Jonathon's Marathon Assault!

27km and 3k intervals as the 2012 assault takes shape

2012-01-29T12:51:00.008+08:00

I've had two good weeks this month. The first week I deliberately took it easy, and the 3rd week our urgent house dramas (which are still not resolved yet, but there has been some major positive improvements) distracted me from training...Overall January has been ok, although I am disappointed I didn't make it to the track for some track racing, and I have not done any road or trail racing either, and I intend changing that in the next few months a lot... Hoping to ramp things up in February/March, and then from April start getting ready for my 9th Perth Marathon. The Lark Hill Ultra and the 40 miler are maybes for me. Im entered for Qi Gong trail race in the inauguaral Perth Trail Series (PTS)...I may try and get an entry in for Swissmurdie too. Was hoping to do Wallygrunta and/or Snakes and Ladders but ran out of time and money as per usual...I'd like to go to the Saturday of the Moneghetti camp but I can't see that happening this year. If things change I might try and see if I can grab a last minute spot, but its looking unlikely...

Some January key sessions;

Two Long runs;

Saturday, 28 January, 2012 at 05:38am Starting in Darlington, WA, Australia Distance 27km Time; 03:23:35 Average speed; 07:32 /km

1hr 27min to Sawyers road on the huggy huggy trail with the C-team. Was struggling to stay with them but skipped hug break at Mundaring, which helped with momentum. On the way back I ran solo took it easy a bit, got hammered by the humidity and heat a little, and took an 11min toilet stop, so 1hr 55min was pretty slow for second half as a result... Solid session and my biggest of two long runs this month by far... Hopefully can build off this in February...A bit closer to Busselton than my original plans but should be ok although "reverse taper" will be in full swing now. Onwards...:-)

Sunday, 15 January, 2012 at 06:14am;

16km 01:48:09 @ 06:45 /km HR 129 at end.

Took it easy on this rather short long run. Some walk breaks, some fast sections on local trails to the north. Just enjoying the sights,sounds and solitude plus building strength for my Busselton plans. Distance a bit approximate. Two laps of local oval at end to increase long run time well over the 90 minute mark, and most importantly for longer than what I hope to run half marathon in 2 weeks time. First long run for 2012. Have stayed away from long runs a bit cos I figured after the 5 hour race at 6 inch a month ago followed by the ultra efforts several times in 38 degrees climbing and running, hiking for best part of 2-3 days in the stirlings at the end of december, I've been keen to rest up a bit and ease back into things. Thats done now, so time to step up the training volume and intensity...so a very easy long run on the board, and half marathon racing plans starting to take shape.

My best January (1st-27th) Short sessions;

Been getting to 3k intervals at BT most weeks lately and we are starting to get a good group of us all running around the 4 to 4.30 per K mark...

January 17th;

This is my best set for the 3x3km intervals this month (although there is still one more chance on 31st January);
13.25/13.03/14.36 Average 13.41 (4.33 per K) A lot to like about this one. For total session or set time I improved 75 seconds on my previous best from 29th November 2011, and 96 seconds better than last week. Second rep 22 seconds better than last week, and only failed to go sub 13, cos I tried to surge for the finish a little too early. The 3 BT runners with me were outstanding. I know they pushed me to another level today. We sat on 4.20 per K all the way for the 2nd rep, was pretty even and I had to really focus hard to stay with it, and avoid the temptation to drop out of the bunch, or try and surge ahead. With 500m to go I finally decided to try and wind it up for the finish, but pretty soon the lactic levels got too high, and the front two guys hammered me, as I dropped off the wagon. Probably needed to hold back for at least another 100m-200m before making my run to the finish. Heart rates for the 3 reps 171,174,171.....Very happy with my overall time. 2nd and 3rd reps massive improv ements on last bweek... So glad I came today, and hopefully from here can go after 12.45's and tougher.....Massive thanks to C,BM, JN and K today...

Friday, 13 January, 2012 at 05:45am 7km 34:50 @ 04:58 /km
Splits; 17.18/17.32 HR 171
Attacked pretty hard all the way. Nice conditions, not too many spiderwebs this time...good to do something with high intensity...

January 10th;

3x3km intervals 13.32/13.25/15.41

heart rates 165, 183 and 177.

1.5k splits on first rep 6.49/6.43

first 1k of 2nd rep 4.21. (averaged 4.32's for the last 2k, and that included two surges in the last 1k to try and stay under 13.30...Pretty strong finish that got the heart rate up to 183...Thanks to JT,CS and KW for being there to give me some extra inspiration in the 2nd rep, which helped lot. My 3rd rep was ok, but a bit disappointing (90 second-2min rests...) Hammy a little twingy beforehand in jog warmup but was not a problem during or afterwards. Icepacked it on the drive in and I think that helped a lot as it was quite sore when I woke up...Had nothing left for the 3rd rep, but hopefully next time I will be able to sustain it for all 3 reps...PB for this session is 42:19, so only 20 seconds shy of that, and would expect to beat that next time, if all goes well...
Running with the BT people was awesome and especially helped at the start and near the end of the 2nd rep...
My best time on this course so far is the 12.49 I did on 29th November, but I was concentrating on trying to keep the first two intervals under 14min and around the 13.30 mark if possible, cos when i did the 12.49 my next two were 14.58 and 15.44. My 3000m PB is 11.11 from 1997? and I did a 12.40 early on in 2011.

January 9th;

4x400m in 80, 81, 70 and 73secs. 3 minute rests heart rates about 162, then 5 minute rest, 4km in 18.30 (1k splits 4.53/4.07/4.22/5.08) 5min rest 400m in 82 secs. Heart rates again about 162-165. Fairly relaxed. Hammy pretty sore before, but I did stretches and that seemed to fix it. Hammy was ok during it, although a little twingy, and afterwards it got steadily sorer for the rest of the day to the point where I was starting to wonder if I was getting into bad tear state. Solid but relaxed session on a brand
new course close to home. Distances a bit guestimated/approximated.

January 3rd;
1500m in 6.49, 800m in 3.13 and a bunch of short stuff...tried to play with 2 min rests, and almost blacked out after one of them, so will go with 3min maybe 5min rests next time...

My Strava profile sums up much of where I am coming from in 2012;

2011 Highlights;
1.- 6 foot 45km trails race 6hrs.53min (pic above...a major dream come true to finish this race, first 15km to coxs crossing was good and I was well under my sub 2hr target, maybe a bit too fast, but I almost got forced into a DNF by pluviometer and mini-mini...On the Black Range I dug deep and got going enough to make it under 7 hours...)...............................................
2.- 6 inch 46km trails race 5hrs.30min (PB! again this time by 19minutes...first 35km in 3hrs 55 was good)...........................
3.- Freo 10k 45.51...best time since 2005.
4.- My 4th Melbourne Marathon 4.02 (first 30km in 2.38 was good...4th best marathon time and only 7min off the PB, plus running with the elites and teamWA was memorable magical special surreal etc :-)).....
5.Stirling Ranges training camp with D and N.....

6. Moneghetti Camp II....
7.- My 8th Perth Marathon 4.12 (need 2 more to become a spartan)...................
In 2012 I want to cut down on the fadeouts I had at Melbourne and 6inch, and generally take things up a level for all distances...with the aim of obliterating my PB's for half (1.41) Marathon (3.55) 10k (41.01), and getting my 5k under 19min. Not sure how achievable this is, but 2011 has given me a good basecamp starting point. The BT group should help a lot! and has already been a massive positive for more than 6 months now... Some monthly visits to Darlington could assist a lot too. Especially for the marathon and any ultras I may dabble with...Then there is my crosstraining at NG, hopefully more income, and various other strategies to try and smash open some PB's this year. With God's help it can happen, but I know from experience its a big ask, as so many hassles and obstacles present week after week. Hopefully this year It will happen. Although I have not had annual leave for about 5 or 6 years, the training camp in the stirling ranges in December (summited 1073m? Bluff Knoll in 72min (with a 69min run in the heat immediately before) and 1052m? Mt Toolbrunup in 71min, plus did my 4th 4 hour+ run/hike in 3 days (some of it in 38 degree heat)),

...

and going to the Hopman Cup with my wife to watch Lleyton Hewitt get ready for the Australian Open (we saw the Verdasco match), and his eventual exit via his epic 4th round 4 setter against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open, both recharged my mental batteries a bit. Good to go for another year I hope
.....God willing...

red spike 6inch 46km is 3peat PB of 5.30 by 19minutes.

2011-12-19T13:32:00.011+08:00

Ran 6 inch 46km in 5hrs 30 minutes.
23km splits 2.25/3.05.
Whittakers 34min flat. (38min in 2009)
Del Park Rd (18km) 1hr 57. (1.53 in 2010)
Aid station 1 (23km) 2hrs 25. (about 2.21 in 2010)
Oakley Dam 3.05?
Aid Station 2 (35km) 3hrs 55. (4.14 in 2010)
Marrinup (41km) about 4.50. (5.05? in 2010)
2010 race report here...

2009 race report here...

Like Michael Jordans Chicago Bulls doing a 3peat triple championship dynasty, I have successfully landed a 3 year PB streak at 6 inch.
2009 6hrs 16 (9min PB), 2010 5hrs 49min (26min), and 2011 5hrs 30min (19min)...

Came in off 1 hours sleep, but I got 7 hours sleep on friday night, my Dad gave me a hand with the car shuttle at the start (almost hit a kangaroo on the drive to Dwellingup), so I did a much needed 30min power nap after the race, cranked up the mortification on the struggle to drive home, didn't even need the water in the face spray much and headed home very happy.

Started off with a relaxed lead with Gerry for 200m-500m to the base of goldmine hill, and then settled into a sustainable pace on the hill...Rolf and I attacked the downhill bit after the summit of goldmine, and got into a good pace to clear the old bibbulumun whittakers campsite in 34min flat. Del park rd in 1hr 57min 28secs. halfway 23k (as1) in 2hrs 25min 35km (as2) in 3hrs 55min. Marrinup 41k in about 4hrs 50min.

Carried my 3.9Litres of drinks from the start. got a piece of the lead as is tradition, but tried to be ultra conservative on goldmine hill, and even at the start. used short sharp walk breaks on the bigger hills, but tried to maximise my running time.

This photo taken at whittakers about 30 minutes in just after I had hurdled the grey gate in picture.
Was pushing the pace strongly at this point...

Pleased with my first 34minutes, and snuck in front of SM…took the usual wrong turn just after whittakers, but only lost a few seconds as I corrected almost straightaway. However SM and a bunch of runners got past me here. Lost a bit of enthusiasm and momentum there, but still going well, kept SMs group in sight for a long while but kept getting challenged by KM who I knew did about 5.01 last year. Hung in, and stuck with it until well after Torrens rd.

Getting pebble out of shoe, changing drink bottles over, and toilet stop about 16km into it cost me a few minutes and Kellie slipped past me then. Finding it tough, but hung in and got to Del Park rd 18km in 1hr 57min, which was a little disappointing as I was aiming for 1hr 48min, but still under my B grade target of 2hrs 6 minutes by a fair bit.

Took my first endura gel soon after that, and struggling to get going again…Again lost time sorting out drinks and gravel in shoe about 21km into it…was being tracked by a large bunch of runners, but managed to hold them off until the long downhill of Scarp rd to aid station 1 appeared. Gapped them there quite a bit, and had a fast aid station transition plus got rid of some empty drink bottles. Halfway in 2.25 is 4.50 pace, so pretty good timing at this stage, but I knew the second half is tougher, and that I’d fade badly towards the end. Passed a lot of people there who were taking their time to stock up at the aid station. I wasn’t using the aid station at all, so put a few minutes on most of the people there except the deutsch lady (BF), she must have been either going self sufficient like me, or just had a fast transition. Pulled away from an injured Rolf, but then got passed by a BF on the long hill near the conveyer belt. After the conveyer belt I attacked the big steep hill hard, and ran 90% of it, which I have not been able to do in previous years, felt very strong,a bit fitter and handling the uphills (my weakest area at 6 inch) better than in previous years. Caught up to the BF again and two blokes in black shirts. After the tough climb out of Oakley dam I started to lose contact with BF and got passed by some of the fast finishing people like Phil, Allan, Nigel, Rob D, and Alli. Tried to stay attacking and alternated 30 second walk breaks with attacking running for several minutes.

Nigel having trouble with navigation, and I kept catching up to him every time he was trying to work out which way to go. Hurting a lot by this time and had drunk more than 3.5 litres so my hydration pack much lighter, but almost out of drinks with 12km to go. High drinks needs due to the high levels of humidity I think...Hammy started to get a bit sore, so no more attacking running, just settled into an 8min+ per k plod plus walk breaks now…Pretty pleased to get to aid station 2 (35km) in 3hrs 55min well under my B-grade target of 4.05, but nowhere near my A-grade target of 3.30.

Saw Mighty Mick at the aid station. Refilled my 300ml bottle with water, which proved to be a great help as it allowed me to keep the energy levels high with my third endura gel at about 4hrs 40…However probably should have refilled another bottle here as was short on fluids in the last 5k…Again passed and gapped a lot of people at the aid station with a fast transition, and caught and ran with Allan for a bit…

After the big steep downhill, which I actually didn’t walk all of this time, I was just plodding with very tired legs, and the hammy playing up a bit, and sure enough Nigel, Rob D. and eventually Alli caught and passed me about 2-3km later. Tried to stay in touch with Rob D., and then again Alli, but couldn’t go with their pace.

Marrinup (41km) in about 4.50, no more uphills, just a nice easy flattish but neverending 5km maze to get through to the finish. I knew the sub 5 dream was totally gone, and figured 5.15-5.30’s might still be achievable. Happy though cos I knew i was going to smash my 5.49 P.B. easily as long as I kept moving forward and didn’t waste time…

Rob A. surprised me by catching me in this section, and we alternated walk breaks and jogging together…He was a bit disappointed because his 5.10 PB was out of reach and he was cramping up a lot…but we stuck with it…two young ladies caught me with about 800m to go which was another surprise, and with Rob A. about 20 metres in front of me, and the hammy finally settling down, I decided to turn on the afterburners put the pedal to the metal one last time, and charge through to the finish line leaving cramping Rob A. and the the 2 ladies in my wake…A bit disappointed Rob A. didn’t join me in a sprint finish, but soaked up the moment felt like I was flying in paradise and was very happy with the 19 minute P.B. God blessed me with.

Certainly not the perfect race by any means, but got the drinks and nutrition right for 40km of it, a solid improvement on last year, and 3peat PB achieved in my 6th finish! Red spike earned. yeeeeehahhh!

Photos and link to official results soon, and will update the alltime rankings hopefully in the next week or so...

a sub 13 3k interval and 22km in the first 2 days of this week

2011-11-15T16:57:00.003+08:00

Started this week off a little better, hopefully can continue to build some momentum...

Tuesday 15th November;
3×3km intervals with 2 minutes rest at BT. Nice conditions. no major wind issues this week.
12.52.16 Heart rate 186!
14.08.81 HR 177
15.18.69 HR 177
Finally I have smashed the 13 minute barrier after gunning for it 3 weeks in a row. It was good having another BT runner just ahead near the end, as it helped me finish strong. Really happy to finally go sub 13. Had to work pretty strongly to get there about 2.00 for first 500m and 9.41 at one of the road crossing near the end. Both normal times for me, so finished stronger than in the past, which was probably part of the reason for the heart rate being so high.
Second rep I knew I would struggle to keep things ticking over as I am still finding the short recoveries hard to get used to and probably will for awhile, but at the end of the day thats a good thing. No massive headwind this time though so that was nice. Just tried to hang in there and got to 2.5km in 11.56 which is my best time for this course. Tried to finish well, but clearly my tired legs from yesterdays double session didn’t respond well. would have been nice to be under 14, but next time, and still under 4.50 per k so solid.
3rd rep legs felt very tired and I really struggled to get going, getting to turn in 8.02, but tried hard to bring it home a bit, and was rewarded with a 7.16 1500m, to get me home in 15.18, 16 seconds better than in last weeks severely windy conditions. Not the greatest time, and @ 5.05 per k a bit slower than what I want, but improvement will come if I persist, and not surprising given tired legs from yesterdays double session, and my fast first rep.
Overall a solid improvement and my best session so far, with my fastest 3k interval so far, so feeling pretty pleased with it, and my persistence in the last 3 weeks has paid off with a small improvement.
To get deep into the 12’s and hopefully 11’s and beyond, and probably more importantly to head towards the 38 minute zone (4.15’s per K) and beyond for the entire session not including rest times, I need to keep on keeping on, and start working some shorter faster intervals or races on a thursday or friday or saturday. To build that sort of consistency will require a lot of discipline, but its nice to get a little progress already…To work towards a 10k PB if thats still possible (41.01) I am going to have to get total time into the 35minute realm for this session so averaging sub 12’s. Not sure if my old body will still do that, but I have the raw speed, so with persistence over the summer for a few months it might be possible sometime in 2012…In this decade I have struggled to put together good consistent training blocks where I can keep the training momentum going forward week after week for long than about 5 or 6 weeks, so that would be uncharted territory for me post 2000, but thats one of the reasons I have decided this year to try and get serious about BT and stick with it, and its why I have arranged with work for a later start on Tuesdays this year, so I can build the training momentum. Have not even gone close yet to doing what I want to be doing, but there has been clear and consistent training momentum and progress since about August at least, when I started doing long runs with one of the BT legends. 6 inch not far away, and hopefully can maintain the momentum from here even if some weeks I might take a backward step…Was good to see a large group there today at BT and one of the guns there too today, which is inspiring as others in the group is an extra motivation to not “drop my bundle” as my racewalking coach Stan liked to say in the 1990’s….especially when you start to share each others progress and success, and there has been significant success and progress for many runners at BT this year. Simon encourages and often instills another level of discipline, and that has a lot to do with it, and its things like that, plus the fact this group is south of the river, and other things that has been and continues to be good reasons for me to try and stay a part of things here instead of trying to do all my training on my own, which usually means I get too slack…Onwards! :-)

Monday 14th November PM;
Ran 6km on my local street circuit in 31.24. HR 159 at end. splits 15.34/15.50. Felt yucky after work so decided to try and clear my head with a solid 6k and run a bit faster than this morning. First 1k 4.40, and next few km ok but then tired legs from AM run started to affect things a bit, and slowed up towards the end last 1k uphill 5.21. Good to get a double session on the board for a change and makes up for no long run on the weekend a bit…

Monday 14th November AM;
ran 7km in 40.18 HR 120 at end. Started on oval ran an almost flat out 350m in 75 secs, and then continued on to local trails on my usual course. Made the turnaround in 18.30 and then took it easy on the way back. So fast start, and solid running for 3.5km and then easy recovery type run for last 3.5km…Just trying to make up for no long run on the weekend a bit. Felt good.

..

..

Melbourne 2011 v Perth 2004,2008 splits comparison

2011-11-12T14:32:00.008+08:00

Ive reposted this in better detail at the bottom of HERE

This is a reproduction of part of my blog of my 2008 Perth Marathon where I ran my second best marathon a 3.55.10 (8 seconds outside my PB)...and also some info from my writings about my Melbourne Marathon 2011 of 4.02...In brackets and bold I have started adding Melbourne Marathon 2011 splits and also my 2004 Perth Marathon PB of 3.55.02 in red firebrick text linked to race report also 2004 Perth hereas comparisons of 3 of my 4 best marathons. It has confirmed my suspicions that my 28k and 30k times in Melbourne Marathon 2011 were probably my 2nd fastest splits ever in a road marathon, and at 30km I was well and truly in the ballpark to PB at that stage. At this point I was 2minutes behind my 2004 Perth Marathon splitsfor 28km or 30km in a road marathon, and 3 minutes ahead of my 2008 Perth Marathon splits for 28km and 30km where I ran 3.55.10
This might seem inconsequential for some, but for me its useful analysis for the future hopefully...
Melbourne Marathon 2011 time was 4hrs 2 minutes 49 secs.
Half splits 1.47/2.15. Got to 1km in 4.07, 2km in 8.42, 3km in 13.10, 6km in 27.40
10km in 47.35, 14km in 68.31, 20km in 1.41.06, Half in 1.47.35,
28km in 2.26.56 and 30km in 2.38.49.
Due to too big a gap between drinks at 25km and 37km, and need for an extra gel into the headwind,
I badly faded out to 7min 30 K's using a walk jog strategy to survive to my drinks at 37km in 3.31, and then came home ok although battling severe cramps after getting to 39km in 3.45.
PB chance wasted! very disappointed, but a good run still.
Pleased I explored some uncharted territory in first 6km and at 28km to 30km, which may help me if God gives me another opportunity to try and smash the PB...

Perth Marathon 2008;
Half marathon splits 1.46.25/2.08.45
14k splits; 67/82/85

5k splits;
0-10k; 22.55/24.31/
10k-20k; approx. 25.20/27.20
20k-30k; about 29min/about 32min
30k-40k; 32.25/29.36?

1k-4.20 3k-13.18 4k 18.06 5k 22.55
Ran at the back of 3 hour pace group from approx. 500m-1500m.
Saw Nathan (3.10),Clown (3.09) and Epi (3.19) go past soon after I let them go.

***OPPORTUNITY ONE (if extremely well prepared, should have stayed with Epi or Nate a bit longer...

6k-27.47 7k-33.35 10k-47.26 (fastest 10k this year)
Hitting about 4.30-4.55's...
12k-57.06 (fastest 12k this year) 13k- 62.10 14k-67.11 (fastest 14k this year)
settled into about 4.50--5.10's...
Got caught by 3hr 30 pace group (including gunner) just after 14k, and lost touch with them at my first major drinks stop at Como Beach, someone said "stay on the bus"...but I had to deal with my drink and gel, and coudlnt do it, and after that I knew that a sub 4 was going to be more likely today, despite a pretty good start hitting the times I wanted no worries at all...

***OPPORTUNITY TWO lost to do better (if I had been better prepared), should have gone with Gunner and the main sub 3.30 group then.

Struggled to get going after that, and after the Raffles/Canning Bridge, my rhythm,motivation etc went down the drain, as usual in the concrete section towards the turnaround and back to Raffles, which I dont like running...although some of the Tompkins park bit is ok...
16k-1.18 20k-1.40.03 21.1k-1.46.25
Finding it hard physically and mentally to stay motivated from there on, but tried to work hard through Tompkins Park...
24k 2.03 25k 2.09 28k-2.29 2011 (Melbourne 2011;2.26.56) 2004 Perth; (2.24.18) 30k-2.41.11 (Melbourne 2011; 2.38.49),2004 Perth; (2.36.00), (In the 2005 PERTH MARATHON when I ran 4.02.29, my 30km split was 2.41)

***OPPORTUNITY THREE; needed to work harder in this tricky concrete dominated section and should have tried to go with Gary Carlton (This legendary Marathoner and last years Pres, and regular Comrades runner did 3.38, despite very bad injury and Comrades a few weeks before) when he went past at about 24k, as one astute hills group runner suggested to me at the time...Again concentrating on my drinks, and poor prep meant it slipped away.

32k-2.53.15 (fastest 32k this year) 33k-2.59.57 34k-3.06.46 35k-3.13.36
getting sore, and struggling to get uner 6 min per k. left hip and knee soreness, worked through it, and hung in there, hoping to hold onto the sub 4 and maybe a PB...
Saw Hunna go past during this bit, found out later she was one of the regular posters on WAMC this year...during the race it was just another of the many people who said hello, some I knew, some I'd not met before in person, or didn't recognise...

Waving to my Dad near Como Beach my last Gatorade stop for the day...

***OPPORTUNITY FOUR; If I had done more long runs, had better lead in in the last few days, I would have been able to go with Hunnas little group, and staying with them to the finish would have snuck me under the PB just...

So these lost opportunities are things to remember if I race again, to try and recognise and capitalise on next time hopefully...

36k-3.19.10 37k-3.25.08 38k-3.31.11? 39k-3.37.10?2011; (3.45) 2004 Perth; (3.34.07)40k-3.43.12?
pushing hard to try and get under 4 hours, and give the PB a shake...hurting!
Going ok though, starting to get some 5.50-6.10 per k stuff going...
had drunk all 3 gatorades, and 2 of my GU's, plus some pepsi (at coode st) which gave me a good kick in the last few km, by about 39k...

41k-3.49.11 42k 3.54.26

28km 6 inch recon intervals at BT a 61km week

2011-10-30T23:38:00.000+08:00

Monday rest.
Tuesday 5min warmup 2x3km 13.12/14.20 20min warmdown at BT runclub.
Wednesday,Thursday rest...(or more accurately too busy with work and other stuff)...
Friday 12km easy in 65min
Saturday AM 28km recon on tough 6 inch trails in 3hrs 5min. PM 2 x3min easy recovery jog...
Sunday relaxed 9km on trails 65min...
Total for week about 61km or 377minutes.(only my 3rd 60km+ week for the year the other two were in January prepping for 6 foot)

Really solid week of training the 185min on 6 inch course was high quality stuff, and the 3k intervals were ok too, the rest were fillers, but did their job in keeping me ticking over throughout the week, and maybe , just maybe I can start building the momentum again. Also did 300min last week, so thats two good training weeks in a row. Last weeks training included 2 hours on Serpentine trails, which has some serious elevation about 650m in 15km and bits of difficult terrain, so I have two very good long runs on the board for my 6 inch hopes, just need a couple more and the bulk of the main prep will be banked, and I can start getting some track racing going hopefully.

A lot! of constant hassles in my life at the moment, but hanging in there, and a lot of blessings too, soooo hoping this summer I might just be able to hold onto the fire of training momentum and finally make some serious progress that translates into PB attack by 2012...

Amazing Race in Melbourne 4.02 SB

2011-10-10T10:57:00.007+08:00

I was on track for a PB maybe even in the target zone of 3.20-3.40 until 30km at least. So some good signs for 30km. Incredible AMAZING RACE (think the TV show) of a weekend.
1.47.35/2.15 half splits.
1km 4.07 2km 8.42 3km 13.10 6km 27.40 10km 47.35 14km 68.31 20km 1.41.06 21.1km 1.47.35 28km 2.26.56 30km 2.38.49 37km 3.31 39km 3.45.

Lots of photos on my facebook profile and also @ http://trailblazer777.net/travelmelb9.html...

Kevin 2.45, Dan 2.58, Grant 3.35? Eulalia 3.10 and a womens team bronze medal with anna and hazel? Unsure of ray and stephens times. Fantastic weekend and kevin myself dans face and grant in photo at start. Kevin and i traded the lead in the first 500m then kevin took over b4 japhet took over and ran 2.11 again. I hit 3k in 13.10 and 6k in 27.40 was too slack going through next 4k (wasnt confident enough to stay with 3.10 bus) to get to 10k in 47.35. 14k 68.31. Too big a gap in drinks from 8.8k to 19k = lost valuable time and rhythm unhappy with half split of 1.47 had hoped to get there in 1.40 at least. Tried running with 3.40 bus but decided they were too fast. Going ok but reassessed goal time from 3.30 to 3.40s. Tricky headwinds and small hill tight turn near elwood about 24k. Still holding 4.50 to 5.20 per k mostly. 2.26.56 at 28k only 7min adrift so happy. Pushing into headwinds and getting into the guts of the race. Figured i could pb (sub 3.55) still if i could hold sub 6min per k to the finish in last 14.2km. 30km in 2.38.49 on my wristwatch. (ive replayed my times and memory of where i went wrong in this race dozens of times each day since even thought about trying again at rotto but i think maybe thats a dum idea 4 many reasons ) 2.38 for 30k an ok split holding the sub 6min ks into headwind and just needed last 12.2k in 76min to pb so was confident of salvaging a 3.49 to 3.53 pb. Had 300ml powerbar drinks at 9k, 19k and 25k and 1st endura gel at 19k giving me a small amount of the carbs fluids plus salt electrolytes needed. Needed more again at 32k but mistake of thinking id wait til 35k. Couldnt see any k markers until 37k and was suffering bigtime forced into a 30sec walk break then jog a few minutes then repeat pattern for several ks. Bonking/hitting wall very hard. Got up the hill into the tan to the 37k in 3.31 and knew that with 7min ks for the last 7km and the way i was feeling 23min for last 5.2km was not going to happen into a headwind but maybe i could beat last years 4.05. drank "everything in sight" at 37km including a powerade cup that made me want to throw up. (why i prefer to stick to my own personal drinks) although the first powerade cup i got was heaven on earth but thats the hit and miss of drink cups... Grabbed my own drink and gel about 500m later and felt ready to run again when i got to the top of the tan and 39k in 3.45 passing dozens of people in last few ks at about 5.45 k pace. Fueled up and very angry that 4th year in a row pb attempt was shot to pieces especially as i had done enough in first 158min/30km. Surge of angry emotion almost got me some sub 5min per k action but for first time in race my calf cramped with severe pain if i tried to go harder than about 5.30 per k ish pace. So backed off and got through last 3.2k in a cruisy 17minutes felt a bit too untired at the end but my quad cramped up (thats never happened much b4 in my 15 marathons finished ) on the finishline my finish photo shows me reaching for sore quad. My 4th best time of 15 and this 4.02 is my best melbourne marathon of 4 finishes but very disappointed i lost the pb from 30k to 37k. Thankful 4 the chance to race its almost a miracle i got there due to finances being very tricky. Big thanks to my fantastic teamwa teammates for awesome fun and being a fantastic team. Im sorry that i failed to get into the 3.29 or better zone but i gave it my best shot. As usual too many things on my plate and lack of finances too big a barrier to good performance and i paid for a rushed drinks prep (should have given pre race briefing a miss or got an earlier more expensive flight i couldnt afford the money or the time off work for) blah blah blah anyhow it was still a fantastic race and "the amazing race" (think the tv show) of a weekend (8hr bustrip melbourne to canberra freq flyer pts canberra sydney perth 2hrs sleep on friday and saturday night.) was a challenge i would do again. I think getting to 30km in 2.38 is a positive and i hope to build on that . Thanks god and thanks btrunclub.com.au wamc aths wa and everyone. My blog a better option for this but limited net access for me at present. Well done wa hope in future years team medals can happen again well done all!

Lots of photos on my facebook profile and also @ http://trailblazer777.net/travelmelb9.html...

Seasons best 10k in 45min 50 at Fremantle

2011-09-20T17:18:00.000+08:00

Happy that I have been able to improve my 10k time for this year a bit on 12th September in the Fremantle fun run to 45minutes 50 secs. Could have been better if there were K markers in the first 7k, so had to run by feel...last three 1k splits were 4.52, 4.32 and 4.15. Have done long runs about the 3 hour mark every month including september since about May, so am feeling ready to take on a target race. Resting heart rates also in the mid to high 30's and the extra discipline and consistency thanks to BT in part has helped, although getting to BT all the time isn't working for me, I have been often enough to get a bit of extra motivation and some good ideas for better training, plus made a few new running friends, so overall a very fruitful exercise that has been. Have had a lot of niggles of late, and hope to have a few more breakthrough performances like the Lake Joondalup 10k and Fremantle 10k times...hopefully onwards from here...

2.49 for 30k at city to surf and regaining momentum

2011-09-03T16:12:00.000+08:00

In the last few weeks I spent a week or two having the annual head cold virus, and have struggled to get back the momentum I had in training prior to that. In the last week or so I have trained well but its been mostly "weekend warrior" stuff. Have not been back to BTRC, but hoping to get back for a visit soon. I think I am still hitting the key sessions in the last week or so, so my Melbourne plans are still very much on track, just lacking in the mileage department a bit (still only have a few 200-300min/50km weeks on the board and I want to do a bit more than that if possible.), and my intervals work only just getting above ground zero, but plenty of time for that in the next few weeks.

In addition I am having a bunch of monetary related hassles as per usual, and getting the trip to Melbourne paid for is as usual almost mission impossible at this stage, although I have finally found a way to book a flight over there, so we push on. My calf and hammy have been a bit niggly, and I have had a lot of knee soreness of late, so trying to keep that stuff under control too.

I still have no internet on PC at this stage, (none since March this year), and I am finding that I can only do strands updates at some libraries in Perth so far, as the public internet at a lot of libraries refuses to load strands for some reason.

Was not going to run city to surf, but at the last minute (about 1pm on the Saturday before) ended up changing my mind and I did the first 30km of the marathon in 2hrs 49min (half split 1.52, 10k split 50.54), before DNFing to go find my wife and our two toddlers at the end of the 4k. A wonderful! special! fun!!! day for all 4 of us, especially for 1 year old Jordan in the pram as it was her first experience of the city to surf, and its the first time 4 year old Jacob has walked the whole 4k at the City to Surf, although he did walk the entire 5k in Melbourne 2009 onto the MCG as a 2 year old. I did some good racing/training, and enjoyed seeing Jhandi get a big PB, and V, the woman I did a few 3 hour long runs with at BTRC, went sub 4 hours in her first marathon, what a fantastic effort by her! So overall although even though its a disaster by my SB or PB standards (although I think I was not far off the zone for both those two measures, given my 30km split is 3.57 pace and I think I would most likely have beaten my 4.12 SB if I had gone all the way ),and only my second DNF in 16 road marathons started, (the other was the ankle injury at Melbourne 2008), I was extremely happy just to be there. Had a fantastic 3minutes 18 seconds of bliss at the start in the lead group again too, so a wonderful day for me.

I tossed up on race day whether to go the entire 42.2km or stop at 21.1km, and in the end decided to have a bet each way and do 30km. Pretty happy as the day before (at that stage I was not planning to run city to surf at all) I ran a flat out local hilly 20km in 1hr 41min 03 secs which is a course PB for me by 50 seconds, and I was leg weary from that.

Since then I have done a 7km trails recovery run in the NB minimus shoes in 51minutes on Tuesday August 30th, and a 10km intervals session this morning (September 3rd) (again in the NB minimus on a grass oval track) in a very pleasing/promising 43minutes 29 seconds. This particular session I first did in the early 1990's as a racewalker, and I think it was a major factor in me breaking my own state 10km walk junior record several times from about 53minutes down to 48minutes. My PB for this session is 39min 58 secs, but that was many years ago probably when I was running 41 to 42 minutes for a 10k, something I have not done since about 2005. Based on the session this morning I think I am ready to try and dip under 45 minutes for a 10km again. I will get a chance to try and do that soon. Would be nice to start running at B-grade standard again soon, and maybe, just maybe, start making a charge towards my 1998 PB of 41minutes.

After all the hassles that I have experienced in recent years, and continue to struggle with, I am not holding my breath, but I know that my racing desire will always be strong, so God willing, maybe some more SB's and maybe even a PB on the way soon...

Building some base in MM week 2

2011-08-16T12:50:00.000+08:00

Three sessions in week 3 = 50km and more importantly 375minutes, which means I am slightly ahead of the same point of MM week 2 in 2010.

“Ran” (and I use the term loosely) 24km on trails in 3hrs 22min 27 secs. HR 126.
12k splits 1.29/1.53.

The aim of this session was to take my tired legs (from the 20km the previous day), and make them stay active for the best part of 3 hours plus, at heart rates mostly above 120 beats per minute, which should have a similiar effect on the legs to that achieved by running for 44km straight. Not interested in high intensity or even medium intensity running for an OD style workout/session. As I read in “Serious training for serious athletes” (Sleamaker) back in the 1990’s the aim of an overdistance (OD) style session is building strength, and fat burning ability, and it should feel “guilt producingly easy”, because if it doesn’t its not an OD session but more of an LFD (Long Fast Distance similiar to or aka the Medium Long Run) or LSD (Long Slow distance) type long run…With that goal in mind and my program calling for a 180min long run, I set about trying to put 3hours plus on the board.

An overdistance session was an attractive option because by today I was most certainly sick with a head cold, and so instead of passing on my virus to other people, or risking blackout or severe dehydration (it was very tempting just to stay on the couch), a low intensity OD session was a good way to ensure I got the leg strength gains scheduled for this weekend, without overstressing the rest of my system too much. In addition I have had a lot of knee soreness in recent weeks due to too much running on concrete and bitumen, so I was keen to run on trails only, and explore how the NB minimus shoes that Aaron gave me would fare on a full scale 3 hour long session, especially as they don’t have enough cushioning for my knees to survive using them on roads for too long…

Wasn’t feeling like doing anything, but forced myself out there after the rain settled down a bit and a few domestic responsibilities were done.
So I loaded up the hydration pack with a few drinks, the Powerbar Gel blasts I was keen to try out, a Gu that Simon gave me, and even filled up the bladder in the hydration pack with 3L of water too. Wasnt sure how the water would go as it was the first time I had used the bladder in this pack. Unfortunately the water in the pak tasted horrible, either because I used the kitchen sink tap or because the plastic bladder hasn’t been used before, or some reason, or maybe I am just getting soft…Decided not to drink that and instead rely on my sports drinks a Gel and a bottle of water. The minimus trail shoes were going great! although you can feel the road pretty strongly on the few that I crossed on my way out to some of my favourite local trails. The weather got better as I went out there, and although I was sick for sure, it wasn’t bothering me that much except for the low energy levels, which were very significant. Diverted to some soft sand trails to avoid some dogs, and this was hard going, but still got to about 9k in 1hr 13.

Found some decent rhythm in the next 3k (16min or 5.20 per K pace), which is one of my favourite trail sections because there are no obstacles like roads, or bluemetal rocks, soft sand etc to slow you down. This brought me to the top of a hill in 1.29, and given I was aiming for 3 hours plus, I figured I should turn here at 12k from home. I went for the first sports drink pretty early about 30-50 minutes in, and then had about another 200-300ml at halfway, and used my Gel about 30-40min after that which worked well. It wasn’t that hot so drinks not a big issue although it was warming up a little. Saw kangaroo and rabbit tracks, but didn’t see any out and about. Spotted 3 black cockatoos near the turnaround which was cool, as I always like seeing them out on the trails.

Saw a burnt out car which was still burning. I had my phone in my hydration pack and got a text from my wife,, so stopped to phone her for about 10minutes, and also spent about 5 minutes texting someone else, so those big breaks of 15minutes are part of the reason it took me an extra 24 minutes on the way back, but also because I took more walk breaks, and had a niggle at one stage, plus energy levels getting very low due to the head cold. The Gel at about 2hrs 30min seemed to help me pick up the intensity a little. The shoes were excellent, and I would take them on a long trail run again I think, as long as its mainly trails and not roads. The Powerbar Gel blast seems pretty good, maybe better than Gu’s but not sure on that. Although this run turned into a bit of a hike and had lots of breaks at times, I still think the 202 min out there was very helpful for my Melbourne Marathon hopes, and a good one to ensure I maintain plenty of strength after the two 3 hour runs with V last month.

However I knew once I did this session that I would have to go into hibernation for awhile to beat the head cold, and 2 days later as I type this I have endured extreme sore throat especially on Monday which was soothed by salt water gargling, and am reaching for tissue box to blow my nose every 5 minutes. So just have to be patient, and ease back into some easy runs, mybe a medium long run, when the body heals enough, but intervals are totally off the table until I get over this sickness.

This OD long run gave me 50km and 375min for the week, which for mileage or minutes trained is about my 4th or 5th best week this year, so a good slab of base this week, even though my intervals plans are running well behind schedule, and probably won’t restart until next week, I think the MM hopes are looking pretty healthy at this stage, just need to stay positive and wait for the opportunities to come again to reload the substantial ramping up I am building towards hopefully. While most of the sessions at BTRC have been a little bit cruisy except for maybe the mount st repeat and the last 3k intervals session, and I need to manage my knee issues, I think going there has given me a good headstart on my MM plans, so need to make sure I make the most of that, and not let this sickness and other obstacles derail the foundation that has already begun. Onwards and upwards…

Ran 20km in 1hr 48min 20 secs. Heart rate 159.
Medium long run session, and aimed to run it hard with haeart rates around 170’s if possible, but felt low on energy and unwell for the second day in a row, so decided to back off on the intensity a bit early on and see how I felt. Only took one 600ml sports drink with me as a handheld.

Was a bit surprised how fast my times were given my effort level was lower than race pace but still more on the high intensity side. Got to 6km in 30.09 so right on 5.01 per K. At that stage was feeling like I might even get close to my 1.41 PB for this local course which I did on 18th August 2010 and finishes with some big hills at the end. However after about 40 minutes that low energy feeling started to kick in a lot, and despite trying to hold some intensity was only able to get to 10k alongside the freeway in 51min 09 secs.

Still moving the best I have for awhile, but not feeling good in the head when I tried to push the pace, so relaxed a bit and concentrated on hitting about 5.15-5.30 pace which is not too hard, but not the speed I like to do on long runs at the moment either. Saw Dennis out there doing a 130km ride alongside the freeway for his triathlon goals. Despite backing off a bit in intensity still got to 14km in 75min 15 which although just over 6 minutes slower than my 14k split in the Perth Half Marathon the previous weekend, is still a pretty good split about 5.20 per K pace. Last 6k low on energy, and took it very easy, especially with the hills in the last 3km, and cruised in for 1 hr 48min, which while a bit slower than I’d hoped, makes sense given the low heart rate. The next day I was pretty sick, which confirmed my suspicions that I was getting a head cold as early as Friday before this run. Overall pretty happy with this run, which confirms again I am hitting a better level than this time last year. Not by heaps, but still significantly better.

6.19km in 45min 08 secs HR 126.
Trails run near home. Took it very easy (Heart rate 126 at end) , and my knees liked the softer surface. Still a bit sore from the race on Sunday, but not as bad as it was on Monday. Thats a good sign, cos it means I worked hard enough to get some significant soreness in Sundays race. Just explored local trails a bit mostly. a fun! recovery run.

no PB 4 TB yet but 2 SBs BTRC and MM week1

2011-08-08T18:34:00.001+08:00

Recent racing;
-7th August Perth Half Marathon 1.47.43 *Season Best
7k splits; 32.35/35.20/39.48**
**-2min toilet stop (drank too much gatorade at 9k, and was slowing up trying to hold on until next toilet block for about 20 minutes from 14k to 17.5k), also this section is 7.1k.
1k 4.09 2k 8.29 5k 23.09.
Once again my BTRC sessions (and more disciplined mindset) especially the long intervals in the last 2 weeks has paid off with a 4 minute improvement on my Bunbury and Busselton efforts earlier in the year. Until 12k I really thought I was an outside chance to give my 1.41 PB a shake, and if not for the drinks/toilet stop shambles I probably would have done 1.42-1.45 maybe...although I did not feel very strong in the last 8k or so...Was trying to avoid getting mowed down by jhandi at the end but the toilet stop destroyed any chance of that. Impressed with how well she is improving. Must be those super sugar sessions (didn't mona say there is no super session hahaha)....Overall a good hitout, that gives me good practice for a PB next time hopefully, and very good baseline to see where I am at now.

-24th July Run for Gold 10km 47.33
First 5k to 7k ok, then ran out of steam, and got frustrated trying to find the K markers. Probably wasnt really as ready to race this weekend anyhow. Still a good time though at the moment.

-17th July Lake Joondalup 10km 46.33 *Season Best
Good race. good course. K markers all the way.
1k splits 4.05/4.43/4.48/4.28/4.35////////5.10/5.02/5.00/4.31/4.09
5k splits; 22.39/23.52
Best 10k time since 2005! Encouraging result which confirmed the BTRC regime is paying off even in the early stages.

Still have pathetic internet access, although I am trying to organise my life so I can get to libraries more often, and a nice big fat tax refund would get our PC back maybe...

Two good long runs with V at BTRC.
-9th July 2hrs 54min (28.6k) Mount street hill rep. 5am start.
-30th July 3hrs 6min (30k)A bit more relaxed with some more breaks. Explored kings park for the marathon course. V has been really good to train with, and hopefully her debut in the marathon goes well.

Three good intervals sessions;
-2nd August; 3x3km 13.17/16.45/13.51 HR's 159-186.
The 16.45 was at least 3.2km I think and for various reasons I plodded a bit, one was I wasn't sure where to turn...V pushed me in this one really well in first rep, and S in the last rep.
-14th July 8x500m + 2x2km (2.00-2.20 on the 500's, 10.41-11.20 for the 2k reps.) HR's 170-180 I think.
-26th July; 3x3km 14.13/14.29/14.09 HR's 168-180.
The shorter rest breaks I am not! used to and am still adjusting to, and also still getting used to the courses, so have been holding back a bit in first few weeks but on 2nd August I put the pedal to the metal a bit more in the 1st and 3rd reps.

So this week (1st august to 7th August) marks week 1 of my Melbourne Marathon hopes for the 5th consecutive year!
As usual its going to be a massive challenge to get my airfares entry and accomodation paid for, but I have major unfinished PB for TB biz with the MM, so need to go back and try again, try again...worried about a lot of stuff at the moment but trying to trust God make ends meet and learn from what went wrong in previous years and what went right in previous years. Also I think BTRC is a really good option so far in that has given my MM 10 week program a headstart, and hopefully Simon, V and co's enthusiasm, discipline and heaven forbid, maybe even some new ways of doing things will turbocharge my training a bit this time round...so here we go again...Its groundhog day, and the MM assault starts again...I have already tried to start more conservatively in my last 3 races, as part of the new more disiplined mindset. Hopefully it bears lots of good fruit. Here we go again...

Also been missing trail running a heap, and I know my knees will thank me if I go offroad, so keen on trying to get offroad as soon as its convenient and helpful to my MM plans. However I owe it to the BTRC crew to be committed to being there regularly.

Soon there will be 400m tracks marked throughout suburbia again, so interval venue options hopefully will get easier and more plentiful.

Hopefully exciting times ahead, but its been and continues to be a massive struggle to survive the cost of living this year. However I am much happier and in many ways much better positioned for MM version V this year maybe.

8th Perth Marathon 4.12.54

2011-06-20T12:31:00.004+08:00

Ran my 8th consecutive Perth marathon on 19th June in 4 hours 12 minutes 54 seconds. (5.59 per Km) Half splits 1.54.54/2.18.00

Its been a continuation of very difficult times for me of late, although I still feel that in some ways this years setup is a lot better than last years. my job as a driver for 50+ hours a week combined with the demands of our two toddlers, and increased living costs this year means I have little training time and money is a massive struggle each week. At the end of may my shoes, wallet, and hydration pak were stolen when i left my car unlocked.

I unretired an old pair of shoes that I last used in September 2010, but they have holes in them and so collect small stones easily, and are pretty worn out. One running friend gave me a pair of minimalistic trail shoes, which are good on grass and trails, but not enough cushioning for road running as I quickly found out, although maybe if I changed my running style I could use them on road, but with the injuries Ive been carrying for 10 years maybe not. Another running friend gave me some second hand Nike Lunar range shoes that are in very good condition, and although I have had some blister issues, they are very fast shoes and probably the best shoes I've ever had, so a dream come true to get them. I have trained once with his running group, and am trying to get more organised so I can fit in training with his group, and hopefully spark a training and racing resurgence, as I am way off where I was in october 2010, and Ive lost ground since 6 foot a bit too. Also plan to try and train with trail running group and obviously keep doing my own sessions. So going into the Perth Marathon I had low expectations, and concerns about my ability to last the distance. I also have no Pc with internet at home (unpaid bills shut that down after 6 foot), so internet access very limited. cant blog via my phone or use strands.com Have to go to library or friends. I can use facebook and check email on my phone.

I figured the 42km on trails in early April with Darlington group, the Bunbury Half marathon (big thanks to Dave for making that possible) in 1.51, a 16k run with the running group (a week before the marathon) I am now trying to make the 30min drive to, and a 48min 09 10k race at Lake monger the next day (june 12th) in the very fast!!! pair of Nike Lunaracers I have now been given, should be enough to get me to 25-30k ok. Then it would be down to guts and experience in the last 10-15km. I was confident of finishing and hopeful of getting there in about 4.30-5hours. RHR was 39 the day before my 8th Perth marathon (and 14th marathon), so that gave me a lot of confidence.

Had some fun at the start trying to run the first 500m in 90 secs, and pretty much did that putting a gap on Todd Ingraham who won in 2.28 (first time Perth has been won in under 2.30 for a few years, well done him, although he is one of the legends of WA running, second only to Ray Boyd in my opinion, and has won in Perth heaps of times), Chris O'Neill and Roberto Busi. Reckon I got to 500m in roughly about 83 seconds, so about 2.46 per Km pace (1.55 Marathon pace). Photo above is at about 550m to 600m just as I was starting to ease off into a recovery jog for about 500m at about 5.40 per km pace. Then reality kicked in and start fun over, I cruised through 1km in 4.14, and set about trying to settle into a more sustainable pace...I guess I dream of being able to start like that and hold onto my lead, not surrender it, but if that is physically possible for me it requires a massive shift in training,racing and lifestyle from me. I am keen to do that, but my family responsibilities are more important, so have to deal with them first. Racing is not in my top 2 priorities at the end of the day. That said I am still hoping to bridge the gap to the sub 3 hour crowd maybe by 2012. Although not hugely confident, that is what I want to aim for. Don't know if it will happen though, but it is on my radar, as it has been for at least a year or so now.

Settled down and tried to run about 5-5.30 per K, which I did getting to 10km in about 51minutes. Was consistently hitting 5-5.15's getting to 14km in 73min. Tried hard to stay around this pace, and be conservative with my reasoning being that a 1.53-1.57 Half would be about right and then see what happened rather than bust my gut for something in the 1.45-1.50 zone. Was running with Liz and Chris from about 5k to 15k at least. Took on a gel at 22k, and everything going well.

From about 19k to 29k there is a lot of concrete and I always have trouble with rhythm in a large part of this section. This problem repeated, but I still felt very fresh. Blister on foot developed at about 25k. I stopped at 27k to try and readjust my sock to fix this. Wasted a few minutes on this, but it seemed to eliminate the pain. Saw the famous Digger about this time and got passed by Loubou. Caught up with Digger and had a bit of a chat, before carrying on with my attempts to work my way through the field again. Couldnt get much rhythm, and fatigue starting to kick in. Mainly focused on finishing. Crowd support at Raffles awesome. Dennis (massive thanks for these awesome photos too.), and a bloke playing cranberries song zombie really loud at his house here lifted my spirits as did encouragement from people like Ali from NSRG.
Struggled a bit here as shown in photo below...

Got my coffee Gu and that tasted awesome and gave me a boost. Then got determined to attack again on one of my favourite parts from 31km to 36km Raffles to Narrows bridge. Strong crosswinds and some rain, but I was holding onto about 5.45-6.15 per K, and passing a few people including the guy in a superman costume. Hurting but feeling pretty good, but couldnt get much faster than 6min per K. Lost rhythm again around mends st but got my pepsi at 39k coode st, and kicked home a bit. Did a Leighton Hewitt C'mon and got to 40k in 4.00.24. Was aiming to be home in under 4.20, as a sub 4 chance had evaporated by now, but as I got close to finish I could see sub 4.13 was very possible. At the finish some young bloke tried to sprint past, so i through my pepsi bottle on the ground put the afterburners on and hammered the last 25m in about 3 seconds, to pip him. I dont like getting sprinted off at the end by anyone.

My Dad came to watch and encourage as he has for all 8 of my Perth Marathons. He just enjoys seeing most sports especially races... Really good that he could make it. While I was out there I kept thinking about one of my almost 4 year olds favourite sayings at the moment; "you can't hide fun"...:-)...I think its time he went in one of the kids races, after all he walked the 5km onto the MCG in 2009 as a 2 year old, and Ive seen him running at the park he is going to be fast...I think Kathryn and I's little girl will be quick too...

Overall a very pleasing run, my 4th best Perth marathon time and my 7th best marathon time, so in both cases just on the right side of the ledger, i.e one of my better ones, and all things considered a massive confidence boost mentally. So now to recover and try and build the momentum maybe another melbourne if I can get the money together, as my dreams of doing Gold Coast dont look likely this year due to 1. no good training 2. no money and 3. 2 weeks after the Perth a big ask anyway...
maybe just maybe onwards and upwards from here...just got to build the momentum trainingwise and improve lifestyle a bit for example get my weight under 70-75kg would be nice instead of the 78-81kg stuff at the moment...

Awesome to catch up with heaps of people, and very cool to hear about couple that got married at 38km mark of the marathon. commiserations to Slingrunner who had his injury flareup again. All the best to him, it must be frustrating ...hope he gets that sorted out or manages it better or whatever...but there is more to life than running, but life is heaps better if doing that or cycling or hiking or surfing or something, but most of all its with the creator triune God thats what life is all about. Running well is part of living to the max for the creator for me though at this point in my life...

Bunbury Half Marathon in 1.51

2011-05-23T17:43:00.001+08:00

Sunday 21st May Ran the Bunbury Half Marathon in 1 hour 51min 44secs
7km* splits; 34min 42/ 38min 41/ 38min 20
*First 7km is actually 7.1km
Halfway splits 54min 21/ 57min 23

Good solid run. 1.1k-4min 45, 2.1k-9min 34, 3.1k-14.35 surged from 3.1km to 4.1km with a 4.29 to get me to 4.1k in 19.04, and then eased off and went through 5.1km in 24.21, 6.1k was 29.47, 7.1k 34.42. Hit 10.1k in 51.29. So basically the first 10k was about 5min per k or quicker stuff, and the second half more towards 6min per K. Didn't like the course from about 8k to 10k and most of 12k-20k, so about 6-7km of the course was on concrete paths so my knees don't handle that too well, and I backed off the pace a bit as a result. Some small hills as well, but overall a pretty flat course and very, very scenic with views of the ocean, the swamp, ships coming into bunbury harbour, and the river/estuary? alongside the jetty. Ran past some cafes. I liked the start and the first 8km a lot. Also liked the last 1km from about the lighthouse to the finishline, which had a little hill that sorted out a few people trying to kick for home. Two of the big guns in Roberto Busi and Todd Ingraham turned up to chase the $1000 prize money in the Half!, but Todd got pipped by 1 second in a sprint finish by another well credentialed runner in Paul Mackay,in 72min...
I saw heaps of people I know doing the Half, the Marathon or the 50km, and basically had a pretty good race, except for the concrete, and a 2min toilet stop at about 9km...

Bernadette set another Canadian record with a 3.57 50km, and Dave had a bad race and had to settle for 3rd spot in the 50km with a 3.38, which was won by Ray Lampard of the "break your limits" group in a classy time of 3.29.
In the Marathon the visiting Japanese runners took 1st and 2nd with a 2.35. Gerry actually crossed the line 3rd in about 2.40's but his timing chip didn't register...Jon Pendse did 2.50, and Kevin Matthews 2.52, to win their age groups and set new PB's. Mick Francis recorded a 2.59. Tina Major, Nera Jareb and Lauren Jones were some of the best performed ladies, with a Japanese lady winning the Half?

A good run for me, which gets me back to the level I was at in the Busselton Half in February on a much tougher course, and weather was perfect again. So I feel like I am building some momentum again with this one, although I still want to improve much faster than I have so far this year. This is a significant step in the right direction. Jusdt need to build on it properly this time in a sustained manner in the coming weeks.

Saturday 20th May;
Ran 3.5km on grass oval in 16min 42 (4min 46 per K) HR 168
700m splits; 2.48/ 3.21/ 3.35/ 3.35 /3.23
30min break then;
Ran hilly 6km road circuit in 29min 42. (4min 57 per k) HR 174.
3km splits 14.52/14.50
1km splits 4.25 (down)/5.13 x2/5.05x2/4.39(up)
A good sharpener upperer to get me in racing condition for the Half Marathon the next day. Both runs not far off my course PB's which are 15.27 and 28.47. Felt heaps better than last weekend, and it wasn't easy, but was ready to fire things up a bit more this time...

Sunday 15th May Ran 12km in 66min 57 HR 150 Really made heavy weather of this one especially the last 3km, so I guess I had just lost a lot of conditioning, and a lack of faster running in recent weeks, showed in this pathetic run, which is 10min off my course PB but it was what I needed to get me thinking about running fast again.

staying alive with a 42km long run

2011-05-14T15:47:00.001+08:00

Saturday 7th May
Headed up to Darlington and ran 42km in 5hrs 53min. The first 16km was in 1hr 49min, with the C-team to Mt Helena.
Had some good chats, and mostly a an enjoyable run at a solid but relaxed pace. This part was good.

Then I started to to feel lethargic, and started doing a lot of walk breaks. Tried to re-energise by buying some pineapple lollies at Parkerville general store. That seemed to help, but maybe it was the fact I carried over 3 litres of fluid with me, or maybe it was the gastro virus that laid me low for the next 5 days, or just not much running in recent times. Eitherway I was breaking up my walking with run breaks and really struggling by the time I made it to about 32km in 4 hours 11min. The last 10km took me 1hr 42min, and I really struggled to run much in this bit. Was a real grind uphill in the last 4km to get back to Darlington.

So more a torture test hike with some jogging towards the end, but will consolidate my endurance, as I look to race Bunbury Half, and maybe Perth and Gold Coast Marathons. Still trying to sort out a lot of domestic issues. Feels like I am making big progress, but just have to stick with the new regime for a bit longer to see things sorted out. Cost of living and the 3 speed economy really hitting me and my family hard at the moment, its tough. However the new 50-70 hours a week job is a better setup than the last 2 years of working two jobs, and am starting to reap some rewards finally after 6 months of long haul on the new setup. However my racing and training is yet to get going again to the sort of level I was hitting in October 2010, but my endurance and hills strength is still pretty strong. Training in recent weeks, combined with 6 foot and 6 inch has ensured that. So plenty to work with if I can stay focused, and get past a few obstacles.

Lesmurdie run elevates the legs up a gear

2011-05-02T11:13:00.005+08:00

2hrs 35min on Easter Monday followed by an AM/PM mix on Sunday 1st May (2k in 10.30 HR 144, and 13km in 75min HR 123 in the evening) has consolidated on the 4 hour Darlington to Mt Helena and back run 2 weeks ago.
The Lesmurdie run with BBC, R and G was simply awesome scintillating views of the plains below from high up on the scarp, thanks God! The 600m of elevation will hold onto some of my 6 foot strength, and provide a much needed boost to fire up my conditioning a little. so an excellent session this one...
Massive thanks to BBC and R for organising this one and giving me something in the distance to chase...:-) Very much a 6 foot-ish type run this one, even had steps to get down...

Hopefully can step things up a few more gears from here...

15th Bridges and a 4 hour run

2011-04-24T16:58:00.002+08:00

Not much running and even less blogging lately, too busy with work and very limited internet access options. Blogging extremely briefly now at my parents.

Saturday 16th April
4hrs 7min run (33km) on darlington to Mt Helena and back trail...
Awesome to just get out there and get a long run on the board...very hard as first long run since 6 foot 5 weeks ago...

However on 10th April I managed to run my 15th consecutive Bridges funrun a few weeks back. 10km very slow in 52min 55 (including 2 minute toilet break) 4.19 in the first K, and ran alongside but well left of the front bunch in the first 500m. Nice to catch up with other coolrunners that day, and see a few of the legends who did 6 foot there like Rhys, Dan, Sanet, John, and Jane.
Good catching up with Kevin, Kate and others too...nice to be racing, and last 3km found some good momentum and some sub 5min K's...

Hopefully will be able to settle into some good routines at work, and get some training and racing happening again. However my family and work commitments are a big struggle at present, so I am sort of on hiatus from running training and racing at the moment until things settle. Not sure when that will be, but hopefully soon.

Also I know it was more than a month ago, so it almost feels like why bother, but I intend finishing my account of my successful 6 foot race HERE If not in April, maybe in May... when I get time...

Below is a photo of me and CR Jeannies husband after the Bridges 10km on April 10th.

6 foot the race photos and recovery

2011-03-19T18:53:00.013+08:00

6 foot complete resultssays I was 819th of 877 starters, with 34 DNF's and 4 outside the 7 hour cutoff. To complete this race in under 7 hour cutoff still a source of major elation 3 weeks later for me as this has been a major goal of mine since I setup this blog in 2005 (6 years ago). Only regrets are that the time (6hrs 53min 07 secs) is a bit slower than I was hoping for, and that Kathryn and my children Jacob and Jordan couldnt be there. However that could be fixed in future years maybe, and very minor regrets in the face of huge joyous elation.

No internet connection at home on the PC at the moment due to unpaid bills, not sure when I can afford to get it up again could be weeks/months away. quads sore for 4 days after 6 foot. Calf sore for last few days hoping to be running this weekend again...in the meantime I have very limited internet options on my phone, at libraries when I am not working 50 hours and at my parents etc..Here are a sample of my 6 foot race photos...heaps more on facebook...blogging in detail will have to wait til later....

UPDATE 2nd April 2011...Preoccupied with more important things like paying the rent. The last few weeks have been a desperate struggle. At library now, trying to make a start on blogging before my memory of the events becomes too hazy. Probably won't finish blogging today but hope to do so at the bottom of this post during the month of April or MayIve run a 6km in 35min (HR 153), and did a walk/jog 6km with my wife Kathryn in the last week or so. Thats all since 6 foot. Pathetic. No injury issues so far, so probably well and truly ready to hopefully get training and racing again soon now I've had 3 weeks off.

Am going to try and start blogging about my 6 foot experience on the bottom of this post. It will be a work in progress over several weeks, and I hope to get to linrary internet enough to complete it in April, so check back onto this post each week if you are interested...;

6 foot complete resultssays I was 819th of 877 starters, with 34 DNF's and 4 outside the 7 hour cutoff. To complete this race in under 7 hour cutoff still a source of major elation 3 weeks later for me as this has been a major goal of mine since I setup this blog in 2005 (6 years ago). Only regrets are that the time (6hrs 53min 07 secs) is a bit slower than I was hoping for, and that Kathryn and my children Jacob and Jordan couldnt be there. However that could be fixed in future years maybe, and very minor regrets in the face of huge joyous elation.
So massively, massively happy to get this race done!!!

2/4/11;
Just getting to the start line in this race was a massive challenge in itself. First there is the issue of the costs of airfares and accomodation. I got a big payout in October 2010 so I took advantage of that to book my airfares (about $400) from Perth to Sydney and back then, and also one nights accomodation on the Friday night before the race, as I knew that come March I would struggle to have the money and it would be hard to get anyone else to finance my running obsession. I did however hope that I might be able to save up and pay for Kathryn and my children to fly there also, and to book a saturday night also. As it turned out thats was totally not an option and I had to take out a secret cash converters loan to pay the $135 entry fee. Finished paying that off in late March. Before all of that I failed to get an entry spot and had to go on the waitlist in early December 2010, and finally got my entry offer in February. Then there was hassles getting to and from Perth airport, which is a costly tricky affair, and I ended up spending the night at the airport on the way back as I couldn't afford a taxi. With better planning maybe this could have been avoided. Then there was the trainfares from Sydney to Katoomba. The massive kindness of Mark and his wife in letting me have a room at their apartment on the Saturday night free of charge.
Also my cousin in Sydney put up with me for a day and drove me to the airport. Other big financial issues and other major hassles post race, so all in all a big logistical challenge to get to the start line, and then recover in the week after the race. I am not trying to have a go at anyone about this just merely sharing some of the challenges involved for someone with limited resources. Anyhow enough about that, its time to start posting about the race itself.
RACE REPORT;
Mark and Rhonda kindly picked me up from my hotel on race morning as arranged. After a week of mostly 3-4 hours sleep per night, I had managed 6 hours of sleep on the night before, and felt refreshed, energized and ready to go with a resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute, my best one for the week, so felt good. The lightning and heavy rain show from the night before had disappeared. One of my powerades was leaking so drank that before the start. I'd picked up my racepack the night before at the Carrington, and met a few other runners there including Glenda, Nigel and Liz Hubbard (at Subway...ex-West Australians from Booragoon area!!! how freaky is that), and Colin Jeftha the race guru!!!. I felt like I was in a very good dream, hard to believe it was real, that I was actually in Marks hire car heading to the parking area to catch shuttle bus to the start. The parking area was very well organised. Short bus ride to start. Caught up with coolrunners Plu!, flying emu, running angel and go-girl at the start. They seemed pretty cool people, nice to meet people I only knew from online. They called us in to wave 4 (The first 3 faster waves had already started)...and I got a spot towards the back, with Jane,Glynis and Sanet (from the Darlington C-team, and all did 6 inch in 2010) nearby. Also spotted Arrrtgrrl I think near the front of the wave.

Then we were off, and before long the narrow trail started to go steeply downhill, only room for 1-3 runners alonside each other. Then it was single file. I tried to pass as many people as I could in this bit, as I had heard about the steps, and I wanted to gfet to the 15km mark in a good time. My rcae plan was not detailed, but simply get to river crossing (15km) in under 2 hours, get to top of Pluvi (26km?) in under 4 hours and get to finish in 6-7 hours.
Then we hit the steep slippery steps, and it felt so surreal like going through a rainforest. Slow progress and already the quads very sore...Chatted with Clay from melbourne for a bit (blue shirt in my photos)
on the way down the steps. It was a big challenge staying upright an balanced. Eventually we finally got to the bottom. Then it was a 4wd track where I was able to start running hard.

update 23/5/11;
In this section I could see the incredible views back up the cliffs, and I stopped for 4 min for a pitstop. Ran hard for awhile and caught up with the group clay was running with...
Probably worked a bit too hard, so had to back off a bit.
My memory is a bit hazy now a few months later, but I know we climbed over some of the steps that cross fences, and got a cheer from some spectators near the first drinks stop. Started to get some single track stuff, and some hills. Nothing major though. I think I ran with one of the Cool runners in the 1000 day mileage challenge very briefly during this section maybe. Eventually we got to some very narrow and dangerous single track kangeroo track type trail where we were forced into single file. This was about 10km-14km into it. I was still running at a good pace, and avoiding drinks at this stage mostly...At one stage about 10 of us got stuck behind a bloke in a dark blue top who was going very slow and would not step aside and let us through. Some of the runners were complaining about it, but I just waited, and when I saw the thick bush thin out a bit I seized my opportunity and jumped and sprinted hard through the bush alongside the trail, and managed to pass the bloke in the blue top and a few others behind him. Almost lost my footing but kept balance somehow... Big ankle injury potential in this section. Eventually about 5-10 runners also got past and they were pushing me at a pace faster than I wanted up to another little bunch of runners. I was keen to stick with a good pace until the river crossing, but I could tell they wanted to go much faster, so I stepped aside for about 3 of them, and tried to settle my pace down a bit. I was aiming to get to Coxs crossing in under 2 hours, anything better than that would be a bonus. We passed a very rickety looking bridge over the river valley, and did a few taxing ups and downs as the single file track continued. I stayed with a small bunch, although a few of them went further ahead on their own. Was starting to feel a bit tired, and when I got to the river finally with Walter and Glenda (who I met briefly at race pack collection the night before and by accident just happened to be running at similiar pace to me at this point...) just behind me, I was glad to make it in 1hr 51min. It wasn't that deep, in fact my attempt at swimming didn't work too well, so I pretty much waded through waist deep water... I couldn't be bothered putting my shoes in plastic bags, but I am glad I had them with me as they protected other things in my hydration pak from getting wet. In hindsight I probably would have been better off taking my shoes off, as they filled up with small gravel which was horrible. Took awhile to get that out of my shoes after the river crossing. I was very happy with my time up to this point. I lost several minutes sorting out my shoes here...But if I had not done that, no doubt blisters would have forced me into a DNF, so I had to do that.

Then it was the start of the hills towards minisaddle.

PLUVI and MINISADDLE (800m of ascent in about 10km)
Straightaway I could see it was going to be a struggle. I worked hard, but was finding that jogging was not really that easy, and I was stuck in a walk a lot of the time. Had some good chats with a few others. But they were all going past me. It was obvious my hill strength wasn't good enough. In addition the pack I had on my back with several litres of drinks was making it very hard, the extra couple of kg to drag up the hill with my normal 78kg or so was a lot. Jane, Glynis and eventually Sanet all passed me on the hills, (They got to Coxs Crossing 10 minutes behind me) and they all looked strong, especially Jane and Glynis. After Mini-saddle, I was struggling and made big use of a drink station. Basically walking heaps, and only trying to run every now and then. Wasn't walking fast really either. I think we crossed some more creeks at some stage too, some were a bit hard and my feet got wet, but not too bad. I remember this big switchback. We also started to get passed by the utes from the Rural fire service volunteers from about here onwards occasionally on mostly gravel 4wd track...Incredible scenery!!!, but mostly just trying to keep going up...Drink stations total oasis points from here on, and I started to use the drinks in my pak a lot. Eventually I saw the straw brooms of the sweepers below as we got into the teeth of the Pluviometer.... I felt gone!!!!!!!!!!! I could hear them and the pacers (I later found out their names were Jane and Robyn) below, and me and some other runners started to worry about getting swept. I really started to wonder if a DNF was what I was headed for here. However I figured I had come this far so was going to fight as long as I could to stay in the race...I was really struggling to keep moving up the hills, and almost overbalancing, plus felt light headed every time I tried to jog instead of walking...Sometimes I leaned over close to the ground almost in a crawling position trying to get up the neverending hills... The pacers caught us and started to encourage us and give us the verbal kick in the backside to keep at it... I knew this was it, my last chance to stay ahead of the pacers before the top of Pluvi. I knew if I could get to the top of Pluvi and some flatter ground I might be able to get some running going again. So I dug in and tried my hardest to keep walking with the pacers. They were picking up rubbish, and really encouraged me and a few other runners heaps. A few of us got going and I remember a girl from the UK say "we cant let the sweepers get us"...I think she did get swept though...Just before we got there I saw a bloke in a black shirt wearing KT52's sit down on the gravel about 100m from the top. I could hear the sweepers behind me, and I knew I had to give my all to get to pluvi 25-26km mark (800m of elevation since coxs crossing at 15km) soon, to have any chance of staying in the race. I got there in 4.09.48, and the bloke in the black shirt about 50-100m behind me who gave up and sat down got swept. One of the pacers made a cool comment here about how we could relax now for a bit.I took another runners advice in this section to drink my last sports drink...Then the heavy rain and lightning started, and I started to run away from the sweepers...just occasional runs at first punctuating lots of walking, and as I started to recover from all the ascent, I started to run harder and more often, and I knew I was doing well when I started to pass lots of people.

24/5/11 update THE BLACK RANGE;
We were still essentially ascending, and gained another 400m of ascent in the next 15km or so, although there was some downhill and flat sections eventually. I tried to settle into a good rhythm and figured I was a good chance to beat the 7hour cutoff, if I could keep at it for the last 19km of this 45km race. However I knew I had to attack with everything I had to have any chance... Saw the sag wagon of the sweepers go by with sad runners stuck inside it being taken to the finish...

Caught up to a bloke with an injured leg, and we passed some pine trees I think with about 10km to go. Was pretty happy with my split here and it was quite flat terrain and I felt really confident at this stage, for the first time in about 3 hours. Then after an aid station with those wonderful firefighters the course seemed to swing around to the left, and there was steep downhill, which I ran hard, and passed a few more runners, and there formed a bunch of us all going hard at it. At the bottom of the hill it got very wet and muddy, with some massive puddles, and extremely slippery mud. Tried to keep feet out of the puddles a bit, and then there were two short but very steep hills to climb. Very similiar sort of hills to the ones I had run in Lesmurdie with BBC and AP in training. a few weeks before...I was able to maintain good momentum through here and didn't have to walk too much. My quads were getting very sore, and everything else was numb with pain too. Ignored the extreme fatigue and tried to keep pushing hard. Another drink station, and we crossed a bitumen road with about 5km? to go. Then it was back to single up and down track similiar to just before Coxs crossing, and also a few steps...Again I tried to keep pushing hard and keep passing other runners. Pitstop again, and then started to run out of intensity, just couldn't find anything more in the tank, and a few runners passed me....With about 3-4km to go last aid station, and I knew I was a pretty solid chance to get in under 7 hours, but also knew I had not much more to give, and that as another runner had told me (the last 2km is a miserable,miserablly hard descent). I thought I could make it, but knew if I dropped my guard I might still miss breaking the 7 hour barrier.

THE LAST 2km and the finish!
The last 2km was sooooo hard. It seemed to go on for ever and ever and I started to really worry I would not make the finish under 7 hours. My quadriceps were just screeaming out in pain, in this 400m descent in the space of 2km. I had never tried to do anything like this before, and I was already mega-spent anyway...Also it was slippery and a narrow single track. I was extremely worried I would lose my footing and go sprawling into the bush thatfell away below me. It was a bit scary, especially when other runners wanted to pass me on this section which a few did. I caught up to one person I think, but mostly was just trying to move as fast as I dared, and as fast as my quads would allow me to which wasn't very fast, basically shuffling along...Extreme pain for about 10-20minutes. Pretty significant rain, muddy kangaroo track...Then I started to hear the announcer below, and my emotions took over, somehow I kept going and after what seemed a neverending bunch of twists and turns, Jenolan Caves appeared like a mirage in the desert below. A hidden building below, I saw hundreds of people there, and a concrete path with metal safety railing stretching down to it...I glanced at my watch and knew I was going to make it with a few minutes to spare...

The rain was pouring down but I was feeling about as happy as I have ever felt, crying inside, as the finishline stood there 10-20meters away, some people cheering, I heard my name called a few times, and I may as well have been in an Olympic final, thats the feeling I felt...unforgettable.......Sure I only just made the cutoff by 6 minutes, but it was just an unbelievable emotional mix of elation and relief. A major goal achieved, and hard earned in nearly 7 hours of slog...the time on Pluvi where I thought I would not make it, the hassles I endured for weeks and months just to be in this race. It was all so totally worth it......I think I now know a bit more why Deakes cried when he won the world 50km walk in Osaka a few years back.....Special moment, so glad I was blessed to have experienced this. Have heaps of people to thank from over the years who helped me get there... A little disappointed with the time, but the main goal achieved, and a lot of lessons learnt I think. My first thought was thats it, I don't think I ever want to do this again, its done and thats it....In the weeks and months later though I have decided I would like to try it again, although It would be hard to top the emotional highs and lows of this experience. I think if I am ever good enough to qualify for Wave 3 or 2, then I would try and go back, maybe even next year, just to try and get a faster time, but either way, Ive done something I wanted to do since 2005, so thats mission accomplished in my mind...Afterwards I found Mark and Rhonda, and chatted with everyone I could, including one young girl (I think her name was Bria?) who was doing a touristy visit to the caves, not knowing there would be a race on...Caught up with a few people, got some HOT chips, and continued living the dream, including chatting with other runners on the bus, until our bus got stuck behind a fatal car accident on the way back, and we had to get a train back...Surreal experience...felt like I was on a school camp for this bit...I see now why so many people rave on about this race, and feel very blessed to have conquered it, and most of all been part of the experience in 2011!!!!!

That ends my 2011 race report I think!

6hrs53min 6foot mission done 6min to spare

2011-03-14T01:56:00.005+08:00

More photos on fb and at supersport images...coming soon...

saturday 12th march ran the 45km 6 foot trails race from katoomba to jenolan caves in 6hrs 53min 7secs just under the 7hour cutoff to get my first 6foot medal the sweepers were 100m behind me at 26km pluviometer (4hrs 09min) but on the shallower incline of black range i pulled away got to coxs crossing in 1hr51min but worked too hard and the 800m+ of elevation ascent in next 10k like climbing a mountain almost swept me to a dnf quads very sore last 2k 400m descent to finish rained a lot very ecstatic happy!!! To beat 7hrs and sweepers massive thanks to my wife kathryn mark bernadette jane cameron simone hunna and others for your help this weekend and earlier this year photos and more info later quads and calves brutally sore still on monday but no injuries or big blisters massive dream come true wanted this for 6 years yeah! Thanks god!mission accomplished 819th of about 880 starters about 40 dnfs

12.40 3000m confirms my momentum is slowly building

2011-03-07T00:12:00.004+08:00

Sunday 6th March;
Ran about 16km in about 100min in the 3 hour track race. Photo above (thanks B for that) sees me in the red hat preparing to do a crouch start. The bloke wearing the Ireland top won in a record 43km!!!
I ran with him for the first 400m which was 1min 37, he held that pace all the way and went through the marathon in 2.52! I ran the first 2km in 10.21, backed off a bit to get to 10km in about 55min, then really started to back off and throw in walk breaks. weather better than last year with temperatures in the mid 20's instead of mid 30's but it still felt warm in the first hour. Humidity about 50% and about 27 degrees which means the heat index comes into play and the body experiences 30 degree conditions...headwinds and tailwinds too...fantastic nights running but I took the advice of Jane and Bernadette, (two people whom I greatly respect for their knowledge and experience with running) and scaled things down after 10km and decided to stop just after halfway at about 16km, so as to give me a reasonable taper option for 6 foot next weekend...spent my last 30 minutes lapscoring and enjoying watching the action...well most of it...

fantastic results
unofficial 2011 results;
Dave Kennedy: 126.12km
Susannah Harvey- Jamieson: 107.51km
Dan Kehoe: 105.8km
Tim Eva: 97.2km
Cliff McKinley: 20.4km

Geoff Reynolds won the 6 hour with 71km in a thrilling race from Mick Francis with 70.6km
Hunna Watson improves the womens 6hr record by just over 2km to 48.5?km.
Chris O'Neil won the 3 hour with 43.6km.

Friday 4th March;
Ran 3000m in 12min 40.7 secs HR 180? at end.
1k splits; 3.46/ 4.36/ 4.18 1500m splits; 6.00/ 6.40
After watching the inspirational efforts of Mottram and co in the 5000m the other night (via the Runners Tribe video see link on my blog), I was keen to get in some practice at sitting on a bunch of faster runners, and try and go sub 13 minutes before I get leg weary from the 6 foot blue mountains 45km trails race next weekend. So with a RHR of 39 that morning and the weight at an ok 79kg, plus the course PB 6k the day before I knew I was ready to have a race, and hopefully go a bit better this time. No intervals in the last week or two would ensure it wouldn’t be anything incredible, but I was confident that sub 13 minutes was an achievable target, and the plan was to back off in the first 200m a little resist the urge to lead from the front, and instead try and sit like a seagull on a bunch for the first 1km for a sub 4min first K, then hang on to hopefully 4.30per K to the finish. The black cockatoos were flying east and big clouds were building, so the humidity was high at the WA Athletics stadium, I reckon about 60% plus, but the temperature had dipped into the mid 20’s and a 2.6m/s south westerly was there for us to struggle into on the backstraight, and ride the tailwind in the front straight. First 200m was 40 seconds, which felt sooo easy, but then the headwind hit in the back straight and I tried to use some of the other blokes as windshields. 400m in 1.22 so very even 200m splits of 40 and 42. Felt toughish, but still felt like I had a lot in reserve.Got to 600m in 2.05 still sitting on the bunch, which was starting to feel a bit hard, and probably one of my quicker 600m splits in recent times. By 800m clock was up to 2.53, and I was sick of the back straight headwind already, and struggling to stay in touch with the 4 or 5 blokes in the slowest back bunch running at 3.30-3.45 per K pace. Hung in there (although they were starting to “gap me” in the front straight) as per race plan, to get to 1k in 3.46, and then let the bunch go as I tried to settle into something more sustainable, hoping for 1.50’s or better. Averaged right on 1.50’s for the next 2 400’s so was pleased to get to 2k in 8.22 and split the 2nd 1k in 4.36. 1400m split was 5.35 so extrapolating 25 second 100m splits I know my 1500m time would have been about 6.00. Pleased with that recovery 1k after the sitting on a fast (for me) bunch in the first 1k.. Finding it tough but got some encourgaement from spectators, and I knew I just had to hold on for another 4.30ish 1k and my sub 13 was in the bag. Pre-race delusions of a sub 12 and maybe even a challenge to my 11.11 PB were reminded once again of the reality at this point that I have not done the trackwork this summer I needed to in training to get there. Sub 13 was still very much achievable though and a worthwhile target, so hung in there, and as I got lapped, I tried to pick up the intensity a little. Got to the bell (2600m) in about 10.59? maybe so with only a sub 2min last 400m required it was going to be easy as long as I held it together. The headwind in the back straight fired up as usual, but found a half-hearted kick in the front straight on the back of the tailwind, and cruised over with a 12.40. Considered wearing spikes beforehand, but decided against it as my spikes are old and unstable/damaged, and the last thing I want is an injury before 6 foot. Spikes might have given me a 12.30 maybe.

So the easy target of sub 13min (sub 4.20 per K) was achieved, I got some sitting on a bunch at 3.35-3.45 per K pace practice for 1k, and I got to pretend I was Mottram chasing Lagat,Solinsky, Tegankamp, St Lawrence, Birmingham and Bumbalough for 1k. Also had a song in my head driving me on into the backstraight headwinds which I heard while at work earlier in the day on the radio.

A good track hitout, a bit of progress, and a better race than the 5k 2 weeks earlier. Finally feel like I am starting to get somewhere, although still a very long way to get where I want to get to. Looks like this summer season is almost over but there is always the winter track races, or next years summer track season. Time to get ready for some marathons again soon too, but first there is the 6 foot challenge to respond to……
Full results are @ http://www.waathletics.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=294&Itemid=239

Thursday 3rd March; Ran hilly 6km in 28min 47 seconds HR 183 splits 14.26/14.21
Woke up with a reasonable heart rate of 40 bpm and the weight under 80 kg for a change, so felt good, and was keen to celebrate the Melbourne track classic with a run. Decided since I felt so good, it would be a good day to target my soft street circuit PB of 29.39. Figured I should be able to get it down to low 29’s maybe even into the 28’s…So ecstatic to nail a good one here, with a small 5 second negative split too. First 1km is downhill but pushing into a stiff north easterly wind today, so was satisfied with a 4.14 for the first 1km. Then averaged about 5.06 per K for the tough long uphill climb to the “summit” of this course which in one place has a quick but magnificent view of the CBD in the distance. Hitting halfway in my fastest 3k split so far on this course of 14.26 (I think maybe my first one under 15 too), I knew I was on target to smash the course PB of 29.39, but also knew I would have to work very hard if I was to get under the 29 minute barrier. Worked hard on the small uphill into the north easterly headwind, and then held it together with momentum on the big downhill reaching 5k in 24.28 which was encouraging. I knew if I was under 25minutes that the 29.39 should be smashable, and to be under 24.30 suggested a sub 29 was achievable. Really wound it up in the last 1km and kicked pretty strongly for home on the uphill climb of the last 1km. Had the northeasterly as a tailwind, which probably helped a lot in me recording a 4.19 last 1k which I think is my fastest last 1k on this course. Smashed the course PB by 52 seconds and the 29 minute barrier by 13 seconds…so extremely happy with that run, and exactly the sort of momentum I wanted to come out of the Moneghetti camp with. Now to try and figure out how to take things up a level after I get back from 6 foot. Paying the rent and the bills seems so much harder at the moment than anything else, but when I have a mini-breakthrough run like this one, it gives me a mental boost, and a reminder that God rules and cares.

St Lawrence Mottram Birmingham v Legat Solinsky and Tegankamp

2011-03-04T00:41:00.006+08:00

‎Melbourne Track Classic 5000m 3rd March 2011;
1 Bernard Lagat USA 13:08.43

2 Ben St Lawrence 81 NSWIS 13:10.08

3 Chris Solinsky USA 13:10.22

4 Matt Tegenkamp USA 13:16.27

5 Andrew Bumbalough USA 13:16.77

...6 Craig Mottram 81 VIS 13:25.15

7 Tim Nelson USA 13:28.09

8 Jeremy Roff 84 NSWIS 13:37.48

9 Isaac Songok KEN 13:38.43

10 Collis Birmingham 86 VIS 13:42.14

11 Liam Adams 86 VIC 13:44.60
12 David McNeill 86 VIC 13:51.95
13 Youcef Abdi NSWIS 13:53.00
14 Craig Miller USA 14:01.40
15 James Nipperess 91 NSWIS 14:06.74
16 Russell Dessaix-Chn 79 NSW 14:07.32
17 Alan Craigie 83 ACT 14:24.21
-- Paul Hoffman VIC DNF
-- Philo Saunders ACT DNF
-- Brandon Bethke USA DNF
first 5 got their world champs qualifier out of the way..Well done Ben St Lawrence!! flew the flag proudly! Mottram a little off the pace but he has momentum, is on track with that 13.25, if Mottram keeps the momentum going he could be on the podium again very soon. Solinsky gets one up on Tegankamp but they both get a qualifier. Birmingham didn't get a good result here...now just got to find the youtube of it..

video of this race is at Runners Tribe...

Visit runnerstribe.com for more Videos

after watching the video a few things become obvious; 1. Lagat has a kick like Bekele! The fact that he outkicks Solinsky so easily is impressive! Reckon he could have gone a lot faster. 2. Fantastic kick by Ben St Lawrence for 2nd, just not in the same class as Lagat quite yet, but thats a huge result by him, and the sky is the limit for him and Australia there.
3. Birmingham was there for the first 10min but when they wound up the pace he died/faded very badly in the last 3 min (maybe the marathon training is making him a bit weary. dont know, just guessing...
4. Mottram ran a well judged race, very very good tactically, just isnt quite ready yet to mix it with Lagat and Solinsky just yet, but he is pretty close to them, and that has to be a good result for him at the moment, hopefully he can catch up to St Lawrence by London 2012 Olympics, if he does that would be a remarkable comeback from the man who inspired people like Solinsky and Tegankamp to get to this level...

Long run at Moneghetti camp saves the week

2011-02-27T23:24:00.003+08:00

It was a big slice of runners paradise on the Moneghetti camp, with scintillating memories of the marathon master Moneghetti, Radar and all the legends, the cafe, the Physio, basketball, the river, pine forests and native bush and some more hilly 6 foot training during my long run on the Sunday.

On the Sunday I was able to log 2hrs 56min over about 23km of trails, (HR 135 at end) including some very good hills towards the end, as we found our way back to the road after our little divert to the south east adventure. Even stopped to try and pick some blackberries.

On the Saturday to fire up my weekend warrior effort for this week, in the AM I struggled to cope with the Fartlek and warmdown run, and in the PM did about 37min of trails.

2 weeks to go. The very invigorating times and insights at the camp could be of great value.
Hopefully I have enough in the bank for a successful 6 foot 45km trails race in Sydneys Blue Mountains. I think I do have what it takes, but it won't be until several hours into the race that I know for sure.
Im nervous, just want to get to the start line healthy, and ready to give it a good shot. Its been a goal for about 6 years since I did the first 6 inch 46km in 2005, with my (photos)26 minute PB at 6 inch in December 2010 (and a 9 minute PB at 6 inch 2009), I am hopefully as ready as I have ever been. Just a little worried that I have slacked off a bit since 6 inch in December, but the residual strength should still be there especially as I have maintained with zigzag run with C team, 35km Australia Day 4 hour slog in the heat, nearly 3 hours at the Mona camp, hill reps on my local roads, and the lesmurdie 2hour run with Aaaron and BBC covering 400m+ of elevation...These runs give me confidence that I can survive 6 foot and successfully finish in my first go at it. I'd like to have done a whole lot more training, and my mileage although improved has still not really hit the level I want, not even close, but although my training momentum and progression is slow, it is heading in the right direction... So hopefully I can get to the finish in under 7 hours. If things go well I will try for various time goals.

blazing away with a 29 second 200m in a 5000m race

2011-02-19T18:11:00.010+08:00

With 6 foot only 3 weeks away, I need to get onto some hill reps soon, and have about 14-18 days to get some more runs in, but don't want to do anything too extreme. Main thing is to get to start line with minimal injury issues, and enjoy the race, avoiding the sweepers, and maybe I can go sub 6 hours on the day....
was hoping to get up to Darlington for a run with the C-team, but didn't get there, lack of petrol money was one of the reasons.
Finishing the 6 foot track ... 45km in the blue mountains in under 7 hours, has been a major goal of mine for about 6 years, hoping I can make it in 21 days time.

Sunday 20th December 0800;
Ran 5x1km hill reps HR's 150-171, with 1km recovery run in between each rep.
54m of ascent and 16m of descent on each hill rep. Total elevation for session 270m.
Times; 5.11 (HR-??), 5.08 (HR-165), 4.50 (HR-171), 5.50 (HR 150), 5.22 (HR-162).

Found this really easy compared to when I did 3x1km hill reps in early January.
Worked hard on the 3rd rep to be only 8 seconds off my best time for this course.
Took it easy on the 4th and 5th reps, and I could feel the work on my calf muscles on the 4th rep especially.
Overall thats good news that I am getting stronger hill strength wise, but its obvious I need tougher steeper hills than this. The Lesmurdie run 2 weeks back with over 400m of elevation must have paid dividends. So Ive got 2 more weeks to try and find some steep hills again. Stirling Ranges would be ideal, but I dont think I have the time or money for that. The hills near Nanga will help a bit on the Moneghetti camp next weekend, but I still need more...
So a good session this one, but I think I need something a lot tougher...Have to head for the Darling Range as soon as I can...

Friday 18th December 2011 2000hrs;
Ran 5000m track race in 23min 31 secs HR 174 at end. 1k splits 4.05 /4.52/ 5.03 /4.55 /4.36
Hit the lead just before 200m mark, and was surprised to take only 29 seconds for the 200m this time, compared to 32 seconds on 10th December 2010 (the last time I raced a 5000m at WA Athletics Stadium). Managed to stay in the lead until about 250m or so maybe close to 300m, so my wife and 2 young kids got to see me in front, cos they all came to watch. I know it was a very exciting night especially for 3 year old Jacob to be there. It was a tough mission to get all 4 of us there, but overall I think our whole family enjoyed the experience, and are better for having been there.

Top 5 all in the 14 minute realm, and Raf Baugh was a close 3rd.
1 See, Marc SSN 14:38.6h 2 Heywood, Ethan SSN 14:44.4h 3 Baugh, Rafael AWA 14:46.7h 4 Bruins, Thomas UWA 14:54.6h 5 Busi, Roberto AWA 14:59.9h
See HERE for full results...Cody and Gerry had to settle for 6th and 7th in 15.25 and 15.51. Paul Mitchell there for 8th in 16.09. Four DNF's. The lead pack was large and aggressive, partly due to my pacemaking efforts maybe??? Possibly some photos coming on Codys blog maybe...

In an 800m race just before ours; Chris Deboer (I remember when he first started making state teams many, many years ago, when I was competing for the UWA club) got beaten by a Canning Districts runner Jace Collingridge in the 800m in 1.49!…

Anyhow back to my race. First 400m was 75secs (200m splits 29/46), and by 400m most of the field had passed me. I think I can run 200m in 27 or quicker on that fast track, maybe quicker, as I had some troubles getting my watch to start early on and lost a second or so sorting that out in the first 100m plus just feel I could find a bit more…However I think we had about a 2.6m tailwind in the front straight so that might have a bit to do with it. Still amazing at almost 37 years of age with an awful technique I am getting close to the 26.9 200m I did at interschool sports in 1985 as an 11 year old. So basically a great first 200m, hung in there ok for the first 1k, then struggled to hold together just under 5min per K, and couldn’t hit the 1.45-1.50 400m splits I needed to threaten my 21.49 5000m track PB. Solid kick for the finish with a 4.36 last 1k (last 400m 98 seconds), without really going for broke.
No full blooded kick to the finish = low finishing heart rate of only 174. Partly due to trying to avoid a stitch.

Overall its a mediocre run, but all I can expect with only the 2 slowish 500’s sessions in recent weeks. If I want the time I have to get some track sessions done. Nice to dip under 4.45 per K anyhow despite not really being ready to race. Just sick of spending the whole year not showing up to race cos I don’t feel ready physically and/or not well trained enough.

Listened to a lot of aggressive speed metal on a Deliverance compilation album(A decade of DELIVERANCE which features the previously unreleased track Rescue) a very hard to find but legendary song! which didn't make the cut for the WOOW album, and some aggressive industrial music (Fearful symmetry)(Black (in the alone), especially reminds me of the classic Deliverance speed metal pedal to the metal attack), while cranking out one of my best days at work so far in the new job (since November) today, so I was in an extremely aggressive racing mindset, and so very mentally ready to race. Managed to delude myself into thinking maybe I could run in the 21’s but reality set in at about 700m-2k, when I realised the spirit was willing but the weak body was not ready as usual. Plus was keen to see how Raf went.

Still glad I showed up, and very beneficial I think for our whole family to be there…hopefully next time I will have a stack of good track sessions under my belt. Nil injury issues also a good sign. just over 3 weeks until 6 foot, Moneghetti camp fast approaching, and maybe in late March or later I can finally post some good times/challenge the PB’s. But for now good just to get a solid race done…

Monday 14th February Ran 8km in 39min 57 HR 180 at end.
4km splits; 19.56/20.01
Nice to smash the 40min barrier for 3rd time on this hilly street circuit.
More than a minute off the course PB I did in December of 38.40…but one of my best runs this year for sure…
heart rate pretty high at the end, after kicking strongly for home in the last uphill km in an attempt to sneak under the 40 minutes. Mission accomplished by 3 seconds.
Started with 4.30 in the first downhill K, and lugging my 82kg spare tyre along seemed hard…The 60-70% humidity resulted in more than 1kg of fluid loss (mostly sweat) during this run.
Managed to find a 4.10 K with a tailwind on the nice flat section, followed by a 4.35 into headwind on the flat section, which gave me a 5k split of 24.35 battling headwinds in the second half of this run, but managed to get under 35.30 for 7k which was my hastily devised target time with a 35.24, so I knew I was half a chance to get under the 40, and kicked hard for home with an uphill 4.33 last K… Pleasing run…

Celebrating my promotion from waitlist to confirmed entrant in 6 foot with some better runs this week…...

4 weeks until 6 foot!!!!!!!

2011-02-13T21:40:00.004+08:00

Well its 4 weeks until 6 foot now, so getting close and as of today I am finally off the waitlist and a confirmed entrant. I was quietly confident this would happen for a long time, but its taken longer than I thought it would, and its just a relief to finally be over that significant hurdle. Ive tried not to be anxious about it, but its been a 2 month wait, that has been hard to ignore. Trainingwise this week was a bit of a wipeout, although I did do;
1. 20.5km long run saturday 2hrs 33min trails HR 120,
2. 7km on Tuesday @ 5.17 per Km...HR only 153...and
3. slow 9.5k on Friday (52min 18).
In general, between niggles and trying to step up at work, deal with 6 foot entry this week, (I had to juggle borrowing money for entry fee with work commitments) and other hassles its been a bit of a dud week, although the 37km done will ensure I dont lose too much ground.

In the 6 foot 100 day mileage challenge as of Saturday I had clocked up 84km for my February total and was on track for about 200km for the month, which gives me a chance of beating my January total of 201km, but I want to do more than that...I have 15 days to turn it around...and try and at least make it to 250km or maybe 300km...

I figure Ive got 1-2 more weeks to try and put in some good long runs, and about 3 more weeks to try and work on my hills stuff, and general fitness, speedwork etc. After that its race day and hopefully the Zig Zag run, the 35k on Australia day, the 13k with almost 500m elevation at Lesmurdie, my 6 inch PB of 5.49 in December, and the Black Swan hillreps I have done will help me finish 6 foot well...

R has constructed this awesome little vid based on his and BBC's real life experiences...see
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11084665/

My track racing plans have fallen by the wayside unfortunately. Its not too late to resurrect them, but my motivation and opportunities are dwindling each week that I fail to get on track for that. So not giving up on a return to track racing, but not sure when it will be, (could be this Friday if all goes well, or it could be in a few weeks, after 6 foot, or April, maybe wait until October or whatever)...Anyhow I have more important priorities unfortunately just now, and until they are dealt with track racing continues to be pushed into the low priority basket....

So not a good week, not a useless week, but more a hanging in there maintenance week than anything else. But at least I can plan for 6 foot now in the knowledge that my entry is taken care of...so Thanks God for that.

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged and helped me, I hope to put some good results on the board soon, and build on the 2 years of 6 inch PB's and the 4.05 Melbourne Marathon last year, the 46min Freo 10k and the 22min 5k races plus the 7.55 2k last year, and hopefully see some good results... Moneghetti camp coming soon, so that should help renew some optimism. If I had the money and time I'd be at a Physio or Chiro for both me and my wife, as we both need it for several niggles that are frustrating both of us.

lesmurdie busso half and 500s

2011-02-06T13:59:00.007+08:00

Photos from an epic, tough, steep, glorious Lesmurdie run. Massive thanks and respect to A and BBC for this one. Me very happy, although the freaky fall was a painful one...
In brief;
our internet is down again my calf is very sore (and with icepack on right now) after busselton half (BUSSELTON RESULT HEREmy wounds from my scary fall on 13k lesmurdie 460m elevation trail run are healing our bills r stacking up and i am blogging with my mobile phone which is very! Slow and laborious. Monday 5.6k run 34min
tuesday-small 16second improvement to 11.35 for 6x500m 1.49 my best one
wednesday 13k 1hr45min 460m elevation steep!scarp hills! Glorious views
Photos above...

saturday 1min better than last year 1hr 51min 41secs (Busselton Half) so
first 1k 4.11 5k 23.53
sunday 8.4km 46min hr 153 strong winds icepacked calf 3 times today first 500m sore every step then pain gone sore again after the run but then calf felt better during 90min walk with some jogging with my wife and two young kids
so some high intensity this week but no big long run but if the calf heals quick im making progress the bills getting veryery! Hard to deal with desperate times again but high hopes we can get past it all god willing thats 3 weeks of solid ttraining banked but no big result in my first race of the year need to be patient and try to persist.

In Detail;
Internet connection back so have added photos and no longer have to try and type using tiny phone keypad...

feeling a whole lot more positive now that I have moved up the waitlist for 6 foot again AND my entry for BBC's summer training comp has been accepted. wuhoo!

Sunday 6th feb;
Ran 8.4km in 46min 26 (5.31 per K) HR 153…
Last of 12 laps was my quickest. Basically a test run to see if my sore calf could survive a few laps. i icepacked it 3 times during the day, and wasn’t very confident to start with…It weas sore with every step for the first 500m and at that stage I figured maybe a km or so and then I would call it a night and take a few days off…Then the pain disappeared which suggests to me that once the muscles warmed up the injury was no longer sore…no major problems for the next 7-8k…, although I took it a little easy…strong easterly wind to push into…found some good rhythm and I am pleased to get a solid run on the board that gets me over 50km and 300min for the week, and takes me to 47km for my February total in the 100 day challenge…
After the run the calf got sore again as my muscles cooled down…a 90 minute walk with my wife and kids plus some jogging with my 3 year old (he is getting quite quick now…) and it started to feel good again so hopefully just a painful niggle that will heal itself in the next few days…

Saturday 5th February
Ran Busselton Half Marathon in 1hr 51min 41 secs. HR 171 at end.
10.55km splits 54min 18secs / 57 min 23 secs
-Its a minor miracle I made it to the start line for this one, a 3hr solo drive starting at 0330 to get there an average of 2hrs sleep the last 2 nights, a massive struggle to get the petrol money to go there.
-Its also a minor miracle I managed to beat last years time by 69 seconds (therefore a small course record for me), after battling sore left calf for most of the race, strong winds, weariness from the wednesday trail run, no targeted training, and an unscheduled toilet stop in the first 10k…Finished strongly and my drinks strategy seemed to work well. Was blessed with some people to battle with in the last few km. Disappointing not to get closer to the 1.41 Half PB, but that can wait for another day, although it will be a long wait as Darlington clashes with 6 foot, and Freo Half is probably too close to Melbourne, my main race since 2007. I think Perth needs a few more Half races., I guess there is Bunbury, Albany and City to Surf.
Nice to finally get a race on the board for 2011. Really like this course. A good solid hitout. Will be very beneficial and hopefully I can do a few more like this in training.

Wednesday 2nd February
Ran 13km in 1hr 45min 27 secs Elevation gain about 460m maybe.
Followed BBC and A up some tough terrain trails, with some long very steep uphills and downhills.
At times I struggled to keep them in sight, and at other times I ran ahead of them, but mostly I was struggling more than them I think. Took one gatorade and one 750ml water. Just enough. A lot of bullants, one crawled up my leg.
Towards the end my shoelace caught on a treestump as it was getting dark, which shredded my shoelace, and cause me to fall resulting in big cuts to the arms, and a cramping right calf muscle. Minor cut to left knee. Hopefully no major injury issues, and just a war wound from the run. Fantastic run prep for 6 foot I think. Scintillating views of the city,coastal plain, waterfall, perth airport. One of the toughest, and most enjoyable runs I have done in a long time. Really happy to get the opportunity to do this one. One tough hill in the second half the run was just so steep and went on and on for ages…Towards the end me and A had a bit of a sprint off in the dark…what a fun night of trail running…!!!

Tuesday 1st February 2011;
Ran 3km of Intervals on grass track in 11min 35secs. 3.5min rests Heart rates 168-186, but mostly around the 174 mark… 16 second improvement on total time for identical session in first week of January, although in perfect conditions this time (other than the strong southwesterly wind which made it hard work up the front straight, but a nice tail wind in the backstraight.), and also this time the track was well marked so I could concentrate on the session a bit more instead of searching for the track all the time, or trying to cope with excessive heat/humidity mixes… Very pleasing to improve significantly. I think if I can ramp up the fitness enough, eventually 3.40 per K should be possible for this session. Will probably have to do some speed drills and improve my running technigue If I am to go much into the 3-3.30 per Km realm…First 100m was 18 seconds, and with the tailwind I was hitting 20 seconds for first 100m and last 200m, but my 300m-400m sections were very slow about 27 seconds for the 100m, and I think my front straights (200m-300m) were slow also due to the headwind…
Overall lots to work on but a good session this one.

Monday 31st; Ran 5.6km in 34min 6secs HR 129 at end…Pathetic….mostly ran to get my January total above 200km, and to try and get my day off to a better start…oval was a mess of temporary fencing and portaloos leftover from the concert that got cancellled due to the TC that didnt show up…what a shambles…a bit like my training at the moment…although my mileage the last 2 weeks has been very solid…

Solinsky Lagat Mottram 5000m showdown March 3rd

2011-02-03T23:56:00.003+08:00

March 3rd,2011 Melbourne, D-day!...looking forwrad to hearing how this one goes, hope to either be there or get some youtube footage of it, maybe on TV...what a showdown of a race...some big guns in this one...
Tegankamp another sub 13minuter, Birmingham and St Lawrence also there too...

Another 400min+ (60km+) week banked...

2011-01-30T13:06:00.011+08:00

About half a dozen of the West Australians doing 6 foot in 2011 in this bunch of runners. Most of this group did 6 inch 2010 in December also. I am the third runner to the left of the lady with the orange shirt.

I am building some momentum, my 6 foot base is starting to take shape, and the zig zag rd 28km run last Saturday 22nd January(see photo above thanks to Jane and Paddy.) with the C-team was one of the key runs, as was the 35km on Australia Day.
Only just nudging the 200km mark for January, so hoping to get to 300km+ in February, but at least now I have 2 weeks of half-decent base K's to work with in 2011. Just need to keep ramping things up, and now that the domestic issues of bills, transition into new job, new car, etc etc..., hopefully I can get back into some high intensity short stuff, and do some track racing, but first there is the Busselton Half marathon next weekend. Either way, I feel like I've come through the worst of a dark tunnel in recent months, and hopefully in February I can start hitting my targets again...

Sunday 30th January 2011 A.D.
Ran 17.5km in 2hrs 01min 41secs HR 153 at end Splits 62.26 / 59.15.
1st downhill 1k 5.38! last uphill (hot and humid!!) 1k 5.31!!!
Effectively a slowish LFD run with a lot of speedplay/fartlek type flavour to it…tried to minimise the walk breaks today to only the designated walk break sections (the bluemetal), and run hard the rest of the trails…saw 5 rabbits…..
About 80% humidity and 24 degrees at the start was ok, but 65% humidity and 30 degrees in the last 30-40minutes was a bit hard to cope with, especially in a longsleeve top…When it gets over 27 degrees humidity inflates the effect of temperature on the body, in a similiar way to the way wind chill works…According to a heat index converter @ http://www.easysurf.cc/cnver16.htm thats equivalent to running in 34 degrees dry heat…which explains why I was sweating bucketloads…plus because its humid your sweat doesn’t work properly…if I’d been out there much longer cramps would have occurred…

Managed a 3 minute negative split which is very pleasing…bucketloads of sweat, only carried 2L drinks and that was only just adequate. Extra keen to run when I could see from the weather advice cyclone not going to arrive this morning, and is downgraded to a tropical low now anyhow…wasted a bit of time replying to a text message from my dad…Overall a pretty satisfying run, and nice to dip under 7min per K which was one of my goals for the morning… That gets me to 488minutes for this week compared to 444min for last week, and takes me to 65k compared to 66k last week, so starting to hit the sort of base maintenance I want for 6 foot. I’m running every second day (only 3 non running days this week, and although disappointed not to do planned sessions on Thursday and Saturday, its another very good week. Not where I want to be yet, but thats a solid 2 week slab of base done…just need to keep the momentum going and bring in some high intensity stuff soon…

Friday
Ran 9.5km in 58min 12 in 33 degree heat...HR 138.

Wednesday January 26th (Australia Day)
Celebrated Australia day with a solo 35km trail run overdistance (OD) style session. HR 126
splits (not that it matters much with this type of run); 2.08.50 / 2.37.33
Adventure/explore type run.

Carried 4 litres of drinks (hydration pack AND handhelds), as I knew I’d be out there for 4 hours or more, and in the end probably could have done with another 600ml. The weight of all the drinks was slowing me down a bit for the first 30-60minutes, but still managed to get to 12.75k in 1hr 32min which is just over the 7 min per K pace. On these fairly tough terrain trails (with blue metal walk break sections), and a few hills and gates, soft sand in a few places, thats a fairly good pace. Wasn’t in the mood to go fast anyhow. Main goal was to do an overdistance long run (OD is my lowest intensity long run, aim is to keep heart rates below 140 throughout and preferably around the 110-130 mark, so its like a slow LSD session, except the other goal for this session is to be out there for longer time than I would generally race much, in my case I needed to be putting more than 4 hours of time on my feet))
with 4 hours+ of time out there. Aimed to be under 7min 30 per K for the first 17.5km which is 2.11.15. Did that with 2 minutes to spare with the 2.08.50. That was mainly to stay motivated, and ensure I got to the halfway mark quick enough to still have enough drinks to survive the trip back. Main aim is to spend maximum time on feet with low intensity, as 6 foot is likely to take me 5-7 hours so I need the body to be ready for that sort of duration…

Then I took it easy as fat burning kicked in in a big way, I ran out of carbs, got mildly dehydrated, the temperature headed for 28degrees+, the UV started tanning my legs, and the rabbits,kangarroos, sheep, and reptiles in the bushes refused to respond to my shouts of Aussie,Aussie,Aussie, as I celebrated Australia Day mostly with no humans in earshot or sight…

Took some big breaks to send some long text messages to my mum and wife, regarding a few matters for today, and walk-breaked through the blue metal and dune sand type sections, before getting running again on the limestone trail. A couple of big hills, and I was noticing the heat, and thinking about when to have my last powerade, which I decided to drink at about the 26km mark. The 80-90min gaps between sports drinks was perhaps a bit too long (I like to keep it to 45-60min), but I was sipping water from another bottle along most of the way, and I had to ration my drinks a bit to survive the run back. Tried to aim some of the water I had left at my carotid artery as thats a key area to keeping core temperature low.

With a couple of km to go and getting pretty dehydrated (not desperate, but starting to notice it a fair bit),
I came across a couple of young teens/early 20’s blokes playing cricket in the park. I did a streaker run (without removing any clothes) through their pitch which pleased them greatly, and they offered me a beer (beers seemed to be the primary activity, while cricket was the secondary activity) which I didn’t take of course partly because I’m a lifelong non-drinker, but I yelled Aussie,Aussie, Aussie, which pleased them greatly again, and they responded Oi,Oi,OI, which pleased me greatly as finally I had found someone to share Australia Day with, after the sheep ignored me, the rabbits did a runner, and the kangaroos and reptiles hid in the bush.
This buoyed my somewhat tired spirits, but I couldn’t stay as I had a 4 lane road to navigate in and out of the traffic (with hydration pack on and very tired legs not keen on stepping up onto a kerb, let alone sprinting across to beat the traffic) , and 1.5km to get back home before my parents visit to see their grandkids was over.

So an enjoyable low intensity run that became pretty grind-planetariumish/slow plod/jog by the end, but mission accomplished a good overdistance run done just over 6 weeks out from 6 foot 45km in the blue mountains race.
I’m aiming at higher km for this week. I’ve decided to get on the mileage bandwagon a bit in 2011 and use km as a secondary measure so I can compare what I am doing with others who use that measure, although I still think its an inferior, flawed, limited way to measure training. Anyhow first big run for this week done. Did a slow 3.5km on Monday, so up to 38.5km for this week so far. Its time to get serious about 6 foot training, and todays run along with the 28km on the zig zag on last saturday will help a lot. Need to get back to hill reps, and start getting consistent with daily or at least every 2nd day sessions, before I start bringing in the track work to sharpen up, and go after some track PB’s hopefully from late February onwards…maybe earlier if I finally get my act together.

Monday 24th January 2011 A.D. Ran a slow 3.5km on the local oval in 21min 41...HR 123.

28k zig zag run and 6k in 29.39=a better week

2011-01-22T18:21:00.006+08:00

In brief; 444min or 66km in 4 runs this week.

Sunday 21.5km in 2.56 heart rate 120

Saturday 28k in 3.03 heart rate 159. Lots of elevation on the ascent of the zig zag rd took me 23min to do the "up" part of the 7th painathlon challenge

Some relevant links;
Zig Zag road
Zig Zag run
Embers resturant cnr Lenori rd.
Friday 6k in 29.39 heart rate 183

Tuesday 10.5k in 54.28 heart rate 162

Its been a good solid weeks training I'd say a B minus for this week.
Lack of intervals was the big negative from this week, but I feel primed to fix that...
Overall I feel my 6 foot plans are one track, but my short stuff needs reinvigoration, and in addition will be trying to ramp up everything in the next few weeks...

Flat out with new job (12 hour shift on Friday, and a pretty big day on Wednesday), but its all looking good as can be expected at the moment...

In detail;
Sunday 23rd January Ran 21.5km in 2hrs 56min 07 secs heart rate 120
10.25km splits 1.34/1.17 plus about 5-6 minutes for the last 1km extra bit...
Started out with heavy weary tired sore legs which hadn't recovered too well from the 28k Zig zag tough run the day before. I knew it would be hard to get going today and it sure was!!!
I also guessed that back to back long runs would simulate a 6 foot race a bit, and take me into that running on tired lkegs world, which could be handy training, plus keep my slim hopes of getting the 3000km in the January leg of the 100 day challenge alive, and help build my base for 6 foot...plus hopefully set me up for a much better week. Very humid but otherwise cool afternoon conditions. Phonecalss to my Dad, sister and wife ensured my early slow jog was very slow indeed. After a slow grind to the 10.25km turnaround in 1.34 on my local trails I resolved to bring it home a lot stronger and did so as the splits show (about 17 minutes quicker), a pretty big negative split...An extremely relaxed OD/LSD long run at very low intensity but mission accomplished in that I simulated running 49km or similiar...
Saturday 22nd January Ran 28km in 3hrs 3min 41 seconds @ 6.33 perK HR 159 at end!
Splits 1.34/1.29.
Now thats more of an LFD type effort for me. The hills of the zig zag road took a lot out of me on this one. I struggled up in 23min, so much so that the C-team had finished their “hug break” by the time I got up there, and then we continued onto Embers cafe I think near Lenori Rd. I’m guessing a lot on the distance and course, but the mapmyrun route I found with a google search seems to confirm it. Hills towards the end climbing out of the Helena Vally ensured the heart rate stayed high for a long run. Not far off the intensity I used at 6 inch last year. A hard run, had some fun on the steep downhill trails after the quarry hammering it downhill. It appears my downhill running skills are superior to the others, but on the uphill I am walk-breaking it too much, although I did run all the way up most of the zig Zag, and I am way slower than everyone else.
I will gain some significant hill climbing and general conditioning gains from that run, so very worthwhile session, I’d say possibly my best run so far this year. The views from the top of the zig zag down the scarp to the city and the airport are totally awesome, Ive finally done something Ive wanted to do for at least a year, and thats run up the zig zag. Also got educated about the Raison d’être for Comrades, so a wonderful mornings run for sure…A few more like that and my 6 foot prep is looking a lot better.

Friday 21st;
Ran 6km in 29min 39secs HR 183 at end.
3k splits; 15.23/14.16
1k splits; 4.26 (down) 5.28 x2 (up) 4.56 x2 (down) 4.23 (up)
Course PB! (yeah it was a pretty soft one and Ive only done this course 3 times, but still nice to raise some sort of bar) Felt pretty yucky this morning, and with a resting heart rate of 45 (compared to 39 on Tuesday), didn’t have high expectations. Didn’t have much time available before work, so instead of getting on the trails, or braving the sprinklers and dogs, I decided to do a quick 6k on my hilly mostly bitumen street circuit as it would be done in about 30 minutes, plus I could chase the soft course PB, which would motivate me to attack a bit more. Put bodyglide on just in case, as I still have all the scabs from the chafing on Tuesday where I drew blood in about 10-30 little pinprick spots. No chafing issue this time, so thats good. The weather was awesome for fast running, cool temperature, and a little light rain. Perfect.
Tried to take it out at a solid pace, without going for broke. Was a bit surprised to get through the first 1k in under 4.30 even on downhill. Backed off a bit for the next 2k, but tried not to slow up too much even though its a climb to the summit of the course. Stayed under 5.30’s which is perfect, and I knew I had the chance to not only knock off the 31.13 from 2009, but that I was an outside chance of cracking 30 minutes if I could negative split enough…tried to work the mostly downhill K’s hard and as a result was able to dip under 5min per K. Was hurting a fair bit by here, and when I hit 5k in 25.16, I was thinking its going to be tough to go sub 5 min for the last uphill climb to the finish, I was thinking 30.30 at this stage….Went hard at it, and checked my wristwatch again at 27.29 and 29.07, and both times I am thinking, hey I have a sub 30 here if I can hold it together…Hurting a fair bit as I climbed the steep road to the finish, but tried to kick pretty hard to the line, and was very,very pleased to land a 29.39 and a big negative split of 1min 07 secs, on a day I could so easily have just gone straight to work, instead of bothering as I really didn’t feel like running much…4.56 per K is not that crash hot, but, I know it was a good run for where I was at. So thats 2 out of 5 ok days this week, and still the weekend to come….Thanks God.

Tuesday 18th January 2011 A.D.;
Ran 10.5km in 54min 28 secs @ 5.11 per K HR 162 at end.
3.5 k splits; 17.39/18.27/18.22
700m splits;
3.18/ 3.27/ 3.31/ 3.44/ 3.39/
3.53/ 3.52/ 3.38/ 3.37/ 3.33/
3.45/ 3.37/ 3.44/ 3.38/ 3.38
After 7 days of not running, I knew today would not be easy, but woke up before 5am today, so decided to finally do what I have been meaning to do for weeks, but most days have failed to so far, partly due to domestic worries/hassles dominating things in recent weeks. Still have unresolved matters to deal with in a big way, but have a little more hope today that things might finally get back onto an even keel financially after the difficult last 2 months, although I still see a lot of yet to be resolved issues. Wasn’t expecting much, but decided to give the tough trails a miss, and take the easy option of getting on the grass of the local oval and try for a solid 15 laps worth.

As expected my conditioning was not very good after 7 days of not running, although I did wake up with a RHR of 39 this morning, which is the first time under 40 beats per minute this year, maybe thats a result of the extra sleep I got last week, cos I sure havent done any training in the last 7 days to get it down although the 25k long run and the 6×500m earlier this month may have helped, plus some of the long walks I did while getting my car worked on last week…. Was happy my first lap dipped under 3.20 but wasn’t really feeling motivated to do much more than “plod” today anyhow, main aim was to try and stay under 4 min per 700m, and hopefully put a few laps on the board around about the 3.30 per 700m (5.00 per K) pace. I did as planned. Didn’t really surge much, except for a little after 6km when I drank my 600ml of water.

The sprinklers and dogs were there as usual, but mostly didn’t really matter today. I think I am getting better at coping with the sprinklers, and maybe even the dogs I had to stop for today which were off the lead and tried to attack…Gave one owner a bit of an earful today, but overall probably didnt cost me more than a few seconds today, and they were just your average dog today, nothing really bad.

Pleased that (as shown by the 3.5k splits) my last 3.5k was actually faster than my middle 3.5k, so I was finding some rhythm as the run went on, and the nice soft grassy surface is really nice to run on. Perfect time of the day to be running, especially as I got out the door, before my wonderful 3 year old woke up. Did not kick for home, and the finishing heart rate of 162 is pretty low, so certainly not a time trial run, more of a mongrel cross-breed of a tempo/easy run. Had elements of both but wasn’t either really. More of a “try and get back on track” run really…hahaha I got really bad chafing on one leg for some reason after this one so might have to take a day off tomorrow to settle that…

Gives me a C pass mark in the 100 day challenge for at least 1 day this week anyhow, although I am way off the target pace now after my shocker/dud total F week last week, and my first week being a D grade standard effort with 41km… I am at 74.5km for January and target mileage for today is 180km, so only about 105.5km off the pace…

I looked back through my old training diaries and turns out I’ve only done this 15 lapper at the local oval once before in mid 2009. That day I did 57min with a finishing heart rate of 177, so I guess I can claim almost a 3 min course PB on a day my finishing heart rate was 15 beats lower, and I wasn’t really that interested in attacking, so its obvious how much better a level I am at 2 years later, which is encouraging, but still like Hewitt getting 2 matchpoints in the 5th set against Nalbandian (and LLeyton should have won in the 4th set actually), I am not pushing home the advantage and progressing to the next level like I want to. I know what I want to do, I just need to do it, at least 4-5 days per week, and I should hit a new level. Hoping I can crank up to the next level, raise the bar, find the next gear etc before this summer is over…Today was a step in the right direction, but its a long road. Onwards…

329min or 41km then inundated with the rat race.

2011-01-17T00:25:00.003+08:00

I began the 2011 attack better than in the first week of 2010 with 329 minutes of running (41.5km), and had a solid 6 x500m intervals session and a solid 25.5km long run. Didn't get to my blogging that week, and disappeared into the bermuda triangle of work, worry, bills and the rat race. I started week 2 with a slow 3.5km on the monday and had high hopes of getting back on track, but it never eventuated. Really need a big turnaround to get things back on track, as I don't want too many dud weeks like this in 2011...A lot of walking around streets and plenty of sleep this week, means the resting heart rate is still around the 41-45 mark on my better days, but if i want to get back into the sub 40 domain I was in for about the last 21 weeks of 2010, I need to arrest this slide in motivation, and deal with the obstacles in my path quick smart. Hopefully the remaining 2 weeks of January will see me back on track and by mid February will be building some momentum again...

Monday 10/01/11;
Ran 3.5km in 17min 41 HR 162 Temperature about 24 degrees.
3.33/ 3.13/ 3.45/ 3.42/ 3.28 for 700m splits (laps of local park).
Easy run to get me in the right frame of mind for stage 2 of the big challenges we are facing as a family at the moment. We negotiated the insurance payout one last week after more than 2 months of trying, and so everything in January is sorted. But there is still another critically important matter to negotiate in the next few weeks, and until its sorted, its hard for me to just trust God, and I will be on edge and distracted mentally and logistically until its sorted out. Anyhow back to the run; bit slow and sluggish, plus conditioning has slipped a lot in the last 7 days, also a bit chafed from yesterdays 9km with Jacob in the pram…as it took more than 1 hour, and I didnt wear body glide or proper running shorts…so am paying for that a bit today…
Pleased I could push the pace a little on the second lap, but was just cruising along today, had no zip at all…
Usual collection of dogs off the lead, but no major dramas with them this time thankfully, not that I really cared that much this morning, the main thing was just to get the legs turning over at somewhere around 5min per K, wasn’t really in condition mentally or physically to attack any time goals…
However that should get my week off to a better than nothing start, and after a fairly solid start to the year last week, (heaps better than the 2010 effort), if I can survive this week, hopefully will be getting back on track by the weekend…

WEEK 1 2011;
41.5km of running, 329 minutes covered in 3 sessions, best RHR for week 42.

Sunday 9/01/11;
9km run with Jacob in the pram...

Saturday 8/01/11;
Ran about 25.5km in 3 hrs 9 min 35 seconds. HR 144 at end. 12.75km splits; 1.31 / 1.38
Regular walk breaks on the bluemetal sections, while not running the tricky hilly terrain of my local limestone trails.
Temperature 19 degrees when I started, and about 27 when I finished.Took 2.55L of drinks in hydration pak. That was adequate drinks, but would not have liked to have run with any less drinks. Saw about 3 rabbits this time, and had the trails to myself. Used my local parks and Ulak course to access the trails. Worked hard from 8.75K to 16.75k, hitting the 4km sections there in 26minutes and 29 minutes. Still an LSD (long slow distance) style run, with a lot of walk breaks, but the surges in pace from 8k to 16k especially, the hills, terrain and warm temperatures, combined with carrying a lot of much needed drinks, took it into the higher echelon of heart rates for an LSD workout. On the boundary of becoming more of an LFD style run. (Long fast distance), which is good, because I need to start doing some LFD long runs as well as the LSD and OD (overdistance) style long runs, if I am to improve quickly, although I don’t want to make the mistake that a lot of runners seem to make which is to do all long runs at LFD intensity. That said, what is LFD pace for me, maybe LSD pace for someone else, and also if I improve a lot, then what used to be LFD pace will become LSD pace and so forth, just one of the many reasons why measuring training by minutes instead of km is a superior way to measure training volume, although if used well, both can be useful. Heart rate is the primary determinant of intensity and therefore style of run, not pace, although obviously an LFD run tends to have a faster pace generally.

A good solid long run, my first really good one from distance and duration points of view since 6 inch a few weeks ago, so its serious game on for 6 foot now I hope. So a good way to kick off my long runs for 2011. Hopefully some big improvements in the coming weeks.

I signed up for the Moneghetti camp today also… That bumps up my January total to 51.5km in the 100 day 6 foot challenge (mileage target of 300km per month), and gets me back to being almost on track again. Hope to get to 70km-90km -ish before the weekend is over. To use a more powerful and superior measure of training volume that gets me to 252minutes of training volume for this week, after the good 62minutes (and 7km) in Mondays intervals/easy warm down run (6×500m @ 3.57 per K HR’s 171-186 and 4km easy run) combo session.
The 252 minutes so far this week, puts me above my “satisfactory” weekly target of 240minutes, which I have had for many years, and a chance of getting to the “good” target zone for this week maybe. The “sensational” target of 10 hours (600minutes) won’t happen this week, but maybe in the next few weeks…Cleared up a major insurance matter in the last few days which has been dogging my family for more than 2 months, so big thanks to God for that, and if we can get our other big issue sorted soon, I can hopefully focus more on training and less on major domestic issues…Game on maybe this time…I hope…

Ran 6 x500m @ 3.57 per Km Heart rates 171-186.Temperature 34 degrees 40% humidity.
500m times; 1.55/ 1.58/ 2.00/ 1.55/ 1.58/ 2.02…Strong north winds to push into made it tough.
Hard to be motivated in these conditions on a grass track which was so faded it was very hard to tell where to run, but I got used to it. Almost gave up and went home, (council needs to come and remark the track!) but got inspired by a young triathlete by the name of Jenelle who was doing a few laps there, and decided to give it a go.
Pleased to average under 4 minutes a Km for the reps, although I took very long 4 minute rests, which I would want to get down to 2-3 minute rests in future sessions I think maybe.

Afterwards did a few laps of the entire park for about 4km with a bloke I saw running there by the name of Matt. I nice easy run to do to consolidate the intervals, and we chatted about cricket, soccer and other stuff, which made the 30 minutes rush by very quickly. A good solid session to kick off the week.

C'MON! 8k PB and 2010 review

2011-01-02T15:07:00.010+08:00

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.

6 inch photos + 18.4k run/walk in the bank

2010-12-26T17:15:00.005+08:00

Over 700 fantastic photos at 6 inch 2010 Ive got 20 on my facebook page... Long run done this weekend, initial recovery from 6 inch PB, and Christmas done, its hopefully game on for 6 foot and track dreams!

Relief and elation with the finish in sight and a sub 6hour 6 foot qualifier and massive PB in my grasp!!!! One of the happiest moments of this year!

35km done, aid station 2 a welcome sight, and wondering if a sub 6 was still possible after a horror 62min stretch with too much walking and a toilet break from 30km to 35km, through the tough hills after Oakley Dam.

Taking a break to give Dennis a good photo about 27km into it. Still feeling ok at this stage, but in 3rd gear as opposed to 5th gear by this stage.

Early on I really worked hard with some attacking surges to get to 17km in 1.53 13 minutes quicker than ever before on this course and about 28min faster than last years split...Awesome to put the pedal to the metal and be runni9ng at about 4.50 pace or quicker at this stage, but I knew I wasn't fit enough to sustain this intensity all the way, especially as my nose was running like a tap, although I tried to go with Catherine for a bit about 19km into it(she did 4.54)...

The usual trailblazing start before I was confronted with Goldmine Hill, and the reality that I couldn't run all the way up it.

the crouch start returns

so you think you can dance...mock jostle for starting pozzie

Me, BK and BC before the race, all 3 of us back with some big ambitions after last years efforts. BK and BC joined the exclusive sub 4 club and I got my sub 6...

Sunday 26th December Boxing Day 18.4km run/walk. 2hrs 38min 10 secs. Splits; 68min/90min Started slowish, and pushed into a stiff easterly headwind. Some walk breaks, but a solid pace getting to 9.2km in 68minutes, on hilly roads for the first 3.5km, then limestone trails with some small hills Briefly on the way back I had a good tailwind and my hydration was ok. Started to hit a fast pace, but soon the heat started to kick in as the mercury hit 28- 30 degrees celsius, and the wind lessened, and I started to get severe sunburn. ran out of drinks and with about 6km to go was reduced to big walk breaks, and short slow jogging efforts, as dehydration and sunburn started to effect me. The run became a struggle to get home. Then the wind picked up on the hills in the last 3km, and I got very keen to find a tap, to refill my water bottle, which I did, and gulped down 600ml real quick. More plodding and walkingto finish, the last 9km taking me about 90min. So its done a 2 hour + run on Boxing Day, will help to consolidate the strength gains 7 days after 6 inch, and is another good one to bank with 6 foot just a few months away, but I am severely sunburnt, didn’t take enough drinks with me and was not very motivated today. Not an inspiring run, but hopefully will help me to be better positioned for some better more encouraging sessions in the coming weeks.
The way I was moving from 9km to 11km felt very fluid, and the best Ive felt while running for a long while, so thats one positive out of today. Post run some minor soreness in the left hammy again, not a good sign but hopefully will get through that one with a good nights rest tonight. Time to ramp up the training volume (a bit like mileage, but a better way of describing it), get some hills reps going and basically get into condition to race track well, and prepare for a good 6 foot debut….

Thursday 23rd December; 2.8km run/walk 17min 20 to bank ATM and a quick climb to the summit of my suburb and back before work at about 6am...

I need 421 min in the last week of this year to beat my training volume total in minutes from last year, which from memory is about 149 hours. So from a training volume point of view its been a similiar year to last year, The 6 inch 26min PB of 5.49 is probably my best race for the year, although Melbourne Marathon in 4.05 (and Half in 1.46) despite calf injury, Busselton Half in 1.52, City to Surf Marathon in 4.15, Australian Masters 1500m in 5.34, Freo 10k fun run in 46.53, John Gilmour 10k track in 47.36, some Masters 5k races in 22.06, 2k race in 7.55 800m in 2.46 and 100m in 14.6 are the other good ones for the year. I'll never forget the Moneghetti camp, or Mottram visiting Perth, and overall I know I've made some significant gains this year, although with the possible exceptions of the 22.06 5k races, the 5.34 1500m, and the 5.49 6 inch big PB, I don't think my race results have really confirmed this, and as such I feel there are more breakthrough runs like 6 inch ahead if I can get it right in some races soon. Its been an injury plagued year, although most of the injuries have been niggly minor ones I have been able to get through quickly, they have been enough to muck up my big races. Financially and job wise still yet to get anywhere and we are struggling more than ever before to make ends meet right now as a family. In addition I have lost my car, and 2 months later am still chasing compensation from the person who ran into the back of me, and wondering if I'll ever get the couple of thousand bucks I am owed. However I have started a new job, and am still hoping this is the beginning of a new era in my life, my families life, and my running performance and training. The next few weeks/months will show if this venture works or not, or if my messy life becomes one great big spiralling nightmare. I'm hoping that God willing, just as He blessed me with the 6 inch PB that the latter will not eventuate. Right now its hard to see the way forward though. However I am going after the new job, and hopefully I might earn enough to get ahead of the bills a bit. The plan is to go after track racing in the next 2-3 months in tandem with long runs, hill reps, and basically 6 foot preparation in the hope I will get upgraded from the wait list to the confirmed starters list.
Hopefully along the way finances will pick up, and the new job will be enough for our needs.

In the short term its recovery from 6 inch, and gradually easing back into things, plus having a go at the mileage challenge for 6 foot, as just another way to try and push me to run more often just as strands.com and blogger does....Hoping for continued but accelerated progress from here...God willing...

5.49 a 26min PB in my 5th 6inch despite illness

2010-12-19T16:45:00.005+08:00

Results
5 people!!! went under existing course records. Bernadettes 4.15 outstanding! Gerry won in 3.25. Nathan Doig took out inaugural King of the Mountain, AND finished in 4.06. 79 finishers. a lot of highlights. I did a 26min PB with a 5hour 49min effort.

Hit 17k at Del Park Rd in 1.53 which is 28min quicker than last years 17k split and 13 minutes quicker than my previous fastest first 17k at 6 inch (in 2008 when my ankle blew up in the last 15km.)...Worked hard through Whittakers, and then had another couple of surges with Scrooge Steve about 12k to 15k, before backing off a bit after reaching my target split of a sub 2 hour effort in the first 17km. Awesome encouragement from people like Aaron (he was everywhere!), Rob, and Claire, lots more officials/helpers out there on course this year...

After Del Park Rd, I walked a bit on the climb up to Scarp Rd, and then tried to settle into ma solid, but not as attacking rhythm as in the first 17km, right on cue, Catherine Ross (who went on to do 4.54) caught me about here, and we chatted for awhile, told her she was 3rd woman, and she told me about her experiences doing the Maroondah Dam run, if I remember correctly. Tried to stay with her for awhile, but was finding the pace a bit too hard, so decided to let her get on with it, and get back to some solitude, which in some ways is better, although a bit of both is good.
About 23kmish I asked some helpers how far to aid station, and they said about 7km, although in my tired state I may have misheard them.

Got to 24km (first aid station) in 2.21, then struggled with legs going very heavy/lactical after all the hard attacking surging I did in the first 17k, plus taking on hydration pack with 3.5 litres of drinks in it...Got to Oakley Dam in 3.12 (compared to 3.37 and 3.28 the last 2 years), and at this stage although I could feel I was struggling, had made it through two big hills, and still felt 5.30-6.00 was possible.

Did not handle Oakley dam hills very well as per usual, but managed to hang in there while getting passed by a lot of people with a toilet stop, a lot! of walking up steep hills/difficult terrain with my 3kg pack, and some occasional jogs when i could find the energy to slowly edge through a tortourous 5km in 62minutes, to reach second aid station in 4hr 14minutes still well ahead of the 4.32 and 4.49 of the last 2 years. I knew the last 11km didnt have a lot of uphill, and with some encouraging and wise words from one of the helpers (Claire) in my mind, and a Hammer Gel (from the smorgasboard of about 6 different flavours and scores available...) ensuring I was getting some stronger concentrated Carbs into my system, I gave myself a a good chance of a PB and a very small outside chance of going sub 6 hours.
Steep downhill was very hard to get through but got some good rhythm going on the flat sections, and although Sarah passed me on a hill, I knew I was still going well. When I got to Marrinup just a handful of minutes over the 5 hour mark with about 5km to go I knew that all I had to do was keep about 8-9 min K's ticking over with some solid jogging, and a sub 6 was mine. As I started to get closer and made it to 45km in 5.42 I revised my target to 5.50, and managed to just sneak under the 5.50 by 3 seconds.

Battled a runny nose the whole way (Have had that for 3 days), and my training while good enough could have been a lot better especially on short stuff, but the 8km tempo runs in recent weeks and the 5k race helped me to attack in the first 17km...
A 5 hour long run in hindsight would have been helpful, although I think my long runs were some the best 4 week blocs of long runs I have put together.

A sub 6 hour 6 inch is a 6 foot qualifer, so very pleasing to get that.
Heaps!!!!!!!!!!! of highlights see link at top of this post.
Photos coming soon. There is lots of facebook already....

Friday;
Ran 8km in 43min 20secs. HR 159 at end. @ 5min 25 per Km average pace.
4km splits 21.54 / 21.26 (a negative split so sort of a cross between a tempo and an easy run).
1km splits; 5.22/5.50’s x 2 / 4.52/ 4.47/5.35’s x 2 /5.28.
Felt pretty unwell in the last 24 hours (runny nose/sneezing), and RHR very nhigh today at 48, after 40-43 earlier in the week, so this run was an attempt to try and sweat out some of the yucky stuff, and/or just get me feeling better in general. As such started out jogging very slowly, and then trying to build into some rhythm on the easy downhill in the first 1km. Pretty slow at 5.22 compared to the 4.28 and 4.33 first 1k splits on my first 2 attempts at this hilly street circuit last month. Started to feel better about 3k into it, which coincided nicely with the flat section, and resulted in a 4.52 and a 4.47 (but not really at the same level as the 4.10-4.46 stuff I did the last 2 times)…Not feeling well, and no desire to attack hard today for various reasons, so coasted through the rest of it at about 5.30 per KM, and the lack of attack on the last uphill Km shows with the very low finishing heart rate of 159. felt better for a few hours after that, before feeling sick again in the afternoon. Need to shake this out of my system with Gods help if I am to race 6 inch well, in fact today, I have doubts about even starting the race, but at this stage I am still going to go for it, and the fact I can run under 5.30 per K at such low intensity oin a hilly course is a good sign…
So what do I take out of this. A good solid easy run, that should help me get to the start line in good condition if I am not too sick…we shall see…If nothing else a good conditioning maintenance run…

Thats 54km for this week, (including the 46km trails race so equivalent to about a 60km-65km week of road running?) or a better measure; 393 minutes of running.

When I can shake this sickness (God willing) I have something to build my 6 foot prep off, and start my track racing this summer in earnest I hope. Extremely happy with the big 6 inch PB in trying circumstances, Car insurance hassles still ongoing almost 2 months later, demanding but much better new job. Kathryn my wife did a good job of looking after the kids while I was running 6 inch. So a lot of positives to work with...

On waitlist and 32 second 200m in 22.43 5000m race

2010-12-11T09:32:00.001+08:00

I missed out on confirmed entry to 6 foot (45km in the Blue Mountains) in the 5 minute window of opportunity by 1-4 minutes, but am on the waitlist, so hopefully will get a start.

Ran 5000m in 22.43 @ 4.32 per Km HR 180 at end.
2.5k splits; 11.12 / 11.32
Full results should be HERE soon.
Hit the front at 200m with a 32 second first 200m, which is my fastest 200m I think for a long time, but this is a fast track, and I had a lot!!!! of nervous adrenalin racing against the best of the best, plus we had a tailwind in the front straight, which of course meant a stiff headwind in the back straight every lap. Was not really feeling ready to race, but keen to get a hitout on the board as my last chance for a 5k race this year, and wanted a base marker race to try and improve off in 2011…
600m-2.10 1km 4.00 2k 8.38? 3k 13.32? 4k 18.22?
so 1k splits;4.00/ 4.38 /4.54 /4.50 /4.22
Struggled with the headwind and running wide into lane 2/3 a lot to let these 14-17 minute speedsters (although Nathan Doig decided not to race) get a free run on the inside. In my last 1km I was able to use the slower 18-19 minute runners (only 2 of those I think where are the C and D graders!???, guess I was the only one…) to feed off for some pace surges, to help me get under the 23 minute barrier and finish off the last 1k in a solid 4.22, a bit better than the pathetic efforts from 2k to 4k…So overall a good run, a solid hitout, mission accomplished.

Is 37 seconds off my seasons best of 22.06 (track PB is 21.49 and road PB is 21.04 (although I splitted 19.32 in 1998 on my way to the 41.01 10k PB, and I think I ran under 20 minutes in a 5k school crosscountry in the 1980’s but not sure on that one) but I just wasnt ready to attack that this time after a tough 2 weeks trying to adjust to new job, and struggling to pay bills with not much income coming in for a few weeks until the 23rd December when I get my first pay in the new job. If I can get the payout on my old car this week, will be ok, but until I can finally get the insurance company to cough up its a nervous tricky time again financially…

Was an awesome night hanging out with Dave, BBC, Adam, Graeme etc, and even saying hello to some of the big guns, the legends like Cody and Todd (good to see this superstar marathoner is still there amongst the best about 20 years later), plus saw Wayne and Kylie there too, who I remember well from many years ago. Afterwards did a few warm down laps of this scintillating precinct, this athletes super stadium mecca, with Dave and BBC , we even did a few laps barefoot, the grass surface is in such good condition there…I didnt run in spikes but I might get them out if I line up for a 1500m…So an awesome night, just have a lot! of work to do on my time to be competitive enough to avoid being last place by several minutes…Got lapped 3-4 times as expected. May rock up for the 1500m next week, but its probably better I spend a few weeks going after the track training before hopefully better times in January, but first there is a 6 inch 46km offroad to deal with on December 19th, and hopefully a successful negotiation of the 6 foot wait-list to confirmed entrant status. So a reasonably good run, but a long way from where I want to be, and a bit outside my seasons best on a wonderful night…

105 second 12k course PB is reassurance

2010-12-05T01:06:00.005+08:00

Its been exactly one year since I did this 12k course. To beat my PB time from that by 1min 45 seconds is reassurance to me that I am on the right track and its still game on for a 6 inch PB in 2 weeks. November has been my equal best month for long runs along with August this year which is another indicator things are on track. Also my weight dipped down to 78.2kg on Saturday and the resting heart rate is still hitting sub 40bpm. All of this suggests my 6 inch PB plans are intact. some worrying left hip soreness in the last few days, but hopefully just a minor niggle that will disappear soon. so its go,go, go!!!

Sunday 5th December;
Ran/jogged/walked 15.25km of roads, trails and 2 laps of local oval in 2hours 6min01secs. HR about 120.
Probably one of the slowest “long runs” Ive ever done, due mainly to the number of walk breaks I took, and also the very low intensity jogging instead of fast running. Had specific purposes in mind for this session; 1. time on my feet, wanted to get another 2 hours on the board to consolidate the long run strength I have from the last month or two, with out too much intensity so as to ensure my taper for 6 inch is not compromised by too much high intensity longer runs too close to raceday. 2. a bit of heat acclimitisation (spelling) for the last few hours of 6 inch, with long sleeve top on over shirt was able to get a bit of a sweat up at some parts of this run. (not very successful as temperature only 23 degrees and humidity 30-50%, so maybe try again next weekend with some forecast of 33-35 degrees, taking only one drink simulated that dehydrated feeling you get though…) 3. weight loss via increased mileage, hoping this run will help me to get the weight back into the 77kg zone…4. training volume targets…I am 40 minutes behind my 2009 training volume at the same time last year so on track to overtake that in the next few weeks hopefully. 5. just get another decent run in this week.

So a slow!!! one, but I think mission accomplished for today, and that puts this weeks training into the satisfactory mode…....just...so am happy.

Saturday 4th December;
Ran 12km in 57min 30secs. HR 180 at end. Splits 27.13 / 30.17.
weight 78.2kg before, 78.0kg afterwards (i’d drunk 600ml of staminade and about a litre of water by the time I weighed myself, did not take any drinks on this run, as keen to attack hard and not get distracted by carrying drinks.)

Big course PB by 1min 45 secs on what I did exactly 12 months ago. Completely smashed myself in this timetrial. Went out very hard, and I could see from my early splits I was well on track to obliterate the 59.15 PB from last year on this hard tough course which starts with 3km of steep long uphills and downhills and finishes with the same. Almost 2 minutes ahead of my 29.09 split last year at the 6km mark with my 27.13, so even with the hilly section in the first 3km was holding onto about 4.30 per K or quicker in the first 6km…, (which I’d guess is equivalent to about 4.15-4.25 per K on the flat for 6km)…so by the time I got to about 8km I was in desperate want of a drink, and was finding it very hard not to drop to a jog, and in fact even took a 20 second walk break on the first of 4 big steep hills in the last 3-4km, (75m of ascent and descent ranging from 1% to 5% steepness according to mapmyrun.com) to try and get back some intensity. Really struggled to hold it together in the last 3-4km, and about 5min 10 per Km was about all I could find on these hills. Heart rate was only 180 beats per minute at the end, simply because the legs were sooo gone I had nothing left to kick with on the last steep hill at the finish.
Overall a good effort, very pleased I was able to not just achieve my target of smashing the 59.15 course PB from last year (4th December 2009), but do it by almost 2 minutes. This run gives me some confidence that my conditioning is hanging in there well enough for me to PB at 6 inch again this year, and maybe even shatter the 6 hour barrier. Still time to work some hill reps, and trackwork, plus try and up the training volume in the next 10 days or so, but no more big 3-4 hour long runs now, as I’m tapering for the 6 inch 46km trails race on December 19th. Thanks God for a very good hitout. On with the show, and maybe a return to the track in the 5000m on Friday night the 10th December hopefully.

Friday 3rd December;
PM;
Ran 6.18km (according to my mapmyrun.com measuring efforts) in 40min 15 Hr 126! at end.
Easy recovery run after 4 tough days adjusting to new job, and the 3.5k tempoish run in the AnteMeridian (AM is latin for “before midday”)…
Just exploring the hilly roads and trails around our suburb, trying to destress a bit after driving 230km like a maniac all over the Perth metro during the day which is my new modus operandi now as a courier driver. Some left hip lateral soreness and right calf soreness beforehand, but not bothering me while running…A good recovery run, which had me ready to go hard again the next day…
AM;
Ran 3.5km in 17min 09secs on oval. HR 168 slowish Tempo run.
700m splits; 3.24/ 3.35/ 3.23/ 3.36/ 3.11
Trying to get back on track after a tough week settling into an exciting, exhilerating but demanding new job which I am very much enjoying, but is a lot harder than my previous work, in terms of hours per day, and constant pressure throughout the day....but thast what I wanted, wasn't getting enough work to do in my old job... Pleasing to kick home ok with the 3.11 on the last lap more than 10 seconds quicker than the other 4 laps. Not feeling very well, and didn’t feel like running at all, but glad I forced myself out there…A bit pathetically slow, but sometimes you have to do these rubbishy runs to keep the momentum ticking over so you can do the good runs better. Had trouble with sprinklers to dodge on the first 3 laps, and also a dog decided he wanted to chase and say hello…which stopped me briefly on one lap…dogs don’t always understand you want to keep running…

So overall a pretty solid 37km or so in the last 3 days of the week spread over 4 sessions gives me 240min+ for the week which means I hit my satisfactory training volume (a more sophisticated way of doing things than just tracking mileage, and also a far more powerful training tool in my opinion) target of 240minutes this week. Have not had too many 360min weeks yet this year (the next target in my training volume system, and the extremely good target of 600minutes for the week, has been well out of my reach for many years except when I do an ultra race, but hopefully thats about to change as I attempt to ramp up training volume significantly this summer...The 12k run a mini-breakthrough session for me. The other sessions were so-so but achieved the purposes of keeping the momentum forward instead of backwards despite a very tough week settling into new job....Game on for 6 inch now!!!, and hopefully that track 5000m race at WA athletics stadium this Friday! 6 foot entry on wednesday to negotiate, and be interesting to see how Roberto Busi goes in the Zatopek 10k this Thursday! (he broke the record at the John Gilmour 10k with a 30.22 last month)...GO GO GO!!!!

30k with the C team and a 38min 8k. Base is in place.

2010-11-29T06:51:00.004+08:00

Sunday no run but helped WAMC with a little course setup and traffic controlling at the Deepwater point run. Some good chats with others there. Congratulations to Raf who lead Nathan Doig all the way I am guessng in typical frontrunning style in the 7.5km. Rafs brother Ryan had a good result too with 4th place, and congratulations to Clown 7th, Dr Epi 8th and Biscuitman 9th...So Moneghetti campers got 1st, 7th, 8th and 9th in this one...Another Moneghetti camper Rachel Smith was on the podium for Women as well I think...
Gerry Hill from the Running Centre destroyed the field in the 15km, and Stephen Stockwell was well ahead of 3rd place too...Well done to Jodie too. (good effort backing up after the 30k the day before with the C-team to race the 15k really well here)...Nice place to run...20th Century Boy wore his Cool Running top and continued his good form this year...

Saturday 27th November;
30km 3hr 42min 11 secs.

Darlington run with C-team. The huggy huggy trail, then Hills Discovery Centre, pipeline trail, Llama Loop, and back to start. felt fairly shattered afterwards. The hills on the pipeline trail and especially on Llama Loop were very solid.. Excellent long run. My first time on the Llama Loop, and I got to see a brown Llama. Unsure of course really, bit of a guess, but one of the runners with a Garmin said it was right on 30km…nice long run to finish off my long runs for 6 inch in 3 weeks time. Really glad to get that one done, and as usual the C-team are always up for a good chat, so the Km’s slipped by very quickly. Also got to meet two of the contenders for placings at 6 inch in the Womens race. A wonderful mornings running with good company. Wasn’t game for Eagle View trail and a longer faster run with some other 6 inch aspirants, plus I like to take it easy on my long runs, so am confident running with the C-team even with all the breaks along the way was the best option for me at the moment… Thoroughly enjoyed the run, and the last 40 minutes or so, put me to the test, so I know it was a very worthwhile run.

Friday planned to race 3000m at WA athletics, but just wasn't up for it, especially with money problems, and metering giving me a nice surprise by telling me Friday morning midday they had run out of work south of the river so no work to do Friday arvo, Saturday, Monday or Tuesday now = big pay drop next week...DUH!!! have plans to cope with it, including starting a new job...but the next 3 weeks is going to be very tricky financially, after that maybe a much better setup financially, and hopefully this will flow into better quality (and qauntity of) training and racing...so a bit nervous hope the gamble pays off for me and my family...a lot! riding on this but massive rewards if it works...God willing I may not need to go back to the night job at all...see how it pans out in the next few weeks...

Thursday 25th November
AM; 8km 38min 51 secs HR 183
HR 183 at end. 4k splits; 19.27/19.24
Weight before: 79.4kg Weight after: 78.6kg. (sweated out a lot of fluids I’d say)
1k splits;
First 4k; 4.28(downhill)/ 2x about 5.22 (mostly uphill )/4.14!! (dead flat)
Last 4k; 4.10!! (dead flat) 2x about 5.15 (mostly downhill)/ 4.44 (uphill)
Meant to be a tempo run, but really felt the heat in the second half of the run even though only about 24 degrees celsius, and 30% humidity. Turned into a war of attrition in the last 3k.
Hit 5k in 23.37, and probably pushed it a bit too hard from 3k to 5k (4.14 and 4.10), so was really struggling to avoid slowing to a jog from about 6.5k to 8k. Managed to hold it together with a 4.44 last 1km uphill, but didn’t have the same spark at the end, was paying the price for hammering it a bit on the nice flat section from 3k to 5k.
HR of 183 tells the story, and not really a full-blooded kick for home on this one.
That all said, its still a 75 second improvement on 2 weeks ago, and some promising signs at various points along the way, so if anything I think I’ve maybe gained a little bit of momentum.

Resting heart rate 38 and 39 the last 2 days, and weight dipped under 80kg again today, so seem to be holding onto almost the same level I had for Melbourne on 10th October. Just need to get more regular short sessions done, and get some track racing going, plus keep the long runs ticking over, and the rewards should start to come. My wife Kathryn surprised me this morning too by deciding to go for a 40minute walk too with the kids to check out the new fitness equipment at our local oval, (so hopefully that becomes a more regular occurrence) before we all settled down to watch the first day of The Ashes while having breakfast. The Poms are 2 for 71 now. Hilfenhaus got Strauss with the 3rd ball of the day.

PM; A few hours metering on some steep hills of the Darling Scarp at Mt Richon (between Armadale and Byford)...awesome views of the city and the entire coastal plain below. One street is called treecrest!. Death Adder habitat so had to be careful...lots of Kangaroos including 2 joeys...tried to take photo with the new phone I got last month, but couldn't work out how to capture image with it maybe I need an app or something...new fangled gadgets, cant work em out, still getting used to the new car too...

After that started another round and then headed for Coker Park to race the 5000m, but missed the start by 3 minutes, so went shopping with my wife instead...Saw results the next day, and the winner was Garry Vogler in about 19min (racing for VIS (victorian institute sport?))
who I am sure was a racewalker for ACT at Nationals around 1989-1992 when I was doing U/16's u/18's etc at Nationals...Good to see my old coach in the results again, still going strong in his 80's...Also see that one of the guys who used to chase me at training in the Armadale days in 1989-1992 (he was younger and I was heaps faster in those days) has just one a seat in the Victorian election, in 2004 he completed 100 miles of racewalking in under 24 hours at Coburg, and he has a 1hr 41 20km walk time to his credit, (better than my 1.46 PB...)...

So thats 4 consecutive weeks I have got the long run done.
1. 4 hours Recon on the Munda Biddi with Dave and Belinda
2. 2 hours (and 4 laps of the 3k course at about 14-17min 3k pace plus a lot of jogging around this area) Night run at Lark Hill, tried to stay with Dave K. as he got from 60k to 66k after midnight...
3. 3 hours on my local trail/roads with a lot of hills, and a very slow pace...very ODish (overdistance: heart rate 123 at end)
4. 3 hours 42min on the Darlington trail with the C team including about 5 major breaks where we just relaxed, chatted, drank sports drink, and exchanged lollies in some cases for 5-10minutes, so about 25 minutes at least of break times in that 3hr 42min, plus some walk breaks...Some fairly significant hills towards the end which will help with 6 inch a lot, plus some of the runners (especially Jodie and Liz) there were pushing the pace a bit, so I used that to throw in some faster surges by chasing them a bit, between chatting with Kate and Jane (starting to get going well again after their sub 4 hour efforts in New York!!! Marathon) and another 6 inch first-timer this year in Thomas...I think Jane was holding back a lot though...as she pulled away a lot once the messiah turned up...
Hopefully Jane and Kate will get on Strands.com soon too...but they might need a bit of help...

Done the 8k tempo runs twice in the last 3 weeks. 40.06 and 38.51.
So thats a reasonable base to launch the 6 inch PB plans from. However my shorter high intensity stuff and hill reps needs a lot of work. Plenty of time to do that in the last 3 weeks, but need to get serious in the next 2 weeks if am to make gains there. Long runs I think we have done enough, could have done longer ones, and higher intensity ones, but more important to look after the calf, which hasn't bothered me in the last 2 weeks , so hopefully its fully healed, and no need to see a physio...we shall see...need to replace socks, and 6 inch will be my last race in the Sauconys Ive had all year long...Don't want to use the Reeboks as they will get too damaged by the trails of 6 inch, want to save them for track racing and fast road running, trackwork...Which I hope to get going in the next few weeks in a big way if the new job works...

Its time to spend some quality time at the track, start racing Friday nights (and maybe Thursday nights) get used to being lapped by the big guns, hopefully settle into the new job, and hopefully smash the 6 inch 46km PB on December 19th. Also organising my 20 year school reunion for December 12th in Bedfordale so as usual a busy time at the moment...
Also need to sort out my old car with the insurance company as the signs I am getting are that noone will repair it as the repairs would be more than the car is worth...My 6 month old daughter is starting on solid foods this week, and my 3 year old son is getting to some important times in life too...

Hopefully onwards and upwards this time for real...

new car Gregson and 3 hour long run

2010-11-21T22:47:00.002+08:00

23.75km (approx.) in 3hrs 00min 10 secs. HR 126 at end.
10.87km splits 1.17/1.27. + about 16min going up and down my 1km hill reps course.
Started with temperature of about 27 degrees and 49% humidity, by the end the temperature had dropped to 22 degrees but the humidity had steadily risen to 84%!= a lot of sweating and fluid loss. Was a bit low on fluids by the end, but a good solid OD style session.
Keeps my 6 inch plans ticking along, although need to work on my shorter runs in the next few weeks. I think 2 more long runs should see me well prepared for 6 inch in the long run department.
Saw 4 rabbits and a tortoise! on my run tonight. Thunder and lightning kicking in by the end of it. Fairly hilly run with a mix of bitumen, a little bit of grass, but predominately limestone/sand trail…

Its been a tough week. work has been flat out, and in some ways that offered some benefits and I think slogging it out in Salter Point in the 36 degree heat on Thursday, and again on Friday in 39 degree heat, were pretty good crosstraining, and I lost 1kg to dip back down to 79.0kg just from the metering on Thursday and Friday. I was also sick with the flu all week (but couldnt afford to take time off work) , combined with settling on the new car, meant I had many good reasons not to run. 1. Too busy with work. 2. too sick with the flu. 3. Too busy getting new car sale finalised. The weekend was very busy with family oriented stuff and I knew I was in no condition to race the Pen run. However by Sunday I was determined to try and get my long run done to consolidate the strength gains I made in the last 2 weeks with the 2 hours at Lark Hill last weekend and the 4 hours on the Munda Biddi 2 weekends ago.

This week I bought a new car, its a 2006 model with only about 34,000km on the odometer. My old 1994 model has about 346,000km on the odometer and I've had it for 10 years. It recently suffered someone running into the back of it, and I'm worried it won't be up for the new job I plan on exploring in an attempt to hold onto the lifestyle advantages I had during my Melbourne preparations, and also which hopefully would raise our family income significantly. Its a big risk, but you have to take risks to make progress in life, and I have not burnt my bridges at my other jobs just yet. December is the ideal time to explore what may be a better option.

left too late for the Ryan Gregson breakfast put on by the Running Centre on the Friday, and the traffic was horrendous, I was about to turn off at Canning Hwy and head off to work, but couldn't get to the left lane so decided what the heck I'll just drive right in and see how late I am. Sure enough I was about 35 minutes late and only caught the tailend of Ryan answering questions from Raf. But it was cool all the same and once again as I have for Mottram and Bideau talks in the last 2 years I took some notes. Was nice to see Ryan and Dave there. Different sort of group, mostly schoolkids this time, which is fair enough given Ryan is only 20 himself, but still a bit surprised not to see more older runners. Good to get a feel for where Ryan was coming from, and he was saying 160km weeks was his staple when he ran the Australian Record 1500m in 3.31. It was also obvious too how much the incredible running culture in Sydney and Melbourne is what we miss here in Perth. Falls creek of course got a mention as usual...Glad I got there, although it didn't have the same buzz as Mottram being there, you still felt like here is a bloke who could medal at Olympics or something like that if he gets it right in future years. His training is not that incredible, its just obvious he has 1. a driving desire/single-minded focus over many years to be the best he can be, and he is consitent about getting the good sessions done again and again. Runs 130-160km a week, but only races 800m-1500m with a few 5,000m and 10,000m races occasionally. Hasnt run a marathon yet. Clearly closely directed by Bideau. says he always wanted to be a professional athlete from a young age. I'm reminded of Sarah Jamieson talk a few years ago. Its maybe too late for me now, but its been obvious for me since about 1990 that if you want to compete for Australia you need to either move to Sydney/Melbourne etc or travel there a lot each year, or we need to construct a similiar racing/training culture here in Perth. The Monaghetti camp this year was a step in that direction, and the Running Centre and the BT Running Club, 6 inch race, Comrades training groups in Darlington all have potential too, as does the runners in Perth that Blog or use Strands, you need that running community, driving each other on to greater heights if we are to have sustained success. Once again this talk highlighted that again.

I'm also reading John Gilmours Lasting the Distance book at the moment, and its interesting that this one bloke was a major driving force in 1. WA Marathon Club getting started, 2. Canning Districts Athletics Club with its rich running history getting started. 3. Masters Athletics WA, 4. Coker park where the annual John Gilmour 10k is run. This bloke was either a state champs medallist or a world Masters medallist (mostly the winner in both cases) over distances from 800m to the Marathon for 67 years, not many people can eveen claim to have run for 67 years, let alone run under 40 minutes for a 10k for about 60-67 years...Utterly amazing bloke. He is 1. a non-drinker, 2. almost a vegetarian (eats chicken and fish) but other than that eats whatever he wants, 3. avoids illegal drugs, 4. doesnt smoke. Its not hard to see why he was so good for so long, and it confirms something Ive thought for a long time which is that the main reasons people dont play sport as they get older is because they get too busy, too lazy, and too slack with their lifestyle choices. You are as old as you want to be, and the single most important thing people can do is not retire until they get to 85 or older.
It truly is a run for your life situation. My old coach is about 82 now and he still is competing still has Australian Masters records, and he ran in the 1948 London Olympics, and although he is about 9 years younger than John Gilmour, there are a lot of similarities.
I'm also reminded of the Book of DANIEL in the Bible where Gods chosen ones chose to not drink alcohol and be vegetarian in obedience to what God commanded them to do, and they were stronger and healthier than those who did the opposite much to the Kings surprise.
So some lessons and inspiration there for us all, to keep trying to head in the right directions as much as we can. The rewards are great.

I only ran once this week, but I hit the main key session target well which was a 3 hour long run, which keeps my 6 inch plans well and truly intact. In many ways I lost a bit of momentum again this week, but still a lot to work with, if I can get things ticking over again. I think thats about 15 weeks with a resting heart rate of 40 or better, although the latter part of the week I was slipping out to 43, 48 or even higher with being sick and busy.
I think the next 2 weeks are my best chances to get long runs done for 6 inch 46km race, but I have a bit more confidence now I have the 3hr and 4hr ones on the board from the last 3 weeks, plus the 2 hours at Lark Hill last week. Need to get after the short stuff again like crazy, and maybe this week, it will happen...No point in racing 5k or 3k or 1500m on track until I get my short stuff happening again.

2009 Season Bests; 5k-22.52 10k-48.39 Half-1.47 Marathon-4.11 6 inch 46km-6.16 (PB)
2010 Season Bests; 5k-22.06 10k-46.53 Half-1.46 (calf injury) Marathon 4.05 (calf injury)
Ive done slightly better in 4 out of 5 of the above distances so far this year. No PB's yet but if I can PB in the 6 inch, it will have been a better year in all 5 of my main distances this year.

In addition Ive raced an 800m in 2.46 a 1500m in 5.34 and a 2k in 7.55 this year, so while I have not been able to land the big breakthrough yet, the signs are its not far away if I can maintain the momentum. In particular Melbourne was immensely disappointing in that regard, as I think the calf injury scuttled a likely big PB.

So hopefully I can get something happening in the next few weeks for a big 6 inch, and now the difficult task of getting a new car has been negotiated, thanks God!! and my Dad!, there is a very good chance we may be able to put in place big plans that hopefully will net some big PB's in 2011. Keeping injuries at bay, and some higher level track racing and training will be important, but also doing lots more high quality runs more often too. I guess an attempt to pursue the higher mileage is something I've been wanting to do for awhile. Maybe in 2011 things will go better in that regard, or maybe I'll get busy with something else...we shall see...

Page 21 Aust Masters Handbook (2010-2011)

2010-11-15T19:14:00.002+08:00

Looks like I am (im)famous again, following on from my page 3 photo in the Melbourne Marathon info booklet this year, this time somehow a photo of the start of the 10,000m from the Australian Masters championships this year made it into the Australian Masters 2010-2011 Handbook I got in the mail today. Its in the first 30m where I am trailblazing looking to see where Paul Mitchell is, as in deference to a far better runner, I am looking toavoid blocking his run on the inside. Paul and I cruised the first 400m in 72 secs, before I retreated back to my rightful place and let him and the legendary Bruce get on with the real business. a forgettable race that one for me apart from the first 400m really, but I'll take it a cool photo of an exciting start. They combined my age-group (35-40, with the 40-45 I think. I can see CR Tiger Boy there too.

In all seriousness though if I am to race these championships again (which I'd like to but 6 foot is more important), it will be tough to find the $ to go to Brisbane in April, but most of all I hope my old coach Stan gets there. He still has a couple of Australian Masters records from recent years, and I think I spotted him in one of the other photos in the book. Kim Thomas my nemesis in most age-group events also makes the photos in the steeplechase.

So a nice surprise that one...

8k tempo a Nocturnal Lark and metering

2010-11-14T18:45:00.004+08:00

One secondary definition for the word LARK is "a carefree spirited adventure". The Lark hill run was certainly that. However the Lark Hill sports super mega-plex is named after birds maybe. The skylark is only listed as being found in eastern australia, so perhaps the area was named after the mudlark, but perhaps it is the skylark or meadowlark, since it is a coastal area of unique wildlife and plants, pretty close to some very big salt lakes, and would be an ideal area perhaps to introduce the bird. I did a quick recon of the area a few weeks back, and think I may have seen a brown/white bird singing as it flew with great acrobatics, so maybe someone has introduced some skylarks to this area, not sure...

Did my biggest metering week for the year so far and worked 6 days, so between that and trying to get my car dramas sorted its been an extremely busy week. Still managed a resting heart rate of 38 at the beginning of the week, so holding onto some fitness, but things are certainly slipping a bit, so need to get car dramas settled and start finding some training time again as I feel I lost momentum this week a little.

The 8km tempo run on Thursday was a very good run, but I had a diabolical day at work on Friday with nearly 8 hours of walking around dealing with very hard to get meters, a pitbull and a lot of electric fences part of the days challenges. By the end, I had a significant gluteal strain or some sort of hopefully minor injury that seemed to disappear after an hour or so, but was very painful at the time, but most of all I was just too worn out to race the 5000m on track on the Friday night that I had planned to. Besides I feel I need to train up to a higher level before I go down to AthsWA to get thrashed. But I have registered, and when the body is ready I will head down there for some white-hot intensity racing (will still get thrashed/lapped a lot, but at least I will hopefully be ready to start working on attacking my PB's in earnest. In particular the soft 21.49 5000m and soft 43.49 10,000m. The 11.11 3000m, 4.52 1500m, and 2.16 800m will take a lot of work to get even close to...

Saturday 2320-0120 Sunday;
Got there too late to really put in much time at Lark Hill, and the Nocturnal running in prime Tiger Snake territory, was mentally a bit hard to get psyched into, but I prayed a lot, and put in 4 laps to give Dave K a bit of company on the last 6km as he almost clocked up 70km for the night!
So 12km on the course, and probably another 3-5km of jogging around the general area= about 17km with a few stops along the way in 2hrs 4 min so that almost qualifies as a long run sorta/kinda...Habitat of the Western Ringtail Possum....predator is the red fox....A good nights running, excellent course setup from Dave K, and nice to see about half a dozen intrepid souls came out and supported Daves ultra quest, with a few hours on this awesome piece of trail. AP probably the best, and made Dave earn the win for at least 3-4 hours. Suzys effort to knock off 33k, along with Nathan, BBC, Talia, Bel, and Brett all deserve a mention. So all in all at least 9 of us had a run on the course. Rob D. was there too.

Thursday;
8km in 40min 06 secs (4k splits; 20.33/19.33) HR 171 at end. 5.00min per K.
1k splits;
First 4k; 4.33 (downhill)/ 2 x approximately 5.37 (big uphill climb taking it easy and unsure of 2k point)/4.46 (on flat rd)
Last 4k; 4.36 (on flat rd)/ 2 x approximately 5.12 (mostly downhill, trying to step it up a bit)/ 4.33 (uphill, working hard)
Whats going on, I negative splitted, it must be a full moon, I don’t do negative splits do I????! Guess it must be a tempo run then…hahaha.
Seriously a good solid run to try and keep the momentum ticking over and try and get me heading in the right direction to do some serious racing this summer, instead of the try and survive until next season sort of lethargy that I have settled for in the last 2 years…Also a good de-stress after some stressful, but exciting opportunities in the last week or so that I have explored especially after the damage to my car the other week… About 80% humidity = a lot of sweating going on...

Overall a reasonable maintenance week with the 2 sessions done, in a week I concentrated on work a lot, but hope to step things up a notch in the next 2-3 weeks, as I pursue twin goals of 1. getting ready for some track racing, and 2. putting in place a possible assault on my 6 inch PB of 6hrs 16min if the body is up for it.

47.35 John Gilmour and 4 hours on the Munda Biddi

2010-11-06T23:58:00.008+08:00

Well the sub 40 resting heart rates are still hanging in there on my good days, and the 46km (weekend warrior effort) on Friday/Saturday including the 4 hours on the Munda Biddi keeps my 6 inch plans well and truly on track, but the 47.35 10k time was about 2 minutes slower than what I was hoping for.
Official results of John Gilmour 10k including Roberto Busis new event record...I was 23rd of 31 in the B race...

By Friday morning my weight had ballooned to 81kg on the back of a few more non-running days, and this probably contributed to my slowish John Gilmour 10k run. By Saturday I was back to 79kg, for the first time since before Melbourne Marathon (10th oOctober 2010)I think...
46km in just over 24hours on Friday and Saturday = a very hard 29 hours or so of running, which makes up this weeks episode of weekend warrior running sessions, yes I failed to get anything happening early in the week again. Maybe next week. Although I'm still metering and that to me is low intensity sub standard "mileage", but I want better than that...

So the Long run is a massive massive plus, and the 10k race was a good hitout, and so-far so good for the calf, thanks God!. Momentum building more like a freight train this week, just need to do a lot more of it, and get something going in the first 4 days of the week maybe...
feeling positive, although disappointed with the 10k result.

Saturday AM;
Ran for 4hours 03 minutes and 53 seconds (HR 126 at the end) with Dave and Bel on the Munda Biddi trail following part of the 6 inch trail race course. was absolutely shattered at the end, but very satisfied that this run will give me the required strength to finish 6 inch on December 19th, although I do plan to do a bit more than just that in the next few weeks...I will be a bit sore in the next few days I think.

Calf scare mini-drama..resolved by the Creator Triune healing...
I forgot to put my calf guards on for this run, and about 30-40min into it, I felt a few stabs of pain in the calf, nothing severe just pretty minor pain, but pain all the same, and I was worried it was going to end my run very early on, but dave prayed for me, and God chose to heal me on this occasion, and withing 10-20min I was totally pain-free, and have not had any trouble since either in the next 3hrs of running or afterwards.
My calf seems to have pulled up ok out of it, which is a very big blessing Thanks God!!!!
However, I think I will try to remember my calf guards for future runs...although maybe I should just pray more and trust God more, but, God helps those who help themselves..i.e. God has given us a brain and expects us to use it, plus although he can always heal, He doesnt always choose to and we can't demand healing. That said, it was very nice of Dave to do that, and lesson for me is probably I need to trust God more and worry less.

Friday PM;
Ran 10k in 47.35 HR 183 at end 4.45 per K average pace...weighed 81kg that morning.
1k splits; 3.53/4.37/4.47/4.47/4.48=22.52 and 4.59/5.00/5.00/5.08/4.36=24.43

47.35 for me in the B race first up, my best John Gilmour 10k time (so a personal "meet record" for me if you like after 3 efforts in the 48min zone in the last 3 years) so far, and it was a solid run with 5k splits of 22.52/24.43, so not much slower than the 46.53 I did at the Freo funrun in September, but all that said, I am a little disappointed with the time, was hoping for significantly better than that. Was probably expecting a bit too much with recovery from calf injury still in progress (no issue at all on the night but it has cost me training time and without the calf guards from The Running Centre I would not have been racing at all), and only one good session since Melbourne (the 5x1400m the other week), so the 43.49 Track PB and 41.01 Road PB are still there for me to chase, and hopefully its not too late.
The westerley winds were a problem throughout my race, and the high humidity (perhaps 72%) may also have been a factor...

Racing on the track is my world and has been for several decades, and I feel very at home churning out lap after lap, you could say its one of my natural habitats, its where Trailblazer defaults to Trackblazer instead of Roadblazer. hahaha I like the way you can monitor your progress so closely each 400m, and I always know how many laps I've done and how many to go, and I am working out 1k and 2k splits as I go, but concentrating more closely on 200m and 400m splits (so in a 10,000m the pace calculater in my brain gets a solid mental workout as well as my body) Ive never had a Garmin, only have a wristwatch, but I wrote down my 1k splits a couple of hours after the race, as i am used to remembering race splits from my races over the last 20 years+, and its just normal modus operandis for me, in this case it was 3.53/4.37/4.47/4.47/4.48=22.52 and 4.59/5.00/5.00/5.08/4.36=24.43 (if I have remembered correctly)...
I'm mentioning this partly to show how different runners come from very different racing perspectives, and this affects the way various people race...

I think the 6k I did in the morning might have made me a bit leg weary in the last 5k and I have had a pretty tough week with a minor traffic accident last week. As usual I found myself at the front straightaway (I think I'd have to run backwards almost to avoid it), so thought I'd make sure I stayed there for at least the first 400m. Cruised through 400m in 77secs a bit slower than the 72secs running with Paul Mitchell at the Auistrailian Masters 10,000m in April, and then tried to settle into something even.
1k was 3.53 which felt easy, and then legs got heavy and my 2k split was 8.30 and I knew it was going to be a tough night as I needed to be at 8-8.20 or better and I found it heavy going for the last 3-4k, with 4.45-5min per K all I could find in tired legs. So clearly I still have some work to do to transfer the 4.30's I can average for 5-7k to the whole 10k, and then try and get even faster....Was finding that I was handling the fresh westerly wind in the home straight a lot better than others, and I'd pass people into the wind, and then theyd catch me again on the tailwind in the backstraight.
Could hear some crowd support from BK and others which was nice, and I was blessed with an excellent lapscorer...Big thanks to C for that...
Finished off with the obligatory last 200m in 40 secs or so, but just couldn't find what I needed to attack in the last 5k. Was hoping to hit about 1.40-1.45's (400m splits) but ended up struggling to get 1.50-1.55's-2.00's on my better laps as usual in the last 5k...No injury issues, calf guards did their job, and not really sure, maybe its the lack of training since Melbourne, partly due to my calf issues, that brought me undone, I guess realistically with the calf injury, I was always going to struggle to get up for this one, and I should be happy just to be able to enjoy racing, and time improvements will come later...

I had a fantastic night watching the A race from the grass banks and yelling abuse I mean cheering on various runners as always seems to be the case at Western Australias version of Zatopek the John Gilmour 10,000m!!! It was my 4th John Gilmour 10k, and I come from a track background going back to little athletics in 1984, and in fact the year I first won a state medal in little athletics (1987) I was competing for Southern Districts little athletics which is based at Coker Park, and my first Senior athletics club (before I went to UWA athletics) in 1989 was Canning Districts which is based at Coker Park, so Coker park is a very special place for me, especially now that Perry Lakes track is gone.

Roberto Busi won in 30.22, (which other than ray Boyd, there cant have been a lot of WA people that have beaten that time although I think that English bloke visiting WA who won John Gilmour 10k a few years back (Angus?) did a similiar time ) and is now destined to mix it with the best in Australia soon. We wish him well, and look forward to watching him mix it with the best hopefully on TV...
Fantastic Effort from Cody to get second in 32.46! Stephen Courtney and Gerry Hill were in the top 5 and David Kennedy PBed in 34.16? with spikes and an AURA top on. Excellent running from Jockster, and Kevin also, and congratulations to Epi on getting into the 37's well overdue. Nice to see Rochelle Thorpe back to win again in 40.04?. Good to see Paul Mitchell having a go especially early on again, he is a past stalwart who not that long ago was pushing Roberto.
In the B race, some of the usual suspects were back again, and Coops and Shaun (8min PB!!!!) had good races !

I even won some honey in the draw prizes afterwards! Big Kev and Jockster you just missed out on your prizes they called you out about 5-10min after you left.
Wonderful night, and one of my favourite races for sure...

Friday AM;
Ran 6km in 31min 13 HR 162 at end. 5min 12 per K on hilly road course.
Tempo style run HR 162 at end. 3km splits 16.01/15.12, so a big negative split, as I pushed the pace a bit on the way back…Just needed something to get me going for the weekend. Best of all no injury issues wore the calf guards as usual as has been my standard thing now for the last 2 weeks. Pretty sure without them I would not be running. Hoping that most of the healing is done, and I don’t get recurrence of the calf strain, but if I do, I just will work through it again…Took it very easy for the first 3km…nice run to kick off this weeks edition of weekend warrior…
Bit of a get back into the groove run, which in hindsight was probably too close to the 10k race that evening.

So after the dust from my 4 hours on the Munda Biddi has settled, and as I recover from the shattering experiences, I am much stronger than I have been for many months now. The calf seems to be holding together, and nursing my way to a possible 6 inch PB looks a very distinct possibility. I get one more chance to get it right in a 10k at the Peninsular run, and hoping to do a lot of track racing on Thursdays and Fridays over the summer. If I can get some good track sessions done, keep the long runs coming, keep the injuries uinder control, keep the domestic chaos of work and financial issues sussed, then God willing, some good racing ahead. Maybe even the Lark Hill 6 hour race next weekend...Its not easy, and a lot of improvements to be done, but possibly a good finish to my 2010 struggles, and maybe, just maybe a fantastic 2011 awaits, with a 6 foot finish being one of the first big challenges I'd like to nail in 2011.

Berlin, WAAS, MM TV stars and 5x1400m at 4.18 per K

2010-10-31T20:57:00.006+08:00

I dreamed earlier this week I was running in the Berlin Marathon, only to wake up at 0430 and discover I'd fallen asleep on the couch after a hard day at work the day before and the TV was still on and the Berlin Marathon was on TV! hahahaha.

Had a look at the WA Athletics stuff on the web, and Ive decided I will try and get there and start running some 5000m, 3000m and 1500m races this summer, be the first time since 2003/2004 Ive have been back to the track, but it should be fun and I am no stranger to there this will be about my 12th season of competing on the track at this level since it all began in 1989...
See my Runtrack page ii for the last time I dabbled with a track season...or Runtrack i for the time before that...

Enjoyed watching the Melbourne Marathon replay on channel 9 today, and go to see some good footage of Big Kev and Geoffa leading the Melbourne Marathon and doing Western Australia proud...:-)

Resting heart rate 36 on Sunday (about 13 weeks now its been 40 or less!), weight dropped 1kg back to 80.0kg on Saturday, after about my worst reading for the year last week.
Small progress, but certainly some forward momentum this weekend...

Sunday PM session In Detail
PM; 13.75km easy long run in 1 hr 35min 48secs. HR 120.
HR 120 at the end. Splits 43.28/52.20 Felt good early on, and was hitting sub 6 min per K without pushing all that much on this hilly roads/limestone trails mix course. The first 3.5km and the last 3.5km is roads, and the other 6.75km is mostly limestone trails. I much prefer the trails. using a slightly different route than earlier in the year (i.e. more running on steep HILLY bitumen roads, to avoid the magpie trouble spots mostly in the park section I was doing earlier in the year)…Got to the half way mark on same long run course as last week in 41 minutes instead of the 48 min last week, and figured with how relaxed I was I’d have to extend the distance to make sure I went for more than my target time of at least 90 minutes of running…So extended it 250m which gave me an extra 500m distance, and I still came home more than 30 seconds faster than last week despite increasing the distance, and making a big effort to go low intensity on the way back, look after injuries. On the way back took it very easy, walked a bit, and just enjoyed the run running towards the sunset over the Indian Ocean on limestone trail, I’m thinking “it doesn’t get much better than this”…Also keen to look after the calf muscles and the achilles, and avoid a repeat episode of the achilles problem I got towards the end of this course last week. this time it was all good, so Praise God for that. Nice minimalistic time long run again, and with it being 3 weeks since Melbourne marathon, I am hoping that I can manage the injuries enough to start cranking up the training and racing from here onwards, even if it means some physio visits in the coming weeks/months…

Sunday AM;
6km easy recovery run in 32.01 (5.20 per K) HR 144.
Heart rate 144 afterwards, some small hills along the way, about 18-20 degrees, easy recovery run exploring a new “street circuit”, and trying to shake out any stiffness from intervals yesterday. Calf ok. Wore calf guards for protection. Hammy dodgy before, but no issue during. A bit slow and didn’t really feel like attacking after the first 2km or so. Some easterly winds. Solid relaxed run…

Saturday AM; In Brief;
5x1400m in 30min 09.
5.34/5.50/6.28/6.07/6.08 = 6.01 average = 4.18 per KM average.
180/180/165/174/183 the heart rates after each rep.
5 min rests.
The 5.34 is 3min 58 per K pace, and a whole lot quicker than Ive been very often for a few years for a 1400m rep, other than the 1500m race in 5.34 at the Australian Masters Championships this year and the 2000m in 7.55 at Masters this year. Most importantly the calf survived and seems to be healing, didn't give me any pain while running, so the calf guards and 2-3 weeks rest seems to have worked. So a mini-breakthrough session this one.

Saturday AM session In Detail
5×1400m total time= 7km in 30min 09 secs. @ 4.18 per Km.
Average time for 1400m = 6.01.87 Rest between intervals 5 min.

Interval times, 2×700m splits and heart rates afterwards;
1. 5.34.03 (2.42/2.52) HR 180.
2. 5.50.43 (2.57/2.53) HR 180.
3. 6.28.42 (3.13/3.15) HR 165.
(Deliberate attempt for this rep/interval to take it easy and also nervous about 2 greyhounds running free on the oval)
4. 6.07.83 (3.03/3.04) HR 174
5. 6.08.63 (3.06/3.02) HR 183
Strong easterly winds, so was finding the first 200m or so of each rep harder, and from about 350m to 550m was getting a boost from a significant tailwind.
Grass surface pretty good only a slight uphill in one section almost dead flat 700m course.
Excellent conditions to run in only problems were a few dogs running off leads as per usual, and a bit of niggle in right calf and left hammy, but overall a very pleasing session, PB for this session, and feels like we are starting to break a little new ground, although its only a small improvement from where I was at the start of October 2010, and the heart rates were mostly a lot higher.
Calf remains the major injury concern, but the very good news is the achilles was not a problem at all. Calf guards allowing me to run pain free though, mostly just pain later in the day when I took the calf guards off…but a few twinges here and there, I’m guessing its healed significantly since I injured it half way through the Melbourne Marathon on 10/10/10, but not fully healed yet, and will be very suspect for the hilly 6 inch 46km off-road if still in the current state, but I am able to train relatively pain free today, so some shorter races should be ok.
nothing earth-shattering and the heart rates need to come down, but this session gives me hope I can make progress rather than just try to maintain, hold onto some of the leftover fitness from Melbourne.
Positive session, bit of a breakthrough with the 5.34 first rep and then holding onto sub 6 for the second rep but plenty of work to be done to get where I want to. Some good gains there today, and Calf, so far so good….very glad the achilles was good this time, so looking good again maybe…

I bit of a weekend warrior effort this week, but 3 solid sessions with the 4.18 per K 5×1400m a highlight. The achilles seems to have fixed itself, thanks God!, and the calf and hammy concerns/niggles seem manageable this weekend, so maybe can get on with it from here…

So The positive momentum is alive, the injuries, seem possibly beatable today although the calf and the hammy? (or whatever it is) are ongoing issues..., and its hopefully game on for John Gilmour 10k this Friday if my calf continues to survive/behanve enough to allow me to race at close to full capacity. That said I am being very careful to accelerate gradually, and so far the calf guards are playing their part. So far so good...Onward!!! Must get a copy of John Gilmour book this Friday too...

Compress sports does the trick but achilles flares

2010-10-25T07:04:00.002+08:00

Sunday 24/10/10 AD ;
0649amish
Ran 13.25km on hilly roads and limestone trails in 1hr 36min 22 HR 123.

Hilly roads/limestone trails mix long run. Taking it nice and easy, to get a shortish long run on the board to try and maintain some of my long run strength leftover from Melbourne Marathon and City to Surf Marathon, with 6 inch 46k off-road less than 2 months away its important I get my long runs ticking over again. Again the compress sports calf guards seemd to keep the calf pain-free. Did this run after a 20minute break after the 7km tempoish/timetrialish high intensity short run. HR 123 at the end, which shows how low intensity it was, compared to the 180 at the end of the 7k run. Out and back splits were 48.04/48.18. had some hip pain about 60minutes into it, and had to do some stretches, and walking to sort that one out but it came good…Unfortunately I picked up a new injury on the second last steep hill, when the achilles tendon got a bit sore. 24 hours later its still sore. I’m guessing the dodgy calf muscle ran out of juice on the hill, and I put too much pressure on the achilles. So on the one hand a good maintainence long run, that will keep me ticking over for a couple of weeks, but also its onto the regime of icepacks, calf raises, and plantar flex taping, to try and knock this achilles tendon injury (minor I think at the moment) on the head, before it destroys my running for the year. So looks like a few more days break from running at least, have to be careful with this injury, hopefully its only a minor flare-up.

Sunday 24/10/10 AD;
0549am;
Ran 7km in 33.47 HR 180 at end.

Testing out the calf with my new compress sports calf guards, and good news is it was a lot better than last week.
Looks like rest from running for a week, and wearing the calf guards every day, has improved the calf injury significantly, and advanced the healing process, although I think if I ran without the protection of the calf guards, I might not have been pain-free… Took it a lot easier than normal early on so my pace was very even, although the usual pattern was still there. Was 25 seconds off my PB from 25th August 2010 for this course, so if I can get past the injuries, and hold onto the momentum (11 consecutive weeks now with a RHR under 41 (41 was my best RHR in 2009 a week before Melbourne Marathon, and at that stage it was my best ever RHR ever recorded since I started recording them in 1995!), so just itching to translate that into good races, the City to Surf 4.15, injury plagued Melbourne 4.05, and injury affected 46.53 Freo 10k and 22.06 5k at Masters are all signs of the renewed momentum in the last 3 months, but still feel the breakthrough race yet to come…)some good results feel close…
700m splits; 3.13 (wasted 10 seconds adjusting drawstring on shorts)/3.10/3.29/3.33/3.22/3.29/3.25/3.30/3.24/3.12.
3.5km splits; 16.47/17.00
So a slowish start testing out the calf, and then held that pace fairly comfortably to the finish. HR was a bit high at 180 at the end, although I finished in about 3rd gear, could have come home a bit faster…but not keen to do anything extreme with the dodgy calf. Just a big blessing to be able to run pain-free for the first time since the 20km mark in the Melbourne Marathon, at sub 5min per K…

The momentum is still there with a resting heart rate of 36 this week, and a double session on the sunday to keep things ticking over. The injury issues are still there too, but possibly am winning the war on the calf at this early stage, although the addition of the new achilles issue is very unwelcome. Its tight, its tough, but a lot to work with, and promise of PB attack in 2011 in a big way if we can keep going forward and keep building from here...
Not sure when I will race again, it mostly depends on the injuries, and to race well, I need to beat the injuries enough to start attacking intervals again, but I can think of 6 different racing options, if things come good before the end of the year. 6 inch, John Gilmour, Masters, the Pen 5k/10k, a certain 3k time-trial, and if going really well maybe even consider signing up for a track season with Canning Districts or UWA to sharpen up the speed more over 1500m/3k...are probably the major racing options left this year, if God helps me get past the injuries, and I can (a) keep paying the bills well enough AND hold onto the training momentum...

How do I join the sub 3 hour club.

2010-10-22T05:43:00.005+08:00

-Buy some rocket boosters. hahaha.

Seriously though if I am going to bridge the gap between 4.05 and say 3.15, I need to learn from what I did right, and what I did wrong in the 101010 assault.

What I did wrong

No 1 mistake (*cost me at least 20 minutes)-Got a calf strain/tear? at 20.5km. This injury I estimate cost me about 20-30minutes, because I was ready to attack and felt ready to churn out some 4.30-4.50's for at least 10k, which would have seen me to 30k in about 2.25-2.28 instead of about 2.48, which would have given me about 3.45 or better, which was about what I felt ready for on the day.

Possible causes;

-1.1 too much walking around with luggage the day before, instead of that should have got a taxi to my apartment earlier, and gone for a jog around the Tan instead of walking around the city with luggage, and hanging out with BK and BG.

-1.2 Sprinting up steep steps at train station in Perth city and Melbourne airport with nervous pre-race excitement, and carrying luggage with me during travel to Melbourne.

-1.3 Hill reps the week before.

-1.4 metering work, rushing to finish off on Friday before race at work.

-1.5. Compensating for other injuries during my running training, for example the left calf soreness I got in the last 2 weeks before 10/10/10, or the hammy problem I got for several weeks before the race...

-1.6. just the accumulation of injuries I manage, too much managing not enough treatment/physio/chiro due to time and money limitations, too many injuries,= easy development of new ones...

-1.7. the jinx on me between 20k and 23k at the Melbourne Marathon...hahaha, or any other reason I cant fathom...

No 2 mistake- A mix of Hammy? injury and flight/accomodation worries plus work/family/money issues= not enough of the right training in the last 5 weeks.

-2.1. Probably could have done one more long run,preferably one with a bit more attacking in it, although my 31k from Mundaring and city to surf Marathon were both pretty good options in that department.

-2.2. 20k-25k medium time-trial runs. A half marathon race or 1-3 more of these type training runs was probably the key sessions I needed to help me get used to running faster from 10k to 30k, I think thats one of the keys to unlocking a sub 3.30 for me. The hammy injury timing was dreadful on that score.
I did one 20k in 1.41 in training, (needed a couple more to consolidate and maybe a 25k too which I had planned, but never got it done) and as a result was easily able to hit 20k in 1.40 on race day, with a lot left in the tank at that stage...

-2.3.Intervals training was very poor, (also not enough tempo runs or anything like that, just that short stuff around the 5-15k needed to be a bit more consistent and focused) due to hammy injury, and inability to find time and a measured track close to home, and worrying about flights and accomodation...(in the end I borrowed money from a friend for the flights, and if I had done that stuff earlier on I could have spent more time and mental energy on intervals instead...) If i had done the sessions I wanted to do this would have sharpened my 10k-20k time down a bit, which meant I would have been able to hold onto 20-22min 5k times early on and hopefully get to 10k in at least 44minutes, perhaps even 21.1km in a PB of say 1.35-1.40, this would have given me an extra 10 minutes or more to play with...so if my intervals alone had been better it was the difference between 3.45 and 3.30-3.35...

no 3 mistake-
Made a few minor tactical errors with drinks/wasn't mentally strong enough during the race probably cost me 5-10minutes, and maybe a chance to squeak out the PB by a few seconds despite the injury, although if I had been running faster I may have avoided these problems. If I had held onto 4.30's instead of blowing out to 4.50's-5.00's in the first 20k, or if I was not injured for the second half of the race, these drinks issues probably would not have occurred.

-3.1 probably should have grabbed a powerade cup about 5k or so, just to make sure I got to 10k in 45minutes instead of the 48.00 I served up on the day...needed to attack harder from 5k-10k, and especially from 10k to 20k. Just probably a lack of mental confidence there, and a desire to be careful t hold something in reserve for the second half of the race.

-3.2 again because my personal drinks ended up being at longer distances than I anticipated (36.5km and 16.5km instead of 16k and 35k), I was struggling to get to my drinks in time, the one at 36.5k was a real stretch and I basically jogged up the hill by the Tan , so reckon I lost maybe a minute struggling to make it to my first Gatorade at 16k, and probably about 2-4 minutes struggling to get to the 36.5k drink (my previous drink was at 25k)and i took too long to do 25k-35k, and missed an opportunity to stay with the 4hr bus or stay in front of it, as I had planned.

-3.3 Should have stayed with 3 hr pacer for longer. Dropping off the wagon at 2k after an 8.46 isn't good enough with the way I like to race the marathon if I want to go sub 3.30. Lack of mental confidence, and probably lack of training too, meant I didnt have the strength mentally and/or physically to hold onto the 4.10-4.20's (we did 4.09 from 1k to 2k), and try and make it to 5k in say about 21.15 instead of the 22.40 I did. Mentally worried I might destroy my race by going too hard early, but in hindsight, I think maybe I could have gone a little harder, could have been worth another 5-10 minutes or so to me...and to join the sub 3 hour club, I would of course need to be able to sustain about 21-22 minutes per 5k all the way. I have the speed to do that, and my 5k times of 22.06 this year shows that over 5k I can hit a 4.25 per K, just need to find another 5-10 seconds per K...so im in the ballpark, but not quite good enough on the day...

-no 4 mistake I need a better day job. I've known this for a long time, and believe me I'm trying to change this, but so far it just isn't working...

what I did right

-no 1 winner taking leave from the night job from early September onwards helped me hit a real streak of good fitness, and I reckon had a lot to do with my resting heart rate dipping below 40 beats per minute for about 8 weeks straight for the first time ever in my life. Despite my training falling well short of what I aimed for especially in short stuff, intervals and medium runs, I was the fittest I have been in the last 7 years of marathon attack by about 5 beats per minute at 37 or better, (got to 41 beats per minute in 2009, when I was in about 3.40-3.50 condition) which is very significant, and suggests that if I got everything else right, despite the less than ideal last 5 weeks training, a 3.30-3.45 should have been possible and I was confident of this going into the race, although a little leg weary from too much walking around on the saturday and friday before the race, I still felt that with a resting heart rate of 35 on race morning that 3.40's or better had to be very much possible which it was.

-no 2 winner Got a few good sessions done in the lead up that sharpened things and gave me a lot of confidence. The 31k long run at Mundaring a few weeks before, the city to surf marathon in 4.15 on a tough course carrying hydration pack the whole way, and not really attacking in the last 21.1km that much, the 4.19's average for 1400's a week before, the 20k in 1.41, the 10k race in 46.53 a few weeks before race day, the 5k races at Masters in 22.06, even the tempo run with the BT run club, all suggested I was on track, and I was.

-no 3 winner the apartments I booked were pretty close to race start, and the Tan, so were a pretty good option, although with more money probably could do a bit better, but overall a winner...

-no 4 winner just knowing people like Clown, Sling, Kevin, Geoff, Roadblazer, RunningM and others were targeting this race and following other bloggers was a good motivation...

-no 5 winner my drinks strategy on the day was mostly successful, and I think not using Gu's at all worked for me...

-no 6 winner ZERO toilet issues this time, unlike last years disaster, I ate early enough (8pm I think) in the evening and did my no 2's at the apartment at 4am, BEFORE I went to race start, so didn't have to have the queues at the MCG, just went straight to Batman ave. much better.

-no 7 winner Not taking my wife and kids with me. While I missed them, and not having the support was a downer, I was a whole lot more focused on the race, and a lot of my pre-race organisation was heaps better, plus I didn't have any race-day logistical nightmares to deal with...

So how do I join the sub 3 hour club...easy, just fix those 4 mistakes, and keep the 7 winners, and I'll be starting to get pretty close to at least about 3.15's...Consistent training has a lot to do with it, but sorting out the injuries and a better day job or some share market success or something would make it a whole lot easier. Probably a few other things to learn, and while its nice to get a seasons best, and best time at Melbourne, best time since 2008, blah blah blah...I'm still hungry for better success than that. Will I get the chance to chase the dream again, I don't know, maybe not, but its good to debrief a bit, and try and see ways forward, whether or not I get the chance to chase it again...Its hard to keep chasing something youve failed to achieve for 7 years, but I think God willing, its highly likely I'm not done with yet...

First of all though I have a calf injury to fix, and a sore hip/suspect hammy and a tricky couple of months to negotiate re paying the rent, job options etc...Maybe try a certain 10k race in November...but hopefully its game on for 2011, a visit to 6 inch again, and plan on lining up at 6 foot for the first time ever.

Chris Macca McCormack Wins His 2nd Hawaii Ironman Triathlon 2010

2010-10-18T03:43:00.000+08:00

Melbourne, Mottram, and roads to Recovery from my Calf Injury

2010-10-18T03:02:00.022+08:00

Will be adding a new page to Melbourne Marathon Missions central soon...Go HERE for 101010 race report...video, photos, my 17 reasons for going to Melbourne on 10/10/10, plus post re Mottram, Ironman Hawaii, and current status of my calf strain below;

following the 3hr pacer at the start...
Did 4.37 and 4.09 =8.46 for first 2k following the 3hr pacer. First 1k was uphill weaving through masses of slower runners. Then backed off a little decided that pace was too fast, went through 5k in 22.40 feeling very relaxed, and then probably a bit too slow for next 9k (10k 48.00, 14k 68.08...)

Got to 20k in 1.40.50, and was looking to try and speed up a bit and try and get to halfway in 1.45's but then the calf suddenly gave a stab of pain that has persisted with every step of running since, and had no option but to slow up and came through halfway in 1.46.35 as a result, even though I felt ready to attack hard at this stage...

At about 20.5km, tried stretches, walk breaks, stride changes, style changes, and here racewalking, all to no avail. Icepack for 3 minutes at 23km aid station seemed to work best.
Caught between; 1. not wanting to lose precious time at crucial point in the race, and 2. being able to finish at a reasonable pace to get a reasonable time.

Flinders St Station and Federation Square just behind me, about 40km completed (20km of it in extra pain due to the calf) overtaking lots of people in the last 2km or so...ignoring the calf pain, and just trying to hit about 5min per K or so on the very welcome downhill to the finish...

AIRTIME!!!!!!!! aka low-level flying on the MCG...

-I have 24 Melbourne Marathon 2010 photos on facebook now, and also some video. Here is the video;

-Went Craig Mottram talk/Breakfast put on by Radars The Running Centre on Friday.
Was cool, to hear in person from the Big Muzungu, about his perspective on Bideau/,wardlaw, Beijing Olympics, New Delhi Commonwealth Games, and the story about the group of African runners at a major world meet, who didn't know how many laps there was in the race, but their mentor/coach/manager made it clear to them that when they hear the bell for the last lap, "its time to sprint for the finish"...Good example of the culture clash, and how absurdly obsessed we can get with Garmins, watches, and all our western trappings of success etc, technology. Pretty sure God has something to say on this subject in the Bible, maybe in the beatitudes in the book of Matthew.
Anyhow Mottram was saying its important to run on feel, and not get too busy watching the garmin or the stopwatch. I also got this advice from my racewalking coach at masters a few months ago, he told me to stop looking at my watch, and focus on the running... Good advice, which I need to take note of even though I don't have a Garmin. Good chatting with Andrew and ken who I met at the Breakfast about running in general. Felt honoured and a bit nervous being there, awesome morning, which I decided to make the most of by going to The Running Centre afterwards, where I got talked into buying some calf guards (Compress sports same as BBC and Radar use...two people I respect a lot as athletes and people)...the first time I have ever bought anything like this. never used skins 2xu or anything like that before. Had good chats with Wombat Ray (2.13 marathoner, and the only one of those residing in WA I'm pretty sure), and Bean Baugh (starting to hit about 35min for the 10k and was in my Phys Ed class at school) at the Running Centre, and bought the stick, and topped off an awesome morning with Craig Buster Mottrams autograph. One of the runners I totally admire bigtime!!! Probably still Australias best chance in middle distance to medal at Olympics, and holds most of the Australian records around the 3000m to 5000m mark.

Training;
tested out my dodgy calf on Thursday at the local park with;
2.1km 10.16 HR 135.
and
1400m 6min 27 (HR 162)
In the 1400m I did the first 700m in 2.59 which is 4.17 per K pace.
My calf was a minor twinge in the 2.1km, sore but more of a background pain , but when I stepped up the pace from 5min per K to about 4min per K, I got very sore stabs of severe pain in the calf, and it took a bit of mental intensity to push through the injury pain, for my last 700m even though I slowed back to 5min per K type stuff in the last 700m, although it did lessen a bit once I dropped the pace. So my conclusion from that is that the injury is just as bad as it was on Sunday in the marathon, same issue, it won't allow me to go faster than 5-5.30 per K without significant pain with every step. On the one hand I may not need to go under 5 minutes per K at 6 inch to run well, but not sure if I would last the distance anyhow. Either way intervals and 10k races are a big no-no right now, I'm guessing, maybe with a shorter stride, although that didnt seem to work in the melbourne marathon. Maybe with my calf guards, or maybe just be patient until injuey is gone... After that experience I banned myself from running for 3 days for the second time this week. Im guessing its going to be a few weeks before I can race or train again with confidence. best case scenario is it sorts it self out in a few days time, but most likely scenario is I need to rest it for a few weeks, worst case scenario is I have to pull the pin and give 6 inch a miss, and basically write-off the rest of 2010 runningwise. Either way I am not that fussed, although I am keen for 6 inch, but main priority is getting the calf right and keeping income coming in for my family, have to focus more on those things for the rest of this year.
Anyhow hoping the stick (roller thing that Clown recommended), and the calf guards, and some physiotime soon, might do the trick at beating this injury...

Spent the weekend down south with my wife and kids on holiday, explored a tourist cave (trying to look after the calf walking up and down steps) and tried out the new video camera we bought with my wife Kathryn taping Jacob and I feeding horse and kangaroo. Some of the sights in the cave too. The calf guards I have been wearing all weekend, and they are maybe helping the healing process a bit, I don't know...anyhow hopefully onwards and upwards. Well done to Macca and Mirindi (womens winner) for flying the Australian flag for the wins in the Hawaii Ironman triathlon on 10/10/10...See MACCA1...Railert catches Macca...postrace
interviews...

No regrets about going to Melbourne and I may return for Melbourne Marathon attempt no V (fifth attempt in a row) in 2011, although Hobart, 6 foot, Gold Coast and Alice Springs are all on my agenda too as possible options. I'm pretty keen to get 6 foot done in March, so have booked flights to there already, although its going to feel pretty silly if I am too injured to go, but plenty of time to get ready before March 2011.

I had at least 17 reasons for racing in Melbourne here they are again;
what keeps me going back to melbourne is heaps of different reasons, but I guess the lure of a PB is a big part of my 4th attempt in a row at this race. some reasons in no particular order; -R1. fast mostly flat course.
-R2. minimal concrete, minimal hills = less injury issues for me with my collection of injuries, and lots of opportunity for me to run fast, and at my best, instead of walking up hills looking after my injuries for large parts of my race, or trying to avoid long stretches of concrete to avoid flaring up my injuries
-R3. pace groups, make it easy to to try and stay on pace. there is one for every 10 minutes, so if 3.30 isn't working you can drop back to or try and stay ahead of the 3.40 group or the 3.50 group and so on, and still know you are on a target.
-R4. personal drinks makes it easier to run a fast time.
-R5. inspiring atmosphere (hard to explain this one, but I have Nationals race history going back 20 years in melbourne to 1990. I've raced in melbourne more than 7 times, and every one of them has been memorable races, and only 1 was a total dud (the 2008 ankle explosion), although missing the PB in 2009 was disappointing. Heaps of special memories there, that inspire me, including commonwealth Games , and old training mates from my state record, and state rep days...also crowd support during the race
-R6. the marathon experience from the pre-race expo to the startbetween the Yarra and the Rod laver Arena, running past Fed square and flinders st station, Albert Park, the ocean for much of the race, and The Tan dirt trail section, and finally the nice downhill finish into the MCG, with a lap of this special special place, the only experience that compares to the same feeling, is when I entered the Sydney Olympics stadium in the Olympic trials 20km walk.
-R7. the chance to improve my Tan time,
-R8. one of the few marathons I have a chance of beating my 2004 PB in, which I am desperate to do for a heap of reasons.
-R9. the many friends I know who run it also
-R10. the special family memories I have there with my wife and toddler,
-R11. the chance to be part of the biggest marathon ever staged in Australia in the history of road marathons.
-R12. because I need a major goal race where I can achieve something special and aim for each year
-R13. because it gets me away from the petty politics of WA and
-R14. because Its something I know I will thoroughly enjoy doing and get a great sense of achievement from and hopefully honour God with what I do there.
-R15. it encourages me to have a better lifestyle and aim for better health for me and my family
-R16. i learn from other very experienced runners, and it gives me the ability to contribute better to running in WA as a result,
-17th reason; it is a major thing in keeping alive some now extremely slim but not yet dead hopes of international racing some time in the next 10 years or so....

My goals are 1. enjoy the fantastic experience no matter what happens. 2. try and get to the finish on the MCG again, 3. finally smash that 3.55.02 PB that has been hanging around since 2004!...
4. catch up with some other runners who share similiar dreams/goals, and share their aspirations, encourage them in that. 5. honour/worship God in some way in how I run, relate to others in some ways...

I think I achieved 4 out of 5 goals, just that PB went begging... again......Didn't run the Tan while I was there so some more unfinished business, and my little daughter Jordan hasn't been onto the MCG yet either, so maybe something to do there in a few years time.
Hard to deal with emotionally the failure to nail goal number 3, but the injury totally surprised me, and just couldn't beat it on the day, even though I was fit enough, and mentally ready enough to do it... but must kick on now and try and turn the negatives into positives God willing...

calf strain but 4.05 salvaged in 3rd Melbourne marathon finish

2010-10-11T10:44:00.014+08:00

10/10/10 A.D.; Ran the Melbourne marathon for the 4th consecutive year, this time in 4 hours 5 minutes...(22 seconds by my wristwatch). I'm seeing 4.05.21 on official results and 4.05.09 on Marathon-photos.com..(where I have a stack of photos 24 on facebook and some of those HERE)...Cool Running youtube videos appearing online too...I was 2895th of 5027 finishers. race records of 2.11 for men and 2.32 for Women (Ethiopian Seboka who also won the Perth City to Surf Marathon this year, I was standing behind her at the start in Perth I later realised).
STAT ATTACK
-My fastest Melbourne Marathon so far.
-My 3rd finish on the MCG done!!! So mission accomplished there.
-My 4th fastest Marathon of 13 finished so far.
-My fastest Marathon time since July 2008.
-Still no PB since my first Marathon in July 2004.
-Another injury to manage/get healed.
-Well worth the trip, and my seasons best marathon time in 3 finished this year.
-Massive disappointment that I still havent beaten the 3.55, on a day I felt I was capable of 3.40 or better, and on a day I woke up with a resting heart rate of 35, which is my 2nd best resting heart rate so far since 1995.
-Bittersweet emotions. Most of my plans went well, I learned from my mistakes in previous years, and for sure I will be trying again next year if the body holds together, and the opportunity is there.
- A disappointing, frustrating time from 20km onwards but still very special and wonderful day.
SPLITS REPORT
Half splits; 1.46.35/2.18.47
5k splits; 22/25/25/26min for first 20km in 1hr 40min,
5k splits continued; 38!!/30/29/35= 2nd 20km in 2hours 12 minutes.
1k splits for first 5k in 22.40;
4.37 (long uphill in a very big crowd of runners following the 3hr pacer weaving through the masses of runners)
4.09 (following the 3.00 hr pace group as the space opened up on St Kilda Rd and the nice flat road encouraged the pacer to make up for lost time in the first K)
4.36 (After an 8.46 2km, I didn't really feel comfortable with that pace, so I figured I'd drop back to 4.30's)
4.50 (Probably relaxed a bit too much here.)
4.28 (Pushed the pace a little to make sure I came in under 23 minutes, and back into 4.30-4.45 sort of zone)
10k split of 48min.00 secs was ok, maybe a bit on the slow side, but still a solid start. From there until 20km I was just trying to stick around 4.45-5.15's and although I only managed about a 52min 10k so around 5.17 per K, I knew I was still very well positioned for an assualt on the PB, and was feeling very, very comfortable. A little disappointed that I couldn't hang onto the 3.10, 3.20 and 3.30 pace groups, but still feeling like I wasn't that far off that zone, and was thinking of targeting about 3.35-3.45 or something like that. When I lost the 3.40 group due to the calf, I knew my chances were very low of getting the PB, and it was hard to stay motivated.
The 14km splits master plan

14km splits; 68.08/88min/89min*. *-(for 14.2km of course)
-Plan was to get to first 14km in 60-70 minutes which I did with 2 minutes to spare, so ok, but not really good, due to leg weariness from work and too much walking around on Saturday, should have got a Taxi, then maybe would have held 4.20-4.45's for longer , so hitting 14k in 66minutes or better.
Plan was to get through second 14km in 65-80minutes, so getting a 28km split of 2.05-2.30. Was trying to step up the pace after slipping out to 5.15-5.30's in the second 10k (52.50) (as I struggled to get to my first gatorade at 16.5km), a bit to get back to 4.45-5.00's per K from about 19km onwards, when I hurt the calf just after 20km. Due to the calf problems, my 28km split was only 2.36, which was 6 minutes adrift of minimum target and and about 18 minutes off ideal target zone for a big PB.
Plan was to get through the last 14.2km in 75-85min, which I didn't due to ongoing calf issues, pace judgement errors, struggling to get to my last drinks stop (which ended up being at 36.5km rather than 35km as in race booklet!), and not enough general mental toughness. Could only manage 89 minutes, which meant I was just over 10 minutes shy of the PB at the finish.
So I think My first serious attempt to use the 14km splits plan worked well, and If I get the opportunity again I think that might be worth doing again. Interestingly my City to Surf Marathon 28km split was 2.38, so my last 14.2km (without as many big hills) was 8 minutes faster (Perth C2S time was 4.15) this time around, and my HALF split of 1.53 in the City to Surf was 7 minutes slower!, plus I felt a whole lot more comfortable and ready to attack in melbourne at the Half way mark...
More detailed race report of the last 22.2km
The right calf strain? (guessing thats what it was) hit at about 20km when I tried to up the intensity a bit in an effort to get to the halfway mark in under 1.46 and under 5 minutes per K. In response to the pain I tried changing my stride, I tried stretching the calf, i tried switching to racewalking, (although I knew my knees would probably pack up on me pretty quickly anyhow if I tried that caper too long...the runners around me thought I was doing a Jared Tallent (won the 20k walk in New Delhi again as did his wife Claire, and did 3.08 racewalking the melbourne marathon last year)photo of me attempting to do the old racewalking thing again coming soon...) I tried a walk break, but this annoying injury which I have never had before, just would not go away, so at 23km I went for an icepack at an aid station and icepacked it for 3 minutes. This seemed to help a bit, although I was still getting pain in it at every step, and that pain continued for pretty much every step from there until the finish, and the left hip seemed to lock up and feel very tight for about 20 minutes or so, as I tried to run more with my left leg instead of my right leg. So I kind of got used to it over the next 2 hours or so, and in the last hour general fatigue started to override it a bit.

Pushed past the 4 hour pace group for awhile and got to 28km in 2hrs 36min, only 6 minutes adrift of my original minimum pre-race target of 2.30, although nowhere near my ideal target of 2.18 or better. I knew that I needed to be at 28km in sub 2.20 to be a good chance of knocking off the PB. 2.30 would have been close enough if good enough, but 2.36 was asking a bit much. Still I entertained slim hopes of trying to get some sub 5min K's on the board, and in other ways I felt really good. However the calf wouldn't allow me to do more than about 5.20 per K, and I knew the PB hopes were over. 4-4.10 was my best chance...Then the 4 hour pace group flew past me on St Kilda Rd, as I was trying to hold onto 5.30-6.15's...Which I was doing...Still felt like 4.09ish was possible, and despite a real struggle to get to the last drinks station at 36.5km instead of 35km! up the hill next to the Tan, where I wolfed down my 3rd Gatorade and water, I knew the long downhill to the finish would see me under 4.10 as long as I held pace, and kept the calf under control. Used my weapon from days gone by of a flat cocacola at 39km, and passed a lot of people from here, and especially on the MCG (about 20). Finished feeling very good physically and went looking for an icepack for the calf.

Spent the rest of the day and evening limping around with a very sore calf...The medal we got was awesome and especially the ribbon thing attached to it. Headed for The Transport and caught up with heaps of wonderful Cool Runners. A good day!

So where to from here? John Gilmour 10k Track is soon, 6 inch 46km is fast approaching, and 2011 is fast approaching. Its hard to pick yourself up from the emotional turmoil and continue on sometimes. Now is one of those times for me. I guess Sally Pearson must have felt like that when she was stripped of her Gold medal in the 100m a few days ago at the Commonwealth Games, or Craig Mottram who possibly could have been on the podium again at the Commonwealth Games, but didn't get selected due to injury during the selection period. Or Slingrunner who was all primed for sub 3 in Melbourne and didn't even get to run, but still showed up to hang out with his fellow bloggers. etc etc etc. Thats why they say (to quote again from my brothers NBA basketball videos) in my best over the top melodramatic Don Lane type voice; "Injury!:An athletes worst nightmare". The other nagging doubt/question in my mind is;, has my body had enough, is it finally self-destructing under the weight of me trying to manage too many injuries and other stuff at once...But I always then think well if God wants me to keep going I'll keep going, otherwise I'll only have "secret racing" (thats an inside joke in BBC's mob) to look forward to, and no real racing, or worse have to become a cyclist, or a triathlete, (no offence but they are not my favourite sports for various reasons, not to mention the cost) or even a video/arcade-game player...I blew $16 on virtua-tennis arcade game at Melbourne Airport pretending I was Leighton Hewitt, Rafa Nadal and Tim Henman. Virtua Tennis 3 seems harder than the earlier versions I can't win the games anymore...Then there is family stuff money work all the usual challenges. The thing I hate about holidays the most is how little money you have when you come back...Anyhow onward and upwards I hope...

Thanks God and Bound for glory hopefully

2010-10-03T23:23:00.006+08:00

Very very busy with work,family, bills matters AGAIN this week, sleep way too low...

Sunday 4x 1400m @ 4.19 per K.
Times; 5.51/5.54/6.04/6.23.
Heart rates 168,174,180,168
At S. Park grass track. Got too dark to do any more and last interval I was slow due to fading light making it hard to see track...But very pleased I was able to get to 1k marks in 4.11, 4.12, 4.22, and even 4.32 in last one where it was too dark to attack...Last year I was able to do 5.50's for first rep, but slipped out to about 6.15-6.30 after that, and my heart rates afterwards were about 10-15 beats higher after each rep, so its obvious I am travelling heaps better than last year...

Saturday 3x 1km hills reps @ 4.52 per K.
2214hrs, elevation 54m...Tough hills course acutely aware of the need to protect the hammy, but keen to grab some fitness benefits late that night, just before midnight...road course, massive climbs on this one...

Monday 12km trails run 80min @ 6.24 per K
Wungong gorge!!! Its been 7 years but still an incredible place, with Bernadette, Rolf and Graeme. Awesome run, hope to be back there again soon...

Best resting heart rate for the week; 39 beats per minute.
Despite very limited training in recent weeks, (although spending many hours walking around streets for work..., and major lifestyle improvements in the last 3 weeks, since I took leave from my night job) it appears my hammy is going to make it, and my calf is going to make it, and my knees and hip and back are going to make it, and I have avoided losing too much fitness as the training has fallen apart...Big news this week was that I finally had the big win I was hoping for in the money stakes, so able to sort out a lot of things, so thanks God for the wonderful blessings!

While I am concerned about my ability to hold pace beyond 14-28km, and my intervals and tempo runs have been almost non-existent, and so very disappointing, I still feel like I have done enough for a big PB, and have held it together ok, although disappointed not to build properly on my best training in August/early September, at least I have tapered, and will try to continue that way in the final few days...

Long runs; adequate (31k, 42.2K two of the best recent ones), but could have done more.
Intervals; suspect (nowhere near enough of them), but what I have done has been very good.
Very pleasing to hold onto 4.19 per K in the 4x1400m this week, and my speed drills have been minimal but good.
Tempo runs short time trials; adequate, but didn't attack often enough; 22.06 5000m (4.25 per K), 33.22 7k, 46.53 10k (4.41 per K) suggests that 4.45-5.00 per K pace should be comfortable...
Medium runs; suspect (not really enough of them), but the 1.41 20k and the 1.53 Half (in City 2 Surf Marathon), plus the 2.10 20.5k run should all help me in the middle stages of the race, just feel that a few more of those my major thing lacking...

While my training has been not as good as 2009, I still feel like I am in heaps better condition than in 2009.Weight has slipped out to 78kg, and RHR more around 39 after the 34-37 action a few weeks ago, but I have been sub 40 RHR for 7 weeks in a row, and prior to 2010 I had never had a RHR sub 41 ever!, so that and the 4.19 pace 1400's suggests I am still on track for a major, major improvement on last year (where I hit the Half in 1.47...) Pacer groups are up on Cool Running, and 6 inch gathering momentum...all still looking good at this stage...
Big plans for the next few months if God allows me to keep going!

Looks like maybe God willing, I'll be bound for glory on 10/10/10...like Deek (DeCastella who revved us all up at the start of Melbourne Marathon last year) and Angry Anderson showed at this AFL Grand Final between the Hawks and the Eagles in 1991...The final countdown week now....We know whats right (Whitecross with Rex Carrolls axe still shredding!!! live at Legends of Rock in Germany September 18th 2010...(Ive been a massive fan of their sound since about 1988...the same year I started keeping training books, mostly for racewalking in those days...)) and Love on the line (1987 track from Whitecross the same year I won my first of scores of state medals, a Silver in little athletics state 1500m walk...when metal and mullets ruled the roost...) always true...Awesome Whitecross video; No Second chances if we waste our life storing up earthly treasures that will waste away and reject our need for forgiveness and guidance from the Most High, the Creator Triune....see 2 ways to live for the answer of life...

I am mega nervous about 10/10/10, even though its just a race, just another marathon......

....Looking forward to Mottram!!!! talk after MM and 6 inch hopefully too in December...

Remembering and psyching up

2010-09-27T02:00:00.000+08:00

nearly 5 months later this is still one inspirational finish to an incredible race...

nearly 5 months later this is still one inspirational finish to an incredible race...
Its worth remembering as I psyche up for 101010

the wave dream is still there to be ridden

2010-09-27T01:24:00.004+08:00

no training or racing this week. still magaed to hold onto a RHR of 38 on my best day though...
To borrow a really cool concept from BBC's blog...If its not training it must be recovery...so I guess this ends up being an unplanned recovery week, and in the spirit of taper time thats not such a bad thing...
but still disappointing, anyhow I sorted out a stack of crucial financial issues, and work/family/bills related stuff, that needed to be dealt with, to reduce the chances of my dodgy financial setup negatively impacting my PB chances on 101010. So sometimes you have to take one step backwards to take 2 forwards. That said I still am sure that barring injury/illness, or major muckup on race day the PB is there for the taking still. want to keep riding the wave...It is taper time, but hope to put in some intense short sessions in the next 7-10 days, all the time looking after the hammy. noticed tonight that my local track is finally been marked again (its a footy oval with no track from April to mid September.), so its game on for some intervals work hopefully soon. The PB dreams wave is still there to be ridden. The resting heart rates are still in the 38-43 range all week, the weight is still hovering around 78kg, so no improvements this week, but have not really lost anything much either...borrowed more money towards my melbourne obsession this week, one of the biggies this week was a new pair of Reeboks same model as what I wore in MM 2009..., they are significantly lighter than my current Sauconys that I have done all my training and racing in since January this year, 2 road marathons, 42k of the 40 miler race, 6 hr track race, lots of trail running, and 8 months of running = worn shoes, that probably should be replaced by the end of the year, so going to try and wear in the new Reeboks in the next 10 days...although the Sauconys still runnable for a month or two yet especially with my low mileage...Onward!!!

3hrs 21min for 31km my final long run for 101010

2010-09-18T15:53:00.001+08:00

18/09/2010 MundaringMtHelenastonevilledouglas
Find more Runs in Mundaring And Mthelena, Australia

Saturday 18th September; Ran 31km in 3hrs 21min 45 seconds. (6.30 per K) HR 144 at the end.
Started strongly with the aim being to hit the first 7-10km at a good speed, and then take it easy for the last 20km.
Got to Mt Helena (6.75km) in 34.57 (5.11 per K), so a good pace on trails. Lost enthusiasm after that but still maintained ok pace to 10.5km at Stoneville Rd in 55min.25 (5.15 per K).

Then pulled out my two 750ml drinks from my hydration pak, put my powerbar sachet into one of them and set about trying to run at an ***easy*** but solid pace for the next 20km or so. Got to Mt Helena (14.25km) in 1hr 25, and then saw Saskia and David running back at their very fast paces... Carried on to where the trail hits Thomas Rd near Douglas Rd, (1hr 58min for 19.25km) then came back. Beautiful morning, perfect weather, lots of wildlife, occasional cyclists and dog walkers, but mostly just me and nice flat trail with a few gentle undulations, nothing major as far as hills goes. Perfect for my hammy, no major hills to upset it. Just love running this trail, would do it more often if it wasn't a 60min drive from my house these days. Coming back getting low of drinks, and pretty fatigued. Got to Mt Helena 24.25km in 2hrs 32min, so my last two 5km splits were about 33min and 34min, pretty even and just under 7 min per K...Not fast, but solid enough. Saw a 6km to Mundaring sign with my watch saying 2hrs 37min, some tenderness around the upper hammy area on some of the small hills, but overall much better than recent weeks, so the 4 days off training this week(unplanned) have probably helped it heal... Last 6k was pretty tough and chafing a bit (not enough body glide? in my keenness to get going at the start...), but hung in there well, and came across Steve and Sal with all their special gear doing some training for their attack on the Sahara Desert in just over a weeks time. Very surprised to see them, but nice to see some familiar faces.
Last 6km took me 44min so starting to get a little bit grinding and slipping over the 7min per K mark, but overall an excellent long run, and with 3 weeks and 1 day to go, that will probably be my final long run for the big race on 10/10/10. Its taper and sharpen up/speed work/reps time now for 2 more weeks, then rest week. Nothing hard over 16km from here will be the plan, as its time to freshen up the legs and try and peak for 10/10/10.

17/9/10; Friday night quick speed drill;
3x300m; 61secs/59 secs/66secs. 90 seconds rests.
felt good, at about 3.20 per K pace the hammy felt ok, so thats very good news.

hammy hassles 46.51 10k and RHR 37= hanging in there

2010-09-12T11:53:00.005+08:00

Best RHR this week is 37, weight on Sunday is 78.8kg, so not really good stats, but hanging in there, holding onto a lot of the momentum of recent weeks at this stage. Didn't get to long run, but 10k race easyish target achieved (sub 48.39 the minimum target, sub 47.30 the main target, sub 46.40 and sub 45.00 not achieved today.)...The other 2 target sessions not achieved this week. Very disappointed not to go on Stirling Ridge walk, but just too difficult with my hammy, and especially my finances in a desperate struggle to survive at the moment...
Numero Uno priority next week will be to get a big long run in, my last major one before 10/10/10. Then the main challenges will be 1. getting flights and accomodation done, 2. keeping the hammy operational, 3. cranking up some speed work if the hammy allows. However I know Ive done enough already to be a very good chance to PB without the speedwork, so I intend being very cautious in that area, as its more important now to get to the start line ready to go, than to find another 5-10-20 minutes of marathon time fitness.
Based on the 10k race this week and a few other sessions, it feels like 4.45-5.15's is going to be my race pace early on maybe even 4.30's, and if I can stay sub 5min per K (2.22 for 28k)or at least 5.20 per K (which I did for the first 21km of the city to surf marathon) for 28K (2.30) (did 2.38 for 28k in the city to surf marathon 2 weeks ago, but that included some very hilly bits in Kings Park) the PB should be very much a chance if I can get past the likely northerly headwind, glycogen depletion, any merging issues, and the small hill in the Tan during the last 14km...i.e need to hit at least sub 6min per K for last 14km, although if I can stay sub 5min per K in the first 28k then I can get away with 6min 30 per K in the last 14k... Hopefully my third sub 4 hour marathon and hopefully well under 3.55.02! (5min 34 per K).

12th September; Fremantle Fun run 10k race report;
46.51 = 4.41 per K HR 180 at end
22.40/24.11 5k splits.
1k splits; 4.07/4.35ish/4.35ish/4.45/4.38
4.57/4.53ish/4.53ish/5.05/4.24.

46.51 is a Seasons Best for me today, (22.40/24.11 5k splits) pretty happy with that, before hand I was thinking if I can go under 47.30 I'd be confident that my Melbourne plans are still on track despite all the hammy niggles Ive had in the last 2 weeks. Reserve target was to make sure I beat the 48.39 from the Bridges earlier this year. Sub 45 and a return to B-grade land would be nice, but with the hammy problems and feeling a little unwell the last few days, I figured that would be slightly out of reach today...which proved to be correct.

Saw Gone2thepacks hat a few people in front of me at the start.
I wondered if it was worth showing up today, with my hammy problems, lack of training the last 2 weeks (even with some allowance for recovery from city to surf marathon 2 weeks ago) and feeling unwell the last few days, but very glad I did.

Clouds looked pretty ominous driving in so figured we might get a bit wet, and that winds would be a factor...Tried to get there early to get a decent parking spot despite my 3 year old getting up at 0530, and managed to arrive before 0730. I looked at the WAMC programme calender link this morning like an idiot and saw the 0800 start time (although I can see now its 0730 on this thread, and on other places on the web), so at 0725 I was thinking gee they are pretty organised for an 0800 start..

then I heard Evan say on the mike lets start moving towards the start line, and realised heck its an 0730 start, fortunately I was able to get there in time, but due to my lateness unable to get a good starting position and had to jog the first 200m or so, but still managed to cruise up to the first 1km mark in 4.07 1K split despite the hordes. The slowish start probably helped my race to be more even and get a good time, and was also probably very nice for my dodgy hammy not to accelerate too much too soon... running out to the lighthouse could feel some strongish winds, which were hard to run through in the last 5k...but my marathoning strength from city to surf 2 weeks ago helped me to knife through it well...

Saw some of the legends of WA like Roberto, Todd Ingraham and DJC in the front bunches, and coming back spotted TR's Cool running hat, and got heaps of encourgaement from various people out there I know, its like going to a school reunion every time I race now, which is great just makes racing so much more fun, and frankly thats the way it should be for all coolrunners, so come on WA people get yourself a Cool running hat or shirt etc and lets make our races fun and interactional just like they are in the east, maybe not for everyone but It gives many of us a mental boost.....afterwards caught up with a few legends at little creatures...this event is fast becoming a race of good fun good times season bests and good memories for me, the last 2 years especially...

Managed to hold 4.35-4.45s as planned pretty solidly to hit 5k in 22.40, which was a touch faster than expected (I was aiming for 23.00), and knew from then that all I had to do was hold sub 5 min K's to the finish and a 47.40ish seasons best was mine. So switched off the rockets a little, and cruised through the last 5k, looked after the hammy, and as expected found the going from 6k to 10k a bit tougher, and 4.50's were the pace that felt achievable. Put the accelerator down a bit in the last 1k especially the last 200m, all the time trying to look after the hammy which praise God didn't blow up on me, last 1k split was 4.24 which while not really fast, was pleasing to dip under 4.30 for my second fastest 1k split at the end, as is my habit in short races. Heart rate 180 at the end, so the last 200m was pretty decent kick, without really going for broke (protecting the hammy with gradual acceleration and not pushing the limits too much).

One happy Trailblazer here, as Seasons Best in the bag, best 10k time since a 44.40 in 2005 for me (so best 10k time in the last 6 years have to be happy with that), which confirms my Melbourne Marathon PB plans are well and truly on track/intact, so despite a terrible last 2 weeks, the low heart rates in recent weeks, and the City to surf 4.15 marathon momentum has persisted, Just need to 1. find the money to get over there, and get new shoes 2. keep the hammy from blowing up, and 3. keep the training momentum ticking over in the right direction...

Wednesday 8th September;
5km intervals 22.26 total time. (4.29 per K)
Aborted session half way through after severe hammy problems in two reps.

Hamstring Strains and Preventing Recurrence

2010-09-09T04:44:00.000+08:00

Hamstring Strains and Preventing Recurrence

The timing is terrible just as I am about to ramp up my intervals work, but I have to get this sorted out or no 10/10/10 success for me...

best RHR 37 10.5k reps in 48.59 and hammy soreness

2010-09-05T10:05:00.007+08:00

Best RHR 37 this week, have struggled to recover from City to Surf marathon, been busy with work stuff, had a lot of soreness from hammy towards the end of the week, and feeling unwell on sunday with headache, blocked up head, and so on. Decided I needed to concentrate on work stuff a lot this week.
Rant time;
Had general soreness especially quads and calves from the city to surf marathon for 2-3 days, which is to be expected given the fact that 4.15 was a solid hitout for me, and the hills were a lot tougher than what I've run for awhile. The hammy and hip soreness although minor at this stage, and didn't stop me from doing intervals session on Saturday, has been a big concern the last few days. Hopefully its just a minor niggle I can get past, but its come at a critical time in my training program for Melbourne, when I want to maintain mileage around the 50-70km per week mark at least if not increase it, and also pick up the intensity with lots of short high intensity work in the next few weeks time. Still have a week or so to get it right, but I am very reluctant to risk the epic Stirling Ridge hike unless it improves a lot, and I think its time I saw a chiropractic or physiotherapist professional. So will be trying to raise enough money for that, plus my wife is struggling with knee pain also.
Have a few important things to catch up on, and as usual finding everything a bit daunting to deal with. Money is tight and bills yet to be cleared and still havent finished my tax return, although a lot closer than I was a week ago... The hammy/hip thing is scaring me, and I hope it doesnt rule me out of Melbourne. Also have the big dilemma of whether to do this 7-10 hour hike with friends on the glorious but extremely tough alpine Stirling Ridge walk on Saturday (1000km drive to get there and back, so a tough day, and more than a tank full of petrol), and/or back up for a 10km race the next day at the Fremantle fun run. Not sure, one part of me says;
POSITIVES; adventure opportunity of a lifetime, and go for it, be careful and make the most of an incredible alpine opportunity, that will help my general fitness with some altitude advantage, and put some good exciting variety into my training and general interactions, and achieve one of the goals I have wanted to do for many, many years...
NEGATIVES;
Other part of me says I will probably struggle to be well prepared for it financially and logistically, the demands of family life with a 3 year old and a ***3 MONTH OLD*** with very limited resources a tricky one to get right here too, and the risk of tearing my hammy and destroying any racing chances just as I am possibly approaching PB form with best ever resting heart rates (by 4-7 beats)...Plus the fact that this a dangerous hike with a lot of potential risks along the way and I think my friends overestimate their abilities, underestimate the dangers and time likely for it to take to do it, plus underestimate how hard it will be for others. One of the toughest decisions I have ever been faced with this one....Just not sure what to do, the easiest thing is to just say too hard too dangerous, I'm too injured, too broke, and family to look after, plus I have Melbourne to focus on, so give it a miss and try again some other time.
But I know I will be kicking myself mentally for a week or so for not taking this incredible opportunity if I do that, plus it will be another no-show, which I really hate doing. Plus maybe the hammy would be ok, and the training, social and fun benefits would be incredibly good. Maybe I should just give it a go, and take it very easy if hammy plays up. Thing is if I get severely injured its a very difficult and dangerous nightmare of a place to try and exit from...so should I take the risk or not...oh the dilemma...I felt similiar about whether to do city to surf, and that was awesome experience..I think I have avoided major injury with that one...maybe I should take the risk with the stirlings too...???? Or maybe the C2S has flared my hammy up badly, and the ridgewalk would destroy it....just not sure, maybe see chiro/physio see what they think then decide what is the way to go...
I'm leaning towards giving the ridgewalk a miss though (with great regret, and hopes to have a go another day)...
rant done I think...

Sunday; slept in, but managed to combine social visit with a minimal long run.
Jogged about 16-17km in 2hrs 14min (HR 120) from Wel to War Train stations, plus a bit of exploration of a salt lake near the end. Very low key, some tough hilly terrain, and some hard work on a very sandy dirt trail, a bit like running on soft sand at the beach. Carried hydration pack, and intended going for 26k, but the first 12.5k or so took much longer than expected (1.45) and as I didnt start til about 1515, wasn't keen on running through difficult hilly trail at night, in tiger snake infested area...especially as my hammy was tender throughout...
Found that running on the soft but firm surface of the salt lake felt pretty good though. A lot of stops, walk breaks and generally taking it easy, and felt heaps better afterwards. Decided to catch train back instead of running back in the dark. So not the long run I was supposed to do, but better than nothing, and I was due an easy week after the City to Surf Marathon, so thats a resonable recovery week.

Saturday;
Ran 10.5km of long intervals in 48.59. (4.39.9 per K average or 46.39 10k pace).
Heartrates at end of intervals 174-183. A 14 second, (session PB) improvement on last time....
Pleased with it, felt like I was holding onto my speed a little bit longer although the last rep was very hard to hold together. Hammy was pretty tender in warmup, but I held back a little on acceleration, and my fastest 700m split of 2.41 was 4 seconds slower than last time as a result, but I made up the 14 seconds by running a lot more evenly and holding pace in the first 7km of intervals, with the last 3.5km being a lot slower and a real dogs breakfast of go hard, then slow up stuff, but I already was about 40 seconds ahead of last times effort, so was able to minimise the slide in the last 3.5km so as to hold onto a 14 second advantage. A breakthrough session, but a hard one, and I think with some shorter intervals to finetune things I can improve greatly on this... Very good to get this one done. Hammy very tender before and after this session, but hopefully it pulls through ok, and comes good in the coming days/weeks...
Week 5 (of 10);

Volume; 203min . Sessions;2 Best RHR;37 Sleep;44.5 *4
1. OD/LSD/LFD;About 17K in 2hrs 14min. Target not achieved, too slow, too short, and most of all not out there long enough. hammy misbehaving.

2a. REPS;Long reps; 10.5K @ 4.39 per K.Target achieved. yay.

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); FAIL
4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); NIL.
5. RACE; NIL.

In summary;
I needed a chance to recover from Perth City to Surf Marathon as that was a bit of a last-minute alteration to things last weekend, but I am hoping that will help rather than hinder me...
From a periodisation point of view, after two hard weeks, (especially last week with the marathon making the week a whole lot harder than I originally planned)I was due for an easy week this week (week 5), or next week, and so an easy week or even 2 easy weeks, is not necessarily a bad thing. Could be a blessing in disguise from the Most High. I hope so.

However; I am keen to snap back into it either in week 6 or at the latest by week 7, because week 10 and to a lesser extent week 9 are taper time, so Hammy as I feared has been very touchy since, and its not psychosomatic. Whether the hammy/hip soreness (hip still tender but not as bad as it was last week) is caused by city to surf marathon, or other things maybe my metering work ramp-up,safe shoes in mosman park etc etc, I am not sure, but I know I had pain issues before the city to surf marathon, so could be either way. Its a problem.

Its halfway in the program, 5 weeks to go, I am in a good position, best I've EVER been in arguably, the question is, am I about to step it up for the final 3-4 week training charge, and head towards a glorious PB in Melbourne, or will my injury and money worries destroy my chances...the next 2-3 weeks will be crucial...so I can see 3 options at the moment;
1. Time to strap in, and go hard!!!! or if the hammy doesnt come good to consider
2. how I can get to Melbourne on a reduced program with some cross-training to try and get the injury to heal, or
3. to pull out of the Melbourne plans altogether.
I'm hoping its option 1 or 2 and I won't consider option 3 unless several medicos expressly advise me that option 3 is required, and i agree with them. Because I am confident that sub 3.55 is there as long as I can maintain my current level of fitness. City 2 Surf Marathon in 4.15 carrying my own drinks and hydration pack, on a very tough course with a sprintish start, and a fair bit left in the tank at the end, confirmed to me that a PB should be possible in Melbourne.

If it is option 3 I will be bitterly disappointed, and not sure where that would leave my running future. If 12 marathons and a few short ultras is the end of the road, I can't be too disappointed with that. Its been fun and while timewise I haven't got to where I wanted yet, I have a tried very hard for 7 years, and my life and others lives has been enriched along the way. Plenty of people have had the opportunity to consider where they are at with God and be challenged or encouraged. Thats the ultimate goal of my life, so thats a job well done in my book. Sure I'd love to obliterate the PB's and maybe make an Australian team, but I should not forget they are secondary goals to the primary purpose which is to honour our Triune Creator, and encourage others to do the same.

So hopefully its option 1; and hopefully I can ramp up the intervals, and maybe 2 more weeks of the medium runs, which I failed to do this week, but figured I deserved the rest from after the City to surf marathon hitout, where I ran the first 21.1km in 1.53 while carrying 4 drinks!...and holding something in reserve for the second half...I think its go ! go! GO! time!!! Just hope my hammy can make it...God willing things will go well...

If its option 2 well its time to start crosstraining, and saving/putting aside money for Physios and Chiros, to try and ensure I get to the start line in as good a health as possible even with non-specific, non-running based preparation like the swimming based training my friend Jeannie did for some of her 4 marathons in the last 2 years...

Hope to fire it up in the coming weeks like the Dockers did in style on saturday with a rocking demolition of the Hawks!!!!

City to Surf - Perth 2010

2010-09-03T07:34:00.004+08:00

Race report for my 4.15.59 (half in 1.53) CITY 2 SURF Marathon in 2010 is HERE....
Scroll down past the video for photos of me from the 2010 C2S Marathon...

Pause this video at 46-47 seconds and you can see me running with the front bunch of Kenyans and Mark Tucker on the weekend, with white strands shirt, gold cool running hat on backwards, I am on the far right of picture...If you have trouble getting it to load, run your mouse over the bottom right hand corner and click on the youtube icon to open the video in a new window directly on youtube...

2009 VIDEO: City to Surf for Activ 2009

2010-09-03T07:10:00.004+08:00

VIDEO: City to Surf for Activ 2009
The 2009 one I was on camera for a fleeting moment, but it appears perthnow in their greatness have disabled the video...oh well I have better things to do than try and get on TV, although it would be nice to get my coverage online. Might have to contact channel 9 to get the coverage of me at the start of the 2009 and 2010 city to surf marathons with the front bunch and also of my 2 year old walking the 2009 Melbourne 5k onto the MCG one day. I'd like to buy all of those grabs to show the grandkids. But one of these days I might get a bit more famous maybe, or maybe not...would be nice but its not a massive priority...

City to Surf | Nine News | Monday August 30, 2010

2010-09-01T03:17:00.000+08:00

Perth 2010 City to Surf youtube clip...

RHR 34!!! and 4.15 in my 12th Marathon

2010-08-29T16:10:00.016+08:00

69.7km or 420minutes for the week. RHR of 34! Friday morning and 35 on Sunday, so my heart is pumping out massive amounts of blood with each stroke, by far the most ever.
My 12th Marathon finished and the 12th time I have finished a Perth city to Surf race since 1997. see here...Only my 14 year-old Bridges funrun streak beats my City to Surf racing involvement for longevity...ands thats only because I didnt do the city to surf in 2000 and 2006.
Perth City to Surf Marathon had a Kenyan 1-2-3 with a winning time of 2.14! from Chelimo Luka Kipkemboi, who had to sprint finish away from Lilan Kennedy Kiproo. Reuben Kosgei was 3rd.
Pretty sure that the fastest marathon ever in Perth. I got to run stride for stride with them early on. See THIS video about 46-47 seconds into it...exciting...
The top 3 women in the marathon were; Ethiopian Mulu Seboka in 2.35, Kenyan Emily Chepkemoi Samoei in 2.45, and last year's winner, Magda Karimali-Poulos of Australia was 3rd.
See HERE for link to the major winners of all events.
There are 49 photos HERE...I am standing next to the eventual winner Kipkemboi in photo 3.
Some video from the Perth City to Surf; VIDEO: City to Surf 2010...
Disappointed in the Perthnow and channel 9 coverage so far, its just a hotpotch mess of random shots of the 40,000+, the race coverage is pathetic...nothing at the start of the Marathon (of course I have a vested interest there but still...), no coverage of the thrilling sprint finish at the end of the marathon, or anything else of consequence just random shots of stuff...some small negatives; some "directional issues" for some runners, no personal drinks in the marathon...no public transport to the marathon...water!!! should be available in the marathon recovery tent...I liked the free powerade and mars bar though...

Full results @ HERE ...and photos coming soon...

Sunday;
City to Surf Marathon 4.15.59 hr 150.
Half splits 1.53/2.23
6km 30.30 10km 52.34 15km 1.19 20km 1.47 21.1km 1.53.34
25km 2.19 28km 2.38 30km 2.51

Good solid hitout!! Very pleased with it. The hills from 22km onwards were pretty savage, as usual, and my hammy was playing up on all of them, so had to take it very easy on the hills, and walked on most of the big ones. Managed to finally outlast the ambulance from the medical marathoners, happy about that, well done to all of them...good battle, and ran well with AP early on on Riverside Drive, and Young Phil about 28km in towards the end of Kings park. Saw Coolrunner Peekie near the end, and caught up with Jeannie and Nathan beforehand. Got a heap of encouragement from other runners and spectators out there, nice to see fellow blogger Epi out there. I should be on TV tonight as I ran with the front bunch of Kenyans and Ethiopians at the start... Good run on a very tough course, with my hydration pack on. I carried 4 drinks with me, which slowed me down a bit, and used powerade cups once or twice, plus a GU that I got given out there. Excellent run, although I need some physio or icepack/exercises on this dodgy hammy...pretty happy with the run.

Thursday;
20.5km 2hrs 10min
First 12.5km 74min...
Slowish LFD or fast LSD session. Felt very apathetic, and aborted planned 25km session as it was taking too long, and I couldnt get any speed happening, on a more hilly than expected new course...also a few walk breaks and stops to sort out dodgy hammy and sand in shoes...
Hip very! sore afterwards and hammy pretty sire for the next few days...

Wednesday;
7km in 33min 22 HR 186. 4.46 per K.
3.5km splits; 16.24/16.58
700m splits; 2.48/ 3.11/ 3.24/ 3.35/ 3.26 3.22/ 3.22/ 3.34/ 3.26/ 3.14

Oval course 10 lapper. A big PB, this time by 51 seconds…No torrential rain to contend with this time, just occasional kids spraying soccer balls at my head, a few close calls, but its all good, although I may have wrenched my hip/hammy trying to dodge one of them abruptly...Kicked pretty hard for home at the end, so HR 186 at the end, although probably could have kicked a bit harder, found a few seconds. short on time so aborted planned intervals session and did this instead. Good solid even run all the way, that time will require some work to beat, not as soft a PB now…Not feeling really good, a bit leg weary, and some ankle soreness, and very sore left hip afterwards, a bit bizarre. Also had some knee soreness since Monday, but it seems to have settled down. Solid improvement and nice to dip under 4.50 per K which is significant improvement on this course. Aiming to be sub 30 minutes by the end of September…..

Week 4;

Volume; 420min . Sessions;3 Best RHR;34 Sleep;38.5 (5.5hrs p/night) *6
1. OD/LSD/LFD;42.2km long run done. Raced it. 52.34 10k 1.53 Half. 2.38 28k.Target achieved. yay.

2a. REPS;Long reps; FAILED to get session done...

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); Ran 20.5km in 2:10.20 slowish, and shorter than I wanted but good enough, to still be Target achieved. yay. in terms of the minimum targets of my program...

4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); 7km in 33.22 PB very even and great to get this one down to 4.46 per K...

5. RACE; See long run....

IN SUMMARY;

69.7km or 420minutes for the week. RHR of 34! Friday morning and 35 on Sunday, so my heart is pumping out massive amounts of blood with each stroke, by far the most ever. Thats only one aspect of general fitness, but its the most important one, so a pretty good indicator I am on the right track to some big PB's...
Just need to maintain the training momentum, get the body used to holding onto the speed a bit longer, keep the injuries under control, cope with money worries, and Melbourne is looking good...Some recovery needed for a few days from the City to Surf Marathon, then ease back into the program towards end of next week...Might need to see a physio/chiro about this hammy, but a few days rest might do the trick. Steady progress in the Marathon on a tough course, and with the quicker 7km. Biggest negatives from this week, were not getting intervals done, apathetic, slow effort in the medium run, and the hammy and hip issues. Hopefully can get past all of those things, and maintain the training momentum, which is considerable!! at the moment as shown by the resting heart rates...After 4 weeks and So with 6 weeks to go things are going well, but still some work to be done...Ive hit about 6 out of 11 target sessions so far so thats a C+ or a B- in my book for the first 4 weeks, and the last 2 weeks I have nailed 4 out of 5 target sessions, so just need to keep building, especially in the next 4 crucial weeks, then try to taper for the final 13 days or so...Its starting to look good...

moonlight 26km rhr 36! sb and 1.41 20km=B+

2010-08-22T00:23:00.006+08:00

57km of running this week = 367min of training volume for the week = a B-grade training volume target achieved for this week.

Sunday PM (just after midday);
Ran/walked 6km in 50min 29secs...with 3 year old, 16kg, Jacob in the pram. (NOT a running pram) Fun and a good easy!!! recovery run/walk after the 3 hours on the trail last night...

Saturday PM;
Ran 26km in 3hrs 12min 45secs. HR 138 at end but probably a lot lower during some of it...

long RUN/walk…started very slow with a walk with my wife and kids for the first 5 minutes, then got a slow jog going, got onto some good trails and started to click into 6-7 minutes per K pace, maybe a bit faster, got onto the main trail and started to find some good K splits around about the 5.40 per K stuff, which is ok on this tricky trail…which also has a few undulations and some difficult terrain. Was carryin a heavily loaded hydration pack. A chance to work through some of the streeses of the election day, and finally get a long run on the board to ensure this is a successful training week. Had to divert at one point to soft sand to avoid a dog running free… Walked for a bit as I downed my powerbar drink…Did the bit from 9km to 13km in 21minutes, which is about 5.20 per K…that got me to halfway turnaround in 1hr 30min 48 secs. Then started to get a few patches of drizzly rain. It was getting dark as I made it to 17km on a nice smooth (but hilly in places) trail section in 1hr 57 min meaning that this 4km section took me about 26 minutes, so a lot slower at around 6.30 per K…Saw one kangaroo cross the trail here…almost full moon snuck out from the clouds every now and then giving me better visibility. Had a handheld LED light that started to get used in some of the darker parts of the trail, especially where the trail gets tough terrainwise. Just before the last tunnel got hit by a heavy burst of rain. I’d already put my phone in a plastic bag, so wasnt too worried, but when I came out the other side of the tunnel, The rain had petered out again, although there was puddles for about the next 3km as a result. Tried to avoid too much walking, and hit some decent pace at times as I splashed along in the darkness of the trail, which at times had pretty good night vision visibility due to the moonlight periodically making an appearance. Then the trail area got pretty dark as I heard a few calls from the very nocturnal bats near one of the lakes. Could also hear a lot of frogs there enjoying the light rain n o doubt, so kept a keenm eye out for any tiuger snakes or dugites that might be around hunting the frogs maybe. Heard a big movement in the bushes by the trail at one point, that had me on super alert, but no definite sightings. Then it was through the parks section, where I had hassles from dogs off the lead twice, and my heart rate cranked up a lot to 138 beats per minute as I had just climbed the steep hill to home. A slowish run with some good surges especially from 9km to 13km, and a few walk breaks, a nocuturnal moonlight section for more than an hour to finish, a fair bit of mostly light rain, but otherwise good conditions. A good long run, which puts my training well and truly on track. Keen to avoid the nocturnal componment in future if possible, but its all good fun so far…

Thursday PM;
Ran 5000m in 22min 06.0 secs HR 189 at end (Mostly due to the 40 secs last 200m kick)
4.25 per K average....
3.48/ 4.35/ 4.42/ 4.40 / 4.21 for 1km splits this week.
3.44/ 4.24/ 5.02/ 4.24 / 4.34 for 1km splits on 22/7/10...
Main difference from the 22.06.6 I did on July 22nd last month, is that my middle KM was a lot faster this time, and my 2nd and 4th K splits were a bit slower this time, but I kicked well for home in a desperate attempt to land the SB which I did. So not the perfect race by a long way, but nice to get the SB and hopefully next one will be a big breakthrough, feel I am close to hitting a much better level of performance...

first 200 36 secs last 200 40 secs.
first 400 82secs last 400 101 secs.
first 800m 3.00.
Lead the field for the first mile or so. First 400m too fast, no sub 20 minute people there, so found it hard to get the pace right early. leg weary from work (only finished work 45min before,, and the 20km the day before), but still managed to season best by half a second. Not that happy with my time or pacing, but happy with my effort level and a solid kick for home in the last 200m. Hopefully next time a big jump in time…

Wednesday AM;
Ran 20km in 1.41.53 HR 168 at end. 5.05 per K.
its a course PB by more than 4 minutes!! on what I did 1st June 2010. 10km splits 49.32/52.21…very pleased with this run,ecstatic with the time, a few more like this and it will be celebration time in Melbourne! the first 4km and the last 4km is extremely hilly, but the middle 12km is very flat and the freeway bikepath section is excellent to run on… trialed the powerbar drink for the first time ion training, reckon I’m onto a good thing… heart rate at end same as last time, so a lot lower than last year…attacked really hard on the flatter sections, and carried 2 drinks for most of the way… southerly headwind but conditions pretty perfect...

Week 3;

Volume; 367min . Sessions;4 Best RHR;36 Sleep;44.25 (6.32 av) *5
1. OD/LSD/LFD;26km long run done.Target achieved. yay.

2a. REPS;Long reps; NIL

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); Ran 20km in 1.41 PB!Target achieved. yay.

4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); NIL

5. RACE; 5000m in 22.06.0 @ 4.25 at Masters, a SB by 0.6 of a second.

IN SUMMARY;

A more than satisfactory week. Totally ecstatic extremely happy with another PB resting heart rate...Just need Tony to take on governing the country and I will be very happy...So I give myself at least a B grade for this week. Especially since I hit my target B for training volume this week which is 360minutes. (target C is 240minutes, and Target A is 600 minutes. Been using Target A, B and C for a few years now but rarely hitting those sort of weeks. Last year when preparing for Melbourne Marathon 2009, I had 4 weeks in a row where I was hitting Target B or C in training volume. I will be trying to replicate or preferably exceed that effort especially in the next 4 weeks...Its do or die time...A big positive step in the right direction. Its an easy week, so only had 2 key sessions to hit which were the long run and the 20km, if anything I ran a bit further than I targeted and also raced a solid 5k, so a great weeks training, just need to step up a gear in the next 4 weeks, and everything will be on track...

10k of intervals 7k course PB and RHR 40 but no long run

2010-08-16T04:43:00.012+08:00

14th August Saturday AM;
10.5km of long! Intervals @ 4.41 per K, HR's 171-174.

Beat what I did in early June by 20 seconds so a session SB and very soft PB.
Solid effort without anything spectacular, and kept the heart rate down by not kicking for home much on any of the reps. Did the first interval at 4.30 per K pace (mainly due to the first 700m being at 3.44 per K pace, although it didn't feel as hard as it normally would, (i.e. I think I am not far off doing a shorter intervals session like say 4x1k reps at maybe 3.30-3.45's)) and the rest of the session was at about 4.50 per K pace, and the last 2-3k was pretty hard, so I know I made some gains. This was one of my 3 main target sessions for this week, so very pleasing to nail this one.

Toughish evening at work the night before so wasn't feeling the best but when I woke up with a RHR of 40,(and my second lowest weight reading of this year in 77.6kg) I knew it was game on for the reps session...So negotiated with my wonderful wife to look after the little ones breakfast, ignored the hunger pangs, and with no Saturday shift at work to goto, made it down to the oval by 10am...weather was excellent, and had minimal dog issues, and only one small bit of a soccer game/training during my last rep. Good session.

Thursday 12th August PM;
7km in 34.13 (4.53 per K) HR only 165.
Ran a small course PB (by 6 seconds) in heavy persistent rain, on a run that started as an attempt to do the 10.5km intervals session, but early on I realised that trying to do that session in the weather I had served up was going to be very depressing/hard ineffective/hard to measure, so decided instead to push on to a 7km run instead, as I knew I wouldnt want to run again once I stopped with my waterlogged shoes, and shirt. Couldn't remember what my course PB was while running, so wasn't really gunning for it, besides too busy dealing with heavy rain, which meant I pretty much had the oval to myself, as most people were not game to venture into it...The rain was making me go slower and slower until about 3 laps to go when it settled down a bit, and then got pretty wet again in the last 1.4k...

My notes from Strands.com read as follows;
Poured with rain throughout this run, pretty heavy rain early on, at one point the rain was so heavy i could hear it hitting my hat. My waterlogged shoes and shirt slowed me down considerably. Finishing heart rate a lot lower than last time I did this oval course, and its a small PB by 6 seconds on this course. I think I am pretty much over the flu now. Fastest 700m 2.56 slowest 3.40. Didnt finish hard, just coasted through the last lap in 3.28.

So a bit short on the distance, not lightning quick but the low heart rate and the fact that its still a course PB confirms my training momentum is considerable and headed in the right direction. A good solid run in atrocious weather conditions.

8 weeks to go need to get the long runs and medium runs ticking over, and build on the few good short sessions (5k in 22.06 @ 4.25 perK , 8.6k tempo run at BT @ 4.51 perK, 7k in 34.13 @ 4.53 perK and the 10.5K long intervals @ 4.41 perK) I have been able to get done, and get serious about the charge towards Melbourne. Its do or die time. Fremantle is guaranteed an AFL finals campaign now, but whether they finish 4th, 5th or 8th is yet to be determined. Its a bit the same with my Melbourne campaign.

I can do near enough is good enough for the next 8 weeks, and limp onto the MCG with another 4 hour effort, a bit like the Dockers finishing 8th and getting bundled out of the finals in the first week in Melbourne by Carlton or Sydney...
Or I can do most, all, or more than all my target sessions and the sky is the limit, with a marathon PB to enjoy at the finishline on the G...
I bought another powerbar sachet at our local shop the other day, reminds me of when they had powerbar sachets in Melbourne I think it might have been 2008 or 2007. Dont think it was last year. Its awesome being able to by Powerbar stuff just a short walk from my house...

Current dilemmas include;
* friends wanting me to do the City to Surf Marathon. Cost and logistics, family matters course etc all negatives for me...catching up with friends rellies in city beach, the first 20k being a nice course the buzz of running with some of the better marathoners in the world early on again, maybe getting on TV again a chance to maybe run a bit better than my pathetic 4.30 in the Perth, and various other things are positives. My City to Surf webpage HERE.........potential for injury=high unless I walk the Kings park section like last year...
* friends inviting me to do the Stirling Ridge walk (summiting about 5 of the highest mountains in WA, and run/hike for about 14hours+ straight through alpine terrain...) in a day the day before the Freo 10k race...negatives costs and logistics family stuff very challenging. very hard to get to Freo and run a good time after that...although I could try and do it at lake Gwelup the week before. It could clash with the Dockers in week 2 of the AFL finals, and it clashes with Mens Convention...Positives would be an awesome day hanging out with some cool people, and if I avoid major injury or death, the fitness benefits would be utterly sensational. Also its one of the things I have wanted to do for many years, the opportunities dont come along very often, and just being in the Mountains would be awesome, its such a wonderful part of the world...My Half ridge hike webpage HERE........Potential for injury=high.

However Melbourne is my goal race, so no matter what I do I will be trying to keep focused on that...
i had big plans for a long run on Sunday but at the end oif the day, nothing workedm just couldn/t get out to do it...Big FAIL on that front can't afford to miss that too many more times...

Ive decided to bring back my weekly stats summary thing which I have used in the past to help keep me on track for the next 8 weeks;

Volume; 103min . Sessions;2 Best RHR;40 Sleep;44 *9
1. OD/LSD/LFD;FAIL (plans to go to Walyunga or locally didn't eventuate.)

2a. REPS;Long reps; 10.5K @ 4.41 per K.Target achieved. yay.

2b. REPS;short reps; NIL

3. MEDIUM run (tempoish or TT); FAIL
4. SHORT run (tempoish/or TimeTrial); 7km @ 4.53 in very wet conditions tempoish except I coasted home with no kick at all, partly due to the conditions. Still a course PB.
5. RACE; NIL.

IN SUMMARY;
Well 1 (reps) out of the big 3 done is better than none, but not a satisfactory week, unless I get at least 2 out of the big 3 training priorities done. That said my weight and RHR are still on track, my times for both sessions were good, but I need to step on it in all departments if I am to get to where I want to. Hopefully the last sub-standard week. can't afford too many more without a long run...Still game on but getting into do or die zone soon...

Pic of me on page 3 of MM booklet

2010-08-11T08:09:00.002+08:00

My Melbourne Marathon booklet and number arrived in the mail yesterday, and one of my facebook friends spotted my Cool Running Hat sneaking into the far right of picture on page 3 of the race info booklet, so thats my second appearance in widely distributed printed form this year after the page 78 effort in RFYL...maybe this is my "testimonial year"...hahaha *LOL* happy. :-)

8.6km tempo run and I am fully sick!

2010-08-09T02:04:00.002+08:00

best RHR this week a solid but mediocre 43 beats per minute. so still in the ballpark, but nothing like the breakthrough alltime best of 37 bpm from last week. Big news is I recorded a weight of 77.4kg this week, which confirms things are slowly heading in the right direction in that regard, although another 5-10kg would be good...

Thursday PM; 12.5km slow jog run in 1hr 27 min HR 132 at end.
Planned to do intervals this day, but felt sick all day, no energy, and decided instead to go on a slow easy jog/run exploring my lakes course to Adventure world and back. Stopped about 4 times to get little bits of stuff out of my shoes, didnt lace up tightly enough. Motivation was at 1% or so, totally didn't feel like running, and had no energy, but forced myself out there in the hope that by Sunday I would be feeling better and ready to race...The early trail bit was ok, but then I found they had put new bitumen on the trail section where the tiger snake sign is...great...(a) it meant the nice trail I was looking forward to had been replaced by harder bitumen duh! and (b) it was new bitumen so it kept sticking to my shoes...horrible...the next bit up to adventure world was better, and I got some ok slow running done, but then on the way back just jogged home via the rail/parks course as I wasnt going by the tiger snakes sign again on that sticky bitumen. A depressing grind of a run, , but probably helped in my quest to drop my weight a little, and confirmed to me that I was indeed sick, and not just imagining it.

Wednesday PM; Ran 8.6km in 41min 40 HR 174 at end. (4min 51 per K).
With Simon at the new BT running club, which I think is a cool initiative.
Was a progression run, i.e. the idea was to start at easyish but solid pace then try and step things up in the last few km to target of about 4.40's...

Enjoyed the run a lot, and had some good chats about various stuff. An honour to run with such an accomplished and experienced runner. He had his toddler in a running pram, but it was me that struggled to keep up all the way. Early on running at conversational pace...just...I found the going toughish, and sensed maybe we had started a touch too hard but wasn't sure, but with my inexperience at tempo/progression runs, I am still learning how to do this kind of run well, not a style of run I am used to or good at doing...

Was a spur of the moment decision to run. Was reading meters in Attadale that day, but could see that if I went home straight after work as I felt like doing I'd probably not run, and waste yet another day...so resolved to go check out BT even though I didn't really feel like it, and force myself out for a run...very glad i did.
Apart from the concrete near the ferry terminal the course out to past the Narrows was excellent, flat and fast mostly, and seeing the city lights of the CBD across the river on the way back in darkness of the night was surreal and a touch of awesomeness. Simon got me to accelerate after the ferry terminal, which was good, but probably overdid it a bit, and only lasted about a minute or so, before I backed off to jogging...we restarted agin on the road towards the finish in the last K or so, which was a solid continual but shallow uphill, and as we increased the pace up this hill I knew I was making some gains here...felt good. Finish was a pretty good downhill, and afterwards good chats with "Comrader" Kevin (who is slightly ahead of my times at the moment, but behind some of my PB's maybe?, so running at a level which is good for me to aim at beating...i.e. a challenge but an achievable one in the short term), Simon and others. The Mizuno Strands top is awesome, and I have got to get back to BT sometime soon, a really good addition to the training arsenal this one...

Planned race this Sunday was the Perth Half, but instead of attacking that (have to admit I wasnt keen on the last minute course changes through east perth...way too much concrete), I spent the weekend blowing my nose every 5 minutes, and learning about the federal election...
so pretty depressed about this week, although the wednesday night run was good, right now I am as sick as a dog...fully sick....so need to get better before I can resume the Melbourne attack...9 weeks left to get it right...need to get the long runs going, and also the quality in the week sessions going, know what I want to do, just cant get to it until I get better from this cold/flu...plus its tricky finding the time to do sessions, but I know I can do this...maybe next week I will get better from this siockness and blast off in earnest...need to get on with it, and a few other non running things I might add...so a bit :-( down in the dumps right now, but the moment I can snap out of it, hope to start training hard and often...

RHR 37!!! and 10 to 10-10-10

2010-08-01T05:08:00.005+08:00

Sunday;
AM;
Ran hilly 9km in 43min 23 @ 4min 51 per Km. HR 168 at end.
To Chooks and back 2 laps...
Terrain is a bit varied with some trail/soft sand sections and a lot of bitumen and grassy sections. Mostly a good course, but the terrain variations, crossing one major road, and the 3 small but steep hills make this a lot tougher than a standard flat course on an oval or a track or a road, although a lot of this course is on road so some of it is fast, but a bit hard to get into a good rhytm all the way so a bit of a stop/start surge-ish course...which does suit my kind of pace changes...The hills and soft sandy trail bits makes me work a bit harder...Pretty happy with this run, not really an easy run, attacked too much for that, but too hard to run this as a proper time, trial so somewhere between a tempo run and a time trial in run purpose/style...Needed a good hitout to get into right mental state for my 3 year olds birthday party today, and to clear the cobwebs after the busy week...This certainly did that, and its clear I have hit another level of running in the last 2-3 weeks, even though Ive only run about 2 or 3 times...

Started out hard at about 4.25per K pace, slowed a bit on the return lap to about 4.36 per K, then the 3rd lap I lost the plot a lot, slipping out to a plodding 5.20 per K or something like that, although its not that long ago that I would have considered that a decent pace...but I have stepped up in the last week or two...last lap was back on track at about 4.38 per K...
2.25km splits; 9.59/10.47/11.42/10.55...

So I am ready to go and tomorrow the 10 week attack starts in earnest. 2nd August hopefully the dawn of my best 10 week block of training since the early 1990's...when I was racewalking at Nationals...

Recorded my lowest resting heart rate (RHR) of all time this week on Friday morning of 37 beats per minute!!! Oh for a race! Guess I will just have to try and hang on for the Perth Half next weekend, maybe a trip to Masters for a short fast hitout might be good too. The 37 is a sensational stat. Its 3 beats lower than I have ever recorded before, its my first ever sub 40 RHR since I started recording them in 1995, and if I remember correctly its the resting heart rate Mona said he started at when he first started training seriously. With 10 weeks to go until Melbourne Marathon on 10/10/10 its a big mental boost to my morale. Reinforces to me that maybe just maybe 10/10/10 is going to be my big PB day...Weight was also down this week around the 77-78kg mark, my lowest since 2008 when I ran 3.55 in the Perth Marathon and missed my PB by 8 seconds off minimal training. I know to make it happen from here I just need to hit my key sessions, continue with my lifestyle improvements and keep holding together the juggling act which is my family and 2 jobs mix. It won't be easy, but I am optimistic that the tough times of June are behind us, and things are picking up. Ive made some roster adjustments at work so I can get a better work/life balance and do more metering which will help supplement my limited training time. It seems my return to metering in recent weeks/plus lifestyle improvements/watching my weight/eating a little less/better is already paying off bigtime, with;
1. the RHR of 37 this week...which = more efficient heart/lungs= faster times with less effort.
2. the 22.06 5000m seasons best (SB) (only 17 seconds off my admittedly very soft track PB of 21.49)..confirmation I am progressing, despite the pathetic muck up of the Perth Marathon...again...
3. the weight dipping under 78kg for first time since mid/late 2008= better BMI=better power to weight ratio = faster times with less effort.
Admittedly the weight drop to 77.2kg was partly due to me not eating much that day after being too tired from juggling metering with a tooth extraction and losing a lot of blood. Spent an hour spitting out blood every 5 minutes after my tooth extraction while walking fast around the streets metering to finish off a round before the end of the day.

Its been a hardish week as per usual, but I have been attacking my metering, and between that and my other job, and Jacobs 3rd birthday party this weekend, its been a chaotic week again. But good to make some progress on my dental issues which I have been putting off for months, rather than have a situation to deal with a few weeks out from Melbourne. A PRE-emptive strike George Bush style or PRE style if you like. Which I do. which reminds me;goodbye lemons........
Running? well none of that in the first 6 days this week, but did get out this morning for a run...

10 weeks to go til 10/10/10. The next 10 weeks is hopefully the time to get serious and to get my key sessions done, get better at my juggling, so I can;
1. repay the debts (which have built up thanks partly to the terrible economic situation we are stuck with at the moment partly due to the government failing to govern),
2. end the waste (in my lifestyle...eating too much fatty junk food, not sleeping enough, working too many hours and straddling two jobs too much etc etc etc),
3. stop the boats (of doom in my mind, and in the injuries and environmental and socio-economic and other obstacles to racing well),
and
4. stand up for real action in improving my times, eventually smashing my PB's and maybe just maybe hitting my targets of sub 18 5k, sub 38 10k, sub 90 Half and sub 3 marathon in the next few years...
oh and elect the coalition too on Aug 21...
thats my action contract with myself. ...

Gregsons 3.31 AUST RECORD 1500M.

2010-07-31T07:38:00.005+08:00

Ryan Gregson blogs re his 3.31 1500m in Monaco on the Running Tribe...also video of the race...he finished 5th...
It broke a long standing 19 year old Australian Record by Simon Doyle from 1991, and is a major!!! moment in Australian athletics history...Although one gets the feeling he could smash it by a whole lot more...
Putting it in perspective he would have beaten me by more than 2 minutes on what I did at Masters this year, and most people I know by at least 30seconds to a minute(i.e. 200-500m thrashing, maybe 800m in my case...in a 1500m race)...2.20 per K pace...for Gregsons 3.31 1500m...

I like the fact his Mum gave him $2 for every PB he got as a kid. I remember getting $1 for ever goal I kicked playing AFL as a kid, and 5cents for every fly I killed, pretty soon will be doing similiar with my kids...
Gregsons record... from Aths. Aust. Mottrams 7.50 3000m is 2.36 per K pace (about 13.00 5000m pace), so there is going to be some good battles between birmingham, mottram, gregson, roff, riseley, and people like the two australian college athletes Robert Curtis 27.33 and Shawn Forrest 28.12 ) in Solinskys sub 27min 10k in May this year, in the years ahead hopefully.....
Solinsky ran 12.56 in Oslo June 4th which was a 16 second PB for him, and Collis Birmingham ran a 13.10 PB at the PREfontaine classic on July 3rd 2010. At the PRE meet 5000m race Solinsky "only" managed a 13.08...So its clear that Solinsky and a number of Australian runners are on the charge this year...Of course when Mottram was at his peak he went sub 13 minutes. Can Mottram go back in the sub 13 minute realm, judging on the 7.50 3000m this week, you'd be a game man to bet against him, although he is yet to get back to that yet, he is starting to look like he is very close...

Speaking of runners on the charge and looking a bit closer to home...nice to see CC has made the move over from WA and is racing some of these guys, which has coincided with Roberto Busi winning a lot of races in WA this year...

Will Sarah Jamieson come back and improve on her australian womens 1500m record of 4.00, or run the 5000m or another distance instead?...what will happen in New Delhi, with MONAs team at the commonwealth Games next month...exciting times ahead...
with presumably Gregson and Birmingham in action at New Delhi amongst others...

RHR 40 results in 22.06 5k track SB

2010-07-26T02:13:00.006+08:00

Some good resting heart rates this week, including an equal all time best of 40. So headed to Masters on Thursday night;
ran a 5000m in 22min 06 HR 186 at end.
1k splits; 3.44/4.24/5.02/4.22/4.34.
ran with Bjorn for first 800m (2.57), then backed off a bit but still went through 1k in 3.44, had a bad patch from 2k to 3k, after splitting 2k in 8.08, but held it together in the last 2k, with a last 200m of 41 secs to finish off. Its a 23 second improvement on what I did a few months ago in April a few weeks after the Mona camp, and only 17 seconds off my 2004 track PB of 21.49, but well outside my road best of 19.32 in 1998, en route to my 10k PB of 41.01.

So some pleasing improvement, and if I had started a little more conservatively and/or ran the 2-3k section a bit harder then probably would have knocked off the soft 21.49, so nice to see the momentum confirmed...I like track racing cos you can monitor your time every 400m, my slowest lap was 2.03 (400m), but was holding onto about 1.52's most of the way...Going into the race I was hoping for sub 23, and with a vague race plan of trying to hold onto 1.35-1.50's...
Mildly disappointed I didn't crack 22, but at 3k (13.10) I was thinking maybe 22.30, so glad I finished off the last 2k reasonably well.
short on time again this week, so keen to get home...
had plans for other sessions, but just couldnt get to them, traffic controlled for a WAMC race on Sunday first time ever so another non-racing milestone which I really enjoyed, hope to do that again sometime...planned a long run on sunday arvo, but ran out of time again...

So trainingwise I'd say that was a D- week (basically a no training week), but the 5k run very pleasing and that and the RHR's suggests I should be able to attack the Perth half well, if I can just string together some decent sessions, and hopefully see some sub 1.50 action, maybe even threaten my 1.41 PB...
Maybe this time...
been listening to total classic pop/glam/melodic metal Whitecross love on the line from 1987,Grave Forsakens new thrash album Fight to the death, Royal anguish :Mysterion which is unblack metal..., and two old classics from 1990 pop metal Final Axe with the axe of the apostles (Stryper drummer Robert Sweet carving it up), and one of the greatest speed metal albums of all time from 1990; Deliverance: Weapons of our warfare (was in the top 3 MTV tunes for 12 weeks in a row of airplay when it came out in 1990, and in top 10 video tunes of all time for one of the Metallica blokes.)...WOOW is awesome...also picked up a Mortification Scrolls of the Megilloth t-shirt, and basically despite losing hot water for 5 days, and a busy week, have a lot to build on here, feeling a whole lot more positive about a lot of things...

167min long run done.

2010-07-19T04:57:00.022+08:00

Best heart rate and weight vital stats for this week;
RHR 44 Weight 78.4kg. Might be an idea to get some skinfold calipers one day as a friend from work mentioned the other week, as a way of monitoring body fat (versus muscle) percentage...

Sunday 17th July;
Ran for 167minutes 55 secs (HR 135 near the end) exploring new options for my "3 lakes" course.

A lot of exploring, detouring, stops and some walks along the way. Stopped to read some interesting information about some of the animals (fauna) that inhabit the lakes there. Came across one interesting one about a Whistling Kite that has an M shape on the underbelly of its wings, a good photo of this hawk type bird of prey here Also ran through the preferred habitats of the White Striped Freetail bats, which have an audible echolocation sound if you are nearby at night, and of course the Western Tiger snake and Dugite. Turned around at Adventure World and could hear and see the guns in the paintball skirmish place at one point. Now know the trails and paths around 3 lakes a whole lot better, and have some better options for long runs, although given the snakes, I think it might have to be mainly a winter course option. Also saw about 50-100 black swans all in one spot together in a secret lake location...

My wife is a bit happier after Le-Cras 12 goal haul for the eagles, which means that they now have some hope of avoiding the wooden spoon perhaps, and it should be a competitive derby in the next couple of weeks. ]
Freo managed to avoid snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, thanks to the goal from Ballantyne in the last quarter. Some nice marks from Hill and MCPharlap. Now that Barlow is gone, we need McPharlap and Tarrant (back next week) for sure firing for us, and people like Mundy, Hill and Ballantine will need to step up. We are hanging on to top 4 spot, but beating the Bulldogs next weekend is a massive challenge the way we are playing at the moment. Even playing finals we need at least 1-2 wins to be sure, so its not a done deal yet, and not much point in finals if we are not ready to attack them hard...

Runningwise so glad I managed to escape for my long run, really needed it. Originally I planned to run Lake Joondalup 5k or 10k race, but just wasn't up for it given the last few weeks we have had, and petrol money is pretty low anyhow.
Our hot water system blew up on Friday, so its all good fun with wife, 6 week old baby, 3 year old, and 2 jobs, struggling to pay rent, cold nights and no hot water for the weekend.
anyhow have to face the facts thats life sometimes.
However some big positives, and little Jordan is a beautiful little baby, and between, her, my little son and my wife, I should never forget how much I have been blessed, through them, and in some of the incredible experiences Ive had, there has to be some valley experiences as well as mountaintops.

Speaking of mountaintops, came across some incredible lookout points at work this week. One near Coogee, has amazing sweeping views of the new multi-million dollar Coogee Marina, Fremantle, to the north, and Kwinana to the south, any photographers out there you have to visit this lookout on King st...it is awesome!!!

Now that we have caught up on some of the bills, and hopefully our finances continue to get back on track, I can turn my attention to finding some training and racing attack again hopefully in the coming weeks and months. Have to say though that my knee soreness (and the ankle pains last week that seem to have cleared up) after my long run today was very bad, and I sometimes wonder how much longer I can keep doing this, without surgery (which I wont be able to afford time or moneywise for awhile, (havent been able to in the last 9 years since I injured my knees in 2000.)), but I push on, as long as God allows me to.

So its game on for the federal election, (just for the record I will be voting for the Ironman mad monk for sure!, and not for the union puppet/NSW right mafia pawn/eastern states robber of WA money (for the 100 million a day debt) backstabbing hair products facade ranga, I hope her team gets smashed by Freo next week.) and while looking after the world God gave us, and possibly even some climate change (although I am still skeptical as to whether climate change exists yet even with some of the bizarre weather we have had.), and sustainability of resources are massive issues for the next few decades without a doubt I think, there are more important issues like the ageing population in Australia, drugs (the scourge of methylampetamine, cocaine, and cannabis combined with violent alcoholism (brought on by this drinking game maybe...hahahaha not really...) are major, major problems, which thanks to God and my parents I have always avoided and always will) and crime, the youth of our nation, too many cars/trucks for our roads, rural issues, Aboriginal issues and most of all for me, exorbitant land and rent prices. Some comic relief here from 2007; Tony and Julia...Krudd...Crikey....some kruddisms and obamaisms; In due seasonsong...full of fear..Detailed programmatic specificity....
Stairway to Kevin....
kRudd gets it right on Pursuit Trivia...
Monk on pursuit trivia wishes he had a phone a friend...
BrownGreen learns something new on pursuit trivia...
Repeater Julia...
A serious appeal for a fair contest...and mention of the completely outrageous way an australian prime minister was removed...
and of how we can expect more losing the way???
or maybe we stand up for some real action for a change...

Hopefully its game on for my 4th Melbourne Marathon attack kicking off in August only a few weeks away now. I think the classic 1990 album Fire and Love by Guardian sums up my mood at the moment. Tracks like Power of love and Turnaround.

Desperate times... reminds me of a newspaper headline I saw; message to JUU-LEE-AHHH we are hurting...(and weve had enough of government mismanagement, massive national debt, and taxing the heck out of us while we struggle to survive and our rulers take another overseas trip.)...
Krudd spent almost a million bucks on taxpayer funded trips in first class going overseas in his few short years in office. No wonder Australia in debt at 100 million a day with that sort of fiscal attitude. While they are putting our country into massive debt for an education revolution we have to have, which involves massive waste of money on projects many schools dont really need, we are working 2-3 jobs to pay for their pointless watse of money, just so we have a house to live in, and maybe some food. Have to say in the last 2 years Ive had too many times (in the bad months while waiting for a tax refund in June and not getting enough work in December) when its been like my last year at Uni when I lived on potatoes and nothing else, when cashflow has been diabolically sluggish...
Peter Costello put it well; the time has come to boot out the ALP pleease...

So rant done for this week. Long run done for this week, and hopefully game on for Melbourne starts soon.

RHR 43 weight 78.4kg the zig-zag Freo 3rd to 5th

2010-07-13T03:24:00.008+08:00

On 11th July 2010 I recorded a resting heart rate of 43 and my weight was 78.4kg, so am holding onto some of the small physiology/training momentum I have developed especially since the Monaghetti camp. Thats pleasing. This week no running and Ive had some trouble with an ankle injury, my dads guess is that I have strained a medial ligament attachment point.

I think we are almost out of the worst of the tunnel of money worries, cleared some important bills in the last few days, thanks to a loan I got from a crew that has a better rate than cash converters, but still pretty exorbitant, but has sorted out some major issues.

Had an interesting time last week reading meters along the side of the Darling scarp in Gooseberry Hill near the zig- zag, thought about trying to run up it , but ran out of time. Awesome views from up here, beautiful spot, just across the valley from where the Darlington hills group runs, sometimes they even run the zig-zag in the Comrades training, I remember the terrible trio running it at least once...hope to join them one day, be excellent 6 inch or 6 foot training...

Had some running plans for this week, was hoping to join Daves group at serpentine, but work and family stuff dominated this week. But feel happy I have sorted out a few things, just need to get more settled with adjusting to the juggling 2 jobs thing again, and hopefully will get training again. Ivé had my scheduled 3 weeks break after Perth Marathon, so need to get serious about Melbourne in the next few weeks...the run less, run faster program from RunningM looks interesting, I might incorporate some ideas there...Its basically a 3 sessions per week program, which are long run, tempo run, and intervals, simple but effective, with minimal time commitment for a marathoner. Run less= run fast. Sounds good to me...

`Fremantle needs to win 2-3 more games, to secure finals spot, and about n3-4 of the last 6 games to hold onto a top 4 spot...loss to Richmond was very disappointing, but injuries take their toll...Apparently 5th and 6th = a home final. But top 4 = double chance in the finals...

and as dockerland says, it will help the eagles get their much deserved wooden spoon, although Port adelaide, essendon, Adelaide and Richmond are all still a chance for spoon, in fact I think port adelaide might be the team that helps the eagles avoid a spoon. My eagles member dad remarked that there was only 26,000 at Subiaco Oval to see the crows smash the eagles. considering they have a club membership of 40,000+ and in the past most of them would be at the game, thats a lot of eagles members not going to home games to see them get their wooden spoon.
So Im guessing that the Hawthorn (in Tasmania) and Bulldogs games will be the hardest ones to give em the old heave ho in...the rest should be all winnable, so Im predicting Fremantle finishes 3rd to 5th...Using the ladder predictor thing Im tipping the final top 8 for 2010looks like Geelong,St Kilda, Fremantle, Bulldogs,Collingwood,Hawthorn, Carlton and Sydney to me...

Wondering if Stephen Hill might have originated from Geraldton/Mullewa way...Legends like him will have to step up now that Barlow is done for the year.

not much else to blog about really...

RHR 44 Hold onto the fire

2010-07-05T03:54:00.004+08:00

Firstly a huge Congratulations to Biscuitman on his outstanding 2.55 in the Gold Coast Marathon! Looks like Steve Monaghetti did a good job pacing the 3 hour pace group and finishing with a 2.58, and Biscuitman ran with his group early before breaking away....Have to say I'd like to run a 10k, Half or a Marathon at Gold Coast one year, sounds like an awesome event, perhaps next year...

A resting heart rate of 44 mid-week confirms to me that I am still holding onto some of the momentum, since my Melbourne Marathon in October last year, and the Monaghetti camp earlier this year.

Trying to hold onto the fire. I guess thats where I am at now (see hold onto the fire lyrics) post a disappointing 4.30 Perth Marathon. Trying to recover, and "hold onto the fire" (1986 Greg X. Volz (early PETRA lead singer who had some ups and downs, before recovering, a bit like marathoner Troopys demise and then incredible recovery to the highest level...) song from the River is Rising album I got from an unbelievably talented left handed drummer schoolmate of mine Richard R. in about 1990...who I lost contact with, and I fear lost his way socially, but I hope he got back on track, cos he had the drumming ability to be one of the best in the world, plus had some incredible spiritual and social insights, although I disagreed with some of his pentecostal beliefs which were typically Jesus Movement...) This song sums up where I am at mentally, had a quick listen to some of these old songs on a cassette tape the other night, along with some other Greg X Volz tunes so the main ones; Barrier,Joyous Grave, Livin for the bell, hold onto the fire, and Still Waters. Also a bit of a 1984 titletrack from Petra.: Beat the system album, which I got from Lucy O. about 1990...

Alright fit of depression off the chest, demons exorcised. Training. Well not very motivated at the moment, and still in the throes of an almighty struggle to survive financially, although I think we are winning, and God Willing, looks like I may beat the internet/phone bill challenge on the last possible day, which is today, turns out I have a day longer to play with than I thought, which is just as well, or I might have been blogging at the library or my parents today...Hoping that this week we will catch up a little, and maybe by the end of July we will be going well on the bills again.

Training;
Did two medium sized runs this week, a 90minute run on Tuesday, and a 103min run on Sunday.
Both were slowish exploring trails type runs, with some walking and a few stops along the way.
I think I was pushing the pace a bit more on Sunday, with some maybe sub 5-5.30 K's...but hard to tell as I wasnt too interested in the time, and due to the stops and walking too hard to guess my fastest pace...

Spent 5-6 hours meter reading on Thursday, although it was a bit Drive-book ish, but still walked between most of the meters just had to move my car about 4 times, instead of the normal 1-2 times. Added bonus was my metering was in the hills near Mundaring Weir, so the steep hills and beautiful bush scenery was probably good for me...
This is where the Bibbulumun track starts, the hiking trail from Perth to Albany, and its also near the beginning of the Munda Biddi mountainbiking equivalent, the trail running options in this area are awesome,(its also near where the saturday hills group that trains for Comrades annually runs, which reminds me its time I paid the C-team a visit some time...) and if I get more work in this area, and more time!!! (had no time on thursday) I may try and do some trail runs here after work one day...Things very busy domestically with out new baby girlk starting to look around, kick her legs, wave her arms, and generally checking out her surroundings a bit instead of just feeding and sleeping heaps. Does some big burps too. Most of my available time consists of helping my wife with the incredible new girl, and helping my almost 3 year old who this weekend added the word train to his vocabulary, and is now not saying choo-choo as much as a result.

The sunday 103min run I finished with a heart rate of 138 which suggests my overall intensity was a bit higher than on Tuesday...Physically I felt a bit more bouncy and moving well, so guessing come August I will be primed to get serious about this years Melbourne Marathon attack!!! Have had some ankle soreness the last day or so, which I might have done at work, probably just bruising...Also my upper thigh/hip/groin soreness was playing up again on the steeper uphill sections of the 103min run, so I perhaps need to get my hammy exercises ticking over a bit and/or make a slight alteration to my running style uphill... found an awesome new trail not far from Adventure World, it was getting dark and I ran out of time to explore all of it, but I reckon this trail I found goes for about a 2-4km loop, and very good surface, so next time I have a spare 2-3 hours I will be running over to check this one out in full...its about a 20-40min run from my house to get to it...Found some interesting info about Nyoongar history out on it too...

Also I played a little basketball on my own for 20 minutes in the AM on Sunday shot a few three pointers and layups, even did a slam dunk on a lowered ring after church, which we finally made it to for a change, reckon I could count on my fingers the number of times we have been to church in the last year or two. Was moving well there, which also involved looking after almost 3 year old Jacob and lifting him up high so he could try and shoot a basket, although he is still working on his throwing/shooting skills...

Got on Cool Running and did some research on jogging prams this week too...keen to get a good one...

So not much to write about, just easing back into the swing of things...Wimbledon is over, Hewitt only got to the 4th round, but he is still one of the best players in the world by far, and we could still see some massive wins from him I reckon...

Resting Heart Rate 40 beats per minute

2010-06-27T18:01:00.004+08:00

Recorded my equal best resting heart rate of 40 beats per minute mid week.

Busy with a lot of work and family stuff. No training, every time I tried to get out for a run got tied up with more important things.

My 10 week Melbourne attack starts in August.
Other plans for the next 3 months or so include;
-18th July; May run Lake Joondalup.
- 30th July?; will visit Dave K's 50 miler race, but doubt I'd be silly enough to try and run the whole thing...
-8th August; very keen to do the Perth Half Marathon on 8th August, and hoping for at least a seasons best in that one (i.e. beat the 1.52 I did in Busselton in February.)...knocking off the 1.41 PB might be asking a bit much but depends how things go in the next few weeks...dont think Perth Marathon has taken much out of me to be honest...

-29th August; City 2 surf I'm not very keen on...the 12k is an oceanic crowd of runners, which I dont like...the Half and the Marathon include some horrible sections in Kings Park, which my knees and back dont deal with well, and I walked a lot of last year...the first 20k of the marathon is nice though, so maybe I'll do the marathon again, and then either DNF at malcolm st, or walk/jog kings park section, bring it home in the last 10k like last year again...or even better maybe just walk the 4k with my wife and kids...

Keen on some racing in September 10k the preferred distance.

-MELBOURNE MARATHON 10/10/10 !!! Please try again, please try again , please try again...maybe this time I can finally smash the PB...I knew in october last year this would be my main goal race again in 2010...nothings changed in that regard. Very disappointed with my Perth result this year, very keen to make amends in Melbourne.

-I'd like to do the 10k in Rotto, but probably wont...

-19th December; 6 inch offroad 46km (North Dandalup to Dwellingup) is on 19th December, undecided at this stage, but more than likely I'll be there again for number 5, and keen to trim a few more minutes off last years PB of 6hrs 16minutes, I'd like to get under 6 hours at least.

If I nail it well in Melbourne and 6 inch, plus find a lot of money I'd love to have a shot at 6 foot track in 2011...we shall see...based on last year will have to have money set aside in advance just for entry, as last year entries sold out like greased lightning...

Hope to get some long runs ticking over, planned to do so today, but spent the entire day looking after 3 year old instead...Its tricky working out the right balance. Got it wrong today, but at least my son had lots of time with his Dad...

Massive struggle to survive financially at the moment. Hopefully only another 2-3 weeks before some streams of income start kicking in...

Will spend most of July trying to catch up on bills. May lose internet connection in the next week or so, due to unpaid bills, but I will be back...

C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lleyton Hewitt in his fourth round Wimbledon match against Djokovic tomorrow night.