Week of 19/1 ; Down South

Really enjoying the running in the southwest ; its very cool (albeit a little windy) and the air quality is as you would expect. Another few days before heading back to the big smoke ;-) Will have to book the flights to the US next week. It's all getting a bit exciting! Training's going really well - the recent introduction of the recovery runs seems to be improving the quality sessions.

Monday: 13.14km Tempo @3:52min/km HR 167. Ripper of a tempo run. Redgate Rd, to Thomson and Calgardup and return (map). Really enjoyed this one - tried to keep the 3/3 breathing to monitor the effort and just felt fantastic. Cool, sunny conditions with good air quality. If I could only bottle that feeling ... all up did 17.28km. The blueberry pancakes at Wild Thyme restaurant in  MR were the best breakfast I have had for a long time. Life is sweet!

Tuesday am: 9.5km Recovery @4:55 pace HR 133. First run down in Denmark on the heritage rail trail from Lights Road towards town. Not a great trail to run on - the surface varies from sandy to quite rocky and there are one or two snakes around as well. Ran with Kim & Sas - Kim was doing a 3km time-trial  and was happy to oblige. She ran great on a tough surface and manage to achieve what she was looking for.

Tuesday pm: 7.8km Intervals. Did a 1,2,3,3,2,1 hard effort with a 1:30 JR between. Really didn't feel like doing this one as the holiday mode was starting to settle in, but we forced ourselves. The surface was a little tricky for this, but managed the effort ok.

Wednesday: 9.5km recovery 4:44 pace HR 138. Felt a little stiff at first but enjoyed running on a new trail from Denmark centre down to the mouth of the river and up the inlet and return (map). It was tougher than expected but the thought of a jumbo takeaway of the best coffee in the Southwest at the Bibbulmun Cafe kept me moving forward...

Thursday am: 18.22km easy 4:28 pace HR 150. Lovely run with Sas from town to the mouth of Denmark river and along the inlet trail to Crusoe beach and return( map). Wonderful trail to run on, although the bit to the rivermouth is a bit of an obstacle course and quite narrow. After the bridge though it's wide and a great surface, esp. the bits where the pine needles are on the ground. Once we got to Crusoe beach we were presented with a beautiful panorama of the inlet made all the better by the pro-fisherman cleaning his catch and throwing bits to ~30 pelicans. We were tempted to stay but the stiffening legs prompted the reurn journey (where did that headwind come from?). It was getting pretty warm by the end and fatigue was definitley setting in. Same treatment as Wednesday soon perked us up !

Thursday pm: 13.2km MP 3:56 pace HR 167. Very quicky turned into a tempo run from the bridge on the inlet trail to the Crusoe beach road and return. Felt very fatigued and not in the mood, but once I got going I felt great and was flying along with seemingly minimal effort. I realised then I was going to fast and tried to slow down. Without the footpod it was difficult. Kept the 3/3 breathing but will have to go 3/4 to get the MP runs happening I think.

Saturday: 23.76km Long run 4:42 pace HR 142. Darlington to John Forrest with a loop of Park Road and down to Darlington (map). Absolutley brilliant conditions for running today - cool, sunny and very little wind, though enough keep the air moving. This is a good hilly run and the HR was very good. The rest day on Friday must have really paid off. Maybe I should consider moving the rest day to Friday from Wednesday.

Sunday: 12.04km Easy @ 4:26 pace HR 147 Ca 82. Easy run from East Perth up to Maylands around the Tranby Peninisular and back ( map ). Fairly warm conditions but still pretty comfortable. Felt a little stiff at the start but this dissipated quickly and started moving along at a nice clip. Kept the breathing to 4/4 to control the effort -  I need to remember to not overdo it on the easy days to maximise the quality sessions following. 

Another good week - 111km and feeling pretty good. Fatigue does not seem to be a factor at the moment. We'll see how this changes once the real long runs start next week.

Week of 12/1; Southbound

Long run back to 2 hours but mid-week LR up to 16km. Going down to MR/Denmark on Thursday for a week so cooler weather and better air should make for some fantastic running. Blog updates will be less frequent...

Monday: 30 minutes tempo @ 3:49 pace Ca 87. Warmed up from Zamia to Hackett Drive and tempo'd from there down Matilda Bay to the carpark at the end of Esplanade & back (map). Forgot HR monitor at home so had to do this on feel. Kept the breathing at 3/3 to maintain an even effort. Felt fantastic - great conditions for running, though a bit warmer than expected. It was almost cold running down from Zamia, but the temperature and humidity really stepped up once we got out of the park. Total was 11.54km

Tuesday am: 10.23km easy @ 4:45 pace HR 145 Ca 84. Loop from carpark by Narrows along Mounts Bay Rd to UWA, up past Zamia to Lovekin Dr, up to Fraser and down Malcolm St (map). Nice easy run although the legs still had some fatigue from the tempo effort yesterday. Hr a little high for the pace given how cool it was. It was nice to do a slightly different run and not include the Narrows for a change!

Tuesday pm: WAMC Intervals. 3x400; 90 sec recovery ; 3x600 ; 90sec; 4x400. JK was away and whoever marked the track out generously made it 40-50m short. For that reason I decided to do an extra one to make up the distance to some extent. Felt fairly good, although (again) a very strong headwind up the home straight made it hard going.  67, 65, 63, 95, 95, 95, 65, 62, 61, 65. All up 8.5km.

Thursday am: 16.65km easy @ 4:26 pace HR146 Ca 85. Nice long easy along Mounts Bay Rd and a loop or two in the park. Lovely morining, felt good.

Thursday pm: 11.75km 'MP' @ 4:00 pace HR 162. Hot and windy conditions greeted the first run down in Margaret River. Felt good to get out after a few hours in the car. Ran Redgate road and turned into Thomson which is a dirt road (map). A nice surface to run on, but dust and grit from the two passing cars were a problem which resulted in me winding all over the road while I tried to claw my eyeball out to remove the large rocks under my contact lenses. Enjoyed the rest of it though, the legs felt great. Took a gel before starting to pep me up. Too fast for a marathon pace run though (same old).

Friday: 9.69km recovery @ 4:55 pace, HR 138. Lovely run just as the sun was rising over the farmlands around Witchcliffe (map). Had to be a bit of a zen runner this week as I left the cradle for the footpod in a pair of shoes in Perth. I changed my mind at the last minute and brought the heavier Nirvanas rather than the Inspires. Legs felt stiff at first but got into it.

Saturday: 24.96km long run @ 4:48 pace HR 142. Fairly hilly long run along Davis road and through the farmland (map). No gels, just water, and started to feel fatigued by the end of it. A good run though, very nice conditions.

Sunday: 8.6km recovery @ 5:06 pace HR 128. Very gentle recovery run to round out the week.

102 kms this week and feeling good.

Week of 5/1

Back to intervals this week, and time to get serious. Brooking Road this weekend - should be a doddle after the JF trails run we did last week...

Monday: 10k easy 4:48 pace HR 139 Ca 83. Nice easy recovery run with Sandgroper & Sas. Hip was good this morning, but the quads (as expected) felt a little stiff. They eased off and felt OK after a couple of k's, and felt pretty good going up the KP perimeter path at the end. It felt pretty warm esp. as the sun came over the hills.

Tuesday am: 11.1k easy 4:35 pace HR 145 Ca 85. Easy run off the bike (~8K in 18 mins) from Mends St along Mounts Bay Rd, up thru the park on Forrest Dr and back down Malcolm (map). Legs didn't feel as fatigued as yesterday (apart from the 'brick' feeling for the first few hundred metres) and really enjoyed it. First time I've tried running in the new tri-shorts and they felt good - I was concerned that they would cut off the circulation a bit, but they were great! Cycled home after coffee with the girls at the Dome.

Tuesday pm: WAMC Intervals. Today was a whistle session - 5x3 minutes with ~2 minutes recovery. Pretty warm  at around 30 degrees and gusty winds (SW30/50) made this an interesting session. Distance run was about 860, 880, 890, 890, 910m on the last one, maxxing out at an HR of 187. Almost a repeat of the Parlouf race at a slightly lower intensity. Felt a little fatigued and unenthusiastic in the warmup but once I got going I felt pretty comfortable. Cadence during the intervals was probably a little slow at around 88. Total including warmup, drills and cooldown was around 9k, avg HR 145.

Wednesday: Short cycle today, up to King's Park and return for about 26k, average HR 95. Nice leg loosener, feeling a little leg-tired so decided against the extra hilly loop. Also time-contrained as Sas got a puncture.... 

Thursday am: 13.28Km easy 4:25 pace HR 146 Ca 85. Loop from Mends St along Mounts Bay, up the King's Park western perimeter path down Malcolm (map). Actually had a great run, but felt a little fatigued from lack of sleep. The air quality wasn't great by the river, but improved in the park. This is the first step up of the mid-week long run. Next week we'll go to around 16km and make it about 20K thereafter, using a loop back through the park to get the extra. Training for Boston, we need to keep it hilly.

Thursday pm: 10.52Km MP 4:04 pace Hr 167 Ca 85. Loop from home with Canning/MT Henry Loop plus a slightly different loop from last week thru Brentwood. Felt substantially hotter and more humid than last week even though BOM for Perth says it was 2 degrees cooler (32.1). Wind was about the same (SSW28/35). Felt pretty good and went a bit fast again, almost tempo effort. Legs felt good and I enjoyed the challenge. I had a Gu 10 minutes before setting out ; I thought it would be helpful; besides, its the only chocolate I ever eat!

Friday: 10Km recovery 4:55 pace HR 133 Ca 81. Nice easy run with Sandgroper from Zamia down the 'sneaky path' thru UWA to Matilda Bay and back. No soreness or stiffness to report which is a little surprising - the old body seems to be holding up well ; all being well this will be the first 100k week ( and 2nd all-time) since the first week of June in Perth 2008 marathon training. A beautiful morning for running.

Saturday: 28.38km long run 4:34 pace HR 152 Ca 83 Cal 1799. Brooking Road loop (map). Ran with a good quick group - Sandgroper, Sas and Simon (the S team I guess). Brooking Road actually didn't feel too bad ; a definite improvement on last time I did it. I think last week's killer effort on the JF trails have worked wonders. This too fast for a long run though. The last 7.5km down the trail averaged 4:12 pace! That definitely wasn't me! That said, I felt pretty good especially going up the hill from Midland to the top of Brooking ; got into a nice groove and found it easy to keep going. Legs felt a little sore coming down again and I found it difficult to get a nice rythm - strange, normally I can handle the downhill pretty well. Have to get that right for Boston! Did the run on green tea and a banana beforehand ; only took water on the run - really had to load up afterwards but never felt particularly depleted on the trails.

Sunday: 8.4k recovery @ 5:00 pace HR 132 Ca 83. Nice amble around the river loop oin a beautiful morning. Time to reflect on a good week and hope that the rest of the marathon training goes like this. This is fun! Did 100k this week with a good amount of quality and feeling good.

Week of 29/12

Aim is to do another easy week but ramp up some distance . Decided against the New Years run at the club but will probably to the Burswood Twilight 5k on Sunday. Sandgroper has a killer long run on the trails of John Forrest Nat. Park planned for the weekend....

Monday: 9.84km 4:42 pace HR 146 Ca 83; Nice easy run thru the park with Sandgroper, Sas, et al. (map). Strange conditions ; lovely and cool in the bushland part of park but temperature stepped up about 5 degrees when we got to Fraser Ave. It got pretty warm running along Mounts Bay and the HR started to climb - it then dropped again once we got to the park even though we were going uphill again. Didn't feel particularly fatigued at any point, just got a strangely high HR for the pace (it's funny, a year ago I would have been stoked!). Had a nice lengthy coffee at Zamia with a large group of fellow caffeine/running junkies. Had a great breakfast ...

                    

...perhaps I'll die.

Tuesday: 11km easy 4:37 pace HR 146 Ca 85  (map). Nasty morning for running ; felt really hot, dry and uncomfortable. Felt like I was on the edge the whole way - almost like the oxygen had been sucked out of the air. Time to HTFU because I'm guessing the easy days of December are over and it's going to be a long, hot summer. Cycled to and from Mends St for this run. I can see how runners become cyclists - it's sooo much easier than running when the weather gets like this. Tried to make up for lack of intervals by doing a hard cycle on the river loop (~8k in 16 minutes) at 3pm when the temp was 38.4° - I just had to try out the new 2XU tri-shorts...

Wednesday: Nice relaxing 30k bike ride today - no sore bum at the end for a change! It wasn't as hot as expected so felt pretty good afterwards. Won't be running the club race tonight - there wouldn't be much benefit and would ruin tomorrow's training. Heat exhaustion wouldn't be a good way to start the new year...

Thursday am: 12.08km easy 4:40 pace HR140 Ca 84. Magic run to start the year wasn't nearly as hot or windy as predicted. Did a lovely rolling hills run from Trigg to Hillarys and back (map) with Sas. After finishing didn't really feel leg tired at all, just a little hungry. Again, just did the run on green tea, which probably accounts for feeling a little peckish afterwards...

Thursday pm: 10.15 km MP 4:04 pace HR 168 Ca 86. Tough conditions to run in - 34°  and a stiff wind (SW28/33). For a change did the Canning/Mt Henry Loop plus a circuit thru Brentwood to take it just over 10K.  Went a little fast, the aim was 4:10 pace. HR was high - almost in the tempo zone. I'd give 10/15 beats to the conditions (my max was 187 as I pushed a bit at the finish). It felt good to challenge myself with this one. Bring on summer! As an experiment, I weighed myself before and after and (allowing for the litre of Gatorade consumed immediately afterwards!) found I had lost 2 litres of sweat. Not bad for a 40 minute run.... 

Friday: 8k recovery 5:00 pace HR 136 Ca 82. I went out this morning at 6:30 on the standard Canning/Mt Henry Loop determined to enjoy myself. Ran at a nice gentle pace, enjoying the cool air and the look of the river in that special light you get just after sunrise. Afterwards went down to Leighton with Kim & Zoe for a wade in the ocean. Have a sore left hip, nothing a good grind session with a rubber ball won't sort out...

Saturday: 26km long run 5:20 pace HR 149 Ca 81 Cal 1870 Time 2:19.  Tough, tough run with Sandgroper & Sas. Ran the trails of John Forrest NP (map) - approx 800m of ascent in 5 big hills (and lots of little ones). A real quad smasher. The mind nearly snapped a couple of times! Did the run on green tea, a banana beforehand and about 500ml of gatorade during. The Fuelbelt^tm was really giving me the s***ts, and it nearly got tossed... I need to find a better solution - it just bounces and moves around too much.  When we were finished I felt really depleted and fatigued, but not sore - drank 1.5 l of Carboshotz hydration and 1.1 l of milk to rehydrate - and a few hours afterwards the legs are feeling pretty good. I had intended to take a gel, but idiotically forgot to zip the pouch after putting the car key and gels in it - these were found by Sandgroper when we got back on the ground close to the departure point, and he very kindly held onto this stuff during the recovery session at the bakery, obviously forgetting to tell me and handing it over just as I left to go search the trails for the key; I must remember to return the kindness sometime....

Sunday: 8k Easy/Tempo pace 4:24 HR157 Ca 82. Bailed on the Twilight race. Hip was bugging me all day, not responding to the usual treatment ; decided there was nothing in it for me except the possibility of injuring the area, which will settle quickly (or has in the past) if I don't push it.  No possibility of a PB or even a decent time after yesterday's effort in the hills. Disappointed, but I'll live ;-) Decided to go out on recovery run and pick it up if I felt OK. Hip was sore for the first 1.5km and I was about to pull the plug when I started feeling easier. After crossing Mt Henry bridge decided to push a bit coming home for 3.5k, where I averaged around 3:51 pace at a decent HR (avg 174) , considering it was 34 degrees. Did a lot of stretching and massage with Marathon stick and am feeling OK. Hopefully I'll wake cured (this is how this thing seems to work...)