Clean up surgery

Here's an unofficial photo of the sub 3hr pack at the Gold Coast Marathon probably around the 16-20k mark heading north. You can't miss Monas at the front and next to him is B pacer, Dennis Fitzgerald looking at his watch. I'm in the middle of the road about 10m behind Monas, and I appear to be looking forlornly at the personal refreshment tables!!!

I had successful clean up surgery first thing on Monday morning. A lump of scar tissue was removed from the back of my neck by my dermatologist, Dr Robert Sinclair. I first noticed the lump around 10 years ago when it was the size of a sultana. Five years ago it was the size of a marble and recently, it has been venturing towards golf ball proportions! I was surprised at the size of the ugly, bloody, messy lump of tissue when the Doc showed me afterwards - like an iceberg, it was bigger than I thought! I was hoping to bring it home so I could post a picture here but unfortunately, the Doc sent it off to the pathology lab for testing :( Six stitches were required to close me up afterward and the removal of a benign growth from my foot was also successful. The doctor reiterated that I should take a week off running - but I'm not sure I heard him properly. I could have sworn he said 'working week'. In that case, I might resume running in five days ;-)

Still mulling over the future short term direction of my running and will post my thoughts soon.

Successful laser eye surgery!!

Wed 30 mins, 6k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Thurs 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Much of the week has been spent contemplating how a promising Gold Coast Marathon unravelled so abruptly and brutally. I've identified some flaws in my make up that I need to address and will reveal shortly. Managed two easy runs in the middle of the week, shuffling on both occasions early in the run till my DOMS affected quads warmed up.

Much of my attention this week however was geared towards my long awaited laser eye surgery yesterday which proved successful. The procedure, coupled with another procedure on Monday to remove a benign growth from my left foot will cost me 7-10 days of running. I'll spend that time doing light stuff in the gym and extra stretching.

Laser Eye Surgery


I went to the operating theatre at Laser Sight late yesterday to be given a valium tablet and a gown. After the valium kicked in, I was then laid down on a dentist style chair and swivelled under an intimidating looking machine. A clamp was placed around my eyelids to hold them open and then I felt the slightly uncomfortable sensation of my cornea being lasered open - it felt like someone was firmly but not uncomfortably pressing their thumb on my eyeballs. It was pretty hairy when the machine moved to the left eye because all I could see out of the right eye now was a blinding white light. After the left eye was done, the nurse said 'We've lifted your cornea flap - could you please move to the next bed' - Aargh, shit!!

Here, my right eye was again clamped open and I was swivelled under the laser machine, staring up into the red beam of the laser. Because I was looking directly into the red beam, it got larger and it felt like I was actually looking up at a starry night with hundreds of red dots of light replacing the stars. Nevertheless, I felt strangely calm as I followed instructions and stared intently at the red light while the acrid smell of my burning flesh permeated the air Dr Peter Stewart and his laser did its job. The second eye followed and it was all over in about 10-15 minutes.

I then went into the recovery room and there I had the first brief indication that my eyesight had improved as I could see fairly well across the room before I had clear plastic eye protecters taped over my eyes and then large dark sunnies placed over them. The eyes were pretty uncomfortable as MJ drove me home as they were quite watery and somewhat grainy. I had two sleeping tablets as soon as I got home and a quick dinner and then hit the sack at 7pm and quickly fell asleep. Woke up in the middle of the night still feeling uncomfortable and very groggy from the drugs and MJ said I was speaking gibberish, but I quickly fell back asleep again.

Woke up at 7am and it was quite a revelation to remove the plastics eye protectors and look outside to see a beautiful day with my 'new' eyes and see it clearly!! I was grinning like a kid after opening their best Christmas present! A follow up visit to the clinic this morning confirmed that I now had better than 20-20 vision in both eyes and can see better than I did yesterday with the specs! My right eye has about 5% better vision than my left but this is normal as the human body is not symetrical. The only slight drawback is that things such as newsprint get blurry if I look at them from closer than 10cm. Overall, I'm thrilled with the results and am happy to recommend the procedure to anyone and to refer them to my doctor who is the best in the business and a pioneer of the procedure - just let me know.


Life's good.....sensational even!!

Gold Coast DNF disappointment

I added another entry to my list of disappointing races in 2007 yesterday when i withdrew from the GC Marathon at the 28k mark after running out of fuel. My day began badly when I regurtitated the contents of my breakfast of porridge and bannana(same as before every long run) just as I was leaving the apartment. This came as a shock as I've never thrown up before a race before - even with the usual butterflies. At this point, I had no choice but to go ahead with what I had already planned and hope that the carbo load had left enough fuel in me. I took my usual GU an hour before the race and another 15 minutes before the race. I felt ok for the first 10k and was running comfortably 10-15m behind Monas and Dennis Fitzgerald in the three hour pack. I felt very good from the 10-20k and got in the zone a couple of times where it felt very easy. I then worked my way up to the front of the pack running just behind Mona's for a few k's - inspirational stuff as we went through the half way in 88:03.

I had missed my bottle of Gatorade and GU at the 15k and 20k personal drink stops and I was stunned to discover that the personal drink tables were not marked with head high signs eg #0-500 and so on. Fortunately, I had two GU's in my pockets and was able to take one to keep the energy levels up along with cups of Endura. At the 25k mark, I sacrificed my position at the head of the pack to stop and search for my drink bottle but was unable to locate it. It was a sickening feeling to resume running now 50m behind the pack and without my much needed personal drink. I immediately put the foot down to make up the lost ground and covered the next 3k's at around 4:00 mins/km pace and got to within 10m of the pack before bonking badly - suffering from energy depletion.

I was on pace for a 2:56-2:57 when I stepped off the course, but had used up all my reserves of energy to get there basically covering 28k's on just three GU's and five or six cups of Endura. It was just a very disappointing day with things going wrong from the word go and it was extremely difficult to remain mentally positive. Yet at the same time, I am instilled with confidence as I was well on track to achieve my goal until the inevitable depletion occured. There is little doubt in my mind that had I kept breakfast down and been able to get my personal drinks and GUs whenever I wanted them, I would have nailed the bloody thing.

More thoughts and assessments to come.

D-Day looms as the carbo load begins

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:57 mins/km
Thurs - 30 sec efforts with JR, 3k WU, 3k CD

An easy run yesterday went well.

A good turnout at PCRG this morning for our final session before the Coast - I did most of the 30 second efforts at about 60-80% intensity with two efforts at 100% intensity. Its a funny session and its hard to have a clear purpose for the session when you are doing little more than holding your fitness.

Had a nice breakfast of fruit and pancakes at the Ship Inn afterwards - the first time I've made this breakfast as I normally train on Friday instead. Because Clairie was taking the piss out of me pretending to have an infectious disease, I think its only fair that I reveal that whilst I had two pancakes and Big Dan had three pancakes, Clairie had four pancakes :)

Race pace trial

4k's in 16:58 - 4:19, 4:15, 4:12, 4:11, 3k WU, 3k CD

Went to the Broncos last night taking great care to keep out of the breathing range of everyone on the train and at the game - most enjoyable game too belting the Tigers 48-18 and giving big Petero a standing ovation after he was dispatched to the sin bin for being third man into a biff - love it!!

4k's at race pace this morning which I did with Damian, David and Coach Pat with all the splits being around the 4:13 pace i'm aiming for on Sunday. Felt tired, lethargic and sluggish - a normal taper run. Hardly felt the adductor at all though - a big positive!!

Woke up with a bit of a sore back - probably slept on the wrong side last night but saw Shane Lemcke today for my final physio maintenance and he did some work on the back - not too much to worry about there. Shane pronounced the adductor nearly healed.

I've picked up a minor niggle in the left ankle that I'm paying attention too- typical taper week!!

A relaxed run

90 mins, 18k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Was at Orleigh Park, West End at 6am to help out the Running for Research race with some volunteering. After assisting the set up, my biggest task then was to fix the portaloos after it was discovered that both the portaloos sent out by City Hire were not flushing!! It was discovered that there was no water in the portaloos so I used a 10L bottle of drinking water to fill up the water tank so the toilets would flush and then refilled the bottle with water from the Brisbane River - gees, where's Kenny when you need him!!!

Started my 90 min run from Orleigh Park just before 9am and it was over in the blink of eye! Its amazing how short the run felt after several runs of just under three hours recently. I was relaxed and comfortable throughout again taking care not to go too fast.

The taper continues

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:05 mins/km
Fri - 6x2min with 30 sec JR

It was only last week that I was boasting to my brothers Benno and Adam that our winter weather was t-shirts, stubbies and thongs weather and far better than their UK working holiday weather!! Naturally, we are now in the grip of a helluva cold snap. I have since discovered that the windchill factor for my Wednesday run was a temp of 0 deg!!

Thankfully a tready run was scheduled yesterday and I had an easy session at 5:05 pace.

This morning, it was 2 min efforts in the Gardens and Pat asked me to ease off the accelerator from 3:20-3:25 pace to 3:25-3:30 pace which i did. A few of the Friday regulars must have trained yesterday and Glenda has sadly succumbed to a stressie of the posterior tibia so I ended up running by myself this morning. It was a solid session and I pulled up ok after being late to bed last night - it was Langy's 40th at Earth n Sea at Bulimba with a bunch of the PCRG guys. Naturally, I washed down my pasta and pizza with water!! Nearly froze my legs off in the South Bank pool for this mornings wading recovery with the water easily the coldest I can remember it being. My feet were in real pain until they got used to the temp and strangely enough my thighs felt like they were on fire by the time my 10 minutes was up. Still, I swear by it, no matter how uncomfortable it is!!

Thar she blows!

60 mins, 12k's @ 5:05 mins/km

Gees, it was tough out there this morning! During my Kedron Brook run, I endured gale force winds in temps of around 8-9 degrees that cut through my shirt like Petero Civonicieva through the NSW defence. Once the adductor warmed up after a shuffling start, the body felt good.

Heaps of people sick in the office - I've washed my hands twenty times already today and am keeping them away from my face whilst becoming quite an unsociable loner! The life of a tapering marathon runner!!

PCRG - 3KTT - First win

3KTT - 10:04 - 3:22, 3:30, 3:12

Woke up feeling like crap on Monday morning with some cold symptoms also. Took the day of work and spent most of it in bed, eating fruit and vege, popping Vitamin C and guzzling water. The effort was not wasted when I bounced back this morning to win my first ever 3kTT after almost three years of trying.

The lack of any great expectations due to my ailment yesterday enabled me to take a calm approach to the event and I set myself to replicate the successful tactics of the last time trial by taking it easy with a controlled start. We headed off straight into one of the strongest headwinds I've felt at West End and I settled into 7th place early, moving into 5th at the 500m mark, not allowing the pack of four leaders to put more than 15m on me. I started to pick up the speed then and went through 1k in about 3:22 - unbelieveably, I forgot to take my split! Continuing to bridge the gap to the Damian, Pete, Mike and another bloke, I surged at the 1100m mark and took the lead, telling myself 'ok - you've had the edge on these fellas at training the last few weeks and you'd be soft to let them beat you!

In hindsight, I should have drafted the pack to the 1500m turnaround to save some energy before gunning it home because when the path took us next to the river with no tree cover, the headwind picked up considerably! I literally had to put my head down and plough into the wind. I slowed down so much I thought 'Gees, the boys will be overtaking me any moment' but a quick glance over the shoulder confirmed that they, too, were struggling. Marshal Gaz cheered me around the turn and with the wind now at my back, I catapulted forward as if fired out of a slingshot.

It felt like I was flying as I zoomed back down the path at breakneck pace and again forgot to take my split at the 2k but shortly after the 2k I did notice 6:56 on my watch and knew that the headwind had probably cost me a sub 10 run. Marshal Clairie was the next to fire me up as I raced down the hill next to the boatshed telling myself I wasn't going to let anyone past me in a million years. Despite noticeably increasing my speed on at least three ocassions in the last 800m I was never able to shake Pete who hounded me relentlessly all the way home, never being more than 5-7m behind me with Damian only a little further behind. I was exultant as I crossed the line with my fastest 1k split ever albeit with a massively illegal tailwind :) Talk about a nice little late confidence booster prior to the Marathon. Now, I've just got train even harder and actually beat Gaz, Andy and Jason who were all absent today :)

Getting it done

120 mins, 24k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Gees, I struggled to get going this morning - feeling tired and lethargic. Met up with Mike R at the Regatta at 6 and set off on an anti-clockwise Green Bridge loop. The first 20 mins were quite sluggish but after than I improved every minute. We took it pretty easy rarely reaching anything faster than 4:50 pace. After 70 mins, we parted company and I finished off with a Story Bridge and Kanga Pt loop.

After several runs in excess of 2.5 hours the last few months, the two hours just seemed to fly by today!! Felt good at the finish with little tiredness or fatigue and I think the run was exactly what I needed at this stage of my taper.

Long intervals

2 x 1500m, 2k - 5:15, 5:07, 7:00 with 60 SR

There was a rare albeit slight early morning headwind to contend with this morning on the first 1500m rep at West End. I made a relaxed start, settling in 4th place to the 500m before accelerating away to the lead. Maybe I was too relaxed at the start as the first split was only solid. The second split saw Pete and I clear out from the rest of the field and I recorded a better split, this time in 5:07. There had been some residual fatigue in the legs in the first two splits and this continued in the final 2k interval, but the lungs felt a million dollars as I concentrated on my form and running economy. After turning around in 3:33, I found some extra juice in the legs and kicked powerfully in the home stretch but just failed to dip under seven minutes, finishing with seven minutes flat. I didn't have much in the tank then and sank to the ground in exhaustion whilst Pete recovered quickly enough to go back and run some more of the Group in!

Am feeling a million dollars right now and am looking forward to a relaxing and easy two hour run on Sunday followed by a 3K TT on Tuesday.

Taper begins

Tues - 1k/500/1k/500/1k/1k - 3:26, 94, 3:19, 93, 3:24, 3:23
Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:00 mins/km

I had a very strong speedwork session on Tuesday despite a touch of fatigue still left in the legs from Sunday's run. The lungs felt clear and strong as I spend the session chasing Jason whilst trying to keep a respectable distance in front of Pete and Glenda. Could have posted some scary splits had the legs been fresher!

Wednesday saw me running alone along the river on a cold but beautiful morning. I was a little tired and the adductor was taking longer to warm up than normal so I didn't need to apply the brakes that I thought I may have to use to ensure that I didn't run too fast for the first easy run of my taper.

Today - an easy 5o mins on the tready to start the day. I couldn't get the metric function working on the tready so ended up running about eight miles an hour pace.

Fantastic long run - close to peaking!

150 mins, 32k's @ about 4:35 mins/km

With Pete running down the Coast, Dave sick and Langy having an easy run, it was just Glenda and I today for my last serious long run before the GC Marathon. I made sure I had a race style prep and was raring to go when the time came. In perfect running conditions, Glenda and I took full advantage with a sensational run!! Despite, Glenda's nursing a calf problem we rolled along at a brisk clip the whole way and despite ocassionally dipping below sub 4:20, I felt comfortable throughout, never breathing hard. Only the last 20 minutes involved a little extra effort and that was mainly because of some mild tightness in my left glute. Importantly, I got through the run with only about 30 seconds stoppage time for drink or toilet breaks - much better than the two or three minutes I usually need. Am very pleased with the run - easily my best of the campaign so far.

That concludes my block of hard training - now it taper time!!!! Went out for dinner at a Spanish restaurant, Casa Flamenco on Sandgate Rd, Albion, with MJ tonight to celebrate our second anniversary. I had one beer and that will be my last until after the Gold Coast.

Recovery week - no fast running

Tues - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:59 mins/km
Wed - 90 mins, 19k's @ about 4:40 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:02 mins/km
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:53 mins/km

Tuesday saw me doing an easy recovery run - I've pulled up ok since Doomben. Also saw Shane Lemcke for preventative physio and the adductor is getting better.

Wednesday morning, I did a steady 90 mins with Glenda and Beth. It rained throughout and there were noticeably fewer runners out there. Even more noticeable was the complete lack of cyclists out there - wimps!! We know that runners are the tougher breed, don't we?

Thursday was an easy 50 mins on the tready.

This morning, I did another easy 50 mins along Kedron Brook in chilly, blustery 'Ekka' winds. Felt fit and strong.

Doomben debacle!!

Sun - 7.5k in 27:33, 2k WU, 3k WD

Off all the scenarios I imagined might unfold on this cool Sunday morning with perfect running conditions, never did I imagine the race would descend into farcial chaos!!!

I got a decent nights sleep and felt ok during the warm up with the adductor feeling the best it had all week. The usual mad dash followed at the start of the race and whilst i was careful not to floor the accelerator, Matt R clocked a surprising 3:20 split for the first k dragging me along to a 3:26 in the process. I then eased back to 3:41 for the second k and said to myself I'm now 13 seconds under 36:40 pace. Another 3:41 followed - 'That's 12 seconds under 36:40 pace' I thought and planned to pace myself with 3:40's like this until the 8k mark. Already, I was beginning to reel in runners ahead of me, moving into about 15th place. Unfortunately at the 3.8k mark it appeared the leaders were incorrectly instructed to turn around early and naturally, myself and the rest of the field followed like Brown's Cows. A couple of hundred metres after the turnaround when no 4k marker had appeared, I had a sickening feeling that the race had gone to pot and so it was proved when a 5k marker appeared. As I bowled along at a high tempo, breathing heavily my mind was completely jumbled, depressed and confused - 'what am I racing for now, I asked myself?' In fifteenth place, facing a disqualification and with no chance of running a 10k PB it was difficult to remain focused.

Having experienced it, I can now tell you that there is nothing worse than running along at high speed knowing that your race has been relegated to a training run. It felt like I was running close to 3:40's for the 12 minutes that I was in no man's land without any kilometre markers to assess but as I became increasingly dispirited it's possible that I slowed down somewhat - we'll never know. I finished things off with a 3:35 for the last k but there was none of the sheer desperation to call upon to finish with a lung busting sub 3:30. Knowing that I needed this last hard race before the GC Marathon was the only thing that kept me going.

The majority of the field ran 8.8k's but to make matters worse, I was one of two runners not directed to take the loop next to the railway line and as such ended up covering about 7.5k's in 27:33. I was probably the first 10k runner to cross the line and felt like a fool doing so - thank God that I was a pretty obscure finisher amongst the 5k runners. It was bloody disappointing that a promising day ended in farcial circumstances for about 75% of the 10k field. I'll post some more thoughts when I've calmed down a bit more.

Race eve

Fri - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00mins/km

Did an easy 40 mins on the tready Friday morning with the adductor and groin feeling better than in previous runs.

Coach Pat made the good point that a lot of little niggles quickly go away nine times out of ten during the adrenalin rush of a race. Coach has set me a target of no faster than 3:35's for the first 8k in tomorrow's Doomben 10,000 and to try and keep the splits around 3:40's. All going well, I'll dip under 37 minutes and maybe go well under if everything falls into place on the day. Bring it on!!

Lethargy prevails

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:06 mins/km
Thurs - 15 mins of 30 sec efforts with 30 JR

Have been feeling pretty tired and lethargic the last two days and am trying to rest up. Easy effort yesterday with the adductor taking forever to warm up.

Got some extra sleep this morning and did the session by myself at the Kedron Brook with the adductor again taking its sweet time warming up

PCRG - 3KTT - Course PB

3KTT – 9:59 (3:21, 3:20, 3:16)

I arrived at the starting line for the monthly 3K TT with a queasy stomach and in general, felt quite ordinary – in other words, everything was perfectly normal as I usually feel that way before a TT!! What was abnormal however, was a strong sense of fatigue in the legs after having done the last of four Sunday 2hr 50 min runs on the weekend. Still, I’ve never been fitter and there was no reason why I couldn’t run a sub 10 or perhaps a 9:50.

After running exceptionally well in recent speedwork sessions when I did the first 500m at about five seconds per/km slower than goal pace, I ran my first 500m this morning spot on at about 1:42-1:43 and felt terrible. The lungs were clear but gees, the legs didn’t seem to have much in them!! And my usual partners in crime, Glenda, Pete and Mike were almost 20m ahead with Coach Pat, Matt R and Jason leading the way. This is not to mention another 10-15 runners in front of me! I briefly thought to myself ‘I may only have a 10:20 in me today’ but set off after them anyway! From, 500m to the hill behind the boatshed, I rounded up all the runners in front of me barring the leading six and then the hard chase began.

Shortly after going through 1k in a satisfactory 3:21, I shot past Glenda on the footpath and set my sights on Pete. Historically, my second k has been 5-8 seconds slower than my first k so I knew I would have to run the fastest middle k split of my life in order to go sub 10 today. With this in mind, I increased the tempo and moved past Pete just before the 1500m turnaround manned by Gaz. Mike was next on my hit list but he was really motoring and passing was going to be difficult because of the other Group members running towards us on the opposite side of the very narrow footpath. I didn’t want to risk passing Mike on the uneven, cambered and pothole ridden grass to the left of the footpath so decided to surge when a gap opened up on the other side. Fortunately, a 15m gap presented itself just as I caught up to Mike and I didn’t hesitate, flooring it right then and there. The surge felt good and as such, I kept the pedal down and was rewarded when I clocked a 3:20 PB for the middle k.

Now, I had to run at least a 3:17 final k for the sub 10 and having done 3:16 for my fifth and final 1k split last Friday, I was confident I could do it again as the heart and lungs were feeling great and the legs were finally feeling alive. I worked my way past Pat shortly after the 2k marker and then concentrated on running light on my feet as I went past Matt R up the hill behind the boatshed leaving only Jason in front of me with 900m to go. Such was my momentum and confidence at this point, that I really fancied my chances of mowing down the 30m lead he had on me! Alas, with 500m to go, I had made up only a smidgeon of ground on Jason and with the legs now starting to show some real signs of fatigue, I conceded that I didn’t have a Bernborough like finish in me today. Despite being unable to find any more speed in the legs, I was able to maintain my momentum in the run home, sneaking a glance over the shoulder to make sure I had my pursuers covered – Slash remains the only man ever to run me down from behind in the last 500m of a TT and I wasn’t in a mood to afford a second runner the opportunity J. I was stoked to cross the line in 9:59 for a course PB with Jason clocking a low 9:50’s. Pete charged home after rounding the 1500m mark, overtaking quite a few on his way to a bloody sensational 10:02!

I'm very pleased with the effort and will take a lot of confidence in running that well behind Jason who did 2:55 for the Canberra Marathon and 27:50 over 8k’s recently. It would have been nice to run a 9:50 but I know that will come another day on fresher legs so I’m very happy with my course PB – a course that is considerably harder than the one on which I set my 9:55 PB so I know that this is my best 3k run ever. Now, bring on the Doomben 10,000 on Sunday.

5 x 1k photo

Here's a snap from last Friday's session of 1k efforts with yours truly on the far left next to David. You can almost feel the cool Autumn weather in the photo!

Last 2hr 50min run

170 mins, 35k's @ about 4:50-4:55 mins/km

After volunteering at the Red Run 5k at New Farm which raised money for the Haemophilia Foundation, I started my run by myself at 8am. The adductor was again sore for the first half an hour but moreso from Bruno's bashing on Friday than any tightness. Once I got warmed up, I was moving fine. Once I reached the Gardens, I followed the Brisbane Half Marathon course and did that in 1:43 before returning to New Farm. The last half hour got a bit tough with glute soreness and an aching plantar fasciitis but I got it done, doing a handful of loops of New Farm Park.

Then it was off to Suncorp Stadium to enjoy the Broncos record 71-6 demolition of Newcastle!! I could feel that my body was still dehydrated and as such, resisted the temptation to enjoy a few XXXX's. I'm pretty much on the wagon all the way up to the Gold Coast now.

Was very tired and fatigued at work today - hopefully the body will be right for tomorrow morning's 3k TT. Am also looking forward to the annual leave I've taken for the rest of the week which will help me rest up before the Doomben 10,000.

When the planets are perfectly aligned....

5 x 1k - 3:25, 3:17, 3:21, 3:16, 3:22. Avg 3:20:20 with 60 SR

Celebrated my 32nd (aaaargh shit) birthday last night with dinner at the Breaky Creek Hotel's Spanish Garden with MJ and also enjoyed a relaxing day at home. Am still trying to work out how Tesso and Clairie knew it was my birthday and tipped everyone off. Perhaps Tesso has a secret black book dossier on everyone??

I was hardly bothered by the adductor niggle at all this morning but after Tuesday's disastrous session, I wasn't getting too fired up to shatter myself with a hard session although I had a vague target of going close to 3:20's. For no reason at all, I made a fairly conservative start trailing Jason, Mike and David to the 500m at West End. At that point, I was feeling a million dollars so went past Mike and David and set off after Jason, clocking 3:25 for the first interval. With Jason dropping out to run the rest of the session by himself, David and I worked well together in the second split to clock a slick 3:17, crossing the line together. I led the way back to the boatshed on the third split stopping the clock in 3:21. By the fourth split, I was fair dinkum flying. My lungs were comfortably handling the workload, I was well balanced and my foot strike seemed very light on the bitumen. I went through 500m in 95 secs and started thinking about a magical 3:10 split but faded to a 3:16 finish with a bit of a gap to the competition. Now, I was was sucking in the big ones and I knew the last rep was going to hurt. Mike R gunned it from the start and skippped away to a lead whilst I was content to save myself for a big finish. I dug deep from the 600m and managed to get past Mike and career away to clock 3:22 for a deeply satisfying 3:20:20 average. That average is easily a PB for the course and is clearly better than my all time PB of 3:19:75 for 4 x 1k which was run on a flatter strip.

Of interest is that two of my best sessions recently came after a slightly conservative start in which I covered the first 400-500m at around 3:30 pace. I might try that more often to see if it is a successful long term way for me to work my way into a session.

Its just great going to training at the moment - everyone is training so hard and pushing each other along very well - I couldn't have done it without David and Mike today.

Getting it done

Wed - 90 mins, 19k's @ 4:45 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km

90 mins yesterday with Glenda, Beth and Mel went smoothly enough despite the constant reminder niggles from the adductor and the right thigh region in general.
Then I did a pre-lunch run on the tready today - didn't feel like running at all and my body was tired - perhaps it was the late night at Suncorp Stadium for the might Maroons glorious comeback - Queenslander!!!

Promising start falls flat

8 x 500, with 45 SR, 90,91,98,99,111,112,128,130 secs.

I started of this session by running the fastest 500m interval of my life and probably would have run 87-88 secs had it been on a flat strip. I was highly motivated and the adductor was not giving me any problems and gees, I was going to have a great session! That was followed by second fastest interval of all time, although I faded just a tad over the last 100m . Halfway through the third rep as I was running side by side with the very quick Jason, my legs went dead almost instantly as if stunned by a tranquiliser dart! Despite that, I battled on with 3rd and 4th intervals that were keeping me in touch with the pack. Its quite weird breathing easily enough, but the legs are unable to keep up with your body. With absolutely no spring or life whatsoever in the legs, the last straw came when the adductor started to niggle away on the 5th leg. At that point, I quickly decided to put the cue in the rack and just ran comfortably for the rest of the session. The adductor is almost fully healed and it would be stupid to jeopardise its recovery battling away when I'm not even running good times. I can only speculate on what went wrong with three consecutive 170 min runs over the last three weekends perhaps finally taking their toll. The travel to and from Warwick plus the Sunday night recovery run are other possibilities.

Oh well, I was probably due a bad session after a brilliant month's training. Bring on Friday's speedwork session!

Weekend at Warwick

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Sat - 170 mins, 35k's @ about 4:50 mins/km
Sun - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km

I took a rest day on Thursday and skipped speedwork with Coach Pat's blessing on Friday, instead running a very easy 50 minutes on the tready. My adductor was much improved after lots of time spent with the heat pack. Then it was off to Warwick on Friday leaving at 4pm, ducking into Intraining to pick up two new pairs of Brooks Glycerin 5's and then just beating the traffic on the Ipswich Motorway to reach the clear running on the Cunningham Highway. With MJ commited to a party and a share trading course, I made the journey alone, unfortunately.
Saturday morning, I was up bright and early and gingerly warmed up - the adductor continues to improve but I still didn't have the full range of motion. I did an easy 40 minutes and then joined the Half Marathon field in time for the start of the race with Warwick serving up its usual chilly early moning conditions coupled with a heavy mist hanging over the town. Already settled in, I relaxed and enjoyed the scenery whenever we could see through the mist! I covered the Half in a tick over 100 mins at 4:45 pace, grabbed a cup of orange juice and a cupcake and then ran straight back the way I had come for my final thirty minutes. At first, I was going to do a loop of Yangan, but then took the tougher option of returning to the course and tackling the rolling hills over the last three k's for a second time - I always feel better about myself if I take the tougher option! It was relief to complete the distance after the dramas of Wedneday morning and with the current rate of improvement, I hope to be right for speedwork on Tuesday.

The rest of the weekend was really enjoyable fulfilling my R4YL reporting duties, enjoying a nice dinner with all the contestants at the Warwick Rec Club on Saturday night and catching up with a mate at his horse agistment farm. I even found time for two core strength sessions in my motel room with the medicine ball and dumb-bells I had taken with me.

Finished off the weekend with an easy 50 min run on Sunday night to make up for the missed run on Thursday. Legs were sore from the 35k but I got it done.

An angry adductor

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ about 5:15 mins/km

The right thigh niggle which I alluded to in earlier posts worsened yesterday. I had bailed out of my group run with Glenda and co because I woke up at 4:30am and was in sheer exhaustion from an 11 hour working day on Tuesday and two consecutive nights of less than eight hours sleep. As I had the day off work, it was an easy decision to go back to sleep for two hours and do a run by myself along the Kedron Brook. However, the right thigh refused to allow me a full range of motion and I shuffled uncomfortably through a 5:37 opening k and it was half an hour of running at 5:25 pace before I warmed up enough to get a fuller range of motion. I was thinking to myself 'Gees, if I've still got this problem come Gold Coast, a half hour warm up might be a tad long!' The second half of the run saw me running a bit closer to normal speed, but I felt incapable of going any faster. Fortunately, a visit to Shane Lemcke had already been scheduled for that day and after a couple of minutes of searching he located the offending tight adductor muscle which can be found to the inside of hamstring. Shane speculated that the injury was a typical overuse/increased intensity injury as I ramp up the mileage and increase the speed (see attached photo from Tuesday!). Shane recommended a couple of easy days, heat packs and some mild stretching would help but physio and massage would provide most of the healing benefits.

After an 11 hour sleep last night and quite a few sessions with the head pack the adductor feels much better but I've decided to do easy 50 min runs tomorrow morning and Sunday night, working around my third consecutive long run of 2hr 50 min on Saturday morning which will take in the Warwick Pentath-Run Half Marathon. I won't be racing, just taking in the event as part of my R4YL reporting commitments. I'm comfortable with the decision to give my second speedwork session a miss as there is only the potential to make small gains in speed but there is the risk of losing a crucial long run on the weekend if the adductor flares up again.

How to drag an Olympian to victory

Sun - 2hr 53 min, 36k's @ about 4:42 mins/km
Tues - 2/1/2 mins with 30 JR. 30 SR, Repeat, then 4 mins.

My momentum leading into the Gold Coast continues to build nicely. On Sunday, I was at the Ship Inn at 5:40am to commence my run. No sooner had I got out of the car, it began to rain and with the cool air, it was quite chilly. Perfect weather for keeping my competitors in bed!! A heavy cloud hung over the city as as I squinted across the river at the City, I mused that without the neon and lighting of a modern city, Brisbane would have had a distinctly Edwardian feel that morning.

A sluggish 20 minutes of running followed before I ran into Pete, David and Jonesy makine their way east from the Regatta. I joined the boys and we proceeded to do a loop out to Newstead and it wasn't long before I was feeling comfortable. The body was handling the run beautifully and I was shocked when I asked David to check his Polar for our average pace and got a response of "4:37's." It didn't feel that fast at all! After 90 minutes with the boys, I did a loop out to Orleigh Park so I could run on the Mother's Day Classic course and see how the race was unfolding. I managed to get a front row seat of the action running alone on Riverside Drive and glancing back at race leader, Olympic Steeplechaser Peter Nowill whilst he bore down on me at sub 3 min pace!! Naturally, there were a few "c'mon's" being yelled as Nowill tried to catch me (*jokes*) It was pretty cool to get an insight into how hard yet smoothly the elites were running as they whizzed past me. I must have lost concentration at that point as I ended up doing 2k's at 4:20 pace! I was stoked to finish the last 20 minutes of the run cruising at 4:40 pace and felt like I could have broken out into a sprint if I had been approaching the finishing line of the GC Marathon with the clock reading 2:59:40.

There was a little bit of trepidation this morning as my right thigh gave me some grief in the warm up - it feels like there might be a tight nerve or perhaps something caused by a tight groin. I'll be getting Shane Lemcke to have a look at it tomorrow. Anyway, I came good by the time the session started and with Glenda doing a race pace trial for her SMH Half this weekend, I took the lead from the usual suspects, Mike, Pete and David. The first two minutes felt great and I felt like I was effortlessly gliding over the ground and I proceeded to open up a gap of around 25m to a chase pack led by Mike after five minutes of fast running broken up with 30 second jogging recoveries. Alone at the pack of the back as we turned for home, I set myself the challenge of catching all the boys on the run back to the start and managed to reel most of them in to complete a very satisfying effort. Pat set us an extra two minutes out and back and although my speed was gone, I managed to stay the course and put in a reasonable effort.

Gees, I'm really champing at the bit for my next race.

The hunted

Fri – 2 x 4 min, 30 SR, 1 x 8 min, 3k WU, 3k WD

Drove into one of my favourite sessions today and spent the drive plotting a plan of attack to match it with the in form Glenda. Alas, Glenda had already done her session yesterday, prompting Pete to say ‘we’ll be chasing you!’ So, I was going to be the hunted instead of the hunter – no worries!

We set off from our usual 3kTT starting line on Riverside Drive and I eased in behind Pete and David who were running side by side up front and set about finding some rhythm. Approaching the incline next to the boatshed, I put in a surge and rounded the boys to take the lead, continuing to keep the tempo up as we sped down the decline on the other side of the boatshed. I had a five metre break on the boys after four minutes and following a 30 sec SR, I really attacked the next four minute rep telling myself not to conserve anything for the 8 min run home as 30 secs would be sufficient recovery to have me ready for a hard finish. I tried to kick away from David for over two minutes but he hung on grimly and it was not until the hill before Orleigh Park that I was able to drop him. I then proceeded to put 15 metres on the boys before we ran out of time.

After a thirty second break, we turned around for the run back to the start and it was my turn to be the hunter as I set myself the challenge of catching up to the boys by the time we got to the boatshed and then going past them on the decline. To my surprise, I bridged the gap in about 500m and went straight past the boys. I was feeling really strong and clear minded, concentrating on keeping my arms balanced and my face relaxed – those long runs are starting to pay off!! I was determined to get back to the starting line with a decent negative split and going past the 1k marker at the boatshed I glanced at my watch and saw that I had to break 3:29 for the last k to record a negative split. I really gunned it that last k and it felt like I was finishing a 3k time trial as the fatigue started to creep up on me. Hardly wavering in the run for home, I clocked 3:19 for the last k and for good measure, ran past the finishing line for 10 seconds to bring up the full 8 minutes – that’s what my program called for after all!!

Am very pleased with yet another quality session. To run a 3:19k after twelve and a half minutes of hard running augurs well for the next time trial and I think I’ve put the writing on the wall for a sub 9:50 – bring it on!!!

A sense of urgency

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

There is now a sense of urgency to my running, my core strength training, my diet and anything related to my Gold Coast Marathon goal as the clock continues to tick down. I felt really good this morning after the tiredness yesterday but resisted the temptation to increase the tready speed to 4:50's or something, leaving it at my usual 5:00 min pace.

Completed the session well and am feeling fresh and ready to run hard at speedwork tomorrow where 2 x 4 min, 1x 8 min efforts await.

Carbon copy

Tues - 17 mins hills, 3k WU, 3k WD
Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ 5:05 mins/km

Took the opportunity to chill out and relax on Monday. MJ and I did a scenic drive around Montville and Maleny and of course, MJ took the opportunity to browse the trinket shops dotting the main street of Montville. Naturally, my favourite shops were the ones that had a seat out the front so I could sit down and read the paper :) We enjoyed a selection of fresh cheeses from Colin James, Maleny for lunch with biscuits and salami. That was washed down with Bundaberg ginger beer whilst we took in the view from a lookout.

Yesterday morning, it was hills in the gardens as we enjoyed cool, overcast conditions and the lightly rain soaked grass. In a carbon copy of last Friday's session, I went through the first rep with Glenda before slowly slipping off the pace as David, Peter and another bloke passed me. With five minutes to go, I felt as strong as I had during the whole session and was able to up the tempo and overtake everyone in front of me bar Glenda. The fitness is definitely improving as the 4:20-4:30 pace jogging recoveries between hills felt like a doddle.

This morning, all the mileage and hard speedwork sessions of the past 10 days caught up with me. Despite nine hours sleep, I was tired and sluggish as I ran by myself at the Kedron Brook. I was also nursing some mild (and rare) calf tightness, presumably related to my recent soleus problems and therefore ambled along at a steady 5:05 pace for the 90 minutes. It always feel a bit extra special to finish a run like that when you are not quite at the top of your game and that what I felt this morning.

Brisbane Half Photos

A couple of Brissy Half photos - the start, then two shots from about the 7k mark and the final shot at the 21k mark as I approached the finishing chute.

Photos courtesy of Sporting Images

Top quality sessions

Fri - 6 x 2min, 30 JR, 3k WU, 3k WD
Sun - 170 mins, 35k @ about 4:50 mins/km

Friday - The first two min effort saw Glenda and I side by side throughout before I started to weaken from a slight lack of energy. I told myself to hang in there and tough it out on the back half of the session. As Glenda strode away from me Matt R and then Pete went past. By the time the fifth rep came around I had a second wind coupled with the desperation not to miss out on a quality session as the Gold Coast Marathon looms larger on the horizon. I caught up to Matt R on the fifth leg, went past him and then caught up to Pete at the start of the final rep and then accelerated past him also. Running like a crazy man, I made up about 30m of the 50m deficit to Glenda before Pat wrapped it up. Very pleasing to finish strong when things weren't quite going my way early on.

Sunday - Some trepidation going into the second longest run of my life, particularly coming four days after my catch up 27k Long Run on Wednesday. Things were not helped when I discovered that I was out of oats and had to shove down a variety of foods as opposed to my usual pre long run meal of porridge and bananas. Unsurprisingly, I was a little sluggish as I went through the first hour in a little over 5:00min pace. Then I ran into team-mates, Glenda, Pete, Matt R, David and Wayne at Kurilpa Park and joined them and their 4:45 pace. Started to feel better at that point - its always so much easier with company! It wasn't long before some of those doing shorter runs, turned back for the Regatta and Glenda and I continued on, doing a Story Bridge loop. Going down Coro Drive, we strode out briskly recording several sub 4:30k's that felt comfortable - I gotta tell ya, Glenda is in fantastic shape and will give 2:50 a mighty shake on the Gold Coast!! I had my first GU after 130 minutes, shortly after leading Glenda and then finished off with a 40 minute loop into the Gardens. Very satisfied with the run after the sluggish first hour and it was only in the last 20 minutes that I started to wish the run was over.

Always look on the brighter side of life......

Tues - 40 mins, 8k's @ 4:50 mins/km

Wed - 130 mins, 27k's @ about 4:45 mins/km

Well, its been a lousy couple of days for me to continue my run of bad luck since the Brissy Half Marathon but I'm pleased to say that I bounced back this morning. The run of bad luck started on Friday night when I was rushing to place a four game multi bet with my bookmaker before the Broncos game. I meant to bet $10 but accidentally bet $110! I emailed my bookmaker asking for the bet to be amended and then rushed off to the game only to get home and see my email still sitting in the outbox! The bet lost..... On Sunday, I decided to do my long run on Monday morning to allow my soleus muscle extra recovery from Bruno's bashing and also to avoid running in a sleep deprived state after watching the mighty Aussies go three in a row in the World Cup Final - you beauty!! I started to get a sinking feeling on Sunday night when I could feel myself coming down with a cold and you guessed it - I was in no shape to run on Monday morning. I went into the office but was struggling and left after six hours only to return home to a broken refrigerator!! What could I do but shrug my shoulders and be thankful for what I do have. Thank God for the beer fridge in the gym that now houses the contents of the now deceased fridge!! If anyone knows how I can get a really good deal on a new fridge then drop me a line.

Tuesday was spent resting at home and I started to feel better around 3pm so went for an easy 40 minute run which ended up featuring surprisingly comfortable 4:50's.

Now, most of you know that I'm a stickler for sticking to my program, but after missing yesterday's time trial plus Sunday's long run and coupled with wanting to have a good solid run to erase the bitter taste of the Brisbane Half failure, I decided that if I felt good after my scheduled 90 minute run this morning, I would continue on to do 2hr 10 minutes which I feel makes up for missing the time trial, is long enough to be considered a decent long run but not long enough to knock me around too much before my 2hr 50 min run scheduled for Sunday which I may even delay till Monday for more recovery time.

I joined my regular Wed fortnight running companions, Glenda, Mel and Beth at 5:30am - no idea where the boys were. Enjoying the cool conditions and feeling strong, I rolled along comfortably for the first few k's. The pace really picked up once we got to the Regatta and we were doing close to 4:30's at a comfortable talking pace - a pace which was maintained on the way out to UQ, over the Green Bridge, up and down Highgate Hill and then along Riverside Drive before finishing the run, still feeling great. I had a quick pit stop at my car for water and a few soft lollies and then set out for another 40 minutes with a Story Bridge loop. A little bit of fatigue set in over the last 20 minutes but I never felt like needing a GU and am stoked with the run. Its easily my best long run of the campaign so far and I can't believe that I was able to bounce back from a 36 hour cold so quickly! Life's good!!

A week of woe

Tues - 50 mins, 10 k's @ 4:52 mins/km
Wed 70 mins, 14k's @ 4:54 mins/km
Thurs - Injury enforced rest
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km

After a couple of days early in the week beating myself up over Sunday's dismal performance, I finally accepted that something wasn't quite right on the day and my best efforts couldn't change that. I was under the pump from the second k which felt harder than it should have and I started to leak time steadily from the 7k. So this one goes into the dustbin. I've also learnt that I might be able to get away with a few hiccups prior to a 5 or 10k race and run well, but not prior to a half Marathon. In future, if this Half Marathon was a goal race such as Noosa, I would pull out, but if it was a key lead up race to a Marathon, I would still do it if I couldn't switch to another half.

More pressing problems arose on Wedneday when I succumbed to pain in the Achilles 70 minutes into a 90 min run. I tried stretching the Achilles about 4 or 5 times and then resumed my run but on each occasion the pain returned so I had to make a forlorn 3k walk back to my car including walking along the road shoulder of the Gateway Arterial as cars whizzed by at 100k's an hour. I texted Bruno when I got home and he was kind enough to take the time to recommend doing 20 min ice on and off followed by 10 minutes application of a heat pack, repeating as much as I can.

I rested on Thursday as I still had discomfort, particularly when walking down steps, but I had recovered sufficiently to do an easy 50 mins on the tready on Friday. Upon visiting Bruno for my regular rub on Friday, Bruno diagnosed the problem as a very tight soleus muscle -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleus_muscle - considerably less serious than an achilles problem which was the first good news I had all week. Bruno proceeded to give the offending muscle an almighty bashing in what was one of the most painful rubs I've had in two years, but it did the trick as most of the tightness has since gone away.

A bitter disappointment

Brisbane Half Marathon 85:52, 29th out of about 650

Without a doubt, Sunday morning was the most disappointing moment of the last three years for me. I promised much and delivered little. The second k felt harder than it should have and I was under the pump at that point and started leaking time from 7k onward.

Right now, I've got the shits with myself and will post a reasoned post mortem once I've calmed down enough for an analytical self-assessment.

Less than 48 hours to go!

40 mins, 8k's @ 5:10 mins/km

Was a little late getting to bed last night. To relax before going to sleep, I decided to watch 30 minutes of the 1957 classic, 12 Angry Men on DVD, but couldn't turn it off and ended up watching the whole thing. If you haven't seen this insightful look at prejudices in the jury room and the responsibility of those charged with delivering a verdict, then do yourself a favour and watch it!

Did an easy 40 mins on the tready at the gym this morning. Endured a slight headache during the run possibly brought on by the sudden increase in sugar intake coming off the detox. The headache was not helped by the Spin class leader making a bigger racket than Clairie could muster on a good day.

Body is feeling ok and I'm looking forward to the race. Have been mentally preparing myself to take the race out nice and controlled and then really upping the ante with 5 or 6k's to go. I've really gotta hammer it in those last 5-6k's and rocket to the line!! C'mon!!!

Brisbane Half - Target Sub 83

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 4:50 mins/km
Thurs - 30 secs on/off

Yesterday's midweek taper run with Glenda, Mel, Beth and Azza was marred by a major bonk at the 20 minute mark as we crossed the Story Bridge as nine days of detoxing finally took its toll on my energy levels. I had to slow down to a walk for a few minutes and have some water but I recovered quickly enough and was able to keep up with the others when we met up again.

This morning, we were in the Gardens for a session of 30 on, 30 offs and with the Brissy Half a few days a way and the legs just a little tired, I just took it easy for most of the session running at 70-80% intensity for the surges and jogging easily for the rest of the time. Got the HR up with two surges at top speed in the middle of the session.

Pat has set me an A goal of sub 83 and a B goal of sub 84. I think the A goal is a fair reflection of where I'm at right now. So the plan is to be sensible the first k and then settle into 3:56 pace just in front of Glenda leading her 84 min pace group. I'll churn out these splits to the 16k and if I'm feeling strong at this point, then I'll try and bring home the last 5k's at 3:45 pace to dip under 82 minutes. Can't wait!

The training picks up.....

Wed - 90 mins - 18k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins - 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Fri - 5/4/4 min with 45 SR, 8 hill repeats
Sun - 120 mins, 24k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Tues 8 x 1min, 30 JR

Its been a pretty solid week of training and the detox has been going well. With the Gold Coast looming, my life is becoming even more discplined and the detox has helped kick start that.
Wednesday was a cruisey 90 min run by myself along Kedron Brook. Nice to slip under 5 min pace again after the ITB and then health issues over the last month. I followed that up with an easy session on the tready on Thursday. Friday's speedwork session was tough. I had hoped to emulate my strong performance from Tuesday, but after leading the group through the first rep, I bonked with a lack of energy and could only battle honestly for the rest of the session without ever reaching top sped. David and Mike R in particular turned in sensational sessions! Sunday's long run dropped back to two hours as I went into taper mode for the Brissy Half. Its funny to be starting a two hour run and thinking to yourself - 'this won't take too long.' I got through the run nicely enough. Bumped into Scotty Brittain towards the end and we ran together for a few k's at about 4:15's and had a chat. Its always an inspiration to run with an athlete who is an Australian rep and see how comfortably they do it.

Today, I was pretty determined going to speedwork and had tried to eat as much as I can yesterday so I would have the energy to sustain myself throughout the session. I started off strongly and led the Group through each of the first three outbound reps on two ocassions being comfortably clear of James, Glenda and Chris. On those three return reps, I tried to catch up to the pack and was rapt to catch up to most of them on each ocassion. That was as good as it gets and represents one of the best training sessions I've done in the last few months. Unfortunately, the fuel light came on after that and I could only battle on with the pack for the last two reps and Pat's surprise(not!) extra rep. A two minute jog at the end of the session enabled me to recover before I charged up Gold Coast Hill twice, really maxing myself out on the second effort and nearly doing a Farne Sang. I was so gutted, my body was like jelly and I could only walk back down the hill and followed that with a slow jog back to the Ship Inn as opposed to my normal brisk warm down. That was a top session and I'm very pleased - there's no doubt in my mind that I could have maintained top speed throughout had I had my usual GU kick beforehand. All in all, a great session - Glenda did not miss a beat after returning from Hobart with three Masters gold medals, James showed his usual turn of foot after returning from a break, Chris was speedy and David and Mike R were also outstanding.

Detox? What detox?

Tues - 15 mins sprints, 3k WU, 3k WD

Less than 30 hours into my detox, I felt like death warmed up when I awoke this morning. I struggled to get ready, I struggled on the warm up and I struggled on the strides and then listened to Pat detail today's session in the Botanic Gardens where we had to sprint two sides of a square and jog the other two sides. I struggled jogging over the the starting point and then friggin took off like a madman, clearing out to an early lead ahead of a depleted A-Team. I figured that I might as well shock my system with some fast running and try and hold on as long as I could. Five minutes into the session, I was about 10 metres clear of the chase pack and telling myself that most of those chasing me had done a hard 10k race on Friday and I would be soft If I let them catch me. Spurred on by those thoughts, I ran even harder clearing out to a 20-30m lead by the time Pat stopped the session early after 12:30mins. After a 30 second break Pat set us a one minute out and back, half of it across the grass. The loss of momentum cost me and I only plodded with the pack for the last rep. Gees, it was tough at the recovery breakfast as I ignored the Up N Go's, PB drinks, poppers, Chicos and Snakes and tucked into Pineapple, Watermelon, cashews and water. A small consolation came when I one a PCRG backpark barely 20 seconds after telling Tess 'I never win anything!'.

Tess asked what am I eating during the detox? A typical day will go like this:

Breakfast:
- 2 large bowls of porridge with honey
- piece of fruit or two

Morning Tea
- Rye cruskits with natural salt free peanut butter
- piece of fruit

Lunch
- Leftovers from dinner

Afternoon Tea
- Rye cruskits with natural salt free peanut butter
- 3 raw carrots (sob!)

Dinner
- BBQ grilled chicken breast spiced wtih paprika, oregano, mixed herbs(or BBQ'd rump) along with mashed potato, brocolli, cauliflower.

Desert
- Piece of fruit or two

Treading water

Fri - sick - rest
Sun - 160 mins, 32k's @ about 5:05 mins/km

Well, as I flagged on Thursday, I ended up pulling out of the Easter Egg 10k Race. I felt terrible on Thursday night and there was little improvement on Friday morning. Either, I still hadn't shaken my cold or more likely, I had picked up another one. Once Pat reiterated to me that a race should be an all or nothing affair, it wasn't a hard decision to pull out. I contemplated a very easy 90 mins to replace missing the race, but decided to rest up for Sunday's long run. I'm already behind on my prep for the Brisbane Half and can ill afford to miss a critical long run.

Sunday dawned and once I had overcome a number of obstacles (a 20 min sleep in, spilt porridge, a flat battery on my Timex Ironman watch, an itchy singlet and taping my left plantar fasciitis too tight) I was on my way. I did a anti-clockwise Green Bridge loop, stopping for a quick chat with Tess at the Regatta. Once that was out of the way, I settled into a fair rhythm, running much faster than my dawdle last week, but still slower than my usual relaxed pace. Stopped at the car after the loop and ate a handful of lollies for energy, before finishing off with a 40 min loop out to the Riverwalk running at a nice pace and hoping like hell that I could get through the run without a GU. Very happy to report that I didn't need a GU and have pulled up well so far. I feel like I've been treading water for the last two weeks without gaining speed or fitness so hopefully I can can put together a decent two weeks leading into the Brisbane Half so I can put in a half decent effort in that race.

MJ and I started a 10 day detox today. Frankly, it'll be a pain in the arse, having to buy more expensive food and to spend more time preparing meals but if last years detox is any indication, my health will benefit for 6-9 months afterward. Its a pretty basic detox - no wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, salt and try to avoid preservatives. Wish me luck!!

Doubtful starter for Easter Egg 10k

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 4:50 mins/km
Thurs - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:05 mins/km

I'm still having trouble completely shaking off the remnants of my flu last week and now seemed to have picked up a runny nose and watery eyes. The DOMS from Tuesday's time trial still hasn't gone away confirming that my body is currently less than 100% - lets call it about 80%. I got through my last two training sessions well enough and my legs can handle the slower staff just fine at the moment, but I don't yet have the strength for fast running and barring a massive improvement over the next 15 hours, I'm resigned to being a late scratching for the Easter Egg 10k tomorrow morning.

I emailed Pat this morning and he reiterated that the race should be an all or nothing affair for me and quite frankly I agree. I don't really see the point in fronting up at less than 100% and running a gutsy 38 or 39 minutes necessitating a couple of days recovery when I could do an easy 90 minute run instead and continue get over the cold and improve my endurance leading up to the Coast.It helps that I know I already have the 10k speed and the pain threshold to run a Sub-3 Marathon and I don't need to run the Easter 10k to prove that to myself. Its endurance I need and I'm sure I'll get that in the next 13 weeks.
Should be an intersting morning tomorrow assessing my condition when I get up.

Recovery continues

FRI - 2 x 1500m @ 6:25, 6:28, 1 x 2k @ 8:48, 3k WU, 3k WD
SAT - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:10 pace
SUN - 160 mins, 31k's @ about 5:10 pace
TUES - 3k TT - 10:49

FRIDAY - Went along to speedwork and carefully eased my weak legs and body through the session at 4:10-4:20 pace. It was funny to be doing it easy cardio wise with the legs unable to do what I would have liked them to do.

SATURDAY - Normally a rest day, I did an easy recovery run to make up for my missed runs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

SUNDAY - There was a little trepidation lining up for the second longest run of my life with my legs still weak from the cold. As such, I started off from the Ship Inn with a clockwise Green Bridge loop to avoid Langy and Glenda running elsewhere in the city. I didn't want to be tempted into joining them or have Glenda say 'you need to toughen up, Matt' when I wouldn't be able to run at their pace. My decision proved to be a wise one as I gingerly covered the loop in 97 minutes, well over the 86 minutes we normally do on our Wednesday group run - in fact after 20 minutes, I wondered whether I would be able to complete the run. I then refueled at the car with some jelly beans to go with the GU I had taken at the 45 min mark and then did a loop out to Orleigh Park and back. Surprisingly, I started to feel stronger and was able to finish off the last hour in the vincity of 5:00 min pace. Very satisfying to get it done on minimal(for me!!) fuel and finish with a growling stomach.

TUESDAY - For the second month in a row, the time trial came a week after I had experienced a hiccup in my program. Last month, I was bothered by the ITB, which incidentally is no longer a concern and today, it was a question of how much have my legs improved in the last 48 hours? I had an ambitious(bloody hopeful) plan to ease into the TT with an easy 3:25 opening k before coming home with 3:17's for a 9:59. The opening k went to plan with a 3:26. I then hit the gas and raced past 10 blokes in the next 200m but at the 1400m mark, my legs turned to jelly and it was soon apparent that there was not going to be a sub 10 today. I finished it off with a honest but controlled second half taking care not to flog myself and set back my recovery ahead of Friday's race.

Frustratingly slow recovery

Thurs - 37 mins, 7k's @ about 5:15 mins/km

I was hoping to be back on the road yesterday morning for a recovery run and then do an easy 90 min midweek long run this morning. Alas, it was not to be as I've taken longer to recover from the cold than expected. I finally got out this morning and did a slow 7k's with two 3-5 min walking breaks in the middle of it. The cardio system is fine - my body is still very weak. A disappointing morning concluded ironically with a bird flying overhead and dropping shit on the peak of my cap as I walked forlornly back to my car.

Am hoping that I can recover enough to produce a half decent effort at speedwork tomorrow morning, especially with a time trial looming. That's two months in a row where I've had a hiccup in the week prior to the time trial! All going well, I'll do speedwork tomorrow along with an easy 50 minutes on Sat AM and Sunday's 2hr 40 mins to give me 55k's for the week. I'm resigned to the possibility that the ITB probs and now this hiccup will cost me a little bit of time in the Brisbane Half Marathon but fortunately won't cost me in the longer run to the Gold Coast.

While my mysterious run of several colds in the first half of last year seems to be behind me, I'm still wary of a repeat and will take every precaution to avoid a recurrence. After three or four consecutive years of getting a flu jab, I'm toying with the idea of not getting one this year. Its also been almost 10 months since my first detox last year that produced a good run of health afterward. As such, I'm leaning towards doing a 10 day detox right after the Easter Egg 10k next Friday - I just need to work out how to get through a long run without GU!! Nuts and sultanas, anyone?

Sunday setback

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Sun - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:10 mins/km

Headed up to Mooloolaba on Friday afternoon, by myself unfortunately as MJ was away with work. Covered the Twilight 5k race for R4YL and then did an easy 50 mins along the beach path from my unit at Alexandra Heads into Mooloolaba before turning around and running up to Maroochydoore.

Sunday morning was a significant setback. With a 2hr 40 min run scheduled, I set off from the Ship Inn at 5:45am before running into Pete, Jonesy and Mel. I decided to join them for a little while and after 10 minutes was struggling to keep up, eventually losing sight of them at the Story Bridge. I slowly ran back to the car and took a five minute break and tried to refuel but to no avail. It took an enormous effort for me to run at 5:30 pace and I was clearly coming down with a cold so I pulled the plug. Running at 5:30 pace for another 110 minutes at close to max HR is a sure fire way to wipe myself out for a week.

I went to work and could feel my condition deteriorating on an hourly basis as the cold took hold. Fortunately, its the type of cold that has completely stripped my body of energy with my muscles achey and my joints creaky. There is no sore throat, runny nose or respiratory issues, so hopefully I'll get over this quickly with the help of extra vitamins, plenty of water and a dairy free diet over the next 24 hours.

Quality sessions

Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ about 4:45 mins/km
Thurs - 4min, 30 SR, 4 mins, 30 SR, 8 mins

Wed - Did the Green Bridge Loop with Glenda and Mel whilst Langy. It was an ominous sign for Mel and I that Glenda had already done 40 mins of her run by the time we departed the Ship Inn at 5:45am. Sure enough, Glenda upped the tempo after we had been going for ten minutes and it was a brisk pace all the way along Coro Drive out to UQ. Glenda headed home after reaching UQ but Mel and I maintained a decent pace all the way back to the Ship Inn. This was the first time I've completed this run without a GU which must surely be a good sign. Admittedly, three bananas before my run helped.

Saw Shane Lemcke at Gabba for my eight weekly preventative physio and he was happy with my conditions. Jabbed five needles into my ITB in a variation of acupuncture to help loosen up the little remaining tightness.

Thurs - A top session at West End this morning. The first four minute effort saw Glenda and I open up a five metre break on the rest of the pack as we went through 1k in 3:24. I finished the second four minute rep ahead of Glenda and Langy reaching Orleigh Park with a narrow lead. On the return 8 minute leg back to our starting point, Glenda showed why Langy has bestowed her with the nickname 'Jets' with a strong effort that really gapped me with only Langy able to keep anywhere near her. I struggled as the legs turned rubbery early in the rep, perhaps the effects of Sunday's 10k race? But I was happy to be able to dig deep and bring it home strongly in the last k in 3:30.

Got a massage from Bruno tonight and the body feels great. All is in pretty good nick and I'm looking forward to the next two weeks of training before the Easter Egg 10k.

Recovery mode

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

Easy recovery run on the tready at the gym. Getting my once a week treadmill session out of the way early this week. Body feels good. Back to speedwork on Friday.

BRRC 10k - 37:54 PB

Fri - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Sun - BRRC 10k in 37:54, 2k WU, 4k WD
- Splits 3:48, 3:51, 3:52, 3:51, 3:47, 3:48, 3:53, 3:44, 3:44, 3:31



The alarm went off at 5am on Sunday morning and I rose out of bed nursing a slight headache, but decided against a Panadol, figuring (correctly) I'd be alright after a warm up. Got to West End a fraction late and had to settle for a two k warm up instead of my usual three k's. Before I knew it, I was doing some strides in front of the field and it was time to start the race. The 5 and 10k race fields started together and were quite thin on depth with the BRRC also holding its Half Marathon championship.
Coach Pat had advised me to run a controlled race with seven 3:50's before hammering it home to get close to 38:10 and trim some time off my soft 38:22 PB. Its still early in my campaign, I've only been doing my full 70k weeks for four months and only resumed twice weekly speedwork a fortnight ago so the goal was a strong hitout with a view to building momentum towards the Gold Coast rather than peaking now. In that sense, I was not unlike a Bart Cummings stayer stepping out first up over 1400m in the Memsie Stakes on the way to the Melbourne Cup!

The opening stretch of the race saw one bloke bolt well clear early leading me to presume that he was doing the 5k. I settled into second looking at my watch and then ahead to the 1k mark continuously to ensure that I was on the right pace. Some alarm at the 600m mark when Robbie L passed me and I thought to myself 'Gees - he's taking it out bloody hard for a 10k race', not contemplating that he might in fact be doing the 5k. It amazing how the IQ drops 20 or 30 points when you are running hard! I went through 1k almost spot on in 3:48 and then overtook Robbie shortly after. I settled into a nice rhythm over the next four k's reeling off splits of 3:51, 3:52, 3:51 and 3:47 and going through 5k in 19:10. As I started the second loop, I noticed that the bloke in front of me was recovering after winning the 5k race confirming me as the 10k race leader.

At the next turnaround, I calculated that the second place 10k runner was 70-80m behind me and he looked to be working hard. I was confident I had him covered and just to let him think that I was doing it easy, I gave him a long stare as we passed on opposite sides of the road with my face cool and impassive. In reality, I was starting to have to work a little bit harder at this point with the ITB gently starting to make its presence felt and I knew that I was not going to be flying home with the three sub 3:35's I had hoped for. I maintained my pace until the 7k mark when I put the foot down. Unfortunately, the response was sluggish despite the assistance of the downhill behind the boatshed and I clocked a 3:44. I noticed Adrian and Ross doing the Half Marathon together in 4:12's a couple of hundred metres ahead of me at this point and set myself the challenge of running them down. The ninth k was a strong effort in 3:44. Even though the split was no faster than the previous one, I tackled the incline near the milk factory and a slight headwind on Montague Road. Adrian and Ross started to loom closer and I really hammered it over the last 600m overtaking my targets with 100m to go and then watched the finish clock tick towards 38 minutes in the lung busting finish, but not before I stopped it in 37:54 after a 3:31 final split. That equates to a 28 second PB in my first 10k since the 2004 Nike 10k. I didn't quite do a 'Farne Sang' but still needed to sit down for a few minutes to recover, which was indicative of my effort over the last k.

My impatient side is a little bit disappointed that I am not yet running the 35-36 minutes that I know I'm capable of soon, but my sensible side reasoned that I'm barely half fit and that the faster times will come after I complete the six 2 hr 40 min plus runs on my program over the next few months, not to mention continuing to do speedwork twice per week. Am quitely satisfied with the run and would have been a lot more satisfied had I ran sub 3:40's for the eighth and ninth k's. On the positive side, the body has pulled up very well since the race and I feel that I could easily do a hard speedwork session tomorrow. Alas, I'll miss the Countdown to Gold Coast launch to do an easy 50 minutes instead. Already looking forward to the Easter Egg 10 k in three weeks!!

* Image courtesy of Phil Wain of pbphotographics.com.au

Speedwork improvements

Tues - 2/1/2 mins with 30JR, 30SR, Repeat, 4 mins
Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km
Thurs - 5/4/5/4 mins with 45SR

All the big guns such as Andy, James, Jason, Langy and Glenda were absent this morning so it was yours truly who took the lead followed by Mike R with a gap to the rest of the pack. Now I know what Andy goes through! It was a bit tough being alone out front and setting the pace myself without anyone to chase and not even the toughest opponent of all - the clock, to judge myself by. I put in a solid session considering my tough long run on Sunday and there were some signs that I'm starting to put some good form together.

Wednesday saw me do an easy 50 min run on the tready rather than the usual 80 mins as I'm tapering for the BRRC 10k this Sunday.

This morning, Pat pulled a swifty, switching from a planned 30 sec on/off session to a 5/4/5/4 session in the Gardens with recoveries of around 45 seconds. Glenda and I ran the first rep together hard but controlled with a new teenage fella, Pete, Mike R and Jonesy in pursuit. In the second rep, I upped the tempo leading the way on the outbound leg but failing to catch up to most of my targets on the return leg. The ITB was making its presence felt occasionally, but I'm becoming more confident in my ability to manage the problem and was going fast on the downhill albeit taking care not to overstride. The third rep was a bit of a struggle and Glenda was about 10m clear of me throughout as she showed no ill effects from her 36:32 on the track on Monday night. As I recovered prior to the fourth leg, I reminded myself that I had a 10k race on Sunday and this was my last opportunity to run fast and hard prior to that. I ventured well out of my comfort zone and took the lead and pushed the pace to try and extend it from the one minute mark. After turning around I was about 10m behind Glenda and 20-30m behind the likes of Mike, Pete and Jonesy. My first thoughts were 'You've had a great session so far - it would be a fair accomplishment to match pace with those in front of you on the way back.' Then I thought 'No - If I'm going to run a good race on Sunday, then I need to catch them!' So I dug deep and caught up to and overtook Glenda and then charged up the hill leading to QUT to be right behind Pete and Mike. I sprinted to the finish line and then staggered to a halt only to look up and see everyone else still running!! Pat had pulled another swifty and extended the finish line 100m taking in another hill in the process!! Gritting my teeth, I set off after Pete and Mike again and just managed to catch them at the new finish line where I did a 'Farne Sang' collapse!! Suffice is to say that except for the third rep fade, it was a great session and I'm quite pleased with my endurance at the moment. Bring on Sunday!!

Sunday scorcher

Fri - 6 x 2 min with 30sec JR
Sun - 140 mins, 28k's @ about 5:10's

Yesterday turned out to be the hottest day of the year according to the Courier Mail this morning. I had to drive into South Bank late on Saturday night to pick MJ and Tara B up from Chelle's Hen's Party so not wanting to lose too much sleep, I ended up starting my run from Nundah Criterium at 6:35am instead of the planned 6:00am. It was 22 degrees and 96% humidity at 6:30am so it was no wonder I made a sluggish start. By the time I stopped to stretch at 4k, I just wanted to lie on the bitumen and go back to sleep. But I persisted and concentrated on remaining relaxed and not going too fast. I was really conscious of not flogging myself in the heat and needing a week to recover and as such, was rolling along at around 5:10 pace. It was a relief to hit Nudgee Beach and catch some shade and after a few loops there, I headed back but not before taking my first GU after 85 minutes. I took another GU after 105 minutes and despite the temp increasing to 29 degrees (apparent temp 33deg) I felt much better after the GU's and without consciously trying, I stretched out a little to come home in 4:55's for the last 5k. Either that, or I just wanted to finish! Body temp was very high after finishing, but I did all the right things recovery wise and am looking forward to my first 10k race in a long time at BRRC on Sunday.

Friday - Did 6x 2min with 30 JR by myself in the arvo at Kedron Brook and was quite pleased with my session. ITB probs recently have prevented me from unleashing the shackles and going faster than the January-February limit of 3:25 pace but I really gunned it at the Brook. The start was tough going into the wind and I covered the first k in 3:47. On the sixth rep, I gave it everything I had and sprinted for two and a half minutes to the 4k mark, reaching it in 15:02. Am pretty pleased to run 51 seconds outside my 4k PB with five jogging recoveries thrown in and some windy conditions to endure. Looking forward to taking my speedwork to the next level from this week on.

PCRG 3KTT - DNF

Tues - 3k TT - DNF - 2k in 6:48 with 3:17, 3:31 splits
Wed - 80 mins, 16k's @ about 4:50 mins/km
Thurs 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:53 mins/km

Well, my streak of six consecutive faster times at the monthly TT is over. 1800m into the trial, I felt the ITB starting to niggle and made an instinctive decision to step off the course after 2k in 6:48 when I was on track to run around 10:05-10.10. The first k had been promising and I was feeling good, but my legs started to feel the fatigue from Sunday afternoon's long run in the second k. I think the ITB flared up speeding down the downhill stretch behind the boatshed. The macho little man who yells into my right ear was digusted, telling that quitting was gutless and soft. The other little man whispering his voice of reason into my left ear was telling me 'Good move. No point in aggravating the injury further with another downhill to come. When you're on the start line of the Gold Coast Marathon and look back at the March TT, the difference between a hard 2k and a hard 3k is non-existent whereas taking time off to recover from an injury would have you worried if you had done the necessary work.' The latter little man makes sense to me.

Wednesday saw me in town for the fortnightly midweek long run with my group. Glenda and Mel joined me to run a loop out to New Farm Park. It was a pleasant run in cool, rainy conditions and the ITB didn't bother me at all, although I took extreme care on the downhills, falling a little behind the girls and then gradually picking the pace up to catch them again. Even better, the Bullets went 2-1 up in the Grand Final series with an amazing win at Boondall - my throat is still sore from cheering the boys on and giving the refs a gobful.

Thursday, I did an easy 50 minutes late in the arvo before a rub from Bruno who was pleased with the improvement in the ITB. I just have to maintain the self masage/heat pack therapy I have been giving it and of course, avoid or at least take it easy on downhills.

Gettting it done....

Sun - 140 mins, 28k's @ 5:05 mins/km

Scheduling this Sunday long run got a little tricky. I had to cover the International Women's Day Classic for R4YL which might turn out to have been a waste of time as their appeared to be little attempt to record the top ten placegetters and their times. Starting my run at 4:20am in order to finish by the start of the race was out of question because I got hiome from taking Hiro to the Reds at 10:30pm and would have got little sleep. Starting my run at 7:30am after the race would have seen me finish in 30 degree heat at 10am so I ruled that option out.

A 5pm run in the cool twilight was out of question because the Bullets were on live at 6:40pm so instead, I decided to start the run at 3:30pm. The first hour was quite warm but I was rolling along the Kedron Brook fairly enough taking care not to go too fast and take it out of me for Tuesday's 3kTT. The middle section went quite comfortably although I did bonk in the last 20 minutes and needed to take a GU with 15 minutes to go to help get me home. A fair effort.

A tough week

Wed - 80 mins, 16k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Fri - 2 x 1k @ 3:20, 5 min SR, 3:17, 4k WU, 3k WD

Wednesday was a torrid day. Eased through the midweek long run as slow as I dared. The ITB was not painful or uncomfortable, but I could feel it. More than anything, it was not knowing if I was doing damage or not. Clearly I was distracted as I left for work in a hurry after my run and then had to make the 25 min round trip back home after I couldn't remember if I had turned the stove hotplates off or not!! An ideal way to start what is my busiest working day of the month. Then I had to try and calm the rage inside me and concentrate on work after I found out that Shitness First had direct debited $210 from my account since I ended my one year gym membership there. Got home absolutely exhausted at 7pm and then started putting together my Dusk to Dawn race report for R4YL as the deadline was that very night!! So if its a bad one, you know why :). Best part of the day was ducking out to see Bruno (bless his cotton socks) after he finished his day. Bruno put together a plan to fix my ITB issues which in short is:
1. Self massage ITB with base of hand for 10 mins each night then immediately put on a heat pack for 20 minutes
2. After each run press, sit on something high enough to allow you legs to dangle and then press thumb firmly into areas of the ITB whilst kicking the affected leg gently outwards.

Thursday was a relaxing day at home after the non stop events of Wednesday. Did an easy 50 mins on the tready after lunch and could hardly feel the ITB - beauty!!!

This morning, I decided against going to speedwork with the PCRG as it was scheduled for under the Story Bridge and I did not want to risk that short high speed down hill run that comes after the 500m turnaround. I'm pretty sure that is what caused the ITB to flare up at Tuesday's session. So, I went out to the Kedron Brook just wanting to turn the legs over quickly ahead of Tuesday's 3k TT. I ran 3:20, had a five minute standing recovery and then ran 3:17. Didn't feel the ITB at all decided not to push my luck and call it a day at that point. Hopefully, another four days of following Bruno's instructions will have me close to 100% for the 3K TT. Its all good again!!