Another one bites the dust!

A pretty heavy duty week...
- Pilates session Monday am
- Return to hill repeats on Tuesday for a lung and quad buster
- Start of Summer Series on Wednesday, one significant route choice mistake and went a bit too fast out, saw 9.7km in 46 min for net 500 points, dodged a massive downpour by about 15 minutes!
- Recovery run around the oval up the street with Daisy (the dog) on Thursday
- On Friday I did my Castle Cove loop run, a good mixture of trail, hills and road. Tried to cruise it and the legs felt a little dead, was surprised to see that I ran close to my fastest time for the route

So onto the Striders Half, called the Internal because Ewen as you mentioned members were not allowed to run the open event as they were needed for marshalls etc so I believe there was also an Internal version to cater for the members. This is a handicap start where runners get allocated a suggested half time which is then used to start runners in reverse order, ie slowest first, with the goal of everyone finishing at the same time!

So I got allocated 95 minutes, mostly based upon my 10km handicap. There were 3 in our group but straight from the start that was it, David Martin tore off and the second guy followed him, while I decided to try and stay on my goal pace (which as usual was to also try and threaten my PB, even on this tough course). I kept runner #2 in sight and we fairly quickly started hauling in runners from the groups before us. I caught runner #2 at the top of Scribbly for the first time and put a bit of a gap on the downhill. He went past again on the climb to the gate but on the downhill back I again gapped him and that was that. No chance of catching David but I was still hauling in people continually and also got a good idea as to who was running well from the faster groups.

I deliberately tried to ignore the garmin and splits, just montitoring avg pace and my HR. At the turn around I took a quick peek at the time (halfway) and was pleased/surprised to see that it was 44 something. Tried to keep the pace going with not blowing up on on the climbs. Near the top of Scribbly second time I caught a faster guy gapped him a little on the downhill but he caught me on the flat and we ran together still hauling in people. Another faster runner floated in front but I was struggling to drag him on. The guy I had already caught drew away from me on the climb to the gates but I again gapped him on the downhill (as I ran past he muttered something about bloody fast downhill runner). I drew within 5 metres of the other guy as we continued to haul in front markers, by my calcs David Martin was way too fast and far in front but everything else was up for grabs.

At about 2 km to go I was starting to slip from the guy I was trying to catch and the other faster runner caught me and went past us both. On the last hill I was really struggling but still managed to hold things together. The two guys just in front of me caught another runner who by then was second on the road. I pushed hard all the way, with no idea as to the time, only focussed on trying to haul in the 3 in front and hope no-one faster cam from behind.

In the end, I just could not get up to them and finished over the line in 5th, 3 secs behind 4th, 22 behind 3rd and 38 behind 2nd.

The best bit though was after the line when I checked my watch I had posted 1:29:56, not only had I managed to hang on and break my PB of 1:30:23, but also broke the 90 minute barrier. I was actually a bit gobsmacked at first, especially given the tough hilly nature of the course.

Anyway, a PB is a PB, especially one that has taken close to six years to best!

So the regime seems to be working, a half marathon PB on a tough course with no taper based upon 11 weeks of training. It will be interesting to see what I can do now to my 10km time in a few weeks...

On the weight front, I've now dropped to 78.5kg, so a loss of 6.5kg from the start of August.

Anyway, onwards for GNW prep, a pretty heavy week scheduled this week, culminating in the Bobbin Head STaR

Secret training trip

So for the last 2 weeks I have been on a family holiday in the South Island of New Zealand. We did a counter clockwise lap and I tried to get out as often as possible to see each location from a different perspective. The schedule went a little like this

Christchurch - a long lap of Hagley Park on the Saturday afternoon, legs still a little jaded from the marathon the week before, was a little surprised to post 10km in just under 45 minutes

Kaikora - about 3 hours north of Christchurch and best know for whale watching tours, went out for 2 runs, one a lap of the penninsula, very scenic, but a little hilly and the second day was longer and out into the country side, had to stop for a couple of minutes to let a herd of cows cross the road for their morning milking session.

Nelson - near the top of the South Island and wedged between Queen Charlotte sound and Abel Tasman National Park. A shorter recovery run around a large park

Franz Joseph Glacier - an out an back to the car park of the glacier from the van park. Quite cold as it was very near the snow. Really streteched it out coming home, just under 13km at around 4:25 pace

Wanaka - gateway to the ski slopes and Queenstown. A great scenic run along the lake with a few hills tossed in at the back end. Very windy and quite cold.

Queenstown - sadly missed out on running as we had skiiing and rafting lined up with early morning starts

Te Anu - Another lake run, from the van park all the way around to the start of the Kepler Track and a km or so along the actual start of the track. Really liked it here and may try to enter the actual race next year. Close to 13km at 4:25 average, another good stretch run.

Dunedin - Opted for a hard slog here and so planned a run into the hills at the back of the town. Wow, tough going with a vertical climb of over 600m in around 8km. Then a brutal descent down a gravel single track path followed by a tempo run back along undulating streets. Legs were very smashed after this effort. Not much in terms of views as the lookouts were in coud cover so I could really only see about 20m in front of myself at the top.

Oamaru - A few hours drive south of Christchurch and known for it's penguin colonies and viewing. A flatter tempo run given the hammering from the day before.

Back home in time for the Striders STaR on Sunday at Marsfield (Ryde Rambler). A pretty tough run with undulating road for the first 15 odd km and then a series of roller coaster steepish climbs all the way up to Thornleigh and then a technical descent and run along a very rocky trail before yet another climb back to the start.

Last time I ran this STaR was the week after the 24 hour rogaine and the April 10km race and was where the first signs of my dodgy back started to surface. Felt pretty comfotable, and the pace was a bit quicker on the tar than last time. The sky's opened up and bucketed down as we ran from Cheltenham to Thornleigh. I led out through the return trails section and really tried to push it home. Was quite surprised to finish up with an average pace of 5:10, the April run was bang on 5:30.

So all seems to be coming together, I am now below 80kg, despite having fallen a little off the no sugar wagon during our holiday. Need to keep a strong focus on October training to benefit the GNW attempt, but am going to continue the speed/tempo stuff as well as I'll thinking of having a tilt at the Central Coast Half as well.

The Striders Internal half this Sunday and then the 10km at Lane Cove in a few weeks will be good barometers as to my progress....

Sydney Marathon race report

Pretty much mission accomplished....

Three different prioritised goals going into the race
A- break PB (3:22:08)
B- break 3:30
C-Finish

The start process was a bit of a shambles for some reason and after the gun for the elites (about 20 metres in front of group A) went off we all looked at each other and then also started running. I started the Garmin about4-5 seconds up the road before I went over the timing mats and then about another 50 metres I heard another gun, so who knows what was supposed to happen the officials near us certainly had no idea....

Anyway, I also broke the first rule of marathon racing, no new gear on the day. I got a race belt and loaded it up with gels, but as we headed up the laneway it was obvious the elastic holding the gels was not tight enough and so I started stuffing around trying to take out and reload the gels so they were tighter, while also still running, managed to lose one and then just ended up stuffing them in my cap so I would not lose them.

With "stretch" goal A in mind I aimed for km reps of around 4:45 and given the shambles at the start I was actually in front of the 3:15 group for some time, they finally hauled me in around Centennial Park, was tempted to tag on the back but was close to my zone already and so I stuck to my guns as they slowly drew away. I did like the extension of the course through Centennial and hit the halfway mark just over 1:39 so slower than last year, which is actually good. The long drag back up Anzac Parade needed some focus and I passed a few people through here looking forward to the downhill of Oxford St and then continuing down to Circular Quay. Saw the family here giving me a cheer and then likewise the CR cheersquad as I hit Hickson Road. Caught fellow Strider Alex here who was struggling and I also started to feel some twinges, warning of cramps. I got a salt tablet ready but had to wait until the end of Hickson Rd before the next aid station where I downed the tablet with some extra water and also said hi to Springer who was marshalling.

From here I hit my lowest mental point on the flyovers and resorted to some power walking as the lead 3:30 pacer caught me on the last steep pinch in this loop. Downed my last Gel at the aid station before returning on the flyover and was relieved to start headed downhill back towards Hickson. As soon as I hit Hickson and had a quick drink at the aid station I perked up again and immediately hit a good tempo again. I did however bleed about 3-4 minutes on this 4-5km previous stretch.

The run to home was actually not at all bad, I was close to the rivet (cyclists will know what I mean) but was hauling in quite a few people. By about the Hyatt I was really starting to motor and really enjoyed the CR cheer squad again and also the large sized contingent of people cheering along near the toaster, still passing people!

I knew I had 3:30 in the bag but ran it hard all the way to the end and ended up with a gun time of 3:28:40 which in checking the records is an equal all time 3rd best marathon time. Given that back at the end of June when I had my back problem and I struggled to stay with the 6am group with a 20km run at avg pace of 5:43 and I really did not start training properly until the start of August I am as an understatement very happy with how things turned out in being able to run a marathon at sub 5min/km pace!

In Melbourne for work and went out for a tentative recovery run tonight. The legs felt remarkably fresh and I knocked out just over 11km at 4:57 pace and an average HR of 154 over a flatish course.

So back to building for GNW, some sekrit training coming up that I'll report when I am able to :) October needs to be a big month and another few Kg's off the waist will be a bonus for some of those climbs at GNW, like Heaton Gap and Dora Creek....

Also getting ready for Summer Series, last year in this age bracket but I'd like to give it a bit of a shake

Progress and now to the Sydney Marathon

A little bit of swings and roundabouts since the end of August. Notable points in the last 2 weeks
- Raced the Striders 10km at North Head. Truly the most attrocious weather conditions I have raced at a Striders 10km, a howling Nor-Easter with driving rain. Tried to help Paul out with the setup of the timing system but the rain managed to penetrate the electronics and so it was kaput... I lined up and charged off, after our second loop of the end of North Head I noticed my right shoe lace had come undone so waited to the top of the hill to stop, retie and double knot. Of course a slew of people went past and I set out right into the wind and rain to try and regain my position. It seemed that no matter where I was, it was either a head wind or climb or both! Started to fade on the second lap but did manage to catch Seagull and hold off Horrie, although Horrie was backing up from Trailwalker the week before so I should have stayed ahead of him! Ended up with 43.51, not what I was hoping for but lots of upside!

Backed up for Middle Harbour Picnic, another tough run and struggled at the back for the long climbs but actually ran home quite strongly after the long climbs were done.

Then the start of an enforced taper with a work trip to Mumbai. Had a few good treadmill sessions on the treadmill and also did a full work through of the weights program set up for me which really smashed me. As it happened the enforced taper was extended as I had to stay over the weekend and fly to Delhi for a last minute presentation. So I shifted hotels in Mumbai (at my bosses advice) to one on the beach and went for one run along the beach. As it happened this was the day after the weights session I did and my legs were absolute toast, the high temperature and humidity did not help and I was glad to get back to the hotel for a swim in the pool. No way in the world would I have swum at the beach, a tanker had dropped a load in the Arabian Sea and the water was not nice...

Some more treadnill sessions before finally getting back to Oz and headed out for a last had hit out on my home base tempo course for a loosener. Was happy and surprised to significantly reduce my most recent times so headed in the right direction!

The sugar free diet regime has continued, a real test when I travel and today when I hopped on the scales I was a little surprised to see 80kg neat. So over 5kg lost since I started back. Other good news is that the dodgy back is getting less dodgy.

So Sydney Marathon beckons on Sunday with what seems a faster and less exposed course. I really am underdone but as usual will give it a red hot go, we'll see what happens.

Month end

So at the start of August I decided on a few goals and its time to put these out in the public domain and see how I'm going against them

• Enter GNW : done but that was pretty easy!
• Try and sort out dodgy back : still work in progress but Pilates is certainly making a difference and the witch doctor is helping keep things on track
• Adopt concepts from the book "Sweet Poison" by dramatically reducing my intake of sugar, particulary sucrose : For the 31 days of August I managed 17 complete sugar free days, much better than my old habit of 1-2 cokes per day but can still do a little better!
• Try to reduce alcohol intake : not very successful there, needs more focus
• Return to some consistency in training : done pretty well on this front, especially with a mind on not over doing it off a low base, 21 days of running from 31
• Re introduce speed training : LSD and tempo are not enough so back to the treadmill and can already see an improvement, first benchmark test is the Striders 10km on Saturday at North Head
• Reduce weight, based upon the cumulative effort of all the above : well on track at the start of the month I was 85.1kg, this morning before my run I weighed in at 81.3 so just under 4kg gone, but a noticeable difference around the waist so I think some weight has been redistributed from fat to muscle....

So the real positive point for August was my totals, knocking out 310km at an average of 5:15 min/km. For perspective as stated above I was mindful of coming off a low base (my previous 3 months combined totaled 312km) and also taking into account the sore back so I am stoked to have done this total. Amazingly enough in looking through my training logs the last time I broke 300km was way back in 2006! (even with prep for 6 ft this year).

The aim for September is to keep the momentum going, will not taper that much for the Sydney Marathon as it is really a stepping stone for GNW prep, which is actually also a stepping stone for Six Foot 2011 as I attack a BHAG for my buckle run....

Rat race

I've signed up for some extra sekrit training, which has included a Pilates reformer session once a week to try and sort out my dodgy core stability. Also have gone back to the future with interval work in a move to try and (re)improve leg speed. Flat sections of terrain around home are few and far between, great for hill work, but not good for leg speed and so back to the gym. Have had a few sessions now with a very dodgy first session cut short due to expectations far exceeding capabilities. Since then though steady improvement, culminating today with 6 1km reps @ 4:08 pace with a 90 sec jogging recovery @ 6:00 pace. Much more to come there!

Also have now added on top of the pilates session the start of a weights program, specifically targetting the body areas not used by running. Lower and upper back in particular with an eye on the fact that I'll have to lug a 5-6kg camelbak on the GNW. The trainer laid out a good program, included some leg stuff, heavy going after the intervals and pilates session but I think I surprised him. No surprise that upper body strength was pretty pitiful, but at least I still had good technique from all that gym work 20 years ago when I was track cycling!

So, the additional goal is to blog on a regular basis, maybe with mostly drivel but we'll see.

Flake, I don't think my marathon PB is in danger in a few weeks, just not enough prep I think.

Ewen, I should be clearer, it is not just sugar but sucrose in particular that I am avoiding. The good news is that the sugar/sucrose in most wine & beer gets transformed in the fermentation process, into alcohol! (well thats what the book says, and who can argue with that!). The main thing is I am pretty much completely wiping out my previous habit of usually a muffin for morning tea and a bottle/can of coke with lunch, every day.....

Blog reborn (again)

Yet another long time between drinks, after Six Foot, I then competed in the Australian Rogaine Championships in the Snowy Mountains. My partner and I were going very well until about 2am and then managed to get tragically misplaced, stumbling around for a few hours until we opted to stop, have a snooze and wait for sunrise. With light we finally determined we were about 2-3km off course....

Then backed up for a fastish 10km the following week, best time in the last few years, however the following day during the STaR I noticed my RH hammie was quite tight which extended to the lower back. This continued over a few weeks and with quite a bit of travel over April saw me with no training and in fact the back worsened leaving me with no choice but to withdraw at the last minute from the TNF 100 :(

The back pain continued through June/July and motivation (and running) was at a pretty low point, but with some help from a return to my witch doctor I finally got back out on a regular basis. While the back is still sore seems running now does not impact it and vice versa! August has been a lot better and I am now much more motivated and have entered GNW 100 again as a goal!

Have also adopted a sugar free (or at least much less sugar) diet and have stripped off 2-3kgs in the same amount of weeks. Not as successful on reducing alcohol intake to the same extent yet though. The build up to GNW will include a tilt at the Sydney Marathon amongst other things and really all is part of a buckle run at Six Foot and lowering that PB by quite a bit more....

Sunday I joined the 6:10am group for Clovelly Canter, have not run the full course before. A real tough first half which goes down the coast line from Tamarama to Maroubra and lots of short climbs and steps etc. I was perpetually struggling to stay with the group on each climb but kept in touch on the downhills & flats.

Eventually the rubber band broke as I slowly drifted off near Pagewood, keeping the group in sight but not able to stay at their sub 5 min/km pace. Ended up doing the 30.3 in 2:41 at average pace of 5:20, not bad given the stairs etc in the first 10-15km.

The Dragon Has Been Slain!

So it has been a while since my last post, lots has happened since then and no blogging was actually deliberately part of that. I kept on building up for GNW, mixing in travel for work.

I'm not going to go into a blow by blow account of GNW 2009, the summary is that I made it a lot further than my first attempt but had massive problems with heat/dehydration and nausea which saw me have to withdraw at 82km.

To be honest in retrospect this knocked me around badly from a mental and confidence point of view. I resumed training in December with the goal of Six Foot with a good plan in regards to a program, but with always the doubt now of the seemingly recurring hydration and nausea/vomitting problems from last year at 6 ft reinforced by the horrendous GNW experience. To this end I visited a natropath/dietician and commenced a program of experiments to try and identify cause/effect and how to deal with or avoid the situation from a more structured approach.

This actually went through most of January with a series of longer runs scheduled on top of the normal Striders STaR diet. By the end of January I was even more depressed....

Each event/experiment that I conducted actually seemed the same/worse. Back to Black Stump followed by Narabeen All Nighter followed by the Oz Day fatathon all saw me experience the problems to varying degrees. My fellow runners were however more supportive and provided great input from their experiences that I took on board.

Finally in February, for the 6 hour Metrogaine I had one last go at another diet/hydration schedule. This was a brutally humid and warm day, but for the first time in a long time I experienced no nausea for an effort that went beyond around 30km. It was so successful in fact that the last hour of our run was our best and we won the overall event! The main key/change was the addition of salt tablets and gels with a reduction/watering down of electrolyte for fluid. I also ran with a waterbottle enabling sipping rather than gulping and also better monitoring of electrolyte concentration.

So it was with a cautious sense of confidence that I lined up at the top of Nellies Glen on Saturday morning. I had somewhat been involved in the banter of the Beer Bet on Cool Running and was viewed as a middle of the pack runner in the silver stubbie field. I knew I had some good distance/endurance in the legs compared to some previous attempts and it seemed that my nausea issue was now under management. Also I was about 5-6kg lighter than last year. However the confidence level was not high, I have spectatularly crashed and burned on this race at every serious attempt. In my heart I believed that I could perform a lot better than my PB of 5:52 and the goal was to try and break 5 hours as part of the beer bet. The race plan was centred around using my downhill running ability to get a decent position for the descent of the stairs and then moderate my pace based upon heart rate with a goal of being able to get to the top of Pluvi in decent shape/time and then deal with Black Range and the run down to Caves House.

Some joking around with fellow beer betters helped ease the nerves and then we were off! I deliberately did not sprint as hard as last year but still found myself mostly clear at the top of the stairs with about 10-15 people in front. I had no delay at all going down, did manage to slip at one point but no real damage and by the bottom I actually had no one close behind at all and a few in sight ahead as we already started passing the slower wave 1 runners. I immediately switched into running based upon heart rate, aiming for low to mid 160's a a guide and felt very comfortable. Very few people came past through here, and by my calculation I had about 3-4 beer betters in front, probably all gold but not sure. Around Megalong Rd Tallgeoff and Terry caught me and I let them ease forward, focussing on my own pace but seemed to keep them in sight. Just after Pinnacle I was surprised to see Hamburglar just ahead, he had accidentally run off at the back of wave 1 but to have put five minutes into him was a surprise. This combined with no silver runners at all in sight caused some worry that I had gone out too fast. Anyway we had a quick chat and he confirmed 5 runners in front, as I went past on the descent to the river. Along here I caught up to Tallgeoff but no Terry in sight. I was happy just to cruise behind him but at one point he mentioned we were on 4:25 pace which again caused some concern...

Just before the river I went past him and at the river crossing I was suprised to catch another beer bet runner. I did not know him but found out later it was Cedric. The official river split for going through here for me was 1:22:02. Immediately I began the climb up Mini Mini, steady walking for any steep uphills but running where it made sense for most of this keeping Tallgeoff in sight. JohnBo came through shortly and we had a quick chat and he looked strong as we approached the cattleyards Milov also caught me. The descent down to Alum was less painful than previous experiences and I was surprised to see Blue Dog and Sailaway at the aid station, again actually causing me some concern that despite my caution I was still out too fast.

Just at the bottom of the Pluvi climb Hamburglar caught up to me and we had another quick chat, he told me that Dan was not far behind and sure enough a few minutes later Dan caught me and went past. About halfway up Exe also caught me and we talked for a little while before he powered away and caught Dan. At each of the aid stations where I had my previous "episodes" I drank a little coke and was glad I felt so much better this year! Finally got to the top, just passing Barry and Kevin the 7 hour pacers for the early wave and recorded my split at the top of 2:49:53. Very pleased with this and I felt quite fresh and ready to tackle Black Range, knowing from previous discussion on cool running that 2 hours from pluvi to finish was a benchmark and so I was on track for sub 5 if I did not fade.

For the first couple of km I still had Dan and Exe in sight but they slowly drifted out of sight, Walshy must have passed me here but I cant remember it and Run2work also came by.In hindsight I was probably too conservative through here, lacking confidence and watching out for the piano and cramp bears. Just before deviation I caught another early start Strider, Dale and gave some encouragement. My spirits were lifted coming through Deviation and the first downhill running for a while, I was catching quite a few people through here but still restrained myself with a few little twinges emerging, especially on the steep climb in this section.

Was very pleased to see Caves Road and started to open up a little more, knowing the distance to finish and feeling quite good. I was very surprised that I had not seen any more beer betters through here and was confident that once I made it to the firetrail descent anyone would have a hard time going past. Was very surprised at the condition of the firetail section, much more technical than previous year memories and was glad to turn onto the singletrack. About 50 along I just about had a huge stack, catching my right foot on a stone and went for probably 50m totally out of control lucky not to fall before the legs got back under the body properly which caused a few cramps. Passed a few more people through here and saw Buzz right near the bottom as he urged me on to break 5 hours. By here I knew it was in the bag and so I yelled back, bugger breaking 5 hours, I'm going to smash it!

Finally hit the path down to caves house and I kept up my momentum, passing a few more people and turned at the end of the stairs sprinting for the line to make sure I broke 4:50 and thus passed a few more!

I crossed the line and the reality hit me that I had finally run 6 ft to my potential and had carved off over 1 hour off my previous PB with a finish time of 4:49:47. It was such a relief that I became a bit emotional, not knowing to laugh or cry, especially given the trials and disappointments of racing over the last 12 or so months...

I am confident based upon this experience and knowing how I could improve my training, quantity mainly, for next year that I could reduce this further for my buckle year attempt on 6 foot!

So despite the last 12 months being somewhat disappointing from a results perspective on reflection they have been invaluable for my progression as a runner, building a good injury free base, learning more about becoming mentally stronger and also seemingly finally sorting out how to balance my sweat loss to fluid and electrolyte intake.

Now to build further upon this base and tackle some of my other long standing PB's across a variety of distances as well as finishing my first 100km in May with TNF100. I'll re-start blogging but more likely on a weekly basis as it will keep me more honest as I work towards my goals for the rest of 2010.

Marathon recovery week?

A sensible easing back into the routine after the marathon last Sunday.

Started off the week with a recovery run doing laps at the oval near the kids school as they did some running training with one of our friends who is also at Little A's.

Tuesday and Thursday I dedicated to some exploration of the local firetrails and single track with the goal of finding a back way through to St Ives in prep for my upcoming diet of more trail running, mission accomplished! The goal is to map out a route that loops around Garigal NP with a minimum of road running and also if possible no out and back stretches and I am now pretty close to this!

Friday back to my tempo run circuit to see how the body has pulled up, it was a little bit of a slog but still managed 4:43 pace for just over 10km.

Sunday saw me up to Cherrybrook for Striders, the plan was to just run at a steady pace and see how things went, plenty of short cut option on this map if needed. A very small turnout mainly due to the marathon being on the week before I think, anyway only 4 of us started off as the "6:10" group,including a visitor from the US called Tom who had run a whole heap of ultras.

At around halfway we caught the leaders of the 6am group but they seemed keen to stay with us as their group was small as well and so we remained together for the rest of the run. The Cherrybrook course is quite hilly but I felt comfortable at the pace we were running and so opted for the full distance. Very pleased with the run, just over 31km at 5:14 pace which seems to indicate the recovery is going quite well! A little more serious this week as I am now roughly halfway in the GNW program. Currently sitting at 440km with 30 days of running from 46 in total.

Sydney Marathon

In reflecting/analysing post race I discovered this was my first road marathon in 3 years, the last being Sydney in 2006! Going into the race I was quietly confident of a good performance, my long distance runs had been strong and at a good pace and my tempo runs just kept on getting faster and faster over the same distance.

Not ideal final week preparation as I found myself in Mumbai, but a few Marathon Pace runs, before I left and then there on the treadmill left me feeling good.

Sunday morning and I was a little worried to hear the weather, 17 degrees but 90% humidity, not a good sign for when the sun really came out as no clouds in sight.

The family were doing the 4km fun run and so we all lobbed into the start, I went off for final preps and caught up with a few people and then very quickly we were lining up.

I wont go into a km by km, blow by blow account, the summary is that I was running at a good, but comfortable pace and hit the western distributor ahead of goal time and feeling good. Within 5km nearing Norton St I was starting to falter, a combination of the hills and heat, the evil twins.

A pitstop in the loos at 35km did nothing to help and from there it was a real grind to get to the opera house, anyway I finished and am upbeat about the overall run, despite the last 7 odd km. Anyway, this was mostly a stepping stone towards GNW so onwards we go!!

The 5km splits will speak for themselves....

Dist 5km Overall
5km 0:22:21 0:22:21
10km 0:23:24 0:45:45
15km 0:23:33 1:09:18
20km 0:23:04 1:32:32
25km 0:23:35 1:55:57
30km 0:24:54 2:20:51
35km 0:30:50 2:50:56
40km 0:38:10 3:29:06

Finish 3:42:09

Two weeks til Sydney

A so-so week last week after the last blog post. Ran the moonlight orienteering course set at Glebe, a good hit out on street/park orienteering to prep for summer series but with the extra challenge of running at night. Was fairly happy with my route selection, could have fine tuned a little, the main challenge was trying to maintain a smooth navigation, rather than stop/start running.

Thursday was scheduled as a recovery/rest day but then Friday morning, when I was planning a tempo run got hijacked by tradesmen at the new house, dropping kids off at school and a day trip to Brisbane.

So as penance I went out Saturday afternoon for the tempo run on the usual just over 10km route, with fresher legs as a result I again posted a PB for this course, knocking close to a minute off the recent PB, now dragging my pace down for this to 4:25. Important to note that this is still not racing it, as the average HR for all my tempo runs on this route are within a few bpm of each other (169 on Saturday) where as my avg HR for is usually about 10bpm more...

Sunday was the Middle Harbour Picnic STaR, quite a few more hills than the last few weeks with a very unkind start running up fromthe Roseville Bridge to Killarney Heights! To make life more interesting not only were the legs slightly feeling the tempo run from yesterday afternoon but also we went out for dinner to celebrate a friends 40th and I drank a little too much and also did not get to bed until 1:30 (getting back up at 5!) Anyway after dropping down to the Spit Bridge we started the climb up Parriwi Road to Mosman. For some reason this climb is just the right grade for me, not too steep, but long and I got into a very comfortable rythm which the others did not seem interested in matching so I decided just to keep it going all the way to the top finishing up a few 100m in front by the end. I had already decided that I was doing the 25km option and split off with a smaller group, leaving the others to drop down into Balmoral. I had not run the "short" option on this course before and there were a few nice "surprise" climbs on the short cut. I eased up a little coming back through Northbridge and Willoughby to Roseville but finished up with an avg pace of 5:12 for the 25km.

The next few weeks are going to provide some challenges in regards to training as I have a few work related travel committments looming. So this week I need to have a pretty full on week as I'll no doubt be spending time on treadmills, which if nothing else will sharpen the leg speed.

The jury is still out on goal time/pace for Sydney, given the above conditions it may mean I come into the race on a somewhat enforced taper.

GNW campaign summary 18 from 25 days of running for 280km in total and 68 days to go....

August recap

So the momentum has begun through the back of August. In the end for all of August I posted 250km which takes me to just over 1600km for the year. Some time this week I will have more in 2009 than in 2008 & 2007 combined!!!

More good vibes after my MLR this morning where I lopped 5 minutes off the times that I ran over the same course in the last couple of weeks! I am really starting to like this run, initially about 6km of trails along the 2 creek track at Lindfield/Roseville and then through the quiet streets of Castle Cove, finishing with a few lung busting climbs along Eastern Arterial back home.

For the GNW campaign update, Day 20 of the campaign with 15 days of running totalling 236km.

Also for Superflake, sorry, I was not trying to be negative on your 3hr tilt, maybe I am being a little too conservative with my own goal and so the ratios of our respective long sunday run times are a little out of whack. Still tossing up my goal pace for Sydney but will keep going for the next 2 weeks and assess the form then before deciding....

Form guide update

A few good form guide runs since the last post.

Friday afternoon headed back out on my local tempo course (just over 10km) and managed to slice a further 37 seconds off my best time, from May. This "tempo" run is now at 4:30 min/km pace and I have taken off 5 minutes since first running this route.

Saturday was taken up with kids sport end of season stuff.

Today, the wind was blowing hard but the Striders "Sneak Preview" course, which is essentially the first 32km of the Sydney Marathon route was on the menu. Due to the longer route (35km) an earlier start was scheduled and at 5:45 I headed out with the nominal 6:10 group. At many times the howling wind was a challenge for maintaining pace but we had a decent group of 5 that hung together through most of the run which helped. The climb back up to the start at North Sydney was a drain, thankfully it is not part of the course on race day. Now, for the biggest good news, I managed to stick to a pretty even pace, even with the wind and only faded right at the end. So the stats are, 35km in 2:51, which is an average pace of 4:54 (it was sitting at 4:52 before some of the climbs after we left the course proper).

To say that I am stoked to punch out a pace like this on a tough windy day would be an understatement and now I am having second thoughts about my goal time for Sydney. If I can run with gale force winds, in training gear, on footpaths and traffic lights etc etc for 35km at that pace surely I can not only go faster on race day, but still also be able to hold for the full 42.2km???

Anyway, no thoughts of easing up or starting a taper as GNW is the real goal, Sydney is just a (now interesting) stepping stone on the way.

Time off/on!

Wow, life has been hectic!!

My days have centred around generally a 7am start at the new house to convene with the builders and then either going for a run or immediately starting work hoping for an evening run.

As Seagull points out, the Turkey Trot was a mixed success event for me, ran pretty well in warm conditions, navigated pretty well but finished in a clump of 4 runners (first was a long way in front) and due to some of the timing associated with the event (major road crossings) even though I crossed the line 3rd probably 2 seconds behind 2nd place, I ended up 4th after time adjustments. Yes in reviewing my routes (and nav mistakes) I could and should have covered this difference but I am sure the others could say the same as the 4 of us leapfrogged throughout the race. End result was pretty much a half marathon distance, with navigation and bush running challenges in just over 2 hours, not too bad! (bring on Summer Series!!!)

Backed up for a tempo run last night (close to a PB) and then a MLR run this morning so am mostly still on track despite temporarily being a builders labourer!!

The new house has already had a massive transformation with more to come, but as always a few unexpected surprises lurk to challenge you....

So, the campaign summary is day 14, 11 days of running for a total of 166km

Days 8 and 9

A full on day at the new house (yes Miners still on the North side) and the lure of a beer at 6pm was stronger than a recovery run so day 8 turned into a rest day....

This morning, up early and drove over to the new digs with a change of clothes. Headed out for a different version of the Castle Cove run I did on Wednesday but with the option of about 7km of bush trails and an extra 100m climb for just an extra 1.5km total distance!

8 days from 9 and 116km for the campaign.

A recovery day tomorrow and then a 20km park orienteering event on Sunday called the Turkey Trot, should be fun!!!

Off topic

A very timely question from Louise yesterday! When it came about that we were coming back our old house was under lease and so we took the opportunity to look at Sydney with fresh eyes for our new house. This afternoon we settle on our dream home, some renovating to do but we fell in love with the position and views which you can see below!





In other more regular updates, a 17km run today through Castle Cove in 1:25, avg pace of 4:57.

This makes it 7 days from 7 and 97km for the GNW campaign. One blister popped, while the other got worse so I'll try and fix that this afternoon. Legs felt a little dead on the longer climbs but I suppose that is to be expected when you suddenly launch into roughly 100km per week!

Day 6

Thanks for the comments, it is good to be back, but I didn't really lose the password, just got slack :)



Tempo run this morning around my circuit near home, just over 10km in around 48 min. the course is slightly hilly and this time is not far from my best. Legs felt a little heavy but seemed to lighten up a little towards the end. A poor sock selection saw 2 blisters, which is a pain, first in quite a while. Needless to say, said socks are now in the rubbish bin. Will also make an appointment to get the orthotics tuned and maybe get a second pair as I shuffle shoes.



6 days of 6 of training and 80km under the belt.

Raiders of the lost blog!

The camera pans in on a jungle clearing with a heavily bearded and bedragled looking explorer who seems to look a little like Harrison Ford. Dodging poisonous blow darts our intrepid adventurer who gasps
"finally after searching since the start of May, I have managed to locate the secret key (password) to enable the blog to be updated!"

Yes, a long time between posts but not a reflection on actual activity. Now is not the time to rehash the various activities but the executive summary is
- missed NF100 due to work committments
- reasonably steady training but not too over the top
- posted a 3 year 10km PB

But now down to tin tacks and the real reason for the re-activation. For the non bloglines readers you'll notice some references to the GNW100 have sprouted up on the blog page.

Yes, time for some big audacious hairy goals and GNW is the end game, with retribution the plan after the diastriously hot and failed attempt in 2006. So the campaign officially started last Thursday with 93 days to go until fronting the start line and what better way to keep me on the straight and narrow than a daily blog update of my activity.

So today is day 5 of 93, 5 days of running for a total of 70km.

An intermediate step, decided at the same time is to do both Sydney and Fitzroy Falls Marathons. Up until Sydney I'll focus on mostly road running and speed/endurance but then will switch to a much more trail based (and longer time on the legs) program, knowing the different muscles that get a workout on the trail vs normal road work.

The first big decision is what time to aim for at Sydney and so I fronted up at what is probably the flatest Striders STaR, the Western Wanderer to try and get a benchmark since most of my long runs have been on "hilly" routes. the end result was 2:37 for just under 32km for a 4:57 average pace. This was not racing and did include stops but there was probably not a lot left in the tank. By my estimates, with another 5 weeks to go for some more endurance, along with race day atmosphere along with racing shoes it seems that 3:30 might be a realistic ambition???

Anyway enough blathering for the first post back, more I promise!!

Progressing nicely!

The last few weeks have seen steady progression and I am starting to see the results of fairly regular training.

After the TNF hit out and a day or 2 of recovery had a good tempo run locally and then bit the bullet and stepped up the regime slightly. I have decided to start to try mixing in a few runs to/from work rather than driving and so left the car at work Thu pm ran home and then back in on Friday, the distance is around 13-14km depending upon route choice. Learnt a bit from the first few runs but have just about nailed down a good course that steers clear of major roads and these are proving a very good workout.

Followed this up with the State Night Orienteering championships on Saturday night the 25th. I entered the longest course possible but was one of the last to start. The course was on the University of Western Sydney campus which was actually quite challenging with some small, but good bush sections as well as navigation through the buildings. I was running pretty well but for one bad navigation error. After reaching CP5 and punching I aligned the map and headed for CP6, upon arriving I checked the actual control number and it was incorrect but right location. I then realised that I had actually run to CP9 (having the map aligned upside down) and so then I retraced my steps and raced off to the right control. On looking at Sportstracks I lost around 5 minutes in doing this. In the end I finished 4th, but without those 5 extra minutes would have placed second...

So then for the first time in a while 4 days in a row of running by backing up on the Sunday morning for the Buffalo Creek STaR. While a little bit tight to begin as the run went on I felt better and when we reached the descent into the bush to LCNP at North Epping simply ran away from the group. I waited for them at Waterloo Park and ran through the10km course with them but when we hit the final bush section from Lane Cove West I really lifted my effort to see exactly how much was left. Very pleased with the hit out.

Some more running commuting and a revisit to my local hills course I have mapped out where I took about 4 minutes off my previous best time (over just under 13km).

Friday night saw me headed west and I picked up Mr G, my partner in crime for the 12 hour rogaine in Nangar National Park, between Orange and Parkes. The map was a bit of a surprise, using a different scale which caused us a few problems. Usually the scale is 1:25,000 with 10 metre contours, but this was 1:50,000 with 20m contours. We quickly realised after completely stuffing up the first control that we needed to rethink our route as everything was twice as long to navigate to and also twice the climb expected because of the contour mapping. Coupled to this was the lower resolution of mapped features due to the smaller scale so it was much more of a challenge with gullys/spurs/saddles added to the mix that were not significant enough to feature on the map.

Regardless we had a good hit out, did not overstretch things but just focussed on time on the legs and continually moving, we finally pulled the pin just before 11 as we drifted back towards the hash house with the motivation of hot food more attractive than climbing steep hills for an extra 20-30 points!

The legs and body pulled up well after this and I have since coupled together another set of running commutes this week. The only cloud on the horizon is that work may require me to be in Mumbai on the same weekend as TNF, bugger, but thats life!

Overall very happy with getting a proper base and seeing the results, the body is holding up well, slight tenderness/tendonitis in the left ankle/foot. However for 2009 I have already gone past the total run for 2008 and probably by the end of May will also exceed the yearly total for 2007, depending upon starting TNF.

During our ramblings around the bush I discussed the rest of the years plans with Mr G, the main goal is to keep building base and consistency and enjoy running. My competitive streak will get a workout but for a while yet I'll fly below the radar in smaller events before I set out to tackle some PB's and arch running foes :)

post script : a spectacular improvement this morning for my standard tempo run around the suburb of just over 10km, slicing three and a half minutes off my previous best!!

Back from holidays, plus TNF recon.

Yes, part of the break in transmissions was due to some holidays up the coast.

So a quick summary of what has been going on and then more detail on a recce run for the TNF100 yesterday.

Some more tempo runs locally and another summer series event at Killarney Heights (one major navigation stuff up!) led up to the Western Wanderer STaR. Started off with the 6am group and the leaders of this were running around 5:30 pace. At about the 11km mark the 6:05 group caught up and I thought I'd try my hand with running with them as I was feeling pretty good. I held on with them quite comfortably for around 10km running sub 5 min k's but started to tire on the hills, drifting back but in sight and then regrouping with them at water stops. In the end posted just over 28km in just under 2:30 for an average pace of 5:11, was quite pleased with this effort.

Some travel to Melbourne and more tempo runs with then the first Autumn Night series race at Meadowbank for some night navigation with the trusty headlamp. They laid out a good challenging course and despite a couple of small errors I posted a good result and finished strongly.

Then up the coast to Hawks Nest and got some good runs in, trialing my new TNF Rucky Chucky's that I picked up for a bargain at Paddy Pallin's sale.

In running in these I certainly noticed them being a little heavier on the feet than my normal diet of Kayano's or Trance's, let alone the Zoom Elites. After a few encouraging days I finally fell victim to the lurgy that had swept through the family. We got back on Thursday and I decided Friday night that I was not sufficiently recovered to do the Fat Ass Hellgate run and opted to go out on Sunday for a run over the back section of the TNF course, which I will be most likely be doing in the dark during the race.

Out of bed early and made Katoomba in good time and after final prepping of the camelbak (I had loaded it up with most of the compulsorary gear that I would on race day) I headed off from what will be on race day CP4 at Katoomba oval near the scenic railway.

I have never run in this area of the Blue Mountains so took the Blackberry along, not just for some photo's but also in case I stuffed up somehow since I was by myself (did leave the wife with details as to what and where I was going).

The run starts off around the top of the cliff tops towards Echo Point, it was coolish but there were great sights of the valley, here is a shot of the 3 Sisters from Echo Point which I had to stop at as this was where I popped the question to my wife about 15 years ago!

Then down the seemingly endless stairs behind the 3 sisters to the base of the cliffs, for sure the quads will not like these after having already done 70km on race day. Then some proper running again taking care to navigate the slightly tricky unmarked turnoff to enter the trail to Jamison Valley. The running through here was gradual downhill on a proper firetrail, here is a shot back towards the 3 sisters

After 2 creek fords the climb up towards Kedumba Walls...

This seemed to go on for ever but also provided some spectacular views. Close to the top the weather started to set in and a consistent drizzle and stronger wind was now the standard. I also noticed that my left foot was starting to get a little tender. I stopped at Queen Victoria Hospital (CP5) for a quick snack and took the chance to put on my poly pro vest as it was certainly a lot cooler now.

The section from CP5 was quite enjoyable although I think I stuffed up the navigation a little around Wentworth Falls, lots of tourists on these trails, even with the weather. Finally I got back on track and knowing that the bridge to the finish was closed ran to the highway and then directly into Leura. I was originally planning on following most of the first stage back to the scenic railway but by this stage my left foot was becoming sorer, obviously an overuse pain and I opted to finish at Leura, especially as the weather was getting worse by the minute.

Here is a satellite track of the route and below that is the elevation profile, the bulk of the climb up Kedumba is 600m in 6km. (For reference the Mini Mini climb on 6 ft is around 450m in 4.5km and Pluvi is around 420m in 3.6km) But like Six Foot there is then another 5km of "gentler" climbing, very similar to Black Range.





The legs are fairly ok today, I notice that the hot points that I do have (including the top of the left foot) are quite similar to what I have experienced before in various rogaines. For sure I put part of this down to the slightly heavier Rucky Chucky's so will have a few more longer hitouts in the similar fashio before the actual event.

All in all a great day despite the attrocious weather at the end and the heavy traffic back down the mountains due to a couple of crashes.