Less than a week to go until the Gold Coast Half Marathon now. I'm really looking forward to this race. Over the past week and a half I've concentrated on sharpening my speed combined with tempo endurance. I've cut the mileage back a bit in the process and worked on my strength. A brief summary of key sessions is as follows:
Saturday 18/6
- 12 km tempo on grass in shoes. Felt very sluggish so cruised around in a little under marathon pace.
Sunday 19/6
- 2 hour run from Parramatta into the city. GPS played up, but I'd estimate 27 kms on the conservative side. Easy sort of pace but ran the hilly sections strongly. Caught the train back. Ran with a backpack. Wanna do a few sessions with the backpack as I'm keen on having a crack at Kepler trail in December.
115 kms for the week.
Tuesday 21/6
12.5 km road tempo at around 3:50 pace. Pretty cruisy with a few solid hills in there.
Thursday 23/6
5000 track race. Treated it more like a fartlek session. First few kms as 100 m straights & curves hard / float effort. Mixed it up after that. Jogged most of the last lap. Lap counters messed up and I'd thought I'd already finished. Approx 16:50 for the session but feel confident that sub 16:20 is achievable if I raced it with even splits.
6 km tempo on grass - 20:17
Started relaxed and progressively picked up pace each km. Splits: 3:32 / 3:26 / 3:22 / 3:20 / 3:20 / 3:17.
Sunday 26/6
Relaxed easy run. Started at jogging pace increasing progressively to 4:10'a. 20 kms for the session.
All up 95 kms for the week.
Today
Relaxed 35 minute jog.
Saturday 25/6
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
3000 M Track Race
Last night I ran in a low key 3000 metre track race at Sylvania Waters. Placed 2nd behind my mate T. Conditions were overcast and windy but not too bad. Time was 9:41. Reasonably happy with that off no taper and in windy conditions. My start was probably too conservative, even though I went through the first 200 in 37 seconds. I allowed T to get a big break early as I got stuck in around 6th place after the first lap. Unfortunately I had to go wide for the whole of the 3rd curve to get past a few guys. In hindsight I should've just sat behind them and taken them on the next straight. By the 3rd lap T had built a good lead of 30-40 metres. I slowly got closer but couldn't get him in the end. Winning time was 9:39 to my 9:41.
Immediately followed the session with a 10 minute jog and then a hill loop session. The loop was a little around 810-820 metres. We ran hard for around 450 metres, which included approx 290 metres of incline after a 160 or so metre flat start. Recovery jog in between and 6 in total. Progressively increased the pace on each interval from 3:49 pace to 3:14 pace on the last one. Really enjoyed the session and felt very strong over the hills. I'd estimate the hill was a 4-6% incline. Not too steep and good to really attack, especially after a flat start.
Immediately followed the session with a 10 minute jog and then a hill loop session. The loop was a little around 810-820 metres. We ran hard for around 450 metres, which included approx 290 metres of incline after a 160 or so metre flat start. Recovery jog in between and 6 in total. Progressively increased the pace on each interval from 3:49 pace to 3:14 pace on the last one. Really enjoyed the session and felt very strong over the hills. I'd estimate the hill was a 4-6% incline. Not too steep and good to really attack, especially after a flat start.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Go the Blues!
Had a couple of tough days and am reeling feeling stiff and sore, eapecially in the calves.
Wednesday (16/6)
Wasn't feeling too great this morning. Ran an easy 20 km's with Jim around the river and Regatta Centre in Penrith. Finished with 3 relaxed strides. Time was a little over 91 minutes. Highlight of the day had nothing to do with running. The Blues victory over Qld has kept the series alive and restored a bit of Blues pride after 5 years of successive series losses. Hopefully a win in a few weeks time will give NSW a ling overdue series win. Fingers are crossed.
Tuesday (15/6)
Tough session. 9 x 1000 was planned but ended up doing 1000 x 2 / 800 / 1000 / 800 / 1000 / 800 / 2 x 1000. The cycles were only 4:15 with a 130 metre jog back to the start between intervals. Through in the 3 x 800's every other interval, just to get a little extra recovery. The track was very damp and heavy, which made running tough. Splits were roughly around 3:20 pace for the 1000's and a little quicker for the 800's. All up 19 km's including warm-up & warm-down.
Monday (14/6)
Feeling very stiff and sore. Ran a very slow 5.7 km's at Homebush.
Wednesday (16/6)
Wasn't feeling too great this morning. Ran an easy 20 km's with Jim around the river and Regatta Centre in Penrith. Finished with 3 relaxed strides. Time was a little over 91 minutes. Highlight of the day had nothing to do with running. The Blues victory over Qld has kept the series alive and restored a bit of Blues pride after 5 years of successive series losses. Hopefully a win in a few weeks time will give NSW a ling overdue series win. Fingers are crossed.
Tuesday (15/6)
Tough session. 9 x 1000 was planned but ended up doing 1000 x 2 / 800 / 1000 / 800 / 1000 / 800 / 2 x 1000. The cycles were only 4:15 with a 130 metre jog back to the start between intervals. Through in the 3 x 800's every other interval, just to get a little extra recovery. The track was very damp and heavy, which made running tough. Splits were roughly around 3:20 pace for the 1000's and a little quicker for the 800's. All up 19 km's including warm-up & warm-down.
Monday (14/6)
Feeling very stiff and sore. Ran a very slow 5.7 km's at Homebush.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Cold Feet!
Saturday (11/6)
I often do my grass speed sessions & tempo's barefoot, but have been wearing spikes or flats since my marathon back in April. On Saturday, I thought I'd go back to barefoot for the session. Only problem is that it was wet, windy and bloody cold! The session scheduled was 4 x 2000 off a 9 minute cycle. As soon as I took my shoes off after the warm-up, I was beginning to regret the decision. After a few drills & strides I was sure that I'd made a terrible mistake. My feet were numb and I hadn't even started the first interval. I looked around and noticed that the only squad members going barefoot were the coach & Fossil. All the other barefoot regulars were smart enough to be kind to their feet. I had contemplated jogging back to my car at that stage and grabbing my spikes, but didn't have time.
Before too long, the session was underway. I couldn't feel a thing, my feet were so frozen. I proceeded to do the first interval in a fairly relaxed 6:56, then I decided to put my shoes back on. Because it was raining and the warm-up is always a lap of the white fence around Centennial Park (dirt), I chose to wear trail shoes, figuring it won't matter if they get a bit muddy. However trail shoes just don't work well for faster running on grass. I just couldn't get any speed. Despite a full on effort, the best I could manage was 7:09, my worst ever split. I decided rather than do the 3rd interval, I would jog back to my car and grab my spikes. When I got to the car I discovered that the spikes there were somebody elses. Same brand & style (Nike Zoom Matumbo's), but different colour and size. I then remembered that after Tuesday night's session, I couldn't find my spikes that I left next to the fence in their bag. Everybody else had gone home and I saw the same type of bag as mine in a different place, so I just grabbed it figuring someone must've moved it. Anyway, I'll worry about finding the rightful owner to these shoes later and hopefully they will have mine. Luckily I had a pair of flats in the boot, so I grabbed them and jogged back to join the final interval. The last interval was a more respectable 6:32, including a 3:12 final km.
All up, I covered around 14.5 km's for the session, plus the drills, strides and jogging to and fro my car.
Sunday (12/6)
Long trail run over hills with Jim. 30.2 km's in 2:16 hr's. We held a solid pace throughout. Jim seemed to be doing it a lot easier than me though. There were a couple of nasty hills in there that slowed us down to near 7:00 km pace, but otherwise the pace was pretty good.
After the run, we jumped into Glenbrook Creek for a 7 minute recovery ice bath. Jeez it was cold. My feet felt even worse than Saturday.
All up a little over 123 km's for the week. Nothing special about that mileage, but it is the highest mileage since April's Rotterdam Marathon. Still it's all part of my plan of slowly easing up the mileage and endeavouring to remain injury free.
I often do my grass speed sessions & tempo's barefoot, but have been wearing spikes or flats since my marathon back in April. On Saturday, I thought I'd go back to barefoot for the session. Only problem is that it was wet, windy and bloody cold! The session scheduled was 4 x 2000 off a 9 minute cycle. As soon as I took my shoes off after the warm-up, I was beginning to regret the decision. After a few drills & strides I was sure that I'd made a terrible mistake. My feet were numb and I hadn't even started the first interval. I looked around and noticed that the only squad members going barefoot were the coach & Fossil. All the other barefoot regulars were smart enough to be kind to their feet. I had contemplated jogging back to my car at that stage and grabbing my spikes, but didn't have time.
Before too long, the session was underway. I couldn't feel a thing, my feet were so frozen. I proceeded to do the first interval in a fairly relaxed 6:56, then I decided to put my shoes back on. Because it was raining and the warm-up is always a lap of the white fence around Centennial Park (dirt), I chose to wear trail shoes, figuring it won't matter if they get a bit muddy. However trail shoes just don't work well for faster running on grass. I just couldn't get any speed. Despite a full on effort, the best I could manage was 7:09, my worst ever split. I decided rather than do the 3rd interval, I would jog back to my car and grab my spikes. When I got to the car I discovered that the spikes there were somebody elses. Same brand & style (Nike Zoom Matumbo's), but different colour and size. I then remembered that after Tuesday night's session, I couldn't find my spikes that I left next to the fence in their bag. Everybody else had gone home and I saw the same type of bag as mine in a different place, so I just grabbed it figuring someone must've moved it. Anyway, I'll worry about finding the rightful owner to these shoes later and hopefully they will have mine. Luckily I had a pair of flats in the boot, so I grabbed them and jogged back to join the final interval. The last interval was a more respectable 6:32, including a 3:12 final km.
All up, I covered around 14.5 km's for the session, plus the drills, strides and jogging to and fro my car.
Sunday (12/6)
Long trail run over hills with Jim. 30.2 km's in 2:16 hr's. We held a solid pace throughout. Jim seemed to be doing it a lot easier than me though. There were a couple of nasty hills in there that slowed us down to near 7:00 km pace, but otherwise the pace was pretty good.
After the run, we jumped into Glenbrook Creek for a 7 minute recovery ice bath. Jeez it was cold. My feet felt even worse than Saturday.
All up a little over 123 km's for the week. Nothing special about that mileage, but it is the highest mileage since April's Rotterdam Marathon. Still it's all part of my plan of slowly easing up the mileage and endeavouring to remain injury free.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Night Vision
Needed a torch for tonight's run. Ran with T near his work at Liverpool. Well jogged very slowly actually. 12 km's in 63:30. After a while the eyes got used to running in the dark, so turned the torch off. Ran in Vibram Fivefingers.
Any thermals sales happening?
Jeez it's been cold this week! Sure, it's all relative but it has been a shock to the system. I believe cold winds blowing from the southern alpine regions is the reason. All I can say is that I'm glad I dont live in places like Canada or Scotland etc..
Training wise it's been pretty much steady as she goes so far this week.
Monday (6/6)
My legs were feeling pretty smashed after Saturday's race and Sunday's hilly long run. Calves were the worse. Weatherwise it was not a bad morning to start the week. Jogged an hour with Chris around Parramatta Park, mainly on the grass or dirt sections. A little over 12 km's.
Tuesday (7/6)
A combined speed & tempo session with the squad at Centennial Park. Started with 10 x 300's off a 1:30 cycle. After a 3 minute break, followed this with a 3.55 km tempo around the white fence on the dirt. splits: 58/56/54/52/51/49/48/51/53/53. The last couple were solo. White fence - 12:40
All up 14.4 km's for the session, including warm-up & warm-down.
Wednesday (8/6)
Things started getting really chilly Wednesday. Did an easy medium long run beard home with Jim. Predominately undulating trails. All up 18.2 km's in a relaxed 93 mins. Finished off with 4 strides.
I had the arm warmers and gloves on, whereas my Blue Mtn's born and raised young buddy was fine in just a short sleeve shirt. Amazingly he doesn't even own a pair of gloves.
Thursday (9/6)
The cold weather continued. I even wore tights for all but the main part of the session. 12 km tempo in just under 44 mins. About 90% effort. At CP on the 2 km X/C course in very chilly windy conditions. I did the whole tempo in arm warmers and a shirt. That's the first time ever that I've worn more than just a singlet or short sleeve shirt. After the tempo I put tights back on and many layers.
All up a little over 22 km's, including warm-up & warm-down.
Training wise it's been pretty much steady as she goes so far this week.
Monday (6/6)
My legs were feeling pretty smashed after Saturday's race and Sunday's hilly long run. Calves were the worse. Weatherwise it was not a bad morning to start the week. Jogged an hour with Chris around Parramatta Park, mainly on the grass or dirt sections. A little over 12 km's.
Tuesday (7/6)
A combined speed & tempo session with the squad at Centennial Park. Started with 10 x 300's off a 1:30 cycle. After a 3 minute break, followed this with a 3.55 km tempo around the white fence on the dirt. splits: 58/56/54/52/51/49/48/51/53/53. The last couple were solo. White fence - 12:40
All up 14.4 km's for the session, including warm-up & warm-down.
Wednesday (8/6)
Things started getting really chilly Wednesday. Did an easy medium long run beard home with Jim. Predominately undulating trails. All up 18.2 km's in a relaxed 93 mins. Finished off with 4 strides.
I had the arm warmers and gloves on, whereas my Blue Mtn's born and raised young buddy was fine in just a short sleeve shirt. Amazingly he doesn't even own a pair of gloves.
Thursday (9/6)
The cold weather continued. I even wore tights for all but the main part of the session. 12 km tempo in just under 44 mins. About 90% effort. At CP on the 2 km X/C course in very chilly windy conditions. I did the whole tempo in arm warmers and a shirt. That's the first time ever that I've worn more than just a singlet or short sleeve shirt. After the tempo I put tights back on and many layers.
All up a little over 22 km's, including warm-up & warm-down.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
A perfect winter's day!
You'd never guess that it's winter. Whilst it was a little crisp early in the morning, the weather turned out to be perfect. Clear blue skies, a pleasant cool temperature for running and no breeze. For the 3rd week in a row I did my long run over trails in the Blue Mountains. Today I enjoyed the company of my mate Jim Perrett.
We started at the Rangers Hut (Glenbrook), jogged down to the causeway, up the steep hill on the other side out to Nepean Lookout and back to the causeway. Undulating trail most of the way. We jogged the first 3 km's, picked up to an easy pace for the next 7 km's and then settling into a steady clip (average 4:10's). Overall just under 27 km's in 2 hours.
We finished at the causeway and soaked our legs for a recovery session in the icy cold waters. 7 minutes of chill in all. We then walked backed to the Ranger's Hut.
Headed out later with my little 7 year old daughter for a nice bushwalk at Katoomba. Back home and pigged out with 2 and 1/2 bowls of chocolate gelato.
We started at the Rangers Hut (Glenbrook), jogged down to the causeway, up the steep hill on the other side out to Nepean Lookout and back to the causeway. Undulating trail most of the way. We jogged the first 3 km's, picked up to an easy pace for the next 7 km's and then settling into a steady clip (average 4:10's). Overall just under 27 km's in 2 hours.
We finished at the causeway and soaked our legs for a recovery session in the icy cold waters. 7 minutes of chill in all. We then walked backed to the Ranger's Hut.
Headed out later with my little 7 year old daughter for a nice bushwalk at Katoomba. Back home and pigged out with 2 and 1/2 bowls of chocolate gelato.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
State 10k Road Championships
Ran a 2 second PB today at State 10k Road's. Time was 34:20. Went out with an aggressive strategy of attacking the downhill sections, relaxing the uphill and hanging on for as long as possible. In hindsight I probably went out a little hard and missed a chance to go sub 34, but what the heck, a PB is a PB and I haven't ran one for nearly 12 months now. The first 7 km's were great but the final 3 kms uphill took its toll. I could only average 3:34's when it really counted over the closing 3 km's. No complaints, I gave absolutely everything I had. 64th overall, in a strong field and 5th M40-44.
Not a lot of running this week, with the focus on race taper and peaking.
Monday - 35 mins including strides
Tuesday - 4 km fartlek at 3:28 pace (700 hard / 300 relaxed). All up 11 kms including warm-up & warm-down
Wednesday - 45 mins including strides
Thursday - 3 x 500 relaxed hills @ 1:42 splits. All up 11 kms.
Friday - 30 mins
Planning on a couple of hours tomorrow. Next race Gold Coast 1/2 marathon on 3 July. Will hopefully get some decent consistent mileage in between now and then.
Not a lot of running this week, with the focus on race taper and peaking.
Monday - 35 mins including strides
Tuesday - 4 km fartlek at 3:28 pace (700 hard / 300 relaxed). All up 11 kms including warm-up & warm-down
Wednesday - 45 mins including strides
Thursday - 3 x 500 relaxed hills @ 1:42 splits. All up 11 kms.
Friday - 30 mins
Planning on a couple of hours tomorrow. Next race Gold Coast 1/2 marathon on 3 July. Will hopefully get some decent consistent mileage in between now and then.
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