City to Surf 12k - 43:32

Fantastic conditions for running today ; but it was a tough day at the office. I suspected that my endurance over distance would be a factor and so it was. I pretty much ran out of juice when I hit West Coast highway for the looong finishing straight - tough finish. I think my 10k split was 36 flat, judging by the Garmin beeps around me.

I ran a consistent pace I think (hard to judge, no k markers out there) and was only passed by two people (one being Sarah Jameson, so that's OK...). Ran well up the hills and picked up a lot of places there. Disappointing not to find a group to run with, but it worked well picking off runners ahead. The course was a bit better this year going down Hay on the left side the whole way to Perry Lakes ( map ), but it was 90m long by MapMyRun, which is pretty accurate. Such is life.

Crowd support today was definitely a step up on years past, although the way the finish was done - on different sides of the road separated by the median strip - made it hard for spectators to cheer in runners in the 12 and the marathon. Maybe it's because I did the 12 but the marathon seemed a little like a non-event - not too many of the 12k runners were supporting the marathoners as they headed up past Esplanade station which was very dissapointing. There were more people handing out water than spectators, and this was the leaders!

The start seemed better handled this year, but reports I have heard suggest that the clothing drop off and pickup was a fiasco. I didn't use the service, but I'm sure Biscuitman will have more to say on that subject. Not having km markers was a shocking oversight especially for the marathon and half marathon. Apparantly the women's winner went the wrong way because she thought she had to go on Perry Lakes Dr. Losing your lead woman in a race is pretty inexcusable too....

Looking to the C2S 12k

Did a couple of easy runs, 9k yesterday at 4:39 HR 138 and 5k today at 4:46 HR 141 (?!). Todays was a bit of a taper run (as in, seemed a little hard for what it was) - I guess it was cold and I just rolled out of bed and did it without even having a cup of tea.

Looking forward to tomorrow, the weathers going to be great, the atmosphere electric and looking for some good performances from fellow bloggers ; I hope you all have a great day. They say you should have three targets, so here are mine - 44, 43, 42  depending on how good a day it is. I really just want to have fun.... too bad we won't be done in time to watch the marathon come in. I plan to be at the finish though when epi rolls in for his 2:xx:xx, easy as you like ....

Coker Mile and 3k

The plan tonight was to race the mile and roll through the 3k comfortably hard. Conditions were cool and dry with a bit of wind coming into the home straight. Tonight we had the big clock at the finish (and we finished at the finish line not the 100m mark!) which makes a big difference. One thing I've noticed about coker is that it's tough on the throat when the air is a little dry - there must be something in the surface that irritates the airways a bit.

Mile went well - 72.5 for the first 409m, then 74.8, 76.1 and 72.7 to come in at 4:56.1 which I'm pretty happy with.

Hung around for a bit and before I knew it the 3k was upon us ; I hadn't really done any warmup but I was only going to roll though it so not to concerned. Ran the 200-600 really soft (84 seconds) so spent the rest of the run trying to pull that back because I wanted to run just under not just over 10 minutes for a change. Had to put in a quick last lap to make it ; it was an interesting way to run a 3k, not one I'd really recommend. I probably did it a little harder than I'd like but the HR average was 4-6 beats lower than the last two '10minute' 3k's.

Splits were 40.3  83.8  79.9  81.3  80.6  79.3  80.0  72.1 = 9:57.3 (3:24 3:21.5 3:11.8)

Easy run

13.92km @4:41 HR 140 Ca83 656bpk 18°C 54% S6/9. Did the Garret Rd bridge from E.Perth going Maylands first and coming back on the Belmont side, just to keep things interesting (map). Beautiful day, bright, sunny and not a lot of wind. The air was pretty cool for most of it but it did start to warm up towards the end.

Looking forward to running a hard mile at Coker Park tomorrow, and then roll through the 3k, should be a good tune up this Sunday. I'm mostly concerned about my endurance for the 12k having only raced 3's and 5's recently but I think the tempo running should have helped, not to mention the excellent Wally Cairns run on Sunday.

Light Intervals

Had a day off yesterday which was the first day off for two weeks. This morning I headed to the track to do some 1km reps at 12k pace with 90 second rest just to tune up for the weekend. It was a beautiful, crisp sunny morning without any wind at all, and the intervals were a pleasure to do. By the time I'd done the fifth I was tempted to do some more because I was still feeling pretty good, but held off, think there wouldn't be any real benefit for Sunday. Average HR for these was in the mid 160's, cadence 90/91. A good workout, I almost feel like I cheated myself, because I'm not even vaguely smashed like I am usually.

Splits:   3:39   3:36   3:37   3:37    3:36

When I got home I ran Zoe (the dog) to the park walked around the park a bit and ran her home again. Quite a good recovery session really, although she has a fair turn of pace when she gets excited!

Easy run, Long run and Tempo Race (Wally Cairns XC)

Friday did a nice recovery run with Sas, 9.3km @ 4:45, HR 135 642bpk. Ran the extended causeway loop from East Perth, along the Perth Marathon course to the Windan, then a loop of Heirisson Island and back to Royal St. Bit of a headwind (should have gone the other way!) on the Burswood side but no rain, and a lovely run.

Saturday, ran with Sas on the Garret Rd Maylands Ascot Loop with a bit extra thru E.Perth to make it 17.69km @ 4:44 pace (HR 140, 662bpk), the furthest she has run for 4 months. Seemed to pull up very well too so that's great news. We got a little wet and blown around for the first 5k or so but it was prety good conditions after that.

Sunday I did the WAMC Wally Cairns XC 10k (map), another foray out of my comfort zone. This is a challenging run on fairly soft sandy track with a fair bit of hill (~75m per lap) thrown in for good measure. My goal was to run fairly hard but leave something in the tank for next weekend, so a ran a hard first 5k (18:04 ) and eased up in the second lap (19:52). My quads were really burning by the time I got to the top of the hill the second lap, so I was happy to ease off a little, recover, and bomb down the trail again. The footing was much softer coming down the hill so I was glad the course was in the direction it was. Going up that way would have been murder. I found myself coming second by the time I got to the top of the hill on the first lap and never saw another soul after the guy just behind finished at the 5k. Just as well I was there, he was about to head off up Lovekin Dr instead of continuing on the trail! He took a few shortcuts on the bit around Zamia as well... The guy who won the 15k was miles ahead and I was a fair way ahead of the next runner. Finished in 37:57 (I think I was the first home in the 10k), so a good result.

Easy Run and Coker Park Session

Wednesday had a nice easy run with Sas from E.Perth up past Ascot to the Garrett Rd bridge and back down the Maylands side, doing 13.92km @4:38 pace HR141 Ca83 bpk653. Felt nice and relaxed on this one.

Thursday evening I did the 1000m flat out, the 3k at 5kpace and the 600m flat out. I was going to do the 200 as well but felt a little tender in the left hammy immediately after the 3k so gave it a miss. Didn't feel it again, but I thought I'd be sensible for a change! Had a good night and did lots of laps before, in-between and after to keep warm. It wasn't too windy but there was a soaking rain all evening.

I ran the 1000m in the Osaka spikes, but changed them afterwards because I didn't feel too in control around the corners on the wet track ; I felt the the heel was slipping outwards, so I had to be a little careful. I also felt like I went lactic almost immediately so it was a tough race, and I had a guy just behind for the first 700m or so giving me the hurry-up. It felt very satisfying to crack the 3 minute mark.

Splits: 33.4  35.2   35.9   36.7   37.1  =  2:58.3   HR173

The 3000m I just rolled through fairly relaxed and comfortable. There were occasions where I had to overtake in about lane 4, so I'm happy that this was very close to 3:20 pace. I knew I was a little behind at the last lap so pushed a bit.

39.0   80.9  82.1   81.5   80.5   82.9    80.1  76.0  = 10:03.0  HR177  (3:22, 3:23.4, 3:17.5)

The 600m was something a little out of my comfort zone but fun to do. by this stage I'd done a bit of running, but I still managed to get something out of the bag even if I was fading fast!

32.6  35.2  34.6 =  1:42.4  HR 166 ( 2:50 pace)

All up tonight I did about 12k with some good efforts in there ; pretty happy with that.

WAMC Intervals

Tough old whistle session tonight ; (2min on; 1min off) x 3, (1min on;1min off) x 4, and (30s on; 30s off) x 4. Doesn't sound like much but ended up with 19 minutes in the red zone and some pretty hard running. I did a little over 14  (or 15) laps in the 20.5 minutes. Managed to avoid the rain (but was again drenched from the humidity) until the end of the cooldown when the heavens opened, and everyone who hadn't already left was huddled around the toilet building taking fairly ineffective shelter!

Meant to hook up with Biscuitman doing his Yasso 800's at the new stadium but timing and logistics didn't work out...

World Champs 10,000m

Scary and amazing... check out the last 5 or so laps of the World Champs 10,000m ... 26:45 and he barely raised a sweat. Pity the guy he was hunting for 24 laps, he never had a chance. Yes, Usain Bolt is a phenomenon but they never seem to mention Bekele .... I guess Bolt is perfect for a world where the average attention span is about 10 seconds (BTW, that's not a criticism of the man, I'm a big fan, I think he's pretty humble considering what he's achieved ).

YouTube video

While we're on the subject, how crappy is SBS' coverage? I was hoping to watch the marathon before I have to go out this Saturday, but it's a 2hr delayed telecast and only starts at 7:30pm, so I'll miss most of it. Why do they need to delay the coverage on SBS 2 when for most of the day they show the test card ?

Hills Fartlek session

9km @ 3:57 HR 168 Ca88 664bpK12%deg;C 95% NNE11/19. Because of yesterday's 5k I took a bit off the tempo session today and did a similar loop to last week, but cruised down the hills and pushed up them. This lowered the overall intensity of the session but it was still a great hitout with one eye on the 12k at C2S in 13 days. Paces on the graph shown are not accurate as my footpod undermeasured by 200m. It was pretty humid and I ended up getting sopping wet again, but this time it wasn't from the rain!

All up 11.5 km today.

Lake Joondalup 5k - 16:52

Pretty good conditions today, temperature was comfortable and a little wind on the outward stretch but not a factor. The course was a bit of a factor - there were some significant hills especially just after the turnaround which took a bit of effort. More of a rolling course than a flat one ( map ). Ran a fairly even pace for the whole thing ; I stuck with a group (Steven Courtney, Liam Fuery and a few others) for the first 4k and then tried to push on to the finish (they were doing the 10!) - it was great having a group to run with - I couldn't allow myself to drop off the pace. Pace suffered a little going up the hill after the turnaround and I reckon the turnaround ( a single witches hat on a narrow path) cost me a bit as well. Still, very happy with the run and the effort and I know there's more where that came from. I know the second and third k's were a bit soft but those were the tough hills (and I'm not sure the 2nd marker was in the right spot - I was surprised to see the split because I hadn't dropped the effort).

Sandgroper came out and had a pretty good run as well ; we're all heading in the right direction!

Splits:

3:18.0 3:24.6 3:29.6 3:20.3 3:18.9 = 16:51.4

It was really exciting to see a couple of Kenyans come and and give Courtney Carter a run for his money ; he finished in 31 and change and the two Kenyans were 30:xx. A strong field had a few other other good runs too - Sean O'Neill did ~32:15, Mike Lori 33:15 or so and Katrina Geyer brought home the women's event in 36:55. Rochelle Thorpe third I think. TB in his own inimitable style led the field for the first 300m or so.

The 5k had some good times as well ; Ethan Heywood won in 15:15 odd (he just seems to keep getting better) and Kenji Nener was third in 15:40 something. I was at the back picking up the t-shirts....

A couple of easy runs

Caught up with Sas for a couple of easy runs from Zamia to Matilda Bay and return. 12.5km @ 4:43 HR142 on Friday and 9.71km @4:43 HR139 on Saturday, the latter followed by a nice brekky at Zamia with Kim & "the girls". She's toughing out these runs early in the comeback but is already running stronger despite a nasty head-cold and some real iffy running weather in the last two days - and she's recovering well from the runs now. Very good signs...

Coker Park 3000m

3000m HR179 Ca91 15°C 91% WNW36/39. More of a training run than a TT tonight - I wanted a solid hitout before the 5k on Sunday. I was tempted to pike out but Biscuitman was coming and the title of his previous post ( "There is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." ) meant that I simply had to front up. The weather turned out not to be too bad, although the finish line was moved clockwise 100m so the lap scorers could stand under the shelter of the clubhouse! (actually I think they made the race a little long - not convinced it finished in the right spot - not that this is the olympics or anything....)

Biscuitman sat on my shoulder for about 5 laps but I think his lack of speedwork showed and the sound of his footfalls faded away a bit. This will be an excellent workout for him though and I suspect he'll do a great time at C2S in a couple of weeks (not to mention the scary time he's going to do at Rotto). I think I lost my focus when he dropped back and I put in a couple of soft laps - pushing into the wind on the home bend was getting harder though and my legs were definitely getting tired. I didn't want to kill myself so just pushed it up a bit in the final lap and finished with a respectable time. This has given me confidence that I could maintain (close to) this pace for the 5k on Sunday if the weather is kind).

Splits were :

36.3 79.5 80.6 80.9 80.8 82.0 82.9 78.8 = 10:01.8 (km splits 3:16.4 3:22.7 3:22.7)

All up about 8k tonight.

Recovery run

10km @ 4:50 HR137 662bpK 17°C 53% W17/39. Went for a lovely light run with Sas on the old Maylands loop, slightly abbreviated to 10K (map). Conditions were fairly windy but pretty pleasant, and the company was good - consequently the run seemed to go by in a flash. Finished up with coffee at Cobalt (as you do...). Legs felt pretty good considering the hammering they've taken over the last few days. Haven't had an HR in the 130's since March 31! BTW, the bpK is the measure of running economy that I've used for yonks ( heartbeats per Kilometer ).

Intervals

Tough but short session today ; I think I felt yesterday's tempo in the legs so will need to take it easy for the rest of the week if I want to do well at Joondalup. The session was 4 sets of 3 x ( 300 with 100 jog recovery ). The track was crowded so I was doing most of these in lane 3 at least. At times I was surprised at the splits I was getting (e.g. gee, I though it was faster than that!) but then if I think of the extra I was doing by going around the ravening hoardes I was doing OK. Only 3.6 km of effort but with the jog recoveries I spent nearly 13 minutes in the red zone (HR178 and above).

56, 59, 57 ; 52, 55, 56 ; 53, 56, 54 ; 54, 55, 55

All up around 10K.

Steamy, soggy tempo

10km @ 3:51 HR178 686bpK Ca87 19°C 80%. Mapped out a 10km hilly tempo (map)in the Sticky Beaks/Saw Avenue region of King's Park so when Kim went for her lunchtime steam at NextGen I could run. Did a decent warmup about 12 minutes before I headed into it. I hadn't been going long before a downpour had me completely waterlogged and heavy footed. That aside, it was pretty pleasant although the air became very steamy when the sun made brief appearances. I probably worked this one a little hard, but it's good to have a good thrash session occasionally. I did want to keep the pace up and attack the hills, and with the extra few kilos of water in my clothes and shoes the old ticker had to do a little extra. It was lovely in the park and there are definitely signs of spring around the corner with the wildflowers starting to come up. Let just hope the park authority can clear the mess they are making around the reservoir at some point.... all up 14km today.

Massage yesterday was good and didn't really find any sore spots except the Tib Post attachment under the arch of both feet ; yeow! Calf issues on Saturday thankfully turned out to be a false alarm. Sometimes cramp is just cramp...

PS: Congratulations to my younger brother who ran the 14km City To Surf in Sydney in 56:50 off a couple of months training and not having run for years. Hopefully the start of something ...

Darlington Long Run

23.76km @ 4:31 HR160 Ca83 11°C ESE9/13. Tough run today from Darlington down to Midland, back up to John Forrest NP along Park Rd and down to Darlington (map). Didn't feel quite right today although that feeling came and went, fatigue probably. HR was high for the effort although this is a tough old run which is pretty much uphill from Midland until you get to the top of Park Road 10km ( and 250m of climbing later) then theres a short respite on Park Rd until you climb again for another 2.5km and then cross the GE highway and commence the short descent into Darlington. Left calf started to feel very tight a few k's from the end but is OK now. Have a massage booked for tomorrow and I may take the soft option and cancel my tempo for Monday unless I'm jumping put of my skin to do it.

Coker Park 3000m and 1000m

Perfect conditions again tonight. Ran a new PB for the 3000m and the 1000m. In the 3000m I think I paced it pretty well ( I was trying to run 78's) but really started to run out of leg juice at the end. Interesting because I think usually I find the heart and lungs the limiting factor, tonight I think it was the legs - probably down to the reintroduction of the leg drills and the tough intervals on Tuesday. Still 9:45.8 is a good PB and close to what I was hoping for out of tonights meeting. 40 minutes later we fronted up for the 1000m. I blew it by running a soft 2nd and 3rd 200m ; I was saving myself a bit too much, because when I got the bell I was like " oh crap it's only one lap to go!". Anyhow, I managed a strong last lap to finish in a respectable if unremarkable 3:01.8. All in all a good night, but again no competition at all - it'll be good to see what I have when pushed by someone else (hopefully the times would be better!) - I 'll see if I can persuade the b-man to come out.

3000m splits:

37, 78.4, 78.0, 78.7, 79.4, 79.8, 79.3, 75.2 : 9:45.8 (km splits 3:13.4 3:16.7 3:14.7)

1000m splits

0:35.9, 0:38.2, 0:37.9, 0:36.1, 0:34.1 : 3:01.8

Easy run

12.86km @ 4:28 HR153 Ca85 20°C 54% NW22/30. Run up the freeway path to the Narrows and back at lunch-time. Fairly warm and a stiff breeze on the way out made this run require a bit of effort. I suspect last night's intervals added to the fatigue factor as well. Did a full set of glute and quad exercises when I finished.

Intervals

As SG is out of town I headed to JK's interval session on the grass at Alderbury Park. Did a 20 minute warmup and the prerequisite light drills before hitting the session which was a fairly tough one by JK's standards. It was three sets of 1200m with 1 minute SR and then a 'fast' 400 with a three minute break between sets. Did a half loop of the reserve as a cooldown.

Splits:

3:51 (3:13 pace), 73
3:54 (3:15 pace), 72
3:55 (3:16 pace), 70

Happy with the session, some of the laps were really wide as the track was fairly congested ; at times I was out to about lane 6! The first 1200 was OK but it got interesting after that... all up about 12k. This session has made me think I might try to gun for about 9:45 for the 3k on Thursday if conditions are good... had a chat with JK afterwards which convinced me to get back to the one-legged squats and glute exercises which saw me through my injury ; he also thought that the tempo run at current levels is enough...

King's Park Tempo Run

8.45 km @ 3:54 HR 170 Ca 87 Ascent 87m 5°C 99% E7/9. I think I have been overdoing it with the tempo runs given what I am trying to achieve at the moment, so decided to do the standard 8.45km King's Park loop today - it takes about 33 minutes which is hopefully enough (I'll prob push to 40 minutes next week). It's fairly rolling course so good for leg strength. It was very cold this morning so it took a couple of k's to get into it. I need to warm up for longer than 6 minutes obviously - I was going to but the path I was going to go down was unexpectedly closed (it was open Friday!), so I just cut the warmup. Really got into it and felt good racing up the perimeter path at a decent clip and felt strong going up the hills. Coffee with Kim's crew afterwards at NextG. All up ~11km - I don't feel as exhausted as I usually do after the tempo which bodes well for intervals tomorrow.

Darlington Long Run

24.27km @ 4:38 HR151 Ca83, 350m of ascent. Ran solo on a frigid and wind free morning - beautiful conditions but very cold on south facing hills. Ran the same loop I did with SG a couple of weeks ago but added 3k or so by running from the Shiraz tap up to Coppin Rd and back down the trail from there (map). Felt pretty good but fatigued toward the end - not surprising considering I run these non-stop, non-Gel. I didn't feel as tired as I felt last week after a similar but not as hilly . This is quite a hilly loop (see below) but a great leg-strength builder. Next week I'll take it easier by going down to Midland up to JF and then back start of this run.