My finest hour

2:57:59 by my watch. How do you like those apples ( I almost said this to the girl giving out fruit in the recovery tent a la Matt Damon, but took pity on her)

Leading up to this one, I wanted to focus on 2 things - mental discipline not to go too fast in the middle third, and adequate nutrition.

I decided to use 7km chunks as my targets, as indiviual kms were too variable with the hills. I wanted Nothing under 29, nothing over 30 for each of the sixths.

29:14/29:16/29:09/29:22/29:18/29:15 by the Garmin - all within 2 sec/km of each other.

So I started conservatively, feeling quite good. I tucked in a group of about 6 - mainly South African guys who I expect are stalwarts of WAMC/Darlington. I heard one had run 2:17 in his younger days. I'm not a chatty marathoner, so I just listened.

Nothing really happened in the first HM. I took powerade at every station, and grabbed a Gu at 15k and had it with some water at the next station. I didn't walk any of the stations, often needing to take 2 paper cups to get adequate fluid after spillage.

It was a buzz to go pass the assembling hordes before attacking Market St. I've run it several times in training and took a head down approach. The aforementioned ex2:17 runner bounded ahead up the hill, but we reassembled in Kings Park. We made up some time on the downhill, and after the U turn at the bottom of the hill, I found I had pulled ahead of the group. I didn't speed up so I assume they slowed for some reason. I ran the rest of Kings Park solo.

Turning into Kings Park road we were partitioned off from the 12k runners, but then the fun started. On the pre race map it said we took a little left detour into Thomas St, but this didnt happen. We turned right and merger into hordes of walkers/joggers. Knowing we had a Barker St turn left I moved to the path on the left of the road, but there was noone ther telling Marathoners to turn left. I did but I pity those who weren't familiar with the course. There was a guy 100m ahead of me down Kings Park road who obviously go lost in there beacause he was nowhere to be seen when turning into Barker road just a few hundred m ahead.

Running thru Subi I felt good, but again turning into Hay St we merged with the masses, and I spent km 34-38 weaving through joggers. This didnt slow me down much and helped distract me from the big hill. The problem was that the 2 drink stations along here were packed with people stopping and I went about 7k without a drink.

So we turn down Stevenson and I'm alone again. I suddenly became acutely aware of the fact I was at 38k, on pace and feeling pretty good (I had a left groin niggle quite badly in KP but it faded on flatter terrain). I was in a new situation for me whereby I started picking off runners one by one. The first was Verity Tolhurst, who I had run near in Canbeera this year before I blew up. I started feeling the pain at the 40k hill towards WC highway, but I wasn't about to stop.

At this point I was glad to see Clown running towards me and he said some encouraging words. At this point I was pumped. My shoe had picked up a long piece of sticky tape flapping about but I wasnt going to stop and pull it off. I even managed to find some energy for sub 4 pace in the last 500m, and took 2 guys in this last bit.

Surprisingly I felt OK afterwards, apart from an incredibly sore right groin/hip flexor which I suspect is going to be very annoying in the coming fortnight.

So my 5 year goal is complete, in style, on a hilly course. I guess I do better with hills - my PB in HM and Mara are now on hilly courses, and in retrospect in School Xcountry I always did best in the hilly ones.

Why today? Luck, lighter weight, no virus in the leadup, good weather, disciplined pacing all played a part.

Congrats to all those I saw out there - Gunner and Coops, Craig/Duffer with a Mara PB, TB I saw at the start and not the end. Sugar and Biscuitman I look forward to your 12k reports. Clown thanks for coming down and supporting despite not running the HM - you'll go sub3 in Melbourne. Homo - next time. Sling - you'll go sub3 sooner or later.

I'll post my official time and HM split when available

Looking for inspiration

I'm not getting it from the Eagles, the Aussie cricket team or the Wallabies.

I am finding it in Bolt, Bekele and Hooker.

It's been a fairly uninteresting fortnight from me

Week 1 71k@ 4:28
Mon 10.1@ 4:26
Tues 20.1@ 4:24 - Kings Park - held back
Wed 10k@4:17 with fartlek total about 2.5k@5k pace
Fri 10k@4:38 - preflight to Sydney
Sat 20.6k@4:32 - Sydney Botanic gardens and Harbour Bridge

Week 2 77k@ 4:32
Mon 11.6k@ 4:21 - with 3k@10k pace
Tues 10.4k@4:26
Wed 19.3k@4:36 Kings Park even easier
Fri 10.1k@4:26 - 4x500m 10k pace
Sat 10.7k@4:33
Sun 15.6k@4:42 - with Rob - last 7k of marathon and back

I felt fairly heavy in the legs all week up til yesterday. Have some fears of having a race like Slig's half - perhaps not enough rest post Perth

Of note in this prep compared to my one for Perth -
1. No illness for the first time ever in the 4 weeks leading up to a marathon
2. Average pace 4:30 over the last 4 weeks compared with 4:19 in the 4 leading up to Perth
3. No really hard efforts this time - last time 20k@ 4:01, this time 4:11 - 3 and a half weeks out
last time 39k@4:24, ths time 34k@4:32 3 weeks out.

So more kms (426v373 in last 5weeks) at slower pace.

I don't know what that all means, but I'm still heading out with the plan as per 2 weeks ago - 88:xx flat first half, hopefully hold sub 3 times to 35k, see what happens from there

This week - max 10k runs Tues-Fri, easy pace with strides

Where to aim?

85k this week ( was on track for 100 until today)

Mon 6.2k @4:50 - recovery
Tues 20.3k @ 4:11 - through Kings Park marathon loop at a bit faster than MP
Wed 12.2k @ 4:31 - felt really lethargic
Thurs rest
Fri 11.7k @4:15 - MP - Garmin had some sort of malfunction so ran on feel - sportstracks interpreted the run properly and had gone faster than I expected
Sat 34.3k @4:35. Had to move long run to unfamiliar Sat am due to marshalling duties on Sun. Drizzling at the start, some heavier showers and clearing towards the end. Very similar course to last week - mainly on marathon course. Felt pretty crappy today so was happy with it all in all and hade a bit of a secong wind at 30k which was promising.

Sun - marshalled at Womens Classic ,meant to run in the afternoon but work and family commitments prevented it. Felt in a funk all day - very annoyed with constant work calls and just couldnt relax.


So I'm starting to think about the race plan for C2s. Up until now I've said that I wouldn't worry about the time, but that would be disingenuous. I would like to set myself up with a chance for a PB but not put pressure on myself.

Given the course, I think a first half of 1:28:xx would be the plan. Then I would expect to be able to hold on to sub 3hr pace through KP and subiaco. My plan then is to see what happens with the last 6k. Either I have some juice left and kick on, or I'm struggling and lose as little as possible.

The alternative would be to take it out really easy and finish strong, but I would still like to give myself the possibility of a sub3 finish - as unlikely as that is.

City to Surf Marathon (probably)

I'm 90% decided on running the marathon at the end of the month.

I managed 105k this week, and that was one of my self imposed criteria (the ability to do a couple of 100+ weeks) for trying the full Mara so soon after Perth.

Thanks for the comments last week - many were along the lines of what I was thinking already. Craig - I appreciate your input - and I'm certainly very aware of the over fast speed I tend to train at. Sadly there continues to be a disconnect between my intentions and actions. Terming my 4:19 average run as 'Easy' last week is evidence of this - 'easy' was my intention, the result clearly wasn't.

I'd like to say I was successful in slowing down this week, but it was only true to a very limited extent. The only way I've really been able to slow down is by running with my brother-in-law on saturday, who is training for a sub 1hr 12k C2S.

Mon 8.7k@4:37 -easy(ish)
Tues 20.2k@ 4:23 - though Kings Park for the first time in a couple of years
Wed 15k@ 4:25 - again through Kings Park
Thurs rest
Friday 12k with 3x1k 3:33/3:28/3:33 - I still find it amazingly hard to run fast this early in the morning

Sat 15k@4:55 - including 10k through KP with Luke at race pace for him - looking good

Sunday 33.5k@4:35 - solo long run - basically ran on the marathon course - started at the 14k mark through to 30k mark, then the start to 14k mark, with 2k each way from home.
This felt like a real plod, despite the speed, my legs complaining about the recent mileage and introduction of hills. Tried to minimise stops - only a quick water fill at 20k and again at 30k.

I had been 100% about running the Mara yesterday, but this mornings effort with some pretty fatigued legs scared me as I imagined being at the 33k point of the race feeling like that and needing to get over the hills to come.

On the non-running front, I'm back on the sauce - celebrated with some Moet and a bottle of 1997 Keyneton Estate - a little past its prime but still a lovely drop. Hopefully I will limit myself to weekend drinking only.

I'm a little concerned at the City to Surf plans. Mara starts 0730, 12k at 0900. This means i will be running up St Georges Tce exactly as the 12k starts, as was the organiser's plan to add to the atmosphere. The intention is that the 12k runners will all be on the right hand side of the road, and we'll stay on the left. Having experienced several City to Surf starts, I have my doubts over the organiser's ability to stop 25000 people spreading across the lanes. The site FAQ says that there will be a physical barrier or median strip to stop this happening - if it's just the median strip I have my concerns especially on the first hill. I think that after the KP detour things will be fine - and the courses do diverge through Subi

Looking at my GPS record I'm also reminded that it doesnt like running down St Georges Tce - poor signal with all those buildings - wont be able to rely on it there.