Gallipoli Run - a good hard effort.

Did the 8k Synergy Gallipoli Run at Kings Park this morning. Hard course with the first and fifth km uphill for the whole km and also into a headwind. Had a bit of a tailwind on the downhill but because you were already going downhill, the tailwind was negligible effect.

No km markers but I wasn't really running for a time more for a place as I was running as part of the Legacy "team". Even forgot to take a halfway split but think it 14.50 something. Stopped my watch well after the finish at 30.21 so will wait for the official results and think I will be around 30.10.

I am very happy with this run and think it is probably the best race I have had this year. I went out much more conservatively than I did at the Bridges and this probably contributed to me running a much more even race and a stronger second half.

I went past the halfway point with Tina Major, who was the first female to finish. She ran hard up the hill and opened a big gap and probably beat me by around a minute. I was passed by one other runner in the second 4km so very different from Bridges where I was passed by a lot of people from 3-8km.

The Legacy runners did did very well, placing 2nd in the 4km and 2nd and 3rd in the 8km. Sugar finished 7th or 8th and we had numerous other runners in the top 10. I think I finished around 15th which was pretty good as it was a good field. I mananged to finish in front of a number of very good runners so I'm not too concerned about just missing my goal of running under 30mins.

Last week's training recap:

Wednesday - Recovery run – they have closed the dual use path that runs through Sir James Mitchell Park so I had to take a detour up to Mill Point Road. According to Map My Run running on the path there adds an extra 600m (300m each way) to the run to the Narrows and back (although it doesn’t seem that much so I think I will re-measure). 9.2km in 43min (4.40/km pace).

Thursday - Ran down to Burswood then out to Maylands on the regular Thursday morning loop. Again part of the dual use path was closed and they have constructed a new path between Hurlingham Street and the Waters and Rivers Commission building. Don’t think this adds much length but I did have to detour off for a pit stop a little later which would have added about 150m.

Met Rob at Burswood. He was running the same route but was doing mile repeats with 400m recovery. We met up again at Burswood and ran back to South Perth. We went a bit beyond my turnoff and then doubled back. I’ve called that 450m.

Felt a little bit flat today as have had two late nights in a row. The kids have been down at Rox’s parents in Mandurah so we have taken the opportunity to catch up on a couple of movies. Last night though we didn’t get home until around midnight and then I was up at 5.45am for this run. Also feel like I have the start of a cold coming on – niggling scratchy throat and a bit of sneezing so far.

Plenty of Vitamin C will hopefully fight it off and a good night’s sleep tonight. 16.8km in 1 hour 18mins (4.38/km pace).

Friday - Easy run out past Burswood to 1km mark of marathon course and back. Would have done a Bridges loop but for all the diversions and still feeeling a little flat with this minor head cold.

Came back a bit quicker than I went out without conciously doing so which was nice.  10km in 44.30 (4.27/km pace).  Been taking a few of the kids chewable Vitamin C tablets in an effort to get on top of this headcold.  It hasn't made its way onto my chest thankfully.

Saturday - Didn't run today.  Decided to try something different and have a rest day before racing. Have felt like I have been playing catch up all week since my bike ride last Sunday so the rest was much appreciated.

Sunday - Since this morning's run, I have spent the afternoon watching the Dogs have a great win over Hawthorn, cleaned the gutters out ahead of the forecast rain this week nad am now watching the Dockers (under sufferance - I'm waiting for the kids to get off the good tv so that I can watch the World XC Championships that I recorded.

The Rotterdam Marathon is on Universal Sports tonight.  Don't think I will be staying up to watch it though as I will going for an 18.5km run with Sandgroper tomorrow morning at 6am.  Tomorrow is the first official day of my marathon training program.  I was down to do 12.8k tomorrow and 19km on Tuesday but this is a chance to squeeze in one more run with SG before he heads off to Ghana.

I am all set up for the Boston Marathon next Monday.  Athlete alerts set up for everyone I want to follow especially Clown, Simon Elliott and Epi and live telecast on ESPN from 9.30pm (no having to rely on streaming video over the internet).  Can't wait.

On that note here is a great Ryan Hall video. Best bit is @ 2.00 - 2.17. Check the stride length/hip extension and I am sure he is using his arms more than I seen previously.


Ryan Hall's Boston Training Tips from Run Talk Radio on Vimeo.