Run for a Reason Slideshow

This is what 50 bucks buys you...

I have to say I'm impressed with the service!

HBF Run for a Reason : 14.5km - 52:03

I had a great run today. 14.5km @3:35 HR 175. I've been feeling a bit flat all week, but I felt really good and didn’t die at the end, as I usually do. I’ve learnt some pacing lessons. Had some sweet revenge on Martin Feichtinger who drafted me for 7k in the 10k race a couple of weeks ago – slowly reeled him in and overtook him on the causeway. I wasn’t overtaken by anyone and picked up at least 5 places in the last 3 ks.

Map of the 14.5km course

Met up with Biscuitman before the start, but we didn’t have a chance to do a warmup after dropping off my bag and making our way to the start. Too many people, just too complicated. We has a great start, pretty much on the front line.

The k markers were a little off, and no 10k that I saw which was a shame. My pace was pretty constant, I enjoyed the ups and downs on this course which added a bit of variety for the legs. Struggled a bit into the strong SW30/45 winds under the Windan down past the club, but for the rest the conditions were pretty good.

My footpod got this run about spot on, these are the splits:

Dist   Elapsed   Avg pace  Split

1000  0:03:40.0  03:40.0  03:40.0

2000  0:07:16.0  03:38.0  03:36.0

3000  0:10:53.0  03:37.7  03:37.0

4000  0:14:31.0  03:37.7  03:38.0

5000  0:18:01.0  03:36.2  03:30.0

6000  0:21:31.0  03:35.2  03:30.0

7000  0:25:06.0  03:35.1  03:35.0

8000  0:28:28.0  03:33.5  03:22.0

9000  0:32:09.0  03:34.3  03:41.0

10000 0:35:47.0  03:34.7  03:38.0

11000 0:39:31.0  03:35.5  03:44.0

12000 0:43:08.0  03:35.7  03:37.0

13000 0:46:43.0  03:35.6  03:35.0

14000 0:50:05.0  03:34.6  03:22.0

14570 0:52:03.0  03:34.8  03:27.0

I had a bit of drama just as I went past the marathon club, to my horror the shoelace on my right foot had worked it's way loose. The Mizuno revolver laces don't grip well, and even though I had double tied, it still happened. I guess I need to tuck the ends in as well. I didn't stop and the show stayed on so all's well that ends well! I did have a bit of a debate, but I was really starting to surge ( last 3k in 10:20 ) and was pulling in places so I really didn't want to stop.

Thrilled to bits. Not a key race but a great confidence builder.

Story of the week

Good Mona session yesterday, covering 5.71km in the 20 minutes (avg. pace 3:30) in less than favourable conditions, total of 12.5km including warmup & cooldown. 6k recovery at Cott this morning (@ 4:45 HR 133) and another one tomorrow.

Story of the week - as an IT professional, I couldn't help but be amused by this one :

IBM distributes virus-laden USB keys at security conference

Read story here : IBM boo-boo.

Semi-Taper

Since my last post, the highlight was definitely the long run on Saturday.  33km @ 4:13 HR 151. Run at 3hr marathon pace for first 26km and kicked it up to 3:58 for the last 7.5km ; I felt stronger as the run went on. 2 Gus, one at 15 the next at 26, beautiful wind-free conditions.

Sunday went to the Million Paws walk and did a recovery afterwards ; 8km of walking is not fun on my joints, I needed the recovery to loosen up - 6km @4:36 HR 135. Monday was the standard 11km from King's Park down to Mounts Bay Rd and back up the western side. Bloody cold. 11km @4:11 HR 152.

Tuesday did a 6x1km session on the freeway bike path, averaging 3:13 for the reps, with an equal jog recovery - with a 3km warmup and cooldown I get about 15.5km in just over an hour. Good session, but tough.

Wednesday I cut my usual mid-week longer run down to 10km in preparation for the Run for a Reason on Sunday. Mona session tomorrow, and then two recoveries Fri/Sat with some run thrus. My weekly kms have been high, so this is a good opportunity to cut back, strengthen and hopefully have a good race. Pacing will be everything, and is usually my downfall. First few kms I'll be treating as a tempo run and will take it from there.

PS. The blog has become a little secondary, as I post my training on Strands, and is much more detailed, so the updates aren't as frequent here.

Lots of running - and a change of plans

What else ? Been down south in Denmark for a while, but still getting the quality in. Lots of hills down there, so this varies my training nicely.

The week to 8/5 was 145 km (avg pace 4:21, avg econ 636bpk ), but that included two long runs, so the average for the previous 2 weeks was ~121km. Highlights were a 15km session including 6x1km reps at 3:11 pace on Tuesday evening and a 12km tempo run @ 3:38pace on Thursday evening, plus a lovely 33km long run in Denmark from the house down to Ocean Beach and back, and then up the Inlet and back for 13km with Sas.

This week the highlights have been a good 20minute Mona session (5.6km) along the Wilson Inlet in Denmark, and an improvement on last weeks tempo, this time averaging 3:37 for the 12km and feeling much stronger at the end. Looking at 120km this week too with a 32km long run tomorrow - (avg pace week to date 4:14, econ 622bpk ).

Racing plans have changed a bit  - I'm no longer doing Challenge because I'm going to be away, so the sub-35 will have to wait. So, I'll race Run for a Reason if I can get a decent start, and the next race will be Elleker HM. I've hooked up with Biscuitman and SimonE to run the Perth Marathon Relay - shelving plans to do it as a long run - I'll be doing the first two legs which is about 23.4km. So next target 10k will either be Run for Gold or the State 10k.

Relay 4 Life

Big weekend! Went down to Busso to spectate at the half ironman with Kim, Sas & Jo ; managed to squeeze a 10k run in (4:40pace HR 133). Wow, Busselton is flat! The only slight rises on this were going over a bridge! Beautiful conditions.

Enjoyed the day watching the competitors and was inspired to maybe giving this a go next year as a good changeup after the New York marathon in November. Watch this space...

I took some photos, mostly of the top women and Brad Hosking (who did the run in fireman's breathing apparatus ( swim and bike as normal ) as part of fundraising drive in aid of PMH,) because that's what was happening in the finish area when we got there... gallery is here.

On Sunday we went to join the Comrades runners in the Relay for Life at the WA Athletics stadium. Wonderful event being a fundraiser for the Cancer Council. I ran the first hour at the stadium as part of a team in the ‘Relay for Life’. Golden Barbie was the baton. Started out easy and slowly picked it from 4:15 k’s finishing with a few 3:40s to get 15.2k done in the hour. Then I handed to Kim, sucked down a Roctane Gu, and nipped off to do a loop in Bold Park ; took a very scenic and hilly detour off the Zamia trail to where I thought was a shortcut to the road, but, not so much, I ended up back where I started. Continued on Zamia and took the turn I knew (!) down past Camel Lakes (never seen a lake there…) and back to the stadium. Had about 30 seconds to grab a quick drink and then set off for another 12 laps (averaging 4:10 pace) 5k of loops in the relay. Had a bit of a rest then jogged a further 4 laps with kim - see photo(!), bringing my total to just over 32km.

More photos of the event here ; including some of SuperKate who did the 10pm to 4am shift, and who turns out is a fine Barbie seamstress. Most of the team are off to do Comrades, and had run 48km on Saturday morning! Nutters...

I felt a bit average for the first 10 minutes but got into a groove on the track and really started to enjoy it – the hour went very quickly. I felt good on the climbs of rebold hill too – didn’t have that feeling of all the strength in my quads wilting at the sign of a hill – which I can get when tired. A good run today but HR was high – pretty warm at the track out of the wind. I think I need to go slightly easier this week – my 7 day total including today is 124km. I must be careful not to get carried away.