WAMC Swan Twilight 5k

Wasn't sure what to expect today ; this morning I definitely felt a little fatigued still. This wore off as the day progressed and by race time I was feeling OK. Wore my new Adidas Rocket flats and I love them ; the Mizuno flats - Precision and Musha - just never gave me the same responsiveness as the Mizuno XC shoes I wear at the track. Did a short warmup and then stood at the start line - a good field - Busi, Lee, Hands, Stockwell, Lee, Schmidt, La Spina, etc. - no slacking for me! I started conservatively ( not so some, who went a little early  - 'cheeky buggers!' was one reaction ) and felt really comfortable up to the first bridge ; the climb up was a bit tough  - I thought that was it but they recovered OK and I felt good again heading over the bridge to E.Perth, running with Cyrus Hands and Matt La Spina just behind. We headed against the wind south along the river and then climbed up to Jewell Lane - again the hill sucked the strength from the legs. It obviously had the same effect on Cyrus and Matt - I never saw them again.... I saw Stephen Stockwell ( my main M45 contender - who happens to whip my arse every time) about 30m ahead ; a lead he had had pretty much from the start, but I couldn't close it. He was running with another guy and they seemed to be teaming it into the wind back to the club. I was solo at this point but not feeling too bad for that stage of a 5k, too bad I hadn't made the effort to stick with him at the start, I would have given myself a chance ; next time, Stockwell....

I was very happy and surprised to finish in around 17:12 in 6th (Kim took a nice picure that magically knocked 10 seconds off my time!). I am really starting to feel like my energy levels are getting back up to how I felt pre-summer, it's been a a rough few months but hopefully I have seen the end of that for now.

Long run

Did something a bit different for this week's hill's run. Drove up to Mundaring to run with Sas up the Kep track from the Mundaring Sculpture Park out past Chidlow to Ash Rd and return (map). We weren’t intending to do 32, but it was such a beautiful morning, we kept going past Chidlow. When we started it was cool and was still pretty nice by the finish, and the air felt fresh.    There was a reasonable easterly but that also kept the apparent temperature down and it was nice to have a wind at our backs on the return journey. Had a gel after about 1:30 at the Chidlow loos. 




The course is relatively flat but does involve some loooong rises and falls which become more significant as the run progresses and the legs tire ; the total ascent for the run is a little over 300m. The pull from Mt Helena up to Old Sawyers Rd and back over the GE highway is a tough finish. My legs were really starting to fatigue by the end – but in a good way. When you’re used to a 7k downhill finish like most hills run, actually finishing uphill is pretty tough. Sas had a breakthrough run, after a few months of having to guts out feeling crappy on every run, she felt strong and I reckon could have kept going ; I was stuffed by the end. I loved it though, this is the running I most enjoy.


Ended up doing 32.5km @ 4:43 pace HR 148. My HR graph shows a classic case of cardiac creep ; pretty good at the start and an average of 140 to the turnaround (1:17:55) but 155 for the return (1:15:35) - footpod overmeasured considerably, so paces on the graph are overly complementary!

Windy 5k

Ran the 5k at the track last night ; conditions were OK (23° 40%RH) but quite windy (SSW32/41) with there being quite a strong headwind up the home straight requiring a substantial effort to maintain pace. Plan A was to do the 3k at 3:20 pace and try to push on from there if I felt good. I quickly realised that the effort to sustain that would be unsustainable so I settled for the 'B' result which was a sub 17 run. Splits were 3:23 / 3:21 / 3:24 / 3:28 / 3:21 totaling 16:57 which represents a solid effort, which as a solo run with that wind I'm pretty happy with.

Went to Cottesloe this morning with the intention of swimming or a short recovery run. It was so damn cold that swimming was out, and I didn't feel like running, so I settled for a couple of coffees and some french toast....

What a difference a few degrees makes..

Had a very good run this morning, just an easy around the Perth Bridges, but with the southerly wind I just felt there was more oxygen in the air and for once, the easy run felt easy - 4:42 pace HR 137. It was only a few degrees cooler than yesterday (18&deg ), but it felt a lot different ; maybe it was the huge red curry and entire bag of jelly snakes I ate last night!

This evening there's a 5k at Coker Park ; I'll do 3k at 5k pace (10 minutes) and if I'm feeling good I'll try to go on with it and maybe get close to a 5k PB. I'm also doing the Swan Twilight 5k on Sunday, but if I go hard tonight, I won't on Sunday... probably ;-)

Also looking forward to a slightly different run on Saturday, starting in Mundaring and heading towards Chidlow and return ; obviously a lot easier when you cut out the big climb up to Mundaring, but it is on trails and there are a few bumps along the way.

Intervals and recovery

Felt really flat most of yesterday so I wasn't looking forward to the interval session at all - the feeling continued through the warmup, but my spirits lifted when we were told what the session was - 4 x 1000m with 2:30SR. Conditions were a relatively cool 22° but humidity in excess of 80% made this a slightly sweaty session with a distinct lack of oxygen. I got boxed in on my first one, but it's usually the slowest anyway, and I felt pretty good on #2 and #3 and the legs suffered a bit in the last one, but I managed to keep the pace going : 3:20 / 3:18 / 3:17 / 3:17. After about 4 minutes I did my 5 x 80m sprints across the oval and felt pretty comfortable doing these.

Wednesday morning I did an 8k recovery around the Canning Bridges, feeling again fairly stiff and heavy but I got through it relatively easily ; 4:56 pace HR 140. It was fairly pleasant this morning at 20° 65% RH but it didn't feel as nice as I wanted it to.... also, I was doing it solo as Sas is nursing a heel injury so is missing the recoveries for a few weeks to hopefully get it to clear up. There are promising signs that this strategy is working....

What a week that was...

It's been a while since my last confession... busy busy busy!

Started off the weekend with a gorgeous 28km with Sas from Darlington up the heritage trail to Old Sawyers Rd (map); like the week before I felt good and with the lovely cool weather we had a great run. Just one stop at Mundaring on the way back down for a drink and a gel. Two minutes faster than the week before, average pace 4:42 HR 147 -1:07:38 (4:52 pace) out, 1:03:09 (4:31 pace) return. Felt tired but good afterwards...

On Sunday I've started to reintroduce some short tempo work because I think that's been missing from my training. Just ran the Canning Bridges loop from home and managed 6.5km of tempo at an average of 3:52 pace - slower into the string wind at first but felt great on the home stretch.

Monday we did the usual easy from King's Park down Malcolm to Mounts Bay, along to UWA and then up the Western perimeter path to the start. Felt great at 4:41, HR 138 ; nice and cool again.

On Tuesday I travelled down to Denmark with my parents who have been visiting ; uneventful drive, the car handling a trailer full of IKEA furniture and an extra two adults pretty well. I have to admit I was a bit concerned that we may not make it over the Armadale hill but it was no problem in the end... after an afternoons of furniture construction I did some intervals on the sand/ironstone surface of the Inlet trail. Not as nice as Alderbury (or Coker) park, but a bit of hardship just make the training better, right ? I did  a 2km warmup from the house to the rivermouth, 5 x 1140m reps with 2:30 SR, the first being 3:27 pace and the rest being 3:17 pace, and then 3km cooldown to run back home. Felt pretty shagged by the end of it.

Wednesday morning I cycled down to the rivermouth and then ran an 11km out and back along the inlet trail at 4:29 pace,  HR 149; very warm morning, and as I got into it I lost the stiffness in the legs from the previous evening's efforts. I turned it into a progression run of  sorts just to keep things interesting, as Kim rode on her bike to keep me company. When I was finished, I hopped on my bike and rode up the Bibbulmun cafe for a jumbo coffee which I humbly suggest is the best coffee in the Great Southern !

Thursday was a repeat of Wednesday but at a slower and more equal pace 10.36km at 4:35 HR 145.

I took a day off Friday, partly because we were heading back to Perth and partly because my glutes were a little sore, from the running I guess, but also from the furniture construction and all the standing in odd positions (not because I hold the screwdriver with different muscles to the rest of you...)

Saturday, another 6am start in Darlington. Ran the same run with Sas up to Old Sawyers 27.84km @ 4:41 pace HR148 (1:07:34 out, 1:02:49 return). Saw Craig D out there briefly before he ducked thru the bush to head home. I didn't feel quite as fresh today, I guess it was a bit warmer and followed a tough week physically. Loved the run though - next week we may do something a bit different, maybe revisit Phil's hill or the pipeline.

Sunday I bumped up the tempo a bit ; ran from E.Perth through Maylands up to the Police Academy and back. Nearly 9km of tempo at 3:51 pace - it was warm and windy and my legs definitely got tired at the end. Definitely making progress I think ; I haven't done too much tempo running of late and I felt great for the first 5 before the fatigue (and nausea from the Sustagen Sport too close to the run) started to wear me down. Saw Simon E out there, looked like he was flying as usual.

Monday morning did another warm and windy 10.5km from Trigg to Hillary's and back ; very nice to dip the legs in the water afterwards and the coffee and muffins at Yelo are outstanding!