Stromlo Threshold Run : Paris Versailles

Out at Stromlo this morning with Heidze, a threshold run for her in preparation for the half marathon in a fortnight. 9.5km in total, a 5km in the middle in 21:59, what we describe as comfortably hard. A pretty good effort after the 18km run yesterday.

Brunch was on the balcony at Scope, Minnie joining us.

Of me: Another 10km in the afternoon with Bella (who escaped this morning, not sure where she went but had wet feet. I think we concluded she did the Mt Painter loop by herself chasing my scent...clever dog:-)). 20km for the day, still 130km for the week. In between runs in the garden planting corn and beans, tomatoes go in next week wearing frost coats

Our good friends Emma and Rad enjoyed Paris Versailles yesterday. Emma 79:57, Rad 2:12ish. Emma jetlag and recovering from a tricky virus, Rad his success at World Duathlon championships.

Meanwhile in downtown Acton Lance (36:59) and Jodie (40:21) topped off their pre-marathon and/or globetrotting hijinx with some snappy times on the tough Sri Chinmoy 10km course. best wishes from all of us for next weekend in the USA.

Long Run with long intervals : Mulligans Flat

Windy and cool this morning. 27km all up, 9km by myself followed by 18km with Heidze, Lance and Helen. Jodie and Minnie joined us for brunch at Tusmo afterwards.

9km set included 2 x 3km intervals on an undulating track, the flat sections done at 3:30/km or better, the hilly sections just under 4:00/km.

18km run was out with the wind, into the wind on the way back. Surprisingly same time coming back, 45 minutes each direction on that same undulating track. Approximately 500m of ascent during the run.

That makes it 130km for the last 7 days. Will start to back off the distance late this week or early next week in preparation for Melbourne Marathon weekend, the Coffee Club 10km...others in the half or full marathon.

In the garden

Two runs today, in between the thunderstorms...one day into week three of 120km+ per week. My highlight of the day was discovering 19 corn have come up from planting three weeks ago...now all have pepsi bottle helmets for friends:-)

In the solitude of home, hiding from the rain, a compile from 5 years of Tour de France...such a small amount of tv proof of our TDF existence...sometimes hard to spot

Short Intervals @ Stromlo

Kathy, Heidze and I tried to take advantage of the spring weather and nice surface at Stromlo during lunch, a little inconvenienced by a machine punching holes in the grass. Thus the surface was rough everywhere and the times slow. Actually felt like a gumby running out there.

The set: 4 x 100m, 2 x 200m (34,33), 2 x 300m (51,51). Kathy a little slower, Heidze as quick or quicker on the 200s:-) The distances longer than stated, had to run wide.

Tuesday Session: 2000m, 3 x 800m

Nice sized bunch this evening, all doing the session spread over 2 hours...some early, some later. Very impressed to see everyone happy in the spring weather even if it still cools far too quickly. Another frosty morning coming tmoz.

In the session, everyone achieving or hitting under their targets and much better than previous weeks.

Of me: Slower in the 2000m 628 due to traffic and a stiff breeze, faster in the 800s, all in 228.

Of others: Keith did his under threat of a magpie on the South Coast hinterland at home:2km 7:22, 800s 2:56,3:01,2:53

Heidze: 2000m 7:49, first 800m as quick as me on first lap (gave her 100m start and didn't make a dent). 2:49,2:51,2:51

Helen 2000m 8:25, Gt 8:01, Mick 8:10, Minnie 11 seconds quicker than week before, Kelley ?

ACTVAC XC Handicap : O'Connor Ridge

Loads of us out there this morning in the warm spring weather. GT at the turn on the short course.

Results later

4km: sb 94%, heidze 77.3%, kt 81%, missy 69.7%, george clooney 53.7%, sk 42.1%

8km: kelley 81%, mick 70.3%, minnie 74.2%, maria 89.4%, pete 61.2%, helen 83%, roget 68.8%, lance 56.7%

Of me: 13:45, faster yet again as an M50 than as M45 by 14 seconds and my best ast ever. Splits: 3:19, 3:28, 3:35, 3:28.

The brunch at Ricardos, almost outside.

18km all up this morning, another 6km with Bella in the afternoon.

At the turn. Thanx GT

Long Intervals

Finally spring with a warm morning, blue skies and a breeze. Tomorrow the ACTVAC XC handicap so most 6,5,4,3,2,1 minutes on, 1 minute recovery done at a steady pace. Three lads did a similar session on track, the usual 2000m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m with 200m walk recovery.

Of me: 2000m (6:30), 1600m (5:14), 1200m (3:55), 800m (2:30), 400m (70). Keith and Lance first 3 efforts under 3:40/km, 800m 2:53, 400m 75.

Moved the training to Tilleys for brunch, lots of chatting and smiling faces enjoying the nice weather.

Strides

Today my final acclimatisation session towards fast paced running again. Today with the birthday girl 8 x 133m @ 16-17 seconds per 100m on the soft grass at Aranda. Next Thursday will begin some 400s at below 72 seconds, only 5 of them, working down towards 68 seconds and then 64 seconds by December.

A long warmup and warm down with Heidze, topped up with another 25 minutes with Bella.

Longish Run

80 minutes and 18km today through Aranda, Mt Painter and Cook, mostly with Bella. A day late but hit 120km for the last 7 days. That's one week down and a few to go. As a celebration of all things good entered Run4Fun this morning, 10km road race in the Sydney Olympic precinct on November 4. Did it last year, 34:01, hoping for a couple or more seconds quicker this year.

Found this shot featuring Minnie on steephill tv this evening, 1km from the finish of Tour de France in Annonay...seems like such a long time ago.

and a great friend and training partner of ours celebrates a birthday tmoz...may there be more bling in 2013:-)

Tuesday Session : 2000m, 3 x 800m

A thunderstorm just before the session had the fans wondering if we would be training and Bella taking a pre-session shower. As it turned out we all arrived for the session, the wind had disappeared, the temperature went from 20 to 12 in a matter of an hour or so and kept dropping. Once again too cold to run fast, especially in lane two (puddles). Some of us ran fast anyway.

A better completion rate than last week. I counted three of five a full set. Heidze a hammy niggle after two great efforts (7:47, 2:47ish), Maria leaving early and a calf niggle. Helen and Kathy kept each other great company. Helen running well after a couple of months playing tourist everywhere. Kathy also in great pre-season shape.

Of me: 2000m 6:26, 800s in 2:29, 2:28, 2:29...the best I've trained since just before City2Surf despite the weather.

2012 : Part 2

Winter has been long and cold in the capital, even if I spent a few warm weeks in France. Started watching the SBS DVD of Tour de France last night, forgot summer was less than two months ago...the blossoms have just come out in the back garden here, everything else just looks grey.

I have two great chances to do something special in 2012, both chances will be in Melbourne. One a 5000m at the Vic Champs lower grades, the other a 10000m at the Zatopek lower grades. That will be the focus for the remainder of the year.

I still have one month to go in this training block with a 10km road race at the end of it. The four key sessions will be:
2000m, 1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m on track on Saturday morning.
2000m, 4 x 800m on Tuesday afternoon.
5 x 400m, or 6 x 300m, or 6 x 200m, or power hills, or something similar on Thursday afternoon.
Fat burning 90min+ on Sunday morning.
120km per week workload until a few days before the Coffee Club 10km Road Race in Melbourne.
ACTVAC 4km XC handicap next Sunday replaces long run which will be done on Monday...that's all assuming I will stay fit and healthy during that period! I expect so.

Long Run

Mulligans Flat the venue for a longish run. 18km in all covered in around 90 minutes, most of us doing tempo intervals, around 50-60 minutes of effort with some easier sections, warm up and warm down. Just cruisy for me (and Heidze) at a nice pace, most of it done around 4:30/km.

Brunch was at Sirens, 10 of us, a baby party in Forde forced a change of venue.

A run with Bella up the mountain this afternoon. Will have constructed my first 120km week on Tuesday. Much hard work to be done in the next 2 months.

I Read a Book : The Secret Race

Well you don't have to read it, I'm not going to review it, I read the first 250 pages in less than 24 hours although I only had myself for company, I have 25 pages to go, I know how it ends.

For those of you who do read it...my blood values
Date........Haemoglobin....Haematocrit....Reticulocyte%
2012.05.03...15.1..........43.3...........1.66
2012.05.25...15.6..........43.5...........1.64
2012.05.31...15.7..........43.5...........1.47

Tan Relays : The Story

A successful day for my new club. APS United won both the M40+ and M50+ Tan Relays.

M50+: At stake was the 2012 Athletics Victoria XCR12 Winter Premiership and the prestigious three person Tan Relays prize. The were three clubs in contention for the daily prize (Traralgon Harriers, Keilor St Bernards and APS), latter two for the premiership. Traralgon and Keilor made their running order fastest to slowest. APS the reverse order with me last. The result wouldn't be known until the final leg.

Ian Cornthwaite (Traralgon) posted a 13:02 first leg to lead by 30 seconds to Keilor (Gerard Brown) and another 30 seconds or so back to APS runner Keith Law (my friend) who just held off teammate Mark Purvis running in the APS'2' team.

By the finish of the 2nd leg Traralgon and Keilor (thru Michael McIntyre) were neck and neck. I waited for Andrew Edwards to arrive (seemed like forever but it was only 42 seconds).
I made the catch of Traralgon at the 1km point, half way up the Anderson Street hill. I looked and looked for Keilor (Peter Gaffney) up ahead but didn't spot him until 1.5km in, made the catch before 2km, about 200m before we began the descent. I paused for 2 seconds on his shoulder, moved past at pace and then slipped back into maximum threshold until the end. A comfortable victory but I was very worried for a while that it might come down to a kick at the end. Both teams broke the old race record. APS won the winter premiership.

Of me: Another fun Saturday. Athletics Victoria sure know how to do things well. Little wonder there are so many great athletes down there. The club system is still thriving. 12:34 my split. Absolutely not a quick time but the effort was genuine. Long Sunday run tmoz before slipping into some faster training for the track.

Tuesday Session : Long Intervals

Two days after Canberra Times Fun Run most of us not nearly recovered yet...an abbreviated session today for most to mind the niggles including Heidi, a jog with the daughter.

The set: 2000m, 3 x 800m with 200m walk recovery between efforts. I can only think of three of eight who completed the session (Kathy, Kelley and Helen) although every one was well under pace.

Of me: 1200m (3:46), 3 x 800m (2:30, 2:30, 2:30). Set the watch at 19s or 76sec per 400m, ran 2 seconds under pace each effort, well in control but a long way from being in track shape. Still 6 weeks to track start and 10 weeks until my first big race. Today day one of real training. My niggle a slight calf issue I've had since Thursday.

Canberra Times Fun Run Official Results

10km: Me 33:54 11th ; Lance 36:38 ; KT 41:56 ; Heidze 43:01 ; Maria 43:57 ; Kathy 45:49 ; Julia 47:52 ; Minnie 48:25 ; Geoff 49:12 ; Pete 52:49

5km: GT 21:31 ; Kirsten 24:35 as Emma

Canberra Times Fun Run : The Movie

Canberra Times 10km (and 5km) Fun Run

Perfect weather today for both the run and lingering after...really enjoyed the day. Plenty of friends out there to watch and cheer on...all did well on what is a slowish course.

Some rough as guts results (will update when the official results appear):

10km: lance 36 (run of the day) ; kt 42 ; heidze 43 ; Maria 44 ; kathy 45 ; missy 46 ; julia 47 ; minnie 48 ; pete 52

5km: gt 21:25

Of me: Splits: 3:03, 3:24, 3:17, 3:35, 3:35, 3:21, 3:20, 3:23, 3:27, 3:30 = 33:58
Really struggled after 3km today. Felt great until I hit the rises between 3km-5km when I put in two bad kms. A pack caught me up containing 6-7, I just hung in there until there were only two of us left with 1km to go, sat on last man standing James all the way to the line. No sprint finish for me, would have felt awful stealing a place after having sat in for 5km. The result 30sec slower than 2011 but very happy with it considering I ran the half marathon last weekend. At times my form was very good. Looking forward to a good session on Tuesday to get me fired up for Saturday and the Tan Relays in Melbourne.

Hill Strides : Season Planning

Another very windy day in the capital so strides done in the bush and up hill with Bella like last week. 8 x 20 seconds, 1 x 40 seconds, 1 x 60 seconds and with short recovery as the terrain dictated...more like a hill fartlek session. Heidze I know did on the flat and wind assisted. Minnie and Maria in the bush, no strides.

As usual I work the season backwards, only looking as far forward as December 4th, the probable end of my first racing block.
4th December Zatopek 10000m lower grades, Melbourne
22th November Victorian 5000m lower grades, Melbourne

There will be other minor races. My club has no 10000m before Xmas this year but plenty of 5000m. As I will be training through these, no chance of a sub-16 at club events.

Before track season I have a few races to harden me up, starting last weekend, continuing this weekend.
9th September Canberra Times Fun Run 10km
15th September Tan Relays 3.8km, Melbourne
23rd September ACTVAC XC Handicap 4.5km & King/Queen of Mountain
14th October Coffee Club 10km, Melbourne Marathon weekend
18th October Track Season commences as does pre-competition block.

There might be some Sydney races in there as well if they fit. 3000m champs comes to mind but is not a World Ranking event.

Long Intervals : 2000m, 3 x 800m

A warm spell and with it a warm wind. Maria and Julia early, Heidze and myself later, Minnie 621 with Bella, Kathy later still? Helen from home by time with Jaffa and his bone.

The set will be our Tuesday norm until after the Melbourne Marathon weekend. 2000m, 3 x 800m all with 200m walk recovery. Still running off 10km pace for the moment but will get quicker over the mext month. Today everyone well under pace, closer to 5km pace than 10km despite the wind. We don't need any pressure on ourselves just yet. Julia running very well.

Of me: Complete rest yesterday. Today a struggle to get the muscles to remember how to run although a long warm up got me going again. Exactly 6:40 for 2000m (I didn't ask for any more than that). Had Heidi (7:49, 2:54, 2:57, 2:57) as a rabbit in the 800m efforts. Quicker than last week despite the half two days ago. 2:33, 2:34, 2:32. Happy with that.

Strides for us again on Thursday, a jog and coffee on Saturday, Canberra Times 10km Fun Run on Sunday.

Humour for the day. Bella caught my scent on the warm down, bolted 1km away from Minnie, wasn't happy until she was 100m past me, Minnie in a tiz...no worries for Bella, jumped in a smelly pool of stagnant water, had a swim and drink...crazy dog

Half Marathon on Yarra Boulevard : The Movie

Half Marathon on Yarra Boulevard : The story

Perfect conditions for the start of the race, the wind picking up in the last 6km. The goal to have 3 APS 50+ lads finish in front of Keilor 50+ lads on cumulative placings to keep the Winter AthsVic premiership hopes alive for another fortnight.

Keith the key man today. We warmed up together and discussed what time he would do, when to take the gel and how it would feel in the last 7km. Keith gave his all and ran exactly the time we discussed before the race. In doing so we won the day and now trail Keilor going into the final race of the season, the tan relays. Andrew Edwards finished only one place behind Michael McIntyre the first runner from Keilor...I think we can do it again.

Of me: Well to find myself in a pack with Liam Adams wasn't in the plan. Liam I believe caught a chest infection after winning City2Surf (just like me!). The bunch was 15 strong, skylarking antics including running backwards, banter and so on...a comedy. Surprisingly I felt really comfortable running at sub-70 pace but things were about to change. I stayed there until the pace ramped up after 8km which blew the bunch apart. Trying to stay with the bunch sent me backwards through the field until I got control of my lactate levels again. I slipped onto John Meagher and Steve Isbel for quite a way, losing 40 & 20 seconds on them over the last 5km...a real struggle to get to the finish line.

My last three half marathons have all been within 20 seconds of each other. The Cadbury Half the quickest, this mornings effort taking a few seconds off that I did in Canberra earlier in the year. I'm very confident of knocking a couple of minutes off the time today...maybe in April or more likely July next year.

All up today 34km including warm up and warm down. Fitter now that before the start of the race I think.

Lovely meeting the team mates today. Thanks for inviting me.

M45-49
1. John Meagher 72:40
2. James Atkinson 75:53
M50-54
1. Me 73:20
2. Michael Bialczac 77:13
4. Michael McIntyre 79:08
5. Andrew Edwards 79:46
9. Keith Law 85:18

Half Marathon on Yarra Boulevard

73:20, 1st M50, won M50 teams...mission accomplished. Full story later.