Coker Park 5k - 17:03

Something to work with here. I definitely dropped the pace from 1k to 3k - I wimped out there mentally just a bit, and forced myself to pick it up once I went through 3 in a pretty average split and felt pretty strong at the end. If I can improve the 3k split I should be on track for something close to what I'm looking for. Conditions were perfect tonight, apart from zero competition. Sangroper came out but started feeling a bit crook so made the wise move to opt out.

Splits:

38.6 82.0 82.0 82.7 82.9 83.5 83.5 84.0 83.3 81.7 83.2 80.8 74

1K 3:22.6  ( 1k@ 3:22.6/km)

3k 10:19.2 ( 2k@ 3:28.5/km)

5k 17:03.3 ( 2k@ 3:22.0/km)

This is a 15 second PB but I know I can do a lot better.... 16:40 is definitely within my grasp. Really happy with the first PB for a while...

Easy run

8k @ 4:40 HR144 Ca86 7°C 98% ESE7/11 Nice easy run on my local river loop this morning. Cold, sunny and no wind - lovely! Felt a tightness in the left calf continuing from the cooldown last night (I felt nothing in the intervals) - massage stick here I come...

Easy Intervals

Headed down to the new stadium for a nice easy intervals session with Sandgroper this evening. Perfect conditions tonight, we did a 5km warmup and did a few drills and then hit the session. 6x200 on 1:00 then 4x400 on 2:00 then 6x200 on 1:00 with jog recoveries. All were done at 5k pace. I felt really relaxed and easy ( a little too easy in the 400s), especially after a 48hr break since my tempo on Sunday. This may be the way forward.... splits were:

40.5, 42.0, 42.0, 40.9, 40.6, 39.7
81.5, 82.4, 83.0, 83.0
40.8, 40.8, 40.2, 40.0, 40.8, 40.6

All up about 12km. Had a bit of a senior moment in the middle of the 200's where I lost count - I am getting on a bit I suppose.

Down South

Spent three days in Margaret River and 5 in Denmark, and got in some good running. Really tied it on too, managed to finish two whole bottles of wine... first time the demon drink has passed my lips since the new year... had a great time, hanging out at Blue Ginger cafe, and Wild Thyme (mmmm... blueberry pancakes) in MR and Bibbulmun cafe in Demark.

Monday: 50 minutes of tempo from redgate to Harrison and back (map) on a really cold blustery morning. Not a hilly course, but not flat either and the weather definitely made it interesting. Averaged 3:55 pace HR171 Ca87. Started to run out of steam towards the end but felt really strong in the middle pushing into the howling wind. Longest tempo run for a very long time so very happy. All up 15.56km

Tuesday: After a 20 minute warmup did 3 sets of 4x400m on 2:00 with a 2 minute break inbetween sets. Did this up and down Redgate road where a 400m marker had been placed. It was certainly different doing it on a 400m straight - I think it was a little long but did a good consistent session. 83, 80, 76, 76 76, 77, 77, 77 77, 76, 78, 76

Wednesday: After a lengthy but beautiful drive from MR to Denmark thru the Karri forests of the southwest I felt alittle itchy so went for a nice easy run done the Nornalup-Denmark heritage trail. Beautiful evening for running - 12.08km @ 4:27 HR 147 Ca 81.

Thursday: Ran with Kim while she toughed out a 3km time trial up along the Denmark inlet ; on the return I did some fartlek intervals, mostly short sprints but a couple of longer ones. All up about 7km.

Saturday: Ran a tough long run from the chalet into Denmark then back out on Ocean Beach Rd and returning on Lights Rd around Monkey Rock up a killer hill and back to the chalet (map). A good rolling course with 250m of ascent and some tough winds to deal with. Ran 24.9km in 1:56 @ 4:40 HR 152 Ca84 ; didn't stop or take any gels and felt spent by the end (and only had a cup of green tea before), but it was a great run and felt very strong for most of it.

Sunday: Because of time constraints I had to do my tempo run on Sunday evening rather than Monday morning. Ran the Denmark inlet trail to Crusoe beach road and back for a total of 13.2 km (map). Didn't feel too great for the first 20 minutes because it was too close to a delicious but quite heavy lunch (!) but felt pretty good thereafter. Ran pretty well on the damp trail where the footing was a bit muddy in parts but mostly good. Tempo part was 10.8km at 3:48 pace (40.48) HR171 Ca88.

Going to try to take it easy this week to get a good result at the 5k at Coker on Thursday.

Congratulations to Biscuitman and Sandgroper for their respective runs at the Run4Gold. Sorry I missed the race...

Edit: Alberto Contador needs to shut the hell up. About one of the greatest athletes who has ever lived, how could he say 'I have never had admiration for him and I never will'. Alberto, you are no doubt a pretty decent athlete yourself (if a complete show pony), but you should try to show a little humility... small wonder so many people wanted your wheels to fall off. Roll on Team Radio Shack (sorry B-man) 2010!

'Long' run

21.5km @4:30 HR 154 Ca83 11°C 90% NW17/28. Was joined by SG on a cool and showery morning for a nice hilly run in the Darling ranges (map). It was a slightly different run from last week, with different challenges - and it was good to have company. That first climb up to the GE highway is a bugger, but once you get into the park, you get the reward - a nice flat stretch with beautiful scenery. Only one or two roos today and no wallabies. Once thru the park we hit the second challenging hill up Oxley Rd to Hedges Rd - then along Hedges with a bit of a bush bash for ~200m and then continuing up to Brooking Rd, and the third big hill. It's all bitumen up to the Shiraz tap, and my shoes were a little slippery going up Brooking - not nice. Also not nice is the fact that all the water taps on the heritage trail seem to have disappeared... the shiraz tap is no more!

We trotted down the trail, enjoying the 6km+ of downhill after the fairly hilly start. As SG said though, you don't go and run in the hills if you want to run flat... when we hit Glen Forrest to find that tap gone too, I think SG snapped and started to hare down the hill... it took less than 12minutes to cover the last 3k, with the pace increasing as we went !

My legs felt good but a little tired after the non-stop 18k that had gone before. All in all a good run and an improvement on last weeks hills effort. I have found that the body adjusts quite quickly to hills running - a fact that doesn't make the first few less painful, but encouraging to know things improve rapidly...

Going down south next week so blog updates may not be forthcoming... I'll have to work in some intervals 3x((4x400 on 2:00) + 2:00) on Tues, but will probably have a relatively easy week otherwise.

'Easy' run

12.15km @ 4:23 HR160 Ca85 18°C 52% W30/37. Legs felt fine so I went for a run up to Attadale and back on the Applecross river path at lunchtime - it was still very windy so made the outward stretch hard work. Felt pretty good today, although my endurance still has some way to go - the ends of these runs are still hard work, a particularly the last two km into the wind. It was pretty warm in the sunshine though.

Windy City

14.14km @ 4:18 HR 166 Ca85 15°C 58% W30/50. After a rest day yesterday (I had slightly sore calves from wearing the spikes, and work got in the way as well), ran the 'big' bridges loop (Mends St to the Windan, back to the Narrows on the Perth side) in somewhat blustery conditions. Felt a slight niggle in the right quad on Tuesday (trying to catch SG in the last 200 as he disappeared into the distance) and it's still a little niggly today. Quads felt tired, stiff and unresponsive at first today... but as I got into the run they felt better and pushing back into the wind wasn't too bad - my HR went up but my legs felt pretty strong and I didn't drop the pace too much. Happy with the effort. Rest day again tomorrow and then off to the hills on Saturday.

Edit: Most hilarious 'news' story of the day from the Daily Mail :

Blobbie Fowler still hungry for goals

Fowler has battled hip and groin injuries since touching down in Australia but appears to have no problems in finding the fridge.

Wow, the British press don't pull their punches... looking forward to seeing Australia humiliating England at the home of cricket over the next few days. Edit: humiliation, yes, but the wrong side...

Intervals

Went to the new stadium with SG to try out the new track (and my spikes). Did an extended warmup ~ 25 minutes, did some drills and then hit the track for 6x600 on 3 minutes and then 6x200 on 1:15. Tough session - I think I was carrying a bit from the King's Park tempo, I just didn't feel as fresh as last week - a bit heavy in the legs. I did OK on the 600's but got blown away by SG on the 200's - the times aren't too bad, but I felt like I was jogging; fair turn of speed there, SG!

600m: 115, 116, 118, 117, 115, 111

200m: 35.2, 35.5, 34.6, 34.2, 34.5, 33.3

Spikes were good but the right foot (the one with the heel lift) never quite felt comfortable. I also think they hammer your feet a bit. I'll try again in the next session, but will do the 5k on the 30th in the baby blues I think.

The track was great - it's an excellent facility and it's $6 to use the track, showers (they promise there will be hot water by Friday) etc. and the lighting is excellent. Surprised there weren't more people out there.

With the cooldown the total was about 14k. Felt fairly shagged by the end. Come to mention it, still feel a little shagged now...

Boston Video

Video on YouTube.

Bike and tempo

Sunday it was a beaut day and I hadn't been on my bike for a while, so went down the freeway path and back for about 57km @ 31.5km/h, HR 140. Had some troubles with my contacts and a couple of sections where I got very uncomfortable on the seat, but apart from that it was a good ride.

Monday lunchtime I went up to KP with Kim who was meeting T for a gentle jog on the Wally Cairns course. I decided to do a loop of the park with a bit of tempo in there. Pushed pretty hard through the 29 minutes of tempo (7.37km @3:52, HR 179 Ca 86). The course from NextG carpark to the top of Fraser down the Law Walk to Poole Ave and up the Western Perimeter back up the hill to the NextG carpark. It was a tough run, especially after the glute killing weekend and I felt stuffed at the end but was happy with the pace. No hills for months and then two tough hills workouts in three days - tomorrow's intervals with SG at the new stadium is going to be interesting...

First long run

21.56km @4:39 HR 156 Ca83 362m ascent 9°C 84% S7/11. Beautiful morning up in Darlington - fresh, clear and no wind. This is my first 20k+ run since Boston. Ran from Darlington up to the western entrance John Forest NP (which is a 1.5km 6.7% climb) then through the park on the road back up to HardyRd (1.5km, 5.7% climb) to east on Strettle Rd (1.7km 4.4% climb), until I hit the trail and then back down to Darlington (map). There were some good hills on this one and I felt my recent lack of hill running today. I felt pretty stuffed by the end. In the park a came across a lot of roos and even a couple of the cutest wallabies. Sunrise was magificent through the mist and the trees and the views were spectacular. This is the first time in that I've run in the hills in years without Sas and it was hard not to feel that something was missing - somehow the perfection of the surroundings made that feeling worse. Hopefully she'll be running again before long...

Coker Park 1k (3:05) and 4k (14:06)

Met Sandgroper at Coker again for a double bill. It was very pleasant night temperature-wise but we did get a little soggy. Did a decent warmup beforehand, but wussed out on the spikes. I'll need to try them out on a few laps first before trying to race in them, as the last thing I need to do now is rip a calf muscle.....

Just as we lined up for the 1k, it started bucketing down, and the rain was cold. I think I went out too fast and couldn't get the speed up in the two remaining laps. I do have to admit the lashing rain was not ideal and the wind really whipped up as I was coming round the bend into the home straight. It certainly got the HR going, but I never quite got into the pace. The hard breathing left me with a pretty sore throat...

Splits were 34.7, 75.0, 75.7 = 3:05.5

15 minutes after the 1k we set off for the 4k. SG echoed what I was thinking just before we lined up - 'this is going to hurt', and he wasn't wrong, but it wasn't as bad as expected. Thankfully the rain had stopped so conditions were pretty nice, wet clothes and soggy shoes aside (next time I should leave the bag under cover and take a change of runing gear. Rolled through pretty comfortably with 85 second laps - I had to ramp up the effort a bit to maintain them and was pleased to find a kick in the last lap. Actually enjoyed this, pleased with how it went - felt like I could have comfortably maintained the pace for another K, so I'm in better shape than I was a couple of weeks ago, esp. given the hard running I've done this week.

Splits were 85.4, 85.9, 86.1, 85.7, 85.0, 84.2, 85.5, 85.3, 85.1, 77.8 = 14:06.0

As usual I ended up with an itrritated throat for an hour or two afterwards - not sure what that is, I only seem to get it at the track. Looking forward to the rest day tomorrow - next week I'll take it easy with just the intervals on Tuesday and an easy run on Thursday. Next Coker Park visit will be the 5k on July 30.

Easy run

12.86km @ 4:36 HR 152 ca 84, 18°C 50% NE13/20. Felt a little tired after the intervals session so headed out just before lunch for an easy run up to the Narrows and back. Feel like I'm getting a bit of endurance back, but the HR still climbs steadily through the run. Enjoyed it and spent a few k's watching a pair of soaring pelicans as they decided on the best spot to go fishing. I was also pleasantly surprised how few gu packets and bottles there were lying around after the marathon and relay on Sunday.

First intervals session since 24 March..

...and as such I wasn't expecting much ; arrived early and had a quick chat to JK before setting off on a fairly extended warmup (for me) - 25 minutes. Halfway through it started raining so by the time I got back from my loop of the Perry Lakes parklands, I was pretty soggy. Put my bag in the car and changed into the baby blues for the session. Did a few more laps and then we did the high knees and butt kicks and run-thrus. I realised from the drills videos that I've been doing the butt kicks wrong all along, and rectified that tonight.

The session was 4x600 with JR and 90 sec rest, 4 x 400 + 90 secs, 4x200 with JR. Turned out there weren't any rabbits there so that honour fell to me. I realised this after the first two 600s which were a little too comfortable. Probably worked as it put a bit more pressure on and I did a good hard session. Splits were

600m: 113, 116, 109, 111

400m: 74, 71, 72, 72

200m: 34, 36, 36, 36

Pretty constant speed for each distance, averaging 19.6km/h ( 3:03 min/km) over the session, 15:42 in the max zone (HR 177 & up). Gotta be happy with that for the first time back. It makes a big difference not having 130km in your legs for these!

Perth Relay Marathon

It was good just to get out there and support the marathon runners. It was a beautiful day, just perfect conditions for running, if a little warm. Saw Epi, Clown and TB out there, I hope their days turned out well. I was running the relay (3rd leg) with Biscuitman busting a good 55:15 for the first leg to put us in third ; Sandgroper took over and delivered the wristband to me still in third, with 4th in hot pursuit. I think I ran the third leg (measured at 9.44 on MapMyRun!) at about 3:45 pace which I'm pretty happy with. It was tough running hard for that long! I think I came in about 5-6 minutes ahead of 4th to give Pete a good crack at bringing home the bacon. I think our final time was about 2:53 - anyhow we were 3rd, and got a medal and a $50 Asics voucher for our troubles....

Special mention must go to Kim who battled bravely all day to finish her 3rd marathon. Her preparation hasn't been ideal, culminating in being skittled by a couple of dogs at the park a few weeks ago. I ran in with her from the 33km mark at it was good to be able to support. I'm proud of how she pushed through all the pain to finish....

Ended up doing about 20k today.

Comisserations to Epi and Clown who both had tough days, but still hit some good PB's. Marathon running's tough enough when you're having a good day, and it takes a lot of guts and strength of character to push through when you're having a bad one. Well done guys, you'll cherish the sub-3 all the more when it happens.

Also to TB, the same thoughts apply, kudos to you for gutsing out a bad day.

Easy run

Beautiful day on friday and I knew I wasn't going out Saturday because of the relay on Sunday, so I decided to go out for a medium distance run - I ended up going up to the Narrows, under and back over and back for 14.89km @4:33 pace HR 153 Ca84. Good HR for a change, I was really happy with how I felt on this one. For the first time in a couple of years I ran with music, but I spent most of the time tuning it out....

Coker Park 3000m : 10:06.7

Perfect conditions again tonight and I had a pretty good run. Sandgroper was there for some company and ran pretty well too. Never quite hit the consistent 80 second laps that were required.

Lap splits: 39, 82, 80, 82, 81, 82, 82, 78

Beat the McMillan prediction by 4 seconds based on last week's 5k, so that's (a little) progress. It's 8 seconds off my PB, but that was run in much tougher conditions but I guess with a bit more chasing/being chased. Next week there's a 1km and a 4km, so I may try both. While a little disappointed I also know that that's being silly, because three weeks ago would have paid anything to have been in this position...

Update - my new spikes arrived this morning :

Welcome to M45

To celebrate my first day in the M45 age-group, I went out for a little run. Well, why not ? It was very pleasant this morning, especially compared to the weather we have endured for the last few days. Like Biscuitman, I am well and truly over that ! Did an easy 8.5km @4:39 HR 156 Ca 85 around my local Canning Bridges loop ; started in morning sunshine glistening over the still river water. The magnificent rainbow to my right meant that it was about to start raining, and so it did. It was pretty pleasant really... enjoyed this one. Just started to feel a little tired towards the end. My endurance ain't what it was...