SICK!

Nasty virus struck wed night - ?result of hard running sun and tues.

No running wed-fri with fevers, sat am felt a bit better within myself although still very sinusy, did 12k with brotherinlaw in just under an hour.

Shouldn't adversely affect my C2S performace much as long as I recover OK.

Second Interval session

Again, for my future reference

6x600m (Garmin measured at 630, but I assume trackis pretty accurate) 90 sec rest

2:05/2:04/2:03/2:02/2:01/1:59

Did a seventh thanks to masochistic Rob (who did 8) 2:03
Happy with the increased speed across the intervals
2k w/up, 2k w/d

Lake Joondalup 5k!

Wussed out today in the 10k, and setled for 5

Since Tuesday's intervals, did 13k Wed pm and 13k Fri pm over hilly terrain

This morning, 2.5k warmup with some stridethroughs
Set off on a flat course with 3:38/3:53/3:48/3:47/3:36 - 18:55 5k
Went out a little too hard and Rob & I decided at 3k to only do the 5k. Having said that, I didn't really commit to the 5k, and felt like I hadn't given it everything.
Did a 6k cooldown with Rob, was thinking of a bit more this afternoon but went and watched the Dockers get thumped instead.

Anyway, it's a PB and given comparison charts is what I should be running given my 10k time.

So hopefully a fairly heavy week this week before a final week taper into the City to Surf.

Congrats again to Homo for the big 10k PB

Intervals

Popping this one in for my future reference, first Perry Lakes Interval Session
100m, 100easy, 200m, 100easy, 300m - six times with 2 min break between

I missed the first on on the watch - recorded 2-6, very even pace:

Rep: 100m (jog) 200m (jog) 300m

#2: 18 (25) 40 (26) 60
#3: 18 (25) 40 (26) 61
#4: 18 (27) 39 (27) 60
#5: 18 (27) 38 (27) 61
#6: 19 (26) 39 (28) 58

I'm assuming interval #1 was similar pace, given it was first
So all 100s at 3min pace and 200/300s at 3:20 pace
Even including the jogs, the 800m were at 3:30 pace or less

Aussie Aussie Aussie...

Taking some energy from the Olympics, I have built up so far this month - 110k in the first 10 days
This week 80k -
Mon 10k @ 4:35 'easy'/progression
Tues am 10k @4:43 easy
Tues pm 5x 1k 3:47/3:48/3:50/3:55/3:47 (9k total)
Wed hill intervals with Rob (10k total)
Thurs off
Fri 10k @ 4:43 easy
Sat 22k @ 5:03 - ran city to surf course with brotherinlaw and Rob
Sun 5k tempo @ 4:06 (9k total)

So a bit of quality there - didn't run Wally Cairns race this am due to work commitments.
I feel I'm starting to get back to the pace I was running in March pre Canberra Marathon, which bodes well for my City to Surf chances.

We'll see how things go for this Sunday. I'm keen to maintain some volume this week as C2S is my main goal, but my wife is away this weekend so I'll probably head up to the Joondalup race anyway. I may just limit the quality work to Tuesday and Wed, make Thurs-Sat easy runs and see how I perform on Sunday. Also depends upon whether I gt much sleep this week watching the Olympics - luckily with the same timezone, no real middle of the night stuff.

I've varied my shoes more these past 2 weeks as well, running in Asics (2110, 2130 and DS trainers), Mizuno (wave inspire), and Adidas ( Adistar control and the Supernova control)

Run For Gold 10k

Quiet training week - did my hill interval session on Tuesday but was still pretty sore post KOTM.

Wed 10.8k @ 4:35 over hilly terrain which ended up a fartlek session I guess.

Thurs and Friday work and weather conspired to stop me running at all, so on Sat I decided to enter the Run4Gold10k. Didn't run on Sat as a taper

Somewhat miserable weather wet, windy), but I felt OK

Started 3:54/3:55/4:03/3:59/4:05 to be pretty much bang on 20min at halfway by Garmin, but it was already 100m ahead of the km markers - thus I was 30sec behind.

Lacking a great deal of motivation I pulled back somewhat for 4:04/4:05/4:09/4:07/4:05. Finished without a sprint - 41:09, 10.17k on Garmin in 4:03 average.

I probably ran at 95% effort - certainly wasn't dead at the end, but doubt I could have run sub40 on this course today.

A couple of weeks without a race now - think I'll skip the Wally cairns in a fortnight, run Joondalup the week after, and then City to Surf a fortnight after that.

Great to see Homo with some form on the back of an 80k week.

King of the Mountain 2008

I got back into training last Saturday, and ran 5 sessions before today - including hill intervals Tuesday

Sat 8.15k @ 4:27
Sunday 13.1k @ 4:41
Tues 11.4K @ 4:48 with 3x750m hill intervals
Thurs 10k @ 4:38
Friday 9.3k @4:48

I decided to do the KOTM today as something different, and thought it would be good preparation for City To Surf in terms of hills. Legs wre a bit fatigued though, so I told myself to take it fairly easy ( as if that would ever happen)

It was a freezing morning (1.7degrees C in Perth, felt colder in the hills), and as it is a one way course you drive to the finish and get a bus to the start - at the bottom of the hill. It was freezing in the bus.

My handicap was 17min41, which meant I had to wait half an hour after the first starters to get going. By 8:30 when I started, the sun was out and it was a little warmer. All the male runners who weren't club members started 2min40 behind me, so I was expecting to be passed by a few people.

I set out hardish over the flat first two kms in 3:57/4:13, then ploughed through the river crossing ( - freezing water to upper thigh level). My quads were shocked and it took a little while to get in a rhythm again.

From 3-14k the course was undulating with more ups than downs, but each hill was short enough to get thorough then catch my breath on the descent. I ran at 4:25s to 4:30s throughout this period and passed alot of people. At 14k I still had only been passed by 4 people - all non members and I thought I might be nearing the front of the members and the glory of a top5 finish.

With 1.5k to go, the hill became constant, and my energy suddeny drained. I think had I known the course and how near I was to the finish (finished at 15.9 on Garmin, supposed to be 16.1 and I expected an overmeasurement), I may have pushed through but I stopped and walked a little way up the hill. In that final 1.5k about six people passed me. I still ran 5:00s for each km, so I wasn't going that slow. Suddenly I saw the finish 300m ahead and pushed hard to finish - 1hr11:44 (54 minutes something handicap time).

That time would have put me in the top 5 last year, but I missed it this time. (Out of interest Clown - you would have started about 2 and a half minutes after me on the handicap system)

So my easy run ended up being a gut-buster, and 4:30min/kms never felt so hard.

My plan from here is hills, hills, hills in training, and keep attending racs on sundays, without necessarily tapering or expecting PBs in them. Tuesday will be a hill interval session every week, and if I dont do a short race on the Sunday I'll do a second speed or tempo session during the week.

The tourdefrance is making early morning runs harder, although the EPO boost my energy. Once again I have had my annual thoughts of buying a road bike, but again I find it hard enough to make time t run, am I really going to make time to ride?

Perth Marathon 2008

Well it's 4pm and I finally feel able to sit up and type out a report - there was a lot of pain going on today

It was a quiet week - 2 training runs at MP, 8 and 7km

Friday night pasta dinner with Rob, Saturday afternoon dropped off the drinks, interrupted sleep on Sat night before getting up at 5 for coffee and toast - the usual routine. I must admit to being fairly relaxed compared to previous years.

It was a cool morning to say the least - 0.9degrees - which is as cold as it gets in Perth.

For once Rob and I didn't run together - he was aiming for faster than me, so I quickly settled into a pace which was still a little faster than it should have been

0- 5k 21:48 (4:22)
5-10k 22:00 (4:24)
10-15K 22:18 (4:28)
15-20K 22:28 (4:30)
Half in just under 1:34
20-25k 22:21 (4:28)
25-30k 23:01 (4:36)

I had settled into a group of 6 or so who ran together from 10-25k, and as can be seen, I was still on 3hr10 pace at 30k.

Then the predicted lack of distance in training showed out.
30-35k I held on to about 4:50s
Then I really hit the wall, and went to a jog 500m, walk 50m strategy, that saw me hold 5:10s or so til 39k, but slip to 5:45s in the last 3k until a face saving last 500m.

I ended up with 3:19:xx - pretty much as I predicted.

I was absolutely wrecked at the end, apologies to Clown, Homo and respective families for lack of discussion - I needed to get home and horizontal for a while.
My immediate impression was the same as Homo's son after doing the kids marathon - 'I'm never doing that again' - but it wouldn't be a marathon if I didn't feel that way.

Congrats to Clown for the impressive run - 3:09 running alone and with a toilet break - my prediction that you had sub3:00 in you wasn't far from the truth.

Well done TB on returning to sub4hours - although we may need to have a little talk about that haircut!

All the best to Homo for the 12 week Berlin prep - see you out at some races.

Woosha did sub330 - but no-one told him to tape his nipples - ouch!

Sling - you need to find a conference here as an excuse to come over and run with us again

Next week Perth Marathon

Didn't post last week, but not too much to report

Last week - 52k with Sunday 25k @ 4:48
This week - 40k with Sunday 17.6k @ 4:37

I'm still running well, fast in my tempo/intervals, pretty comfortable in the longer runs.

It's coming to decision time for marathon pacing. Whilst I think I'll leave the decision until the day, I think in the end I'll probably set off t get to halfway in 96-97, then continue at that pace on the way back and see when/if I run into trouble from lack of endurance. It may be a painful day bu I may as well have a chance at a 3:15-3:20.

The alternatives are heading out harder with Rob - but I'll probably pay for that dearly, or going out in 100 for the half with a better chance of bringing it home OK.

We'll see, but history tells I'm not good at holding back!

Perth Half Marathon 2008

Had my annual pre marathon virus week this week - ran only 32k including today

Tuesday 10.5k @ 4:34 - progression run

Then developed virus and this combined with weather, work and my flagging motivation convinced me not to run each day. Felt better Saturday but decided to leave it for today.

Conditions weren't perfect - rain and wind. Parking at Burswood was the worst I've seen at a run, and despite arriving 25 minutes pre start, by the time I'd parked and got there, I had less than 5 minutes.

Ran with Rob and we settled in to a 4:15-4:20 pace - 43:14 at 10k
At the turnaround Rob flirted with the idea of pushing the pace in the back half to go sub90, but after a km or two decided to keep it safe for the Marathon and slowed back to our previous pace.
Now it was my turn to feel strong and think about pushing the pace, but I too thought better of it.

This was definitely the right option as we held our pace and coasted along at conversational effort. I even surprised myself by not pushing it when a couple of runners overttook us with 4k to go.

It was only in the last km which we pushed to 4:00 pace that I felt the effort, and even then, it was fairly controlled

21.39 (Sportstracks) in 1:31:57 @ 4:18s
5k splits - 21.34, 21.40, 21.41, 21.50

Happy with the result and with my form over the middle distances. I still have grave concerns re the marathon with "long" runs of 15k/19k/23k/15k/16k/21k in the six weeks back from holidays. This is a recipe for hitting the wall. It'll take all my willpower to hold back on the day and run an even pace 3:30 rather than heading out in 1:35 and dying in the back half.

Oh, and I ran in skins for the first time in a race (I think). Not really for my benefit but for the delight of the ladies out on the course. I'm sure I cut a fine figure!

Lake Monger 10k

Finally a sub 40!

Tough couple of training weeks
Last week ran 76k @ 4.44 - never found my groove and struggled along in the mornings. Only managed 15k on Sunday and then another 15k on Monday
This week 62k @4:35 - started to get some rhythm going. Did a 6k tempo @ 4:15 on Thurs.

This morning wanted to get the sub40 done. Smallish field at Lake Monger, 2k warmup
Started hardish to clear any traffic, then settled in with Rob until 5k

Splits 3:44/3:59/3:55/3:51/3:57

At 5k Rob took off and I ran the rest of the race with the eventual female winner. Felt like crap and was a matter of saying one more km then I can stop for each of the last 5k!

Splits 4:00/3:54/4:00/4:02/3:57

I was very thankful to have the young lady running with me - she was pushing very hard to win - which I thought she had done easily but at the award ceremony I see she was only a few seconds in front of the second placegetter.

I sprinted ahead of her at the end to record 39:34 (10k, Garmin 10.05, Sportstracks 10:09)

A 3.5k cooldown lap with Rob, who impressively ran under 39, had me feeling quite good.

Now that mental hurdle has been cleared, I can look to knocking another minute off it by the end of the year!

Swings & Roundabouts

Up and down week

Back injury at work on Monday - lifting a patient with poor tachnique when I knew I shouldn't - left me with an excuse not to run much

The sessions I did run were fast

Tues 5k 'tempo plus' in 19:45, 2 min rest then 5x1k - 352/348/400/354/355
Friday 8k tempo - 1st 4k in 4:20s, next 4k in 4:10s

Wanted to do some sessions in the mould of SlingRunner - and was fairly happy with the result

Sun23k @ 4:43. Ran with Rob and couldn't hack the pace - walked a couple of times and couldn't even come up with the last 2k to make 25.

No excuse for the performance - just too fast for me.

This has confirmed my decision to take the marathon fairly easy and focus on doing 10k PB.

Gentle Return

9 days back - 74km at 4:44

Would have liked to have done more, but post holiday 'stuff' limited things.

On the plus side - generally doing OK
On the minus - ITB niggles for first time in a while
Not having done a long run leaves me with at most 4 long runs prior to the marathon. And that would mean missing or incorporating 2 10k races and the HM.

No great point going though each run - 19k this am - limited by a breakfast at 9am.
One tempo/CV session with 4x1k at 4:00-4:05
Five 10-15k runs

I'm all confused.
Should I do challenge 10k next week hard, then add some extra before and after?
Should I wait til Lake Monger 10k and race that with a better chance at a PB?
Do I do the 50k MundaBiddi instead of Lake Monger,4 weeks out?
I'll definitely need to make the HM into a longer run.
Should I try to incorporate a midweek long run sometime to allow racing both 10k's?
Do I say to heck with the long runs and accept an average Marathon relying on km's 'in the bank'
To be honest no matter what I dont expect a great performance in the Marathon - I'm doing it to keep my consecutive run going

I'll do some thinking this week. Either way the big goal is Boston next year, and the next couple of months are either going to help my aerobic base or speed or both for that.

Back to it

Back from 4 weeks holiday post Canberra marathon
4kg heavier thanks to overindulging in Hawaii, Baltimore NewYork and Paris

Very little running in 4 weeks - 6 runs totalling about 50km - due to lack of places to run as well as to laziness.

New shoes - bought some Adistar Control V - on recommendation of Clown - best feeling shoe for me since AsicsGT2110. Now I wish I bought more in the uS, where they cost $100 compared with the exorbitant costs here.

So now for the second half of 2008

Initial plan is to build up to decent mileage over the next 4 weeks.
Next is to get in a sub 40min 10k which I should have done by now. I had considered doing that tomorrow but JetLag makes that unlikely. Challenge or Lake Monger seem the candidates
Third is potentially a 42-50k trail run at the MundaBiddi100k in June, if preparations are going OK
Fourth is Perth Marathon - my 4th in a row. I am not expecting a PB with limited preparation and lack of real mental focus for this one. Sub 330 is good enough.

Fifth and probably the main goal will be to focus on speed post July and try to really set a decent 10k PB, sub39 minutes in the second half of the year. If I am to make inroads towards my goal of sub 3hour marathon next year I need to be getting the 10k time down to sub 38min realistically.

My wife's family have enthusiastically jumped on the 2009 Boston Marathon wagon - all planning a US holiday to coincide, so if finances allow this seems quite likely - and with the travel, support, cost and long buildup I would hope for a big PB performance.

First things first though - lets start running again and see how much is lost from 4 weeks of rest.

Hi to Clown, Homo,TB,Sling - hope you are all progressing through your various challenges.

Holiday

Quick update from Waikiki!

Sorry on the last post - had 30 min on hotel internet and was too cheap to cough up for another half hour - finished mid sentence.

Now a week later i'm happy. Nursing a strained left calf muscle (up near the back of the knee) which has limied my couple of attempts at recovery runs here - have stuck to walking, surfing ,eating, drinking and sunbathing.

Still a bit annoyed that my official time is 15-20sec slower than it should have been.

Will take it real easy over the holiday now to make sure the calf recovers, then will start training again in May for Perth Marathon. I don't think I can mount the same singleminded assault on a marathon that quickly, but I'll approach it with no aim of a PB, more of a launch for 10k PBs in the second half of the year.

Boston is being considered.

Canberra marathon

Quick post from Melbourne before my US holiday

Great run, 3:14 finished with Rob. Took some time to get to the start line but my chip obviously didn't record as they gave me my gun time.

Arrived Friday pm, had pasta dinner with Rob
Saturday am did 4k easy over part of the course. Pasta dinner with Rob, Tracey, Henry and his family.

Unfortunately got separated from Rob at the start - due to a late toilet stop. I started quite far back near the 3:15 pacer, and thought I'd stay with him and see Rob out there.

The pacer went out hard, doing some 4:15s in the 5-10k section to get to 10k under 45. At this point I caught Rob and we decided to fall behind the pacer.

We hit very solid 4:33-4:38 pace throughout the 10-35k section, in at times heavy rain on a flat road course around Lake Burley Griffin.

Things got tough at 36k or so with cramping quads, adductors and calves. Luckily Rob held back a bit and ran with me. We didn't drop pace and finished in 4:29,4:35 for the final 2k. Slowest km of the race was a 4:45 besides the first km, so very pleased

Time gone, update later

T minus seven

Taper week 2, managed to hold back the distance if not the intensity.

56.4k @ 4:41

Monday 9.5k recovery @4:54
Tues 10.1k@4:28. 5k continuous in 19:54 - was going to run tempo pace but felt so good cruised along at 4min/k pace. Could comfortably have gone further but didn't want to overdo it
Wed rest
Thurs 10k@4:45 progression from easy to tempo
Fri rest
Sat 9.7k@4:33 marathon pace (a bit faster)
Sun 17.1k@4:45. 'long' run with Rob. Had to hold ourselves back regularly as perhaps nervous energy pushed us along at MP. Stopped for 10mins in the middle to watch the bridges funrunners go past.


So plenty of speed from recent sharpening weeks. Could definitely run 5k/10k PBs at present.
Need to really take it easy this week - looking at maybe 20-25k total, no tempo
Flying out Friday, carbo loading last 3-4 days
Excited? You bet

Tuning up

Two week to go today!

I chose the lower mileage, fast pace option for this weeks running.

Total 62.46km @ 4:44

Monday - 10k @ 4:38 -6k progression from MP to tempo pace
Tuesday - 10.4K @ 4:57 recovery
Thursday - 11.3k @4:32. 7k tempo @ 4:10. Felt great, cruising at 4:10s could have gone on
Friday 10.4k @ 4:50 recovery
Sunday 20.2k @ 4:43. Went a little faster than intended - mixed up end of daylight saving so went out an hour early. Ran alone and got sucked in to running the second 10k at MP.

Anyway. Speed has been tuned up a bit. Looking for similar week this week, although more MP and shorter long run.

Bring it on!!

last big(-ish) week

80k this week - taper begins

Tues 10.4k recovery @ 4:58
Wed 10.3k @ 4:32 - included 4k tempo 4:10s jog then 2k 4:00s
Thurs 10.5k @ 5:00 recovery
Friday 13.4k @ 4:54 with hill rpts on Bold Park
Sat 10.6k@ 4:55 recovery
Sun 25k approx 4:55. Ran with Rob and we cut it short today. Certainly felt fairly heavy in the legs after the weeks 2 quality sessions and some pretty heavy work aroung the garden preparing to open our home for sale next weekend.

Much discussion with Rob re taper, what sessions to include, especially this week 3rd week out. ?shorten distance and maintain pace. ?easy runs most days. ?how long to go next weekend.

The books I've read seem to be sending mixed messages- firstly saying that the best results are seen with doing less running in the last 14-21 days, but then putting hard sessions in their programmes.

We'll see. It's been a good preparation and I don't want to ruin it by doing too much in the last couple of weeks.

Nearly there

A somewhat frustrating week last week - had the energy but not the time.

Prime example was Friday - got home from work 6pm, due to leave for dinner 630. I raced out the door to do a 20 min VO2max session which was probably of little enefit and large risk.

Saturday was 8 hours in the garden putting a new lawn in and putting gravel down the side - I guess thats cross training.

Anyway - 75.1k in 4:51 average

Mon 10.13@5:03 recovery
Tues 10.27@4:38 with 7k at tempo/subtempo
Thurs 16.96@4:50 hilly longer midweek run last 10k at MP
Fri 4.5k@4:16 - 9x300m intervals
Sun 33.2k@4:57 - slower long run. first 20k with Rob who was recovering from virus. Felt great

Seven 30k+ runs now, probably one more next Sunday before commencing a taper.