"It's a treat being a runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to make you bad-tempered or tell you what to do." - Allan Sillitoe


Sunday, April 17, 2011

Marathon training - week 9 also very nice new shoes!

Just over 120km this week. 2 medium long runs and then a decent marathon pace workout as part of a 30.5km long run were the main efforts.

I was able to push my long run back to Sunday this week as Ben had a late kick off and I was feeling a bit flat after Thursday's 21km run.

Simon Elliott and I made an early start on Sunday. We ran to the back of Ascot Park which is about 12.5km in 52:30 which is 4:17/km pace so a bit quicker than we intended to go. We tried slowing down a couple of times but it was just coming so easy we went with it.

We stopped for a drink and a gel at the small park by the river and then set off for our marathon pace segment. I had measured from here to the gazebo where Rob, Craig and I did the fast finish long run a few weeks back – 4.25km so 16.25km all up to the big flag pole in South Perth.


Made it to the gazebo in 16:31 (3:53/km) about 30secs ahead of goal 4min pace and carried on at a pretty steady pace. Simon pulled us along at a reasonable clip although I did open up a bit of a gap after we got to the Causeway. Made it to the flagpole in 1:03:49 which is an overall pace of 3:55/km with the last 12km taking 47:18 (3:56/km) which is about 20secs quicker than I ran it with Rob when we just did the 12km fast finish.


A very slow jog home with a couple of drink stops and I was pretty pleased to get some Endura in when I got home.


I’m really pleased with this run especially as we didn’t exactly dawdle on the way out. While it took a decent effort to maintain the pace over the last 5 or so kms, for the most part, I felt like I was cruising at that pace. Goal MP pace is still a bit slower than that and I do have to stick another 26km at that pace on but I think this morning’s run was a very good workout for utilising the right systems etc for the marathon.


Probably would have run a little slower without Simon to work off of so it was good having him there so we could suffer together …

On Friday I ran in my new Saucony Mirage shoes. These are lighter than Asics GS Trainers but with similar support. Only 4mm heel rise same as Saucony Kinvaras. These felt fantastic straight out of the box and will be regularly rotated with the Kinvaras. They are built on a similar sole to the Kinvara but with a little bit of extra support in the arch. The upper is more like a traditional running shoe with a bit more structure than the Kinvara. Good room in the toebox. I have taken an instant like to these. Here is a video review from US Runners World



Just settling down now to watch the London Marathon live and have received text messages with halfway splits for Dave (1:26) and JK (1:20) in the Zurich Marathon.  Update - JK 2:49, Dave 2:57

A late night ahead on Monday night with the Boston Marathon from 9.30pm. Mass and elite race starts at 10pm. I'll be tracking Clown and Epi so I hope they run around 2:50 so I can get to bed before 1am!!

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