Denmark Long Run

The weather down here's been great and I've felt so good in my running that it's been hard to hold back.  Last week I did a bunch of runs out and back on the inlet trail, all leading to the 29km long run on the weekend which is one of the most enjoyable and epic runs I've ever done. 

The route went from town up Mt Shadforth - a 200m hill in the first 20 minutes - then followed a rollercoaster along the spine of Mt Shadforth. The weather was glorious - 15 degrees and sunny. To my left I could see Wilson's inlet and the Southern ocean past the misty valleys around Mt Hallowell and to my right were the farmlands, vineyards and forests out to Mt Lindsay in the distance.

After a while there came a sharp descent to Mcleod Rd, the western segment of one of Denmark's 'tourist drives'. From there, a sharp 140m climb over 2 km to Osborne Rd where I had a water bottle. I had cycled this before, and it's a tough climb. After some water and a Gu I headed east again back to town on the farm roads ; saw a few farmers out tending their lands, but no traffic at all. It was starting to warm up but I was still feeling good through the peaks and troughs of the road, and soon enough I came to the last sharp ascent (70m over 800m) back up to Mt Shadforth before the descent, Darlington HM style, back into town. My legs definitely knew they'd been for a run - over 600m of ascent - but it was fantastic.

Strands Entry

WAMC Neil Hawkins 10k ; 3rd in 34:39; 100km week

Great run. Didn't feel overly good in the warmup, and was going to tempo it today, but found I was keeping with Liam and Dean Menzies so went with it to see how it went. Mark Lee had scooted off at the start. 17:13 for 5km and 3:27's for the next two, I though a sub-35 might be on here. The last 3 has significant hill in it, and the next was 3:37, so I knuckled down and managed a 3:24 and then a 3:27 to finish. Those last two were tough through the bushland. Liam put in a bit of a gap at the start of the hill, but I then managed to hold it, and he finished maybe 8 seconds ahead; not surprisingly though he said he had been feeling a bit flat. Thrilled with this after a hilly 27km yesterday, but I felt pretty good yesterday too ; this has without doubt been one of my best weeks in a very long time. I also did 4:33 for the 1500 at the masters on Wednesday, a nice VO2Max hitout!

They had my time as 34:33 which would be a PB, but I got 39 on my watch, so I don't think I can claim it. It does throw up a moral dilemma though.  I often get 'charged' extra seconds in races, does this make up for those ? I don't think so.

 Consensus amongst Garmin users seemed to be that the course was 120m long, but it always seems to be - the consensus that is...

Bumped into Simon Elliot beforehand - hope he had a good one, the first race for quite a while, one to set the baseline; sort of where I was a few weeks ago.

Edit: Just realised that last week was the first 100km week since mid October....

Darlington HM - 1:18:19

It was lovely and cool this morning, although we could have done without the easterly pushing up that hill.

I felt great at the start and held with the pack easily up the hill, but the push around the school in the new loop sorted me out. And the front boys pulled ahead a bit. I then caught up with Mr Stockwell and I was feeling pretty comfortable so kept with him for a while up the hill. At about 9km he went up a gear and that was that. I was trying to run on effort, and maybe backed off a bit too much, but I suspect it was just lack of stamina.


         Time    Split Time Split Pace
5k     18:57      18:57       3:47
10k   38:26      19:29       3:53
11k   42:06      3:40         3:40
18k 1:07:24     25:18       3:36
HM 1:18:19     10:56       3:31

I really felt my lack of tempo conditioning, and didn't feel comfortable after that point. It was a struggle to maintain the effort. It's not a whinge, it's actually good to know that those tempo runs are good for something :-)

Props to Gerry Hill for winning, Liam (PB), Scott (PB), Stephen (for crushing me once again), Ryan(PB), Kev (PB), Biscuitman (PB), Epi (PB) and Makkas for some great running today. PB central....

3000m Coker Park - 9:44

After re-naming this blog 'Track Time' about 2 months ago, I finally actually got to a track race....

After a reasonable warmup and a bit of standing around, I toed the line again in a 3000m at the Masters Thursday night track met at Coker Park. Very nervy, it's a little scary, knowing what you're in for.

Very happy with the way it went, I managed consistent splits in the cool windy conditions (standard for Coker in March) and came out 9 seconds adrift of my PB.

Splits: 3:16.1 / 3:15.8 / 3:12.7

Definitely something to work with and I'm really happy with that result, and particularly the way I ran it. No competition at all - unfortunately the Masters events are usually Time Trials rather than races...

Back in the game

It's been a while ; 4 months!! Last night I finally felt ready to step out in a race again to test the water. My recovery feels like it has taken for ever, and Perth's hottest summer (both in terms of daytime and overnight temperatures) on record certainly hasn't helped.

I have a few new training buddies who have helped tremendously with confidence and helping me get through tough runs. So thanks to Steve, Mark, Simon, David and Liam. Thanks also to those who have had to put up with my bleating..

Last weekends Monaghetti camp was fantastic and another thing that has given me a good kick in the backside.

I ran the Swan 5km Twilight run expecting nothing but hoping to get under 17:30. I've been going to intervals for about 5 weeks now and feel like I have started to lose the rust and my legs are going well again. I lost the front pack within 800m and was running solo for the rest - they never really got out of sight though, and I could hardly believe it when I crossed the line with the clock on 17:03. A big confidence boost...

Onwards... a 3000m TT at Coker Park this Thursday will give me a second look at my physical state, and I won't have done a very hilly 27km the day before this one.

Darlington HM on Sunday, not expecting anything, but secretly ( oops ) hoping around 1:20. Lots of hills on a very challenging course.. most of my training buddies are doing it so I'll go along and see what happens.