I just received the email re Buster being in Perth. Anyone interested in making a table?
I think I'll go anyway.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
No Melbourne, looking ahead
I ended up deciding not to go to Melbourne.
The running's been OK in the first week and a half back, but I don't have a marathon in me physically or mentally.
So moving ahead... my plan is to keep to a lowish 70km per week mileage for the rest of the year. I'll do some shorter stuff - not yet decided if I'll go Masters track ( would be Tues at McGillvray - work late thurs evenings and Coker Park is a bit far), WAMC/JK intervals tues pm, or some self directed track intervals, or maybe a mix of the 3. I might do a couple of WAMC events (perhaps the track 10k), and I'll hopefully do Six Inch again, although I am going to U2 the night before so it may be a challenging run.
I've been thinking about track events and goal times. VDOT seems out of whack for this. Whilst my 3k, 5k, 10k and marathon PBs areall pretty much on a par with VDOT 54.3, and the HM PB a little quicker, these would predict a 73sec 400m, 2:32 800m, 3:13 1000m and 5:01 1500m. These all sound a little slow
At highschool I ran 2:06 for 800m and 4:21 for 1500m, but this seems a litle too fast
Perhaps a 3min 1k (2:22 800, 4:40 1500, 10:00 3000m) is a more challenging goal. Anyone have insight into this?
What I think I might do is head down to the first week of summer masters track next week and do the 1k as a time trial, with pretty much no speed training, so I have a starting point but hopefully still quite a bit of improvement.
Good luck Clown, Sling and TB in Melbourne!
The running's been OK in the first week and a half back, but I don't have a marathon in me physically or mentally.
So moving ahead... my plan is to keep to a lowish 70km per week mileage for the rest of the year. I'll do some shorter stuff - not yet decided if I'll go Masters track ( would be Tues at McGillvray - work late thurs evenings and Coker Park is a bit far), WAMC/JK intervals tues pm, or some self directed track intervals, or maybe a mix of the 3. I might do a couple of WAMC events (perhaps the track 10k), and I'll hopefully do Six Inch again, although I am going to U2 the night before so it may be a challenging run.
I've been thinking about track events and goal times. VDOT seems out of whack for this. Whilst my 3k, 5k, 10k and marathon PBs areall pretty much on a par with VDOT 54.3, and the HM PB a little quicker, these would predict a 73sec 400m, 2:32 800m, 3:13 1000m and 5:01 1500m. These all sound a little slow
At highschool I ran 2:06 for 800m and 4:21 for 1500m, but this seems a litle too fast
Perhaps a 3min 1k (2:22 800, 4:40 1500, 10:00 3000m) is a more challenging goal. Anyone have insight into this?
What I think I might do is head down to the first week of summer masters track next week and do the 1k as a time trial, with pretty much no speed training, so I have a starting point but hopefully still quite a bit of improvement.
Good luck Clown, Sling and TB in Melbourne!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Scratching?
I dont think I'll make it to Melbourne.
The last couple of weeks have been very frustrating illness wise - one virus after another, really getting me down physically and emotionally. I took a full week off any running, then did one run and felt worse again later in the day. I've run yesterday and today - beautiful days and felt really good - but so one should, running 10k after a week and a half off!
This leaves me in a quandry. At best I was going to be borderline to run OK at Melbourne, holding out some hope to run with Sling for at least the first 30k of his sub 3hr attempt. This seems off the cards now, perhaps for both of us. My other great fear is that after a winter of recurrent infections, a big effort will lead to another infection in the followup. But I'd like to be there for Clown's birthday, and I haven't had any time off since Boston, so I could do with a little holiday. Switching to the half would be an option, but that's an expensive trip for a non-PB half marathon.
We'll see - luckily the flights can be cancelled right up until the day, and a hotel room shouldn't be too hard to come by at the last minute, so I can reserve judgement for a while.
The last couple of weeks have been very frustrating illness wise - one virus after another, really getting me down physically and emotionally. I took a full week off any running, then did one run and felt worse again later in the day. I've run yesterday and today - beautiful days and felt really good - but so one should, running 10k after a week and a half off!
This leaves me in a quandry. At best I was going to be borderline to run OK at Melbourne, holding out some hope to run with Sling for at least the first 30k of his sub 3hr attempt. This seems off the cards now, perhaps for both of us. My other great fear is that after a winter of recurrent infections, a big effort will lead to another infection in the followup. But I'd like to be there for Clown's birthday, and I haven't had any time off since Boston, so I could do with a little holiday. Switching to the half would be an option, but that's an expensive trip for a non-PB half marathon.
We'll see - luckily the flights can be cancelled right up until the day, and a hotel room shouldn't be too hard to come by at the last minute, so I can reserve judgement for a while.
Monday, September 06, 2010
Treading water
I felt i should post an update, but to be honest there's not much to add
Since my last post I have moved house, so my priorities have been other than running. I managed to get out and watch the City to Surfers pass by, as documented by others it was a tough day all round.
I've not managed to lift beyond the 70km per week, no quality session mark over the last 4 weeks. The aftereffects of a viral infection, some lingering aches at the site of my stress fracture and the demands of setting up a new house have prevented a stepping up that I'd been half-heartedly considering.
My average paces still sit 4:35MIN/KM, althoug in the last week my average run has changed from flat around the river to hilly through Bold park, so i hope that maintaining the pace represents a real improvement in fitness by a few seconds.
On the days when i dont feel viral my running actually feels really smooth and fun. The negative is that the longest run has been 22km.
I've paid for my fares to melbourne though, so I'll be there and may well head out at 3hr pace for the first half and see how long I hold on. I'm probably no worse prepared than Boston (3;01), but far worse than C2S 2009 (2:57)
Since my last post I have moved house, so my priorities have been other than running. I managed to get out and watch the City to Surfers pass by, as documented by others it was a tough day all round.
I've not managed to lift beyond the 70km per week, no quality session mark over the last 4 weeks. The aftereffects of a viral infection, some lingering aches at the site of my stress fracture and the demands of setting up a new house have prevented a stepping up that I'd been half-heartedly considering.
My average paces still sit 4:35MIN/KM, althoug in the last week my average run has changed from flat around the river to hilly through Bold park, so i hope that maintaining the pace represents a real improvement in fitness by a few seconds.
On the days when i dont feel viral my running actually feels really smooth and fun. The negative is that the longest run has been 22km.
I've paid for my fares to melbourne though, so I'll be there and may well head out at 3hr pace for the first half and see how long I hold on. I'm probably no worse prepared than Boston (3;01), but far worse than C2S 2009 (2:57)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Going to Melbourne! (probably)
It took a series of things for me to decide to run Melbourne.
Firstly, I was keen to be there to celebrate Clown's milestone birthday. Then I thought... if a middle aged guy like him can still run Marathons, so should I.
Second, I've not had any time off since Boston, and don't have any planned until New Year, so a weekend away is due.
Thirdly, I read Sling's post about entries running out, and thought I better sign up just in case.
Luckily, although the website says the field limt is 4500, I was allocated number 4591 - so either they exceeded the limit, or not all of the low numbers were allocated.
In the 2 weeks since my last post, I've run about 70km each week, all slower than marathon pace, average 4:37. I've set no specific goal in training or on the day, we'll just see how things pan out. Just need to arrange the flights and accomodation
Meanwhile a very long weekend at the new house has seen a transformation from dusty wasteland into huge lawn and neat garden bed. I might have to look into Jim's mowing!
Firstly, I was keen to be there to celebrate Clown's milestone birthday. Then I thought... if a middle aged guy like him can still run Marathons, so should I.
Second, I've not had any time off since Boston, and don't have any planned until New Year, so a weekend away is due.
Thirdly, I read Sling's post about entries running out, and thought I better sign up just in case.
Luckily, although the website says the field limt is 4500, I was allocated number 4591 - so either they exceeded the limit, or not all of the low numbers were allocated.
In the 2 weeks since my last post, I've run about 70km each week, all slower than marathon pace, average 4:37. I've set no specific goal in training or on the day, we'll just see how things pan out. Just need to arrange the flights and accomodation
Meanwhile a very long weekend at the new house has seen a transformation from dusty wasteland into huge lawn and neat garden bed. I might have to look into Jim's mowing!
Sunday, August 01, 2010
The Winter of my discontent
It felt good to get a couple of runs in this week.
Despite my best intentions, 2010 continues to be my annus horribilis in terms of running.
Since my last post I have suffered from my winter occupational hazard - recurrent viral infections. The first two were minor colds requiring a couple of days off running, but the third was more severe - a glandular fever like illness leaving me sore of throat, swollen of neck and enormously fatigued.
I didn't take a single running stride for two full weeks - which I think beats my post knee surgery recovery from January. When I did get back to running this week, my muscles were aching - abductors, adductors, flexors, extensors - you name it!
It is a great frustration, particularly seeing my running peers in 'all time best' form, and not being able to join in for training sessions and club races.
Luckily the rest of life is going well - the new house is finally ready and in a couple of weeks we'll move in, after 16 months living with the in-laws. I have had more time and energy to devote to work, especially after hours, than I did when training more. I tend to have a bit less patience and more irritability with higher mileage training, something Noakes talks about in 'Lore'.
Anyway, C2S marathon will be a no go - the bit of residual fitness I'd been riding the first half of the year is well and truly gone now, and it will be a week or two after moving in, and I'll have a long list of chores from Mrs Epi which will be tough enough without post Marathon fatigue. I might run the half with my brother in law.
Looking forwards, I'm not making any more 2010 race plans for now, that might just be tempting fate. Lets just hope that, like the speech in the title, the winter of my discontent is over.
Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York (Richard III)
Despite my best intentions, 2010 continues to be my annus horribilis in terms of running.
Since my last post I have suffered from my winter occupational hazard - recurrent viral infections. The first two were minor colds requiring a couple of days off running, but the third was more severe - a glandular fever like illness leaving me sore of throat, swollen of neck and enormously fatigued.
I didn't take a single running stride for two full weeks - which I think beats my post knee surgery recovery from January. When I did get back to running this week, my muscles were aching - abductors, adductors, flexors, extensors - you name it!
It is a great frustration, particularly seeing my running peers in 'all time best' form, and not being able to join in for training sessions and club races.
Luckily the rest of life is going well - the new house is finally ready and in a couple of weeks we'll move in, after 16 months living with the in-laws. I have had more time and energy to devote to work, especially after hours, than I did when training more. I tend to have a bit less patience and more irritability with higher mileage training, something Noakes talks about in 'Lore'.
Anyway, C2S marathon will be a no go - the bit of residual fitness I'd been riding the first half of the year is well and truly gone now, and it will be a week or two after moving in, and I'll have a long list of chores from Mrs Epi which will be tough enough without post Marathon fatigue. I might run the half with my brother in law.
Looking forwards, I'm not making any more 2010 race plans for now, that might just be tempting fate. Lets just hope that, like the speech in the title, the winter of my discontent is over.
Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York (Richard III)
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Perth Marathon 2010
First to the important bit - SUB 3 CLOWN! Congratulations well deserved
As Sling mentioned, only one of the class to go.
I decided I would run at the start of the week. I had been thinking of what to set as new goals, and decided on more, rather than faster, merathons - for now. I don't know that focussing on Melbourne and potentially doing a minute or two under my PB (but potentially not) would be all that satisfying. The future goal of 10+ Perths is something I'm more interested in
So on the back of 50k/60k/50k/70k then one week taper, I wasn't expecting too much.
Luckily I quickly settled in with Gunner and (?) Brewer who were looking at 3:15 pace. This seemed easy and we passed halfway at 96:40. I kept the same pace but they slowed a bit, so I tagged on with a guy running his first marathon. We continued together until 35k, speeding up from 4:34s to 4:30s. He then dropped back and I pushed the pace to about 4:25s 35-41k.
It was a great feeling to be finishing fast, as I overtook about a dozen in the last 10k and was only passed by the top 3 relay teams. I sped to 4:15 for the 42nd km then at 3:45 pace for the last 200m.
Time 3:11:20
Halves 1:36:40/1:34:40
5ks 22:49, 22:47, 22:54, 22:54, 22:48, 22:51, 22:29, 22:12
7ks 31:55, 31:56, 32:09, 31:50, 31:42, 30:51
After feeling a little ill immediately at the end fter my sprint, I quickly recovered and felt fine the rest of the day.
I was thinking about Sling's comment re average weekly pace and marathon time.
For me, a top marathon effort equates to about 15sec per km faster than my average weekly pace in the leadup (e.g C2s weekly pace 4:25, Mara 4:10.)
Today I ran only about 4sec/k faster than my leadup paces (4:35-4:31) - hence the easier effort. So I probably had 5min up my sleeve if I wanted to push myself to the limit, and that makes me happy given my very poor leadup.
My plan now is hopefully to get another 5 weeks trainingx70k in after a week off, and run City to Surf marathon with similar perceived effort and hopefully a similar time or a little faster. That will be road Marathon #10 and #13 including my six Inch trail maathons
Oh and kudos to Biscuitman and Sugar - first place relay !
As Sling mentioned, only one of the class to go.
I decided I would run at the start of the week. I had been thinking of what to set as new goals, and decided on more, rather than faster, merathons - for now. I don't know that focussing on Melbourne and potentially doing a minute or two under my PB (but potentially not) would be all that satisfying. The future goal of 10+ Perths is something I'm more interested in
So on the back of 50k/60k/50k/70k then one week taper, I wasn't expecting too much.
Luckily I quickly settled in with Gunner and (?) Brewer who were looking at 3:15 pace. This seemed easy and we passed halfway at 96:40. I kept the same pace but they slowed a bit, so I tagged on with a guy running his first marathon. We continued together until 35k, speeding up from 4:34s to 4:30s. He then dropped back and I pushed the pace to about 4:25s 35-41k.
It was a great feeling to be finishing fast, as I overtook about a dozen in the last 10k and was only passed by the top 3 relay teams. I sped to 4:15 for the 42nd km then at 3:45 pace for the last 200m.
Time 3:11:20
Halves 1:36:40/1:34:40
5ks 22:49, 22:47, 22:54, 22:54, 22:48, 22:51, 22:29, 22:12
7ks 31:55, 31:56, 32:09, 31:50, 31:42, 30:51
After feeling a little ill immediately at the end fter my sprint, I quickly recovered and felt fine the rest of the day.
I was thinking about Sling's comment re average weekly pace and marathon time.
For me, a top marathon effort equates to about 15sec per km faster than my average weekly pace in the leadup (e.g C2s weekly pace 4:25, Mara 4:10.)
Today I ran only about 4sec/k faster than my leadup paces (4:35-4:31) - hence the easier effort. So I probably had 5min up my sleeve if I wanted to push myself to the limit, and that makes me happy given my very poor leadup.
My plan now is hopefully to get another 5 weeks trainingx70k in after a week off, and run City to Surf marathon with similar perceived effort and hopefully a similar time or a little faster. That will be road Marathon #10 and #13 including my six Inch trail maathons
Oh and kudos to Biscuitman and Sugar - first place relay !
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Slowly Slowly
Main reason to post this week is to give a shout out to Clown - congrats on the massive 10k PB - a long overdue race reward for great training form, and hopefully a big step forward in your running.
My week was similar to last - 60k in 5 runs, all easy, still lacking rhythm - I feel uncoordinated at the moment. There are some minor niggles in the return to more regular running, but the thigh pain is behaving itself.
Surprisingly my best 2 runs were in Nike LunarGlides - the Boston special editions which I bought more as a casual shoe than a runner. I'm running in them without my orthotics (unheard of) They are extremely light for such a stable shoe - probably as light as a DS trainer, but in my case even lighter because I dont need the orthotics (when I tried them I felt my foot was being pushed too far into supination)
My week was similar to last - 60k in 5 runs, all easy, still lacking rhythm - I feel uncoordinated at the moment. There are some minor niggles in the return to more regular running, but the thigh pain is behaving itself.
Surprisingly my best 2 runs were in Nike LunarGlides - the Boston special editions which I bought more as a casual shoe than a runner. I'm running in them without my orthotics (unheard of) They are extremely light for such a stable shoe - probably as light as a DS trainer, but in my case even lighter because I dont need the orthotics (when I tried them I felt my foot was being pushed too far into supination)
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Run for No Reason
Back on the road this week after my month off to allow my stress fracture to heal
The leg isn't normal yet, but the deep bone pain has gone and it now just feels like an adductor strain . I am stretching and strengthening ( I'm getting some funny looks walking corridors at work sideways)
Ran HBF Run For a Reason today - paced my Brother in law to go sub 5min kms - did 1:11:15 for 14.59k - so under target pace by about 2 minutes.
It was interesting to run a race so comfortably - it provided a different perspective.
I went to pick up my number and was given a category B bib as they ran out of category A ones. At the start line 2 separate officials interrogated me about why I was in the A corral with a B bib, and they got narky when I told them to bugger off! ( I may have been a bit rude)
I was interested to see Sugar and B'Man say the km markers were off - I found the first 5 were exactly in sync with my Garmin - but then the garmin went haywire through the tunnel so I wasnt sure about the rest. Having said that they seemed pretty good to me as we stayed a pretty constant amount below the target times through each marker.
I felt so good at the end I jogged the 8k home .It ended up a nice, if very slow, 22k for the day, and the first time since Boston that I've felt any real comfortable rhythm in my running - perhaps all is not lost!
54k for the week at 4:45
In terms of plan from here - still not sure. I feel like I have the angel on one shoulder saying don't run Perth because I'll be markedly underdone and injure myself, and the devil on the other saying I should run my sixth consecutive Perth to keep the series going. Luckily at the moment the angel is winning (It's like having Barlow on one shoulder and Tom Swift on the other - one a winner and the other a talentless hack! - I'm sure Clown knows what I mean)
I'm thinking maybe Melbourne (the marathon, not the club)
The leg isn't normal yet, but the deep bone pain has gone and it now just feels like an adductor strain . I am stretching and strengthening ( I'm getting some funny looks walking corridors at work sideways)
Ran HBF Run For a Reason today - paced my Brother in law to go sub 5min kms - did 1:11:15 for 14.59k - so under target pace by about 2 minutes.
It was interesting to run a race so comfortably - it provided a different perspective.
I went to pick up my number and was given a category B bib as they ran out of category A ones. At the start line 2 separate officials interrogated me about why I was in the A corral with a B bib, and they got narky when I told them to bugger off! ( I may have been a bit rude)
I was interested to see Sugar and B'Man say the km markers were off - I found the first 5 were exactly in sync with my Garmin - but then the garmin went haywire through the tunnel so I wasnt sure about the rest. Having said that they seemed pretty good to me as we stayed a pretty constant amount below the target times through each marker.
I felt so good at the end I jogged the 8k home .It ended up a nice, if very slow, 22k for the day, and the first time since Boston that I've felt any real comfortable rhythm in my running - perhaps all is not lost!
54k for the week at 4:45
In terms of plan from here - still not sure. I feel like I have the angel on one shoulder saying don't run Perth because I'll be markedly underdone and injure myself, and the devil on the other saying I should run my sixth consecutive Perth to keep the series going. Luckily at the moment the angel is winning (It's like having Barlow on one shoulder and Tom Swift on the other - one a winner and the other a talentless hack! - I'm sure Clown knows what I mean)
I'm thinking maybe Melbourne (the marathon, not the club)
Sunday, May 09, 2010
R&R
Three weeks post Boston and I've really enjoyed the Rest and Relaxation. This is probably the most true rest I've had for some time. Although I missed a lot of running at the start of the year, I was very mentally focussed on running and rehab, and did a lot of non running exercise/rehab.
The last 3 weeks I've done very little, and very little cross training. I flew back in to Perth Sunday and went back to work monday - so a week of jetlag and catchup work meant I didn't have time or energy to exercise - a good rest for my femur (although it still aches at night suggesting the stress fracture hasn't fully healed yet)
Boston photos attached!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The hills really are alive!
Driving round New England is a great way to recover post marathon - last 2 nights in Vermont at the Trapp family lodge - where the real van Trapp family settled after fleeing Austria.
I had intended not running for the rest of the trip, but the trails beckoned. There are a bunch of Cross Country Skiing trails ( no snow currently) and Mountain Bike Trails which were great to jog around. 10k in TB style with plenty of walks and exploring. My legs have continued to be very sore after this marathon compared with most, but they warmed up nicely.
Today the right thigh/stress reaction is aching pretty badly, so I might need to go back to the plan of no running for a few weeks.
Meanwhile the diet of 3 cooked meals a day and plenty of wine should leave me needing to drop a few kgs when I get home. Back to the gym I guess.
I had intended not running for the rest of the trip, but the trails beckoned. There are a bunch of Cross Country Skiing trails ( no snow currently) and Mountain Bike Trails which were great to jog around. 10k in TB style with plenty of walks and exploring. My legs have continued to be very sore after this marathon compared with most, but they warmed up nicely.
Today the right thigh/stress reaction is aching pretty badly, so I might need to go back to the plan of no running for a few weeks.
Meanwhile the diet of 3 cooked meals a day and plenty of wine should leave me needing to drop a few kgs when I get home. Back to the gym I guess.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Boston Marathon
3:01:06 - have to be happy with that!
Rob and I got on an early bus and chatted nervously for the 45 min drive to Hopkinton.
Had a bagel, muesli bar, coffee and gatorade before the run. The 3 hours at the village went fairly quickly as we tried not to freeze and took turns going to the toilets. They must have improved on last year as the longest I had to wait was 5 minutes, and that was just before we left.
We split at the clothes drop-off and made the long walk to the start - got to the corral 20 min before the start, just in time for the anthem and flyby. Two guys next to me peed on the ground in the corral - just as Sugar described last year.
Suddenly we were off, and I was surprised to be on a good pace within a few hundred metres. My thigh was aching on the initial downhill kms, but there was too much going on to notice.
I ran at the pace of those around me - and before I knew it it was 8km. There had been a continuous wall of people lining the roads. The kms kept coming fast as I looked out for the various landmarks described by others -Ashland, Framingham, Natick, the mirror to check out your form.
I have to thank Sugar and B'man for their suggestion re putting my name on my singlet. I had large clearly printed Craig/Australia on my singlet and had pretty much continuous callouts and cries of AussieAussieAussie. Initially I was calling back OiOiOi, later just Oi, later just raising my hand, towards the end just grimacing. I think I gave out more high fives than I have in my entire life. Especially at Wellesley - where I didn't stop for a kiss, but did high five continuously for about 500m.
I knew I was likely to hit the wall in the second half, but decided to enjoy feeling good for as long as it lasted. Initially that was to do a decent half, then 25k, then 28k, then get over heartbreak hill. I managed to do all these, to my great surprise.
I ran into Newton xpecting 3 hills, and thought they were a long time coming. Finally there was a decent hill and I got over it OK, expecting 2 more. But someone on a microphone called out that we had got over heartbreak hill! They really were little hills.
After 35k is when I started to really stuggle - and it was my quads that went. I was kind of hoping that it was all downhill from here and I had enough in the bank to go sub3. But there was enough flat and uphill to make me struggle. First I walked through a drink station and started cramping up as I got runnng again. Then over the last 5k I stopped 3 or 4 times. Each time the crowd would scream at me - dont stop Craig! another advantage of my labelled singlet, and when I started shuffling again they would cheer. I suspect if this was Perth I would have ended up doing 3:05-3:10. I still held out hope of scraping under 3hrs until 40k, but the little underpass around that part was too much for me and I walked a little again.
As Clown described, turning in to Boylston I felt a surge of excitement, but the finish line seemed to be like a mirage until I finally passed it.
At the finish I realised how cold it was, and started to shiver. I went and sat on one of the chair in the medical tent before getting my gear and meeting Rob and the girls. Had a quiet afternoon and a fun dinner. Have to say that my legs are the sorest they've been since my first marathon - driving is going to be a challenge.
Congrats Rob on a PB, although it wasn't quite what you hoped/deserved, it will happen!
Personally I am ecstatic I ran as fast as I did on the prep, and have no regrets. With that little training in my legs over 4 months I knew I was going to hit the wall and am only amazed I got as far as I did in good time.
More holiday for me now - hope to see all in the coming weeks. Many thanks for all the support.
Rob and I got on an early bus and chatted nervously for the 45 min drive to Hopkinton.
Had a bagel, muesli bar, coffee and gatorade before the run. The 3 hours at the village went fairly quickly as we tried not to freeze and took turns going to the toilets. They must have improved on last year as the longest I had to wait was 5 minutes, and that was just before we left.
We split at the clothes drop-off and made the long walk to the start - got to the corral 20 min before the start, just in time for the anthem and flyby. Two guys next to me peed on the ground in the corral - just as Sugar described last year.
Suddenly we were off, and I was surprised to be on a good pace within a few hundred metres. My thigh was aching on the initial downhill kms, but there was too much going on to notice.
I ran at the pace of those around me - and before I knew it it was 8km. There had been a continuous wall of people lining the roads. The kms kept coming fast as I looked out for the various landmarks described by others -Ashland, Framingham, Natick, the mirror to check out your form.
I have to thank Sugar and B'man for their suggestion re putting my name on my singlet. I had large clearly printed Craig/Australia on my singlet and had pretty much continuous callouts and cries of AussieAussieAussie. Initially I was calling back OiOiOi, later just Oi, later just raising my hand, towards the end just grimacing. I think I gave out more high fives than I have in my entire life. Especially at Wellesley - where I didn't stop for a kiss, but did high five continuously for about 500m.
I knew I was likely to hit the wall in the second half, but decided to enjoy feeling good for as long as it lasted. Initially that was to do a decent half, then 25k, then 28k, then get over heartbreak hill. I managed to do all these, to my great surprise.
I ran into Newton xpecting 3 hills, and thought they were a long time coming. Finally there was a decent hill and I got over it OK, expecting 2 more. But someone on a microphone called out that we had got over heartbreak hill! They really were little hills.
After 35k is when I started to really stuggle - and it was my quads that went. I was kind of hoping that it was all downhill from here and I had enough in the bank to go sub3. But there was enough flat and uphill to make me struggle. First I walked through a drink station and started cramping up as I got runnng again. Then over the last 5k I stopped 3 or 4 times. Each time the crowd would scream at me - dont stop Craig! another advantage of my labelled singlet, and when I started shuffling again they would cheer. I suspect if this was Perth I would have ended up doing 3:05-3:10. I still held out hope of scraping under 3hrs until 40k, but the little underpass around that part was too much for me and I walked a little again.
As Clown described, turning in to Boylston I felt a surge of excitement, but the finish line seemed to be like a mirage until I finally passed it.
At the finish I realised how cold it was, and started to shiver. I went and sat on one of the chair in the medical tent before getting my gear and meeting Rob and the girls. Had a quiet afternoon and a fun dinner. Have to say that my legs are the sorest they've been since my first marathon - driving is going to be a challenge.
Congrats Rob on a PB, although it wasn't quite what you hoped/deserved, it will happen!
Personally I am ecstatic I ran as fast as I did on the prep, and have no regrets. With that little training in my legs over 4 months I knew I was going to hit the wall and am only amazed I got as far as I did in good time.
More holiday for me now - hope to see all in the coming weeks. Many thanks for all the support.
Boston Marathon - preamble
First of all, my apologies for my 'radio silence' of the last 3 weeks. This came down to two things. First - I spat the dummy to some extent. Having used all that emotional energy to get back from the knee surgery, to then injure the other leg was pretty gut wrenching. But I knew if I was going to get to run Boston I needed to take the last 3 weeks pretty much completely off running. The way I am, if I was to continue posting, looking at other's blogs and strands updates, I was going to be sucked up into training more than I should - trying to keep up with the Jones's, as it were (or keep up with the Clowns).
So I stopped logging and blogging and actually did what I intended - ran very little.
3rd week out I did elliptical trainer every day, and tried a couple of runs. An aborted Sunday run with Rob was the last straw - had to walk back at 3k because the thigh was so sore.
2 weeks out I did 4 days elliptical, one day running treadmill.
Final week 4x treadmill runs total 20k - the thigh hurt, but was bearable
We were lucky to have 9 days in the US prior to the run. I didn't focus on it at all and enjoyed New York, and food/wine with my brother an his family. Only when we made it to Boston and caught up with Rob did I start thinking about the run at all.
The expo at Boston was huge, and I think I carbo loaded quite well just on the energy bar samples. We also had pasta dinners the two nights preceding the run.
So I stopped logging and blogging and actually did what I intended - ran very little.
3rd week out I did elliptical trainer every day, and tried a couple of runs. An aborted Sunday run with Rob was the last straw - had to walk back at 3k because the thigh was so sore.
2 weeks out I did 4 days elliptical, one day running treadmill.
Final week 4x treadmill runs total 20k - the thigh hurt, but was bearable
We were lucky to have 9 days in the US prior to the run. I didn't focus on it at all and enjoyed New York, and food/wine with my brother an his family. Only when we made it to Boston and caught up with Rob did I start thinking about the run at all.
The expo at Boston was huge, and I think I carbo loaded quite well just on the energy bar samples. We also had pasta dinners the two nights preceding the run.
I had no idea what to expect - I had run less than 20k each of the last 3 weeks off a short base. But I knew from Darlington that I had the ability to run well off little training
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Three weeks 'til Boston
Not much to report since Friday.
First of all congrats to Sugar and Biscuitman for their Bridges results, and to Sling for another near miss to go sub3 in the Marathon - it's beckoning this year.
I ran Sat morning to test the thigh out - did 1km jogs interpersed with stretches. In the 8k I ran the only moderately painfree part was a km I ran barefoot on an oval nearby, obviously the more forefoot gait is less of a strain.
This morning I managed an anti-inflammatory assisted 20km, although the whole session took nearly 3 hours - my wife was about to send out a search party after I told her I'd be out for an hour and a half. I hobbled down to the Scotch college playing fields and ran 1km loops on the grass, again the best and fastest were the 2k run barefoot. I had a good patch from 10-15k run continuously then the thigh got worse again.
So that's the last 'long' run per se in my prep - will try to run 4 days this coming week and if by some sheer chance things are feeling better I might try for another 20k next weekend, but I'd rather not chance it if there's a chance of making things worse. Hopefully I'll get down to the gym for some bike and elliptical in the interim, or even some water running.
On a side note, humorous bargain of the week : Tiger Woods/Nike golf gift pack (golf shirt, cap and Nike 1 balls) reduced from $140 to $30 at Rebel. When your stocks are down, they're down! Great B'day present for Dad though - the golf balls are worth the price alone and the TW logo on the shirt is pretty subtle. Anyway, once he wins the Masters he'll be popular again.
(I note the media knew he was reconciling with his wife when she started wearing Nike shirts again)
First of all congrats to Sugar and Biscuitman for their Bridges results, and to Sling for another near miss to go sub3 in the Marathon - it's beckoning this year.
I ran Sat morning to test the thigh out - did 1km jogs interpersed with stretches. In the 8k I ran the only moderately painfree part was a km I ran barefoot on an oval nearby, obviously the more forefoot gait is less of a strain.
This morning I managed an anti-inflammatory assisted 20km, although the whole session took nearly 3 hours - my wife was about to send out a search party after I told her I'd be out for an hour and a half. I hobbled down to the Scotch college playing fields and ran 1km loops on the grass, again the best and fastest were the 2k run barefoot. I had a good patch from 10-15k run continuously then the thigh got worse again.
So that's the last 'long' run per se in my prep - will try to run 4 days this coming week and if by some sheer chance things are feeling better I might try for another 20k next weekend, but I'd rather not chance it if there's a chance of making things worse. Hopefully I'll get down to the gym for some bike and elliptical in the interim, or even some water running.
On a side note, humorous bargain of the week : Tiger Woods/Nike golf gift pack (golf shirt, cap and Nike 1 balls) reduced from $140 to $30 at Rebel. When your stocks are down, they're down! Great B'day present for Dad though - the golf balls are worth the price alone and the TW logo on the shirt is pretty subtle. Anyway, once he wins the Masters he'll be popular again.
(I note the media knew he was reconciling with his wife when she started wearing Nike shirts again)
Friday, March 26, 2010
Trouble
The thigh pain was not a mere muscle strain
I think I knew this already, but once my antiinflammatories wore off on Wednesday's run I knew things were worse - couldn't run home due to the pain - a deep ache in the thigh
I organised an MRI and it showed a periosteal stress reaction on the femur - a Grade 1 injury where Grade 3 is a stress fracture. (pre-stress fracture you might say) There were no changes in the cortex (middle) of the bone. Classic scenario with altered gait fr4om the other knee and rapid increase in mileage after 4 weeks off.
To my surprise, the specialist thinks I can still run Boston. Without cortical changes this is unlikely to progress to a full stress fracture. I will need to markedly reduce my training from now, though, so the plan made with Mona is out the window. With 3 and a half weeks left it's a long taper keeping the legs turing over with minimal stress on the leg.
So aim will be back to just finishing, I'll be watching my pain closely, but hopefully I can still run Boston!!!!
I think I knew this already, but once my antiinflammatories wore off on Wednesday's run I knew things were worse - couldn't run home due to the pain - a deep ache in the thigh
I organised an MRI and it showed a periosteal stress reaction on the femur - a Grade 1 injury where Grade 3 is a stress fracture. (pre-stress fracture you might say) There were no changes in the cortex (middle) of the bone. Classic scenario with altered gait fr4om the other knee and rapid increase in mileage after 4 weeks off.
To my surprise, the specialist thinks I can still run Boston. Without cortical changes this is unlikely to progress to a full stress fracture. I will need to markedly reduce my training from now, though, so the plan made with Mona is out the window. With 3 and a half weeks left it's a long taper keeping the legs turing over with minimal stress on the leg.
So aim will be back to just finishing, I'll be watching my pain closely, but hopefully I can still run Boston!!!!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Steve Monaghetti Camp
I can honestly say that the camp exceeded all expectations for me.
From Friday night's recovery run where I ran the first couple of km at the back f the pack, chatting to Mona about my running, the whole weekend continued with running as the focus.
Without going into too much boring detail, lessons/impressions:
MONA
Steve was incredibly accessible, humble and down to earth. He helped me devise a shorter, more severe taper taking into account my short preparation and travel commitments in the last week. One overwhelming message was that running more easy paced total distance will help improvement far more than any session. He ran twice a day, 200k per week, week in week out with 19k/10% each week quality - a Mona fartlek or 400s, and a timetrial on a rolling hilly course of 8k, plus fairly frequent short races mainly cross country.
RAF
Unexpectedly for me, Raf opened up a new insight into running culture for me. His passion for WA running is compelling, especially for the nurturing of potential young elite runners. Certainly my perception of his store and the Frontrunner coaching groups has changed, and a number of us seem to be considering getting involved in some way, so I guess the camp achieved that purpose for him - to make it the centre of distance running excellence in the state. (Much was spoken about the deficiencies of the WAMC in catering to certain runners which was also very interesting). Mona mentined that in some ways it's sad we have one big running club rather than several small ones who could compete in various events more often, as is done in the Eastern States.
Physio/Dietician Sessions
I dont think a description by me would do justice to the nutrition talk - but it certainly had us all talking about it for the entire weekend - which must be good! I now know that Mexican food is ridiculous and Thai food is a joke!
The physio session was refreshing in that the focus was on running as the best thing to do to help strengthen running muscles, and that a small number of strenghtening exercises, taking a small amount of time, is all you need to do if not currently injured.
Participants
Great group of people all talking about the same stuff, nearly all 'mid-pack' runners, of varying ability
On to the running -
Monday 6.1k@4:58 - pretty stiff and sore post HM
Tuesday 20.1k@4:36. Still felt stiff and sore but it was such a glorious night I kept on plodding
Wed 12k@4:21 with 3k at 4:00 and later 1.5k@4:00 - knee felt pretty sore after this, so I took Thursday off
Friday am 10.25k@4:37 - easy
Friday pm 8.7k@5:17 - easy group run at camp on gravel road, rolling hills.
Sat am Mona fartlek with Mona - how cool is that! Partly on gravel and partly on grass - did 5.35k in the 20min all up - worked pretty hard. 4k w/up, 3.7k c/down
Sat pm 10.58k@4:53 - Rob and took a wrong turn on this recovery run after we split from the group, but it was a lovely evening to run and we got to use the breadcrumb function on our garmins
Sun am 20.6k@450s or so (accidentally stopped my Garmin for a bit) This was hilly and more intense than a usual long run, hence the shortness. My knee struggled on the steep downhills on the trail.
So 101km for the week and 319km for the month so far, with two more weeks of full on training. Mona suggested in the next two weeks I try to fit in an extra long run midweek one week to make up for my lack of distance - my speed seems more than adequate from the HM and the Fartlek session.
From Friday night's recovery run where I ran the first couple of km at the back f the pack, chatting to Mona about my running, the whole weekend continued with running as the focus.
Without going into too much boring detail, lessons/impressions:
MONA
Steve was incredibly accessible, humble and down to earth. He helped me devise a shorter, more severe taper taking into account my short preparation and travel commitments in the last week. One overwhelming message was that running more easy paced total distance will help improvement far more than any session. He ran twice a day, 200k per week, week in week out with 19k/10% each week quality - a Mona fartlek or 400s, and a timetrial on a rolling hilly course of 8k, plus fairly frequent short races mainly cross country.
RAF
Unexpectedly for me, Raf opened up a new insight into running culture for me. His passion for WA running is compelling, especially for the nurturing of potential young elite runners. Certainly my perception of his store and the Frontrunner coaching groups has changed, and a number of us seem to be considering getting involved in some way, so I guess the camp achieved that purpose for him - to make it the centre of distance running excellence in the state. (Much was spoken about the deficiencies of the WAMC in catering to certain runners which was also very interesting). Mona mentined that in some ways it's sad we have one big running club rather than several small ones who could compete in various events more often, as is done in the Eastern States.
Physio/Dietician Sessions
I dont think a description by me would do justice to the nutrition talk - but it certainly had us all talking about it for the entire weekend - which must be good! I now know that Mexican food is ridiculous and Thai food is a joke!
The physio session was refreshing in that the focus was on running as the best thing to do to help strengthen running muscles, and that a small number of strenghtening exercises, taking a small amount of time, is all you need to do if not currently injured.
Participants
Great group of people all talking about the same stuff, nearly all 'mid-pack' runners, of varying ability
On to the running -
Monday 6.1k@4:58 - pretty stiff and sore post HM
Tuesday 20.1k@4:36. Still felt stiff and sore but it was such a glorious night I kept on plodding
Wed 12k@4:21 with 3k at 4:00 and later 1.5k@4:00 - knee felt pretty sore after this, so I took Thursday off
Friday am 10.25k@4:37 - easy
Friday pm 8.7k@5:17 - easy group run at camp on gravel road, rolling hills.
Sat am Mona fartlek with Mona - how cool is that! Partly on gravel and partly on grass - did 5.35k in the 20min all up - worked pretty hard. 4k w/up, 3.7k c/down
Sat pm 10.58k@4:53 - Rob and took a wrong turn on this recovery run after we split from the group, but it was a lovely evening to run and we got to use the breadcrumb function on our garmins
Sun am 20.6k@450s or so (accidentally stopped my Garmin for a bit) This was hilly and more intense than a usual long run, hence the shortness. My knee struggled on the steep downhills on the trail.
So 101km for the week and 319km for the month so far, with two more weeks of full on training. Mona suggested in the next two weeks I try to fit in an extra long run midweek one week to make up for my lack of distance - my speed seems more than adequate from the HM and the Fartlek session.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
This one's for Memphis and Mav
Darlington HM this week - my only hitout prior to the Marathon, so I felt psychologically it was an important race to do.
Monday and Tuesday am I was pretty stiff and sore - took an antiinflammatory on Tuesday after the am run
Tuesday pm did a treadmill interval effort, a bit like a Yasso. Continuous 5x1k at 3:38 with 500m at 5:15 recoveries at 1% gradient. The 7km session was just over 28 min (although treadmill easier than road)
Wed pm ran too fast in too hot conditions, hit the red zone and felt hot and nauseous all night. Lucky to escape without catching a virus as I usually do after a session like this.
Thurs off to ensure recovery from Wed
Friday am still hot - 29 degree minimum, but hit a really good rhythm thanks to my first rest day in a couple of weeks. Felt smooth for once
Sat am held back nice and easy
Today - first mistake was to have curry the night before a race. Didn't bother me before or during, but had a pretty uncomfortable time for a few hours after the run - spent some quality time with the doulton.
2 k warm up then assembled to start. Wanted an effort based hitout to see where I was. Took off fairly conservatively for me, and hit a comfortable rhythm quickly. Shocked by the route change with a steep down then steep up at 4-5k which stunned the legs a bit, but I soon got into the swing of the slow uphill on which I seem to thrive. I was sitting 50m behind BigKev and his minions for most of the race, picking off a couple of stragglers but not making ground on them.
Hit halfway going at 4:10s or so and was a bit tentative initially going downhill, was rapidly overtaken by a couple of longstriders, despite me doing 3:50s. Colin Francis passed me like I was standing still.
Struggled a bit with the quads and took a 20m walk at the 17k drink station although this only slowed the split to 4:00. Hung tough down the final 3k dirt and managed to pass Peter Sullivan with a couple of hundred metres to go - he said something to me that I wasn't sure if it was encouraging or disparaging about me trying to gain a couple of seconds in the final couple of hundred metres - either way that guy is always intense!
Pretty pleased to scrape in under 1:26 - a fair way behind last years time albeit on a slightly harder course and more difficult conditions
3:55/4:16/4:10/4:08/4:03 20:32 (up 70m)
4:03/4:15/4:13/4:14/4:11 20:56 (up 90m)
4:02/4:03/4:02/4:00/3:51 19:58 (down 17m)
3:53/3:51/4:00/4:01/3:50 19:35 (down 110m)
3:51 (down 30m)
It has been suggested to me that I might be back on the sub3:00 trail for Boston, and to be honest if my prep continues well I'll defintely put myself in the position at 32k to do it if I have the legs, but lets knuckle down to a couple more training weeks first (a bit of Mona magic should help too)
| Mon Mar 8, 2010 | 10.02 | 48:03 | 4:47 | X | ||
| Tue Mar 9, 2010 | 10.00 | 46:11 | 4:37 | X | ||
| Tue Mar 9, 2010 | 11.00 | 48:00 | 4:21 | X | ||
| Wed Mar 10, 2010 | 13.50 | 59:30 | 4:24 | X | ||
| Fri Mar 12, 2010 | 14.04 | 1:02:01 | 4:25 | X | ||
| Sat Mar 13, 2010 | 10.09 | 47:18 | 4:41 | |||
| Sun Mar 14, 2010 | 21.26 | 1:25:56 | 4:02 |
| Total 89.90km | Total 6:36:59 | Avg. 4:24 |
Monday and Tuesday am I was pretty stiff and sore - took an antiinflammatory on Tuesday after the am run
Tuesday pm did a treadmill interval effort, a bit like a Yasso. Continuous 5x1k at 3:38 with 500m at 5:15 recoveries at 1% gradient. The 7km session was just over 28 min (although treadmill easier than road)
Wed pm ran too fast in too hot conditions, hit the red zone and felt hot and nauseous all night. Lucky to escape without catching a virus as I usually do after a session like this.
Thurs off to ensure recovery from Wed
Friday am still hot - 29 degree minimum, but hit a really good rhythm thanks to my first rest day in a couple of weeks. Felt smooth for once
Sat am held back nice and easy
Today - first mistake was to have curry the night before a race. Didn't bother me before or during, but had a pretty uncomfortable time for a few hours after the run - spent some quality time with the doulton.
2 k warm up then assembled to start. Wanted an effort based hitout to see where I was. Took off fairly conservatively for me, and hit a comfortable rhythm quickly. Shocked by the route change with a steep down then steep up at 4-5k which stunned the legs a bit, but I soon got into the swing of the slow uphill on which I seem to thrive. I was sitting 50m behind BigKev and his minions for most of the race, picking off a couple of stragglers but not making ground on them.
Hit halfway going at 4:10s or so and was a bit tentative initially going downhill, was rapidly overtaken by a couple of longstriders, despite me doing 3:50s. Colin Francis passed me like I was standing still.
Struggled a bit with the quads and took a 20m walk at the 17k drink station although this only slowed the split to 4:00. Hung tough down the final 3k dirt and managed to pass Peter Sullivan with a couple of hundred metres to go - he said something to me that I wasn't sure if it was encouraging or disparaging about me trying to gain a couple of seconds in the final couple of hundred metres - either way that guy is always intense!
Pretty pleased to scrape in under 1:26 - a fair way behind last years time albeit on a slightly harder course and more difficult conditions
3:55/4:16/4:10/4:08/4:03 20:32 (up 70m)
4:03/4:15/4:13/4:14/4:11 20:56 (up 90m)
4:02/4:03/4:02/4:00/3:51 19:58 (down 17m)
3:53/3:51/4:00/4:01/3:50 19:35 (down 110m)
3:51 (down 30m)
It has been suggested to me that I might be back on the sub3:00 trail for Boston, and to be honest if my prep continues well I'll defintely put myself in the position at 32k to do it if I have the legs, but lets knuckle down to a couple more training weeks first (a bit of Mona magic should help too)
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Longer, Stronger
True to my word, I focussed on endurance and strength this week
126km @ 4:40
Trialling Cut&Paste from Strands
Monday long run see last weeks post
Tuesday pm medium 16k run along the river. First 10k easy then sped up a little to keep up with someone who passed me, although splits dnt really reflect this
Wed pm medium 14k run. Was an easier effort than Tues but faster
Thurs am First true recovery run for a while - nice in a way to have really aching legs
Friday am. Intended longer tempo. After 3k warmup set out at 4:00s and lasted 1.5k sore shins and knee so I pulled back to a jog. After a few more km I felt good again and did 5k@4:00
Sat am recovery
Sun am. Long run with Clown. Wet back to the old hillier route Kings Park-Bold Park loop - North to Scaborough - back to Hale Rd and up over the tw stage hill then back to Kings Park. We took it fairly steady and did quite well. Even managed 4:10s for the last 1.5km.
The body has coped OK with the mileage. Left (bad) knee sore on downhills only. Right quads quite sore right in the middle just above the kneecap (quads tendon) - a different type of quad pain than I've had before.
My week has probably been influenced by my rereading of Lydiard's book, and I intend to push on wih 100km plus weeks with only one tempo/faster session and no intervals foer the next 3 weeks. I'll not taper for Darlington in mileage but will keep the pace easier this week.
I'm starting to get used to Strands despite it being ridiculously slow and the interface being a bit clunky. Despite this I intend to keep up my weekly post - a nice way to look back at how I was feeling beyond reading the numbers. My only other concern is the rise of miles as the running unit for Clown and Biscuitman, for example Clown ran to finish 20 miles today rather than to finish 32km and did a 5 mile tempo rather than 8k - what country are we living in - pull your head in Clown :)
126km @ 4:40
| Mon Mar 1, 2010 | 28.11 | 2:14:12 | 4:46 | | X | |
| Tue Mar 2, 2010 | 16.08 | 1:13:54 | 4:35 | | X | |
| Wed Mar 3, 2010 | 14.11 | 1:04:02 | 4:32 | | X | |
| Thu Mar 4, 2010 | 10.05 | 49:01 | 4:52 | | X | |
| Fri Mar 5, 2010 | 2.97 | 14:19 | 4:49 | | X | |
| Fri Mar 5, 2010 | 10.00 | 42:05 | 4:12 | | X | |
| Fri Mar 5, 2010 | 1.69 | 07:45 | 4:35 | | X | |
| Sat Mar 6, 2010 | 11.05 | 52:43 | 4:46 | | X | |
| Sun Mar 7, 2010 | 32.01 | 2:30:55 | 4:42 | |
Trialling Cut&Paste from Strands
Monday long run see last weeks post
Tuesday pm medium 16k run along the river. First 10k easy then sped up a little to keep up with someone who passed me, although splits dnt really reflect this
Wed pm medium 14k run. Was an easier effort than Tues but faster
Thurs am First true recovery run for a while - nice in a way to have really aching legs
Friday am. Intended longer tempo. After 3k warmup set out at 4:00s and lasted 1.5k sore shins and knee so I pulled back to a jog. After a few more km I felt good again and did 5k@4:00
Sat am recovery
Sun am. Long run with Clown. Wet back to the old hillier route Kings Park-Bold Park loop - North to Scaborough - back to Hale Rd and up over the tw stage hill then back to Kings Park. We took it fairly steady and did quite well. Even managed 4:10s for the last 1.5km.
The body has coped OK with the mileage. Left (bad) knee sore on downhills only. Right quads quite sore right in the middle just above the kneecap (quads tendon) - a different type of quad pain than I've had before.
My week has probably been influenced by my rereading of Lydiard's book, and I intend to push on wih 100km plus weeks with only one tempo/faster session and no intervals foer the next 3 weeks. I'll not taper for Darlington in mileage but will keep the pace easier this week.
I'm starting to get used to Strands despite it being ridiculously slow and the interface being a bit clunky. Despite this I intend to keep up my weekly post - a nice way to look back at how I was feeling beyond reading the numbers. My only other concern is the rise of miles as the running unit for Clown and Biscuitman, for example Clown ran to finish 20 miles today rather than to finish 32km and did a 5 mile tempo rather than 8k - what country are we living in - pull your head in Clown :)
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