4 weeks to marathon

So, 4 weeks to go 'til Perth marathon. It was a bit of a nothing week this week, spent much of it battling gastrointestinal issues unfortunately.

Total 136k

Mon 10k recovery
Tues am 16k with 5x800m@5k effort - pace a bit disappointing, not much different to tempo pace
Tues pm 8k recovery
Wed am 24k medium long run @4:40s approx
Thus off - struggling a bit with the stomach
Fri am 24k medium long run@ 4:30s
Sat am 12.5k back to the hills of Bold park
Sat pm 9.5k recovery in Hattoris/barefoot
Sun am 32k@4:28 solo long run on my old coast/Hale Rd course

This week should see a drop in mileage prior to HBF Run 4 A Reason on Sunday (14k). I'm told I should nail this one! although I'm not entirely sure. I'm keen not to put mental pressure or expectations on it lest it affect my mindset leading into the marathon, so it'll be a 'take it as it comes' scenario.

Two Solid Weeks

A couple of good weeks training since my last post, with confidence a bit higher.

Week 1  -146k
Mon 12k easy @ 4:51
Tues am 16k@4:19 with some fartlek
Tues pm 10.8k@4:28 easy barefoot
Wed am 8.5k easy
Wed pm 18k@4:30 - belated medium long run
Thurs am 10k recovery
Fri am 19k with 11k(7 then 4) tempo@3:52
Sat am12.5k recovery
Sun am 40k@ 4:37 long run with Rob

Week 2 - 134k
Mon am 10k recovery
Tues am 16k easy (mild virus)
Tues pm 11k@4:28 with some barefoot
Wed am 24k medium long
Thurs off
Fri am 24k@4:19 medium long rum
Sat am 12k recovery
Sun am 36.5k with last 18k@3:55 (overall 4:14)

So overall a couple of solid weeks training.
The plantar fascia is OK - tried without taping on one of my easy runs though and paid a price - back to being taped (self taping) 24/7. the rest of my body seems to be holding up OK
I had a little bit of a crisis in confidence last week, but a solid couple of long runs have helped.

Today's long run included 18k finish at MP - ended up being a pretty consistent 3:55 and garmin dying at 16k and unavoidable toilet stop at this point didn't faze me.

Upcoming weeks include the 14k Run For a Reason race in a fortnight and potentially the 6k Lake Gwelup Primary funrun (scene of my only ever funrun victory) 13days out from the marathon.

Race day nutrition was on my mind today - tried some 'Winners' Gels (Coles/Cadel Evans brand) on Clowns advice. They are the most palatable gels I've come across. The carb content is listed as corn syrup solids - which from my reading is the same thing as maltodextrin and not the high fructose corn syrup which is oft blamed as the culprit for the downfall of Western Civilisation. I just need to decide how much gel to use, given I will have carbs in sports drinks I'll leave at each station.

Maybe Confidence Boost

Perth 32k Race today

The plan today was to head out easy and push the second half at MP. Helping resist my urge to go faster early were - moderately heavy drinking night last night, pouring rain in the first 5k, and running with Rob who was suffering some leg pains in the first half hour.

This worked and we reached 10k in 43:15 - around 4:20min/km. Once we crossed the narrows, we passed Nera Jareb and friend, speeding up in the process and running the next 7k@4:10s. At the turnaround about 18k I picked up to 4:00s and ran a very consistent 4:00 pace for the last 14k (fastest km 3:57, slowest 4:02).

Things went quite well in this section, I passed 8 or 9 people and they were fairly evenly spread, giving me something to focus on each time. The effort only became hard in the last 2k, but I think part of this may have been lack of calories in - running with no sports drink and only one gel at 15k.

Plantar fascia was manageable during the race but really quite sore afterwards - i restrapped it with some relief.

Week leading up:
Mon 12k@4:53 recovery
Tues am 16k with 8k fartlek in about 31:30
Tues pm 9k@4:45 recovery
Wed am 23k@4:37 medium long
Thurs am 10.6@4:45
Fri am 14k@4:33
Sat rest day

118k for the week

One advantage of the sore foot (and associated pes anserine pain) is that my recoveries have slowed to be closer to true recoveries.

This week sees a return to 130+km with a medium long, a medium long including 9k tempo and a longer long run with time on feet the same as on Marathon day. 

Pushing Through

I've been fortunate to have a (so far) good recovery from my injury. I decided early in the week to push through, and a change in my taping technique really helped. Having said this, there is still pain with each step, but now it's more a nagging pain, not a knife digging into my heel.

Mon am 13k@4:35 - trying to ward off jetlag, helped by no running 48hrs
Mon pm 10k@4:30 - had turned up at the surgery to do a pm session only to find I'd booked myself off - bonus pm run
Tues am 12k incl 8k tempo (split into 2) - foot actually felt better running fast as I tend to midfoot strike more at that pace - less heel-toe transition and less strain in the arch
Tues pm 8k@4:40 - jogged with Rob prior to his interval session - heel starting to get pretty sore
Wed am 12k@4:40 - sore
Wed pm 8k@4:40 - sore
Thurs am 10k@4:40 - a bit better
Fri am 12k@4:35 - flare after stopping anti-inflams due to stomach pains
Sat am 12k@4:35 - included some strides done the wrong way again (trying to be quick before work)
Sun am 33k@4:34 - met Rob with the intention of holding on as long as i could. Heel pain was a stable 3/10 throughout, bigger issue was the rest of the leg coping with gait change - nasty pes anserine bursa pain for the rest of the day.

So I've done much better than anticipated, and really wasn't too far off a normal training week other than not feeling up to medium long runs.
I've now got some questions to ask re the perth 32k race next weekend, which was going to be a key prep race run at MP. A taper week was planned. Should I just ramp up the mileage and run it as a long run, or a fast finish long run, or still try to run it hard. I'll discuss with 'coach'.

Plantar fasciitis

Timing is a funny thing. After my last post I ran 12k recovery on Monday and a 24k medium long on Tuesday. We were due to fly out wed am so i got up early to do a tempo run. About 4k into the tempo I felt a sudden onset pain in my heel, and over the next 2k it got progressively worse such that I couldn't run. I hobbled home and had to pretty much jump straight into the taxi after showering.

I've had mild PF on & off over the years - pain first getting up, pain in the first couple of minutes running, nothing to write home about. Obviously on this occasion I tore my PF acutely

In the airport and in transit, I could barely walk, and this persisted for about 36-48hrs. I had time at home to throw some local anaesthetic and cortisone into my case, so once in maui I injected some steroid into the PF - I wasn't going to let this ruin my holiday (but it was the most painful thing I've done to myself).

With rest & anti-inflams, the pain settled and on the Friday I did some elliptical and stairmaster at the hotel gym, and on sat & sun some painful 5k walk/jogs - not the oceanside morning run's I'd envisaged.

Beyond my foot, maui was incredible - the Four Seasons far eclipsed any other resort style hotel i've ever stayed at - especially the adults only pool area. In further proof of the smallness of the world these days, Henry/Homo - erstwhile running friend in Perth, happened to be staying at the same hotel at the same time, and recognised me from the other side of the aforementioned pool. (in arranging a time to catch up, he simply said he'd be sitting by that pool the entire day - it was that kind of place).

So if one is going to withdraw from running anywhere, that would be the place. I managed to do some (poor) surfing and standing paddle boarding, but walking and running were still very painful.

After 6 nights of heaven, MaiTais and 3 cooked meals a day, we headed back to honolulu. I managed 3x8-10k treadmill runs here, but still pain with every step unfortunately.

Back on Monday I managed 13k, and this morning 12k - pain no better though (and some problems with other parts of the foot due to altered gait)

Not sure how things will go from here - obviously I've done a lot of reading on plantar fasciitis and PF tears in the last couple of weeks. It looks like there are a couple of scenarios. One is that my acute tear heals within weeks and I go back to normal training perhaps within a month. The second is that the injury becomes chronic and this is a scenario I know all too well from patients,work colleagues and family members who still struggle to run 6 months down the track.

Cross the fingers. Either way my Perth training program seems screwed, will just run what I can and make plans once I am running painfree again.

(looking at the net whilst i was away, it seemed like a time for injuries with B'Man and DB going down at a similar time. Good luck recovering guys)

Another good week

Further increase in mileage this week - 146k a record for me. Same structure as last week - tempo 8k Tues am, medium long runs Wed and Fri am, long run this morning with a 10k fast finish in 39:25 - much easier effort than last time I tried this.

Quads much improved with the introduction of hills again (in my recovery runs) - thanks Simon.

Fridays medium run was a 'flow' or 'in the zone' run which was effortless and confidence building.

Otherwise - I've enjoyed reading some articles on 'sweat science' blog linked to through B'Man via Science of Sport blog - I was particularly interested in an opinion on methods to improve your recovery ( ICE, massage,anti-inflams) might be also reducing your adaptation to the injury and thus reducing the benefits of training. On a personal front I've had several patients ask this week about strontium - which apparently has been shown to increase thickness of knee cartilage (ie reverse early arthritis/degenerative change). the study hasn't been published yet but I can see it becoming the next big thing given nothing else has been shown to do this (other than the limited evidence for glucosamine/chondroitin)

Monday 12.12k 0:56:19 4:39

Tuesday

AM 4.04k 0:18:51 4:40

AM 8.00k 0:30:15 3:47

AM 4.17 k 0:19:35 4:42

PM 8.34k 0:38:17 4:35

Wednesday

AM 23.61k 1:46:01 4:29

PM 5.20k 0:25:00 4:48

Thursday 10.17k 0:48:19 4:45

Friday 23.99k 1:46:41 4:27

Saturday 12.97k 0:59:25 4:35

Sunday 33.63k 2:30:24 4:28

This Week 146.25k 10:59:07 4:30

This week off to Maui then Honolulu total 10days, hope to keep up some easier mileage.

Sore quads

Funny training week this week - suffered a viral gastro in the first half of the week which didn't really affect my running but left me with fatigue the rest of the time, and i had nasty quad soreness persisting all week, which seemed out of proportion to my flat fast finish 30k last Sunday - not sure if the virus exacerbated this.

Monday 12k easy @4:47

Tues am 16k with 8k at tempo (3:49)

Tues pm 7.25k recovery @ 4:41

wed 21.3k@4:29

Thurs pm 10k recovery @4:48

Fri am 21k@4:35

Sat am 14k@4:36

Sun am 31k@4:39

Nothing much to remark on the runs beyond the first paragraph. All were dominated by sore quads but I was able to run through this. This mornings long run with Rob was along part of the Perth marathon course and a nice comfortable pace.

In the end, 132k for the week - getting it done

American vacation

Reduced mileage this fortnight thanks to a flying visit to the US for my brother's 40th and a once-in-a-lifetime wine tasting. Only managed 4x1-12k treadmill runs in my 8days away.

Week 1

Mon am 12.25k @ 4:40 recovery

Mon pm 6.6k@4:51 treadmill recovery

Tues am 16.16k including Mona 5.3k in 20 min, overall @4:23

Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday - treadmill runs mainly at easy pace with a bit of MP thrown in

Week 2

Wed pm 18.57k@4:34 - jetlagged recovery medium long run

Thurs am 11.26k@4:35 recovery

Fri am 12.16@4:27 - last 3k MP

Sat am 14.17k@4:26 including 10x100m strides

Sun am 30k with last 10k@ MP (4:00) riverside run with Clown - struggled to hold form in last 3k of the MP section

I know it's only mental, but i feel i've lost some momentum with the trip - need to get back to the plan this coming week

Bought 4 pairs of shoes in the US - 2x Kinvara2, 1x Mizuno Elixir, and a pain of Brooks Pure Flow. The Brooks Pure series is their Kinvara equivalent with very little heel-toe drop but still more cushioning than a true minimalist shoe. I quite like the stability but there is too much of a 'platform' feel to the shoe and a loss of feedback from the ground to foot - Kinvara are far superior for me and I'll keep these for easy and recovery days.

Week 1 Training - Reaching new heights

A very satisfactory start to my formal Perth marathon Program this week - I ticked all the boxes and the body held up well

Monday 12k recovery @ 4:39

Tuesday am 16k with 8k tempo @ 3:49min/k - ran around Herdsman and felt like the correct tempo effort

Tuesday pm 8.3k recovery@ 4:36

Wed am 19k@4:34 medium long run. This was definitely the hardest run of the week - all mental. The whole way I ran an inner discussion about needing to finish early to get to work, and took it pretty much a km at a time to push it out to the planned distance. This was where having a program helped as it was the potential shame of not sticking to the very first week of the plan which kept me out there

Wed pm 7.4k@4:44 - on the treadmill to slow my recovery down a bit (this second run wasn't on the program but i couldn't fit in the pm Thursday planned run)

Thurs am 12k@4:47 recovery - this one felt like a true recovery run

Fri am 20k@4:33 - pleased with this effort around lakes monger and herdsman

Sat am 13.3k @4:36 - did 10x100m strides towards the end of the run. Am I supposed to stop and do strides/walk back or should they just be incorporated as very short fartleks in the run? ( I did it the latter way).

Sun 30k@4:37 - Cott run with DB, Braddles and Chris Letts. felt a bit fatigued and the knee was hurting early on but gradually loosened up and DB&I pushed the pace in the last 5k 4:22/4:16/4:11/4:07/4:04.

Ended up with 138k for the week - my longest week ever. I did the sessions as per the program (planned 126k) with just a few extra km here and there to make that bigger distance.

I know it's probably flirting with danger a bit to increase the mileage that much, but I'm flying to the US early Wed am for a quick one week trip, so I'll have an enforced lower km week to recover.

Increasing the mileage was less of a big change in my week than I'd envisaged, and I'm far more confident than a week ago that i can 'go the distance' with the training plan

Ready to Roll

Last week before the proper training program starts

106k run

Mon 10k @ 4:38 recovery

Tues am 16.4k @ 4:37 - trying to introduce some medium long

Tues pm 8k @ 4:45 treadmill

Wed pm 14.3k@4:09

tried a variation on the marius bakken treadmill workout moving around different paces. I did 1k intervals, no rest - 3:50/4:10/3:40/4:10/4:00/4:10/3:50/4:10/3:40/4:00/4:00 - finishing a continuous 11k in 43:30, warmup and cooldown either side of this without a rest. Session felt pretty comfortable

Thurs am 9k@4:44 recovery

Friday - no run. Indulged in a last round of morning golf before hitting full training

Sat am 18k@ 4:16.

Had intended this just to be a medium long run but one km in I was passed by DB finishing his progression tempo session (10min each 4:00/3:50/3:40 continuous), so I ran 6min at 3:40 pace with him, then slowed again. I was feeling so fresh after a day off that I increased up to MP soon thereafter, and decided to do some more faster stuff - next 4k@3:36 (approx 10k pace), then went back to normal pace to round out 18k

Sun am 30k@4:35

out with JKs Cott group, was run at a very easy pace for much of the run, but DB and Chris letts picked it up a bit from 20-26k gradually from 4:15s-4:05. I kept on for another 4k alone to round out 30k.

I didnt work Saturday this week so I jumped on the treadmill and used the Ipad to video my running. As i have noted before, I stopped wearing orthotics in April last year after having worn them ( and heavy shoes) religiously for the previous 7 years.

The outcome was that I pronate significantly in all shoes, but not that much less in DS trainers and orthotics than in Kinvaras. Some of the others aren't great

LunaRacers - not pretty

Kinvara - better


Hattori
DS Trainer with orthotics
au naturale
DS Racer

think I'll stop doing my treadmill runs in the LunaRacers.

next weekend I'll try from a different angle - perhaps see if the pelvic tilt that the physio berated me about a couple of years ago is any better.

The Invisible Man

I seem to have become the Invisible man of the WAMC. After not appearing on the results sheet for the marathon last year, once again my name wasn't on the sheet for point Walter last week.

On the plus side, Stephen Jones in the M50 category (who happens to have a very similar number to mine), is likely to be very pleased with his run of the same time as mine, after it appears not running for some years.

This week saw the second prep week before starting my full training in earnest.

Monday am 13k @ 4:31

Tuesday am 10k@ 4:38

Tuesday pm 13k incl 10k@4:00 - overcooked this one in the heat, around Herdsman and walked home

Wednesday pm 10k@ 4:45 treadmill - ensuring recovery after Tues pm

Thursday am 13k@4:37

Friday am 11k@4:35

Saturday am 11k@4:35

Sunday am 30k@4:43 - long run, solo initially but came across Laurie & Paul and ran with them from 7-20k, then back home Hale Rd hill alone

111k for the week, all going well. As I hit 24k this morning it hit me that this would be the distance for one of my midweek medium runs pretty soon.

I enjoyed watching B'Man's race videos this week, and then the Sydney Track Classic. I haven't been a great fan of Collis Birmingham in the past - he doesn't seem to have the X Factor that guys like Mottram and Gregson have - but he does look in incredible shape at the moment. Meanwhile John Steffensen - you need to be running a lot faster than 45:61 to get away with talking such crap after the race.

Target: Perth Marathon 2012

This week marked the first 'pre-training week' for Perth 2012

With a goal of sub 2:50, I realised I needed to change something after 2 years of stagnation in marathon progress despite shorter race times improving.

To that end I decided to get some help, and enlisted the assistance of a runner who's training approach and results I admire greatly. For the sake of anonymity we'll call him CookieGuy.

I have 3 weeks before the program begins in earnest - time to get the body accustomed to running 100km a week.

This week was not quite that far - 96k. A fairly insipid Mona on tues pm in 30+ degrees was about the only quality.

Sunday morning I ran the point Walter 16k with Clown in 4:13s. We eased into it then gradually wound up the pace - his hammy seemed to cope pretty well with some time out. i realised this was about as far as I want to run in the Saucony A4s. (4k splits - 17:14/17:03/16:37/16:09)

Hopefully I'll post weekly over the next 4 months.

Monday 10.06k 0:45:21 4:30 Bold Park

Tuesday 20.19k 1:28:42 4:24

5:35 PM Evening 2.58 0:11:53 4:37

5:11 PM Afternoon 5.26 0:20:01 3:48 Mona fartlek

5:00 PM Afternoon 2.26 0:10:23 4:35

6:18 AM Morning 10.08 0:46:25 4:36 Bold Park

Wednesday 11.20 0:50:00 4:28 treadmill

Thursday 10.91 0:50:03 4:35 Bold park

Friday 13.12 0:59:30 4:32 Bold Park

Saturday 11.35 0:51:20 4:31 Incl 6k barefoot

Sunday 20.00 1:27:40 4:23

8:14 AM Morning 3.98 0:20:14 5:05

7:00 AM Morning 16.02 1:07:26 4:13 'race'

This Week 96.83 7:12:36 4:28

Matilda Bay 10k 2012

It's been 'lite-n-easy' for me since 6 inch - first couple of weeks planned recovery and third week thanks to stepping on a bee.

2 weeks back of 70k each, and on to Matilda bay this morning.
I found the weather fairly oppressive - 25 and humid, even wearing my lightest mesh type singlet there was no evaporation.

Started out fairly fast - sitting 20m behind DB - 3:26/3:36/3:37. Things were quite congested, but the 4k runners turned off and it spread out.

At this point I started to feel the heat, and slowed down 3:46/3:50/3:51, gradually slipping further back from DB. Was passed and held onto the guy for a little while but started to blow up a bit with 3:56/3:53. During this section I was passed by another runner.

Turned at 8.4k and saw I had about 150m on the next guy behind me, and had a bit of a second wind finishing with 3:47/3:40.

Crossed in 37:30 (18:13/19:17) in about 10th spot.

I'm happy enough with this. it's interesting looking at pace adjustment charts for heat/humidity - most made by people in the US not too accustomed to heat, they tend to allow too much - one giving me a minute per mile for this temp!. I suspect I could have run between 5 and 10 sec/k faster today in perfect conditions, which fits with where I feel I should be.

DB ended up about 45 sec ahead of me, Roberto won, Gerry Hill second. I did beat big Kev, but i see on Coolrunning he ran a long run yesterday so I wont take much away from that.

Good to see the medical community running - Paul, Laurie and Tim all putting in solid performances.

2011 in Review

Another interesting running year. My overall impression is of disappointment, but by the numbers it was another breakthrough year with PB in pretty much every event other than the marathon

Highlights:

March - Half marathon PB 1:22:03 Darlington
May - HBF Run 4 a Reason 13.9k 51:20, 43rd place, 3:41 min/k average (thru 10k @36:40)
June - First Place Lake Gwelup fun-run 6k - my first every fun-run win
August - Perth City to Surf 12k 44:26 PB
November - John Gilmour track 10k, 36:36 PB
November - Penninsula 5k, 17:29 - 2nd place
December - Six Inch Trail Ultramarathon 3hr45, 2nd place

Less successful outings:

Boston Marathon - I think a misguided attempt to protect my knee by training mainly on the flat and grass backfired, as the quads exploded in the last 10k

Perth Marathon - just missed sub 3hr

Run For Gold 10k (July) - 38:20


Some great progress in running this year esp from Clown and Biscuitman, as well as TB
All the best to B'man for a great marathon in Houston

Six Inch Trail Marathon 46k (47k!)

What an interesting/fun day.

My leadup had been good, minimal niggles. I'd been a little anxious after the start list was published as I thought I might be in with a small chance of winning, but a last minute addition of Gerry Hill actually took some pressure off and I could relax re just running.

Managed 4hrs sleep overnight and left at 3am, getting a lift from my Dad down to North Dandalup.

I'd identified several runners around my level - Kevin Matthews, Brett Coombes, Lauren Shelley, Nate and Michael Barton.

The start is straight uphill for a couple of km, and unlike previous years I quickly found myself out in a clear second place. I dont necessarily love running in groups so I went with it and cruised along.

Unfortunately just 5k in I missed a turnoff and ran about 800m before luckily crossing path with Bernadette in a race control vehicle coming he other way - she stopped me, I jumped in and took me back to where I'd missed the turn. Garmin tells me I lost 5min10sec here and I rejoined with runners about 15th-20th.

Adrenaline got the better o me at this point and I ran like a man possessed through the field, such that by 13k I was second again, but had obviously had to run that 13k 5 mins faster than the others.

There was a pack of Nate, Michael, Brett,Kev and a German guy, but I decided to go past them and push on.

I stayed in this position through the 23k/halfway drink stop (1:45). Here I was told I was only about 5 min behing Gerry - so I guess if I'd not got lost I'd have still been near him at this point. I'd also gapped the others a bit.

Unfortunately at about 28k, coming on to Scarp road, I wasn't 100% sure which way to go, and spooked by the earlier experience, I waited for the others to make sure. Garmin tells me I lost 4min here, although only ran about 200m extra looking each way for arrows on the ground.

So I found myself back with the others at 30k, and again I tried to open up a lead. I was less successful this time, starting to get pretty tired in the legs. I hit the second aid station (2:44) and stopped briefly to exchange powerade bottles (50second stop on GPS). As I left the station, te others arrived. Brett didnt stop and was right on my hammer, whilst the others stayed for a while.

So I found myself with Brett with about 9k to go. I have to give him a lot of thanks here as I was really struggling with motivation and with hammered quads from the hills I told him to head off ahead. He wouldn't hear of it and cajoled me to keep pace with him, a pattern we maintained for the rest of the race. As in 2009, despite feeling pretty shot at this point, we were ran 5min km average for the last 7km. I had a faster running pace so would run for 500m-1k, stop for a walk and Brett would catch me running slowly but continously.

In the last 500m I pulled away - I suspect thanks to Brett letting me, and finished in 2nd place in 3hrs45min flattish. (Gerry did 3:31)

So it was an up and down race - big PB and second place. Had I not got lost or waited for the others, I still would have finished second. How much faster I would have finished is not clear. Probably not the full 9 minutes I lost in my 2 misadventures , but I would like to think I would have been under 3:40. I did benefit from running with Brett near the end, but also I think was forced to overdo things early to recatch the bunch.

Either way it was a great day. TB ran his 6th race in a big PB, Mark O'Keef who I gave a lift to ran very well. I overheard Lauren say she took the early going very easy, being her first ultramarathon, but she flew home to finish only about 3 min behaind me. I think BigKev sffered the effects of a big season and finished in a similar time to Lauren, and Nate just missed his sub 3:50 goal.

An afternoon sleep in front of TV is looking good about now.

Taper for SixInch

Week One 107k@4:30

Tues pm intervals - 400 reps - went a bit too hard and cut it short at 5

73, (400m float 104sec) 72 (104) 74 (104) 73 (standing recovery) 75

Wed - 16k treadmill run first 8k increasing incline by 1% every km, second 8k flat and increasing speed - last 5k at 4:00

Sunday 30k solo long run - too lazy to go and race at Deepwater

Week Two 87k@4:29

First taper wek pre Six Inch - had my first day off for a few weeks, more due to busy work than part of taper plans. Every run this week was done on the hills and 'trails' of Bold Park (such that they are trails) except Sunday

Tuesday the track was partly closed, so I did 5x Raebold Hill repeats - kept an even pace throughout.
Mon/Thurs/Fri/Sat were runs of 10-16k as mentioned around Bold Park
Sunday - was timekeeper for the Founders run so ended up doing 20k pm on the treadmill. 1st 10k at 4:30's with progression of incline, next 10k flat at 4:00s.


Friday night didn't end up making it down to the track to race a 1500m (forgot to join a club online in advance), this may need to wait until the New year.

Two weeks until SixInch now - taper fits well because I've lost a bit of my training Mojo - I dont seem to be able to sustain a block of more than about 6 weeks of full training.

Penninsula 5k Race

A couple of weeks since I posted

Week 1 103k@4:34

Tuesday night 6x800m intervals on the track 2:43/2:39/2:41/2:41/2:39/2:32 - jog recovery for half, standing for half. I ran these in the Saucony Hattori (barefoot type shoe) which felt very fast, but left me with very sore calves for the next 3 days

Sunday am 32k@4:40 with Clown - ran on the flat 'round the river which felt easy - reminds me how undulating my usual runs are.

Week 2 94k@4:29

Tuesday pm Mona interval (20min) on the track - 5.56k on the track (Garmin read 5.86!) - new Mona PB for me, and still felt controlled. Again ran in the Hattori and again took the rest of the week for the calves to recover - think I'll persevere and hope this improves

Sun am Penninsula 5k Race 17:26

Didn't really taper for this - ran 15k tour de Bold Park loop on Sat am.

Arrived at 6:15 and did 7k warmup with a few strides at the end
The 10k went off 5 min before the 5k, and most of the good runners (Roberto, Chris O'Neill and Stephen Stockwell) were in that, leaving a fairly small 5k field, even though the 5k was the club championship race.

I tried to squeeze in the front line at the start amongst the kids who invariably seem to fill it, and ended up starting just behind Tommy Lovekin, who'd run 33min at John Gilmour.

Started out fairly fast to ase the congestion and by 1k I'd settled in to 3rd place. Tommy was way out ahead (he stopped to do up his lace at 1k and still was ahead once he got up - must have done 3 flat) then a guy who seemed to be running comfortably in second - I later found out was Matt Di Masi - who won the B race at John Gilmour in 35:xx.

I was feeling pretty good, 3:22 then 3:40 slower prob with the turns onto the bridge. There was a reasoable easterly blowing so I was keen to push early on knowing there'd be a headwind 2.5-3.5k.

The race was well set up motivation wise - Matt was 30m ahead of me coming to halfway so I had someone to focus on, and unusually for me I never thought about someone behind me catching up - I was focussed on second.

Halfway hairpin in 8:50 - although I didn't look at my watch once during the race. Running back into the wind I focussed on holding ground on second, planning on a final km acceleration.

3:26/3:30 kms 3 and 4.

I accelerated down the hill off the bridge and strated to make some ground on Matt - passing him and trying hard to make the pass stick (something I thought about after B'Man passed me last race - need to keep going by the person you pass). Tommy had obviously blown himself up a bit with the fast start, and was only about 10 sec in front of me and looking behind. I was no chance of catching him but it made me feel good about my finish. Final k 3:20 (plus a little extra on Garmin)

Felt really happy with the result - my first podium in a non-handicap WAMC race. Went for an easy 5.5k cooldown before collecting my medal (!)

Met Dan Macey afterwards who, despite training with Big Kev at times, is a very nice guy. He's doing some Friday night track races this summer and the discussion reconfirmed my desire to do a track 3k and 1500m in the next couple of months to round out some PBs.

John Gilmour Track 10000m

36:34 - pretty much a par effort on predictions. PB offically by a minute, although I've run the first 10k of city to surf(12k) and Run4aReason(14k) in sub37 this year

I had a little scare at 4am Friday when I was woken by a calf cramp. I'm lucky in that this is only the second true cramp I've ever had, but boy are they painful. After the minute or two of stomach-turning pain, the upper calf was sore all day. Luckily this didn't affect me at all whilst I was running. It was pretty sore afterards though.

Had a 3k warmup with B'Man then did 2 laps with a run through down the back straight. My legs felt flat so I stopped it there.

The field was pretty impressive, and almost immediately 2 separate packs formed - the first dozen then a gap to my pack which I was near the front of. Unfortunately the guy in front of me pushed the straights then propped on the bends, a pattern which continued for about the first 4km. I ended up running wide quite a bit. Luckily when the main pack passed us he tried to go with them, burnt out, and fell back behind me.

I started 82/85/84/85/86/88/88/88 (3k in 10:38) and maintained 88s til halfway in 17:58 - just where I planned to be.
From 5-8k I slipped to 90 sec lap averages, slowest 91, and was a bit in no mans land as I waited for B'man to catch me. I didn't feel too bad, never felt like I wouldn't finish it off, and I suspect if he caught me earlier I might have run a few seconds faster.

B'man caught me bang on 8k, and immediately took a 10m gap, which I was able to hold for 4 laps. I thought I might have a shot in the last lap, but he took off hard and got out to 30m, and I didn't narrow that (last 2 laps 87/83)

Pleasingly I felt pretty good afterwards, but think I ran pretty close to my current potential.
As per last year it was interesting to see how fast Roberto Busi runs (he won easily despite stopping to tie his shoes) and impressed again by Cody's effortless style in second - he even offered a word of encouragement as he passed me - the best I could do was raise a hand in thanks.

So that's my first PB of this spring/summer - think I'll do the 5k at Penninsula Run in a fortnight to break a soft/old 5k PB (I think my official 5k PB is 18:57 from a couple of years ago!)

Everybody's shuffling

97k this week - only ran 5 days

I've been playing tennis on Sunday arvos the last few months, and whilst doubles is fairly sedate, last week it was singles. My tennis gameplan is 'keep it in at all costs/wait for my opponent to make a mistake' ( I dont have much of a 'weapon' in my groundstroke arsenal). This means I end up scrambling around the court. Last week I twinged my hammy running for a drop shot - so I took Monday off as a precaution.

Tuesday I ran a double to compensate - am 10k easy, pm 15k including track intervals - 3x1600 with 500m jog between - 5:20/5:40/5:30
Wed 17.5k @ 4:32
Thurs 10.5@4:39
Fr 12.5@4:38
Sat - felt a bit viral - went for a 'power walk' with Mrs Epi, and a couple of km on the treadmill
Sun 30k@4:30 including Hale Rd

Nice to log my first 30k for a while - rewarded myself with my favorite post long run treat - frozen raspberry drink from McDonalds

Still running mainly in the Saucony Kinvara 2 - on my second pair after going somewhere between 800 and 1000k in my first pair. I may have mentioned previously that these are the only shoe I run in without orthotics. I seem fine in these for track intervals to long runs and everything in between. I still alternate days in DS racers and Mizuno Musha.

My mum is popping over to the US soon, so I might get some more, although would also like to try the brooks green silence, new balance 1400s and saucouny a4.

Friday is the track 10k race. I think I'm in 36:40 form but would love to break 36, and intend if feeling good to run the first 5k in just on/under 18 and see what's left in the tank.

Building a little base

4 weeks since the last post, and I've progressed generally as planned
Unfortunately week 1 was affected by a viral infection - jet lag and straight back to work didn't agree with each other obviously.

week 2 90k, all easy to mid paced and a 24k Sunday long run

Week 3 102k,
Tuesday solo interval session on the track Tuesday - 3k in 10:28 then 4x400m,
Sunday 27k long run including Hale Rd

Week 4 104k
Tuesday solo interval session - 4x1k/200m float - covered track 5k in 17:58, 2min standing recovery then 2x1k with 200m float, similar pace.
Saturday 10k tempo in 39:10 - midday run in somewhat warm/humid conditions
Sunday 25k long run over Hale Rd

I feel I'm probably back where I was before my holiday now, with 10k race on the 4th November a little earlier than I'd like in terms of fitness, but should still be able to break a 'soft' official 10k PB of 37:30

On a side note, I bought a scond hand treadmill today. I was a little reluctant to post this as I know treadmill running is anathema to many running purists, especially in Perth. I really just dont cope with the hot weather in Perth summer, and have suffered before from the results of trying to get out there on very hot days.Last year I took several trips to gyms esp for afternoon runs on treadmills.

After a bit of research I was left to decide between a new 'home' treadmill from Orbit/Elite/Rebel etc or a second hand 'commercial' one. I ended up getting an ex-gym Life Fitness treadmill which is one most of us will have run on at various commercial and hotel gyms over the years. It was cheap but obviously, without a warranty, only time will tell if it was a bargain!