PCRG - 3KTT - Course PB

3KTT – 9:59 (3:21, 3:20, 3:16)

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

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

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

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

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

5 x 1k photo

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

Last 2hr 50min run

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

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

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

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

When the planets are perfectly aligned....

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

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

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

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

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

Getting it done

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

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

Promising start falls flat

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

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

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

Weekend at Warwick

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

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

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

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

An angry adductor

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

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

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

How to drag an Olympian to victory

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

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

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

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

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

The hunted

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

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

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

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

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

A sense of urgency

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

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

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

Carbon copy

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

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

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

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

Brisbane Half Photos

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

Photos courtesy of Sporting Images

Top quality sessions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A week of woe

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

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

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

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

A bitter disappointment

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

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

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

Less than 48 hours to go!

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

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

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

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

Brisbane Half - Target Sub 83

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

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

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

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

The training picks up.....

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

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

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

Detox? What detox?

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

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

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

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

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

Lunch
- Leftovers from dinner

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

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

Desert
- Piece of fruit or two

Treading water

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

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

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

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

Doubtful starter for Easter Egg 10k

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

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

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

Recovery continues

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

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

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

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

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

Frustratingly slow recovery

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

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

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

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

Sunday setback

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

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

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

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

Quality sessions

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

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

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

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

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

Recovery mode

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

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

BRRC 10k - 37:54 PB

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



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

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

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

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

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

Speedwork improvements

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

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

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

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

Sunday scorcher

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

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

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

PCRG 3KTT - DNF

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

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

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

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

Gettting it done....

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

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

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

A tough week

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

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

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

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

1k/500/1k/500/1k/1k with 45 SR - 3:35, 1:50, 3:50, 1:56, 4:05, 4:06

What a fucking disastrous morning.............so many things went wrong.

Firstly, I woke up starving and not even the bowl of porridge, slice of bread with peanut butter, Up N Go, GU and handful of lollies I had before training could give me any energy in time for the session. I'm sounding like a broken record here, but I really need to eat right the day prior to a key session. I had a very good dinner of chicken stir fry with extra rice last night but a pitiful lunch consisting of a small bowl of left over Japanese stir fry with noodles and about six Saos with cheese. Time and time again, it has proven that I need to have a good lunch and a good dinner prior to speedwork sessions and yet I continue to drop the ball. To rectify this shortcoming, I'm going to draw up an eating plan for Monday's and Thursdays and stick it on my desk and in my bedroom and follow the bloody thing to the letter!!! I simply cannot afford to waste any more sessions like this.

I knew I was in trouble during the warm up and the stretching session and strides did not offer my any hope. If you thought the first rep of a 3:35k was bad enough, then look away now as it gets worse. I struggled to a 1:50 for the 500m and pretty much threw in the towel then, just wanting to get through the session without injury. That was wishful thinking, as on the third rep, my ITB on the left leg flared up again and niggled away for the rest of the session but wasn't so bad once I slowed down to 5:00's for the cooldown run back to the Ship Inn. I still only know the basics of treating and training through an ITB niggle and don't know if I should have just ignored the niggle and kept running fast had I been feeling well. I need to have a good talk with Bruno and Langy (who holds a PHD in ITB's). Tesso also just emailed me the following very practical advice 'Good luck with that ITB. Get it before it gets you!!! The mistake I made was ignoring mine when it first started to niggle.'

The only thing that could have made my morning worse would have been breaking the fence that I kicked in frustration after the session concluded and subsequently being fined for damaging council property. It was that bad a day.

Its all good!!

Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:10 mins/km
Sun - 140 mins, 28k's @ 5:00 mins/km


The news was all good on Thursday night when Bruno successfully massaged the tightness out of part of my ITB. I was never overly concerned as there was no tightness or discomfort in the vincity of the knee(which is the bad news), but nonetheless, its good to be able to run with one less niggle to be concerned about.

On Friday, I left my run till 5pm, to give the body as much time as possible to recover after the masssage. Did an easy session on the treadmill at the gym and then followed it up with a hard 10mins at maximum HR on the bike. No problems with the ITB.

It was a case of deja vu on Sunday when for the second time this year, I spurned a Sunday run with Langy and ended up running in a scorcher! I had only got seven hours sleep on Friday night after getting up early to watch the Broncos on Saturday morning. After another seven hours sleep on Saturday night, I woke up exhausted at 4:30am and decided that I needed an additional two hours sleep. With all the running, gym, work and play in my life, its pretty clear to me that I need at least eight hours sleep every second night and preferably on five or six nights a week. IT was overcast and raining at 4:30am and I thought 'Beauty - I'll have a nice cool run when I get up!' Yeah, right! By the time I started at 7am, the sun was breaking ominiously through the clouds. I started my longest run since the 2004 Gold Coast Marathon sluggishly with porridge and an Up n Go sitting uncomfortably in my stomach. Things were much better after my first GU and water stop at 7k's and I began to roll along comfortably towards Nudgee Beach. Reaching Nudgee Beach, I decided to do three loops of the wooden boardwalk to keep me out of the sun for a while before heading back. A second GU with 50 minutes to go ensured that I was able to finish the run clocking 4:50's for the last 5k's without pushing myself as the mercury climbed to 26.9 degrees and an apparent temperature of 29 degrees. I made sure I ticked all the right boxes with regards to hydration and nutrition for the rest of the day and pulled up well.

Looking forward to resuming twice a week speedwork for the first time in a long time this week.

A good week so far...

Tues - 8 x 1 min, 30 SR, 2 x Gold Coast Hill
Wed - 84 mins, 17k's @ 4:45 mins/km
Thurs - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:02 mins/km

Had a good hitout under the Story Bridge on Tuesday posting some fast early reps and digging deep to clear out from the pack on the 7th rep with only Andy being able to go with me. Two gutbusters up Gold Coast Hill finished off things.

Rocked up at the Ship Inn at 5:30am on Wednesday morning tired and with a sore throat after lots of hollering and carrying on the previous night as the mighty Bullets went 1-0 up in the Semi Finals with a tense seven point win over the much hated Sydney Kings. Langy, Glenda, Jen, Mel and newcomer Beth joined me and we decided to do an anti-clockwise Green Bridge loop heading down Coro Drive first. After an easy few k's the pace picked up and I felt the pinch a little from the 15 min mark until my GU kicked in at the 40 min mark and I ran out the session nicely, running up Highgate Hill strongly. Took my Japanese Homestayer Hiro out to the State 3000 and 5000m titles at UQ so I could cover the proceedings for R4YL. Its was an absolute pleasure to watch dual Olympian Peter Nowill power relentlessly around the track clocking 68 or 69 second laps every time before gunning it home with a 61 second closing lap. Inspirational stuff!!

The last four runs have all been fairly decent efforts so it was relief to amble down my Kedron Brook route at an easy pace. As soon as I started my run this morning, I felt a tight piece of muscle or band about 10 cm long outside my left thigh and I'm hoping its not an ITB problem. As luck would have it, I'm already booked in for a rub with Bruno tonight, so hopefully he'll be able to knock it on the head if its a major issue.

Sunday - BRRC 10 Mile Championship

120 mins, 25k's @ 4:41 mins/km

Arrived at West End late yet again! Its all Clairie's fault - she started the 5k a few minutes late last fortnight so I was expecting similar leeway. It didn't happen. I had promised to pace Tesso and Clairie if they needed it but without having the chance to talk to them, I would have to catch up and find out. With the field two minutes ahead of me, I set off for the chase. Thankfully, I was feeling good and was able to throw in a few comfortable early k's in the 4:30 range before catching up to the girls at the 9k mark. Both girls had decided not to race the event so I just cruised around with them for the duration before grabbing a banana and cordial from the breakfast table and heading out again.

After a 4k loop, Langy and Glenda came running by so I ran with them for 3k's before turning around to head back to head back to my car and a very interesting situation. Running over the Victoria Bridge, I observed a City Cat and City Ferry executing slow turns in the middle of the river and thought 'That's strange'. I then saw an object in the water opposite the State Library and speculated it was a dead body or dolphin. A closer look at the river beneath me revealed another object - an aboriginal bloke sidestroking in the middle of the river!! Further down the river was his mate. Two hysterical girls on the other side of the bridge came rushing over and I asked them if the blokes could swim and they responded in the affirmative but added 'They've been drinking and the currents got them.' I said I would do what I could and sprinted across the bridge and down the ramp too the boardwalk as the bloke closest to me continued his painstaking sidestroke towards the bank. I was looking around and I was the only person around and was thinking 'shiiiiiit - I've just run 23k - I hope I don't have to rescue these blokes!!' Not to mention the fact that I came second last for three consecutive years in the 25m freestyle at De La Salle ahead of only the fattest kid in the school! I was just as likely to need rescuing myself as I was to rescue these blokes! Fortunately, the current was taking the bloke closest to me towards a private pontoon so I hailed another runner for help and we climbed over the security partition onto the pontoon and pulled the bloke out of the water whilst his mate reached the bank 100m upstream. So that was a very interesting finish to my run and I pulled up well afterward.

Friday - Brisbane Running Group 3k Challenge

Brisbane Running Group 3k Challenge - 10:19, 11th out of 224

I went into this race with a plan to attack the first 500m and then see how I felt - either I would have sufficiently recovered from the midweek virus or not. The short 50m run to the first turn made for lots of jostling and contact and Jason H and I ended up squeezed together with only room for one to get through a gap. Normally, I take no prisoners and would have just elbowed a rival out of the way but as this was a team event and Jason had faster recent 3k TT's than I did, I let him through. I felt good the first 500m and it was fun to stay in touch with the lead pack of Dennis Fitzgerald, Aidan Hobbs and Christian Cobbold with our boys Andy, James and Jason also in close attendance.

Inevitably, I dropped off the pace and wasn't too happy with my speed up the first hill, nor the second as hills are normally one of my strengths. Nevertheless, I had settled into the race in about 15th place and clocked 3:11 for my first 980m loop. In the second lap, I caught up to three weakening opponents and quickly dropped each one of them - was feeling good at that point. Clocked 3:24 for the second 980m as the fast early pace, two hills and tight bend leading into the home straight took their toll.

The hurt started around the 2200m mark and I was really stuggling, but managed to maintain a reasonable pace. Strangely enough, given the 200+ competitors. I was in no mans land with the nearest rival over 30-40m in front of me and my nearest pursuer about 10m behind me. Not having someone 5-10m in front of me to chase was disappointing but I had not yet been passed in the race and was determined not to let anyone through. Approaching the final downhill run, I managed to get a kick going and keep it up all the way to the line, finishing three seconds clear of my nearest rival.

The likes of James, Jason, myself and Glenda all ran around 10-15 seconds slower than our recent time trials as did plenty of others indicating that the course was a slow one as we had expected. All up, I was quite happy with the run and what I got out of myself and am looking forward to battling in out with the top five next time this race comes around.
Most importantly, the PCRG got the 'W' taking out the overall win. In the categories, our fastest 10 runners were also faster than any other Groups as were our 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 41-50 placed runners!!! Hopefully we can get a bit of a streak going now and hold onto the trophy for some time yet.

Resting up for 3k Challenge

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

Easy run down the road and along the railway at 6:30pm last night. Shins felt fine and i'm recovering ok from the low grade virus.

Resting up today. Will take Hiro fishing at Nudgee Beach this morning and then have a relaxing arvo including a light 30 minute gym session. Then its off to the city for the Brisbane Running Group 3k Challenge. I'll take it out hard in the first 500 metres but won't know until then how well I've recovered from my ailments this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to put in a strong effort. With Langy taking it easy, I'll be aiming to keep in touch with the likes of James M and Jason H as the course is likely to be too slow and technical to race according to the watch.

This week - 18k
This month - 119k
This year - 428k

Worrying couple of days

Wed - NO RUN due to low grade virus/cold

The shins were aching a fair bit towards the end of the day on Tuesday and I was feeling like I was coming down with something which proved to be the case on Wednesday morning when I felt bloody ordinary, called in sick and spent half a day in bed. The shins continued to ache intermittently throughout the day.

I'm pretty certain that a low grade virus is causing this current shin discomfort, but there is always a degree of trepidation about me until the shin soreness goes away and I exhale with relief knowing that yet again, the shin soreness has again been linked with a virus/illness and not something related to my running.

I have just gone over the logbook and noted that including yesterdays scheduled 60 min run, I have missed a total of 7 training sessions in the seven and half months since June last year. On two occasions, I missed three sessions in a row due to a bad cold. In an ideal world, I'd only miss 3-4 sessions or less in a year due to illness but considering the number of times I missed sessions due to colds and viruses in the first half of 2006, I'm pretty happy to record only three illness in the last 7.5 months and hope to improve further still.

The shins are feeling much better today and all going well, I'll do an easy 40 minutes on the tready late this arvo to keep things ticking over before the Brisbane Running Group 3k Summer Challenge tomorrow.

Not the best week....

Tues - 15 mins hills
Wed - 50 mins, 10k's @ 4:54 mins/km
Thurs - 80 mins, 16k's @ 4:51 mins/km
Fri - 50 mins, 10k's @ 5:15 mins/km
Sat Night - 120 mins, 24k's @ 4:55 mins/km
Tues - 1 min on, 30 secs off

It has not been the best week for me. At times, I've felt like I'm struggling to do the sessions on my program, let alone any quality sessions. A few niggles have not helped matters. I accept there will be weeks like this in a marathon program and I expect a few more weeks like them in the next few months, but that doesn't mean I have to like them!!!

Last Tuesday was 15 minutes of hills in the Gardens. With a fair bit of trepidation, I completed 15 minutes entirely on grass at close to full intensity for the first time in over a year. With my shin history, I shied away from totally flogging myself and it will be a while before I'm confident enough to run carefree on the grass.

Now as I don't believe in Valentines Day(Why should Myer and DJ's dictate to me when I can spoil MJ???) I decided that in order to top anything done by most blokes on boring old Valentines Day, I would get in early and surprise MJ with dinner at Baguette http://baguette.com.au/ Gees!!! If you have never dined there, do yourself a favour and give it a go - the food is absolutely divine. I had the Casino Green Mountain loin of veal with sweet potato, beans, chorize and mustard hollandaise while MJ had Bundaberg scallops on the shells with capsicum sauce and an aioli that I fail to recall. It was easily in the top five meals I've ever had. Now that was a good night!!!

My Wednesday and Thursday runs were solid whilst I put in a shocker on Friday on the treadmill struggling to get through the 50 minutes. Saturday Night was better as I went out to Caboolture to cover the Dusk to Dawn for R4YL and did my Sunday long run as part of a relay team. Really enjoyed the opportunity to run on the compacted dirt track and it was fun to run through the torrential rain and thunderstom that lashed the field for 30 minutes and forced us to slip and slide through muddy conditions. It was not without its problems though with a toe on my right foot slipping down and pushing uncomfortably and repeatedly into the shoebox - the first time I've had the problem since the 2004 Gold Coast Marathon when I was wearing a shoe half a size larger. Its a problem that I'll keep in the back of my mind and look into as some stage. Great to see a handy PCRG presence at Caboolture with Tess winning the 6hr, Clairie running strongly and Toasty putting in a nice run also.

Some anxious moments yesterday when my shins started to ache - nowhere near as bad as when they were at their worst bust still the worst they've been in a while. My mind went into overdrive. Were the shins affected by the slipping and sliding through the mud at Caboolture? Have my orthotics broken down and are no longer providing me with sufficient support as Bruno speculated could be the case during Friday's rub? Or was I simply coming down with a cold or virus which always makes the shins ache? Only time will tell, but I gulped down plenty of vitamin C in case its a virus.

30 secs on, 30 secs off in the Gardens this morning - some on the grass - damn it. The shins felt much better this morning, but the grass we were traversing was quite uneven so I decided to run about 1 min hard on the pavers and recover for 30-40 secs on the grass which I did at a fair tempo for 15 minutes. It rained pretty heavily in the early hours of the morning and was still raining when I left home. As expected, numbers were down on the 70-80 who would normally have attended with only 50 or so in attendance. There is always some satisfaction in attending a session in the rain when plenty of others have stayed in bed!!

This week - 10k
This month - 111k
This year - 420k

BRRC kk shots

A couple of shots from Sunday:

Yours truly at the 1.5k mark and some of the PCRG gang

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