BRRC 5k - SHOCKER!!!

BRRC 5k - 18:04 - 3:34, 3:38, 3:37, 3:38, 3:35 - 2nd place

I don't really feel like detailing my shocker in great detail. The short story is that I dropped the ball badly on Saturday. There were some dramas at work and I did not make the time to stop work and eat at 7am, 10am, 12:30pm and 3pm. And I did not eat all the carbo loading food I planned to. As such, I actually bonked during my 15 minute warm up on Sunday morning and felt quite weak and lacking in energy. In fact, I've never felt worse on the starting line of a race in my life.

All I could do was run as hard as I could and hope that somehow things fell into place and my breakfast of bananas, GU and my caffeine hit kicked in during the race. The 5k and 10k race started together at 6:30 which is annoying as you can only speculate on who is doing what if you don't already know. Race Director Clairie send the field on its way quite suddenly and a talented looking runner took the early lead kicking away from the fielf at around 3:20 pace and I pegged him as a likely 5k racer. I let him go and concentrated on my plan to do my first 3k in 10:45. The first k passed and I hadn't collapsed yet but I felt terrible. I managed to shake off a challenge from some bloke and drop him at the 1200m to move into outright second.

I went through 3k in 10:49, four seconds off the goal pace set by Coach Pat. The leader who I later found out was Alun Williams of Pine Rivers was pulling further and further away from me whilst I was widening the gap to two blokes battling it out for third. The plan called for me to hammer it in the last two k's but there was nothing left in the tank at this point and all I could do was keep plugging away. There were several moments when the weak side of my brain suggested I throw in the towel and use my poor eating and preparation the day prior as an excuse. However, the possibility albeit faint, that the leader was in fact a 10k racer and that I could win the 5k kept me going. I managed to pick up the pace ever so slightly in the last 400m to ensure my final split was the second fastest and finish in second place behind the comfortable winner.

So, it was an extremely disappointing day. My training times and my 17:56 5k effort in the BRRC 5 Champs in Oct all pointed towards a sub 17:40 time and possibly well under 17:30. I need to pull my finger out and take more time to prepare properly the day prior to a race. I've proven that I can carbo load and turn up for a big race brimming with energy - its the lesser races, time trials and key speedwork sessions where I need to get my act together. I don't care if its an important Monday meeting at work the day prior to a 3KTT. If the meeting runs too long, I'll be standing up and saying 'Sorry everyone - I have to leave now to eat a meal.'

This week - 57k
This month - 31k
This year - 340k

PCRG 3KTT Photo

Here's a photo of me about to hit the finish line in the TT after streaking clear of Coach Pat in the last 200m. Pat isn't quite in 7:37 shape for 3k these days so I won't be blowing my trumpet. But I gotta say, its a handy photo to have for ten or fifteen years down the track when I can drag it out and tell a wildly exagerrated story of a glorious victory over Australia's 4th fastest marathoner ;-)

Resting up for BRRC 5k, Sunday

Thurs - 50 mins, 10 k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km + 20 mins on bike at max HR

With a 5k race scheduled at Brisbane Roadrunners on Sunday, I've been trying to take it easy the last 48 hours, lying down and watching some dvd's and resting up when I can. Thursdays run was an easy one in hot and humid conditions. Today, I joined a local gym just a three minute ride from my place so I can resume once a week treadmill running alternating Wednesdays and Friday's. Whilst things have gone well over the last two months since I stopped tready running at Fitness First, I'm still not convinced that my gait is perfect yet and another year of once a week tready running will help keep the dreaded overstiding problems at bay. The gym is a bit of a sweatbox with little of the fancy stuff that lures the punters to Fitness First and Good Life. But i think I can handle one run a week there.

Looking forward to seeing where I'm at on Sunday. Pat has asked me to go through 3k in 10:45, averaging 3:35's and then hammer it. 'No worries, Coach'

This week - 46k
This month - 20k
This year - 329k

PCRG - 3KTT - Legs dead but streak continues

Tues - 3KTT - 10:07 - 3:21, 3:26, 3:19
Wed - 80 mins, 16k's @ 4:50-4:55 mins/km

My goal for the TT yesterday was to continue my rate of improvement and run in the 9:58-10:04 range which would give me my second fastest time ever. Despite my best efforts at a race like prep in the 24 hours leading up to the TT there were several hiccups. I've been driving my brother Benno's car whilst he is on a UK working holiday and I had to put it in for some smash repairs(not my fault!). As such, I rode into work on the MTB on Monday - an easy 20 min ride. Riding home was not so easy with lots of hills and a fierce headwind to contend with and my legs were feeling it. Then we couldn't have dinner at 6:30 because our regular butcher just down the road closed early and I sent Adam to Coles for chicken breast and he came back with chicken thigh as they had run out of breast - do you know how long it takes to cut all that damn fat of chicken thighs?? Anyway, we didn't have the stir fry till 7:30!!

Anyway I felt ok in the warm up and was quick of the mark when Pat sent us on our way. I was well placed at the 500 behind Al S, Andy, James, Jason and Coach Pat but that was where the wheels came off. More accurately, my legs went dead - there seemed to be no spring, zip or whatever you want to call it in them. Glenda and a new bloke went past me and then alarm bells started ringing loudly at the 1k which passed in 3:21, well short of the 3:15ish I would have liked. From experience, I know that most runners run the 2k slowest whether they want to or not and I knew that I would have to dig deep and overtake Glenda and the new bloke in front of me which I did around the 1200m mark before clocking 3:26 for the k - a considerable improvement on last months 3:30 middle k. Still I needed a 3:20 for the last k and set myself the challenge of running down Coach Pat who was about 10m in front of me. I busted a gut to catch up to Pat at the 2800m, passed him and ran as hard as I could all the way to the line with my feet so hot in my new Brooks Glycerin 5's they felt like they were on fire. Got home in 10:07 to extend my streak to six consecutive faster times at TT's.

Still, I was quite disappointed in my performance given that I had aimed higher. It seems like I still haven't come up from last week's gut busting 8 x 500's which I have since found out was run in 88% humidity and 24 degrees at 5:30am with an apparent temperature of 28 degrees.

Today, regulars Glenda and James joined me for my Wednesday PCRG run around the river while Davo and Mel B were first timers. Mel B used to run with the PCRG back in 2004 and it was great to have Davo come along as he continues his comeback from injury. Davo peeled of after 35 minutes and James after 45 mins leaving Mel and I to stick with Glenda's typically cracking pace that only slowed when we went up the hill to the Story Bridge. It was a good hitout in typically humid conditions and I was pleased to handle the pace fairly comfortably after the dramas with my slow pace last week.

Happy to clock my first 300k month since late 2004 - getting through a few more months like this will give me confidence that my shin splints are further and further behind me.

This week - 26k
This month - 309k
This year - 309k

Disappointing end to the week, but got the job done

Thurs - 80 mins, 16k's @ 5:03 mins/km
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:05 mins/km
Sun - 120 mins, 24k's @ 5:03 mins km

Clearly the after effects of the hard session on Tuesday, the heat and humidity among other things conspired to slow me down in the second half of the week. For the first time in a long time, all easy runs were slower than 5 min pace which is a little disappointing. However, I'm trying to focus on the good news which is that I didn't force the pace and I also racked up my 4th consecutive week of 70+ k's and have done Pat's program to the letter for one month now.

Thurs saw me doing my run at 6pm after a thunderstorm. I left the singlet in the car and enjoyed the therapeutic sting of the rain on my bare skin. My right plantar fasciitis did not enjoy the wet conditions and started to ache on the run home. With 3k's to go, I was forced to sit down on the still warm bitumen path of the Kedron Brook whilst the rain continued to come down. I then used some of the tape from my right ankle to give the PF extra support before an uneventful finish to the run. An hour later, my left foot was giving me grief and it was uncomfortable for me to put weight on it. The cause? I was a little careless strapping up my left ankle and I must have started to favour the right foot when the PF started aching. I immediately iced the foot, elevated it whilst watching a DVD of Harrison Ford in Firewall and then firmly compressed it in a bandage before going to sleep.

The foot was almost 100% on Friday morning, thank God!! And thanks to the genuis who invented RICE!! Friday saw me do an easy 10 in obscenely hot conditions at 3:30pm just before my rub from Bruno. A three minute cold shower after the run was not enough to cool me down and a minute later I was soaked in sweat again - fortunately, Bruno has plenty of towels ;-)

Sunday saw me do another evening run to allow me to put some extra recovery time after having six beers at RooBoy and Tanya's engagement party on Saturday arvo. I felt bloated when starting the run at 5pm due to a late top up of food in the stomach. I got through the run ok, but it just wasn't meant to be on the day.

I shouldn't be too hard on myself and I know that my pace will return to 4:45-4:50 territory when the weather cools down. Am resting up today in anticipation of a low 10:00 or perhaps a sub 10 at the 3KTT tomorrow.

This week - 70k
This month - 283k
This year - 283k

Easy does it

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:03 mins/km

Went to Good Life gym at Chermside with MJ to check out the facility and do an easy recovery run on the tready. Gees - my legs were real sore from the hard session yesterday and I really needed the easy run.

The rest of the day was a bit of a write off with a bad headache. Not sure why I got it - perhaps dehydration that was not helped by having the bedroom air con on all night. I might have to take a leaf out of the Brisbane Lions' book and put a bucket of water in the bedroom to add moisture to the air.


This week - 20k
This month - 233k
This year - 233k

Scorching

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:02 mins/km
Sun 120 mins, 24 k's @ 4:59 mins/km
Tues - 8 x 500 with SR. 95,43SR,91,33,97,43,95,35,100,39,96,39,103,38 Avg 96.5, Avg SR 38.5

Fri - Easy 50 minute run in warm conditions followed by a ig day at the cricket and a rare 15 drink binge. From my front row seaats I saved a beach ball going into the crowd and soon after received a textie from Clairie asking was that you? Despite being topless, wearing a green Aussie hat and khaki shorts, Clairies jet fighter pilot vision managed to pick me out from more than 50m away from her spot in the Upper Deck. Warning note to everyone - Beware Clairies eagle eye!!

Sun - Started a run with Langy at the Nundah Criterium and ran along the Kedron Brook. It was already very warm at 6:40am and was shaping as a long morning for Langy who already had 30 mins under his belt. The first 5 k was slow but picked up when we hit shade and we were grateful for the cooler conditions and shade at Nudgee Beach. I felt really strong the last 5k but Langy and I kept reminding each other to take it easy and not go too fast - especially with some key speed sessions coming up.

Tues - Pat yesterday set me a target of 95 second splits equating to 3:10 pace and despite doing most of my running at 3:20-3:25 pace recently, I decided to go for it. I reasoned that it was as good a time as any to have a one of faster session before resuming 3:20ish speed sessions until March.

A record 92 runners fronted up despite facing the most oppressive humidity so far this Summer. Many of the boys elected to remove singlets. I led a big pack of 10 through the first split in 95 making jokes with Al Stevenson about how much weight he had put on since his marriage. Al soon proved his class and fitness running splits in the high 80's whilst being hotly pursued by Andy, James, Jason and Tim. Not far behind, I battled it out with Langy and Glenda. A fast 91 second split followed on the downhill leg - gees this was getting quick. However, the heat and humidity took its toll by the time we finished the 5th leg by which time most runners were sucking in the big ones with hands on knees. I knew that I was averaging just under 95's after the sixth leg but the seventh leg uphill got me and the fatigue ensured thaat I clocked a 103 before salvaging some of the damage with a 96 final split for a 96.5 average. Most of the Group was pretty shattered afterward and as such, Pat did not ask us to do Gold Coast Hill but I, Mike R, Keith and one other bloke did so anyway.

Part of me is disappointed that I did not achieve my goal but another part of me is satisfied that I gave it everything I had.



This week - 10k
This month - 223k
This year - 223k

Contrasting runs

Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:02 mins/km
Thurs - 80 mins, 16k's @ 4:49 mins/km

Another late start at 7:30am on Wednesday morning saw me plodding through the heat at 5:02's. I felt great so the pace was a little disappointing even though I know the heat was to blame. Importantly, I did not force myself to run faster - an easy run is an easy run.

This morning I woke up at 8:30am after yet another 1:30am mission of mercy for work that didn't see me back in bed till 3am. I didn't want to endure the disappointment of another slow run in the heat so delayed my run till 5pm when I was greeted with a cooling breeze blowing in from Moreton Bay for my midweek long run along the Kedron Brook. Given that I am not doing a second weekly speedwork session or tempo run, Pat has switched my midweek run to Thursday from Wednesday to allow extra recovery time from Tuesday's speedwork session. It was almost a relief to clock a smooth 4:47 opening split and that pace was close to the norm for the remainder of the session as I cruised along feeling strong, upright and comfortable. Was pleased to average a comfortable 4:49's. Its amazing what difference the temp makes!!



This week - 36k
This month - 179k
This year - 179k

8 x 1 min under Story Bridge

8 x 1 min with 30SR, 3k WU, 3k WD

Before we started our session this morning I took over after Pat's motivational spiel and announced to the Group that our very own Glenda had just been ranked the 18th fastest Australian female Marathoner in Dave Cundy's annual rankings of the fastest 100 Australian Marathoners: http://www.canberramarathon.com.au/index.php?pageid=131 Onya Glenda!! Superflake was kind enough to remind everyone on CoolRunnning that I will need something a little faster than 2:44:33 to scrape onto next years list!! I love these lists - they really motivate me. I've always said that I would have done much much better at school if the entire grade was ranked at the end of each term from one to two hundred or whatever. At school, I was probably ranked in the top 25%-40% vincity but had there been an official ranking I'm sure I would have busted a gut to make the top 10% and pick off a few people in front of me on the way. Unfortunately, our education system is designed to protect the self esteem of the lower ranked students rather than promoting competition amongst the good students to make all of them even better. Anyway, enough of my ramblings.

My program called for me to do my efforts at 80% today and that's what I did for the first six reps concentrating on a controlled rhythm. I let down in the seventh rep and streeted the A-Team by at least five metres - felt really strong on that rep and could have run even fasterr. I also ran considerably harder than 80% effort on the last rep. Two reps of Gold Coast Hill followed before the usual warm down at marathon pace back to the Ship Inn with Glenda. A nice session in the bank.


This week - 10k
This month - 153k
This year - 153k

Oops....I made a mistake!!!

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ about 5:00 mins/km
Sun - 120 mins, 24k's @ 4:58 mins/km

Friday saw me do a easy run at 3pm just before I went to see Bruno for my first rub in three weeks. Predictably, everything was tight but I'm feeling much better for the rub now.

On Sunday, my alarm woke me up at 5:50am and I glanced out the bedroom and bathroom window to see dark overcast clouds. 'You beauty' I thought. 'I can go back to bed for another hours valuable sleep and still be able to do my run later on without having to risk being sunburnt'. Suffice is to say that after waking at 7am and then procrastinating for a while, I started my run at 8am and ran 500m before the cloud cover blew away to reveal a fierce sun......Two hours later, I was grateful to finish after enduring 1hr40mins of full sun exposure and only 20 mins of cloud cover. Obviously, my pace suffered and there were quite a few splits over 5:00min pace. It was a gutsy session, but I'd rather have a quality session and will be trying not to make this mistake again!

This week - 71k
This month - 143k
This year - 143k

Wednesday and Thursday

Wed 85 mins, 17k's @ approx 4:50 mins/km
Thurs 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:57 mins/km

Backed up for another 4:30am start on Wednesday and Langy and I headed for the Ship Inn where Andy C, Glenda and Jenny A joined us for a run. This was the first real opportunity my Wednesday group has had to do a loop comprising the new Green bridge so that was the popular choice. As such, we headed through West End and up the hills to Dutton Park before crossing the Bridge and returning to the Ship Inn via Coro Drive. Mindful of yesterday's TT, I made sure that I was running at a comfortable talking pace and not pushing too hard. It was a great run with Langy and Jenny hanging back with me whilst Glenda and Andy were a tad quicker up front, occasionally pulling 100m ahead. Pulled up well.

I was called out at 1am this morning to do a mission of mercy for work and didn't get back to bed till 90 minutes later. As such, my eight hours of sleep took me to 8:30am and it was 9:15 before I commenced a run along the Kedron Brook. I was slow warming up today and it was not until the 5th k that I broke 5 minute pace and then cruised home in 4:50's for an average of 4:57's. The body is feeling pretty good at the moment, but nevertheless its been three weeks since my last massage as Bruno has been on holidays and gees, I'm really looking forward to my next rub.

This week - 37k
This month - 37k
This year - 109k

PCRG - 3KTT - Five consecutive quicker times

3KTT - 10:09 - 3:18, 3:31, 3:20

I kept my streak of time trial improvements alive in cool and overcast conditions this morning in recording my fifth consecutive improvement to give me times of 10:46, 10:29, 10:27, 10:20, 10:14 and 10:09 for my last six TT's. Just as important as the improving times has been the knowledge that I've had petrol left in the tank after each effort. Also of importance is the fact that I've looked after my body, remained injury free and turned up at the TT ready to run. I'm now aiming to keep improving at around 7-10 seconds per month and reach at least 9:30-9:39 territory at the June TT prior to the Doomben 10,000. Potentially, I could flog myself at the the next TT for a time in the 9:40's but I would prefer to continue working my way there gradually rather than risking injury.

The carbo load went well yesterday and I awoke confident in the knowledge that I could have a smaller breakfast than albeit still more than most of my colleagues eat. Langy continues to be amazed at how much I need to eat before training and told me so for the upteenth time when I drove him to South Bank this morning. This morning I settled for a small bowl of porridge, an Up and Go and a GU and the energy levels felt good when I arrived at the start line after the usual 2.5k warmup. Not all was perfect however as my mouth was extremely dry and my throat parched - from now on, I will bring a bottle of water and swig a mouthful before all TT's just like I do for all races. The legs still felt a little weak and tired from the DOMS I've attributed to kicking a soccer ball around last Friday but I wasn't too concerned as I had done everything else right.

When Pat sent us on our way, I got away nicely and was in the top three to the 100m before settling down five metres behind Pat, Langy, Glenda, Steve and a few others. The legs felt a tad weak in the first k but I still managed to clock a 3:18 and I knew the legs would come good eventually. The pack in front of me went to sleep for the second k and I didn't judge the drop-off in pace as well as I could have, thinking I was going to clock a 3:26-3:28 so it was a little disturbing to see 3:31 on my Timex Ironman watch. By now the legs were coming alive and the rest of me felt strong and I thought I better put in a brief surge to make up for the slow second k and put my target time in the bag. Cresting the hill at the 2.1k mark, I gunned it and inside 100 metres I overtook Steve, Jamie, Pat and Langy who were all running in single file strung out five metres in front of me to move into third place behind Andy and Jason. It was a sensational feeling to easily overtake some quality runners whilst feeling strong throughout! Accelerating down the hill next to the Boatshed I thought 'Gees, I could go hammer and tongs from here on and dip under 3:10 for the last k!' Never mind that I've never clocked 3:10 for a 1k split in my life before!!

As it was, once I had my goal time in the bag, I just cruised home with a 3:20 whilst urging the pack to catch up to and overtake me. A very pleasing session.

Sunday - Average at best....

120 mins, 24k's @ 4:57 mins/km

As the title suggests, my effort this morning was average at best. I was hoping to be able to cruise along at 4:45-4:50 mins/km pace but the body didn't feel up to it and I didn't force the issue. Primarily, there appeared to be some DOMS in the legs from kicking a soccer ball around the local park with my Japanese homestayer, Hiro on Friday. I was quite aware at the time that kicking a soccer ball around for the first time in years could bring about DOMS so I restrained myself accordingly - but as it turned out - not enough!!

Nevertheless, it wasn't that bad a run and my breathing was comfortable throughout and the HR was settled - even when I ran past a red bellied black snake sunning itself! Given the average run, it was probably just as well that the super fit Langy stood me up after himself being stood up by his baby sitter. I could have done without being dragged along.

3K TT coming up on Tuesday and despite going easy at speedwork last Tuesday, I'm confident of making it five consecutive faster TT's and running 10:13 or better. After I really benefitted from my two day carbo load leading into Kurrawa, I've decided to trial a one day carbo load the day prior to time trials and 5 and 10k races. I'm very aware that carbo load don't benefit most over short distances but I think I may be an exception to the rule. Looking forward to learning more on Tuesday.

On these days.......

Tues - 1/500/1/500/1 with 30SR - all reps around 3:55-4:10 pace
Wed - 90 mins - 18k's @ 4:58 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins - 10k's @ 4:58 mins/km
Fri - 50 mins - 10k's @ 4:59 mins/km

It was on these days three years ago in 2004 that I made my comeback to running. On January the 4th, 2004, I shuffled and struggled 4k's in over 20 minutes! Seven months later I ran 3:12:45 in my debut marathon. With my second marathon now just seven months away, its exciting to contemplate what I can achieve this time given my mileage of 70k's a week this early in the campaign! Bring it on!!

Tues - took it easy at speedwork as I was still well short of 100% after the mild cold I had on Sunday
Wed - a gorgeous run in steady and torrential rain that did not let up for 90 minutes. I really enjoyed the sting of the rain on my bare (mostly) skin.
Thurs - an easy 50 min run
Fri - another easy 50 min run. Although I feel fully recovered from the flu, my legs have been a bit tired the last few days and I'm looking foward to freshening them up over the next 48 hours before Sunday's long run.

Matt

Sunday - The sleep dilemna & Farewell 2007

10 mins, 2k's @ 5:25 mins/km

Saw a sensational Bullets games against our hated rival, the Sydney Kings on Saturday night with the fabulous Bullets coming from behind entrenching us on top of the ladder. Felt like a cold was coming on so only had one beer.

RooBoy and I then came home from the game and together with MJ, the three of us got carried away with an an inspiring brainstorming session about investment property in my kitchen that didn't end till 11pm! I went to bed disappointed with my lack of discipline that would see my do my Sunday run on a bare minimum of 6 hours sleep.

Unfortunately, I ended up having a bad night's sleep, barely getting four and a half hours. I woke at 5am in a state of utter exhaustion and it didn't take me long to decide to go back to sleep for two hours and text Langy to bail out of the Mt Cootha run we had planned with some others. Two abusive SMS responses from Langy designed to fire me up failed to have their designed impact and I was comfortable with my decision to go back to sleep. I've always erred on the side of trying to get a full night's sleep and delaying my run rather than risk going for a run and trying to catch up with sleep later and that's what I did on Sunday.

The dilemna turned out to be all academic anyway as when I went out for my run at 8am, I ran a truly horrible two k's in 10:50 and felt simply awful - there was no doubt that a cold had me well and truly in its grasp. The shins were a little achey as is usual when I get a cold and I quit on the spot and walked the two k's back to my car.

Not quite the inspirational run I would have liked to end the year with, but nevertheless its been a great year of consolidation for my running and I believe I've well and truly laid the foundations for future success - bring on 2007!!!

A big thanks to all those who have supported me this year and shared their wit and wisdom!!

Matt

Back in hard training!

Tues - 3k WU, 4k's @ 4:10 mins/km, 3k WD
Wed - 90 mins, 18k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Thurs - 3,2,1 mins, 30 sec efforts with 30 JR. 30 SR. Repeat
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00 mins/km

Tues - A grinding tempo effort in steady rain. Went to a mates place later on for several beers whilst watching the Boxing Day test. Instead of playing cricket at lunch, we went down to the nearby sports field for mud footy. The game started off as touch but the second half degenerated into tackle footy. I managed not to do anything stupid with my legs although I picked up a nice graze on my butt after sliding several metres to touchdown for a breakaway try before the defence arrived.

Wed - A solid 90 minutes in the rain. Not another runner to be seen. I love running in the rain knowing that I'm doing my training when my competition is perhaps skipping a session.

Thurs - Long fartlek session at Pats with about 30 of us turning up for the first post Xmas session. I didn't have a great deal of zip , but my endurance came to the fore in the jogging recoveries and I finished third behind a standout Andy C and James.

Fri - Easy recovery run late in the arvo.

Second Recovery Week

Tues - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:00mins/km
Wed - 70 mins, 14k's @ about 4:50-5:00 mins/km
Thurs - Surge and Hills
Fri - 40 mins, 8k's @ 5:00 mins/km

I was originally going to get straight back into hard training this week, but by the time Tuesday rolled around, I realised that the hard 25k in heat and over a few hills had taken a greater toll than I had anticipated so another recovery week was on the cards. It felt good to map out a recovery week bigger than all my training three months ago!!

Tues - An easy 10k along the Kedron Brook

Wed - A cruisey 70 minutes with Slash and Aza along the Brisbane River. Ran into Tori, but no sign of Tesso and Clairie - I hope their Wednesday river loop is a real run and not a figment of their imagination ;-)

Thurs - PCRG Xmas Run. One of my fav sessions - surge and hills. Glenda issued a none too subtle reminder that I've got a fair bit of work to do with my core strength. Seeing me shirtless, she made as if to test out my abs with a punch and then pulled back with a grimace when she realised that they weren't quite rock hard! Something to remember for motivation when I'm in the gym this Summer!! With everyone dressed in Xmas theme, I ran solidly on the surges but was the first to lead the way to the QUT Grass hill which I attacked with a vengeance. I then led throughout on the hills. Whilst everyone else made their way to the South Bank pool for the Xmas breakfast, Glenda, Langy, Daniel T, Robbie and I resisted the temptation to join them and did a full 15 minute warm down at marathon pace. Great way to finish a session. It was nice to pick up my second Group award for the year and I again chose the BCC Gold Class passes - thanks to those who voted for me!! That's a pic of Glenda and I finishing our warm up run.

Fri - Easy 40 mins in the arvo followed by a rub from Bruno. My first homestayer arrived as well. A 23yo Japanese bloke by the name of Hiro who loves soccer and hates tomatoes. He's already been in Toronto for seven months so his English is quite advanced and we're getting along well so far. On the downside, I bumped my head into the garage door quite hard and am suffering through a bout of tinnitus at the moment. I have to try and hear through a constant ringing noise in my head and can get dizzy at times but should be over it in a week or so.

Sunday - Recovery week concludes

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

It was nice to finish off my recovery week with an easy 90 minutes late on Sunday arvo. Even nicer was the realisation that my recovery week had totalled 40k's - that was a fair dinkum week's training not long ago!!

Rushed home from my run and then went to the Bullets with Langy to watch the boys continue their impressive season. Robbie L was at the game but left suddenly at half time - perhaps he's started secret training for Kurrawa 2007 already :)

Satrday - Recovery and refelections

Wed - 30 mins, 6k's easy
Thurs - 40 mins, 8k's easy
Fri - 40 mins, 8k's easy

While my indestructable rival from Kurrawa, Glenda was chasing Langy, Andy, Gaz and co at speedwork on Tuesday, I took the day off and just concentrated on walking around and stretching as much as possible. DOMS peaked on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning but I've since recovered well.

Easy runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday passed without incident and today saw MJ and I at Movie World where we had a great day out. Gees, the Lethal Weapon is a helluva ride!!!

I've had plenty of time to reflect this week and my efforts on Sunday have given me the confidence to break new ground in 2007. As Scott Brown said to me, 'you've learnt that a steady, injury free build up is the secret to success.' With an easy week behind me, am really looking forward to my Gold Coast campaign.

Sunday - Kurrawa to Duranbah - Coming out party!!!

Kurrawa to Duranbah - 2nd leg 25k in 1:44:05 4th or 5th Relay Team

After more than two years of frustration battling the shins splints with only one 110% effort race in that time, this was it - my coming out party!!

My preparation had a few hiccups. Rather than get up before 3am and drive down from Brisbane, I booked MJ and I into an El Cheapo motel for the night. Unfortunately, a microwave was not provided and I was unable to make my own pasta dinner. Never mind. MJ and I then went for a drive along the course so I could scout the route and at the border, we stopped for dinner at Latitude 28, boasting magnificent views of the Pacific Ocean. We both ordered the pasta of the day which turned out to be a creamy prawn pasta rather than the tomato based pasta I was hoping for. My stomach is not used to creamy meals but I remained calm and philosophical. I had a three day carbo load under my belt and my stomach is pretty adapatable.

Race morning saw a bombshell dropped with the announcement that Jonesy had slept in and the much hyped Slash/Matty v Jonesy/Glenda PCRG Intrasquad match race was off. I said to Slash - 'lets go for a top 5 spot instead!' Slash didn't let that or the 40 minute starting delay bother him and ran a strong leg down south duelling with Phil K most of the way and arriving at Kurrawa in 7th spot, just behind Phil. Also arriving at Kurrawa was Glenda who had decided to run her leg of the relay anyway so at least the two of us could have a race! When Slash arrived Glenda didn't wait for me and grabbed an early 20m lead whilst I fumbled to strap on a borrowed Garmin (kindly lent by Chelle) after Slash passed it to me. Game on!

I ran steadily up the hill just after the start and then took my time making up the deficit to Glenda over the first two k's. As I warmed up, I increased the tempo and then caught up to Phil K's partner Stevo a sub 3 hour marathoner coming back from injury. Stevo courageously tried to hang on to me as I steadily increased the tempo but I knew that I was too fit for him and so it proved as I dropped him after a 2k duel. I then steadily reeled in Glenda by the time 5k's passed. An exciting duel then followed as Glenda and I swapped the lead a few times and steadily continued to increase the tempo, going through 10k's in 39:40. Here I took my first GU and was extremely appreciative of the cool Enervit drink that MJ handed to me. Having a reliable crew member driving along the route and handing you drinks and supplies is critical to a good run at Kurrawa.

As the temperature increased to 24 degrees, the battle continued while I counted about six or seven lead changes between Glenda and myself. I got a 10m lead on one occasion but Glenda pegged me back. By now, doubts were creeping into my mind. I was feeling ok but was unproven at this pace over this distance and I was up against a 2:55 Marathoner. I kept telling myself to trust my training and my carbo load and maintain the pace - Glenda had confessed to being underdone after missing a weeks training with a foot injury a month ago so I kept telling myself to maintain the pressure and maybe she'll crack. Finally, along Golden Four Drive around the 13-14k mark I realised that Glenda was no longer with me and I had opened up a 20m lead! I battled my way up the hill after Tallebudgera Creek and then coming down the other side, I struck my first major problem. Rushing to put on my sunscreen prior to the start, I had made the rookie mistake of putting some onto my forehead and now it was trickling into and seeping into my right eye, stinging it. I tried blinking the eye repeatedly and then ran with it shut for a minute. Just when I thought I was going to have to pull over at a water bubbler and wash it, relinquishing my lead in the process the eye came good. Phew!

I was now running alone through the streets of Burleigh, clear of Glenda but the temperature was hotting up and the doubts were coming back - could I maintain the pace solo over the last seven or eight k's? It was at this stage that I started to visualise one of my favourite all time inspirational scenes - that of Deek strongly pulling away from Olympic Gold Medallist, Carlos Lopes in the last kilometre of the 1983 Rotterdam Marathon. I love that video tape! I relaxed my body and I thought about how much Deek must have been hurting and how he dug deep and didn't give an inch. Could I do it too? Bloody oath I could!! And so it proved - as I continued to visualise Deek's powerful finish, I noticed my body had straightened, my breathing was regulated and my pace had picked up a touch.

Unfortunately, I must have got carried away with the daydreaming and as we approached the last point along the coast, I saw some witches hats(which had been designating turns all day) halfway up a long hill and figured a turn must be up there. Cresting the hill with doubts in my mind for the withces hats had not indicated a turn, I sneaked a glance over my shoulder and sure enough - Glenda was nowhere to be seen! I had taken a wrong turn! Continuing down the other side of the hill I immediately hung a right to get back onto the coast espalande and was dismayed to see that my 50m lead had been trimmed to about 20m! I knew that Glenda would sniff blood in the water if I didn't increase my lead again as quickly as possible so I dug deep and steadily upped the pace again. Despite that, it was here that I was passed for the only time by Jess Kirley, a 2:40 Marathoner coming back from a knee injury. I keep in touch with Jess by enmail when I can and he has been where I want to go with my running over the next few years so now I started telling myself to try and hang on to him - lets find out what if feels like to be a 2:40 Marathoner!! Alas, I was only able to hold onto Jess for a few hundred metres but managed to keep up the speed enough to ensure that he didn't pull too far away. While it might have felt like I was going fast I knew that my pace had dropped from the early 3:58's to around 4:10-4:15's at this stage (The Garmin lost satellite tracking around the 9k mark)

By now, the sun was scorching down, there was no shade, there was only four k's to go and I had pulled well clear of Glenda again. I could feel one of my toes blistering, my stomach was starting to get a little queasy and I was hurting more than at any other stage of the race. I kept telling myself 'its just a little further than a 3kTT and your used to hurting for the whole 10 minutes of that, so keep going!' As I sped along Hedges avenue, I could see that Jess was no longer increasing his lead over me and I knew I wasn't the only one doing it tough. As the park hosting the start/finish area loomed, I glanced at my watch which registered 3:27 and managed to coax a little more speed out ofn my weakening body to ensure that Slash and I dipped under the 3:30 mark! U beauty!

I ran through the ticker tape doing the double fist pump and then collapsed to my hands and knees - I had done it! 1:44:02 for 25k's in pretty tough conditions with three big hills thrown in. More importantly than the time, I had outduelled a 2:55 Marathoner and only been overtaken by a 2:40 Marathoner. After two years of knowing that I belonged in the company of this calibre of runner, it was bloody nice to confirm it!

I really could not have accomplished what I did without my inspirational PCRG team mate, Glenda. It was weird to be racing each other and hardly speaking after training so much together! Our duel for the first half of the race set up a good time and MJ was there for me on no less than 10 occasions along the route offering Enervit and GU's to me when I needed them.

I did all the right things in the hours after the race and pulled up well. Drank over four litres of fluids before I needed to head to the bathroom for the first time - it never ceases to amaze me how much you can lose!!

Its great to end 2006 on a high. I'll take a very easy recovery week now and then continue my Gold Coast Marathon campaign. Bring it on!!

Kurrawa to Duranbah - The Game Plan

Wed - 70 mins - 14k's in 4:40-5:00 range
Thurs - 2k's in 8:02, 3k WU, 3k WD
Fri - 15 mins - 3k's

Well, the Kurrawa to Duranbah 2 x 25k relay is less than 24 hours away and I have that nice tingle of antipation coursing through my veins as the clock ticks down. A month ago, this race was going to be a very hard run but i've been pleased with my progress since and I'm ready to well and truly flog myself for the first time since August last year. Slash has the first leg, then for the run from Duranbah north to Kurrawa, I will aim to run 3:55 mins/k's with the help of Chelle's Garmin 301 as there are only k markers every 5k's. Of course, if it is a scorcher by the time I start at around 6:45, then I may have to be a little more conservative.

Slash and I are hoping we can get a top five finish in the relays, but just as important will be beating our PCRG rivals, Jonesy and Glenda. On paper, Slash will have the edge over Jonesy in the first leg and with a 79 min Noosa Half under her belt, Glenda will have the edge over me in the return leg. But of course, that won't count for anything on the day and it will be interesting if Glenda and I end up in a head to head duel at some stage. Basically, I would expect Glenda to try and burn me off ASAP because she knows I am likely to outkick her in the last kilometre if it comes down to that. So if that eventuates, I'll just have to throw that plan for 3:55's out the window and hang on for dear life!!

The last few days have gone well. Wednesday was the first of what I hope will be a fortnightly run along the Brisbane River for myself and a handful of PCRG A-Teamers. Glenda, Slash and James M joined me for the inagurual run and we had a good hitout. Taperering shortened Thursday's run to 8k's of which just 2k's were at race pace and yesterday saw a light 15 minute run at 4pm just before a rub from Bruno.

I also started the AIS carbo load on Thursday morning and so far it is going well. This will be a critical test as it may be my only chance to experiment with this carbo load before my Gold Coast Marathon next year.

In the office now for a couple of hours and then MJ and I are driving down the coast and staying in a motel. With a 5am race start, there is no way I'm getting out of bed at 2:30am like last year!!!

So, I'm ready..... BRING IT ON.

PCRG - 3KTT

3KTT - 10:14 (3:22, 3:39, 3:22)

After a disappointing past couple of days, I was keen to make amends at today's 3KTT. There was a fair bit of trepidation last night when I wasn't feeling that great (possible cold coming on) and had occasional minor shin discomfort. I started bracing myself for the possibility that my streak of three consecutive faster times (10:46, 10:29, 10:27, 10:20) at the 3KTT would be broken. I did everything right yesterday and last night to help me get to the start line - plenty of water, Vitamin C, extra multivitamins and antioxidants and no dairy or alcohol.

Fortunately, I woke up feeling pretty good and after showing some blistering pace on the third run through, I knew that I would be ok today and set myself a target of 10:19, one second faster than last months 10:20. After the usual mad dash for the first coupla hundred metres, Mark T, Andy C and James M accelerated away up front with a big gap to a pack of seven of eight. I was tacked onto the back of this pack which included Peter H, Mike R, Jamie, new boy Stevo and surprisingly, Big Mark who I thought had a PB in the high 10's. 'Hang on' I thought to myself. 'Where's Langy? He wants sub 10 today. Have I gone out too fast?' A glance to my left and there was Langy accelerating past me and then joining Pete at the front of the pack. It later transpired that Langy was slowly away and had been enveloped by other runners at the start.

The first k went by comfortably in 3:22 and it seems that some of the pack felt they had gone out too hard and decided to back off a touch. I immediately sensed the drop in pace as we moved onto the narrow footpath and fearful of getting caught in traffic, I immediately put on a surge, going past five blokes at once and settling into sixth place with Jamie - a little over five metres behind Langy and Pete. And there I stayed as I clocked a 3:29 split for the middle k. Thank God I wasn't caught napping when the pace slowed otherwise, I would have been in big trouble! As I ate up the metres in the run home, I calculated that I needed a 3:25 to meet my goal and as I went through 500m in 1:40 mins, I knew that a good time was in the bag. With plenty in reserve, I was able to yell out to Langy 10 metres in front of me to stop loafing and kick for home and I had a fair bit to say to others over the last 500m as I cruised home with a 3:22 k for a time of 10:14. Pete, Langy and Jamie weren't too far in front.

All in all, I am very, very pleased with today's run. I thought that I controlled my run very well and that my stride was even and efficient. The fact that I was able to cruise to the line over the last 500m, do a bit of talking and still record a 10:14 leaves me in no doubt that I could have done sub 10 had I absolutely shattered myself. But of course, with the problems of the last few days and Kurrawa a few days ago, a flogging was not on the agenda,

So, the remainder of this taper week sees me doing 80 minutes easy tomorrow morning, 40 minutes on Thursday with three k's at goal race pace and then 20-25 minutes easy on Friday. Bring on Kurrawa!!

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