Secret Blog for Killing Track and Parkrun PBs

Steve and myself early this morning for set 1, others later. Warm, humid, track very soft and wet from sprinklers overnight, no breeze at all. The set: 2500m warm up, 4 x 100m, 2000m 6:29(Steve 6:52), 1500m 4:49(Steve 4:59), 1200m 3:50(Steve 4:02), 800m 2:31, 400m 67, 1500m warm down/up then into set 2. The form keeps on improving, easily my best Stromlo set ever (-11 seconds) and very close for Steve. Both in great training form. Race results will follow. Set 2: 3 x 1000m. Included Emma (3:30, 3:30, 3:40), Helen (3:52, 3:51, 3:50), Jack (3:47, 3:45, 3:49)and Kathy (4:08, 4:20). I set a tempo of slightly under 3:50/km for others to feed off. 1000m warm down. WOW for Helen and Jack, both PB sets. Helen down to her goal 5:45 1500m pace today. Tomorrow Women and Girls Fun Run 5km for the girls. Course by the lake out and back. Always a great morning to watch and cheer on. Almost all of the girls in Canberra will be running. Keith 4km warm up, 5 x 110m, 4 x 1500m (750m up, 750m down)...

Weather 21 degrees, wind 34kph reducing to 11kph during race (into face in home straight), very large field of all ages and speeds. No results as yet. Roughly Me: 16:42, Steve 17:31, Keith 18:18, Dale 20:25, Kathy 22:17, KT 12:13 in 3000m. Promising for all of us, around 40-50 seconds away from what we will all do this season. Helen ran 6km BBQ Stakes, her quickest in a long time. Of me: Pre-event did my usual daily protocol of diet, stretching and rest. I will be taking all the four consecutive 5000m races seriously as I build the form, aiming for 10 seconds better each week. Volume in last 7 days was 131km, down from a peak of 142km a few days prior. It will reduce to 80km in the final two weeks before AMA Championships. The race: A fast split start, 36? competitors. Athletics ACT using the race as their championships, ACT Masters Championships in three weeks. As usual with the ACT Masters races we would be running in lane 2 for most of the race. Some very slow runners in the mi...

Hot again, full sun, just a breeze, very sticky. Steve and I early, Helen Kathy and Dale later. All of us running AMA track championships in a few short weeks. Set 1: 6km warm up, 4 x 100m, 4 x 800m (one more effort than last week) Me: 2:29, 2:28, 2:27, 2:26. Steve: 2:30, 2:30, 2:31, 2:35 Set 2: 2.5km warm up, 4 x 100m, Pacing for Kathy and Helen at 5:45 1500m pace. Helen 900m, Kathy 700m, Dale 800m. Pacing at 2:50 800m pace. Kathy 400m, Helen 500m, Dale 1000m. 4 x 200m all in 41 seconds to finish. 2.5km warm down. Good news for all of us. Dale another set up. Kathy and Helen both showing signs they will be competitive for medals in AMA. Steve stronger and quicker than last week, not helped by me dragging him out too quick, nor the athletes running the wrong direction repeatedly in lane one, nor the Chinese javelin throwers jogging in lane 1 with headphones on. Of me: 140km last 7 days. That might be a top for me in volume as I will schedule an easy day on Wednesday. My set great a...

Previous times on course: 2013 10:29, 2014 10:29...2015 10:06 Splits: 3:08, 1:41 (dead turn); 1:47, 3:29. The course basically all down then all up with 1 dead turn and 10 right angle turns on concrete / bitumen path, sometimes grass or a gutter on the way back passing competitors. Once again very happy with my form given all the hard work and with 2kg+ still to lose. Post run coffee locally with maybe 30 people. Lucky to fit us all in. This afternoon a long recovery run of 80 minutes in the Arboretum when the sun loses it's sting.

On my own this morning for set 1, others later. Hot, humid, track very wet from sprinklers overnight, a breeze that stiffened as the morning went on. The set: 2000m warm up, 4 x 100m, 2000m 6:34, 1500m 4:51, 1200m 3:54, 800m 2:29, 400m 71, 2000m warm down/up then into set 2. I felt very fatigued again from the workload but the numbers show how fit I am. All efforts were better or equal to last weeks PB set until the final 400m into the wind. This and last weeks sets the only times I have broken 19 minutes cumulative at Stromlo (18:59, 18:57) and now approaching my fastest cumulative ever on track (18:40) dating back to May 2012 (during the Iron Study at AIS). Set 2: 3 x 1000m. Included Emma (3:30, 3:29, 3:30), Helen (3:58, 3:57, 3:57), Jack (3:59, 3:59, 3:45), Abdul (3:35, 3:40, 3:40) and Kathy (4:10, 4:14, 4:14). I set a tempo of exactly 3:50/km for others to feed off. 2000m warm down. KT, Missy and friend were there all morning as well. Tomorrow ACT Masters Handicap. The course i...

The weather sticky, not so hot, no wind to speak of. On offer conclusion to the Spiral handicap Adler Series and the Pennington handicap Middle Distance series. I had hoped Helen would win the Adler Female series for a third time but Gina had another awesome effort to secure the trophy...nothing like your partner in love sitting in the stands and cheering you on all season hey Gina. Helen ran both the Pennington 3km and Adler 3km approx, the Adler at 4:05/km. Bravo Helen. Star of the night for me was Sue Archer W65 who is running up AST's in the mid-90s for races 3000m-21km Cadbury and in the World Mountain Running to boot. So happy to see her again after suffering from PF for a couple of years. Sue was 3rd in the Adler and 1st in the Pennington tonight, but ineligible for the prizes, injured for most of the season. Pennington Series went to plan for all of us. Steve M45 ran another great 10:05, passed Colin M50 and almost caught Kathy W60 starting way back...not easy running in...

Keith today 4 x 3 minute efforts on Barretts Road. He ticked off more metres on each effort maxing out at 820 metres with 2 minutes jog recovery in between. Keith won't be racing this Thursday, on duty roster, will cheer us on. The first musette I ever caught was during Tour de France 2010 on 5 July 2010, not so far from Huy, famous for Mur de Huy and the one day cycling monument Fleche Wallone. On closer examination the said musette from Team Garmin contained one full strength Can of Coke, One Foil containing rice and some chicken, a couple of fuel gels. In the latest Musette in Geelong for the final race for Cadel, not much has changed...no Coke, caffeine integrated with Gels.

Back to the track for a session to find out where we are at and refine from there. The weather hot and humid, no wind to speak of. Two near identical sets including: 6km warm up, 6 x 100m, 3 x 800m, 2.5km warm down. I paced both sets. Set 1: (2:30, 2:30, 2:30) Steve only a step behind so was moving well. Set 2: Helen:(3:08, 3:09, 3:07). Dale gave us 10-20 seconds head start, only caught us once. Both looking to be in their best shape this season. Of me: Two hours of hilly running yesterday at 4:00/km. Felt the normal fatigue from the high mileage and surprised how easy running the set was. Next race the Pennington 3000m Handicap. I will start at same pace as today and hold on until I know I can catch Kathy with room to spare.

Cool, cloudy, no wind, very humid. Steve, Jane and I the usual set. Maria early with 5km (4 minute intervals, 30 sec jog recovery), Kathy 4 x 1km intervals (4:20 with short recovery), KT out there too working very hard and looking fitter each week. In Melbourne Helen 90 minutes along the Yarra as 6,5,4,3,2,1 minute intervals 30 seconds jog recovery. Set 1: Steve, Jane and I. 2000m 6:35 Me / 6:55 Steve ; 1500m 4:51 Me / Steve 5:02 ; 1200m 3:54 / Steve 4:02 ; 800m 2:30 both ; 400m 67 both. Steve once again rock solid and very consistently training near all-time best. Jane slightly slower this week after a mini-break. Of me: Yet another all-time PB set with no weakness on any of the efforts. After six straight weeks of very high volume (130km+ this week) I am pleasantly fatigued but feeling as strong as I have all year. Next race the final Pennington series handicap 3000m. I would expect to win that race and the series. Giving Kathy 700 metres head start is always scary and I have to ta...

Wind reading -2.6mps home straight (I dispute that, BOM says it was 26kph, gusting to 34kph), cloudy, humid. Despite a 7km warm up I still wasn't warmed up...maybe I am getting old! I had the beeping watch set for Steve at 3:20/km (20 sec/100m) and ran just under that pace from start to finish. Steve was only a short distance back the whole way. With 200m to go Gerard gave me a spook from the sidelines ('Go Steve') I had to lift to hold Steve off. Me: 9:57, Steve 10:00, Keith 10:34, Kathy 12:45ish (even paced W64). Helen 6:06 1500m. Main event for her was Spiral Handicap 6 lap following. Emma ran just about every event on the program. Evaluation: Kathy is really fit with even paced 3000m equal to what she ran in 2010 perfect conditions (ugly this evening). Steve better again than last week and approaches the important weeks in prime form. Keith had a knee niggle in recent weeks, hasn't lost that much and is rejuvenated...watch this space. Helen had no winter (ski inj...

I watched from a few or more meters back Steve post another positive session this afternoon. 1000m then shorter efforts with very short recovery and all at 3:10/km. It was windy, the complete opposite direction Mel and Sally had on the weekend and the same speed. Business as usual for a Canberran afternoon in the summer. Keith has been progressing well from his knee niggle, out on Barretts Road and then back to the famous pie shop in Bemboka, lo-cal of course. Of me: An easier day after the intense efforts of Sprint Marathon Relay. 16km all up, some efforts 3:27-3:10/km, beginning week 6 of high volume 120km+ weeks. Just over two weeks until I start racing proper again.

Nine teams of six made up the Sprint Marathon Relay in 2015. It's a long morning, waiting 25 minutes or so to run again. Always great fun. By the end of the race 13 minutes separated the nine teams, 5 minutes between the top 5 teams and 35 seconds between the top two teams. I was lucky to be on the winning team. As a handicap relay, it's never the fastest runner that wins this thing, always the team that is motivated and with good runners across all six members relative to their age, sex, talent, experience and training. After my first leg three teams were only 5 seconds apart. As the morning went on the gaps grew bigger and then smaller again. For most of the relay my team was chasing in 2nd place. We only took the lead on my final leg of 2km and held it for the next 5 kilometres as I rounded up all our runners, all crossing the line together. Of me: 4 x 1km (3:00-3:10/km), 1 x 2km efforts (6:20/km), 1 x 5km tempo to finish (4:00/km), often 2km warming down and up between le...

Stromlo this morning. A breeze, cool until the sun came out, track cut about as good as it gets for the World XC Trials tomorrow. Early set: Just Steve and me: 2000m 6:52, 1500m 5:01, 1200m 4:02, 800m Steve 2:33 Me 2:38, 400m Steve 69, 300m Me 57. Later set: Maria: 2000m, 1500m, 1000m 4:15. Gabe: 5000m (paced by me) done as 4 minute intervals, 30 seconds float recovery 100m in 24:02 (net 23 mins approx). KT, SK, Emma, Tori and others out there as well. Steve very similar to last week, another good set. Maria fully recovered from calf tear did well. Gabe fully recovered from holiday was impressive. Of me: Right hamstring, glutes, lower back still tight. As on Thursday had to shorten my stride, increase cadence to get through set the same shape I started it. That meant reducing the speed a little but was still working very hard. Almost at maximum threshold but not quite. Have now completed my 5th consecutive (and 7th of 9) 120km+ weeks, peaking so far at 140km+. I expect to do anothe...

A return for Steve to the track in the 3000m. I predicted 10:07, he beat my prediction by 1-2 seconds. Great run first week back. I knew from his training times he was doing OK. He will just get better and better from here. Keith was doing track duty. He has been nursing a knee niggle but is well on the mend. I saw Half Marathon Elf briefly. Her set times this week back into the 3:40s/km and looking good for whatever she turns her mind to. She recently did a 2 hour run. Pennington 800m: Colin also M50 won this evening. Great to see him with a victory again. Kathy W60 a great run for 3rd and Helen W55 not far behind. Five straight days of long runs for me, more than 80 minutes each day, still over 120km last 7 days for fifth week. The lower back has been tight from the big drive to Geelong and back. I warmed up for the 3000m, felt a tug on my right hammy and that was it for me...live to fight another day. I strolled around in the 3000m, around 10:50 but faster each lap. Did loads of...

It's not easy to find places to run in the country that are ideal for fast paced running. Here is Keith's solution...Barretts Road.

Some drizzle to farewell Cadel yesterday in Geelong. It didn't stop masses of fans turning up to say goodbye. I cobbled together a long run prior to the start along the course and back. Post race it was an epic 8 hour drive back home dodging thunderstorms and the like. Minnie took the plane via Sydney, we arrived home within 10 minutes of each other.