouth to stop them flying into my mouth and get a couple of big breaths in and out.
Tossed up a lot about doing this one, as I don't want to go into the race with weary legs from too many hard sessions too close to raceday which is very important in the last 10k of the marathon IMO.
Given that I have a decent base in place, a good taper is mandatory this time around, but still trying to extract a bit faster pace, and peak for raceday, and figured a 16k timetrial was a good one to do to follow up on the 25k @ 5.26 per K and the 20k @ 5.29 per K in recent weeks which were good, but a bit slower than I wanted. 75minutes would be nice, but a sub 80 gets me back at the sort of average pace I had at Gold Coast, so feel like tonight has got me tracking again for a fair dinkum PB attempt again.
Aborted 8km into it on Saturday morning as the course I was on was too hilly, I just wasn't firing up enough, and carrying drinks with me the whole way was slowing me down a little. This morning I gave up after 6km when I was just too slow again, just not hitting the times, and when an insect flew into my eye about 5.7km into it that was the last straw, plus I was keen to get home, but tonight it finally all came good so Thanks God!
 Still some speed work that can be done, but will try to stay away from high intensity stuff longer than 60 minutes from here...
 

Freo 10km 47.16 and C2S 4.42 wipeout

Raced the 2012 Fremantle 10km fun run on September 16th in 47min 16 seconds. First photo is about 2km into it as Comrades/C-team regular Justin (you can see his elbow in the photo) gets past me... Moving well here despite the headwind, but didn't have what it takes to go with him on this occasion, he ran about 42minutes. No idea of the first 6km, as no K markers. At 7km I was 33minutes 05, ran a 5.03 (stiff headwind for most of the first 8km.), 4.45, and finished off with a 4.22 when some NZ? bloke blue top in finishing photo tried to sprint me off at the end. We absolutely hammered the grassy section in the last 150-400m, and only gained ascendancy with a big effort in the last 20-30metres or so as the photo shows.

Melbourne training is going ok. The mileage/long runs etc is pretty much banked, and I have done a few 10k intervals sessions @ about 4.35 per K average speed, and a 20k attacking in 1.51 at running club. Hammy and knee are a bit soreish, so I need to be careful with them. A few more weeks left to try and get some money together for flights, (big struggle as I was unemployed for about a month and have a heap of bills to catch up on) and try and sharpen up the short stuff.

City to Surf Marathon end of August I ran 4hrs 42min, with the first Half being about 1.56. Got my picture in the local newspaper at the start welcoming the Kenyans, if I can get around to chasing up copyright permission I will upload that onto the blog later.  Was very sick with a bad cold on raceday, so breathing way too clogged up and I was still in tissuebox mode so didn't have the strength to smash into sub 1.50 land in the first half. Tried to step up the pace in the downhill part of Kings Park, but ended up flaring up a hammy strain instead, and getting stuck in WALK/jog mode for most of the next 16km. So between the cold and the hammy strain that race was a disaster, but it was nice to be a part of the experience again... The hammy issue is concerning though...

Too preoccupied with trying to get family finances back on track again! at the moment, after 4 weeks of unemployment and 6 weeks prior to that in massive drop in finances (my pay suddenly dropped by 30% in mid June when one of the despatchers left the company, and continued to drop in July) due to seasonal drop in work and the company I was working for losing a lot of their clients and drivers. However I have had some marathon training ticking over since mid July so its looking like a 12 week build into Melbourne Marathon at this stage, and I am liking the new Nike Lunaracers that I got online for $58 (about $200+ at shops in Australia)... Trying to keep the momentum for another PB attempt going...

EDIT/UPDATE 24/9/12;
Training overview for MM update;

I am hoping to try again to go under 3.30-3.55 and in my buildup I have;
-- 8/9/12; a 20k medium @ 5.29 per K, 22/9/12; a 25k medium @ 5.26 per K ,
-- about 5x 2.5-3hour long runs (27k-32k) @ about 5.50-6.30 per K
-- and a disaster (sickness and injury plagued) 42.2k race in 4.42 on the board in the last 9 weeks.
-- Raced a 10k last week in 47min,
So my long runs are done although not really at race pace...
although I was able to hold 5.20's for large sections of some of my long runs,
so I am guessing that come raceday at least 5.15-5.30's should be achievable for me,
which is 3.40-3.50 marathon pace...although I am hoping to peak enough on race day to get into the 3.30's or better.
However I know that if injury or sickness or something else strikes
(i've seen quite a few of the things that can go wrong on raceday),
my 3.55 PB may not get beaten this time either, and I am managing enough injuries for it to be a big factor.
This is my 9th year of marathoning, and I hope my 6th Melbourne start....Was 7 minutes short last year,
Maybe this year I will finally come up trumps...God willing....