Sunday, November 28, 2010

Deepwater Point 7.5km

Two weeks since my last post - I was struck down by a Norovirus gastro last weekend - missed out on the Penninsula run and wasn't back to full training until Wednesday

Deepwater Point today, note from my Strands account:

For the second time in 2 months I braved the journey South of the River. As usual I was surprised how normal people are down there. Sure they may be missing a few teeth and have an extra finger here and there, but they seem nice and the Banjo music is soothing.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect, it was a bit windy but in the end I don’t think it affected my performance much.

Started out fairly fast to avoid congestion, and was overtaken by Clown and B’Man within a km. Over the next couple of k they moved out to about 50m ahead of me. Luckily for me, Biscuitman stayed in sight and I had some sort of motivation to keep pushing. It seemed I was going to stay the 50m behind, but quite suddenly it seemed in the 5th km I was suddenly upon him, and managed to sneak ahead over the bridge.

In the process I went through 5k in 18:23 on the Garmin, so a new PB. I was expecting to have a nice tailwind for the last 1.5k but it was more across me, and I resorted to counting breaths to make it through the distance.

On the plus side my last 3.5km were very evenly paced at 3:45s and the 28:02 is pretty much on a par with predictions given my recent 10k time.

The Zoots felt pretty good, a little slappy on the footstrike when I was getting fatigued (again as a midfoot striking shoe they dont work too well if you fall back on your heels). I’ll try the fasttwitches this week.

Clown cruised at a pretty consistent 5sec/km faster than me for a great race for a man with only 9 functioning toes, whilst after looking very comfortable at Clown’s pace for the first couple of km, B’man slipped back a bit over the last 3km.

Looking at the elevation chart from Garmin, it appears I dove 40m below sea level at 3k (Mt Henry Bridge)! Had I stayedat sea level I might have won the race:)

The referene to the Zoots is one of my 3 new pairs of shoes. Dad went to the US last week so I got him to bring back some shoes - Mizuno Wave Elixir, and Saucon Fasttwitch. $80 each, hard not to get given the current exchange rate. My cousin, who is a triathlete, ad a spare pair of Zoot shoes (one of his sponsors) that he wasn;t wearing, so I got them too.

The Zoots are a midfoot striking type shoe, in a triathlon style with elastic laces/slip on and an inbuilt sock. I have really enjoyed them on my 2 outing so far, although with little heel rubber they are only good for faster stuff.

The Mizunos were a decision after seeing Sugar running in them, and my recent experience with Mizuno Idaten racers (now discontinued I think). They are a lightweight trainer with some support for pronation. They felt good but quite firm ( I likened them to running with a bathroom tile strapped to your foot). I'll need to gie them some more time. On the upside they fit quite well and have a good heel-forefoot transition.

I'm yet to wear the Sauconys but everyone who's anyone is wearing them right now. What happened to the days of everyone weaing Asics?

These new shoes mean I've run in pretty much all brands now. I've never had much success with Brooks - always seems to have poor transition leaving my feet slapping the ground. Nikes have had a narrow toebox although I'd like to give the Lunar series another shot. Adidas - good. Asics - very good. New Balance - yet to find a model I like - too clunky generally. I've nt run in Reeboks - maybe my next speculative buy.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Holding back

I feel a bit like a bull at the gates right now. My motivation to start Marathon training in earnest is high. I want to run more, get up to 100k plus a week.

But it's not the right time. I'm recovering from a knee injury which still reminds me it's there on each run. It's too early to start a Boston prep (assuming I get there), and I have some short race PBs to achieve.

So 75km this week @ 4:26

Mon 7k@4:34. The lunchtime experiment isn't working, will try to get back to morning monday recovery
Tues intervals - 3×100m/100m float, 1 min rest3×200m/100m float, 2 min rest,3×300m/100m float, 3 min rest.Repeat.

Times including float (lap distance not Garmin)
500m 1:40
800m 2:39
1200m 4:03

500m 1:42
800m 2:37
1100m 3:38

I usually pace myself quite well at intervals, but this was an exception. Really struggled in the last set to keep pace and fell behind the leaders. Overall ran the session too hard and if it was winter would have picked up a virus later in the week due to dip in immunity.

Wed 9.3k@4:39
Thurs rest
Fri 11.1k@4:34
Sat 11.38@4:28 - I'd meant to do a session today, perhaps mirror Biscuitmans mile repeats from earlier this week to get a handle on whether I can try to stick with him in next weeks 5k race. Legs felt too heavy for this, but they loosened up later, so I went back onto the Bold Park hilly loop for the first time since I hurt my knee and did some fartlek type efforts - ended up quite a nice session

Sun 24k@4:34. Same course as last week plus 2k extra. Ran alone and found it a bit harder mentally. Still made it over Hale Rd OK but didnt do the fast 3k thereafter and really dragged my feet 20-24k.

I'm not sure how much/little to do leading into a 5k race next Sunday. Any ideas on a structure. Should I skip intervals Tuesday?

Sunday, November 07, 2010

John Gilmour 10,000m

New PB 37:29 - Friday night

Had an easy leadup in the week - Mon, Tues and Wed 10k runs with some fartlek.
Thursday off

Friday night headed out for the 7:15pm 'A' race at Cannington. I'd been motivated by TB's first lap sprint in the other race.
I've not done a 10k track race before, but was looking forward to it. Felt pretty good on the night.

My aim was 37:30, luckily 90 sec laps so no complex calculation necessary. First lap 80 sec and I made sure I slowed down straight away, didn't want to get sucked in to staying with Big Kev or Jockster.

I then ran 91-92sec laps for the next 8, and came back to target pace. I maintained the same pace for the next 8 and was 10 ec behind pace. With 8 laps to go I started to push the first 100m of each lap to pick up to 90sec laps, and kept at the 10 sec behind. Final 2 laps picked things up and with an 80 sec final lap came in at 37:29.

I was tired but not knackered, and felt very happy with the performance, a very small negative split.

other thoughts from the night:
-Sore shins from 2-4k, then settled (wearing Mizuno Idatens)
-Struck by how fast the leaders went, esp Roberto Busi who ran 30:22 or thereabouts - I got a much cleared impression than ever before of how fast 3min/k is.
-Knee gave me no real issues
-Again a good 4 week block of training seems to be enough now to get me into reasonable form

Sat 10k recovery
Sun 22k with Clown, over Hale Rd hill, finished a reasonable week - 75k@4:28

Next up is 5k race at Pennisula, and I could end up my 'annus horribilis' with 3k, 5k and 10k PBs!!!