Slowily building up again

Monday 9.5k 45:48 HR 143 (77%MaxHR) Pace 4:50
Tuesday 9.5k 49:03 HR 142 (76%MaxHR) Pace 5:09 (hilly)
Wednesday 14.5k 74:26 HR 136 (73%MaxHR) Pace 5:07
Thursday Rest
Friday 14.5k 71:15 HR 144 (77%MaxHR) Pace 4:54
Saturday 11.0k 57:19 HR 142 (76%MaxHR) Pace 5:12
Sunday 25.0k 2:10:36 HR 141 (76%MaxHR) Pace 5:13 (hilly)

Week: 84.0k
MTD : 216k
YTD: 1840k

An additional 14k this week over last week. I hadn't planned a rest day for Thursday but was feeling quite tired that day and thought at this stage there was more to be gained from taking a day off. The weather has just been perfect for running last week. Mostly around 12- 14C in the early evening, although on my long run today there was a lot of smoke in the air out in The Gap.


Bluesbuffet asked about my current music. I usually re-jig the content on my player after each marathon but found there were still heaps of albums that I hadn't finished listening to just quite yet.
So last week I loaded these albums;
Watina - Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective (Belize)
Back to Black - Amy Winehouse (UK)
Icky Thump - The White Stripes (USA)
Introducing Etran Finatawa - Etran Finatawa (Niger)

And I kept these albums:

At Last! - Etta James (USA)
Best of 1990 - 2000 - U2 (Ireland)
Golden Afrique Vol 3 (CD 2) - Various (Zimbabwe and Zambia)
Grinderman - Grinderman (Australia)
Mermaid Avenue - Billy Bragg and Wilco (USA)
My Name is Buddy - Ry Cooder (USA)
Nigeria 70s Disc 1 - Various (Nigeria)
Orientation - Thione Seck (Senegal)
The Dusty Foot Philosopher - K'Naan (Somalia/Canada)
The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips (USA)
White Ladder - Dave Gray (UK)

I now find that running is my major music listening time. This is especially easy to handle when doing lots of slow Ks.

The other major listening time is in the car to and from work and this week "You've Stolen My Heart - Songs from R.D.Burman's Bollywood" by Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle has been on constant rotation. It has weaved enough magic for it to be there again this week.

My other place for listening to music is in the recreation room at home and my CD player there takes five CDs. This is where I listen on week nights and weekends. Like the car, CDs here once loaded stay until I get sick of them. These four have been in there for the last three weeks:
Burlesque - Bellowhead (UK)
Segu Blue - Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba (Mali)
African Pearls 4 Senegal The Teranga Spirit - Various (Senegal)
Aman Iman - Tinawarin (Mali)

The fifth spot usually is left for whatever takes my fancy at the time. Like today I played Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and a Johnny Dark compilation.

So much music and so little time. Guess I'll just have to run more and/or slower like Ewen!

Back to the Future

I having being trying to analyse my recent GC performance. For some background here is my series of marathon races including My Wife's times.

3:48:53 02/05/1982 Birmingham (UK) My Wife 3:54:24
4:05:40 24/10/1982 New York (USA) My Wife: 4:05:40
3:11:45 20/03/1983 Guildford (UK) My Wife: 4:15:43
3:05:58 05/08/1984 Gold Coast My Wife: 1:53:13 (Half)
2:53:45 21/07/1985 Gold Coast My Wife: 3:49:00

3:27:07 09/04/2006 Canberra
3:44:31 02/07/2006 Gold Coast - ran with an injury
3:18:26 01/07/2007 Gold Coast

First Marathon

Second Marathon Finish

The first thing to note is My Wife and I started running together in early 1981 and certainly up until out third marathon 1983 did all our training together. Our aim for the first marathon was just to be able to run all the way without stopping. I achieved that but My Wife didn't quite make it and had to do a bit of walking near the end. For our second run in the New York Marathon, we vowed to go the distance together, which we did. In our third race, we started together but after 10k, she wasn't feeling great so I took of on my own and surprised myself with a 3:11 and my only evenly split race so far. Returning back to Australia, we continued to run together on most training runs and always together on long runs. There was no speedwork, no intervals, the occasional fartlek session and some hill sessions in the last couple of months before the race. So my long runs were always very easy paced for me ( 5:15 - 5:45 range), as were many other of my training sessions. Weekly totals were in the 70 -80 k range. With this sort of training I was still able to get to 2:53 by 1985.

Fast forward to a different century, and just before Canberra this year I mysteriously get a hamstring injury. With only 12 weeks to GC things looked grim but I was determined to at least get to the start line. A couple of weeks of no running and then many weeks of slow conservative runs, very deliberately not trying to put to much pressure on the recently injured leg. It took six weeks before my training pace goes under 5:00 min/k. By this time I am up to 90k a week.

The next 4 weeks sees rapid improvements in my pace at set Heart Rates and a week before the marathon , I run a 41:56 10k (4:11 pace) even though my fastest training pace has only been 4:28.

The rest is history and I was able to pull out a 3:18 much to my surprise. In fact, I reached one of my most sort after running goals and that was to do an age-equivalent PB. I often though that if I ever achieved that I might give the marathon away and stick to shorter races but I know I was under prepared at the Gold Coast this year and I can certainly do a lot better. And I intend directing all my efforts into next years race. And Ewen , 12 months can go by quicker than you think.

Now the link between my two racing eras seems to be lots of slow running. In the first case just because I used to loved going out and running with My Wife. (Somehow I think I used to like it a lot more than she did.) And in the second case, because I was trying to protect a recently injured leg. It certainly gives me a lot of confidence to stick with the Lydiard/Hadd approach as it has worked for me in the past and still appears to be working well for me.

The Start

After two easy weeks after the Gold Coast, Monday this week was officially THE START.

With no computer access, I have been looking back over my old training logs from the 80's and after each marathon there is always an entry THE START when training began for the next campaign. This was more a mental start point rather than a physical one.

My target now is Gold Coast 2008 and am looking forward to improving on my time from this year. I have more thoughts on this but will put in a separate post later. A sub-goal along the way will possibly be the Melbourne Marathon in October but will wait another couple of weeks before making a decision on that.

So it is back to a base building phase for the for the next few months. More likely nine months in fact.

Initially I will be just building up the Ks at easy paces and 70k this week is a good start.

This was my training this week:

Monday 9.5 k 47:47 (HR 137 5:01)
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 14.5k 74:57 (HR 138 5:10)
Thursday - 9.5k 44:34 (HR 141 4:41)
Friday - 14.5k 74:04 (HR 137 5:06)
Saturday - 6.5k 32:59 (HR 139 5:04)
Sunday - 15.3k 80:40 (HR 141 5:16)

Back on track

My first post since Gold Coast. Things have not gone well since then or else I would have posted earlier.

Technology has been taking its revenge on me and in a concerted push has seem our digital camera , printer, two televisions and home computer all give up the ghost recently. So I have been without Net access from home for most of the last two weeks.

How do you interpret the beep codes from your motherboard when it fails and the manual tells you to go the web address? Just six months ago I had two home PCs, mine and one for the rest. Mine died at Christmas and I haven't resurrected it yet. The other computer died soon after getting back from the Gold Coast and after much hassle I have got it working again with a new hard drive. Luckioy I got to rescue most of the data on the old one. Also there has been 2 matches of Asian Cup football to watch each night, so fixing the computer has been somewhat of a background task.

So I have a lot of catching up to do.

As for recovery from the GC, my biggest problem was the toe nail on my right second toe. It won't go black because I did the poke the needle in to drain the blood trick on it but it was still sore the first week each time I went for even an easy run. But it is OK now, and I guess it is 50/50 if it will shed completely.

Still over the moon about the marathon result and really excited about next year. Wish I could say the same about the Socceroos performance so far.

Gold Coast Marathon

42.195k 3:18:26 (1:36:30/1:41:50) HR Avg 162 Max 174 Avg Pace 4:42
Course: Gold Coast Marathon.
Start Time: 6:50 am Temp 10 - 18C.
Session Type: Race 359th 20th Age Group

I woke at 4:45 am had my usual pre-race meal of Vanilla Up & Go and a cup of coffee.
We were staying just near Broadbeach, so it was just a short drive to the start. Last year this had been easy, but this year the traffic was backed up before the bridge over to Southport. As well the P1 car park where we had planned to park was "closed". It looked like it was going to be a slow crawl to find a park, so I jumped out of the car and left the parking to My Wife.

I had the obligatory toilet stop, downed a pre-race Gu and headed for the start line. There I settled into just in front of the 3:30 pacer along side Eddie and Vurt. It was then I realised I still had my glasses on! Nothing to do but wear them now.

My plan was to head out at 4:40 pace with the expectation of being able to manage the fade after 32k to under 5 minutes and come in around 3:20. This I considered to be a bold race plan because of my low key preparation and lack of a solid block of 32K plus runs in the lead up, but I felt there was no pressure on me to perform today, so with nothing to lose I thought I may as well just give it a go and see what happened.

The first K was smack on target. I missed the 2k mark but settled into what I thought was a very comfortable pace. So at 3k I was surprised to get a 9:07 split (4:33 pace). I eased back a little for the next few Ks but still was going around 4:38 and was still feeling great. The 3:15 pacers were just 100m in front of me which was great boost. Went through 10k in 45:59 and had another GU. Soon after this the leaders passed running back north. I was just feeling so good at this point. Around 12k I was feeling so good I started singing. I don't know where this came from but a Tom Waits song Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards) came on and I just could not resist singing the the chorus each time it came around.

So goodbye, so long, the road calls me dear
And your tears cannot bind me anymore,
And farewell to the girl with the sun in her eyes
Can I kiss you, and then I'll be gone.

After the turn around, the next 3 to 4k is a great time in the race as you pass the runners behind you and give a cheer to familiar faces. I had another magical musical moment along here with the Salif Keita song Madan. It is has a wonderful driving beat and melody and a typical African call and response vocals and it just seemed to be the perfect soundtrack for what was going on around me. Along this stretch , without really trying I put in a couple of 4:28 Ks which was probably a little unwise but the situation obviously got the better of me.

(This is a fantastic video but a very dodgy re-mixed version of Madan. A snippet of the original can be heard here.)

My only concern at this point was a small twinge I was getting in my left side just above the the groin area which would come and go for a second or two every minute. I started out carrying 4 GUs and the one I had tucked in on my left side I took out in case it was causing the problem. At this point I could only see this getting worse as the race wore on but it wasn't impeding me at the moment except by playing with my mind.

I went through Half way in 1:36:30. The 3:15 pack were still only 100 metres ahead but runners around me were starting to thin out. It would have been nice to have latched on to them at this stage but I was pushing the envelope a little just being where I was, let alone putting in an effort at this stage to catch up. As the course turned westward at Main Beach to cross over the bridge, I felt the wind for the first time. Oh how I would have liked that pack to daft behind.

It is always a buzz coming back pass the starting area. The crowd on each side of the road forms a narrow tunnel and it is very up close and uplifting. At the top of the hill, I have arranged to pick up a water bottle and today the manoeuvre is giving an added degree of difficulty as I exchange my glasses at the same time.





Now starts what I consider the mentally hardest part of the course. The run north to the turn around at 34k. I was slowly reeling in the 3:15 group which was surprising as I was now back to my target pace of 4:40. It is never good seeing people struggle out on the course, but when I passed ILike Toast around the 27k you could tell he was doing it tough. But you can't dwell on these things as have your own race to get through and my aim along here was to just keep putting in the 4:40s and get to 32k with as much time in the bank as possible.

Today for the first time ever, I put some personal refreshments out on the course. I had bottle at 30, 35 and 40k. From earlier refreshment tables I knew that getting my drink would be problematic. At 30k, I wasn't really desperate for a drink and so I used it as a bit of a trial. On the top of my bottle I had tied two large orange and black ribbons so it would be easy to pick out. As the table approached I concentrated with all my might and cursed that I given my glasses away. There must have been a 100 bottles on my table and as I ran past I didn't even see my bottle.
Better luck at 35k I thought.

My 30k split was 2:18:01. I had done the last 5k in 23:18 so right on target pace. Some quick calculations told me that 5 minute pace from here would get me under 3:20.
I was starting to feel the strain and I even though 5min/K sounded easy I knew there was still the potential for things to get ugly. Luckily the twinge in my side had gone or maybe it was just blending in with the all over weariness.

So I started taking things a kilometer at a time. I knew the longer I could keep my current pace the more time I would have in the bank for later.
31k split was 4:44. 32K was 4:46. So I entered the last 10K with 30 seconds spare. Must keep under 5:00 for as long as possible. 4:51, 4:53 for the next two. It is getting harder but I am keeping it going and the turn around was just ahead. It seemed as if I had been fighting against a head wind on the way up and was looking forward to turning around and having it at my back.

Unlike the 30k drink station, I really felt like one at 35k and was determined to make a better effort to get my bottle this time. I slowed as the table approached. Bright orange and black it should have just stuck out. Nowhere to be seen , I slowed to almost walking but no. And just as I passed the table, I caught it in the corner of my eye at the back of the table about 10 deep. I stopped and turned around and went back and leaned over and picked it up managing to knock a whole swathe of other bottles over in the process but I had it. So after that it was understandable that my 35k split crept up to 5:03.

7k to go. It normally sounds such a short distance for a run! I get back under 5 min pace with a 4:57 and a 4:55 to 37k. Now only 5k to go. Sub 3:20 is looking in the bag, way under if I keep this up. Oh how the mind races ahead. The next K split of 5:05 showed I could take nothing for granted and I would have to knuckle down and concentrate all the way. I still seemed to be running into a headwind. How can that be? I ran into it on the way up!

Stemmed the tide with a 5:00 next K but was back to a 5:04 to get to 40k. With a better idea where my bottle would be positioned at 40k I managed to just snatch it up with one finger on a loop of the bow. My stomach was not feeling the best and I didn't feel like much of a drink so just had a mouthful. The end is in sight now and I knew I was not going to fade from here especially with the encouragement from the CR cheer squad and Clairie who could be heard above the crowd. The finishing shute maybe long and a hard when you are struggling but when you have gone out and done way better than you expected and you are still in good enough shape to enjoy it, it can be very sweet indeed.



Meet up with lots of CRs in the recovery area. Had a long chat with Eagle after his outstanding run. I will certainly be taking inspiration from his achievment into next year's race. Tesso was so so happy. Eddie came in looking like a ghost. Toastie was covered in salt streaks. Peterhorse was knackered but happy.

A great day for me.

For the record here are my K and 5k splits.
Splits
1k 04:41
2k 04:33
3k 04:34
4k 04:37
5k 04:36 23:03
6k 04:33
7k 04:33
8k 04:35
9k 04:34
10k 04:34 22:56
11k 04:34
12k 04:35
13k 04:33
14k 04:28
15k 04:27 22:32
16k 04:34
17k 04:34
18k 04:33
19k 04:38
20k 04:38 22:59
21k 04:41
22k 04:35
23k 04:35
24k 04:40
25k 04:40 23:14
26k 04:36
27k 04:41
28k 04:41
29k 04:39
30k 04:40 23:18
31k 04:44
32k 04:46
33k 04:51
34k 04:53
35k 05:03 24:20
36k 04:57
37k 04:55
38k 05:05
39k 05:00
40k 05:04 25:02
41k 05:02
42k 05:02 11:03


The battle between Kewell and Delta in the Junior 4k dash was won by Kewell. He managed 19:36 against Delta's 21:48. Delta was not feeling the best on the day and so was unlucky in that regard. Kewell had a massive sprint tussle with another lad up the finishing shute and promptly vomited once over the line. Got to be proud of such an effort.





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