Diappointing times

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ approx 4:45's
Fri - 4k tempo, 3k WU, WD
Sat - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:52 mins/km
Sun - 50 mins, 10k's $ 4:55 mins/km

For the first time in a while, the demands of work and life have negatively impacted upon my running. Whilst I have not missed a run itself, I have not done any core strength for two weeks and have done few glute firing ex's or foot strengthening ex's. And I'm FILTHY with myself. Will try and get back on top of things this week.

Wednesday saw me do a midweek long run with Slash around the River which went well, but was then followed by 13 hours in the office - was exhausted after that day.

Delayed my Thurday tempo run till Friday which I did in warm conditions at 10am at Golden Beach near Caloundra whilst MJ visited a physio. We then had a nice lunch at Alfie's on the Beach to make a nice day of it.

Sat was an easy late arvo run, delayed to allow recovery time from some shin discomfort.

I was planning to do a 2hr long run on Sunday but my shins continued to give me some minor grief. I probably have a mild virus that is making me feel like this although the rest of my body feels fine. I decided to reduce my run to 70 minutes (a good taper for Kurrawa) which went ok and without discomfort for 50 minutes until an electrical storm hit. I love running through heavy rain but electrical storms are another matter and after 30 minutes of waiting for it to pass, I decided to call it quits. Hopefully my body will thank me for it at Kurrawa.

8 x 500's

8 x 500's - 100 secs,43 SR,100,32,101,40,98,37,101,41,99,40,102,24,102
Avg Rep 100.3 (1:40mins) Avg SR 36 secs. 3k WU, 3k WDA nice controlled session for me today albeit a little frustrating having
to hold back to ensure that I didn't go too much faster than sub 3:25 pace.
Like it or not, I will rarely exceed sub 3:25 for the next three months.
Lets see if my body can handle three to four months of 72-73 k's a week
before I get get stuck into the quicker stuff. Anyway, I averaged 1:40:3
for today's reps with a range between 98 and 102 seconds. Very short
recoveries averaging 36 seconds and a fair bit of cheerleading out there
ensured that I had my hands on my knees after some of the later reps. I
can't wait till I floor it at this session again - my PB average of 94:75
is sure to come in for a mauling!!

I was pleased to be the first one to recover and lead the way to and then
up Gold Coast Hill where I really put in on each of my two journies to the
top.

Langy, Glenda and Jonesy were all gutted after flogging themseleves a lot harder than I did on the 500's and turned down my invitation to do a Marathon pace warm down back to the Ship Inn. Fortunately, I ran into Brisbane Marathon winner, Siri Terjesen on her bike in the Gardens and we had a nice chat for the remainder of my warm down.

The Wild Colonial Boy

Thurs - 4k tempo in 16:30, 3k WU, 3k ED
Sat - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Sun - 120 mins, 25k's @ 4:45 mins/km

Got up at 4:30 am on Thursday and was out the door at 5am for my earliest start to a run since I made my comeback. It was a good tempo session and then I was ready for the much anticipated first day of the 1st Ashes test!

I had an interesting day at the Gabba to say the least. I had secured 8 tickets and invited 7 mates along and we had a great day starting with a breakfast bbq and a few beers. We got there early enough to avoid the queues and we're having a great time watching the Aussies get on top. Plenty of good natured sledging and bantering going on. With an hour to go, a Pom in a red shirt was standing in front of me slowly going through his wallet and obscuring my view. I politely asked him to sit down and he clearly decided to antagonise me by pretending to fumble his way through his wallet and continue to obscure my view. I had a skinful in me by this stage and as such, was a little short on patience and again asked him to sit down - this time in a much harsher tone of voice. The Pom's mate got scared and ran for the usher who came over and managed to get the Pom to sit down and all was ok. In hindsight, security at that point pegged me as a 'volatile character'. Half an hour later with just five overs to go I gave some departing Poms a boisterous and sendoff , chortling "Don't forget to close the door on your way out, you Pommie losers!". That was it - two cops came up to me and said 'we're going to have to remove you from the premises!' I went quietely and was handed a 'move on' notice becoming one of 43 people ejected from the Gabba that day. It was definite overkill on the part of security to evict me as we've all seen far worse 'offences' at the cricket go unpunished. Of course, that's only one side to the story - no doubt the Poms saw it differently.
Ironically, things turned nasty after I was evicted. In the biased eyes of the large mob of Aussies sitting behind me, one of their own had been turfed for seemingly nothing and the Pom in the red shirt was still there. As such, the rowdier elements of the mob unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse on the Pom in the red shirt and soaked him with beer on the way out. Probably none of this would have happened if security had more sense. Still i didn't let it put a dampner on a fabulous day.

Although not hungover, I put off my normal Friday recovery run till Saturday because I got called into the office for four hours overtime on my day off so that threw my schedule out. When I finally got around to that recovery run late on Saturday afternoon, it went well.

With only two weeks to Kurrawa, I was conscious of putting in an honest effort for my Sunday long run along the Kedron Brook. My preparation was less than ideal as I was again stuck in the office catching up on work on Sunday arvo when I should have been eating a good lunch. Starting after 5pm and fuelled with a GU, I opened proceedings with a 4:39 first k and then settled down comfortably churning out 4:45 k's. I topped up with a GU half way through the run and continued to run strongly as darkness enveloped me. It was quite pleasant running out there in the dark far away from the distant lights of suburbia until I bonked with eight mins to go. I managed to survive the lack of energy and the shakes, enduring the last eight minutes telling myself to imagine it was the closing stages of a Marathon and I needed to close out the race.

Gees, it was good to get stuck into some tucker when I got home!!!

Midweek long run....on the bitumen

90mins, 18k's @ 4:53 mins/km

Gees, it was nice to cruise along the Kedron Brook track this morning instead of on the tready now that my Fitness First membership has expired. I felt comfortable throughout and the 90 minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Ran past Andy P out for a ride on his bike and exchanged high fives as we went past. It was a rare encounter as I don't run into many fellow PCRG's out there.

BIG DAY tomorrow!!!!! I'll be off to the Gabba for the first day of the first test, so will have to be up early tomorrow morning to complete a 50 minute session with a tempo effort thrown in before I got to a Breakfast BBQ at 7am. Can't wait to get stuck into the Poms - those Poms on and off the field!! C'mon Aussie!!!

Fresh and fast!!

5 x 1min, 30JR outbound, 30SR then 30 sec efforts with 30JR inbound

I think coming into a speedwork session fresh from a recovery week agrees with me - I certainly ran like a fresh staying thorougbred first up over 1400m this morning. I had run well at this session when I last did it as the jogging recoveries are tailor made for my high aerobic fitness base at the moment and I always manage to recover with a brisker jog than most.

Runing at West End this morning, I lined up right at the front as I always do for speedwork and was on the pace in the usual mad dash at the start. Then Andy moved into the lead trailed by Gary and myself. Gary dropped me on the 3rd one minute effort and set off after Andy whilst I motored along in third trailed by a pack including Slash, Glenda, Jonesy and Azza. I was feeling strong, concentrating on running a little faster than sub 3:30 min pace and I must have been doing no slower than 4:20's-4:30's for my recovery jogs - they felt easy and comfortable.

After five reps, we paused for a break with Gary finishing 20 metres in front of me and Andy about 30 metres in front of me. I was surprised to turn around and notice the chase pack almost 20 metres behind me. It didn't feel like I had gone fast enough to gap them by that much. But I knew that I would have to put in a hard effort on the return leg to catch up to the pack and try and finish at the same time as them otherwise they would know that I had spent myself in the outbound leg!!

Gary was running well this morning and caught up to me pretty quickly, but I managed to slowly gain on the pack in front of me. About 500m from home, I was determined not to let Andy catch me and with a strong but controlled finish, I managed to pass Azza, hold Andy at bay and hit the line right on the heels of my just agreed Kurrawa to Point Danger relay race partner, Slash. Jonesy and Glenda finished very strongly and I couldn't make any ground on them on the return leg. All in all, a very pleasing session.

Not long afterward, I was at the QSMC at the Gabba for preventative physio from Shane Lemcke and he gave my body the thumbs up. As usual, there were a few niggles that I need to keep an eye on but otherwise all is goinig well

Recvoery week ends

Sat - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Sun - 90 mins, 18k's @ 4:55 mins/km

My well timed recovery week ended with two easy runs. I still have some minor shin soreness brought about by my cold and was grateful for the chance to do some easy runs.

Am looking forward to three consecutive weeks of 72k's or more leading up to Kurrawa to Duranbah 2 x 25k relay.

Initiating a rookie!

2 x 5min Surges, hill repeats

I attended my first ever PCRG Friday speedwork session this morning to make up for missing out on Tuesday. There were only 13-14 in attendance and I was pleased to see that Azza was there as he is at my level at the moment and would be sure to keep me honest.

A rookie, 'Steve' was also there - having his first session with the PCRG. He had a bit of upper body bulk however and I didn't pay him much notice, figuring he wouldn't be duking it out with Azza and I. So, as Azza and I lead the way into the Gardens for the first surge, it was a surprise to see the rookie overtake us and quickly put 5 metres on us. 'No worries' I thought - 'he'll blow up shortly'. But the rookie impressed by leading the first surge throughout and again taking the lead on the way out for the second surge.Azza and I were in close attendance running around 3:30 pace and I was feeling sluggish, but pretty good considering the recent cold. I started thinking 'Gees - this could be the first rookie to ever lead a whole session if he keeps it up'. Then I thought 'Glenda and the boys won't be too impressed if they find out a rookie had dictated terms to us - I better do something about this!'

As is turned out, the rookie hit the wall about 2:15 into the second surge slowing down drastically as Azza and I passed him just before we made our turnarounds. The rookie dug deep to hold on to Azza and I for a while and I offered him some encouragement 'Think of your goals! You can do it! C'mon!' and then I immediately increased the tempo and dropped him! I ran a ten second negative split back to the Goodwill Bridge and a distressed rookie trailed me home by some distance. Wanting to tighten the screws, I urged Pat to start the hill reps NOW! Pat handed me the markers and I quickly made my way around to the QUT grass hill and powered up, dropping the markers along the way. I was feeling strong now and my aerobic fitness was coming into play as I ran the hills strongly and recovered at a brisk pace downhill. Azza was hot on my heels throughout and the rookie was doing the survival shuffle in the middle of the pack!! I finished of the session feeling great although my recovery time was a little longer than usual - no doubt due to the recent cold.

I complimented 'Steve' afterwards saying that he had put in one of the best PCRG rookie efforts ever and urged him to come along on Tuesday and see how he could back it up.

Now, I should add that I'm not a masochist, but gees, I love ensuring that rookies have a painful initiation to the PCRG!!

Back in business with two easy tens

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km

After what turned out to be a mild cold characterised by extreme lethargy and an achey sensation in my back and legs I was back in business yesterday. I left it till 6pm before commencing an easy run at dusk along the Kedron Brook. The run turned out to be easier than expected which was pleasing. I finished at 7pm and with 35 hours between then and speedwork on Friday, I decided to do today's run at midday allowing me 17 hours recovery time before that run and another 17 hours recovery time before speedwork on Friday.

At midday - it was off to Fitness First for my last run on the treadmill before my 12 month contract expires tomorrow!! There were no feelings of nostalgia as I cruised through another easy 10k's and am feeling about 95% at this stage and will hopefully be 100% tomorrow morning.

A minor cold

I did not attend speedwork or go to work yesterday after waking up with a minor cold.

I'm feeling much better now but am still a little weak and instead of training this morning, I went to work at 6:30am. The plan is to regain strength as the day goes along and do a run after work at around 3pm. I'll do speedwork on Friday this week and all going well I should still be able to do five days of training as per usual. Fortunately, this week is a recovery week so I'll only need to do about 60k's instead of 72.

Sunday - Heat training

Fri - 50mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Sun 120mins, 24k's @ 4:55 mins/km

Some disorganisation and procrasitination saw me start Sunday's run at 7:45am and finish just before 10am in temperatures in excess of 30 degrees. The heat ensured that the pace was a little slower than my normal pace in the high 4:40's but otherwise it was a solid effort. Good heat training for the Kurrawa to Duranbah 25k relay leg if I do it! As of yet, I don't have a partner and will only flog myself in the race if my partner and I are a chance of winning or placing.

Things are humming along nicely at the moment. Bruno mentioned on Friday that my calves are in the best shape he's felt them so all's good!

A smelly run

Wed 90 mins, 18k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Thurs 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:57 mins/km

After catching up on some sleep, yesterday's midweek run on the tready went smoothly enough - 18k's in the bank.

Got home late from work last night and forgot to remove wet running shorts from the line after the storm and put them out to dry. So I had to throw a pair of sweaty, slightly wet and smelly running shorts into the dryer this morning before heading out for my run this morning. It was probably a good thing I didn't bring my pungent aroma to Pat's No Watch 1k and Pancake breakfast this morning.

From now on, I've decided that time trial weeks will see me do a 50 min recovery run on Thursday instead of the tempo run I've been doing. It was just as well as I only plodded for the first five k's today before coming good and running home comfortably.

Body is feeling good. Life as a runner is good. Its all good!

A rollercoaster life....

Sat- 120 mins - 22k's
Sun - 25 mins, 5 k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Tues - 3KTT - 10:20 - 3:26, 3:30, 3:24


Wow - what a coupla days it has been!

Friday, I still felt like I was coming down with a cold so decided to delay my recovery run till Sunday arvo, especially with a Mt Cootha run coming up on Saturday morning.

Saturday morning dawned with a beautifully drizzy day and a fog hanging over Mt Cootha. I still didn't feel 100% and struggled to maintain 5:00 pace for the first 30 minutes. Thankfully, Langy was patient and understanding. I kept in touch with Langy going up the mountain and felt much better after we stopped for a break up the top. Had to be careful of the quads going down the mountain on the slippery road and I speculated to Langy that Brisbane could do with a cable car running from the Regatta to the top of Mt Cootha - what a great tourist attraction!! And runners would be entitled to free trips down the cable car. That would enable us to run up the mountain three times on a Sunday long run but not have to worry about running down it!! Don't you think its a great idea? Anyway, I really started to feel much better once we got back to Coro Drive and Langy and I really lifted the temp for the last 35 minutes finishing off the two hours at around 4:20 pace. I then did half a shift at work and attended a wedding for a good mate that night and managed to restrict the damage to about 15 beers.

Sunday saw me doing another half shift in the office before getting my place ready for a BBQ that I was hosting on behalf of my good mate Lacho who was in town for a week's holiday before returning to the UK. Still, I managed to slip out for a 25 minute recovery run as the guests started to arrive. Ducked into Langy's backyard for a quick drink of water from the tap and was disgusted to see brown water running out. The maintenance needs a bit of work at your place, Langy!! A great afternoon and evening with good non-running friends followed and this time the damage was about 10 drinks. MJ was late to joining in the festivites thanks to Chelle who plied her with tequila at Chelle's Mexican themed birthday party the previous night.

Monday saw my long awaited appointment with allegist-immunologist Dr David Hayworth-Smith at Greenslopes Private Hospital. He suspects that I had a bad and unlucky six month run with my health and was pleased with the changes that I have made to my life to reduce the chances of contracting colds. He's pretty confident that I don't have a lactose intolerance and I had a blood test taken to test for allergies to wheat, house dust and many more. Took the day off work and went up to Kings's Beach for a swim with Lacho and RooBoy. Gees, I am a fish out of water and spent most of the hour in the surf snorting and wheezing.

I was a little tired arriving at the time trial this morning after four consecutive nights with less than eight hours sleep due to all the extra curricular activities but was confident that I could make my third consecutive imrovement in time as the legs had pulled up well from Saturday - the extra days break helped. Jonesy asked what I wanted to do and I responded 10:25 and he said 10:20 so I said I'd go with him and we would do 3:25, 3:30, 3:25. Jonesy and I worked together to 1k in 3:26. Jonesy then ensured that the pace did not slacken in the second k by giving me a push in the back because he couldn't pass me on the narrow path!! A 3:30 second k was the result. It was great to see Jonesy kick away down the hill next to the boatshed and charge home in 3:18 for a well deserved 10:15 PB. I concentrated on maintaining my stride and cadence and worked home in 3:24 for a 10:20. That was a nice honest hitout and I worked hard without shattering myself.

I put about $70 of bets on the Melbourne Cup working around my top five selections 1. Tawqeet 2. Pop Rock 3. Maybe Better 4. Geordieland and 5. Delta Blues. It was a real rush when the two Japanese horses kicked to the line together with Maybe Better hanging on for third!! Despite being a keen punter for well over a decade now, I'm primarily a win bet only punter and today I had managed to win my first trifecta and do it in the Cup! I had boxed the above 5 horses for 50 cents at a cost of $30 and I was optimistic that I had half of a probable trifecta dividend of about $3k to $4k given that the winner was 18-1! However, I was deflated big time when a dividend of $1227 was declared - the weight of professional money must have crunched the odds of that particular trifecta combination. Still, its hard to whinge about a $613 collect and $543 profit for the day.

The rollercoaster had its final dip shortly after the cup when I rushed out of the office early to assist MJ who's back had gone again. Hopefully she'll have a speedy recovery.

Coming up for air!!!

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ 5:00mins km
Thurs - 75 mins, 15k's @ about 5:00 mins km

Have been very time challenged(I'm trying to erase the word 'busy' from my vocabulary as it sounds too much like an excuse)this week and have just spent the last two days on a WH&S Officer course when I normally have my two days off work!

Wednesday saw me on the tready for my longest mid week run in two years - you beauty! Thursday saw me postpone my run till the afternoon as I wasn't willing to sacrifice sleep in order to train and make the start of the course at 8am. I was also feeling a tad achey in the joints and in case I was coming down with something, I did a very easy 15k instead of 10k's with a hard 4k tempo. Ran around the river, whilst the Cool Night Classic was being run and stopped for several breaks.

Feeling fine today. Have a 5k recovery run this arvo. Because of my crowded social calender this weekend, will take the rare step of doing a Sat long run - 2hrs around Mt Cootha with Langy.

A Barry Crocker

2min/1min/2min with 30JR then 30SR x 2, 4mins. 3K WU, 3K WD

Didn't come up this morning with Sunday's run perhaps taking more out of me than I thought it would. I was also exhausted on Monday night and could have done with 9hrs+ sleep instead of the 7.5 I got. Waking up hungry didn't help.

Nevertheless, I plugged away running some distance behind Jonesy at the back of the A-Team. It wasn't until the warm down run that I started to feel ok and then I rolled along nicely.

The body feels ok so I'm not too worried. Its been quite a while since I had a disappointing session and I was probably due for one.

Sudnay - Great weekend at Noosa!

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00mins/km
Sun - Noosa Tri 10k run leg 40:06, 3k WU, 5k WD

MJ and I had a fabulous weekend at Noosa!! Ran around like a headless chook on Friday morning getting the pool man to install a new filter (@ $725 - ouch!!), doing my Friday recovery run around the back streets of Wavell Heights and getting swooped by a magpie and getting a rub from Bruno. So it was a relief to jump in the car and head up the coast at 1pm, only just beating all the traffic heading up the Coast. \
We arrived at Noosaville's Islander Resort in good time and spent the arvo relaxing before getting a gourmet pizza for dinner washed down with a bottle of red. Saturday morning saw us enjoying a gourmet breakfast at Berardo's on the beach with my Northies team mate RooBoy and his girlfriend Tanya. Then it was off to the Expo to get registered and it was there that I bumped into Lee Troop registering for the Bolt and I had a chat with him for about five minutes about his thoughts on the race - a nice bloke. After an afternoon of chilling out, MJ and I headed back to Noosa Parade for the Bolt. But firstly, there was the small matter of watching the Cox Plate and the Noosa Heads SLSC and I had former Carlton great, Stephen Kernahan watching the race next to me. I managed to refrain from mentioning the 1986 Grand Final (I was a Hawthorn fan at the time) Just like last year it was great fun to get out on the road with all the Bolt runners and have a quick chat with them pre-race and fire them up. It was a pretty inspiring race with Marty Dent and Eloise Wellings getting the spoils and from a personal perspective, I realized that I've got a lot of work to do before I can run in the Bolt without embarrassing myself! The last place male ran 17:30 and was overtaken by Wellings who gave him a one minute start as the women's race started shortly after the men's. The day wound down with MJ and I enjoying a Thai dinner, two XXXX Golds and a relaxing DVD.

Triathlon day saw me getting numbered at 6:30am with my new team mates. They were actually Chelle's team before she passed the run leg baton to MJ who passed it on to me!! I then headed to Noosa Beach where I found a quite table at the back of the dunes and spend most of the next two hours writing my Intraining Women's Classic Repot, Simon Doyle 1500m Classic report and the start of my Noosa Bolt report. Finally it was time to head to the PCRG tent and drop my gear off before heading out to for a 3k warm up prior to entering transition just before our cyclist to arrive after 60-65mins on the bike. Note to all triathlon team runners - NEVER trust a cyclists time prediction as they are more often than not grossly optimistic!! After 78 minutes (and 20 minutes of waiting for me!) our cyclist finished his ride and I headed off feeling good and energetic with three GU's fuelling me. I was running very comfortably and a cool breeze meant that the warm weather wasn't an issue for me. Despite a plan to cruise around in 42 minutes, I reached 5k in 20:06 after missing the 3 and 4k markers. Still feeling comfortable I then cruised home steadily with a slight negative split. It was fun to overtake a zillion people including plenty of other team runners and I would have yelled 'Coming through' close to 100 times as I weaved and bumped my way through the traffic. I pulled up nicely and was breathing normally barely thirty seconds later.

A great weekend ended when we headed straight back home and I faced the sobering reality of having to type up 2 R4YL reports and then do a shift at work ending at 11pm.

Matty reporting from Noosa!!!

Thurs - 3kWU, 4k tempo 16:06, 3k WD
Fri - 50 mins - 10k's

MJ and I arrived at Noosa at 3pm this arvo and checked into the Islander Resort opposite from the Noosa River. The accomodation is nice and comes courtesy of the good people at USM Events who have shouted me the trip so I can come up and cover the Noosa Bolt for R4YL.

Its been a very frantic yet fulfilling time for me over the last 48 hours and I'm looking forward to chilling out next to the pool and reading a good book(you know the one I'm talking about, Lacho!!) I will be replacing MJ in a team for the Noosa Tri and will just do a solid tempo run - maybe around 41-42 mins for the 10k run leg. Coming so soon after a hard 5k last Sunday and a fast speedwork session, I'm not going to flog myself considering I may have pushed it a little bit too hard at speedwork on Tuesday. I didn't think much about it at the time, but late on Tuesday or Wednesday(I can't remember when!) I had a funny feeling in my left calf muscle - it felt like someone had pumped it full of air. The feeling went away after a few hours and I had no probs with my next run. I then forgot about it until I mentioned the incident in passing to Bruno whilst getting a rub this morning. Bruno then felt around and found a tight nerve behind my left knee and at the top of the calf muscle. Gees, it was possibly the most painful minute I've spent with Bruno and believe me there's been some. Bruno is pretty certain the tight nerve was caused by the back to back hard runs on Sunday and Tuesday and that my body, whilst in good shape overall, is not quite ready for hard speedwork twice a week. As such, I will be discussing with Pat about incorporating a tempo run of maybe 8-10k's into my program on Thursday's over the summer and hopefully my body will be right for twice a week speedwork by the time Pat kicks off our 'Countdown to Gold Coast'.

That's it for now - looking forward to the weekend!!!

16k's of midweek boredom

80 mins - 16k's @ 5:00-5:10 mins/km

Trundled along on the tready for a mindnumbing 80 mins with the assistance of a GU and the Bullets game replay on Fox Sports.

Going hard.....

15 min Fartlek, 3k WU, 3k WD

Felt good and ready for a solid session this morning, helped by taking a GU when I arrived at South Bank. We went to the Edward St corner of the Botanic Gardens and instead of running our usual 'square', Pat marked out a triangular course covering a longer stretch of grass than is normally the case. I've taken it pretty easy on the grass in the last two years due to the shin splints and concerns over the stability of my ankles but I thought today was as good as any other to push it a little harder on the grass and see how we go whilst doing 30sec fast, 30sec jog fartlek

I scooted away to a quick start and opened up a 10m break on a chase pack. It was nice to be feeling strong and leading a session again and I maintained the lead till the six minute mark when James (17:25 5k at BRRC on Sunday) and then Gaz went past me. Later Mark T passed me and Andy, Jonesy and Mike R joined me to form a pack chasing Mark T. As twelve minutes ticked over, Mark began to come back towards the chase pack and this was the moment for me to tap into my reserves, drop the pack and overtake Mark to reclaim third. With Pat yelling for us to sprint the entire last lap, the competitive instincts kicked in and I selected my top gear and rocketed to the line well clear of my challengers. A satisfying session.

Kms this week - 10
Kms this month - 201
Kms this year - 1518
Core Strength this week - 39 min
Core strength since 16/10 - 1hr

Sunday - BRRC 5k Champs

BRRC 5k Champs - 9th in 17:56 - 3:34, 3:34, 3:41, 3:39, 3:28 - 2k WU, 8k WD

I had a shocking prep for this race with MJ and I attending a BBQ on Saturday arvo. I only had three beers but ended up grazing on food throughout the arvo instead of eating a substantial meal. That probably contributed to me waking up at 4:30am absolutely starving. Like an alcoholic signalling for the bartender, I knew I was doing the wrong thing as I wolved down a very large helping of porridge to go with the 600mls of water I had gulped upon awakening. But as I have significantly reduced milk intake until after I get tested by an immunoligist/allergist, there aren't many other cereal options. So it was not surprising that I was feeling nauseous as I eased gingerly through a warm up run. With 15 minutes to the gun, there was no choice but to duck into the bushes for a self assisted hurl - no, I'm not anorexic!!! I took a GU straight after the hurl to top up the energy levels and finished the warm up, snorting stray oats from my nose!!

After stretching and strides, I arrived at the start line with an A goal of a sub 17:45 PB and a B goal of sub 18:00. There was a good sized field at the starting line but I was surprised to settle into the race in the top ten. I ran a controlled first k tracking City to Surf runner up, Clare Geraghty as I knew she was in 17:30 shape and would run close to a 3:30 split to open proceedings. I maintained my momentum with a 3:34 second k, but like many others before me, watched as CG pulled away from me. Rejoining Riverside Drive past the Boatshed, I hit a bad patch and felt like I was only plugging along. Had to stave off negative thoughts at this point with the weak side of my brain arguing 'You had a poor prep and vomited before the race - a low 18 min race is still a fair effort.' Going though 3k in 10:49(only 22 secs of my recent 10:27 3KTT) I made a pact with myself to attack the incline next to the milk factory and proceeded to run strongly up this incline and through to Montague Rd. Ahead of me, Clare G had just overtaken a reasonably quick 10k race runner on his second lap and I set myself the challenge of reeling him also, which I did just before we turned off Montague Rd, having clocked a 3:39 effort to stem some of the bleeding from the 3rd k. I was feeling better at this point and although starting to hurt, I knew that with a downhill stretch to come, sub 18 was mine and so it proved as I kicked home in 3:28, passing an encouraging MJ 200m from the finish to stop the clock in 17:56.

I was sucking in the big ones at this point and deeply regretting that I had agreed over a few drinks at the Bullets last Sunday to go back and run Clairie in. Sure enough, only two minutes later, Clairie came surging towards the finish line. I managed to run with her for maybe 10 metres, but was too stuffed to go any further and had to settle for yelling at her rather loudly :) I picked up a gold medal for winning the 30-34 age group category and it'll be interesting to see how I can go in that category next year, but in the long run, I'm more interested in trying to win BRRC races and the Championship outright. Given the poor prep, the pre race dramas, the fact that I'm holding myself back to 3:30 pace at speedwork and the fact that I'm still a little short of full weekly mileage of 72k's, I'm quite satisfied with my effort.

Tesso announced afterward that her Garmin had recorded the newly measured course at 5.13k's. If correct, the extra 130 metres took me around 24 seconds meaning I would have run a 17:32 PB. It didn't really feel that fast but you just never know sometimes! Put it this way - I wouldn't be disappointed if Tesso was proved corrrect!

The above photos show me in control at the 1.8k mark as go past the start finish area and again at the finish line as I veer left into the finishing chute at top speed. I like the position of my legs well behind my centre of gravity and suggesting that my overstriding problems are well and truly behind me.

The only downside to the day was failing to get some core strength work in leaving me with a miserable 21 minutes for the week and 5hrs and 39 mins to do next week to catch up!

Overcoming difficulties

Wed - 14k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 2 x 1k @ 3:37, 3:23 - 4k WU, WD

Its been a difficult couple of days after my dear 91 year old Grandmother had a fall on Tuesday arvo. She was not answering her phone when my Uncle tried to call her so he texted me to go and check on things. After a nervous drive, I arrived at her place to find a message from the Qld Ambulance Service on the front door saying she was fine and had been checked into RBWH. I then went there and checked her out with the doctors advice rining in my ears 'Someone needs to be with her for the next 48 hours'. With Mum on an overseas holiday for a month, both of my brothers on an extended working trip in the UK and all other rellies interstate, yours truly was the man on the spot! Fortunately, Nanna's recovery has been rapid.

I managed to order her to stay in her armchair for two hours yesterday whilst I dashed out to Fitness First for an easy 70 mins on the tready. I followed that up with some solid 1k efforts along the Kedron Brook in very warm conditions at 9am this morning after I had waited for Nanna to get out of bed. It felt good to get the work done given it would have been easy to skip a session or two.

Countdown to Gold Coast Marathon 2007 starts NOW!

15 min fartlek, 2 x Gold Hill, 3k WU, 3k WD

A solid fartlek session this morning and two efforts up Gold Coast Hill to get my day underway. A fair hitout. Moving on to my announcement:

The first Sunday in July might be more than eight months away, but my preparation to crack the three hour barrier starts now! I know plenty of good runners who have just fallen short of that Sub 3 holy grail despite good campaigns and I'm determined not to be one of them. I also know a number of runners who needed at least five marathons under their belt to get from 3:10-3:15 to Sub 3 so the magnitude of my attempt to improve from my 3:12:45 debut Marathon in 2004 to Sub 3 at my second attempt next year can't be underestimated. To be successful, I'm going to have to work bloody hard and leave no stone unturned over the next eight and half months. Probably the key part of my preparation will be to build up my core strength to a level that will withstand the rigours of the Marathon. It hasn't gone unnoticed by me that the likes of Glenda, Peter and Phil K who are in the 2:50-2:59 Marathon range have a stronger core and leaner appearance than most colleagues in the 3:00-3:10 range. So lets see how I'm planning to achieve this goal:

CORE STRENGTH - Starting this week, I will be doing a minimun of three hours of core strength gym work per week. I've been doing an hour to two hours per week for most of my running career, but tend to drop off quickly when I pick up a cold or have a busy week and I don't try to catch up. From now on, if I fall behind one week, I'll catch up the next. I want to stand on the start line at the Coast knowing that I have at least 130 hours of core strength work in me. I will be keeping a log of my core strength hours on my blog and urge my readers to get stuck into me if I drop off the pace - thanks! Most of my core strength work will be done in my home gym aka 'The Steel Factory' with emphasis on the mid section, abs, sides, lats etc. More than likely I will have a monthly session with a PT in the last 4-5 months of my campaign. Pilates will also be included in my core strength work.

MILEAGE - Weekly mileage will be determined by Coach Pat when I get back on a program shortly but I'd imagine I'll average around 70k's a week over the summer before ramping up mileage from around February next year.

SPEEDWORK - At the moment, I'm still holding back and doing 3:30 mins/km pace at speedwork. Will pick up the speed to around 3:25 pace in November and work my way towards 3:20 pace from there. To counter my frequent problems with lack of energy at speedwork, I will start taking GU's beforehand - they work for me. I've been reluctant to utilise this approach previously as it is a 'quick fix' and I've really wanted to get to the bottom of my real problems - but that will have to be solved as I go along.

LONG RUNS - Pending discussions with Coach Pat, I would like to start doing at least one hilly Mt Cootha Sunday long run per month - they definitely toughen you up! Without forcing the issue, I'd like to see my running efficiency, fitness and core strength improve to the point where I roll along at 4:30-4:40 pace for the duration of my Sunday long runs by next May or thereabouts. This would still be at a 'comfortable talking pace' throughout.

RACES - All going well, I'll do the classic Brisbane Half-Doomben 10,000 lead up to the big dance. In the short term, the Kurrawa to Duranbah 25k relay leg is a target and I will try and race about twice a month over 3-5k's this summer.

INJURIES - My body is holding up well as I steadily increase my weekly mileage from 60 to 72k's. The shins only bother me when I contract a cold thus I'll be working hard to avoid contracting colds! My plantar fasciitis problems are almost a distant memory but I still have to vigorously massage them each night and tape them up before a run. The recent VMO niggle in the knee is still a tad sensitive but getting better quickly. Finally I've resigned myself to the fact that my ankles (which are shot from years of basketball) will have to be taped up before each run for the rest of my career. Pretty happy with my condition at the moment - nothing I can't manage.

So there is it - bring on Gold Coast Marathon, 2007!!!

Knee improvement continues

Fri - 50 mins - 10k's @ 5:07 mins/km
Sun - 120 mins - 25k's @ 4:50 mins/km

I knocked off 10k for my Friday morning recovery run with the knee behaving itself for most of the part. I followed that up later in the day with a rub from Bruno with special attention to the VMO muscle.

The real test of my knee's continued improvement, however, was going to be my two hour Sunday long run. I attended a Buck's party on Saturday night, determined to take it easy on the booze. I managed to restrict the damage to about 10 XXXX Golds over a 7 hour period whilst indulging in the usual antics that we blokes get up to on Buck's nights. Not wanting to sacrifice some much needed sleep and not wanting to get sunburnt, I postponed my long run till 3pm on Sunday.

Starting in beautifully warm conditions I hit the Kedron Brook path and the knee felt good from the word go. I ran a 4k out and 4k back route to ensure that I wouldn't be far from my car if the knee played up but I needn't have bothered. I ended up running 25k's for the two hours, rolling along comfortably at 4:50 pace. The knee was sensitive at times, feeling like it was bruised but there were no major dramas as was the case before Bruno went to work on the VMO.

Meet my VMO

Wed - 40 mins, 8k @ 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 4min/30JR/2min/30SR, repeat, 45SR, 4min, 3kWU, 3K WD

Went a coupla hundred metres down the road on Tuesday night to speak with Bruno about my knee. Luckily for Bruno, I'm not a hypochondriac neighbour knocking on his door every week. Bruno suspects that the VMO muscle on my left knee is smaller and weaker than the one on the right and it wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure I was putting on it accessing that big step to my new bedroom. Bruno gave it a massage and the muscle felt 'crunchy'. Bruno also recommended some daily self massage for the affected area as well as exercises to strengthen the area.

Bruno's help didn't pay immediate dividends as the knee was quite sensitive on Wednesday morning and I eased my way to 8k instead of 14k. However, I was back in business this morning with a hard speedwork session at Pat's. I wasn't far behind Glenda and was on par with Aza and Mike. The VMO now feels more like a sore or tight muscle rather than a niggle and knowing what the problem was and that it could be managed gave me the mental latitude to run hard.

I also enjoyed one of my funniest moments ever at training this morning. Towards the end of my warm up, I ducked into the toilets at the top of the QUT Amphitheathre hill. As I walked out, I noticed that Pat was walking in and he hadn't seen me. I was quick to give him a fierce 'BOO!" as he came around the corner. I swear I have never seen a more startled expression than the one on Pat's face as he went into an automatic karate self defence stance - no doubt the legacy of years of karate training before he took a running. A classic moment that left me pissing myself laughing for some time. No doubt Pat will be looking for revenge and I could add to my dubious record of being the only Group member ordered by Pat to do pushups halfway through a session!!

7.5k niggle free....

50mins - 10k's @ 4:52 mins/km

As planned, I skipped speedwork for a run along the Kedron Brook this morning. I got to 7.5k's before the left knee niggle started up again, but it wasn't as bad as Sunday and came and went at various times over the last 2.5k.

Will get it looked at if there is no further improvement overnight.

RICE fuelled recovery

Fri - 5 mins - 1k @ 5:00 mins/km
Sun - 60 mins - 12k's @ 4:58 mins/km

The left knee niggle that surfaced during Thursday's run had worsened by the time I hit the treadmill just before lunch on Friday. I could only manage three minutes before the niggle became quite uncomfortable. As it was too late to see a physio or pod, intensive RICE was the only apparent solution for my recovery. I carried this out by crushing ice in a tea towel and wrapping this around my knee for 20-30 mins two to three times per day. This was followed by at least half an hour of elevating my left leg by resting it on a piece of furniture or such. At all other times, I had the knee firmly compressed with a bandage and I spent as much time resting as possible including some enjoyable sleep ins!

The result was that when I finally began my Sunday long run at 3pm, having delayed it till as late as possible for maximum recovery, I enjoyed a trouble free start to the run. I managed 10k's before the niggle resurfaced 3.5k's away from my car. I gently eased through another two k's with the niggle prominent but not as bad as it was on Friday. After 60 mins, I pulled up and walked the remaining 1500m back to my car. Interestingly, the niggle stopped immediately once I slowed to a walk.

I'm pretty confident that my ability to do 10k's without a niggle on the weekend suggests that I'm well on the road to recovery and further RICE can only be beneficial to my cause. I will skip speedwork at Pat's tomorrow however and go on Thursday instead. I've no idea what caused the problem and there are only two possibilities I've considered:

1 - I've recently switched bedrooms at home from upstairs to a large granny flat style bedroom downstairs known in house as 'the Bunker'. There is a single large step of about 30cm that you need to descend to access the Bunker and MJ suggested that more frequent use of this step could have unsettled my knee.
2 - I got a little bit too analytical looking at the photo that I posted below on Tuesday's 3KTT. If you look carefully, my left foot may be fractionally supinated and perhaps I've subconsciously tried to avoid supinating since.

That's all for now - I have to go crush some more ice in a tea towel. I'lll then roll my trouser legs all the way up and sticky tape the tea towel firmly around the knee. And of course I'll get the usual curious stares from my work colleagues!!!

Km's this week - 45
Km's this month - 69
Km's this year - 1383

Thursday - Left knee niggle

50 mins, 10k's @ 4:59 mins/km

Hit the Kedron Brook path at 5:30pm and felt terrible from the word go. Had some tightness in the chest and was breathing a bit harder than normal so decided just to do an easy 10k's and save the two 1k reps for tomorrow. To make matters worse, I picked up a niggle on the inside of the left knee around the 5k mark that remained with me for the duration of the run. I couldn't work out what it was but nevertheless it was not painful or uncomfortable - just really annoying.


Km's this week - 32
Km's this month - 56
Km's this year - 1370

Wednesday - evening run

60 mins, 12k's @ 5:00mins/km

After hard runs on Sunday and Tuesday followed by a late night at the Bullets on Tuesday night, I was tired on Wednesday morning and decided to get some extra sleep. I also figured my legs could use an additional 10 hours recovery time. It proved to be a pretty good choice as I hit the tready at Fitness First at 7pm after work and churned out a steady 60 mins - my longest Wedneday run in two years.

Km's this week - 22
Km's this month - 46
Km's this year - 1360

Tuesday - PCRG - 3KTT

3k's 10:27(3:26, 3:34, 3:26) 3.5kWU, 2.5k WD

On Monday, my glutes, hammies and quads all paid the price for my groundbreaking run on the Powerful Owl trail as well as for Sunday's touch footy game. I awoke on Tuesday morning and my first thoughts were 'The body's too sore - why not get another two hours sleep and then do a light 50 min recovery run?' Then I thought of all the great runners that I hope to emulate and knew that they would not take that course of action so I hopped out of bed and was on my way.

Instead of joining the Group at the Ship Inn, I went straight out on Riverside Drive hoping that a longer warm up than the usual 2.5k for this session would help get the blood flowing in the legs and to a degree it worked. Standing at the waiting for Pat to send us on our way I locked in my plan - I would run 10:28, one second faster than last month to keep my rate of improvement going and I would run a strong second k to allow me to cruise to the line without busting a gut on the last k. And that's exactly how it panned out!! I refrained from bolting early and settled into a nice rhythm trailing Aza. I ensured that the second k was a strong one by passing Aza shortly after the 1500m turnaround and maintained a smooth run all the way to the line. The legs didn't feel so bad after all once I got going and my breathing was excellent. If I had fresh legs, I could have gone Sub 10 had I flogged myself, but I'm not ready to do that until at least December.

It was good to see my fellow Powerful Owl trail runners Pete and Slash both go sub 10!! I think there's a message in there - go run the trail!!!

Its all good!!!

Sunday - Never give a sucker an even break!

120mins - 24k's between 4:20-5:00 mins/km

'Never give a sucker an even break' - what an immortal quote and it was so apt today!!

Sucker Number 1 - Matty

I was up early to meet the large contigent that Jonesy had organised to meet at the Ship Inn at 6am. Nice work Jonesy! The plan was a two hour run out to Mt Cootha and back to the Ship Inn. Believe it or not, I've never run at Mt Cootha, let alone up it as I've been pretty conservative about doing hills the last two years. Its avoiding overstriding on the downhills that worries me, not the uphills, thank you. In excellent conditions we settled into a nice pace along Coro Drive until the 15 minute mark when I bonked due to a lack of energy. I dropped off the pace set by Langy, Aza, Pete, Slash, Jonesy and Bolty and struggled to the 20 min mark hoping that I would come good. Alas it didn't happen so I took the GU that I had with me for emergencies. Ten minutes later, the GU had worked its magic and I started to steadily reel in the boys - by now 200m ahead.

This was another frustrating episode in my problems with having a lack of energy for training. I'm cranky because I thought I had prepared well. On Saturday, I ate a whole home made pizza for lunch, skipped afternoon tea and had a large plate of Thai Red Curry with 200g of rice for dinner at 6pm. At 7pm, I had a large plate of salad and a hard boiled egg followed by a piece of custard danish. An hour later, I had some liquorice allsorts. Go figure! Fortunately, I've never had this problem in a race, perhaps because I carbo load for all races and as such I'm seriously thinking of carbo loading on Monday's and Saturday's prior to my key sessions the next day.

Back to the run - I caught up to the boys at the foot of Mt Cootha and sailed up the bitumen to a park where we pulled over for a quick drinks break. At this point, Langy and Jonesy both turned for home and there was a surprise on the menu for me - a run up something called the Powerful Owl trail to Channel 9. I had not run trails and had minimised my offroad running for the past two years but with the shin problems a fading memory, I figured today was as good as any to test them out. It was probably only going to take a few minutes anyway. The trail was steep but I was feeling strong at this point and smoothly ascended my way up. Shortly, I took a closer look at where we were going and the climb seemed to stretch into infinity!! Two minutes into the merciless climb, I was sucking in the big ones and watching the mountain goat known as Pete sail scamper away from me with Slash and Bolty in close attendance. By the time I crested the rise after about three minutes, the boys had dropped me. Taking care not to overstride on the downhill that followed, I gritted my teeth and tackled the next ascent. After about 10 minutes on the trail, of which about 7 minutes was spent ascending, I arrived at Channel 9, hurting but much wiser for the experience. I'm rarely passed on Gold Coast Hill at speedwork and consider myself a better than average hill runner, but this was definitely a learning experience. I was later to find out that Langy and Jonesy were pissing themselves laughing after they left the group with Langy commenting to Jonesy 'Poor fool Matty doesn't know what he's got himself into!'

Fortunately, I recovered rapidly and now back on the bitumen, I tried to salvage some wounded pride by setting a brisk pace up front as we headed back. I needed to borrow some money from Pete to by an emergency Mars Bar from a servo at the foot of the mountain, but otherwise, I ran a good tempo all the way back to the Ship Inn and finished a satisfied man.

Sucker Number 2 - Melbourne Storm

In hindsight, I'm sure the Storm would have preferred that they not start favourites in the Grand Final. That's a fair weight of expectation when you're up against the mighty Broncos who were undefeated in five trips to the big dance. I was close to going down to Sydney for the game but the logistics got too difficult. I started the arvo with my good mates, Big Fella and RooBoy at my place and then we proceeded to Andy's place along the banks of the Breakfast Creek. We worked up a thirst with a game of touch footy at Allan Border Field and tucked into a BBQ before settling down in front of the tv. After 79 minutes of unbearable tension, the premeirship was ours and as you can imagine, the boys and I were pretty jubilant!


Km's this week - 64
Km's this month - 24
Km's this year - 1338

Increasing mileage

50 mins - 10k's @ 5:00mins/km

Had a comfortable run on the tready this morning that seemed to go quicker than usual. That brings my total to 40k's for the week. On Sunday, I'll be doing a 2hr long run from the Ship Inn at 6am with Langy, Slash, Pete, Jonesy and more. That should tally up around 25k's and take my total for the week to 65k's. Its nice to be getting closer to my previous peak mileage week of 72 kms per week and I should be there in a month when my Wednesday midweek long run hits 90 mins and 18k.

Km's this week - 40
Km's this month - 208
Km's this year - 1314

Sunburnt already!

4k tempo in 16:39, 3k WU, 3k WD

On a warm morning with hardly a cloud to be seen in the clear blue azure sky, I set off along the Kedron Brook at 8:15am. After my warm up, I did some stretching, glute firing exercises and finally some strides. Despite that, I fell asleep during the first k of my tempo run clocking a slow 4:33. I woke up after the nasty shock of seeing the split on my Timex Ironman and then proceeded to clock splits of 4:03, 4:03 and 4:00. Quite pleasing.

Less pleasing was discovering at lunchtime that I had sustained quite a bit of sunburn. But I was finished by 9:15am!!!!???? Summer is on the way already!!


Km's this week - 30
Km's this month - 198
Km's this year - 1304

Humming along nicely

Tues - 5 x 1min with 30JR, 7 x 30 secs with 30JR
Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00mins/km

I pulled up nicely from the 10k time trial with only some mild tightness in the right achilles - which I have never had before. I will monitor it occasionaly and carry out RICE as need be to ensure it doesn't become a real problem.

Tuesday saw a solid hitout at speedwork and the session was tailor made for my endurance. I settled into about 6th spot on the way out and was running nice and controlled on the efforts and doing my jogging recoveries faster than most. I'm looking good for a low 10:20ish at next Tuesday's 3K TT.

Today, it was off to Fitness First for my longest Wednesday midweek run since breaking down. 10k's was ticked off and I can't wait to get back to 18k's in a few weeks.


Km's this week - 20
Km's this month - 188
Km's this year - 1294

BRRC photos

L-R Matty, Slash(obscured), Gerard, Robbie, Pete, Langy, Wayne, Pat

Sunday - BRRC 10k Hcp

BRRC 10k Hcp 39:49, 1k WU, 7k WD

Standing on the start line at West End for the 10k Hcp at 6am on Sunday was the oldest and slowest runner of the BRRC and........yours truly. Whilst club members had a staggered start for the 10k Hcp race based upon their times this year, I was among a handful of runners given a special dispensation to start at 6am and conduct a 10k time trial to help Gerard and Wayne go sub 40. Langy, Slash, Pete, Robbie and Coach Pat were also along to assist. I had taken the trouble to prepare well and knew that I was fit and in good shape. Despite having a very soft 38:22 10PB set in the 2004 Nike 10k, there was little doubt in my mind that I could comfortably dip under 40 mins whilst only running at 90% effort. And so it proved. The time trial started well enough with Gerard and Wayne on pace to the 4k mark but unfortunately, they began to leak time at this point. Whilst the rest of the boys tried to drag Gerard and Wayne back into contention I ran alone in front of the group churning out consistent 4 min k's while providing a target for the boys to chase. Regrettably, nobody caught up to me but on a personal note, I was very pleased to cruise across the line in 39:49. Its a good feeling knowing that I'm in pretty good shape at the moment and will only have to turn up to shatter my 10k PB. Now I just have to find a suitable race and no....it won't be the Noosa Tri.



Km's this week - 10
Km's this month - 98
Km's this year - 1204

Not your ordinary week....

Tues - 8 x 1 min, 30 SR, 3k WU, 3k WD
Wed - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00mins/km
Thurs - 2 x 1k @ 3:30, 3:27, 4k WU, 4k WD

Getting a little slack with the blog at the moment as the demands of life catch up, so here we go:

Tuesday speedwork went well indicating I was almost fully recovered from last week's virus. This is not my best session at present with some team mates taking advantage of the short reps to outsprint me whilst I concentrate on keeping my pace around the 3:30 mark. I had a controlled session running at the back of the A-Team and afterward ran strongly up Gold Coast Hill twice.

Wednesday saw an easy run on the tready at Fitness First before work - thank God my membership expires in November. I can't wait to be rid of the place!

Yesterday, I did a solo speedwork session along the Kedron Brook. It didn't feel like I was going very fast and I was dehydrated, but I still managed to clock 3:30 and 3:27 for my reps. A satisfying session! Then I had to get ready for a round of golf after being invited at short notice by Clairie yesterday. The event was an IBM Charity Golf Day and North Lakes to raise money for cerebral palsy and I was fully paid for! Thanks Clairie! Some of you might know that at one time, I had ambitions of becoming a single figure handicapper and sub 3hr Marathoner at the same time, but eventually gave up as there are not enough hours in the day to do both. As such, I arrived at North Lakes looking forward to my first round in almost a year. With the event being a 4 ball ambrose (everyone hits from where the best shot went), I envisaged a relaxing day driving around on the carts and working the rust out of my game. However, after seeing my enthusiastic but untalented team mates(Clairie had only ever played three times!) on the driving range, it was soon apparent that I would have to play some good golf otherwise, the team would have a very long day out on the course!!

Fortunately, I soon found that my swing had remained largely intact and I was able to give us some length off the tee and set up the holes in the process. We had a lot of fun along the way, if you don't count Clairies golf cart driving. I'm telling you, Clairie thought we were at Bathurst sometimes driving like a maniac and on one occasion when trying to catch up with the cart in front of us, shooting over the crest of a steep slope and putting two wheels into the top of a steep bunker and for a heart stopping split second, we came perilously close to overturning the cart!!! And Clairie loved every minute of it!! Our group ended up with a reasonably respectable 83 off the stick for 11 over par.

The fun didn't end on the course as we then relaxed with a few beers and a delicious dinner at the Clubhouse washed down with a glass of red. I can report that Clairie was quite disciplined and stuck to her new diet for most of the part, if you don't count the part where she tried to steal some of my delicious carrot cake when I wasn't looking. As the evening drew to a close, it was a very relaxed Matty who was nestled comfortable in his seat finishing off his glass of red. Possibly, I was too relaxed - that might explain why when the opening bidder in the auction offered $3k for a 5 night Hong Kong holiday for two at a 4.5 star hotel, airfares inclusive, I calmly trumped him with $4k bid!!!!!!! Now, although the prize was allegedly worth $8k, I had done some mental calculations and valued the prize at around $3.5k to $4k and I thought that MJ and I could do with a holiday, so I thought that I would have a go and maybe get lucky with a value holiday if the demand wasn't there. Apparently the demand wasn't there at all and it was with surprise and some trepidation that I listened to the auctioneer announce 'going once!!' As I started to wonder how the hell I was going to pay for this holiday, a bloke trumped my bid with a $4.5k offer. I whispered to Clairie '$4.6k??' and she I could see the whites in her eyes as she hissed back at me 'No, no, no!!! Don't do it!!!!' Although I was tempted to raise the bidding to see Clairies reaction, I kept my hand down and brought the hammer down at $4.5k. I should add that Clairie was in no position to be rebuking me for making outrageous offers. In the silent auctionl, she successfully bid $100 for afternoon tea at the Stamford Plaza and unbelievably, $80 for a doll in a wedding dress!! I really don't know how she is going to explain the latter purchase to Al! Yep, it was great day!

Sunday - On the road again

Sunday - 70mins 14k's @ 4:50 mins/km

I didn't feel up to a recovery run on Saturday bringing my total of missed runs this week to three. I joined Langy, Slash and Bolty on Sunday morning for a run along the Kedron Brook. I was hoping to do 100 minutes but after 4k I was struggling and still a little weak from the virus. So after 35 mins I turned around whilst the fellas continued on to Nudgee Beach. I managed to hold the core strength and the running gait together for the remainder of the run without too much effort. Fortunately, the shins pulled up fine and I'm looking forward to a normal weeks training this week.

Slight setback

Have suffered from a mild virus since Wednesday with my body and particularly my legs significantly weakened and feverish. Fortunately, my head was unaffected and thus I was able to complete my Workplace Health and Safety Officers course without incident. In truth it was a relief to come down with this virus as it explains my shin soreness for the past week - my shins historically get sore when I contract a virus and I don't realise it till I get cold or flu symptoms.

All goint well I'll do a 10k recovery run tomorrow morning along with Sunday's long run. That will see me missing just two runs for the week.

Coming up for air!!!

Fri - 50 mins, 10k @ 5:00mins/km
Sun - 90 mins, 19k @ 4:45mins/km
Tues - 15 mins fartlek, 3k WU, 3k WD

This week, I'm doing a training course to be the OH&S Officer at work and this is my first chance to update the blog. I guess it shows how often I blog at work. I'm already having withdrawl symptons not being able to keep up with breaking news etc whilst at work.

Sunday's long run was not without its problems. Despite having only three beers at the Broncos game in order to be ready for the BRRC 25k Champs, I woke up dehydrated, hungry, tired and with my shins still sore from the bashing that Bruno gave me on Friday. So I elected for a mid afternoon run which I commenced at 2:40pm in steady rain. I cut the 120 min run to 90 mins and managed to get through it without any dramas. I thought I'd be doing 4:55's to 5:00's because of my problems but managed to do 4:45's without extending myself. Its pleasing that my comfortable long run pace is getting closer to marathon pace and augurs well for my first attempt at a sub 3hr marathon.

This morning was fartlek in the Botanic Gardens with the Pat Carrollers and unfortunately a little under a quarter of the course was grass and I didn't want to risk sprinting over it so I had to do recovery pace along this stretch and subsequently the A-Team pulled away from me half way through the session. Nevertheless, it was an honest effort. The right plantar fasciitis is almost healed and whilst that is great news, my shins are causing a little concern at the moment so I'll have to be vigilant.

Thanks
Matt


Km's this week - 10
Km's this month - 98
Km's this year - 1204

Mid week update

Tues - 3KTT - 10:29 with 3:22, 3:38, 3:28 splits
Wed - 40 mins, 8k @ 5:00mins/km
Thurs - 4k tempo in 16:30, 3k WU, 3k WD

Tues - I kicked of my week at the PCRG 3KTT with the intention of going at about 95% effort and running 10:30. It was probably just as well as I wasn't targetting a fast time as my legs were quite dead - probably from Sunday's long run in warm conditions. Nevertheless, my breathing and core strength were excellent and I managed to drag my legs to 10:29 with few problems.

Wed - The dreaded tready run at Fitness First out of the way and done with - enough said! Will increase this run to 10k next week.

Thurs - In blustery conditions, I left my cap in the car and ran along the Kedron Brook. After a 3k warm up and some strides(it always feels funny doing strides by yourself) I cruised along fairly comfortably at a touch faster than next years sub 3hr marathon pace. That was until I turned around at 2k and ran into possibly the strongest headwind I've ever trained in for the remaining two kilometres. With my eyes watering, I put my head down and buffeted my way through clocking 4:06 splits that felt as hard as 3:30's at times. Fair dinkum! An interesting morning. I've just logged on to read that Langy was similarly affected and there are gale force winds in Sydney, so at least I wasn't the only one.

Except for a few niggles and the slowly recovering plantar fasciitis, all is well and I'm looking forward to my Sunday long run at the BRRC 25k Champs.


Km's this week - 27
Km's this month - 59
Km's this year - 1165

Spring, Snakes, Sunshine and Shane

Fri 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Sun 105, 22k's @ 4:45 mins/km

A pretty routine couple of days in my running life. The only notable features occured on Sunday's run which was delayed to a 10:40am start due to voluntary duties with the Women's Classsic race and an appearance in the office. It was a beautifully warm Spring day with temperatures in the upper 20's and I made sure to cover up with 30+ so I shouldn't have been surprised that I had to stop for a half metre red bellied black snake which was sunning itself on the Kedron Brook path. I ended up losing 2kg during the run, which rarely happens to me during a Winter run. Then it was off to Suncorp Stadium to watch the legendary Shane Webcke and the mighty Broncos bash the Warriors. Yeah! Life's good!

Km's this week - 60
Km's this month - 274
Km's this year - 1138

All is quiet on the Western front.

Wed - Midweek long run - 40mins, 8k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 2 x 1k with 90 SR - 3:30, 3:25, 4k WU, 4k WD

After a seriously boring run on the tready yesterday it was a relief to get out to Kedron Brook for some solo 1k efforts this morning. The first effort was spot on 3:30 as I concentrated on an even stride and cadence throughout. Although I went a touch too fast in the second rep with a 3:25, it was a pleasing workout completed just before the heavens opened. I then enjoyed a very pleasant 4k warm down run through torrential rain back to my car and I was quickly soaked to the skin. Gees, I love a good run in the rain! Upon arriving back at the car, it was less than pleasant to discover that all three towels I keep in the back had been removed for a long overdue washing......

For most of the part, my body is in reasonable shape at the moment. My right PF still needs a lot of work and my left PF still has a 1cm spot where scar tissue seems to be forming and I have to keep massaging it. The shins have a mild ache once or twice a week but nothing dramatic. All is on track for another threshold effort race in the BRR 10k in a few weeks when Langy and I will pace Gerard to sub 40. Then perhaps a full comeback to racing in the BRR 5k Champs in October. So you could say all is quiet on the Western front at the moment.

Km's this week - 28
Km's this month - 242
Km's this year - 1106

Noosa Half photos

Ok, here we have photos of me just after the start of the Noosa Half and again at halfway after having just gone around the hairpin turn.

500's at speedwork

8 x 500 avg 1:41:5 with avg 33 secs SR, 3k WU, 3k WD

Woke up to the beautiful sight of a rainy morning - unfortunately not drought busting rain. It seems however that many of my team mates didn't agree with me with that it was a beautiful day and about a third of the Group were missing! Those absentees missed a great session with the rain abating by the time the warm up started.

Yours truly had a shocking start with my energy tank running on empty early in the reps. Despite a large bowl of porridge for breakfast, I was starving and in need of a good feed. Whilst I had a large and nutritious stir fry for dinner last night washed down with a quarter piece of Sara Lee Bavarian cheesecake, that feed only served to make up for my small lunch rather than stock up my energy stores for training. I've put a reminder in my mobile to eat a decent lunch and dinner every Monday from now on. Fortunately, I got a second wind halfway through the session and was able to finish it off nicely. We did 500's under the Story Bridge in a session that was dominated by Glenda and Slash followed by Pete and Aza with a small gap to yours truly and Jamie. Pat had said that we could choose our own recovery times and Glenda and Slash decided about 40 seconds was appropriate and naturally the rest of the A-Team took off every time they. As a result, I averaged just a 33 second standing recovery with a low of 29 seconds before the last rep. With the exception of a 1:46 effort on the seventh rep, my efforts were nice and consistent in the low 1:40's and there was a bit in the tank as I was taking care not to run too much faster than 3:30 pace. Slash finished off the session with a barnstorming last rep in the low to mid 80's, narrowly ahead of Jamie.

Naturally, Gold Coast Hill was next and Glenda and I lead the recovery back to the Hill and then gunned it all the way to the top, well ahead of most others. At the top, I asked Glenda 'do we have to do one or two?' and her wordless response was to start jogging back to the bottom of the hill and the two of us were the only ones to tackle that insansely steep hill behind All Hallows for a second time. After that, I was sucking in the big ones but managed to croak out to Glenda '4:10's back to the Ship Inn?' and the two of us then pulled away from the rest of the Group with a Marathon pace warm down back to the Ship Inn to complete a very satisfying session, particularly given my poor start. Observing my team mates, it was clear that Ally had a great session averaging around 1:54's in a PB for this session - well done Mate! Melbourne is looking good for you! Elsewhere, Tesso convincingly toweled Clairie and it was nice to see after Clairie has spend much of the year in front of Tess! Perhaps now that Clairie is a year older its a case of 'The Empire Strikes Back' and Tesso will give Clairie something to chase for a while - he he he he. No doubt Clairie will take offence to this post and we'll see some spirited duels between the dynamic duo in coming weeks!

It was lucky we didn't have a full group in one respect this morning because a construction worker stole four Up and Go's from our table at the Ship Inn when Sue had her back turned for a moment. I'm really upset I didn't get to see this! As I was telling Ally, Its always been a fantasy of mine to catch a thief trying to outrun me, make a classic tackle on him, 'accidentally' bash his head on the ground when restraining him and then make a citizen's arrest! Oh well, maybe next time.

Km's this week - 10
Km's this month - 224
Km's this year - 1088

Sunday - The new Matty

Fri 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Sun 14k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Things have been chaotic at work lately so I was in the office on my day off on Friday. Instead of a whole day in which to do some writing, I was up to 11.30pm on Friday night desperately putting together my R4YL Noosa Half race report before the Sat AM deadline. So if the report is not up to my usual standards, you'll know why!!

After five hours sleep, I was back in the office on Saturday morning and by Saturday evening I felt like I had the symptoms of a mild cold but I was so groggy from tiredness, I couldn't really tell. MJ and I went to Hannah B's party and whilst the old Matty would have unwinded with 7-8 beers, the new Matty doesn't drink whenever there is even a hint of a cold/flu on the horizon. Instead he made several trips to the kitchen to drink water out of a plastic wine glass!

After seven hours sleep, I woke up still exhausted on Sunday morning and with deep regret(yes, really Clairie!) decided to go back to sleep for three hours instead of going to the Brisbane Roadrunners 14k Champs and Clairies Birthday Breakfast. When I woke after 10hrs sleep, I still wasn't feeling 100%. Fortunately, its a recovery week on my program and only 18k was scheduled but I cut that back to 14k which I managed ok.

Went to RooBoy's place in the arvo to watch the Broncos pack give Parra a nice touch up and again did not drink considering I still felt like a cold was coming on. Yes, that's the new Matty for you!


Km's this week - 50
Km's this month - 214
Km's this year - 1078

Recovery mode

Tues - 10k Recovery Run at 5:00's
Wed - 6k Midweek Long Run at 5:00's
Thurs - 4min, 2min, 4min, 2min, 4min with JR and SR, 3k WU, 3k WD

Monday saw me walking gingerly with significant DOMS in the quads and glutes. On Tuesday morning, I didn't go to speedwork as the session was on the grass at the Botanic Gardens and I still avoid grass at the moment. It was just as well as I was incapable of running at speed and instead did my impersonation of the Cliffy Young shuffle with a 10k recovery run along Kedron Brook. Yesterday, I was as Fitness First doing a comfortable 6k's on the tready as I continue the process of building my Wednesday midweek long run up to 18k's at the rate of 2k's per week.

This morning with the legs almost back to their normal selves, we did a session of longer reps through the Gardens alternating jogging and standing recoveries. I settled into a nice pace in the vincity of 3:30's at the back of the A-Team with Andy, Glenda, Aza, Langy and Jamie motoring along in front of me.

The shins have pulled up about as well as I expected them to this week. There is no discomfort whatsoever when running or following a run. Occasionally there may be a 'pang' of discomfort that flickers through the bone for a second or two late in the day but these a few and far between.

I'll continue the recovery theme this week with an easy 10k tomorrow and a reduced Sunday long run of 18k at the Brisbane Road Runners 14k Champs.

After 87 days without a drink, three days longer than my plan of 12 weeks on the wagon, I'll finally enjoy a quiet drink tonight!!!!

Km's this week - 26
Km's this month - 190
Km's this year - 1054
Consecutive alcohol free days - 87

Sunday - Noosa Half Marathon

Half Marathon - 86:49 - PB, 59th out of 966, 1k WU, 1k WD

Well, what a fabulous weekend it was! My good fortune started on Friday night when the Broncos smashed the Doggies 30-0. Just as importantly, the Broncos win assured me of winning a 'Double up' footy tipping comp that I'm in. My two closest rivals attempted to double up their current points tally by tipping the Doggies and went back to 0 points on the ladder after the Doggies bit the dust leaving yours truly in an unassailable position to claim the $500 winner take all prize!! You beauty!

MJ and I drove up Noosa at 5:30am on Saturday morning so I could cover the Viridian Vertical race for R4YL. Had a good chat with Steve Moneghetti whilst we were waiting for the runners to finish. MJ and I then went to the Eumundi markets for a while before spending the rest of the day taking it easy at the Glen Eden Resort, Peregian Beach. My luck continued when I won $175 on the horses so I had a grin from ear to ear! MJ and I rounded out the day with a quiet meal together at the Peregian Beach SLSC.

Race day dawned fine and cool and I got to the starting line in good order, albeit with my stomach churning a little with a large bowl of porridge and a litre of Enervit. After an easy 1k warmup, I did some strides with Langy and exhanged greetings with just about everyone on the starting line - who I knew. The plan was to run at threshold pace, about 95% effort, between 4:05's and 4:08's and Jonesy would be running with me offering us the opportunity to run as a team.

The race started perfectly, with Jonesy and I keeping the brakes on as we went through the first two k a little over goal pace whilst countless overenthusiastic rabbits overtook us. Jonesy and I then quickly found a rhythm running the next 7k's between 4:03 and 4:08. We were taking it in turns to draft each other each other whereupon one of us would go to the front every kilometre or two and the other would take a sit slightly behind and usually to one side to escape the light cross winds from the Noosa River. I had expected to keep quiet and conserve my energies for the duration of the race but I was cruising along comfortably and feeling a million dollars! As such I couldn't resist keeping up a steady stream of chatter with Jonesy whilst also firing up my team mates on the other side of the road when we passed by each other. I could feel myself losing a little bit of energy at the 8-9k so took the precaution of consuming a GU that I had in my pocket shortly before we reached the halfway mark and ran strongly through the cheers of the crowd and MJ.

By now, Jonesy and I had built up an unspoken trust that the man in front could reel off the required splits and the man drafting could relax and not worry about his pace for the duration of his stint behind. I even got used to the sweat from Jonesy's long hair bouncing off his shoulders into my path!! The momentum carried us to 13k where we had a slight hiccup posting a 4:14 split(possibly a 'long' k'). Here, I had my first bad patch of an otherwise trouble free run - I felt fatigues and momentarily doubted that I could keep up with Jonesy. However, I told myself to tough it out and I would come good soon enough and 500m later, I was back to my usual self and Jonesy and I remedied the damage with 4:01 and 4:03 splits. The 17th k saw another 4:15 fadeout before we powered home steadily with 4:01, 4:02, 4:02 and 4:02. By this stage, my chatter had replaced by slightly heavier breathing and I concentrated on maintaining good form in the run to the line. Jonesy seemed to grow another leg as we went past the 20k mark and pulled nearly 10m away from me. Reminding myself of my pre race plan not too flog myself unneccesarily with a 3:30 pace finishing kick, I let Jonesy go but soon caught up as I powered strongly up the incline to the final bridge. I got my voice back and told Jonesy "Lets go through the line together, but no holding hands - not that there's anything wrong with that!" And so we stopped the clock together in 86:49, comfortably beating my old Half Marathon PB of 87:55 when I ran at goal Marathon pace in the 2004 Qld Half. I was very, very pleased with my run and will elaborate further in the coming days. Thanks for the experience Jonesy - you're a legend!

There is no rest for the wicked and two minutes after crossing the line, I was back out on the course, running towards the 1k marker with a notebook in hand and bottle of Enervit in the other so I could take the splits for the 10k race. Any excuse for a warm down run!! The rest of the morning was great as I spent time chatting with all the winners and in particular enjoyed a great five minute chat with Dual Commonwealth Marathon Gold Medallist Kerryn McCann. She was a lovely lady and great conversationist. I got all the material I needed for my R4YL article but in hindsight, I neglected my own recover a little so will have to be more selfish in future.

Finished off a great weekend with a shift at work and then arrived home utterly exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was a 15 minutes recovery in the freezing cold pool, a self massage of both my plantar fasciitis and pull on my long Skins - but I did all bloody three of them!!!

Race Splits

1-5k 6-10k 11-15k 16-20k Final
4.11 - 4.07 - 4.05 - 4.03 - 4.02
4.10 - 4.08 - 4.06 - 4.15 - 0.24
4.07 - 4.08 - 4.07 - 4.01 - 86.49
4.07 - 4.08 - 4.14 - 4.02
4.03 - 4.03 - 4.01 - 4.02
20.39- 41.25 -62.02 - 82.27


Km's this week - 53
Km's this month - 164
Km's this year - 1028
Consecutive alcohol free days - 84

Tempo run with Langy

Wed - 20 minutes easy - 4k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 4k's at race pace - 3:55, 4:10, 4:08, 4:04 - 3k WU, 3k WD

The body has held up ok so far this week after the dramas earlier in the week. The right plantar fasciitis is looking more and more like the tear that afflicted my left PF. Thankfully, there is no sign of 'classic' PF.

Yesterday, I did an easy twenty minutes along the river at Newstead before work. I would have done 6k's as part of my plan to build the midweek run back up to 18k, but I want to freshen up for the Noosa Half.

This morning, Langy and I went out to the Nundah Criterium at 6:30am. After the warm up, we stretched and then did some strides before commencing our 4k Noosa Half pace tempo run. Langy's was targetting 3:55's and I was targetting 4:05-4:08's. I felt a little tired and stiff in the first k as Langy slowly pulled away from me, but I felt much better the last three k's and it was a timely reminder that if you can concentrate and battle through difficult patches of a race, you're a good chance of feeling better eventually. I went out a little too fast with a 3:55 but was pleased to come home in 4:10, 4:08 and 4:04 considering I haven't done that pace for a while. If anyone sees Langy in the next few days, don't ask him about his pacing because it was all over the shop and he's cranky :)

Km's this week - 25
Km's this month - 136
Km's this year - 1000
Consecutive alcohol free days - 81

A crock or what?

2 x 2k @ 6:53, 6:52 1k @ 3:35 3k WU, 3k WD

It was with a fair degree of trepidation that I arrived at training this morning. My right plantar fasciitis got worse yesterday and I suspect that it had a microscopic tear from running backwards at the Gold Coast Half, that finally tore open five weeks later. Like its almost recovered counterpart on my left foot, it was firmly taped. Add to the mix the fact that I was very lethargic and tired yesterday and my back was playing up like it does for a few days every six months. I was also hungry!

Nevertheless, I tucked myself in behind Langy and Luke on the first rep and watched Glenda accelerate into the distance ahead of us. She was going so far I had to yell 'Hey Glenda, we're not doing 500's!' I was pleasantly surprised that my body held together as I completed the first rep holding my position behind the leaders with only Slash showing off his turn of foot by swooping past me late as I clocked 6:53 on a course Langy reckons is three seconds per k short. The second rep began similarly until I pulled level with Langy and Glenda at the 400 and motored past them whilst maintaining a steady cadence. Going down the incline after the turnaround, Glenda hung around for a while before dropping off. Going into the second k of the rep I was reminding myself not to go faster than 3:30 pace and to maintain a controlled stride. By this stage, i had cleared out to a lead of almost 10 metres and I was wondering when Langy and Glenda were going to stop playing games and catch up to me, but it never happened as I finished with a controlled rep of 6:52 only being pipped at the post by Luke putting in a gut busting finishing kick. I try not to race it training now and was pleased I resisted the temptation to match Luke's kick. The A-Team was always going to be well ahead of me in the last rep over the shorter 1k which I did in 3:35 as the fatigue started to kick in.

All in all, I was very pleased with the session considering the problems I brought to it. In the leadup to last years Noosa 5k when I was fitter and running at closer at sub 3:20 pace, I busted a gut to average 6:57 for three reps of 2k. Fast forward a year and my more economical and efficient running gait enabled me to record similar times despite not being as fit and not extended myself as much as I could have. Nice!


Km's this week - 11
Km's this month - 122
Km's this year - 986
Consecutive alcohol free days - 79

Sunday - Brisbane Road Runners 10 Mile

115 mins, 24k's @ 4:44 mins/km

I woke up at 5:20am and spent thirteen minutes still in bed contemplating whether I should stick with my original plan and do my Sunday long run at West End in the Brisbane Road Road Runners 10 Mile race or get an extra hour of sleep and do my normal Sunday long run. In the end, getting an earlier start to the day won out.

However, the delay ensured that I missed the start of the race by two minutes - not that I was concerned about missing it! Wearing my new Brooks Glycerin 4's for the second time, I rolled along comfortably until around 14k's when my right plantar fasciitis (the good one that I did not tear at the GC Half) started to ache and cause considerable discomfort. I pulled over at the Pauls Milk Factory where Rent Bouy and Eddie were marshalling, took of my shoes and spent about two minutes self massaging it. That did the trick. I then finished the race and immediately did another 8k's. With just one k left the right PF started to ache uncomfortably again. I'm not sure what is wrong with it nor what caused the problem(surely not the new shoes albeit half a size smaller?). Nonehteless, I'm confident that I can keep the situation under control. I taped up the right foot last night and that should ensure that I can walk and run without discomfort until I fix the problem. Buys shares in sports tape companies - thanks to me, they'll report record profits this year.

Am looking forward to the Noosa Half on Sunday when Jonesy and I plan to run a good solid 86 minute tempo run.

Km's this week - 58
Km's this month - 111
Km's this year - 976
Consecutive alcohol free days - 77

New shoes!

Thurs - 4 x 500 @ 1:45's 4k WU, 4k WD
Fri - 50mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Went out to Intraining on Wednesday night with a mission to buy a pair of neutral runners from Langy. With two pairs of Brook's Glycerins recently retired and 520k's on the other one, it was high time to add another pair to the rotation. I went through the entire range of neutrals that Langy brought out for me and whilst the Mizuno's were impressive and felt highly promising, I took the conservative option and went with the latest model Brook's Glycerin 4's. I love the Brooks - they seem made for my feet! I also decided to try dropping down a size from US 11.5 to US 11. To cut a long story short, several shop assistants have told me that the 11.5's fit me ok and the memories of my feet swelling up and pushing against the toebox in the last 7k's of my 2004 Gold Coast Marathon are still fresh which is while I have been reluctant to try the size 11 for quite some time. It seems to me that my feet are borderline too small for the 11.5's and perhaps borderline too big for the 11's. However, now is a good time to see how it goes.

My first run in the new Brooks went very well during a tready speedwork session yesterday - it'll be interesting to see how they go during Sunday's long run which I will do at BRR during and after the 10 Miler. I followed up yesterday's run with an easy and uneventful 50 minutes this morning.

The Plantar Fasciitis continue to recover well - the tear has healed all the way down to the heel with only a 1-2cm stretch still providing discomfort, but only when I give it its daily four minute self massage.

Km's this week - 34
Km's this month - 87
Km's this year - 952
Consecutive alcohol free days - 75

Wednesday midweek long run resumes

20 mins, 4k's @ approx 5:00's

Did an easy 20 mins this morning from my place through the back streets to the Kedron Wavell RSL and back again. This was my first Wed midweek long run since March 2005, although its obviously not a long run yet! I plan to bump up the distance of this run by 2k's per week until I'm up to 18k's.

In March 2005 my comeback from my shin splints was at one of its lowest points and I made the decision at that time to reduce my runs from five to four times per week. Prior to breaking down for the first time in late November 2004, I was doing two 18k midweek long runs in each four week block of my program along with 14 or 16k's another week and 10-12k's in the recovery week. Looking forward to getting back into it again!

This is my 200th blog post - how time flies!

Km's this week - 14
Km's this month - 67
Km's this year - 932
Consecutive alcohol free days - 73

An unusual preparation

12 min Fartlek, 2 x Gold Coast Hill, 3k WU, 3k WD.

An unusual preparation for speedwork last night saw me attend a soup cooking class with MJ! We went to the Black Pearl Epicure in the Valley where Michelen starred chef Bruno Loubet. Gees, some of those dames were positively salivating in the great man's presence! Didn't they know there was a real fast runner amongst them :) Anyway, the evening was enjoyable enough for some one who has never even seen a cooking show on tv so there were a few eye openers and tips picked up. This confession should not be taken to read that yours truly can't cook! I can cook damn well, thank you. Just ask MJ!

Fartlek was on the menu at speedwork this morning - 1min fast, 30 jog, 30 fast, 30 jog, 15 fast. In great conditions Andy and Glenda led the way for most of the session with yours truly trying to stay a distance behind them that would have me going at around my desired 3:30 pace. I felt I did that pretty well and didn't go too fast. However, for the second Tuesday in a row, my legs fatigued pretty quickly. They are taking some time to adjust to the backup from my Sunday Long Runs as I've only done about 5-6 20k+ Sunday Long Runs so far this year and all of them have been in the last 5-6 weeks. Nevertheless, I concentrated on maintaining good form and saw out the 12 minute session strongly enough. No time for a breather as Pat then sent us up Gold Coast Hill which I did twice, pushing myself very hard in the process. My team mates then had the a rare glimpse of me bent over, hands on knees, sucking in the big ones. Its something they'll get used to over the next few months as I continue to work hard. Only Luke overtook me on GC Hill and I resisted the temptation to go with him. Wrapped up the session by going for a steady warm down at 4:10-4:20 pace with Mike R back to the Ship Inn. Legs have pulled up well so far!

Km's this week - 10
Km's this month - 63
Km's this year - 928
Consecutive alcohol free days - 72

Bridge to Brisbane

Fri - 2 x 1k @ 3:31 and 3:21, 4k WU, 4k WD.
Sun - 125 mins, 24k's @ 4:40-5:20 pace

Friday saw me give Fitness First the flick again and head out to Kedron Brook late that afternoon after a day of rare procrastination. After an easy warm up, I clocked a steady 3:31 before getting carried away and clocking 3:21 for my second and last rep. Gees, my running stride felt a lot smoother and more economical when I last hit that speed and there is plenty more where it came from!!

Today saw me contest my 3rd consecutive annual Bridge to Brisbane. This race is a good fun day out but is unlikely to reach the iconic status of the City to Surf for a while yet. An early 4:30am start was required to ensure that I could eat two large bowls of porridge, drive to New Farm, park, catch the Intraining bus to the Gateway Bridge and collect my Official Pacers singlet and pink balloons from Coach Pat - before a 7am gun. There was some concern that being a 65 min pacer for 12k and averaging 5:20's would be a little too slow for me and lead to injury. However, a very slow first k with some walking up the Bridge in all the traffic ensured that I was able to roll along at a more respectable 5:10 pace for most of the way with team mate Steve G and I going through in 64:55 after stopping 500m out with 2 minutes in the bank. As always, pacing was good fun, but I got the impression that the once a year runners didn't appreciate or understand the service like Gold Coast, Brisbane or Noosa participants do.

Following the race, I took over 90 minutes to run my remaining 60 minutes for the day. In between, I did a warm down run with recent Qld X Country Champ and GC 10 winner, Michael Shelley all the whilst interviewing him for R4YL.He moves along nicely and was warming down at around 4:20 pace. I also chatted with Peter Nowill and the 4.5 k winner and was able to get a good feel for how the races unfolded and that will complement my race report which will be mostly based on what I see when watching the Ch9 coverage of the event next weekend. I pulled up nicely after all that. Bring on next week!

Km's this week - 53
Km's this month - 53
Km's this year - 918
Consecutive alcohol free days - 70

Easy Thursday run

50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km

There was the occasional 'pang' in the shins on Tuesday arvo and yesterday, no doubt a legacy of the long run followed by a fairly hard effort in the time trial. Coupled with not eating enough yesterday during a busy day at work, I did an easy 10k's this morning on the tready. Will do speedwork on the tready tomorrow.

Am spending the day sprucing up my house prior to a visit by a International Student Homestay company tomorrow morning. They'll assess the suitabiility of my house and yours truly for hosting international students. Have already told the company to find me some runners if my application is successful!!

Km's this week - 19
Km's this month - 19
Km's this year - 884
Consecutive alcohol free days - 67

PCRG 3K TT

3KTT 10:46 (3:29, 3:43, 3:33)

The legs felt a touch fatigued this morning after my most demanding Sunday long run in quite some time and the warm up didn't loosen them as much as I would have liked. I said to Gerard prior to the start that whilst I would not be busting a gut and running faster than 3:30's, I would try and drag him along to sub 10:45 if I felt good in the last k. The big field set off with the usual excitement at the start and I settled in pretty well, but it was clear early on that whilst the legs were serviceable, they were lacking a little zip. Some drama at the 1.5k turnaround with the marker getting lost and several people turning too late or in some cases, too early. At this time I had settled in five metres behind Gerard and Jonesy was right behind me and the three of us probably lost around five seconds going too far. Heading back up the short incline opposite the booat sheds, I powered strongly up and started to feel really good so I 'flicked the switch' an accelerated the five metres to Gerard. I then ran the last 900m very strongly and still had the breath to do a fair bit of yelling whilst running 3:33 for the last k and only just running out of time to help drag Gerard home under his sub 10:45 goal.

I felt very satisfied afterward, particularly given that I only ran at around 85% effort on tired legs whilst doing a lot of yelling on last k and yet I was still able to run 10:46. The magical Sub 10 min barrier is not very far away at all!!!!

Km's this week - 9
Km's this month - 9
Km's this year - 874
Consecutive alcohol free days - 65

Sunday long run

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00mins/km
Sun 120mins, 25k's @ 4:47mins/km

After driving out to Ippy in the morning to cover the Park to Park for R4YL, it wasn't until 10:45am that I was able to start my long run in glorious sun at Kedron Brook. After the first two k's. I realised that I was a touch dehydrated and should have drunk more water whilst at Ippy. Nevertheless, a good drink of water at the 7k and a GU and 400ml of Enervit at the 15k ensure that I had the energy to cruise comfortably throughout the session. I felt really comfortable at the pace and 4:51 was my slowest kilometre split - am really looking forward to getting a handful of these long runs under my belt. I've been conservative in doing most of my long runs at 5:00's recently, but 4:40's is closer to my natural pace at present. I finished the run just before 1pm under warm sun and with a film of salt crystals covering my upper body.

Have pulled up exceptionally well except for my sunburnt ears - its been a while since I had to apply sunscreen and it was always going to be a question of which part of my body would I forget to put sunscreen.

Am fully recovered from the cold of last week and am raring to go this week. The plantar fasciitis continues to heal slowly and there is no longer any discomfort when self massaging for about two inches from the ball of the foot running towards the heel. However there is still an inch long piece where the PF reaches the heel that causes me to grit my teeth when I get stuck into it with my knuckles.

Km's this week - 54
Km's this month - 192
Km's this year - 865
Consecutive alcohol free days - 63