Recovery Week

I pulled up with extremely sore quads after the Melbourne Marathon. It wasn't until yesterday that I could walk or run without pain. Monday and Tuesday the pain was quite excruciating and I took the opportunity to have 2 complete rest days. Training for the rest of the week as follows:

Wednesday - 3 km's approx barefoot on grass. Didn't bother with the GPS. Just slowly rolled the legs over. Whilst the quads hurt, I actually enjoyed the freedom of a slow jog on grass without shoes etc.

Thursday - 45 mins in the altitude chamber. 30 mins jogging then 10 mins on the cross trainer with 5 x 20 second surges. Finished off with 5 mins back on the treadmill jogging. Stretched and did core work in the chamber afterwards making up 90 mins in there.

Friday - Rest

Saturday
AM - 6 km's progressive paced tempo. Splits: 3:38 / 3:35 / 3:32 / 3:30 / 3:26 / 3:22. Ran on grass in vibrams. Stiff at first but settled in progressively. 14 km's all up.

PM - 6 km's jogging on grass

Sunday - 23.5 's on grass. Slow jogging at first and progressively picked up the pace to low 4's and finished with a couple km's just under. Took the shoes off afterwards and jogged 500 metres to round off.

I'll avoid the roads again next week but plan to do the Run 4 Fun 10 km road race at Homebush next Sunday.

Lastly I decided today to enter the London Marathon next year. I'm able to get a start as a UK Championship competitor, which requires a sub 2:45 in the past 2 years. Initially I was going to do Rotterdam, but having already done it twice it is too hard to pass up the opportunity to run my 4th major.

Melbourne Marathon

I decided yesterday to switch my entry from the half marathon to the full. Glad I did. Whilst I didn't run a PB or even a sub 2:40, I ran a satisfying 2:41:04. The conditions were generally not too bad. Temperature increased from 12.5 degrees to 13.9 degrees, but there was a bit of wind about and the humidity was high.

For me, the most pleasing thing was running a well controlled race with fairly even splits. The first half I covered in 80:30 and the second 80:34. The conditions were certainly tougher heading back with more running into the wind and a couple of smallish climbs that felt very tough at the time. 

I'm already looking forward to my next marathon and am keen to see if I can maintain the consistency or possibly even improve. My past 4 marathons have been within 84 seconds of each other. I still feel like I'm improving and am certainly learning more about myself along the way. Bringing the altitude chamber into my programme and experimenting with beetroot juice seems to have been a winner. I also feel the Carnova Special Blocks have been very worthwhile. 

Getting crook a few weeks back was far from ideal and it certainly meant I needed to adjust the programme on the fly and shorten the taper period to only 6 days. So whilst I felt strong enough today, I lacked freshness and ran on very heavy legs. Flying down the day before is a mistake I wouldn't repeat. Far too much walking around when I should've been laying on the bed reading or watching movies. 

So that's Melbourne Marathon #2 and #14 overall done and dusted. My enthusiasm is as strong as it was when I first started nearly 7 years ago and most importantly I'm still having fun. The friendships and experiences along the way have truly been wonderful. I wouldn't swap this sport for any other. I just love it!

Still undecided about what to do in Melbourne.

Training update for the past fortnight is as follows:

Monday 23/9 - 12 km's easy

Tuesday 24/9 - 8 km's jogging

Wednesday 25/9 - "Special Block"

AM - 21 km's - 9 easy followed by 11 tempo  & 1 warm-down. Tempo in 41:25 - All up continuous running - 87:03

PM - 26 km's (Altitude Chamber) - 40 mins easy then 11 x 1000 off 500 m float recovery. Ran to HR - 150's (marathon effort) for intervals / 140's for float. 

Thursday - 4 km's - Slow jogging and drills + light strides

Friday - 22.2 km's - 92:50 

Saturday - 3 x 2000 followed by 1 x 1000. Heavy legs took a while to get going. 6:59 / 6:53 / 6:33 / 3:13 splits. Approx 16 km's including warm up and warm down.

Sunday - 33.3 Easy

All up - 141.5 km's for the week (10:47 hours)

This Week

Monday 30/9 (Altitude Chamber) - Progress paced fartlek with decreasing interval times.  1 min jog recovery in between reps / sets. 1 x 5 mins (14.5 km/h) / 2 x 4 mins (15.0 / 15.1 km/h) / 3 x 3 mins (15.2 / 15.3 / 15.4 km/h) / 4 x 2 mins ( 15.5 / 15.6 / 15.7 / 15.8 km/h) / 5 x 1 mins (15.9 / 16.0 / 16.1 / 16.2 / 16.3 km/h) - 6 x 30 sec's (16.4 / 16.5 / 16.6 / 16.7 / 16.8 / 16.9 km/h). Finisheding with 1 x 1 km in 3:30. Felt strong. Probably best result yet in the chamber.

Tuesday - 22.0 easy - 1:40 hr's

Wednesday - 7.6 km's (progressive easy)

Thursday - (Altitude Chamber) - 25 mins tempo.  10 mins warm up, 15 mins at 15.0 km/h followed by 10 mins with pace increasing from 15 km/h to 16.5 km/h. Short warm down.

Friday - 5 km's on grass in vibrams with 5 x 100 m strides

Saturday - 27 km's. fairly relaxed 1:59 hrs

Sunday - 13 slow jogging. Followed with 5 x 100 metres strides barefoot on grass.

All up 101.8 km's for the week in 7:56 hrs.

I have 1 week now to decide whether to do the 1/2 marathon in Melbourne or switch up to the full marathon. Weather forecast looks good (9 degrees increasing to 15 degrees in the morning). Whilst I'm entered for the half, it would be pretty hard to pass up on doing the full in those conditions especially if there is little or no wind. Will probably make up my mind on the Saturday when I get down there.

Slowly getting over the flu.

Despite not feeling too well, I persevered with the training last week. I finished off last week with the following runs:

Wednesday - 18 km's in the altitude chamber. 

Thursday - 5 km's jogging

Friday - 1/4's x 8 (200 jog recovery). Ran at the gym, but had to wait till nearly closing time for a turn on the treadmill in the chamber. Ended up cycling for a bit whilst waiting. Got bored with the cycling so ended up and running on the treadmill outside. Only managed to get the final 4 reps in whilst in the chamber. 

Saturday - 6000 tempo - 20:56 on grass. Nothing flash but held my pace and picked up a little after 3000. Felt flat, probably back to around 80% health.

Sunday - 30 km's in 2:09, included 3 x 2000 (500 jog recovery) after 20 km's. Went a little too hard on that first interval. Dropped off the pace on the 3rd interval. (7:00 / 6:58 / 7:16).

Only 80 km's and 6 runs for the week.

Zzzzzz'z

Any thoughts of running a marathon in Melbourne in 4 weeks time have firmly been put to rest. Illness has gotten the better of me and I've hardly trained for the past week and a bit. I did manage to get the one run in in the altitude chamber last Wednesday but that was the end of me. No doubt I pushed myself when I should've rested. Following that I spent the next 4 & 1/2 days in bed. I did surface today to go to work, but felt pretty ordinary all day. I attempted a jog tonight but after 30 mins I'd had enough.

As to where to from here, I have no idea. First step is to get over this flu or whatever it is and then consider my options. 

Flights booked, but what to do?

I finally got around to booking my flights for Melbourne marathon weekend. As yet though I'm still undecided whether to do the half or full. My training has been geared around doing the full, but at this stage I'm entered for the half. A last minute switch though is the likely scenario if the weather forecast is looking good a few days out. 

As for training this week, it's been one of those weeks where every run just felt hard.

Monday - 3.2 km's slow jogging. Felt crap so went home.

Tuesday - 2000 / 1600 / 1200 / 800 / 400 / 5 x 200. Probably the only run this week where I felt good. Hit the goal 3:20 pace for every rep. Did the last 5 x 200 slightly uphill. 400 recovery jogs except 200 in between the 200's. 15 km's continuous running all up in 66 mins.

Wednesday - Altitude Chamber. It was an absolute sweat pit in the chamber. The A/C was off and it was apparently 28 degrees in there. I've never sweated so much in my life. Did a bit of a fartlek session in there. 15 mins warm-up then 20 x 1 min on / 1 min off. 16.5 km/h hard and 10.0 km/h recovery. I'm guessing that equates to around 3:15's & 5:00's at sea level. It was hard work but my form held together. Followed with a short recovery jog and then finished out to 90 mins with 30 second surges followed by 90 sec recovery jogs. All up 18 km's in 90 mins. Sounds ridiculously slow doesn't it but my average HR was 147 and I reckon I lost 2-3 kg's in there. Running in the altitude chamber certainly doesn't make the diary look pretty. Luckily I couldn't care less. I'm really enjoying the variety and its food for me to toughen up a little by running in warmer conditions. I know I'm notorious for being someone who seeks out cold races and cool training conditions.

Thursday - Easy 17 km's - Felt flat.

Friday - 1 hour marathon effort tempo. 16.4 km's in the hour. Ran it purely to heart rate following my marathon heart rate formula, which is to keep my HR below 150 after 3 km's and allow a 1 BPM drift every 3 km's thereafter. I know this formula works well for me so I like to practise it in training rather than running to time splits. All up 20 km's of continuous running in 77:11. To be honest, my heart rate defied how I felt. Heavy hips and just felt flat. Not surprising though, having raced the previous Sunday, hard sessions Tue & Wed and not enough sleep due to being busy at work.

Saturday - 13 progressive easy in 59:16. Finished at low 4:00's pace. Ave HR 122

Sunday - 37 km's in 2:30:22. Average HR 143. No problems with the ticker but my legs and hips felt flat. 

123.3 km's for the week. Average pace 4:26

SIDS Stampede

Solid week of training this week topped off with a win today at a small Fun Run in Windsor supporting SIDS. A lovely way to see in "Fathers Day" , which certainly made up for the early rise at 5:15 am.

A brief rundown of training. 130 km's for the week, made up of:

Monday:  10 km's easy

Tuesday: 17 km's progression run in 75 mins finishing at 3:30 pace.

Wednesday: 3 x 30 mins "Carnova Run" at marathon intensity in the "Gas Chamber". 25 km's all up, which included 2 km's warm-up, 7 km's @ 14 km/h, 1 km easy, 7 km's @ 14.1 km/h, I
1 km easy,  7 km's @ 14.2 to 14.5 km/h. I'm yet to get an accurate read on the pace differential when running at simulated 3200 above sea level but intuitively I'm guessing somewhere around 2-3 km/h. I keep forgetting to take my heart rate monitor to try and sort of work it out with a little scientific data to back it up. What I can say is that running at 14 to 14.5 km/h usually feels pretty easy even for a long run but it feels like bloody hard work for me in the chamber. I'm scheduled for another session next Wednesday in the chamber, so I'll do my best to remember to take my HRM along.

Thursday - Leg Buster session. Started with an hour of leg weights including, lunges, single leg lunges, squats, single leg squats, curls, extensions, incline press, medicine ball squats and throws, lunges with kettle bells, dead lifts, high leg step ups, box jumps and whatever felt good at the time. Followed it with a 9 km run, which included 15 mins of progressive incline running (0-15 degrees) starting at 14 km/h and progressively slowing as the incline increased. Short recovery and then 8 x 4% incline surges off 1 min easy recovery.

Friday - Slow 10 km's

Saturday - 35 km's averaging 4:23's, relaxed

Sunday - SIDS Stampede Fun Run - 10.2 km in 36.07 plus warm up and warm down. Nice to get a rare win even if only in a small event. Managed to run an extra 200 metres because I found myself in the unaccustomed position of leading and running straight through the turn point. I had no idea it was a 2 lapper. Nothing flash about the time, but it was irrelevant today. I only decided to do it last night instead of doing a solo tempo. Turns out I ended up doing a solo tempo anyway. No point in going overboard so I just treated it as a comfortably hard training session. There was a massive downhill at the start, which inevitably means a massive uphill finish to both laps. Felt strong though running uphill. The rest of the course was very flat. Lovely brisk and windless conditions otherwise and a great morning to be out racing. I wish every race had weather conditions like this morning.

Ran with my mate "Oldman" in the arvo for a nice recovery jog. Luckily for me he ran a hard 35 km run in the morning so we managed to run at slightly above walking pace. 7 km's in 41 min's plus around Parra Park.

"The Gas Chamber"

The words "I survived" probably best describe this past week of training. In addition to the continued emphasis on leg and core strength, I upped the ante with the hard long runs. I decided to do all of my medium long run in the altitude chamber and part of the long run in there. I'm enjoying the new challenge of running in the chamber, but I must say it is bloody sweaty hard work. I'm not sure if its the gas they pump in there to simulate 3200 metres above sea level or if its just bloody hot in there. What I can say is that every time I'm done in there I'm literally drenched. I unashamedly ditched the singlet because it was just soaked so bad it felt like I was swimming with clothes on. Even my shoes get soaked right through like I've been running through puddles. Leaving the chamber literally feels like leaving the Sahara in summer and immediately walking into the Arctic Circle. 

During the week, I haven't been able to do my runs until after 8:30 pm. So this has meant that I was forced to do 5 days straight of treadmill running. Pretty mind numbing I must say, but it beats running in the dark late at night. It felt great to finally run on a stationary surface over the weekend. 

A summary of the week that was is as follows:

Monday - 18 km's - 75 mins. Initial 12 km's progressive paced, starting slowly (6:00's) picking up to 3:45's. The ensuing 6 km's I maintained 3:40's with 8 x 30 seconds over progressively increasing inclines (1-8%) and then 2 x 60 seconds at 4%.

NB: Did 30 mins of heavy leg weights at lunch.

Tuesday - 16.4 km's - 75:15. Progressive paced finishing at around 3:55's.

Wednesday - 20 km's - 97:32. Ran in the "gas chamber". Included 6x30 seconds, 4 x 1000 off 400 recovery (3:59 / 3:58 / 3:57 / 3:56). I was pretty spent after those intervals. The effort felt like sub 3:20's. Easy running after that with 3 x 20 seconds to finish up.

Thursday - 20 mins solid then 3000 T/T

Had nothing. 5.1 km's. 5 min walk recovery then 10:11 for the TT

Friday - 9 km's - 43:49 - Easy hills finishing with 5 x 30 seconds

Saturday - 38 km's - 2:57:35

5 km's on treadmill outside, then 13 km's in the "gas chamber" (61 mins) then 5 more km's again on the treadmill outside the chamber. Continued outside on the road with 15 km's over hills. Felt depleted afterwards. My longest long run since May I think.

Sunday - Hills 

Included 1 x 2 mins, jog back then 4 sets of 60/40/20 seconds off 30 seconds with a jog back to the bottom of the hill. Very solid session after 2 hours of heavy leg weights and core work.

All up, 122.1 km's / 9:22:41 running time.

Weeks 32 & 33

Week 32

Monday - 20.0 km's - 1:40:05 (included 10 x diagonals)

Tuesday - 4 x 1500 (500) - Splits 5:11, 4:58, 4:58, 5:15. 15 km's all up in 67:41

Wednesday - 22.0 km's - 90:00. Included 15 x 1 min (1 min float)

Thursday - Saturday - 20 min jogs

Sunday - C2S - PB 49:27 (94th overall). Pleasing off minimal taper. Steady uphill, attacked downhills harder than previous years. Nice to see all the leg weights and hill reps paid off. 79th for heartbreak hill split. As always, not so great on the downhill, but an improvement so no complaints.

88.4 km's - Weekly Total - 6:39:41



Week 33

Monday - 14 km's - 68 mins.

Tuesday - 32 km's - 2:23:50, finishing with 8 x 1 min (1 min)

Wednesday
- Lunchtime - 4.2 km's
- Evening - Speed + LT

8 x 60 seconds off 30 second marathon paced float. 12 mins - 3.5 km's.

5 min walk recovery then:

4 km's - 14:26

Thursday - Leg weights plus hills. 5 km's solid uphill running on treadmill after 40 mins of leg weights.

Friday - Altitude Chamber - 35 mins bike. 68 mins running - progressive paced finishing with 8 x 30 seconds (1 min). 14 km's running in chamber.

Saturday - 10 km jog

Sunday - Carnova Special - 5 x 5000 (1 km jog recovery). Splits: 18:39 / 18:19 / 18:13 / 17:57 / 17:38. All up 32 km's - 2:03:58. Ave HR 153 (max 165). Tough work but pleasing.

Weekly km's - 125.3 - 9:24:29

Week 31

Signed up this week to use the altitude chamber at Valley Fitness at St.Marys. Dd the baseline assessment on Thursday and need to do 4 x 30 mins supervised before I can do sessions above steady state. 

Summary for the week as follows:

Monday - 19.5 km's easy over hills. Included 4 x diagonals early on and 10 x diagonals to finish off.

Tuesday - 18 km's hills fartlek in 74:11. Followed by 1 km jog warm down.

Wednesday - 28 km's solid in 2:00:45 

Thursday - 5 km's including chamber assessment session. Increasing pace and incline in the chamber up to 12% / 12 km/h.

Friday - 15 km's including 12 in the altitude chamber (12 km's progressive effort in the chamber up to 15.5 km's per hour). Tough work in the chamber. Never sweated so much. Enjoyed it. 15.5 km/h feels like 17 or more I estimate.

Saturday - 35 km's easy - 2:36:11 over undulating hills mainly on grass. Last 2 miles in just under 12 mins (marathon paced effort).

Sunday - 10 km's tempo. 15 all up including warm up and warm down. Tempo 36:39. Initial 8 km's at marathon intensity (H/R < 153  - low 3:40's), followed by 2 km's threshold (H/R peaking at 161 - 3:31's). Average H/R - 149

136.5km's for the week.

Week 30

Another solid week of training, but an uncomfortable one at times due to lower back pain. Summary as follows:

Monday: 14 km's - 1:07:46 - Felt very flat

Tuesday: 25 km's - 1:39:30 - City to Surf simulator plus marathon paced training.

1 km easy, 5 km's solid (4:00 pace), 1 km @ 8.5% incline (4.25), 1.5 km's solid (4:00 pace), 500 m @ 8.5% incline @ 4:15 pace, 3 x 200 @ 6.5% over 2 km's, 3 km's slight decline in 9:55, 3 km's approx 4:15's, then solid sub 4's down to M pace with 1 km down to 1/2 marathon pace.

Wednesday: 16 km's - 1:13:52

Thursday: 20 km's - 1:32:03 - 4 x 30 secs (Diagonals) / 6 x 1000 hill circuit (200) / 8 x 30 secs (Diagonals) / 1 x 1000

Solid session. Hill Circuit splits: 3:39 / 3:29 / 3:36 / 3:35 / 3:34 / 3:26. Diagonals ran 90%. 1000 flat - 3:21

Friday: 9.3 km's - Recovery

Saturday: 30 km's - 2:01:21 - Long Run including intervals

3 km's easy. 10 x 1500 (500 recovery jog recovery). 3:42 pace splits. Followed by 5000 (18:33). Solid session. Average H/R 147 (Max 164)

Sunday: 

AM - 12.3 km's - Very flat

PM - 10.4 km's - Very flat

TOTAL - 136.8 km's

Week 29

Nothing flash, just a solid week of base style training:

Monday - 15.5 km's easy

Tuesday - Fartlek - 16 km's all up

- 2 sets of 5 x 1 min (1 min) / 5 x 40 seconds (40 seconds) / 10 x 20 seconds (20 seconds)

Wednesday - 24 km's easy (1 hr 44 mins)

Thursday - Hills / LT - 17 km's all up

- 20 mins hills (4 - 6.5%)  followed by 3 km's progressive paced threshold (3:45/3:30/3:20). Hard work.

Friday - 16 km's easy

Saturday - 10 km undulating XC tempo

- 5 km's warm-up in 20:42

- 10 km's in 38:00

- 3.5 km's jog recovery

Sunday - Easy 2 hrs 15 mins - 29.2 km's

Recent races

6 July - Gold Coast 1/2 Marathon - 76:20

As luck would have it history repeated itself and I was sick for the few days leading up to this race. Same story as last year, but at least I finished this year. No complaints though, happy with the time in the circumstances.

13 July - Sydney Harbour 10 - 35:13

Not a great result, but gave my best. Very heavy legs after moving house during the week. Got boxed in for the first km and off to an extremely slow start (3:39 split). Roughly 3:30's thereafter with a solid finish. Pleased to hold my pace throughout despite running on extremely fatigued legs.

Will now knuckle down and put in some solid training mileage. Initially will concentrate on hills and long runs. Might not do C2S despite having already entered. Will make up my mind in early August. I'm keen to give the body a break after a lot of racing recently.

To be frank, I've raced poorly since my marathon PB in Tokyo. No point maintaining the hectic racing schedule. The body and mind need a break and I simply need to get fresh, stronger and hopefully fitter / faster.

2013 - Week 26

2013 seems to be flying by. It's certainly hardly to believe that we are about to enter the 2nd half of the year. This past week has been all about rain management and trying to stay dry in order to ensure that I don't cop another flu like I did this time last year, which resulted in me not being able to complete the Gold Coast Marathon. Whilst I'm only doing the 1/2 marathon this year I am keen to get there in good health, even if I am a little underdone training wise.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag this past week. A summary of training is as follows:

Monday - 8 km's jogging.

Tuesday - 

Midday - Mona Fartlek - 5.7 km's. It didn't quite go to plan. Whilst I held 3:20 or quicker pace for the reps, I couldn't hold marathon pace (3:45's) for the final few floats (slowed to low 4's). All up 16.9 km's including 10.2 km warm-up & 1 km warm-down.

PM - 5 km's slow jogging

Wednesday - 20.3 km's easy

Thursday - Decreasing intervals - 4.5 km's (5 mins jog recovery) / 3 km's  (3 mins) / 1500 (2 mins) / 1000 (1:40 mins) / 600 (1 min) / 300 (30 secs) / 150. All up 13.5 km's in 50 min's, plus 2 km's warm-up & 1 km warm-down. Very happy with this session. Held 3:20 pace or slightly quicker for each interval.

Friday - 8.5 km's slow jogging

Saturday - 3000 - (1000 recovery) / 2000 (500) / 3 x 1000 (200) / 6 x 30 seconds uphill (90 seconds) - Not a great session. Felt very flat. 3000 - 10:15 / 2000 - 7:00 / 1000's - 3:32/3:36/3:32 / 30 second uphill reps around 3:20-3:30 pace.

Sunday - 21 km's very easy - a little sluggish but relaxed running.

1 week to go now until Gold Coast 1/2 marathon. I've decided to do the exact sessions next week as I did before my 2010 1/2 marathon PB of 75:04. Check the diary earlier and it looks like I'll be doing 4 x 1600 on Tuesday & 3 x 800 on Thursday. Might do 3 light 30 second strides on Saturday as well. 

"Special Block" weekend wrap

Leading up to the Tokyo Marathon in Feb, I trialled some of Renato Carnova's theories. One of his ideas includes a "special block" of back to back hard runs. He prescribes that it should be undertaken on the same day AM & PM. Carnova's approach is also very much event specific. Marathoners will do intervals up to 24 km's in total, 1/2 marathon runners 12-15 km's & 10,000 runners 10-12 km's. These sessions are tough, but the pacing is undertaken at around goal race pace, so despite the longer accumulation of intervals, the sessions are very manageable. The "special block" session is done a few weeks out from race day. The next few days afterwards are very easy.  An example of the marathon  "special block" prescribed for his Kenyan elites is as follows:

AM - 10 km's at 90% of race pace, followed by 20 km's at race pace.

PM - 10 km's at 90% of race pace, followed by 10 x 1000 at race pace (floating 1000 recovery at 90% of race pace).

At the time I decided the above is a big ask for a modest 2:40 marathoner, so I abbreviated the first run to just 15 km's at marathon intensity, but I did do the full second one. It was certainly a character building exercise. I actually felt better during the second hard run. Whilst I wouldn't attribute this one session in isolation to me finally cracking 2:39, I will say that I gained a lot of confidence from it. 

I would say if anybody is interested in Carnova's methods, you need to really understand the complete plan.. In any program, no session alone is important, the combination of many sessions is the key. Carnova is all about building the athlete for the whole event. So marathoners will do a lot of long intervals, but every other week or thereabouts will do solid paced long runs up to 45 km's. might sound hard, but rejuvenation days are plentiful to compliment the full plan.

Anyway, I've digressed. This weekend for me has been about a 1/2 marathon specific modified "special block". Yesterday (3 pm) I did State XC at Willandra (12 km's over challenging sharp undulating terrain). Today (7:30 AM) I did the SMC 10 km race.

Both races went okay. Time  and pacing wasn't really a key for me. I felt a little underdone at Willandra and managed a time of 44:53, for 36th overall and 2nd M45. The downhill as always was my big weakness. Today was a solo effort for an unflattering time of 35:53. Closer to 35 would've been nice, but coming off a hard XC and only 5 hours sleep was less than ideal. The SMC course is on a bike path and includes 1 fairly big hill where I could only manage a 3:43 km, but the rest of the race went okay. Importantly I was running on at the end with a couple of 3:28 closing km's. I don't get many wins, so it was nice to get one today.

The next 3 days will be very easy for me. Will do another run this afternoon and will do my long run probably on Tuesday. Come Thursday, hopefully I'll be refreshed and pumped for some hard shorter reps.

2 weeks now until the Gold Coast 1/2. 

Glow Worm Tunnel Half Marathon

Short Blog.

Enjoyable outing today at Newnes. Hats off to the specialist trail runners. Far too good for me on the technical terrain. If I ever want to get any good at this sport, it is certainly something I am going to need to practice.

Got what I wanted out of the session. Solid run of around 23 km's at a little quicker than marathon intensity. I'd best describe the run for me as a long fartlek session. The first 5 km's was a fairly nice gentle incline. Got technical in places after that. Compulsory walk through the tunnel. A rugged section, and back. Stretched out over the last 5 km's (sub 18). Good to stretch out in places and should be a nice preparation run for the Gold Coast 1/2 in 3 weeks.

Ran to heart rate, keeping it below 160 going up and low to mid 150's coming back. All good fun!

Praise goes out to the organisers. Very well organised and run event. Beautiful location. Great cool conditions and a good turnout.

To sort of quote Alan Jackson's song, I can see why so many road runners have "Gone Country". Well at least hit the bush anyway.

Nasty Nitrates

When it comes to trying a new session I nearly always embrace it with anticipation and enthusiasm. However when it comes to nutrition, I am far more sceptical and am nearly always unwilling to embrace change. Aside from being the world's fussiest eater, I need convincing that something is actually good for me. So that means reading lab testing, reviews etc etc. But even if it is good for me, I've always refused to try anything that looks, smells or even just sounds disgusting. One such food is beetroot. For 45 years the sight and smell of it has just turned my stomach. I've been crook these past 2 days and have been stuck home in bed. In between dosing in and out of sleep I've been reading about the benefits of beetroot juice. There seems to be plenty of credence behind it improving endurance and oxygen uptake and even the AIS website had positive things to say about it. So here's the dilemma, I like the sound of the benefits but the idea of drinking beetroot juice turns me right off. I looked into supplement alternatives but it seems that the real thing is best. Beet It branded shots of just 70 mls, which pack 300 mg's of nitrates sounded tolerable. I figure I could hold my nose, close my eyes, throw it down and wash it away with water immediately. Only problem, I can only get them online and wanted to try a loading phase for an upcoming race on Sunday. Once I make up my mind, I hate to wait, so I decided to go down to the health food store and buy some beetroot juice. Here's the even bigger problem. To get the same desired 300 mg's of nitrates, I have to consume 250 mls of the concentrated stuff I bought, plus 5-6 parts water. I don't know the maths, but that's shitloads of the most disgusting vile looking stuff I ever saw. And the smell, jeez I wanted to puke just mixing it. So as a compromise, I decided to settle on 1/2 now, 1/2 in the morning. Putting the cup to my mouth was far more intimidating than any session or race I've ever done before. I had to remind myself with every mouthful that I'm doing this to hopefully race faster. Well the final verdict. What my eyes and nose have been telling me for 45 years has officially been backed up by my taste buds.

Like any stubborn runner, I won't be defeated. I'll back up in the morning for the next serve of red pee fuel. And again in the evening and right up until Sunday morning when I do a low key trail 1/2 at Newnes. If this stuff adds even a 1% benefit, I'll buy the Beet It branded 70 ml shots and use them for pre race nitrate loading for goal races.

I'm looking forward to hitting the trails on Sunday and testing myself against a few trail specialists. No doubt I'll be left behind on the technical stuff and also the downhill sections but hopefully I can keep a few runners honest on the flat and uphill.

Felt flat all week

I put in some ridiculous hours at work this week and as a result my sleep and in turn running suffered. Every run this week has been a battle and to be honest I'm just glad to have got through it. Key runs included:

Tuesday - 10 x 100 metre strides (200 metre recovery) / 10 x 50 metres strides (250 metre recovery). Fairly relaxed & as always I didn't bother to record the splits for the strides. Ran on grass.

Thursday - 6000 / 5000 / 3000 (2:00 min recovery) - Struggled. Averaged 3:35's for first interval (track), 3:40's for the 2nd (2000 track / 3000 grass), 3:45's for the 3rd (grass). 20 km's all-up

Saturday - 4 km's marathon tempo pace (grass) followed by 4 x 2 km's (grass) with 2 mins jog recovery. Splits: 6:45/6:37/6:40/6:39. 20 km's all up.

Sunday - 29 km's - 2:02:09 (Road)

Total km's for week - 112.8 (8:17 hours) - Ave pace 4:24

4 weeks now until Gold Coast 1/2 Marathon. Aiming for a few more km's this week and hopefully a decent session or 2.

Choosing your battles!

Despite my pleas to the weather gods unfortunately the weatherman was spot on. Windy and warmer conditions were presented on the day. With GC 1/2 being only 5 weeks away and a PB attempt at the marathon not being realistic in ChCh, I decided to do a lap of the airport perimeter and save myself for the GC half and hopefully be fitter and fresher as a result.

NZ certainly has been a bogey ground for me. 3 runs on Christchurch and filfthy weather every time. I'll be back though. Redemption awaits!

Calling out to the weather gods!

I'll be heading across the ditch with my mate "Oldman" for a second crack at the Christchurch Marathon on Sunday where I hope to improve upon my PW of 2:55 there back in 2008. Regardless of how the race goes it will be interesting to see how the city has been rebuilt since it was devastated by the earthquake in 2011.

Unfortunately we're only heading over on Friday and back after the race on Sunday, so won't get a chance to see much. A quick look at the city on Friday afternoon and a short day trip to Akaroa on Saturday is about all we will manage. Looking forward to it all the same.

I picked this race because the course is flat and I prefer cold climate racing (10 degrees or less is ideal for me). As luck would have it, unfortunately the weather forecast at this stage is for wind, rain and around 14 degree temperatures. I haven't had perfect marathon conditions since Melbourne way back in 2009, so it is a little frustrating, but heck what can you do. As always you just have to focus on dealing with whatever conditions are presented in a sensible manner and with a positive mindset. I had to laugh a little today though. Oldman is a lot more regular than I am in paying respects to our creator, so I cheekily asked him if he could put in a good word for me. Not long afterwards I get a text reply saying he did his best but the lord said my name wasn't on file. A fitting reminder for me to show my face at church more often. Apparently my blue sky cathedral isn't deemed acceptable.

Whilst I'm no doubt unworthy, I'm still putting in a special plea to the weather gods to embarrass the weatherman. Please, just this once! :)

And of course to Oldman and those racing, I hope you enjoy the event, run fast and smash your goals for the race.

SMH Half Marathon

Solid hit out today at SMH 1/2. 76:32. 2nd M40-49. Despite living in Sydney, I've always preferred the Canberra 1/2 to this one and have never done it before. Glad I finally had a crack, but still prefer the Canberra event. 

Tough undulating course with very little opportunity to get into a groove. Still a sound run off marathon training leading into Christchurch Marathon in 2 weeks.

It's great to be back racing again now that the weather has cooled down. Other than the Tokyo Marathon in Feb (PB 2:39:40), I've only raced twice since November last year. Today and the Mothers Day Classic last Sunday (4 km's in 12:51) at Parramatta Park.

Definitely not my usual marathon preparation leading up to ChCh, having raced a 1/2 two weeks out and running the distance 3 weeks out (42.2 last Sat in 3:04 hours) in training. A couple of light weeks now and will be lining up for marathon #15.

Taper Time

In just over a week, I'll be back racing for my first outing in 3 months. I'll be heading over to Tokyo to run the new 6th Major . I've never tried a marathon this early in the year before and I must say that it hasn't been easy preparing in the warmer months. The preparation has been uninterrupted, which  is nice, but certainly hasn't been easy. I've had some great sessions and some crap ones. Typically once the temp gets above the mid 20's and / or the humidity is high, I pretty much know in advance that its going to be a slog. I just don't handle these conditions well at all. Recognising my weakness, I've just run these sessions to heart rate and don't even look at the pace on my garmin. 

Leading up to this race I've loosely followed an old school Lydiard periodisation approach, with an emphasis on quality longer runs in particular. There's been very little in the way of VO2 interval sessions, but plenty of hills early on, a weekly strides session and weekly tempo session or marathon paced session up to 25 km's. All in all, I'm pleased with how I've prepared and am now just excited to get out and race again. It's always great fun to combine my love of travel and running. I haven't been to Tokyo before so am excited to see a new place. It's even more exciting to be bringing my girlfriend Samantha along. For me there's nothing more motivating than having her there holding onto my grandfathers old stetson hat at the race start / finish.