Australian Record!!!

Fri UQ All Comers 3000m - 10:11:23 - 36,79,81,82,83,83,83,79

Alas it was not me who set an Australian record but rather Glenda who claimed a well deserved mark in the 3000m W45-49 category. When Glenda announced her intention to launch an assault on the existing 10:33 record after her 45th birthday and target 10:15, I was only too happy to offer to assist. To kill several birds with the one stone, I would also make my track debut(not counting grass tracks at high school), gain more experience at racing later in the day and in particular, experiment with my eating patterns before races late in the day.

Due to a mixup, I had to spend two hours mowing and wielding a pick axe at MJs property from 4pm to 6pm with the race scheduled for 8:15pm at UQ! I told myself that it was a good way to toughen up and besides Coach Pat spent a week before the 1988 Gold Coast Marathon holding his hands above his head and drilling holes in the ceiling at Central Plaza 1 in the CBD - then he went out on Sunday and won in 2:10:44!!!! So two hours of gardening is no big deal.

Had a sandwich and a large plate of pesto pasta for lunch then had one banana per hour from 4pm to 7pm. After a 12 minute warm up with Glenda we were away. The original plan had me sitting on Glenda's right shoulder half a step ahead of her so she could keep up with me but a light cooling breeze saw that a change of plan that would see me run in front so Glenda could draft. As Glenda happily admits to having no kick we took off quickly intending to bank some time and then hang on with 82 sec laps. After 200m, I called back to Glenda "36 secs - five secs under goal pace". There were some quick fellas in the field - John Athian and Luke Fainges to name two so we were already well back. After laps of 79 and 81 we had clocked 3:17 for the first k - a few seconds quicker than planned so i called the lap split back to Glenda but deliberately avoided mentioning the 1k split forgetting Glenda could see the clock!! Running about four to five seconds per lap slower than my PB pace, I had to work very hard but nevertheless was feeling quite comfortable and able to insert comments here and there. A split of 82 seconds followed and then 83, 83 and 83 as we started to leak a few fractions of a second here and there, but remained well under record pace as Glenda kept drafting me. My commentary got louder on the last lap as we picked up the pace - I later found out that Glenda never heard a word I said the whole way through as she was really in the zone - we are doing hand signals next time!!! After a lungbusting charge down the finish straight, I eased in the shadows of the post whilst Glenda lunged forward to clock 10:11:04 slicing 22 seconds of the Australian record and 52 seconds of the Qld record!! She really is an inspiration to all of us at PCRG. It was a great hitout and I enjoyed the experience immensely.

Sat PM - 130 mins, 26k's @ about 5mins/km

With a mates buck's party scheduled Sat night, i did my long run before I drove up to Caloundra. It was a bit slow due to the warm conditions at 4pm and my full stomach.

Sun PM - 30 mins easy

Still a bit dusty from 8-10 drinks the night prior, not to mention staying up till 3:45am!

Tues - 3KTT - 9:46 - 3:14, 3:16, 3:15

Less than four days after a reasonably hard 3000m, here I was lining up for an even harder one!! I told myself that it was just like Olympic 5000m runners doing a heat and then backing up for the final two days later. My main aim was to run a strong middle k. A conservative 3:14 opening allowed me to do just that as I surged at the 1400m moving from 5th into 2nd, but still a long way behind the in form leader, Nic. I went through 2k in 6:31 and entertained some thoughts of a blistering 3:08 closing and a PB. However, I just wasn't strong enough or fresh enough. However, Matt L behind me ran a 9:49 PB and pushed me hard all the way to the line to ensure that I clocked my equal third fastest time ever. Happy with that and also happy with the even pacing effort.

Tues PM - 30 min easy

Wed AM - 90 mins, 20k's @ 4:33mins/km

Glenda took off early this morning for some marathon pace training so I ran with Mike, Matt L and Wayne picking up the pace gently after the Regatta and bowling along steadily on Riverside Drive. Solid run at 4:33's.

Wed PM - 30 mins easy

My fourth run in 48 hours can be a hard one sometimes and this was one of those times, running through the local streets in the dark at 7pm after a 10 hour day in the office and then having to make dinner as soon as I finished.

Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:56mins/km