Coker Park

Conditions were fairly cool (17° 57%RH) and windy tonight (SSW26/33); not as good as last week, but not terrible either. Started off with a 'comfortably hard' 3:06 in the 1000m ; just a roll-thru to warm up for the 3000m. There was a longer wait than anticipated until the 3k started, so I had to keep moving to stay warm. Had a good race in the 3 ; Michael Mezzatesta was around tonight and pushed me the whole way (or was that he drafted me the whole way...) - I thought he'd dropped off after about six laps but he ended up being only a second behind!

I did drop off in the second k (sorry, SG!) but am happy with the result, a 4 second PB and a much better performance in tougher conditions than last week.

36.9/76.4/76.9/77.4/78.0/77.7/77.9/74.1 = 9:35.3 (3:10.2/3:14.3/3:10.8)

The 1500m splits were 4:47/4:48 ; last week it was 4:53/4:48 so at least the pacing was better this time. I just think I started to run out of juice pushing into the headwind on the home straight. I think in last weeks conditions and this weeks legs I could have gone sub 9:30 tonight... hopefully it will come together soon!

10 minutes later I fronted up for the 400m, being part of the patrons trophy comp (which I won't be eligible for because I have to do three field events including a jump, and I'm too protective of my knees and hams to start doing long/triple jump, and I have mental scars from doing high jump as a kid). Anyhow I think I did around 62 seconds which I'm pleased with, because I've never raced a 400m before and I think I got the pacing a little wrong...

Killer intervals

It was a warm and steamy night...21° 85% RH. Tonight we were testing the timing system they used for Melbourne again ; this time the RFID stickers on the backs of the numbers were much bigger. I think they had some issues at Melbourne, so I guess they're still trying to iron out the kinks. In any event when we do these, the sessions tend to be tougher with large group starts and short recoveries. This time it was 8x2 minute efforts with approx 1 minute JR and 1 minute SR. I got to pretty much the same spot for each interval even though i started to feel quite nauseous after 3 reps. I really had to push the legs hard to get through this ; good for mental strength! I was consistently hitting the 400m mark at ~1:13 and the 600m mark at around 1:50 so probably around 660m per rep which is nearly 5.3km of effort. With all the young guns elsewhere I turned out to be the rabbit for the session ; not too much fun being chased around the track by a bunch of blokes half my age, but I guess it kept me honest... very tough session ; the gusty NNW wind didn't help either.

Followed up with a recovery run 5.95km @ 4:37 HR 141 Ca83 653bpk on Wednesday morning. At least I now have a good break until Thursday night ; Saturday thru Tuesday was a tough training block.

Ran the Perth bridges early on Thursday, nice cool conditions 9.59km @ 4:33 HR 143 Ca85 650bpk. Felt energised by this, hopefully set me up for a good run tonight. I'm going to aim for 9:30 again, so will just do the 1k as warmup, because there won't be much of a break between the 1 and the 3.

Long run, crazy run, tempo run

On a cold and breezy Saturday morning, Sas, Richard(?) and I headed up the heritage trail from Darlington to Mundaring, paused for a gel, and then headed back. Pretty uneventful run, averaged ~4:55 up the hill HR146, and 4:23 down it with the same HR. It's 19.2km and seemed a bit of a cheat to be finished by 7:30, but there it is. What a difference from last week's killer long run on Rotto!

On Sunday met up with a few of the gang to watch the Triathlon Long Distance World Champs in the city ; conditions were awful, going from cold and very windy to hot and airless later in the morning ! It was great to have this event here and was great fun to see these elites up close. Local boy Sean O'Niell did well, coming in 18th, and you could tell he was loving being in front of the home crowd. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd numbers, I was only expecting a handful. We headed off once we had witnessed Rebekah Keat hold of the challenge from the Frenchwoman to come in second in the women's event - results here.

I must have been inspired or just had a moment of blind idiocy as I decided to head out for a 10k easy run at 4pm, with the temperature at 32°! I guess i was thinking I'd try to get this heat-acclimatisation business over with, and was OK for the first half where I was into a fairly pleasant SE breeze. Once I turned, the weather gods really turned up the screws and I suffered a bit heading home, losing the cooling effects of the wind and also heading into the hilly part of the run... I survived, managing 10k @ 4:23 HR159 but felt fairly wiped out all evening as I tried to rehydrate and get my metabolism to calm down.

Monday morning was time for the tempo, but given the exploits of the day before I decided to do an easy 4k down the hill at King's Park and then to a hill-attack fartlek kind of run up the Law Walk and back to NextG. I was happy with how the legs felt, because I expected them to be dead, but they coped pretty well with the 'charge up the hill/ recover down the hill' run, especially considering there's not a lot of downhill on the Law Walk when your heading from the Crawley end towards the city. Averaged 3:55 pace on the 4.6k back to Next G HR170 which is good.

Intervals tomorrow, easy on Wednesday and then a 1k and 3k at Coker with the masters on Thursday.

Intervals, recovery and 3000m

On Tuesday went to the WAMC intervals session at Perry lakes, a good fast session with short recoveries this time. 3x300 with 60sec SR, 5x500 60s SR, 3x300 60sec SR bracketed by 4 cross track run-thrus. Happy with the pace even though the legs were feeling heavy from the weekend. Most people weren't taking the correct breaks, so in my 500's I ended up having to run wider and wider to overtake these nincompoops.

49/50/50 91/91/91/93/93 50/49/48

Wednesday morning did 8.7km @ 4:51 HR 142 689bpk. Lovely morning, the legs (hamstrings in particular) felt a little sore today, but the recovery was made them feel a little better.

Thursday morning I did 9.58 @ 4:53 HR134 654bpk. I paced one of Kim's new running mates who wanted to push herself harder ; works for me. I don't think the extra easy run in the morning takes too much out of me and it's something a bit different ; having said that, my legs were still feeling heavy from the weekend, but I think felt a bit better for having done this.

Thursday evening I did the 3000m at Coker. Reasonable conditions - quite warm and a little windy. Sandgroper came out and had a good run. I wasn't expecting much given the leg fatigue but came close to the time I ran a couple of weeks ago, missing it by less than 2 seconds. Disappointingly dropped the pace in laps 2 and 3 which had me behind the 8-ball right from the start. I said to SG I was aiming for 9:30, and felt I could have come close. Maybe next time. I'm considering going to the new stadium on Friday nights to test myself against the young guns. I think I'd be able to take at least 10-15 seconds off this time with fresher legs and some strong competition.

37.5/80.2/79.4/76.5/77.5/78.8/78.2/73.1 = 9:41.2 (km splits 3:17.1 /3:13.4/3:10.7)


Full results document


Pretty happy with the outcome tonight ; I'm starting to think that the 3 and 5 are my niche ; it'll be interesting to see if i can come close to the 35 minutes I should be running for 10k (based on the 3 & 5k times) at the John Gilmour track 10km, because I'm struggling to even come close on the road.

Rottnest weekend

Travelled over to the island on Friday, but didn't get a run in. We were staying in Thomson Bay, right on the beach - and about 50m from the marathon finish, so it was a perfect spot.

Saturday we went out for a tour of the island - we started early because it was going to be a hot day. It was already 22° at 6am. We ran all the way up the middle of the island to Cape Vlamingh on the western end (map) and came back on the northern side straight into the strong NE, which at least provided some relief from the heat. This was a tough run. The hills on Rottnest aren't long but they are steep and unrelenting. There is not a lot of flat here ; you're either going up or down. Both of us really felt this one - it's only 22km but it felt longer. Sas is struggling with some sort of fatigue/viral thing so we kept the pace down to around 4:56 - I didn't feel too bad, but my HR averaged 149 which is very high for the pace. Anyhow, it was a shame because we both were really looking forward to what should have been a magnificent scenic outing and it turned into a real grind. It was good to get back and sink the legs into the sea afterwards and then indulge in hearty breakfast.

Sunday morning was marathon day and a spent a lot of it going hither and thither cheering on Biscuitman, Kate S, Claire W, and many others who were running the main event. Conditions were fairly warm and humid and the wind was quite strong out on the course (19.4° 84%, N33/41 at 7:30). Biscuitman had a tough day and really gutsed it out, but I'm sure he'll be putting a race report up soon. Both Claire and Kate managed big PB's which is fantastic for that course and conditions. Previous winner Mark Page had to pull out with a blown calf which was a real shame, and Stephen Courtney cruised to an easy win. Jon Pendse came second with a great effort after an injury enforced 3 week layoff after C2S, just missing 3hrs.

The fun run started late in very trying conditions - 21° 77% NW24/30. I made sure I was right at the front because the start is tricky - about 300m before a hard right turn with lots of kids under your feet ; managed to negotiate that OK and then headed out onto the course (map).. I felt pretty good for the first part few k (2k split 7min flat) cruising along with the eventual 5k winner. Bastard started drafting me along the causeway and because I knew Sandgroper wasn't far behind I was really tempted to put in a surge to get rid of him and make him deal with the wind himself. I'm glad i didn't because it was after the causeway we hit the first hill, and it's a bit of a doozy. This slowed the third k down to 3:48, but also seemed to slow down the third place 10k runner, who I overtook at the next hill after the 5 k turnaround, before the descent into bulldozer swamp. Managed to recover the tempo a bit with 3:34 being the next split, followed by a 3:40 but then came the climb to Armstrong point, at which stage I think the 22k on Saturday started to make itself felt (3:47 - 5k split 18:05). Went past Darryl Howe completing his final lap of the marathon (the man is a legend!) and had a brief exchange of encouraging phrases...

After Armstrong came the descent into the dead zone (no wind, with lung busting heat & humidity) but managed 3:35 before the climb up to Geordie Bay. I could see Roberto Busi and Mike Dymnicki in the distance - the first time I'd seen them since the 3k mark! The Geordie hill really killed my legs as I struggled to a 3:50 even with the slight descent after the crest, and then came the 'heartbreak hill' climb out of Geordie past the wind turbine - 2k to go sign being the only encouragement. There wasn't a whole lot of tailwind to make up for the headwind on the way out. Unfortunately with a NW wind tht happens because the northermn part of the course is protected from the northerly winds...

A bus went past coming the other way, just before the descent after the turbine, rather stifling the recovery as I was sucking in lungfuls of fumes. Could only manage a 3:42 even though the course flattens out for about a kilometer before the gradual climb into town. It was a relief to make the left turn up the hill because the pain would soon be over. I kept hearing footfalls even though 4th place was about a minute behind! It was nice to run through the crossroads in town with a fairly large crowd gathering to greet their 10k runners. Put in a final surge (I'm not actually sure where that came from) and crossed the line in 36:33 in 3rd place (more sunnies, yay!) absolutely spent, my clothes dripping with sweat. Gee, I'd better get used to running in the heat again....

Happy with the effort, not with the time... a tough course though, in tough conditions. Glad I wasn't running the marathon.

Well done to Biscuitman, Kate and Claire for their immense efforts in very trying conditions, and to Sandgroper who produced a barnstorming run to place second in the 5.

Monday I ran the 10k course again at very easy pace (10.38 @ 4:53 HR 140) and enjoyed very scenic course much more the second time around, in much cooler, running friendly conditions.

Intervals etc.

Tuesday night I went to the WAMC intervals session run by JK, and it was a good one ; 1k ; 2:30SR;500mx2 w/90sec recovery;1k w/2:30SR ; 500mx2 w/90sec SR; 1km. A few of the tri boys were out there which was handy because they pushed the pace a bit. I pushed pretty hard but not to the vomit level. Conditions were pretty good ; cool but a little windy.

3:12; 89; 89; 3:09 ; 89, 89 ; 3:12

Wednesday morning ran a 6km recovery w/Sas and Eldon ; 4:37 pace HR140 Ca83 646bpk. Nice conditions but starting to feel the warmth in the sun ; there was a nice breeze to keep things cool. I felt pretty good today - it was nice to be running under blue skies again.

Thursday went for a slightly longer one with Sas ; 13.92km @4:37 pace - did the E.Perth Maylands Garrett Rd Belmont loop (map) in slightly warmer conditions still - around 22 degrees but in blazing sunshine it felt a lot warmer. Very nice in the shade, but in the sun with a following wind, it felt warm. I wore a long sleeve shirt, partly to protect myself from those nasty UV rays, but partly to try to acclimatise to the warmer weather we are about to head into. I felt great today, no real fatigue and didn't really notice the hills too much, but Sas was suffering a little and I'm sure my cheerful jibber-jabber was very annoying . Left the house in a hurry so I forgot my HR belt but I know it was low. Lovely run.

Looking forward to Rotto ; no run tomorrow ; it's a bit much with the travelling, but I'll do an island run on Saturday. I've never run the whole island before (although Rotto 2006 was my first 10k and 2007 my 2nd marathon, where I was passed by Phil Webb on the last hill ; a moment I will never forget, not least for the flak that I still cop from the hills running group...) and this is a great opportunity to do it. It's 21-24km depending on how you do it, so shouldn't leave me too flat for Sunday. I know it's not textbook preparation but Sunday isn't key for me, and I couldn't feel any worse than I felt at the Freo 10k two weeks ago.... at worst its going to be my tempo run for the week, at best I'll win another pair of sunnies ;-)

Good running to everyone competing this weekend, PB's all around please in the perfect conditions that have been forecast, especially to Biscuitman, Kate S and Claire W who have all put in a bucketload of effort for this one.

Long run and tempo

Ran bright and early with Sas from Darlington down through the Boya quarry over the king-of-the-mountain creek and up the zig-zag and return ; Some good hills in this one and the conditions were perfect ; the views off the zig-zag were stunning. Stopped a couple of times at the Helena Valley school for water & refreshments (slacker!) and to cross the creek - managing to stay dry. I felt pretty good going up the hills - 24.5km @ 4:34 HR 148 Ca84 677bpk. A tough run but good - the legs felt tired afterwards - it's a tough finish up out of the valley back up through the quarry to Darlington.

Sunday morning ran a 6k loop recovery run @4:46 HR 141 649 bpk. Perfect morning for running - I felt surprisingly good today.

Monday morning I did my tempo after a 4k warmup from the bottom of the hill in King's park, up Forrest Dr, down May Dr over the circle and down to the path near Saw Ave, and up to NextG carpark (map). Legs felt a little heavy and jelly like at first but I got into it fairly well and felt quite strong once I'd got to the top of Forrest drive - 6:75km @ 3:46 HR 175 661bpk ~ 120m of ascent at a guess. Very happy with how strong I felt at the end of this considering how unenthused I was at the start.... all up 10.7k.

Coker 3000m/800m

Wasn't sure how things were going to turn out tonight after the bad run on the weekend, feeling allergy ridden and a (mentally) tough workday, but I guess we can just never predict these things. Conditions were warm with a fairly stiff breeze up the home straight so the pace was a bit up and down on a lap by lap basis, but that's OK. I realised (well, I realised this on Sunday!) the advantage of the track is that you only have to put up with a headwind for 100m before it becomes a tailwind. I know you don't get an even return, but psychologically its a bit easier to deal with. The upshot is, I had a good night and a 3k PB. I didn't wear the HR belt, as I wanted to race tonight and I think it restricts breathing a little. No competition tonight, which is a shame -I saw Michael M. at the track while I was running but the traffic was a bear and he obviously missed the start.

36.9/78.4/78.2/78.8/78.4/77.3/77.7/73.6 = 9:39.5 (km splits 3:13.5/3:16.6/3:09.4)

Also ran the 800m about 30 minutes later, competition was a little bit light, and I felt like the legs weren't quite over the 3k yet. First time I've run an 800m so another PB! I thought I'd run the second lap quicker than the first; I was right but only by .3s ! Goes to show, I still need to work on that leg speed.

70.5/70.2 = 2:20.7

Intervals

Monday I had a lovely run through Kings Park while Sas did her tempo; the legs obviously felt a bit tired, but it was a reasonable effort considering the race on Sunday. 8.25km @4:21 HR160 Ca83 Asc 70 696bpk. The park was beautiful in the crisp sunny conditions.

Tuesday I went to JK's session at Alderbury Park. It's cricket season so our loop had to be shifted and now spans the somewhat bizarrely positioned bike path someone decided was a good idea. JK said the loop was probably a little long as it was measured by pacing it out ; someone with a GPS said it was 407m... anyhow I know it was going to be tough session because the legs still felt a little cooked from Sunday. It was a pyramid session (2/4/6/8/8/6/4/2) with 4k of effort, thankfully not too long, but the breaks were short. There was a little wind to deal with, but on the track you only get headwind for 100m at the most so it's never too bad.

34.0/72.8/1:52.8/2:35.1/2:34.2/1:53.2/72.5/22.633.6

Wednesday morning I hooked up with Sas for a short recovery run ; its about 12hrs since the intervals and it's been an intense few days for both of us and the legs were feeling tired & heavy, so we enabled each other in reducing the run to a real recovery run : 5.3km (@4:34 pace HR 149 Ca84 679bpk). Had a nice coffee afterwards as a reward for a job well done ;-)

Good luck to everyone in their upcoming marathons, especially Biscuitman and Clown as they battle injuries to get to the start line. Fingers crossed for you guys, I've been where you are and really hope it all comes together for you.

Freo Fun Run 10K

Just ran 5k on Saturday from King's Park as a leg freshener ; my legs felt pretty heavy and uninterested, but I just put that down to it being a taper style run.

On Sunday, the legs didn't really feel any better and it was a struggle to get them moving. I just felt heavy and unresponsive and tired from very early on. I usually feel fresher in a 3k or 5k at a similar stage moving at a quicker pace. It was fairly warm, and there was a bit of wind (SE19/26) to deal with in the middle 2.5km of the course ; it's a two lapper (map). Just not a good day. That said though somehow I still managed to come third in a pretty large field against some decent competition, and ended up with a 16 second PB, so it seems churlish to be negative about it. I wasn't overtaken by anyone, so I guess even though I was fading, I wasn't fading as much as those around me. A good thing I suppose is that there is a lot more where that came from - I think my 10k split in the C2s was about 20 seconds better.... hopefully in two weeks at Rotto the body will be a little more interested in running a race.

3:24/3:34/3:35/3:40/3:37/3:41/3:43/3:44/3:45/3:35 = 36:17

Results are here.

Coker Park 1500m and 5k

The plan tonight was to run the 1500 hard and the first 3 of the 5 around 3:20 pace and the last two at 3:30 pace - my intended 10k race pace. Conditions were fairly good, but a little windy in the 1500m.

52.2/73.4/73.8/74.2 = 4:33.6 (800m split 2:24, 1km split 3:01)

Happy with that, lost a bit of leg strength in the last lap, I think the wind took it out of me. Pleased with the fact that I didn't drop off in the 3rd lap like I did last time. Plus, it's a PB by about 3 seconds.

The 5k went pretty much to plan, running the 3k in 10:09 and finishing in 17:02. I was really wary of pushing too hard, because I want to save myself for Sunday's 10k, however I did push a little on the last lap to try to get under 17 minutes, as a test of my leg strength and my fatigue level at that point, so I think I passed the test, but just failed to bring the time down enough. I had Michael Mezzatesta sitting in my back pocket for the whole thing which definitely kept me honest. HR was good, only 175 average, just a few more than a tempo run and a healthy cadence of 90. I wore my new Musha shoes which will be strapped on on Sunday as well.

3:21/3:22.4/3:24.9/3:31.3/3:22.5 = 17:02.5

Enjoyed myself tonight, a PB and a strong 5, as did Kate S, smashing her PB by over a minute in the 5K. Sas came out and did the 1500 and 3000, and had a good night as well - first time at the track for a looooong time, and it didn't flare up the knee at all, so excellent news there.

Coker Park full results