Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
Next training/racing phase commences
After three pretty easy weeks with no really hard running or speedwork, this week is the first week of a 5 week program aimed at getting me to the City to Surf with a chance of running a PB (45.26 last year but I'm sure it was long ...)
Last three weeks have been:
16.9km (week after GC Marathon)
61.3km (week we got back from Queensland)
76.2km (first week back at work)
I have done a couple of 16km runs and Saturday's run was 20km with Clown around the hills and streets of Inglewood and Yokine which was a nice change and good to start getting some hills in. I have done no intervals or speedwork for quite a while and will be jumping back into it with some 1 min hill repeats tomorrow morning. Hoping to crank out 8 this week with a jog back down after a 5km warm up.
This morning I did a 12.8km Bridges loop in 54.31 (4.15/km pace). Wednesday and Friday will be recovery runs. Thursday is tempo day and Saturday long run day. That will be the basic program for the next four weeks.
This Saturday will only be 18.6km though as I will need to keep it shorter for two reasons. First, I will have been out late Friday night as going to see Kasabian play - first band I have been to see for over a year. I'll be sticking to the light beer but it will still be a struggle to get going in the morning. Also we have Ben's birthday on Saturday morning at Laser Corps (like paintballing but with laser guns) and we are leaving home at 9.15am.
Looking forward to running faster and shorter for the rest of the year and seeing what I can do. You can follow me daily on Strands.com:
Last three weeks have been:
16.9km (week after GC Marathon)
61.3km (week we got back from Queensland)
76.2km (first week back at work)
I have done a couple of 16km runs and Saturday's run was 20km with Clown around the hills and streets of Inglewood and Yokine which was a nice change and good to start getting some hills in. I have done no intervals or speedwork for quite a while and will be jumping back into it with some 1 min hill repeats tomorrow morning. Hoping to crank out 8 this week with a jog back down after a 5km warm up.
This morning I did a 12.8km Bridges loop in 54.31 (4.15/km pace). Wednesday and Friday will be recovery runs. Thursday is tempo day and Saturday long run day. That will be the basic program for the next four weeks.
This Saturday will only be 18.6km though as I will need to keep it shorter for two reasons. First, I will have been out late Friday night as going to see Kasabian play - first band I have been to see for over a year. I'll be sticking to the light beer but it will still be a struggle to get going in the morning. Also we have Ben's birthday on Saturday morning at Laser Corps (like paintballing but with laser guns) and we are leaving home at 9.15am.
Looking forward to running faster and shorter for the rest of the year and seeing what I can do. You can follow me daily on Strands.com:
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Some photos from the State 10km Road Champs (Lake Joondalup)
Rox and I went out to Lake Joondalup this morning to watch the State 10km road championships. Sugar had a great race finishing in the top 15 and running a PB by nearly a minute.
Roberto Busi won the Men's race in 30:54 with Ethan Heywood 2nd and Raf Baugh 3rd.
It was a nice change to be a spectator and to catch up with people.
Here is a link to the gallery and photos of the start and the lead group just before the 5km turnaround.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Biscuitman1871/State10kmRoadChampionshipsLakeJoondalup?feat=directlink
Roberto Busi won the Men's race in 30:54 with Ethan Heywood 2nd and Raf Baugh 3rd.
It was a nice change to be a spectator and to catch up with people.
Here is a link to the gallery and photos of the start and the lead group just before the 5km turnaround.
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Biscuitman1871/State10kmRoadChampionshipsLakeJoondalup?feat=directlink
Friday, July 16, 2010
Photos and videos now available
I have purchased the photos from the Gold Coast Marathon and they are in the slideshow in the sidebar. Here is one of them:
Videos are also available but I didn't buy these. If you follow this link, you can access an electronic results magazine for the the event which also has the videos. You need to put in my bib number M2540.
Pretty hard to find me until the 25km one as I am in the 3 hour pace group. Here is a photo that Rox took just before the 3km mark which shows how big the group was at the start. It still had about 30-40 in it at 22-23km which is where I went ahead of the group. In the photo below, you can just see Steve Moneghetti below the blue ballon on the left of the three.
I have updated the look of this blog too so if you don't like the changes or think that the new layout makes it too hard to read - let me know.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
PB at Gold Coast Marathon 2:55:35
Had a dream run - got into the 3hr pace group and hung in the pack which was going along at around 4.10/km after a slow start. It was a pretty big pack and the course was a bit narrow in places.
Conditions at the start were perfect - about 7C, clear and no wind. A southerly wind did kick up later on and was a headwind for the last 4-5km.
We went through halfway in 1:27:35 and I felt like I was cruising. At around 23 or 24km I missed a drink station (I had taken something at nearly all of them until then) and as result came out the other side in front of the pack. I decided that I would continue on at the same pace and see what happened. I found that I actually sped up slightly and was making my way through the field in front of me.
I was feeling really strong and even ran a couple of kms (29 and 33 from memory at 4.02/km). The trip out to the turnaround at Runaway Bay seemed to take forever and when we did turn we were heading back into a bit of a headwind. The fact that I was still passing other runners and that I knew I was on track for a good time were sufficient motivation to keep me going though. I was only passed by 3 runners (a pack of three at about 34km) after I broke away from the 3 hour pace group.
When I hit 40km in 2:46:30, I knew that sub 3 was well and truly in the bag and that if I could hold it together I would get close to 2:55. Wasn't able to get under 2:55 though despite my best efforts but still absolutely ecstatic with the result.
Conditions were obviously favourable and it is a flat course but things still got tough in a few spots. A couple of days beforehand, Sugar left me a message on Strands saying that when things got tough, just think back to the Choo Choo run and I'll remember that I can get through it. "Choo Choo" became a bit of an internal mantra especially over the last 10km - so thanks Sugar!!
I would definitely recommend the Gold Coast Marathon. It is a very well run event on a great course. I went to the carbo loading lunch on the day before the race where we heard from Mona, Lee Troop, Jackie Gallagher and Rob De Castella - good food and good advice.
Here are my splits:
Five Kilometre Splits
5KM 00:21:14 04:14/km
10KM 00:20:45 00:42:11 04:09/km
15KM 00:20:29 01:02:40 04:05/km
20KM 00:20:34 01:23:15 04:06/km
25KM 00:20:33 01:43:48 04:06/km
30KM 00:20:36 02:04:24 04:07/km
35KM 00:20:36 02:25:01 04:07/km
40KM 00:21:28 02:46:30 04:17/km
Finish 00:09:15 02:55:45 04:12/km
Half Way Splits
Half Way 01:27:35 04:09/km
Finish 01:27:59 04:10/km
Had an ice bath (after a quick shower) when we got back to the apartment and then a bit of a snooze. Also had a spa as my legs were feeling pretty trashed. Feeling a bit better now after a couple of Nurofen and a big meal and my first 2 beers in a while.
Not sure when my next run will be - might go out with Rox tomorrow as a bit of a body check or might wait a few days as I have in the past.
Conditions at the start were perfect - about 7C, clear and no wind. A southerly wind did kick up later on and was a headwind for the last 4-5km.
We went through halfway in 1:27:35 and I felt like I was cruising. At around 23 or 24km I missed a drink station (I had taken something at nearly all of them until then) and as result came out the other side in front of the pack. I decided that I would continue on at the same pace and see what happened. I found that I actually sped up slightly and was making my way through the field in front of me.
I was feeling really strong and even ran a couple of kms (29 and 33 from memory at 4.02/km). The trip out to the turnaround at Runaway Bay seemed to take forever and when we did turn we were heading back into a bit of a headwind. The fact that I was still passing other runners and that I knew I was on track for a good time were sufficient motivation to keep me going though. I was only passed by 3 runners (a pack of three at about 34km) after I broke away from the 3 hour pace group.
When I hit 40km in 2:46:30, I knew that sub 3 was well and truly in the bag and that if I could hold it together I would get close to 2:55. Wasn't able to get under 2:55 though despite my best efforts but still absolutely ecstatic with the result.
Conditions were obviously favourable and it is a flat course but things still got tough in a few spots. A couple of days beforehand, Sugar left me a message on Strands saying that when things got tough, just think back to the Choo Choo run and I'll remember that I can get through it. "Choo Choo" became a bit of an internal mantra especially over the last 10km - so thanks Sugar!!
I would definitely recommend the Gold Coast Marathon. It is a very well run event on a great course. I went to the carbo loading lunch on the day before the race where we heard from Mona, Lee Troop, Jackie Gallagher and Rob De Castella - good food and good advice.
Here are my splits:
Five Kilometre Splits
5KM 00:21:14 04:14/km
10KM 00:20:45 00:42:11 04:09/km
15KM 00:20:29 01:02:40 04:05/km
20KM 00:20:34 01:23:15 04:06/km
25KM 00:20:33 01:43:48 04:06/km
30KM 00:20:36 02:04:24 04:07/km
35KM 00:20:36 02:25:01 04:07/km
40KM 00:21:28 02:46:30 04:17/km
Finish 00:09:15 02:55:45 04:12/km
Half Way Splits
Half Way 01:27:35 04:09/km
Finish 01:27:59 04:10/km
Had an ice bath (after a quick shower) when we got back to the apartment and then a bit of a snooze. Also had a spa as my legs were feeling pretty trashed. Feeling a bit better now after a couple of Nurofen and a big meal and my first 2 beers in a while.
Not sure when my next run will be - might go out with Rox tomorrow as a bit of a body check or might wait a few days as I have in the past.
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