Robert Song's Running

Gold Coast Marathon Week end

2011-07-05T22:11:00.000+10:00

Back from a great three day weekend on the Gold Coast. So many highlights.

I ran the Half in 89:15. This year my goal was no running goals, so I had not targeted this as a race and so only eased up slightly last week in my training. Even ran to work on Friday which was 14.5k . Still I thought I was certainly in the sort of shape to run around 91 minutes. I am a bit astounded to have gotten 45 seconds under 90 minutes.

But what really made the weekend memorable was being part of so many other's runs. These are people I have shared training runs, coffee and Saturday breakfast with for the last seven months and it was so satisfying being part of their races and celbrating together over the weekend. And boy some of them celebrate as hard as they run.

I think this picture put together by Claire says it all.

Enjoy your running, enjoy your life.

Softly Softly Catch Monkey

2011-06-19T20:34:00.000+10:00

Well I'm back.

In my last blog post three months ago, I was at the end of my tether about being able to get back to any serious running. Today I ran 41:40 for a 10k at the Brisbane Road Runners. A quite respectable time considering I did 20k yesterday and 108k for the week and on the back of 111k and 102k the previous weeks. So I guess you could say that is a turn around.

So what happened? Good question. I did stop taking two of my daily medications. One in particular I don't think was doing me any good at all. Most of all I just abandoned any thoughts of racing and went into base building mode. Just lots of easy runs and just slowily building up the distances.

I am really enjoying be part of the Running Buddies Group who I run with every Wednesday and Saturday mornings. . With them I have run my first classic Brisbane River Loop (34k), a Gateway Bridge Loop (35k) and even run over the Green Bridge on a training run. I am still waiting for my first Mt Cootha loop.

In April, I made the trip down to Canberra for the Half Marathon. I managed 1:35:20 on a cold and rainy day and had an epic last 6k chasing down Tesso and pipped her just meters from the finish. But it was nice to catch up and socialize with people and especially with my music soul mate Johnny Dark.

Over Easter, I had a glorious six days of music at the Byron Bay Bluesfest. Too much over-exuberant dancing left me sore and sorry in a host of areas that you don't use running and by the end the relentless good times and camping out left me run down and I picked up a cold which kept me from running for ten days. But it was all worth it.

In May, I also participated for the first time in the Warwick Pentath-run. That was a great week-end spent with a great bunch of people. It seems very daunting on paper, 42.2k covered in five events over two days. I didn't really know how my body would recover after such a short turn around between events but much to my suprise I came out of it not too shattered.

So my race results were:
Saturday
Half Marathon          1:36:54 (3rd M55-59)
4.6 k Cross Country   20:09 (3rd M55-59)
5k Road Race           20:45 (1st M55-59)
Sunday
10k Hill Ascent 51:31 (1st M55-59)
1500m Dash       5:34 (2nd M55-59)
Total Time 3:14:57

It is now two weeks till the Gold Coast and I have entered the Half Marathon. With a few faster sessions over the next fortnight, it will be interesting to see what I can do. After that I will make a decision on whether I will run a marathon this year. The opions are either Bisbane in August or Sydney in September or wait till next year. Then there is Kurrawa in December where The Old Fogies will rule when Tesso and I take on all the junior upstarts in the 50k relay.

I feel I have turned the corner but I still don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

Softly soffry catch monkey.

I've Lost Control

2011-03-18T08:29:00.001+10:00

A recent comment on Dave Sweeney's Running Master blog from Scott Brown has prompted me to do an update for this blog.

The video below just about sums it up - I've lost control of my running. I can no longer predict exactly how I will run on any particular day. For example last Sunday, I set out to do an easy 10k run at BRRC and ran 51:40 (5:10 pace) which should be a doddle but by the finish my Heart Rate was at 178 which is about 97 % of my max HR. On a training run on the Wednesday before that I actually reached my Max HR of 184 while running at 5:00 pace.

Now before you get too worried last month I had a stress echo test on my heart and all was reported as good. The heart of a race horse in fact was the subjective result my doctor gave me. The doctors as of yet have no explanation as to why this is happening.

On the other side, I ran 13k yesterday ( including the large hill up to the Storey Bridge which I now have to include as the Floating walkway got washed away in the recent floods) at 4:53 pace and at an avg HR of 150. This is the best run I have had in ages but is sadly the exception rather than the rule.

But the general trend in the last six months is one step forward three steps back and with no discernible change in that pattern.

After coming back strongly last year and getting to 1:34 Half marathon fitness in only six months since the chemo stopped I expected that in another six months I would be able to get close to getting back to where I was in 2009 but that has not panned out.

So I am just trying to enjoy my running. I am doing around 80k a week. I have started doing runs with the Brisbane Running Buddies on Wednesdays and Saturdays to make running a more social activity.

No goals , no expectations and no motivation to blog on such circumstances I'm afraid.

Cactus Flowers

2010-11-28T20:48:00.000+10:00

BRRC 5k Champs 21:05 (2nd in M55-59)

I know it has been too long since I made a post to this blog. But the running has been very disappointing since my last entry and I have just not had the mojo to report on such going ons. I have been doing 40 -50 k a week but in terms of my RS Index (avg pace x avg heart rate) it has been a steady decline. Now this is quite disturbing. In the six years that I have been collecting my Heart Rate data I have never had a period when I have trained consistently and for that Index to show a steady decline. Basically since September my Heart Rate is around 15 beats/sec higher on a run than what I would expect and is steadily getting higher. This has been a major worry for me as it has been coupled with poor sleep and intestinal discomfort. My doctor is investigating varies theories. My recent CT scan showed no indications that my lymphoma has come back, so that is a relief but still the doctors have no real answer for what is going on.

On top of this I have had a right hamstring niggle that has stayed at about 95% recovered for the last month. As long as I didn't try to push past 4:45 pace it wouldn't trouble me on a run but I would feel it a little when I cooled down. In the last week this seems to have been better and after the run this morning I would say I am at 99% with that.

This mornings 5k was the first time in a couple of months I have pushed it at all and I was quite surprised to be able to run 21:05. I can certainly verify that I pushed it to my limit as I hit my Max Hr of 187 in the last K. The most important thing though was that I was able to achieve my goal that I set at the start of the year to run all seven BRRC Championship events in 2010. When I set that I had no idea if I would be able to achieve it and in reality I should be very thankful that I was able to do it.

In just over a weeks time I am having an operation to remove a skin cancer from my nose. I am not supposed to exercise for a week after this so will be having a short break from running. After that I will have to have a long think about what my next goals will be for 2011.

In the last few weeks one of my cacti has been flowering profusely. I have had this cactus for almost thirty years and I can't remember the last time it flowered. It gives me hope that when all seems barren and prickly that there is always hope that something beautiful is capable of emerging.

Still here ...

2010-10-18T20:46:00.000+10:00

Well it has been two months since my last post to this blog after a pleasing run in the BRRC 10 mile championships in August. I set my sights on a 10k and a 5k BRRC race in November. I had an easy week after the 10 miler to recover and then started to build the Ks up over the next few weeks with 73 & 80 k weeks at an easy pace. Only problem was that by all my indicators, I was struggling on these runs. The heart rate was much higher than expected for the times I was recording. As well a slight niggle had appeared in my right hamstring. Just in case I was suffering from a bit of overtraining, I had three days off to freshen up with the added bonus that it should help the hammie as well.

On the first run back, the hammie felt worse than before and the run was crap as well. I was also starting to just generally feel off and was not sleeping well. Over the next three weeks I only managed to get out for a run twice as I continued to feel poorly. I then picked up a gastro virus that laid me out completily for two days. With all this time off from running, I would have thought that it would have been enough rest to allow the hammie to heal but that didn't seem to be the case and it was still troubling me even just walking around. It seemed such a minor issue to start with but once I realised it was going to be a chronic problem I have taken it more seriously and have been doing lots of strengthening and stretching exercises to get it better.

I also realised I would have to go back to square one in terms of training, and started doing only short slow 6k runs. So for the last two weeks I have only gone as fast as I can without feeling any pain and things have slowily improved from doing 6k at 5:25 pace to yesterday's run where I managed 15k in 4:46 pace at the BRRC 15k Championships. Still my heart rate continues to be way too high for the effort I am putting in.

I have abandoned any thoughts of racing for the forseeable future and just need to get some base fitness back and start feeling generally better. Possibly where I got to in July and August in terms of fitness may be as good as it will ever get for me. Time will tell.

BRRC 10 Mile Champs

2010-08-22T21:42:00.001+10:00

It was the 10 mile champs at the Road Runners Club this morning. A nice chill in the air made for perfect running conditions. In the last three weeks since the Marathon, I have made sure that I haven't pushed it and have allowed my body to recover fully. So I guess I was fresh for this one and I ran a pleasing race with a time of 70:19 (4:22 pace) and a 2nd in my Age Category. Splits for the three 5k laps were 21:56, 21:40, 21:57.

Although the highlight of the morning was the surprise World Cup gifts from the wonderful Clairie which I found very touching. I will certainly treasure them more than the bling.

Since the marathon I have had another of my quarterly CT scans and once again have been given the all clear . So I can now set some goals for the next three months.

The plan is to train towards two races at the BRRC in November. A 10k race on the 14th November and a 5k on the 28th November. So that gives me 12 weeks before the first race to work on my speed. I am looking forward to it after the last eight month of base building.

Brisbane Marathon

2010-08-01T22:31:00.000+10:00

Brisbane Marathon 3:32:15 (Official Chip Time).

I guess most readers of this blog would know of my circumstances leading up to this race. The 2009 Brisbane Marathon was my target race for the year and after a 1:26 Half at the Gold Coast in July, I was feeling confident of being able to do a 3:05 and maybe a little better if all went my way on the day. On the 6th August 2009, I was diagnosed with DLBCL (Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma) which meant I was unable to compete in that race. Abdominal surgery for a biopsy, twelve weeks of intense chemotherapy and a stem cell harvest over the next six months left my body a shadow of itself.

But I made a vow even before my chemo started that if it was in anyway possible that I would do another marathon. I guess at that stage I was still feeling very disappointed that I had not been able to cash in on all the fitness I had banked that year. But that goal certainly helped me over the ensuing months as each round of chemo compounded the effect it had on my body. It may have been successfully killing all the cancer cells but there was a lot of collateral damage occurring at the same time.

With the odds of the first round of my treatment being successful being only around 40%, I also knew that I possibly could only have a small window of opportunity in which to achieve my marathon goal. I am usually fairly conservative in my approach to training but in this campaign I have really pushed myself. In the early months, when I had a low red blood cell count and all my mitochondria had been destroyed by the toxic sludge that was my "cure", every run no matter how slow I went was a challenge.

But it slowly got easier and I just kept building up the miles til I got to the point where I found myself at the starting line this morning. I had been wrestling over various strategies for today's race. I was convinced my legs would give out towards the end. I just had not done enough 30K plus to give me the confidence that anything other than that would be the case. I thought I could comfortably run 32k at 5:00 pace. I even thought it could be possible to do 4:50 pace up til then as well but would that just make the last 10k even worse. In the end, I thought I should pay the marathon distance due respect and take the conservative approach and look at doing 5:00 pace for as long as I could. With a small fade 3:35 should be achievable and if things got really ugly then 3:40 could still be possible.

Toasty was doing the 3:30 pacing and just before the start he suggested I join his bus. Whilst it may have been tempting to go with him I stuck with just a little slower than that. The first K was in fact a lot slower than that and at 5:21 it was a nice gentle start. The next few Ks were hard to judge the pace as we went over the Goodwill Bridge and through some undulating paths in the Gardens and back over the Good Will Bridge. But once on the flat south side of the river I was able to get into a groove and started knocking out a steady pace just under 5:00 pace. And I just locked into that.

It wasn't until the 37th kilometer that it started to get tough enough to slow me down. Through Southbank and all along Riverside Drive I had been expecting a bear to drop down on to my back from the overhanging trees but in the end it was a bit of a headwind, an increasing temperature and the hill up to the Boat club at Orliegh Park that forced me to put in a 5:14 K. But turning round and going back downhill with the breeze behind me allowed me to get back on pace for a few k. But by 40k I was starting to feel the tiredness in my legs but still only slowed to 5:11 pace for those final Ks.

I am really really pleased with how I ran this race. Even though there was no Half way marker (that I saw) I estimate from my splits that I came very close to doing even splits for this race. Got to be happy with that.

Here are my 5k splits
5k 25:29

10k 24:51
15k 25:04
20k 25:05
25k 24:58
30k 24:52
35k 24:58
40k 25:31
42.2k 11:26
12:38.5

And of course I am ecstatic about just doing it. And that is a huge understatement.

This was the first time I have run a marathon in Brisbane. It was kind of odd sleeping in your own bed the night before and getting ready at home on the morning. I found the course to be excellent. The race was really well organised. The officials, marshalls and water stations were all fantastic. It deserves more people in the Marathon.

I have my next three month scan on Friday. I wonder what my doctor will say? He thinks joggers (his term) are crazy.

Shine on all us crazy diamonds.

Recovery Week

2010-07-12T22:46:00.000+10:00

All easy running last week to recover from the Half Marathon. Still by Sunday I felt up to 25k. That made a total 76k for the week which is not bad for a recovery week.

Entry is in for the Brisbane Marathon on 1st August which is just three weeks away. So in the next two weeks I will be trying to up the mileage again including a couple of runs over 30k. And then a one week taper.

With the World Cup now over, it will be nice to get back to a normal sleeping / training pattern. That is unless I get sucked into watching to much Tour De France.

Gold Coast Half Marathon

2010-07-04T23:19:00.000+10:00

Woke up at 3:30 am and drove down to the Coast for the 6:00am race start which started in beautiful still cool conditions just as the sun was rising. My strategy was to set out at 4:45 pace for the first 10k and then do the last half at whatever I felt comfortable. I would have been happy with any time under 1:40.

With the dim light and the crowded field and not wearing my glasses made reading my watch difficult in the early Ks , so wasn't exactly sure what pace I was doing but it felt comfortable. Went through 5k in 23:05 which was faster than I planned but it was feeling so easy, I decided to just keep going at that pace. Made 10k in 45:47 and shortly after that the turn around and the run home. I still felt comfortable and was confident I could step up the pace a little. The next 5k was 22:27. I was starting to breathe a bit harder now but I still knew I had something in reserve. So I kept gradually winding it up with a 21:37 for the 5k to 20k and then continued on at that pace to the finish.

So in the end a net time of 1:34:33 (4:29 pace). Good enough to get 15th in my category and way surpass any time I considered achievable today. Strangely, it was not as tough as either of the two other halfs I have done this year. To think it was only just over 4 months ago I did 2:08:32 at the BRRC Half Championships and today I am only 8 minutes away from my time from last year's GC Half.

Time: 1:34:33
( Splits 48:05 ; 46:28)
5k 23:05
10k 22:42
15k 22:27
20k 21:37

My only regret from the day was having to get back to Brisbane and not catching up with everyone at the Southport SLSC in the afternoon. There is always next year and I am hopeful that by then I can be back to near my best.

Zombie Run

2010-06-27T22:04:00.000+10:00

It has been a tough week. You know how you feel when you get to half way in a marathon and there is that good feeling about how far you have come but then a short while later you realize you have just as far still to go. Now imagine that at half way it was compulsory to increase your pace by a third!!! That is what it has been like this week. After two weeks of three games a day in the World Cup, it reaches game 33 of 64 games and the last round of Group matches and the schedule is upped to four games a night and I am turned into a walking zombie.

So this has been a bit of a quieter week training wise. Only 46k.

This did include a 10k this morning at the BRRC which I completed in 44:05.6. My split times for the two laps were 22:02.8, 22:02.8. Exactly the same down to the tenth of a second. How amazing is that. I am pleased with that time but it was tough but is just the sort of hit out I needed before the Half next weekend. Three months ago on the 28th March at the BRRC 10k champs I did 48:35, so a 4:30 improvement in three months and all off just pure base building and no speed or tempo training at all.

By September/October with some decent faster training I might just be approaching some decent times again.

In the meantime I have to survive the World Cup and work for the next two weeks :-(

Triple treat

2010-06-21T17:39:00.000+10:00

Well my third 100 K week in a row. This one was quite different from the last two. I am on leave so have been running from home and because of the hilly nature around my way, any run is more of a challenge than my normal flat as a pancake runs by the river. It also was more difficult juggling a time for my long run. The Australia - Ghana match was on at midnight Saturday night, so I didn't fancy getting up early Sunday morning for that, so settled on running on Saturday afternoon but had to start at 2:30pm in order to get the 31.5k in before it got dark. I think it has been a good achievement to be able to keep up the training and to see every World Cup game so far. But boy am I getting tired. Will have to be careful not to get run down.

Two in a row

2010-06-15T11:01:00.000+10:00

Basically the same week of training as last week gives me two 100 K weeks in a row.

My runs through the week showed show improvement despite my feet swelling up again for a few days. My long run on Sunday was an almost an identical time to last week which was slightly disappointing. Whilst I will enter a few races this year I am not really targeting any in particular as I really just need to build up the endurance base before I can get serious about a top performance. Still I am tossing up whether to do a few weeks with some speed work prior to the Gold Coast Half or just continue with the base building which will be of more benefit to me getting through the Brisbane Marathon on 1st August without too much of a struggle. The beauty of my situation at the moment is in the end it really matters little which way I go.

I am now on two weeks annual leave and will be watching all the World Cup games I can in that time.

Scott, I am impressed with your memory. I did in fact turn my ankle on a giant seed pod about this time of year in 2008 and I did go on to run 3:12 at GCM that year. This year though something around 3:40- 3:45 will be closer to what I will be capable of.

A Ton

2010-06-06T19:58:00.000+10:00

After rolling my ankle last week, I had three days off to let it recover. On Monday, I went for 9.5k to test it out and it seemed OK whilst running but still a little sore when I cooled down.

On Tuesday, I went for 13k and again it behaved itself but I was still a little wary when doing a turn on that side. This was the last day for entry to the Doomben Half without a late fee and I looked at this year's course and saw the number of 180 degree turns and thought that doesn't look ideal for a dodgy ankle. I also discovered that what I thought had been the last day had suddenly changed to being no longer applicable, so I made the decision to pull the pin on the event and just concentrate on steady base building for the rest of the week.

For the rest of the week I ran Wed 14.5k, Thur 13k , Fri 18.8k and this morning 31.5k. After such a tentative start to the week, I have managed to post just over the 100k for the week, something I haven't done since December 2008.

If I don't want the marathon on 1st August to be too much of a struggle, I am going to have to put in quite a few more 30+ runs over the next 8 weeks.

One Step at a Time

2010-05-31T22:07:00.000+10:00

Well I have been trying to get back into a training rhythm after the distractions of the last few months but it just has not been possible.

I thought I had seen enough of hospitals last month but two weeks ago found myself once again in emergency with Kewell. He had come out with a temperature, a rash and aching joints. The GP sent us to the hospital for tests but no conclusive diagnosis although ruling out the nasties such as meningitis. Anyway it appears to be some sort of post-viral arthritis and the boy has not been well. The arthritis in his ankles, wrists, hips and shoulders really crippled him for a week.

On Thursday night last week, I was out to do a long run (30k) which meant extending my run over the Goodwill Bridge and upriver through Southbank. As I was making my way down to the path by the river I completely missed a step and landed heavily on my right foot and rolled my ankle. Ouch! It was pretty sore, so I turned back and rather gingerly did the 10k back to my work. So I have had to give that a rest for a few days.

But I seem to have been able to do 10k tonight without any pain during or after the run. Now I just need to decide whether I will enter the Doomben Half on Sunday.

Still managed to clock up 281 ks for May. I know it is not in Scott Brown territory but from where I am coming from it is fine for me.

Good News and Good Progress

2010-05-16T20:17:00.000+10:00

Well it has been a stressful month since my last update on how my running has been progressing.

For the two weeks my father was in hospital , it would have been easy to have let the training slip but seeing him fighting away for every breath made that seem like a really soft option.

So I have plugged away with the base building when ever possible and managed weeks of
47, 80, 61 and this week 82k along the way.

Last week I also had my latest three monthly CT Scan and the results again show no discernible signs of lymphoma. So I am officially in remission for another three months. My feet almost never swell up anymore and the numbness has almost gone and I feel this has helped my running enormously.

So I can now plan out the next three months. I will run the Half at the Gold Coast in July and if I feel I am up to it will run the Brisbane Marathon on 1st August. Seeing this was my target Race last year it will be a nice touch to have been able to recover enough to at least complete the race this year.

Today I completed the BRRC 7k Champs in 30:52 and did the last 5k in 21:52. Just seven weeks ago, I could only manage 48:35 (4:51 pace) for a 10k at BRRC. Today was 4:24 pace. Who knows where I will be in seven weeks time?

The Half at the Gold Coast should be fun. I am looking forward to a "Smackdown" with Ewen (his words not mine). I have seen his recent 5k race times and he surely must be playing dead.

Gordon Robertson

2010-05-16T19:53:00.003+10:00

Gordon Robertson

30/1/1923 - 3/5/2010

My father's funeral was last week and as he requested it was a simple ceremony but full of love and respect for what he had achieved in his life. My father had a hard upbringing in childhood during The Depression in rural Australia and then as a young man served for four years in the Army in World War 2 including duty in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. This upbringing instilled in him an incredible work ethic and a fighting spirit. This would help him enormously in his running career.

When I was a boy my father played Lawn Bowls. In 1985, he came down to the Gold Coast to watch Kathy (My Wife) and I compete in the Marathon. We had started running marathons whilst living in England in 1982. I guess when we got back home to Australia it raised a bit of curiosity when we would spend so much of our time running all over the place. Anyway it seems he was motivated that day seeing us and all the other competitors run and decided to give jogging a go. So at the age of 63 he started.

He must have got the bug because he stuck with it and by 1989 and at age 66 was ready to enter his first race a Half Marathon at West End. His debut time was 1:49:50. A few weeks later he completed the Gold Coast Half Marathon in 1:47:46 (his PB).

After the GC Half in 1989.

Later that year he joined the Qld Veteran's Athletics Club (as it was called then) and became a regular competitor in Master's events over the next 10 years. In 1990 he returned to Gold Coast to make his Marathon debut at age 67. He did 3:55:55 that day, came third in his age group and won $75. A lot of debut marathoners aim to get a sub-4 time but many fail and of those that do succeed, next to none are his age.

Finishing GCM 1990.

He relished competing. At Veteran's event he would go in everything from the 100m to the 10,000m, from the long jump to the javelin.

Recently my cousin recounted a story about my father. He had meet a guy about 38 years old who had just started attending Veterans events. Enquiring about whether this guy knew my father it was finally established that he was the old guy who turned up at events two hours before hand and helped to get all the equipment out and set up, who then competed in all the events and then was there for two hours after packing up. That was the type of guy my father was.

He enjoyed travelling to Australian Master Games at Easter time and won many gold, silver and bronze medals at these events.

He went on to complete four marathons in total, the last being a 4:18 at the Gold Coast in 1995.

His last competitive races were at the Australian Masters Games in April 1998 where as a 75 year old he managed Gold in 10k & 5k, Silver in 1500m and Bronze in 800m. He started to get arthritis in his left knee which stopped him running. But he continued to help as a volunteer in athletics especially with the Flying Four at Ashgrove Rangers Running Club and in 2003 was awarded Life Membership at the club for his services.

Here is a list of his PBs

Event Time Age

100m 16.2 67

200m 34.8 69

400m 1:18.8 67

800m 3:01.8 67

1500m 6:08.0 67

5000m 22:15.4 66

10000m 47:28.6 67

Half 1:47:46 66

Marathon 3:55:55 67

Who said there was no finishing line?

2010-05-04T22:34:00.001+10:00

Yesterday my Father Gordon passed away in Royal Brisbane Hospital at the age of 87. Two weeks ago he suffered a massive stroke which left him without sight, speech, swallow and right side paralysis.

I will collect my thoughts and say more about him later but for now this picture of him in full stride at age 74 at the Veteran Atheletic Championships in Melbourne in 1997 will suffice. I guess it was a 200m or 400m race given he is running so far from the inside lane.

Base Building

2010-04-12T21:51:00.000+10:00

After the recent Half and 10k races, it was obvious that I needed to get back to building a base and get some endurance.

So the focus is now on just putting as many Ks in the bank and hopefully be in a good enough shape down the track to run a marathon this winter or autumn. At this moment, I am think anything under four hours would be a significant achievement for me. But that is a long way off, considering how I pull up after just 25k on my long training runs now.

So I put in a 64.5k week and followed it up with 73ks last week. It has been very tiring and every morning I wonder how I am going to be able to drag the tired legs around for a run that evening. But it has been that way since I started the come back in December and I am hoping at some point it is going to get easier. The last four months of training have been the hardest pyhsically and mentally in my whole running career. The incredible humidity last week didn't help either. My long run yesterday morning was run in fog for the whole 2 and a half hours. That has got to be 100% humidity and I was a bucket of sweat by the time I finished.

The numbness and swelling in my legs has certainly improved a lot over the last month. At this rate I would say in a couple of months time it will almost be gone.

BRRC 10k Champ

2010-03-28T18:26:00.000+10:00

Mon
Rest
Tue
60 minute walk. My legs still feeling thrashed after the Half on Sunday.
Wed
6.8k 36:53 (HR 138 5:25) Easy recovery run.
Thu
9.5k 49:23 (HR 152 5:11)

Fri

9.5k 58:42 (HR 124 6:10) Ran with J & C. Easy run up until madness broke out in the last 400m when a mad sprint to the end broke out. Can't blame it on testosterone fuelled male competitiveness as it was Christine who made the first move!

Sat

Rest

Sun

BRRC 10k Champ 48:38 (HR 169 4:51) 3rd in M55-59 Age Group.

It took me a long time this week to recover from the Half Marathon from last Sunday. It wasn't till Friday that I felt like I was running without sore legs.

Today I thought I could go sub 50 and set out at that pace. After one K, I felt I could up the pace a little and settled into a 4:55 rhythm and went through the first lap in 24:42. Still feeling quite comfortable, I stepped it up to 4:45 pace and started reeling a few runners in. I was suprised that I caught and passed Clairie at around the 7.5 Ks. In the last couple of Ks it started to get tough but with lots of huff and puff I managed not to drop the pace.

I shouldn't have been suprised when Clairie whizzed past me with about 400m to go. I would have loved to have accepted the challenge for a battle to the line but I was red-lining myself. That will have to wait till another day in the hopefully not to near future.

Twilight Half Marathon

2010-03-23T09:03:00.000+10:00

Mon
rest
Tues
14.5k 82:25 (HR 141 Pace 5:41)
Wed
Rest
Thu
9.5k 47:09 (HR 166 Pace 4:57) - Averaged under 5:00 pace but it took a lot out of me.
Fri
6.8k 36:07 (HR 149 Pace 5:18) -
Sat
Rest
Sun
21.1k 1:54:40 (HR 170 Pace 5:26)

After being able to knock out a run with a pace under 5k on Thursday and being able to comfortably run at 2 hour Half Marathon Pace for 14.5k on Tuesday, I was confident I could go sub 2 hour for the Half on Sunday. But how far under was the question. Well the answer was 1:54:40 and I am very happy with that time.

It even felt like a proper race. Contained myself early and didn't go out too fast, settled into a nice rhythm at around 5:20 pace which I held up until the 16k mark. I then had to dig in, concentrate more on style and start working harder to maintain that pace. The combination of the humidity and the climb up and over the Green Bridge at 18k sapped all my spare reserves and it was a real struggle to just do 5:45 pace to the finish line. Totally knackered afterwards.

If I can stay healthy, the next few months should be one of those golden periods when every time you step up to the start line you improve on your last race. Although I don't know how long I will be able to maintain an improvement rate of 14 minute in a Half time in three weeks.

I am looking forward now to going from a back of the pack racer to a middle of the pack racer.

Rethinking the rethinking.

2010-03-15T17:45:00.000+10:00

Mon
6.8k 34:44 (HR 156 Pace 5:06)
This was supposed to be an easy recovery run but somehow it turned into a much faster run.

Tue
14.5k 1:33:22 (HR 136 Pace 6:26)
A nice easy run.

Wed
Rest

Thu
9.5k 48:30 (HR 160 Pace 5:06)
Unlike Monday, it was the intention to push a bit harder on this one.

Fri
12k 1:18:45 (HR 125 Pace 6:33)
Again another nice easy run.

Sat
Rest

Sun
20k 1:57:59 (HR 146 Pace 5:54)
The weather was much cooler this week compared to last but still a big improvement from last week.

Week Total 62.8k

A very satisfying week of training. I am at last starting to be able to run some reasonable distances and stay around the 70 - 75% Max Hr Zone. As well Thursday's effort run shows steady improvement at that level of effort.

I am back to thinking that sub 2 for the Twilight Half may be a possibility.

Clairie I am jealous in the extreme that you will be going to the World Cup Semi-finals and Final. It will take a miracle for Australia to go that far. My only tip would be not to forget your earplugs. The dreaded vuvuzelas will be out in force.
Try this if you want to get an idea.

Rethinking

2010-03-07T19:50:00.000+10:00

After the Half last Sunday I haven't pushed it too hard this week.
Monday:
Much needed rest day.

Tuesday:
9.5k HR 145 Pace 5:44. In the pouring rain. Lovely.

Wednesday:
No run. Went to the Australia v Indonesia Asian Cup Qualifier. The 1-0 win by the Socceroos sealed qualification for Qatar 2011.

Thursday:
13k 72:34 HR 152 Pace 5:34. Really pleased with this effort.

Friday:
Legs still a bit sore from last night so 30 minutes on the Gym Bike.

Saturday:
Rest. One of those days when my legs are really swollen. A lot of lying down.

Sunday:
15.2k 96:32 HR 146 Pace 6:21. Really humid this morning. Was thinking I'd maybe go 20k but the creek was still running high after all the rain and was well over the crossing, so turned around. This still is a big effort for me.

I have been contemplating my speculating on going sub 2 hours for the Twilight Half in two weeks time. An 8 and a half minute improvement in three weeks seems a bit optimistic when you break it down to a 25 seconds a Kilometer improvement for 21k. No need to put pressure on myself at this stage as I really should only be contemplating building my endurance base for the next three months.

Also I really need to get the feeling back into my feet and for the periodic swelling of my ankles and legs to go away before I can really do anything serious.

BRRC Half Marathon Championships

2010-02-28T21:10:00.000+10:00

Well what a difference a couple of weeks can make. As you may or may not recall two weeks ago I struggled big time to complete 11ks.

Today I completed the Half Marathon at the BRRC in 2hr 08 min 32 secs and finished in much better shape than two weeks ago. I didn't know whether I would be able to go the distance today as the longest I had run was 12k last Wednesday but I was prepared to give it a go. I knew I had to run conservatively if I was going make it, so started out at around 6:18 pace but as the race went on and I became more assured that I was going to make the distance I upped the pace and in the end averaged under 6:00 for the last 5k lap despite the steamy conditions.

My splits for the laps were:
1st Lap (1.1k) 6:32
2nd Lap (5 k) 31:30
3rd Lap (5k ) 31:02
4th Lap (5k ) 30:21
5th Lap (5k ) 29:54.

I am over the moon with this result and I am now looking forward to the Twilight Half in three weeks time and getting under 2 hours looks like a good goal for me to aim for.

I know one thing for sure tomorrow will be a rest day as my legs are feeling very sore tonight.

Harvest

2010-02-15T10:07:00.000+10:00

Three weeks ago I started a Peripheral Stem Cell Harvest procedure. This started with two days of chemo and an overnight stay in hospital followed by a week of growth factor hormones to stimulate stem cell production. I then finished with two days hooked up to an aupheresis machine for the actual harvesting.

I thought I might have been able to at least maintain my fitness during this period but I underestimated the dose of chemo they were going to give me and the first week I could hardly get out of bed let alone do any exercise and the second week found me rather drained by the actual harvest procedure.

So last week found me getting back into running but at a level I was six weeks ago.

Yesterday I did 11k in 69:07 (6:17 avg pace) at an alarmingly high Heart Rate. I was reduced to no more than a shuffle at the end and could not have gone one step further.

At the start of the year, I set a goal of doing all the BRRC Champ races this year. With the Half Marathon in two weeks this is going to be a huge challenge.

"Dream up Dream up,
Let me fill your cup."

BRRC 14k Champs

2010-01-19T07:48:00.000+10:00

On Sunday I did the 14k Champs at the BRRC in a time of 85:15. That is an average pace of 6:06 per K.

When I started back into running in December, my goal was to get fit enough in 2010 to run a marathon again. Assuming Gold Coast as the target I then mapped out a training plan. I also tried to incorporate as many of the BRRC Championship races as possible into the schedule. This 14k always looked like being a tough one coming so early in the schedule. It was made even harder as improvement has been very slow and I had to rest from running for a week when I pulled something in my back whilst on holidays.

The longest run I had done so far was 6.8ks which I did last Wednesday and again on Friday. Still I thought if I just keep it slow I may just be able to make the distance.

Well I did start out slow and slowly got slowier as the race went on. Only trouble was that it was taking more and more out of me to just go slower and slower! In the end I was having to exert at close to my Max Heart Rate just to shuffle along.

So still a long way to go but given only six weeks ago I could only manage 5k in 7:15 pace , 14k at 6:06 looks like a huge improvement.

All I Want For Xmas Is ...

2009-12-24T18:46:00.000+10:00

In the the last two and half weeks I have slowily been regaining some aerobic fitness. From running 7:15 pace for 5k I can now manage to sneak under 6:00 minnute pace. But it still taking a maximum effort to do that. Mostly I run one day and do a walk, swim or gym bike on the next.

I had a few days in a row this week where my feet and ankles didn't swell up which I got excited about but they puffed up last night and are still that way today. So in terms of recovery of my peripheral neuropathy it is three steps forward and two back.

After Xmas we are off to the beach at Caloundra for two weeks.

May you all have yourself a merry Christmas and I am hoping to run into on the roads in the New Year.

Back On The Road Again

2009-12-06T22:34:00.000+10:00

It has been a very testing time for me since my last post. After the miraculous 15k run at the BRRC Championships on the 25th October I only managed one more run a few days after that. The last six weeks of chemo just seemed to progressively inch by inch wear me down and down and made the possibility of exercise impossible.

But I finished my chem course two weeks ago and I have had follow up CAT and PET scans since and the results have been good with no discernable signs of disease present. This puts me currently in remission. To be "cured" I will need to have no relapse in the next five years. The odds of a relapse are about 50% at this stage. I will undergo a Stem Cell Harvest in January which involves a couple of days of chemo and then a ten days of Growth Hormone injections before the actual harvest which can take up to three days.

All I have to do now is recover from the chemo treatment. My red and white blood cell counts will take a little while to recover but my lingering issue is peripheral neuropathy of the fingers and feet. This is basically damage to the peripheral nerves in those areas resulting in numbness and loss of function. As a runner, the feet is the worrying area. My right ankle seems to be almost permanently swollen and I have to be extra careful moving around as muscular co-ordination is a bit impaired.

I resisted doing any running while my feet were like this and started swimming last week. It has become apparent that this condition is not going to go away quickly and there is even a chance that it could be permanent, so I decided I may as well give the running a go.

I went for a 2.5k run on Friday which was a struggle and the legs certainly felt strange but it didn't make anything worse.

So today, I decided I would give the BRRC Dash (5k) and Splash (100m swim) a go. If worse came to worse I could always walk.

Well I didn't need to walk but gee the running almost got down to walking pace at the end. Managed the 5k in 36:18 which is an avg of 7:15 pace but I was doing closer to 7:45 pace at the end and there is no way I could have gone any faster. I think I came about third last of the runners. Did manage to get some encouragement along the way from Rob Richards who I imagine was out on his Sunday long run.

But what made my day was the announcement that I had won the BRRC Club Champion for the 50-55 Category for 2009. Luckily I put some in some good performances in the first half of the year.

So from here on I will be working to get back my fitness but it is going to be a long slow process if today's run is any indication.

Power of the Mind

2009-10-25T22:38:00.000+10:00

This morning I ran 15k at the BRRC Championships. Mind you this took me 89:23 (5:58 m/K) but that was good enough to get me third in my category and a bronze medal. I suspect there was only three of us out there today though. I am totally amazed that I was able to do that and it is testament to the power of the mind and goal setting.

About 2 months ago I targeted three BRRC events as goals to motivate me to get out and do some exercise. They were a 5k, 10k and 15k each a fortnight apart. The last was always going to be a stretch. The first two I was able to do relatively comfortably but the last fortnight (the fourth of my six chemo cycles) has been my toughest so far. This last week my feet have been constantly swollen and I have struggled to keep my eyes open as a deep lethargy seem to engulf me. On Wednesday night, I walked the 800m up to the High School for a function and arrived as if I had just run 10k. In a week I had managed to get out for a run only once and I really thought I had no chance of making it out for a run on Sunday let alone 15k.

But Friday morning I woke and the feet weren't swollen so I went out for a run but could only manage 5k at over 6:00 m/Ks and really struggled at the end. I didn't run Saturday and I really thought there was no hope and I wasn't even considering going. But Saturday night, I thought well I may as well just go along and start and see how far I get. I can always pull out at anytime so no harm done. The goal I had planted in my head was causing me to make these decisions.

I awoke on Sunday and the feet weren't swollen so off to the races I went. I started slow and just kept chugging away. The first 5k loop was 29:27 and I was feeling OK so I started off on the second lap. I managed that in 30:00 and really to my total surprise I wasn't feeling that bad so committed myself to the third lap which I managed in 29:56. So a nice steady pace all the way did the trick.

Thanks to the wonderful Clairie for the encouragement out on the course and accompanying me over the final 500m.

On top of the bling I managed to score a random draw prize as well. What a day.

This was my last event in the 50-54 age group and I can't think of a more pleasing way of finishing it off.

Gee now I have to think up some new goals. With just a month of treatment to go (hopefully), it may not be too much longer before I can start thinking about running drug free.

Here I am with My Wife and Kewell at the recent Light The Night event for the Leukaemai Foundation. A big THANK YOU to every one who sponsored me for this event. The Leukaemai Foundation does incredibly good work and your generosity is mch appreciated. It also very telling that the majority of people who sposored me where runners or cyclists. It has once again shown me what a wonderfully supportive group of people runners are. I am lucky to be invoved with such a great bunch of people.

I'm going to Light The Night

2009-10-02T17:54:00.000+10:00

Next Thursday 8th October the Leukaemia Foundation is running the Light The Night Walk in locations all across Australia.

As you know I was diagnosed with a Lymphoma (a blood cancer) in August. On commencement of my chemotherapy, I was advised by my clinic to contact The Leukaemia Foundation and have been amazed by their wonderful support for me and my family. They do such good work and I see this event as a way for me to help support them.

Please help the Light the Night by making a donation towards my fundraising.

We'll carry coloured balloons each with a tiny light inside.

With your help we can do something good; raising vital funds for patients and families living with blood cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

The money I raise will be invested in critical research into better treatments and hopefully cures, as well as supporting patients during their long and tough treatment.

Remember, celebrate and give hope at Light the Night by making a donation.

Make a Donation here

Hanging In There

2009-09-28T17:40:00.002+10:00

I have just finished my second of six cycles of chemo treatment.

So far I have been able to dodge most of the harmful side effects such as nausea, fatigue and secondary infections. I have had a lot of hair loss and find myself without beard for the first time in 35 years.

I have tried to get some exercise in every day but once or twice a week I don't feel up to it. So far the majority of the exercise has been brisk walking with a small amount of slow (and I mean slow) running at the end. Anything above 5:30 pace sends my Heart Rate soaring past my aerobic threshold so I have to be careful not to stress the body too much. The drugs are doing a good enough job of that.

The good news is that I have managed to build up to be able to go 5k slowly (27:13 avg HR 151) which I did on Sunday morning at the BRRC. 27:13. It was great to get out there and feel normal and catch up with friends. This may become harder as the treatment progress and my red blood count continues to drop but I will keep at it whenever possible.

Brisbane Marathon

2009-08-24T07:16:00.001+10:00

I was a non-starter at the Brisbane Marathon on Sunday. When they announced that Gold Coast started at 7:30 am this year I made the decision to target the Brisbane Marathon because of its 6:00am start and the extra training time it would give me
in the cooler months of the year. Due to the barmy Brisbane winter weather of late that first decision would not have come to pass anyway.

But I went to cheer along all the runners but especially John from my work who was doing his first marathon. The last time I ran with John was in September 2005 but in the prior couple of years to that I had shared many a training run with him
and it was only because my slowest training pace started to get too quick for him that I stopped running with him. He finished in just under 5 hours and certainly what he lacks in natural talent is more than made up for with a steely
determination to accomplish what he sets out for himself to achieve. Well done John in difficult conditions.

Watching the runners was a bitter sweet experience for me. Just under three weeks ago I went to the doctor's to check out my ankle which was continuing to give me pain even after resting from running for a week. I had also not been sleeping well and was being woken each night from pain in my abdomen. As well a small lump had developed rather quickly in the skin in my lower abdomen. Never one to quickly go to the doctors, I thought I had stacked up enough reasons to justify a visit. I really was desperate to get the ankle better as the Marathon was fast approaching and the lack of sleep if I did get back training was not ideal either. The GP prodded around my abdomen first and didn't like what he felt so sent me for a CAT Scan the next morning. He showed no interest in my ankle at all despite my probing but agreed that I could have an Xray of it when I was having the scan. So went for the scan the next morning.

I received a phone call from my doctor about three hours later. He had the results and it was not good. I had a large mass in my abdomen which was a cancerous tumor and most likely a lymphoma. He had arranged for me to be admitted to hospital that afternoon and I should proceed there asap as they needed to act quickly on this.
As you can imagine this was a great shock to me. A rather emotional next three hours ended with me lying in a hospital bed alone contemplating my new found position.

Alas though, nothing exactly happened very quickly from that point onwards. After 42 hours and one chest X-Ray I was discharged with an appointment to be re-admitted the next week for a biopsy to get an exact diagnosis. The surgery left me with sore and sorry, shuffling around at snail pace. The results confirmed that I had a Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) and I was now in the hands of an Oncologist. Last week I had a whole range of tests mainly to determine if there are other locations where the lymphoma has spread. I have not got those results back yet. But I start a 12 week course of chemotherapy next Monday no matter what the results.

So running has been put on the back burner for awhile. I will attempt to do as much exercise as I can during the chemo but no one really knows how one will react. But if this initial round of treatment leads me to be in remission then I should be able to start up again by late November. Just enough time to be ready for a marathon next winter. Hope I can approach the challenge ahead with a much determination as my mate John did with his marathon.

To people I saw on the weekend at the race and they asked as to why I wasn't running I apologise to those who I was not totally honest with but it is difficult news to burden people with. To those I did pass on the truth I thank you for your concern and kind words. Only a few weeks ago, Rob Richards used me as an example on his blog as to why we should all treasure our ability to be able to run. I am missing it already and being able to get back and be running along with the crowd in a race rather than being a spectator hopefully will be enough motivation to get through the tough times that lay ahead for me.

I'll try to keep you informed of my progress in the coming months.

Enjoy Your Running.

Where To Now St Peter

2009-08-09T19:26:00.002+10:00

On Sunday two weeks ago I did the 35 k event at the BRRC. I had been getting some strange niggles from my left ankle but had rested a few days early in the week but had completed three easy runs on Wed, Thu and Friday without it really bothering me so I thought it was worthwhile giving it a hit out with 4 weeks to go before the Brisbane Marathon. My aim was something around 5 min/K and I managed 2 hours 53 minutes. Only problem was that in the last 3k I started to feel the ankle. On Monday it was so sore that walking on it was a real problem.

So it was back to the Gym Bike and no running. By Thursday I could walk around without any pain but I gave it quite a few more days rest. So on Monday I went out for a 5k walk and it gave me no problems. On Tuesday I thought I would do an easy 5k but after just 800m it was apparent it wasn't right so I turned back and did a session on the gym bike.

This has been a baffling injury. I have not really been able to nail down exactly what the problem is. None of the signs or symptoms match up with anything in the text books.

I had not been feeling a 100% anyway and had been having some abdominal bloating pains, so a visit to the doctors was in order to get some help on this injury.

Well things don't always work out how you expect and the Doc was more interested in my stomach than my ankle and sent me of for a scan and some X-rays for the ankle.

The result is that I have some health issues which I need to address and so running is going to be on the back burner for a while. So no Brisbane Marathon this year.

You can view this from a variety of angles.

TAOISM: Shit happens.
CONFUCIANISM: Confucius say, "Shit happens".
ZEN: (What is the sound of shit happening?)
JESUITISM: If shit happens and when nobody is watching, is it really shit?
ISLAM: Shit happens if it is the will of Allah.
CATHOLICISM: Shit happens because it's your fault.
PROTESTANTISM: Let this shit happen to someone else.
JUDAISM: Why does shit always happen to US?
AGNOSTICISM: What is this shit?
ATHEISM: I don't believe this shit!

Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict

2009-07-19T20:22:00.002+10:00

After a relatively easy recovery week last week, tried to ramp it up a little this week.

Tues - 13k 58:34 (HR 151 4:30)
Wed - 9.5k 41:22 (HR 148 4:21)

On both these runs I felt a little niggle in my left ankle a few times but nothing after the run.

Thu - 18.8k 90:38 (HR133 4:49)
A little slower but again a felt the ankle a few times.

Fri - 9.5k 43:30 (HR 138 4:34)
Didn't feel the ankle on the run but did when I stopped. Put an ice pack on just in case.

Sat - 9k Ran first 2.5k with Kewell so that was nice and easy and then finished with 6.5k at 4:35 pace with no problems. So at least I felt comfortable going out and doing a long run on Sunday.

Sun 31.5k 2:34:23 (146 4:54) - I had wanted to do 36k today but pulled the pin on the extra 5.5k as I thought it wasn't worth the risk of pushing the ankle too much. Still it was a good run and the ankle only started to niggle right at the end. I have an ice pack on it again so will have to see how it pulls up tomorrow.

This is starting to worry me. The actual niggle is really only very minor but an injury is something I haven't had to deal with for such a long time and it is causing me more head problems than physical ones. Although I shouldn't complain, I could be this guy.

The title of my last post was a Pink Floyd song title. I thought it was much more appropraite than the Floyd title I used for this post.

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

2009-07-12T18:58:00.002+10:00

This week has been just been easy runs in order to recover from the Gold Coast Half but I still managed to rack up 83k. As well I picked up a RS Index Best of 643 for my 13k run on Wednesday night by doing it in avg pace of 4:50 at HR 133. I suppose it is hardly a surprise to see that I am in top aerobic condition given my good run in the Half.

YIKES!!!
When I put that 1:26:48 time into McMillian it says 3:03 for the Marathon. Given I thought with another 6 weeks training I could knock some more time off the Half, then the Marathon predictions is getting tantalisingly close to that magical sub 3 marker. I certainly hope to go under 3:10 but at this point I am not entertaining the thought of a sub 3. At the moment, it is just gets down to doing the training over the next six weeks and setting a target close to race day based on where my training gets me to.

It was good news to have the Brisbane Marathon course released. It is very much as it has been in other years so no surprises and basically flat except for going over the Goodwill Bridge four times.

Gold Coast Half Marathon

2009-07-07T22:04:00.002+10:00

Time: 1:26:48 Place 232 M50-54 12th on Nett Times

Over the last few years I feel I have developed a good understanding of how my training will convert into a race situation.

After Doomben a month ago where I ran 1:29:36 I went into the Gold Coast race confident I could take some time off that mark. I thought for a start that the many hair pin turns were worth 20 seconds and the conditions that day were humid so I thought another 20 seconds for that. So an equivalent performance would get me under 1:29. So how much could I improve in 4 weeks? I thought that around a minute was going to be about what I could pull out.

As I have said before I plucked some target times out of the air at the start of the year for the three Halfs and put them up on the wall at work. Basically it was the first in 4:20 pace (1:31), then 4:15 ( 1:29:48) and then 4:10 (1:27:40) for the Gold Coast. I hit the first two so I thought even though it may be a stretch I would target the 4:10 pace and see if I could hang on at the end.

I set the alarm to get up at 3:25 am but woke at 2:10 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So this left me plenty of time to get there. A 75 minute drive and I arrived at the race precinct at 5:10 am. In next to no time it was off to line up with the other 8,000 starters. I got a position not too far from the front. Together at the start it was surprisingly warm but once we got running it became somewhat chillier and the hands were cold for the first 5ks.

I settled quickly into a pace just a few seconds below target pace but was worried I was going out too quickly so from about 5 to 10 k slowed so I was more in line with my target pace. When I got to 10k in 41:25 with a 15 second buffer I had an inkling this was going to be a good day as I was feeling very fresh.

After the turn around I felt I could up the pace and stepped it up to 4:05. Even though I didn't find this too taxing I didn't want to go too early either. But the Ks went by, I was constantly overtaking people and I was still feeling strong. When I got to 17k and had 17 minutes to get under 1:27 I knew a sub 1:27 was in the bag.

Of the three Halfs I have done I must say this was the easiest. The Twilight was just too warm and humid and the lack of water stops made the last couple of Ks really tough. At Doomben, I slowed quite a bit in the last couple of Ks but here I was able to keep it going all the way to the finish.

As you can imagine I very happy with the time yet I know I can improve on that with a bit more targeting for a specific race. I had no taper at all for this race. Unfortunately I have no plan to do anymore Halfs this year and now I can focus on the Brisbane Marathon. If only they would reveal the Course I would be a lot more comfortable about it.

GC Half Lead Up.

2009-06-29T21:22:00.004+10:00

In the three weeks since the Doomben Half training has been mostly going well.

I am now doing two higher effort runs each week. A 10k at around 4:15 pace and a 13k at 4:30 pace. My long runs are now 32k at around 4:55 pace.

So I hope to see a little improvement in my Half time on Sunday.

Although I am a bit worried about the logistics of getting to the start line as I am not staying down the Coast as in previous years. The race starts at 6:20 am , so I am calculating that in order to get there with plenty of time to prepare I will have to wake up just after I've gone to sleep. I will have to try getting to bed earlier this week.

I seem to be managing to dodge the cold/flu bugs that are flying around. All the kids have had it over the last month and some are still coughing but I wonder how much longer that I can last. And on the weekend, we learnt that one of the families that we share dance driving roster with has two confirmed cases of swine flu in their family. Yikes !!

Just under 8 weeks now till the Brisbane marathon and still no published course ???

Over 50 PB for Half M

2009-06-08T12:28:00.003+10:00

Yesterday was the Qld Half Marathon at Doomben and after the close call at the Twilight Half in April, I can now claim a new Over 50 PB with my time of 1:29.34.

I started out a little quickly with 4:04 and a 4:05 for the first two Ks but after that settled down into target pace of 4:15. Slowed a little in the 19th and 20th K to 4:20 but managed to pick it up and come home strongly for a 4:11 last K.

Even for a Brisbane winter's day it was very mild conditions and the humidity at 97% made conditions a little uncomfortable in the later stages of the race.

It was good to catch up with everyone including Rob who I hadn't seen for ages.

Training over the last months has mostly been positive. The biggest problem was the big rain we had a few weeks ago which again flooded under our house. And it was only a month since the new carpet was laid from the last flooding. So that day we spent a long time soaking up the excess water by stomping on towels. For some reason which I still can't fathom this left me with really really sore upper legs. It was as if I had run two marathons. I could hardly walk the next day and it was another three days before I thought it was wise to go for a run. Apart from that I am managing 90 -100 k a week including one tempo run.

Have entered for the Half at Gold Coast but now the Brisbane Marathon on August 23rd is my main race goal. 11 weeks to go!

TBITW

2009-05-10T21:54:00.003+10:00

4th - 10th AprilMon 2.5k slow recovery jog with Kewell
Tus 13.0k 64:47 (4:59 HR 134)
Wed 18.0k 1:27:04 (4:50 HR 138)
Thu 9.5k 40:32 (4:16 HR 155)
Fri 13k 63:08 (4:51 HR 142)
Sat 2.5k slow recovery with Kewell
Sun 7k 27:34 (3:56 HR 168)
Week 67.5k
Year 1308k

After last Sunday's long run my calves in both legs were very sore on Monday morning. They didn't loosen up much through the day so I was happy just to do the 2.5k jog with Kewell in the afternoon.
Monday was in fact a Public Holiday for Labor Day, so Tuesday kind of felt like a Monday at work. I guess my legs also felt the same way as they were still very tight.
By Wednesday things were getting back to normal.
Thursday's tempo run is continuing in progression but I do now find that Friday's run has to be a bit easier because of the hard nature of the tempo run.

On Sunday morning, it was the BRRC 7k Championships. There used to be a natural 7k loop at the location but with the move to a new start and the construction work on the riverside, the 7k is a bit contrived now. It was a lovely morning for racing at around 13C. It turned out I had a nice battle with Tuttle for the last 2.5k but I just didn't have the speed training in me to respond to his kick up the final hill and he beat me by a few seconds. Still I managed 27:34 and a first place in my age Category. That is now three wins in a row in my age group (Half, 10k , 7k). Where have all the fast guys gone?

As you know I have a keen interest in music and when the beat is right I don't mind shaking the hips and showing my best moves. This video kind of gives you the picture. But what really struck a chord with me was the child's reaction to his father's behaviour. Luckly my kids just roll there eyes up and sigh.

Summer Leaves, Autumn Arrives

2009-05-04T20:03:00.004+10:00

The official results from the Twilight Half put me down for a chip time of 1:31:47 and a third place in the M50 - 59 Category. I took comfort from the fact that in that race nobody older than me beat me.

I don't know where the 4 seconds difference between my own timing and the chip's comes from. So I didn't get to beat my Over 50 PB. That will have to wait till Doomben next month.

The race took at little time to recover from and I picked up an ear infection as well in the week after so it has been slow getting back into full training.

The last two weeks have seen me do 94k an 99k including a 31.5k run on Sunday morning . On some days I have done a 2.5k run in the morning with my son Kewell to help him get some fitness for the soccer season. At around 6min/k they are really recovery paced runs.

One session a week now is a long tempo run (9.5k) which at the moment I am averaging at around 4:20 pace but the last couple of Ks is under 4:10. When I get more used to that pace, I will start upping the distance.

At last the humidity and temperature has dropped over April and conditions are now starting to get very pleasant for training.

At ZeRO, they have had a May Music Mixathon to start off May. I have put up three mixes over the last few days. Details here if you are interested and here if you want to listen.

Swine Flu? I don't know how I would go having to run in a face mask.

Sight or Song

2009-04-07T23:07:00.004+10:00

I must thank Scott and Ewen on their kind words on my last Tower of Robert Song Music Mix.

I'll put up another " Sight or Song" and its guaranteed Theremin free.

Playlist

.1 over

2009-04-06T21:44:00.005+10:00

30th March - 5th April

Mon 9.5k 48:39 (126 5:07) Recovery Run
Tue 13k 65:45 (135 5:03)
Wed 13k 61:53 (142 4:45)
Thu 9.5k 44:41 (136 4:42)
Fri 18k 88:49 (139 4:56)
Sat Rest
Sun 21.1k 1:31:43 (165 4:20) Twilight Half Marathon

Week Total: 84.1k
Year Total: 912k

After the 10k race last Sunday , it really took until Wednesday night’s run to feel recovered enough to put in a decent training run. Thursday night’s run in the rain gave me a good pace for the Heart Rate compared to recent runs but I put a lot of that down to the cooling factor of the rain.

On Friday nights 18k run it was overcast and humid but no rain so ended up soaked anyway from sweat. Managed to see IHateToast along the floating walkway although by the comment she left I have been wondering whether she might be close to stalking me. Must say she was looking very dapper in her Hare Krishna skirt.

The overcast weather persisted over the weekend, so I was expecting a humid run in the Twilight Half Marathon on Sunday night and that is exactly what we got with temp 26C and 88% Humidity.

A good crowd turned out for the initial running of this event with the novel race starting time of 5:30pm. I am evening runner so I had no problems with this. My plan was to try and do 4:20 pace for a time around 1:31:25.

I got up close to the front at the start and so didn’t have much of a problem getting through the relatively small starting chute but I imagine it was a bit slow for most who were behind me. I like to run an even paced race so getting a time at the first few Km markers is handy but even though I was on the look out I didn’t see any. It was not till someone pointed out that they were painted on the road did I spy the 4k marker( 16:32) and as I suspected it was a little too fast. The next and only other marker I saw was at 6k and that showed I was pretty much now on 4:20 pace.

I managed to keep up that pace for the rest of the race and overtook a lot of runners in the second lap. I found the climb up to the Green Bridge on the way back tough but the long down hill section going back over allows a nice recovery and build up of speed to compensate.

In the end I finished with a time on my watch of 1:31.43.8 although I am a little unsure about exactly where I should have stopped my watch as the electronic timing finish was a couple of metres in front of the physical finish line. So I will be interested to see what my official net time is. The reason that I am interested is because my previous Over 50 PB was 1:31:43.7 . A measly .1 of a second over, so those extra meters could make all the difference.

In February this year I put up on the wall in my cubicle at work a list of race goals for three Halfs I would race in preparation for my winter Marathon.

1. BRRC Half Goal 4:30 pace (1:34:56) – Result 1:34:15.
2. Twilight Half Goal 4:20 pace (1:31:25) – Result 1:31:43
3. Doomben Half Goal 4:15 pace (1:29:40)

So the first a little under and the second a little over. With now 8 weeks till Doomben I am thinking I was a little conservative with my third goal. Maybe a sub 1:28 is not too much of a stretch at this stage.

Things are brewing nicely.

Picture of runner's on the second lap going out along the Corso at the Twilight Half.

Time Marches On

2009-03-29T21:53:00.002+10:00

Is it really over a month since I last updated?

I haven't done quite as much training as I would have wanted in that time but have done enough to keep progressing.

Started off the month with the BRRC Half Marathon Champs and managed a 1:34:15. Started out conservatively and just slowly cranked up the pace all the way. Managed 43:21 for the last 10k. Also picked up a win in my age group.

The next weekend was the Womadelaide festival and I was away for four days so that was a bit disruptive on my training but because of the cooler weather this year I did manage some 8k runs on Sat and Sun mornings. Add this to the 12 hours each day on your feet and it is all a bit tiring. Womadelaide was brilliant again this year. How can such a pissant town put on such a great event ?

I am writing up some thoughts on my weekend and will post separately but one of the highlights for me where Ska Cubano who played Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Two great shows.

Don't be fooled by the title of this video because this is not them performing at Womadelaide but none the less it is very similar to the performance on that night.

Here is another live version of this song done at the Nobel Peace Prize Presentations in 2005. Unlike Womadelaide this crowd just doesn't get into the spirit of things.

I thought coming back from such an exhausting weekend may effect my training but I had some great training runs that next week, the best being a 18k in 1:26 which is 4:46 pace at a really low Heart Rate of 134. I also introduced a Hill session on Thursday. Just across from my work is a really steep quiet street leading up to where Cloudland used to be. Perfect for Hill repeats. I planned to do this once a week but since doing that first session I haven't done it again.

This is mainly due to picking up a stomach bug last weekend which laid me low and I didn't train for four days. So have just taken it easy this week as my stomach continued to be unsettled. In fact Wednesday night almost turned into the run from hell, when severe cramping attacked me on the floating walkway and I desperately needed to go to the toilet. Not exactly any places you can hide along there. I had to stop and walk with my knees together but luckily I spotted a port-a-loo on a construction site just around the bend at New Farm and relief was obtained.

Today, I again ventured down to the BRRC for the 10k Champs. The weather is starting to become a little less humid so conditions were OK. My plan was to run 4:20 pace as a sort of trial run for the Twilight Half Marathon next weekend as that is my target pace for that. I went out a bit fast with a 4:06 first K but it didn't seem to be too uncomfortable so kept going at the pace. At 5k I read the clock as 20:03 and as I was feeling well within myself I thought maybe I should go for the sub 40. I don't know what I was thinking because in fact the time was 20:32 but I did put in a few sub 4 ks before reality hit and my lack of speed training started to show and I struggled home with a negative split of 20:29 but the last 2 ks were 4:14 and 4:11 and were tough. In the end 41:01.

But I am very happy that I am up to running that sort pace at this point in my preparation. It all looks good for later in the year if I can keep it together and stop the stomach grumbles.

IHateToast, sorry I missed you on that day. The funny thing is I was wearing my glasses that day which is something I rarely do. I was thinking on the run how clear everything looked and how I could actually make out people who were more that just a few metres from me. But I do remember thinking at one point "was that Katie?". Strange thing though is I swear it was up by the Sydney Street Ferry stop rather than New Farm Park but I guess that wasn't the case. Just shows how much the mind wanders when out on a run.

Music in the Air

2009-02-23T21:00:00.002+10:00

Last week 16 - 22nd Feb

Mon 9.5k - 50:45 (5:20 HR 131) - Recovery Run
Tue 13k - 60:45 (4:40 HR 146)
Wed 18k - 88:25 (4:54 HR 142)
Thu 3k - 28:42 - Recovery Run
Fri 18k - 86:57 (4:49 HR 146)
Sat - Rest
Sun 25k - 2:09:25 (5:10 HR 143)

This week I made a big effort to keep my recovery runs slow. Thursday's was a little unplanned as I forgot to bring a singlet to work to run in. So I went home through peak hour traffic which took me about 30 minutes longer than my normal trip. I have been trying to encourage Kewell to get out and do some running so he will be fit for the upcoming football season, so my unexpected arrival home gave us the opportunity to go out together. He was less than pleased but I was rather looking forward to running with him. So what was going to be a slow run turned into a game of cat and mouse. Somehow he was always managed to be about 10 metres behind me. No matter how slow I went he never caught up. If I stopped he stopped. If I jogged on the spot he did the same.

My other runs showed good progress. My long run on Sunday over my 25k course was the first time I have ever negative split this course (65:20 , 64:05). That is quite a feat as it is generally downhill out and uphill back. I think that it helped there was a slight head wind back which seemed to make it just a little cooler on the way back. But with Relative Humidity in the 85 - 90% zone it is still too humid for my liking.

Came across this video from the early 60s the other day. I know Tesso & JD will love it. Hope you do too.

Jive Talking

2009-02-16T22:22:00.003+10:00

It has been two weeks since my last post.

The previous week end, I had a very late night on the Saturday because it was my eldest daughter's 18th Birthday Party and even though I had scheduled my run for Sunday evening when the time came I had a headache and didn't go for the run. So only 71.5k that week.

The next day it was a stinking hot day and I gave the run a miss. But the rest of the week was very solid including a 89:43 18k at around 75% Max Heart Rate. All up 87k for the week.

Tonight I was doing a recovery run and bumped into Julez on the Teneriffe Reach and ran with her and her friend for a few Ks and had a pleasant chat about music. For once I could test out my pacing for a recovery run by using the "Can You Talk Easily" indicator. I think I passed .

Back for another Year

2009-02-02T21:49:00.005+10:00

It has been too long, I know.

With the holidays and other things, updating the blog just didn't seem to happen with my limited time and access to the computer.

I finished off 2008 really well with a best ever 418.6k in December taking me to 3,550k for the year.

January had a slight hiccup with a niggle in my right leg. I could not quite work out exactly where the pain was coming from, but I took it easy for a week and have been slowly building up again. So it was only 253k for January but back to 97k last week.

The plan at this stage is to continue base building in February and then start introducing some faster running when the weather gets a little cooler with the focus on the Gold Coast Marathon in July.

Along the way I will have a couple of test races in the Twilight Half in April and Doomben Half in June.

One of the activities that has been consuming more and more of my non-running time is compiling music mixes. After 30 years of making them just for my own listening pleasure , I made one specifically for posting to Art of The Mix.

It was called "Tower of Robert Song". (Download here.)

I have also been doing a lot of these mixes with Johnny Dark and we are currently on our 9th.

Our latest was Aliens Crash Into Unsuspecting Music Mix. (Download here).

However much I might be proud of those artistic efforts, just as in running, you always have to have something motivating you to go that extra mile and produce something of lasting quality, like this video ...

Now seriously, I was rather pleasantly surprised to find out recently that the Audio archivist Graeme Cousel who was recently awarded Guinee's highest honour, the Palme Académique en Or, for his tireless work on the Syliphone Archive is from Melbourne. His story of his work is here. The many compilations released from his work are on the Stern's Label and are all highly recommended.

Doing the double

2008-12-07T19:32:00.002+10:00

24th - 30 th November
Mon 13k 1:01:27 (4:43 HR 150)
Tue 13k 1:05:23 (5:02 HR 136)
Wed 18k 1:30:59 (5:03 HR 133)
Thu 13k 1:04:00 (4:55 HR 138)
Fri 18k 1:28:33 (4:56 HR 142)
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:09:36 (5:11 HR140)

Week 100k
Nov: 334k

1st - 7th December
Mon 13k 1:01:56 (4:45 HR 145)
Tue 18k 1:31:55 (5:06 HR 137)
Wed 13k 1:02:07 (4:47 HR 145)
Thu 18k 1:28:48 (4:56 HR 133)
Fri 13k 1:01:31 (4:43 HR 147)
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:12:16 (5:15 HR 140)

Week: 100k

Year: 3,232k

After the storm hiccup, I am back in the groove and have managed 100k for each of the last two weeks. The last week has been quite trying as the humidity has been really high. Still have managed to avoid what now seems like a daily evening storm during the work week. I thought conditoions may have been better early in the morning but I reckon it was around 99% humidity on this morning's long run and it really sapped the energy out of me in the last half hour. It could be a long summer.

Here is some video that has been doing the rounds of that storm that hit The Gap.

A strong head wind slows me down

2008-11-25T21:51:00.004+10:00

10th November - 16th November

Mon 9.5k 45:09 (HR 140 4:45)
Tue 18k 1:31:50 (HR 133 5:06)
Wed 13k 1:01:17 (HR 144 4:42)
Thu 18k 1:33:58 (HR 132 5:13)
Fri 18k 1:30:41 (HR 137 5:02)
Sat Rest
Sun Abandoned.

Week 76.5k

Because I was going to be on roster at the BRRC on Sunday morning, I reshuffled my runs this week to get a few more Ks in during the week as I thought 25k would all I would want to do Sunday afternoon.

It was a good week and I was glad to see some progression in my training.

I fronted up on Sunday and landed the job of timing the runners in the 5/10K events. There was a good turn out and lots of Coolrunners there as well. Even won a random draw prize of some socks.

It was a stinking hot day on Sunday and I wasn't looking forward to going out at 4:00pm but I knew a second consecutive 100+K week was there for the taking and that was motivation enough for me. What I didn't take into consideration was the enormous storm that developed in the afternoon. Following it on the BOM site, it was headed directly for home, so I delayed taking off till it passed.

Here is what it looked like as it approached.

When it hit at first it was just incredibly heavy rain. The gutters on the house could not cope and the water started running down the walls inside. My Wife and Dory were not home, so Ducky and Delta had the task of trying to sweep the water out the laundry faster than it was coming in. Kewell and I were in my bedroom trying to minimise the amount of water getting on to the carpets soaking it up with towels. After 15 minutes of this, things turned nasty. It started hailing and the wind picked right up. The rain and hail was crashing into the bedroom window and you couldn't even see out and the noise was deafening. At this stage I was worried the window was going to blow in so sent Kewell downstairs and retreated to the hall. It blew like this for about ten minutes and I honestly would not have been surprised if the roof had blown off at any point.

It finally stopped and I took a look outside. A drift of hail had built up by our front door and the garden had just been shredded. There was many branches all over the place and a tree in our backyard had blown over into the neighbour's garden.

We were lucky. Nothing major had hit our house. Many others weren't so lucky. At the bottom of our street three houses in a row all had large trees on their roofs. A few doors up a tree laned on their new car and the house.

Just round the corner, this house had its roof blown off onto the road.

Power lines were down in two place in the street. The creek was flooded and the road blocked. So no run tonight!

It wasn't really until the next day that the full extent of the damage all over The Gap became apparent. I walked with Kewell the 800m up to the school and every street was worse than ours. Tbe school was a complete mess with large trees on building everywhere. A friend of Dory's had their house completed destroyed. At last count 85 houses in The Gap are so badly damaged they will need to be demolished.

So for the next three days we had no power and it wasn't safe to drink the water. I had a lot of cleaning up to do Monday. A full day of physical labour and it was like my upper body had run two marathons. I was stiff and sore for the next couple of days.

On Wednesday night just after midnight, another storm came through. The wind wasn't as bad but it rained heavily for about eighty minutes which resulted in flooding our downstairs area. What the heck the carpet was already damp from Sunday now it was just sodden. So more cleaning up an Thursday.

On Thursday night, I felt recovered to go for a run but yet another storm came along 6:30pm. Again lots of lightning,rain and hail. We had "sand banked" the garage doors in preparation for this one so escaped any further damage.

And no more storms since that.

10th November - 16th November

Mon Cleaning up.
Tue Recovering
Wed Recovering
Thu Storm
Fri 9.5k 45:13 (HR 145 4:45)
Sat Rest
Sun 20k 1:34:39 (HR 143 5:14).

Week 29.5k

On Sunday's run I had to turn back at Ashgrove as the creek was still too high and was over the crossing. I returned back and thought I would go along The Gap bike path but the path was still impassable because of trees down. So I ended just running around the streets before heading home.

I've seen Fire and Rain

2008-11-09T17:26:00.003+10:00

3rd - 9th November
Mon 9.5k 48:33 (HR 132 5:06)
Tue 13k 1:03:23 (HR 141 4:52)
Wed 18k 1:31:11 (HR 135 5:03)
Thu 13k 1:03:57 (HR 140 4:55)
Fri 18k 1:30:45 (HR 141 5:02)
Sat Rest
Sun 31.5k 2:51:55 (HR 138 5:27)

Week 103k

Year 2926k

Two very contrasting 18k runs on Wednesday and Friday night this week. The Wednesday run was done in steady drizzle the whole way which left me with soaked including socks and shoes by the end. In contrast Friday was done under the hottest and most humid conditions so far since last summer. At 27C and 70% humidity , I was soaked in my own sweat by the end. The conditions certainly have a dramatic impact on my Heart Rate. For virtually the same pace, my Heart Rate was 6BPM higher on Friday.

The over night rain made things a little cooler for my long run this morning but the cloud cover still meant it was humid. I made sure I just plodded along to stop getting too overheated.

Got my weekly Ks up to 103k. I will be just trying to maintain things at that level over the next few weeks and wait till December before trying to go higher.

Passing Milestones and Legends

2008-11-02T21:16:00.004+10:00

20th Oct - 26th October
Mon 9.5k 46:22 (HR 144 4:52)
Tue 13k 1:10:00 (HR 128 ) Treadmill
Wed 18k 1:29:21 (HR 140 4:57)
Thu 13k 1:05:39 (HR 132 5:03)
Fri 18k 1:33:01 (HR 132 5:10)
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:11:41 (HR 140 5:16)

Week 96.5k

On Tuesday, was forced on to the treadmill in the gym because of a thunderstorm with lots of lightning and even some hail. After twenty minutes, I couldn't see how I was going to last past half an hour but stuck with it and did 70 minutes all up. Lets hope it is a long time before I have to do that again.

27th Oct - 2nd November

Mon 9.5k 48:10 (HR 134 5:04)
Tue 18k 1:30:54 (HR 136 5:03 )
Wed 13k 1:03:38 (HR 143 4:53)
Thu 13k 1:05:53 (HR 134 5:04)
Fri 18k 1:30:19 (HR 143 5:01)
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:13:39 (HR 139 5:20)

Week 96.5k

Oct 412k
Year 2823k

It has been a much better two weeks of training and I am at last seeing some improvement in performances. I have been very consistent and that always pays off in the end. October has turned out to be my highest volume month ever at 412k. Below is a bar graph of Monthly Totals since 2005. The previous week had been rather mild but Friday evening it was quite hot and this morning's long run was done in humid conditions. So it could get tougher over the next few months to keep putting in the big Ks but I have set a goal of doing 400+ in November and December.

The other big highlight was that I not only passed Steve Monaghetti once on last Thursday's training run but I passed him twice. Now before you get too excited, let me say again that was pass and not overtake.

Australia 4 Qatar 0

2008-10-21T22:21:00.002+10:00

Mon 9.5k 48:12 (HR 137 5:04) 695 93
Tue 18.0k 1:33:11 (HR 137 5:10) 709 102
Wed Socceroo duty
Thu 18.0k 1:31:41 (HR 137 5:05) 697 95
Fri 13.0k 1:04:00 (HR 139 4:55) 684 82
Sat Rest
Sun 25.0k 2:08:40 (HR 148 5:08) 761 112

Week 83.5k
Oct 244k
Year 2626k

Maybe there was some lessons to be learnt from last week. Wednesday was the Socceroo's World Cup Qualifying game against Qatar, so I took the night off. It turned out to be a good decision because their was an enormous thunderstorm which started about 6:30pm. Lots of lightning , buckets of rain and it all delayed the kick-off by 30 minutes. It did mean that the training runs on Thursday and Friday were far more satisfactory in terms of performance than most have been lately.

But by Sunday, even though my long run was around 3 minutes faster than last week it was done at a higher heart rate (148 vs 144). At it seems I am still a long way from matching my fitness from July when I did this run 6 minutes faster at the same 148 Heart Rate. So it still seems a bit up and down with a fair way to go back to top condition.

Ewen was questioning my Index of (Heart Rate * pace). It is the blue number above. Whilst I agree that it has some limitations, for my runs in the 70 - 80% Max HR Zone I find it useful. For runs above that Heart Rate Zone a more useful index I use is (HR - 50) * (Pace -4). This figure is in red. It gives a bit more weighting to pace but I am not doing much training in that zone at the moment. If anyone has the perfect index to compare one run to another I am all ears.

Pretty Numbers

2008-10-12T21:28:00.002+10:00

29th Sep - 5th October 6th - 12th October
Mon 9.5k 48:39 (HR 133 5:07) 681 47:20 (HR 138 4:58) 687
Tue 13k 1:05:58 (HR 141 5:04) 715 1:07:42 (HR 136 5:12) 708
Wed 13k 1:08:55 (HR 134 5:18) 710 1:07:31 (HR 135 5:11) 701
Thu 13k 1:08:19 (HR 132 5:15) 693 1:08:44 (HR 134 5:17) 708
Fri 18k 1:36:28 (HR 138 5:21) 739 1:31:48 (HR 139 5:06) 702
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:13:46 (HR 139 5:21) 743 2:11:37 (HR 144 5:15) 758

Week 91.5k

Oct 160k
Year 2546k

The last two weeks I have done the same sessions on the same days. At the moment it is all just low aerobic runs in the 70 - 75% of Max HR zone. The results are a bit up and down. The numbers in red are my own index which I use to compare runs based on (HR * pace). I would expect a slight progressive decrease in values but it has been up and down like this for the last month.

I said I would review my goals at the start of October and given the figures I have abandoned the plan to race a 10k this year. I will now just go into base building for the next four or five months. The new goal is to do at least 400k a month over that period.

Closer

2008-09-29T22:42:00.002+10:00

Week starting 22/9
Mon 9.5k 46:15 (HR143 4:52)
Tue 13.0k 1:07:18 (HR 137 5:10)
Wed 13.0k 1:06:27 (HR 140 5:06)
Thu 13.0k 1:04:52 (HR 144 4:59)
Fri 13.0k 1:02:25 (HR 144 4:48)
Sat Rest
Sun 25.0k 2:13:50 (HR 137 5:21)
Week : 86.5k

At last I am starting to feel like things are getting back on track with pleasing runs on Friday and Sunday. But still along way to go. Has been a cooler this week and somedays the wind has been quite stiff along the river going into towards town.

Have to decide on how I can extend the 13k as it seems the section of the boardwalk that is currently closed will have to be rebuilt and it is not expected to reopen for two years.

Formal Time

2008-09-22T22:23:00.004+10:00

I have continued to plug away this week at getting my fitness back. It has certainly suprised me how much the bout of flu actually took out of me. The HR is still to high for the pace of the runs. One thing that hasn't helped this week is the return of humid conditions. It only seems like yesterday that conditions were ideal for running. Even at these slow paces I am finishing drenched.

Mon 9.5k 46:36 (HR 143 Pace 4:54)

Tue 13k 1:07:53 (HR 131 Pace 5:13)

Wed 13k 1:06:05 (HR 138 Pace 5:05)

Thu 13k 1:04:42 (HR 139 Pace 5:01)

Fri - Busy

Sat - Rest

Sun 25k 2:15:20 (HR 142 Pace 5:24)

Week Total 73.5k

I didn't run Friday as it was my eldest daughter's Grade 12 school formal and I had to be there for the pre-formal send off. After that we had to rush to Suncorp to see the Roar game (yet another home loss). Bronco's supporters may be gutted by the last seconds loss on Saturday night but only Roar fans know dissappointment on a year in year out basis.

Here is a formal picture of Ducky. Today she went for her driving test and passed.

10 9 8 but not at 7 6 5

2008-09-10T07:06:00.003+10:00

I just couldn't let the 10th of September 2008 go by without a post. Pity I wasn't out of bed at 6 minutes and 5 seconds past 7 this morning.

Tonight I ran to the point where the boardwalk is closed. I measured it as just slightly under 13k which I did in 64:48 (HR 142 4:59 pace). So it cuts about 1.5k off the legth of the normal run. Will have to find another 2k somewhere to make it a nice even 15k in the future.

I have been posting infrequently lately for many reasons. One of which is, I have been having too much fun making alternating music mixes with Johnny Dark. It goes like this. He sends me a song. I listen. Become inspired. Select a song and send it back to him. He does the same at his end. This continues until we reach the 80 minute CD length. Sometimes inspiration is instant but on other occasions I spend many hours trawling through my album collection looking for that perfect selection.

We are just about to finish our third.

If you are interested the first two can be downloaded .

Yes ! We have no bananas! As you know, a lack of bananas can lead to the blues.

The Blissful World of Denial An uplifting selection of sounds from banana growing countries.

Rescue Me

2008-09-08T07:27:00.001+10:00

Maybe this is the answer to not having to have that annoying toilet stop in your next marathon.

"Back On The Road Again" Again

2008-09-07T22:02:00.003+10:00

On my last post (many many moons ago) I had just started running again after the dreaded cold and cough lurgy that everyone seems to have got as well.

My running only lasted about a week and I just still didn't feel right, so decided to give my self some more time off just to make sure I was fully over it.

So now I have just completed my second week back again. Even in the first week, I was still up and down with some soaring HRs at slow pace on some runs.

This week has been better and I managed 72.5k but I have certainly lost some fitness since the Gold Coast. I had wanted to race a 10k in October and get under 40 minutes but that doesn't look possible right now. So I plan to just do a month of base building low HR runs and re-assess my goals in early October.

When I came back to work at the end of May, I had a dilemma that I wrestled with for about a month. Because of the completion of some new river-side apartments, the Path by the river along the Teneriffe section was now joined with a section further along. In the picture below you can see where the path used to to turn back up on to the road but now you can continue on.

Should I use this new path or stick to my old course, so runs could be accurately compared with past runs? I finally made the plunge and took the new route. It is about 20 meters shorter over all but I can live with that. And then last week, they closed the path just past the Storey Bridge, so it is no longer possible to do my 14.5k round trip to Riverside or the 19k loop to the Goodwill Bridge. Doh!

Back On The Road Again

2008-08-11T20:55:00.003+10:00

It has been a while since I posted but for the last 10 days there has not been much to say. It started as a sore throat but quickly went to my head and chest and resulted in four days in bed or on the couch. Once over the worst, the damn cough would just not go away.

Today has been the first day that I have really felt like going for a run.

Tonight it was a gentle 5.2k in 26:50 and I seemed to have managed not too make anything worse at this stage. So hopefully I can now ease back into full training.

Pity I had to miss the CR 5k challenge at BRRC on Sunday. It sounds like everyone had a good time.

The family on a recent trip to Roma Street Parklands.

GCM Follow Up

2008-07-13T20:33:00.003+10:00

Here are a few photos from last week at the Gold Coast.

Firstly Kewell showing some good style in the 4k Junior Dash. He is the one in the green and gold shirt and The Gap soccer shorts.

This one is my sister with Deek at her presentation for the 20 Half Marathon's Club.

I still seem to have some stride length at the finish!! But it was really hurting doing it.

The traditional recovery in the Southport Spit. Cool and refreshing until after 10 minutes something started nibbling on my feet. Then I was out of there.

I have pulled up very well from the race. Constant draining of blood with a sharp needle under my right second toenail for three days has at least stopped the pain from that toe. I guess the toe nail will come off in due course. It did the same after Gold Coast last year and again after Melbourne as well.

Mon 7th Rest
Tue 8th Rest
Wed 9th 5k 28:03 (5:36)
A gentle jog.
Thu 10th 6.8k 33:56 (4:59 HR 130)
Another easy recovery run.
Fri 11th 6.8k 33:09 (4:52 HR 134)
Easy. Legs feel good.
Sat 12th 7.0k Walk
I was going to see the Roar play at Suncorp Stadium tonight, so decided to walk there from home. I allowed myself 90 minutes but it only took 70. Walking is very relaxing and a great recovery exercise. And to cap a good night the Roar won 3-1 against Brazilian team Palmeiras with a good display.
Sun 13th Rest.

I will have another easy week next week and then start ramping up the volume again.
I will also decide on what my next race targets will be.

I have been doing some analysis of the GCM results. I copied the results for the top 693 finishers (basically everyone who got under 3:30) and did some crunching of numbers on this group. I was interested to see how I compared in the second half of the the race compared to others. My second half was 5:50 slower or 6.24% of my first half time. It turns out that 42% of this group did better than me and 58% worse.

Some more boring facts (hey what else is there to do when you are not running?).

Just 50 or 6.9% managed a negative split. This included the winner with 1:08:07 /1:06:10 (-2.86%). The best was -6.96% to the 305th place with 1:40:46 /1:33:45.

Only 11 runners placed in the top 200 managed a negative split.
(Places 1,18,22,24,42,59,64,71,158,165,189)

The spread for Negative splits was :

-7 to -6% 2 (305,337)
-6 to -5% 1 (303)
-5 to -4% 1 (390)
-4 to -3% 8 (165,453,42,694,595,663,508,352)
-3 to -2% 10 (466,459,679,1,535,536,683,455,271,22)
-2 to -1% 10 (599,323,474,300,261,392,410,367,354,377)
-1 to -0% 17 (432,64,313,314,229,626,189,18,447,362,158,596,676,24,622,59,71)

Only one person (329th) was able to run the perfect race with even splits 1:37:54 / 1:37:54.
Another six people came very close to even splits but were just over.
1 second over 366th 1:38:48 / 1:38:49
4 seconds 182nd 1:33:00 / 1:33:04
5 seconds 695th 1:46:17 / 1:46:22
5 seconds 235th 1:35:03 / 1:35:08
6 seconds 677th 1:44:48 / 1:44:54
8 seconds 2nd 1:07:35 / 1:07:43

I am still looking at the rest of the numbers for the faders but bottom of this group is place 620th with 1:25:35 / 2:04:16 (45.19%). To be continued...

Gold Coast Marathon 2008 3:12:43

2008-07-07T20:40:00.003+10:00

Sun 6th July Gold Coast Marathon 2:12:43 (4:34 HR 165)

This was the best prepared I have been for a marathon since 1985. I had come ready to race. This wasn't to be just an long training run like Canberra or Melbourne 2007. This had been my focus since last year. In January this year, I set up my goal 10/10/10. In my 10th marathon finish, I was going to go sub 3:10 and get a top 10 place in my age group. I kind of blew this by running Canberra this year so this would be my 11th finish. Of course, it was a trifle unrealistic to be making a prediction in January on what sort of form you would be in come July but I am a great believer in feeding the mind and goal setting. In the end come race time, it wasn't too far off the mark.

The plan was to go out at 4:30 pace and try to stick it out for as long as possible.

We came down to the Coast, on Saturday afternoon and it rained most of the way. It was a very overcast and windy Saturday afternoon and the wind continued all night.

I was up at 4:00am had a some creamed rice and coffee, had a shower , woke the family and left around 5:50 for the start. We parked and arrived in time to see the start of the half. In what seemed no time, there I was at the start line just in front of the 3:15 pacer and we were off.

I managed to miss the first four Kilometer markers and it wasn't till the Eagle landed beside me and suggested I was at the pointy end of my performance that I learnt that I was going around 4:18 pace. I dropped backed the pace but was feeling comfortable. It was hard to miss the 5k mark as we had to run over a timing mat. First 5k in 21:59 (4:24). I was now into the groove and was putting out consistent 4:28 Ks. At times there was a little bit of headwind but nothing to really be worried about. After the turnaround and maybe with a now the help of the tail wind and the sight of the rest of the field streaming towards me, the pace quickened and I was now doing 4:24 pace. Got to half way in 1:33:27 which meant I had 93 seconds in the bank. Some quick mental calculations left me with the scenario that I even I slowed down 10 seconds a K from my current pace I still could make a sub 3:10. They way I was feeling, I could see no reason why this could not be done.

I did slow a little just to conserve some energy but continued on around 4:28 pace although I did put in a 4:39 up the "hill" past the start but reached the 30k mark in 2:13:24. Some more quick maths. I now had 96 seconds in the bank. 4:38s would get me there. The more Ks now I could keep under that the more insurance I would have. It was looking good. The next K was 4:32 . The next K to 32k was 4:34. I had started to not feel so comfortable. 10 and a bit to go. 4:39s would still do it.

For the first time in the race, the clouds parted and it was direct sunlight. I was getting hot. My stomach was starting not to feel so well. I was planning on a Gel at the next water station but the thought of taking it in wasn't appealing.

The next K was 4:46 . The funny thing about this was I was still passing people but I was slowing down myself. In just a few Ks I had gone from comfortable to struggling. Those 4:39 Ks now looked very hard. I knew I had to keep hanging in, it may have just been a bad patch. It was more my stomach and feeling hot rather than my legs that were the problem. Get to the turn around and heading home would be a lift I told myself. The next K was again 4:46. Holding on.

Reached the turn around and I was immediately faced with a beautiful cooling breeze but the feeling was only temporary realising I would have to be running into this all the way back. Still 35k in 2:36:54. What could I salvage now. I knew 3:12.xx was my third best marathon time set in 1983. I calculated that sub 5 minute Ks would get me under 3:13. Something new to aim for.

A 4:43 36th K. If only I could tuck in behind some one to shield myself from the headwind but the field was very strung out and there was no one I could latch on to. Then a 5:01 . I forced myself to have the Gel and started really really concentrating on my form. I have a mantra for such occasions. Head still, shoulders relaxed , hips forward, deep breaths. I say it over and over.

I'm back down to 4:58. The 39th K is better still at 4:56. The stomach is still dodgy and once or twice feel like that last Gel was on its way back up. The 40th K and I am sliding back to 5:02. My feet now are going numb. A very strange feeling. A 5:07 ouch! Just over a 1.2 K to go, no holding back now. Head still, shoulders relaxed , hips forward, deep breaths. Lots of Go Robert from onlookers. The crowd is lifting me. Passed the CR cheersquad. Thanks guys. The crowd is going berserk. A Japanese runner in a tutu flies past me. It lifted me anyway. I hear a Go Graham. Must be my family. I turn the corner, I know I am putting in everything I've got. The finish line. Such Relief to finally stop. 2:12:43. The last K and a bit at 4:53 place.

It is now Monday night, I can look back at it all a bit more objectively.

I am very pleased with my time. It is 5:43 better than last year and a big Over 50 PB. On an Age Equivalent scale, it comes in as 2:47:52. I had one failed attempt to run 2:48 in 1988 so this is the next best thing to that. I know with a few more years of training, I can improve on the time, so I still have much motivation to go on to better times.

I am a touch disappointed that I fell apart so quickly after 32k. From how I was running I thought I could have held on for longer.

My son Kewell, completed the 4k dash. He did almost 3 minutes slower this year. Last year he had the motivation of beating his sister Delta, so he trained a lot harder and raced a lot harder on the day.

Luckily the organisers were running well behind in their presentations, so got to see my sister presented with her 20 year half marathon club award from Rob De Castella.

The day was capped off with a nice social afternoon catching up with all the CRs.

All the Stats

Splits
5k 0:21:59
10k 0:22:22
15k 0:22:13
20k 0:22:00
25k 0:22:18
30k 0:22:33
35k 0:23:29
40k 0:24:52
42.2k 0:10:58

1st Half 1:33:27
2nd Half 1:39:17

12th M50-54 Age Group

262 th Overall.

The Trainings All Done

2008-07-04T20:10:00.003+10:00

Mon 30th 6.5k 34:55 (5:08 ) No Hr data.
Recovery Run.

Tues 1st Rest

Wed 2nd 14.5k 1:04:24 (4:26 HR 154)
A solid upper aerobic run. I was a bit twitchy on this run. It was this session the Wednesday before Canberra in 2007 that I injured my left leg and had to hobble back to work. No such problem though tonight.

Thu 3rd Rest

Fri 6.5k 29:25 (4:31 HR 151)
An easy run from home this morning to just keep the legs ticking over. Can't stand too much tapering.

Those two last runs while I am happy with the times and pace I am a bit concerned about the Heart Rates. They are about 4 or 5 beats higher than I would have expected especially given I have been tapering. I suspect if I hadn't forgotten my HR strap for Monday's run it would have shown similar results. I suppose I am still fighting the low grade virus I had last week. Luckily I don't feel like I'm going down hill with anything and I have two days rest now.

I have decided on my race strategy and I will start out at 4:30 pace. If I am strong and can keep that up all the way, it will get me under 3:10. If I was to make a prediction at this point , I would say there will be a little fade towards the end and I'll finish in 3:12.xx. More than happy to be proven wrong though .

I have one disappointment with the event. My eldest sister is doing her 20th GC Half Marathon but the presentations will be done at 9:30am so I will be still out on the course at that time and won't be able to see her getting recognised for what is a great running achievement.

Best of luck to all the other runners.
See you out on the road.

Fear and Loathing The Wall

2008-06-29T19:35:00.004+10:00

Mon 23rd 14.5k 1:03:42 (4:23 HR 152)

A good upper aerobic run. This sort of pace is starting to feel very comfortable.

Tue 24th Rest

Wed 25th 14.5k 1:01:42 (4:15 HR 157)

Tonight I set out with the aim of bettering my PB of 1:03:18. Given I was only 24 seconds off it on Monday night, I knew I could do it with just a little more effort. In the end, I manage to beat it by 86 seconds. Out in 30:46 and back in 30:56, so nice even pacing. Very pleased to set a new mark.

Thu 26th 9.5k 47:26 (4:59 HR 134)

Recovery Run.

Fri 27th Rest

Felt a little off today, so decided to take a rest day. No point in pushing it at this point.

Sat 28th Rest

Slept most of the afternoon.

Sun 29th 10k BRRC 40:19 (4:02 HR 165)

I wanted another solid hit out today but also was aware not to go absolutely flat out. My aim was to get under the time I did last year in this same event (41:56). It was a new start and course for the BRRC. The starting area facilities were luxury and I like the new course. Hope it stays. It was a lovely cool morning for running.

I started conservatively with a 4:18 first K and steadily cranked up the pace. Did the first lap in 20:28 and was feeling comfortable. Up the pace some more with a sting of sub 4 Ks and came home in 19:51 for 40:19 time. A new Over 50 10k PB. I am certainly looking forward to doing a 10k after the Gold Coast as I am positive I can take enough off that time to get under 40 minutes.

Week: 50.5k

June: 294k

2008: 1704k

One week to go. Funny think is I am starting to get very excited. Not about next week-end's race but GCM 2009. My preparation for this year has been great but I know I still have more room for improvement. I have really only been doing the upper aerobic runs for eight weeks and I am still improving with each one. Until today's run, I had not had my Heart Rate over 165 (88% Max HR) in training. I just have not had enough speed to push the heart hard enough. So I am excited because no matter what I do next Sunday I know in the future I will do even better.

The great benefit of this is that it puts no pressure on me for next week. I read of so many people getting so very excited for days and weeks before hand but I find being calm the week before produces a much better run on the day.

Continuing on with old marathon photos, here is me at around 34k in the gold Coast Marathon in 1984. Managed 3:05:57 that day. Looks like there was some rain on the day although I can't recall it now. A little more traditionally attired but they don't make shorts like that anymore. In fact, I got them for free from the Breakfast run the day before the New York Marathon in 1982.

Stephen Lacey posted this on his Blog about Hunter Thompson movie. It reminded me of a Ralph Steadman drawing for a Nike add that I had on my wall for many years.

Tune In If Your Ranking

2008-06-23T22:13:00.003+10:00

Mon 16th 6.8k 35:19 (5:11 HR 132)
Recovery run.

Tue 17th 9.5k 40:21 (4:14 HR 152)
A 21 second improvement from last week but still 10 seconds behind my fastest for this course.

Wed 18th 14.5k 1:10:25 (4:51 HR 135)An easy lower aerobic run and a new HR PB for this course.

Thu 19th Rest
My stomach was unsettled Wednesday night and I was not feeling well today, so gave myself a rest.

Fri 20th Rest
Still below par but getting better.

Sat 21st 6.5k 27:19 (4:12 HR 152)
Saturday afternoon, I felt I was up to a run so decided on a short easy run. Don't exactly understand how this turned into such a fast run but it did. So much for taking it easy. I rarely run this distance and when I do it is usually a recovery run but this was faster than my previous recent best (2006) by 68 seconds. My all time PB is 24:00 from October 1992. Gosh it is hard to imagine running that fast (3:41 pace) now.

Sun 22nd 15.3k 1:11:18 (4:39 HR 149)
A solid upper aerobic run. Quite happy with the run as I still only feel 98% well.

Week: 52.6k
June: 260k
2008: 1,668k

I'm surprised no one got close in identifying my T shirt from the New York Marathon.
It was a DBC Rebel Radio shirt. The Dread Broadcasting Corporation was the local Pirate Radio Station in West London and I was an avid listener. It mainly played reggae (which I was completely mesmerised by at that time) but also some African, Calypso and Blues.

The shirt got me some big cheers on the run especially in Harlem running through Marcus Garvey Park.

It's a Mug's Game

2008-06-15T18:53:00.004+10:00

Mon 9th 3k 20:58 (6:59 HR 113)
A real recovery run. Because of the Queen's Birthday Holiday I ran from home and went out with Kewell for a run. He has entered the Junior Dash at the GC so needs to do some training. Boy was it slow.

Tue 10th 9.5k 40:42 (4:17 HR 154)
This is my "fast" session for the week and the third time I've done this in this campaign. I am managing to get faster each week (42:47, 41:31, 40:42). The aim now is to beat my course PB from May 2006 40:11 in the next two weeks.

Wed 11th 14.5k 1:09:33 (4:49 HR 137)
An easy lower aerobic run and managed a HR PB for this course as well.

Thu 12th 14.5k 1:03:46 (4:23 HR 155)
An upper aerobic run. My second fast time ever over this course. Knocking off that time of 1:03:18 from May 2006 will be another target in the next two weeks.

Fri 13th 9.5k 46:40 (4:54 HR 133)
An easy recovery run.

Sat 14th Rest

Sun 15th 25k 1:51:02 (4:26 HR 159)
Headed down to the BRRC this morning looking to get a solid 25k run at around marathon pace. It was a perfect morning for running after the temperatures dropped yesterday. My aim was to go at around 4:30 pace.
5k Splits
22:28
22:09
22:12
22:01
22:12

So in the end I managed to go a bit faster at 4:26 with some nice even pacing. I reckon I could have done at least another 10k at that pace but don't know about after that. The big surprise was that I was first over the line of the 25k finishers and won a BRRC mug. Sweet. Didn't really feel like a race though as I ran by myself the whole way.

It has been another great week of training for me. Another two weeks of quality training to go and then an easy last week is the plan.

Week: 76k
June: 191.5k
2008: 1601k

I am touched by all the fashion comments from my last post. For those who asked, the Indian motif sweat shirt was purchased very cheaply from North End Road markets in Fulham. The plan was to wear it pre-race and then discard it just before the start. Had to change plans because it was so cold and wore it the whole way with a T-shirt underneath. Given a reprieve, it gave me many years of fashionable service after that.

So what do you think of my selection of gear for my second marathon in New York 1982?

Irie!!

Wind and Rain

2008-06-10T07:16:00.004+10:00

Mon 2nd 6k 31:58 (5:19)
Legs were quite stiff from yesterday's run. Felt better after this easy run done in pouring rain and a strong wind.

Tue 3rd 14.5k 1:10:38 (4:52 HR 137)
Lower aerobic run .

Wed 4th 9.5k 41:31 (4:22 HR 150)
Starting to get some decent pace back into training at last.

Thu 5th 14.5k 1:06:49 (4:36 hr 144)
A good effort after last night's speedy session.

Fri 6th 14.5k 1:11:36 (4:56 HR 135)
An easy run but still pleasing to be able to now run sub 5 Ks at 72% Max HR.

Sat 7th Rest

Sun 8th 31.5k 2:40:09 (5:05 HR 143 )
Not too many more long runs to go now before Gold Coast.

Week: 90.5k

June: 118.5k

2008: 1528k

My sister just came back from a UK holiday where see did the London and Edinbourgh Marathons. I was digging around our old photos to show her some of our shots of Scotland and I came across these.

This is me finishing my first Marathon in Birmingham in 1982. It looks cold and windy because it was. A debut time of 3:48:53 and placed 1,330th.

And this is My Wife finishing our third marathon in Guildford 1983. Cold and wet but no wind that day. She did 4:15 whilst I managed 3:12:14. I am hoping for something similiar 25 years later.

Bag of Frozen Peas

2008-06-05T20:39:00.002+10:00

The Levon Helm song from my last post reminded me of a song I had on my player earlier this year that also made me chuckle. Back in the mid 1990s, every time I came back from a run I would have to put ice packs on my knees. I did that for about a year, so any song about icing your kness is sure to get my attention.

This one is from Dirty Old Man by Neil Young on Chrome Dreams 11.

I like to get hammered
On Friday night
Sometimes I can't wait
So Monday's alright

It's a battle with the bottle
I'll win it alright
But I lost another round
In the bar last night

Got a bag of frozen peas
I use on my knees
I injured from beggin'
And tryin' to please

If you believe that
I'm losing my fat
Got a workout program
And a new rubber mat

Kewell Running

2008-06-03T22:24:00.002+10:00

Mon 26th
Resting ankle.

Tue 27th
40 min on the Gym Bike. The ankle had improved enough that I was happy to take a spin on the bike in the gym. After a warm up did 8 repeats of 2 minutes hard / 2 minutes recovery and then a warm down.

Wed 28th
Another 40 minutes on the gym bike. Tonight it was 3 repeats of 5 mins hard / 2 minutes recovery.

Thu 29th
9.5k 42:47 4:30 HR 146
After three days of no running I was willing to test the ankle out. I was meant to go easy but it somehow turned out to be much faster than I anticipated. The ankle was still a sore when turning left.

Fri 30th
14.5k 1:19:48 4:50 HR 137
Was determined to take it a little slower than last night but upped the distance. The ankle felt a lot better tonight but still felt like I was favouring it a little. Anyway it was a great time for the HR giving me a new HR PB for this course. I had so been looking forward to getting back on my old work courses so I could get a good gauge on my current condition but the rolled ankle had put that on hold. Tonight though gave me a lot of confidence as it means my aerobic fittness is superior to the last couple of years.

Sat 31st
I still had an opportunity to enter the Doomben Half and I thought long and hard about it Saturday morning but finally thought caution was the best approach and decided against running it. I had been mentally preparing myself for a couple of weeks to race this event, so it now looks like I will go to the Gold Coast without a race before hand. Although there is a chance I may be able to get to the BRRC on the 15th if a prior engagement up the Coast is cancelled.

Sun 1st
25k 1:59:31 4:46 HR 149
Ran my long run a little faster than normal today. The ankle seems to be 99% OK now.

Finished up the day at Suncorp Stadium seeing the Socceroos pick up 3 valuable World Cup qualifying points even if it was a bit of a lucky win. Highlight of the night was the excitement on my son's face when he first set eyes on his hero Harry Kewell when the Aussies came out for their warm-up. Priceless. The low light was the fact that my eldest daughter Ducky only became aware that she was watching a World Cup Qualifier at half time. She then went off to buy some chips and didn't return in time to see the one and only goal.

Week: 49k (Not bad considering the way I was hobbling around on Monday).
Year: 1445k

Some lyrics from a song currently on my player and that never fail to make me chuckle are these from Levon Helm's Song "Got Me A Woman" from the album "Dirt Farmer".

Oh, I got me a woman she's a pretty good woman at that
We live with a monkey and a Chinese acrobat
She calls me 'Tex', makes me wear a cowboy hat
But I don't care she's a pretty good woman at that

Nothing in the world make me treat that woman mean
She shaves my beard and she keeps my tractor clean
She burns my bread, makes me eat turnip greens
But I don't care she's a best little woman I've seen

Rocking 'n' Rolling

2008-05-26T22:02:00.004+10:00

Mon 19th 11.0k 53:24 4:51 Avg HR 139

After Sunday's 36k run, it was pleasing to be able to run such a steady recovery run on a Monday night. In fact this was a Heart Rate PB for this course.

Tue 20th 9.7k 45:56 4:41 HR 157

Another hilly fartlek session.

Wed 21st 15.3k 1:17:03 5:02 HR 142

An easy lower aerobic run.

Thu 22nd 15.3k 1:09:17 4:31 HR 155

So far I have been putting a quality upper aerobic run each week on my 11k course. As I would be back at work next week, I thought I would have a crack at my longer 15k course. It turned out to be a corker of a run. So far this year my best time here was 1:15:12 and my all time best from April 2007 was 1:13:39, so I surpassed both those by a huge margin.

Fri 23rd Rest

Sat 24th 15.3k 1:18:27 5:07 HR 138

An easy aerobic run.

Sun 25th 36.0k 3:11:00 5:19 HR 135

Just when you think things are going so well reality comes up from behind and bites you on the bum. I got away around 6:00am and it was a brisk morning. I had settled down into a nice easy pace. At around 4k there is a little sharp rise at the back of the Ashgrove Bowls Club which at the top gives you a nice view of the Valleys Cricket Ovals. This morning it was covered in a thick blanket of fog about a metre high. It was very picturesque and I was admiring the view, when I suddenly lost my footing and almost stumbled over. Looking back, I saw I had landed my left foot on a seed pod. One of those giant seed pods that has two or three seeds about the size of golf balls in them. My left ankle was shouting out at me and I stopped to assess the damage. The initial pain seemed to subside fairly quickly, so decided I would continue on slowly and see how it felt. After a few minutes the pain had almost all gone so I continued on.

When I got back home at 25k I could have stopped but it really wasn't bothering me that much, so I set out for the final 11k. In hindsight this was probably a mistake. From then on I could feel it antime I turned to the left. The last 5k was a bit of a struggle. In the end my time was very good for such a low Heart Rate but as soon as I stopped I knew the ankle was not going to be good.

Did all the RICE stuff for the rest of the day, so hopefully that will aid the recovery.

Week: 102.6k

May: 345k

Year: 1,386k

Monday 26th

Today, I returned to work after being on leave since mid December. It was a sad sight seeing me hobbling back. Talk about adding insult to injury. The ankle has improved a little today but I would estimate it will need a least two or three more days of rest before trying to run on it. This is a shame as I was really looking forward to putting in a big effort in the Doomben Half this Sunday. On a positive side, I had left my entry to the last minute so will have not lost an entry fee if I don't recover in time. If I am back running before the weekend, it will not be too much of a set back for the Gold Coast. In fact, it could just freshen me up for a final month of quality training.

If these catch your eye,

there are hundreds more at Extended Album Art .

Still improving

2008-05-19T11:31:00.004+10:00

Mon 12th 11k 57:01 (5:11 Avg HR 135)
Easy recovery run.

Tue 13th 9.5k 43:08 (4:32 HR 155)
Hilly fartlek session. I am finding this session very exhilarating. It certainly feels great to be going all out up the hills.

Wed 14th 15.3k 1:15:45 (4:57 HR 146)
Was to be just an easy run but was feeling OK after yesterday's effort, so pushed it a little coming back at an average HR of 150.

Thu 15th 15.3k 1:18:59 (5:09 hr 134)
An easy run and a HR PB.

Fri 16th 11k 47:45 (4:20 HR 158)
A new fastest time for this course and 1:49 faster than last week. Last week I averaged HR 150 for the run and really struggled at that rate. This week's run seemed much easier even though the HR average was higher. Just shows how quickly you improve your anaerobic ability with only a few weeks effort training.

Sat 17th Rest

Sun 18th 36k 3:08:50 (5:14 HR 139)
Not the most pleasant of long runs. To start it was cold and windy. The first 12.5k is basically east to Bowen Bridge Rd and generally the wind was behind me. This meant 70 minutes coming back home into the wind. The final 11k on the Gap cycle path was not too bad as it has a lot of protection from the sun and wind.
One great point about my long run course is that the first 25k section out and back to my home is very similar to the GC course where you come back to the start line around the 26k mark. Pushing yourself to turn around and continue with the extra Ks in training is great mental training for the GC.

Week: 98.1k
May: 243k
2008: 1283k

Another good training week. At this stage of the preparation it is always encouraging to see significant improvement from one week to the next.

On the music front this album, Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Blues 1970 - 1976 has been the first choice for listening on the home CD player now for a couple of weeks. I can recommend highly.

Here is a video of one of the featured artists Sir Victor Uwaifo.

The first you must watch. It is only very short but I bet you haven't seen any Western guitar heroes doing this move.

This one is typical of the music on the album .

Going strong

2008-05-11T21:13:00.002+10:00

A really good week's training. All runs except Sunday's were done in the evening.

Mon 5th 15.3k 75:12 (4:54 Hr 147)
By only doing 25k on Sunday morning, it means by Monday evening I can do a solid upper aerobic run with no difficulty. This is the best time I have done this year on this course.

Tue 6th 9.7k 47:15 (4:52 HR 145)
Hilly fartlek session.

Wed 7th 15.3k 78:09 (5:06 HR 136)
An easy lower aerobic run. I have a couple of rating systems for runs. One is Avg Heart Rate multipled by Avg Pace which I find is particuliarly useful for comparing runs over the same course especially lower aerobic runs. So for this run it was 136 * 5.11 = 694.7 which just happens to be a PB for this course. This is a very good indicator for me. Just for comparision, Monday's run although quickier could only manage 722.5.

The other indicator I have is (Avg HR - 50) * (Avg Pace - 4) . This gives a bit more weighting to pace and is a bit indicator for Upper aerobic runs and Monday's run scores 89 as compared to Wednesday's 95.

I know you are probably thinking this is all a bit nerdy but I collect all this in a spreadsheet, so it only requires the input of a couple of figures.

Thu 8th 6.5k 33:41 (5:10 HR 133)
My legs were felling heavy and tired today so just did a short recovery run.

Fri 9th 11.0k 49:34 (4:30 HR 150)
A shorter upper aerobic run. Hit the jackpot tonight. Triple PB. This is the fastest I have ever done this course and the first time under 50 minutes. It was also PB on both my ranking scales 675.9 beating the previous 689 from 10th April and 51 beating the 70 from 23rd April.

Sat 10th Rest

Sun 11th 36k 3:10:49 (5:17 HR 139)
A nice and easy long run to finish off the week.

Week: 93.8k
May: 145k
Year: 1185k

Still while all this is encouraging, running 4:30 for 11k as I did on Friday is one thing but to continue on a that pace for another 30k is certainly not possible at this point. But just four weeks ago running 4:51 pace over that course seemed tough so who knows where another eight weeks will get me.

Ewen made comment about the Senegalese Dakar Sound album which I have on my music player and the sound of Motorbikes from the Dakar Rally. I think he may be on to something here. The album is a compilation of Senegalese music from the late 70's and 80's featuring what was at that time a wild new sound coming out of Dakar called Mbalax and features stuttering guitar and drums which when I think about it often sound like a noisy back firing trail bike. Given that the Dakar rally started in 1977 maybe it was the spark for this new wave of music?

Upping the Tempo

2008-05-05T11:20:00.003+10:00

This is the first week where I have actively stepped up the intensity of a few sessions. Hopefully it will only take a few weeks to see the benefits of this.

Mon 28/4 11k 51:51 (4:42 Avg HR 155)
After doing my long run on Saturday, this could be an upper aerobic run rather than just a recovery run that I would normally do Monday.
Tue 29/4 15.3k 1:18:08 (5:06 HR 141)
A easy run.
Wed 30/4 9.5k 43:39 (4:35 HR 153)
This was my first time for ages running this course. I just follow Waterworks Road to Ashgrove and back. Lots of hills. The plan is to be aggressive up the hills and recover on the down side.
Thu 1/5 15.3k 1:16:01 (4:48 HR 146)
I woke up on Thursday morning to a dense layer of smoke lying over The Gap. The legs still felt a bit stiff from yesterday, so decided to delay the run till the afternoon. It turned out to be a good move. A ice solid pace all the way at an encouragingly low heart rate. I have been doing a few afternoon runs recently and it seems I run better at this time of day.
Fri 2/5 11k 57:03 (5:11 HR 133)
Again went out late in the day. Just an easy run along the bike path. It was getting quite dark towards the end and there is no lighting. With about 2.5k to go I found myself suddenly hurdling through the air!! I landed and quickly looked over my shoulder and it was a snake on the path. Seems my brain had processed what my eyes had seen and commanded my legs to jump well before it had sent the information to my consciousness. A nice short rise in HR at the point on the graph as well.
Sat 3/5 Rest
Sun 4/5 25k 2:32:15 (5:17 HR 136)
Back to running in the morning and the smoke haze is still around. Not very pleasant for running but as I leave The Gap and Ashgrove it gets better and it is mostly gone by the time I return. A little slower than last week but it has been a big step up in intensity this week in training and I know I can feel it it my legs, so not that unhappy.

Week Total: 87k

Music for the Road to Gold Coast

2008-05-01T13:34:00.007+10:00

After loading up the music player with loads of old favourites for the Canberra marathon, it was time to clean out the play list and load up lots of new stuff. I really lifts my running when I have new music to listen to.

A few albums that have been on since Christmas managed to escape the cull as I still feel they had more to offer. These were In Rainbows, Fulani Journey and Ruke. All the others are "new".

I also loaded a mix of calypso tunes recommended by Johnny Dark that can be downloaded from here.

This is what is on there at the moment and more or less will be the soundtrack for my campaign for the Gold Coast..

Fulani Journey - Afrissippi (Senegal/USA 2006)

Dirt Farmer - Levon Helm (USA 2007)

Hello Hello - Mose Fan Fan (Dem. Rep. Congo 1995)

In Rainbows - Radiohead (UK 2007)

Ruke - Darko Rundek & Cargo Orkestar (Croatia 2002)

Belle Epoque Vol 1 : Soundiata - Rail Band (Mali )

The Voice of Lightness: Congo Classics 1961 - 1977 - Tabu Ley Rochereau ( DR Congo)

Sip 'n' Fly - African Jazz Pioneers (South Africa 1993 )

Brazil 70 After Tropicalia: New Directions in Brazilian Music - Various Artists (Brazil)

Studio One Soul 2 - Various Artists (Jamaica)

Dakar Sound Vol 5 100% Pure Double Concentre - Various Artists (Senegal )

Ni Kanu - Kante Manfila (Guinea 1995)

Post Canberra Recovery Over

2008-04-27T20:45:00.002+10:00

I spent three days in Canberra after the 50k race. On the Monday, I felt I had pulled up well after the race. I walked over to the National Museum and spent three hours there on my feet before walking back to the hotel. They had a special exhibition celebrating 100 years of Rugby League in Australia. It could have very easily been called 100 years of Rugby League in Sydney as there was precious little of the history of the game in Queensland.

On Tuesday, I walked to the War Memorial Museum and spent the whole day there. I remember going there as a 15 year old on a family holiday. It occurred to me that it must have been a strange experience at the time for my father, as I didn't learn that he had been in active service in PNG in WW2 until I was in my mid-twenties. It must have been hard to visit such a place and not make mention of such a fact. By the time I walked back to the hotel, I had been on my feet for 8 hours and I felt more weary than they did on Sunday after the race.

On Wednesday, I kept a little closer to the hotel and visited the National Archives and then The Art Gallery where I took in the Turner to Monet Exhibition. Still a healthy six hours on my feet before jetting back home.

The plan now was easy runs for a least a week to recover and then in the 10 weeks leading up to Gold Coast to gradually get the body used to running at faster paces.

Thu 17th 6.5k 34:17 (5:16 HR 134) Easy
Fri 18th 11.0k 56:34 (5:08 HR 142) Easy
Sat 19th 15.3k 1:19:21 (5:11 HR 135) Easy but a very good time at that HR.
Sun 20th Rest

Week Total: 32.8k

Mon 21st 11.0k 55:03 (5:00 HR145)
Tue 22nd 15.3k 1:19:55 (5:13 HR 139)

I felt like had recovered and so Wednesday became the start day for the new phase of the program. Pure base building was now over.

Wed 23rd 11.0k 51:22 (4:40 HR 154). Even though my Avg Heart Rate was 154, which is about where I would like my Lactate Threshold to be, sadly the run showed I am not close to that just yet. I took quite an effort to keep up that 4:40 pace. I know I have to be cautious in introducing too much pace too quickly and I will be more cautious next week.

Thu 24th Rest. Yesterday has left the legs a little sore.

Fri 25th 14.5k 1:13:58 (5:06 HR 138). In order to get some cross reference with previous year's performances to where I am at the moment, I ran one of my courses from work along the river which I haven't done since December. Saw Peterhorse and the PCRG doing their speedwork under the Story Bridge. Before hand I thought 72 minutes would be good and anything under 74 minutes would be OK at a HR around 137. So to just scrap in with a couple of seconds to spare it was a little disappointing. What was more encouraging was that I had a negative split which is very rare when maintaining a steady Heart Rate on that course.

Sat 26th 25k 2:08:26 (5:08 HR 138). If I was disappointed with yesterday's run, today's was very satisfying. This is the best time I have run on this course as a long run. I did this run two weeks before GC last year in very similar time but at HR 144. With 10 weeks to go that is encouraging.

Sun 27th Rest

Week Total 76.8k

Canberra 50k 2008

2008-04-18T10:50:00.005+10:00

My planned training run at Canberra turned out to be a good experience for me.

I woke at 4:55 am just five minutes before my alarm time. I had a small can of creamed rice and a cup of coffee and then showered. Another cup of coffee at 6:00. A peek out the window, showed it was a little cloudy. In what seemed no time I was ready to head to the start line, just five minutes walk from where I was staying. I stepped out the door and was meet with the glorious site of a perfect 180 degree arch of a rainbow. Isn't that supposed to mean the end of the rain? By the time I was lining up it had started to spit. At this point I was fully committed to my goal of doing the 50k.

I started slowly with a first K of 5:39 but settled down to a 5:25 pace after that. Just as my pace quickened, so did the rain. As we went past the first aid station a guy on a microphone was announcing to all "Thank you runners for bringing the rain". Generally on a run you tend to warm up, but the rain and what seemed as a drop in temperature was making me regret not wearing my gloves. My hands were starting to get very cold. By the time, I had come down the hill from Parliament House, my feet were starting to slosh around in the water inside my shoes. Thankfully, the Toasties where a source of warmth with their side line antics at this stage (and again at later stages). Well done amigos.

Worse by the time, I approached cow corner (10k), I had an inkling that a blister may have been developing under the ball of my left foot. I stopped and pulled my socks up, hoping that was all the problem was. Seems it did the trick as nothing further developed. Over the next half hour the rain ease and conditions became more pleasant. It started to dry out and my pace also increased a bit. Passed the Half Marathon Mark in 1:52:48 (5:21 @ HR 136). Things where going to plan at this stage. I try to stay under 135 HR for as long as I can on long training run.

I continued on and was a bit surprised to see my HR going up to around 145 until I realised that for some unknown reason I had started to speed up. Managed a few 5:06ks but was generally doing around 5:15. The Ks clicked by and I was really enjoying myself. The 32k mark came and went and I started to think the sooner or later the legs were going to get tired and I would have to start grinding it out. 35k and still feeling good. I am passing a lot of people now. 40k, can't believe the legs are feeling so good. A few people are now passing me as they power on to a good marathon finish but I resist the urge to go with them as there is still 10k to go. The atmosphere going up the finishing shute for the Marathon is very uplifting. I cross the mat in 3:43:27. A second Half of 1:50:39 (5:15 @ HR 152) a nice negative split.

Just under 8k to go and I am staggered at how comfortable I feel. Up to this point, I had been holding back but I just thought I'd run on feel from here on in. This part of the course on the cycle path is very scenic with the lake on one side and the lovely autumn leaves of the trees on the other. Managed my fastest K of the race for the 45th in 4:59. In next to no time I was back running up the finishing shute soaking up that atmosphere for a second time. I felt like I could go round again. The last 7.8k in 39:47 (5:06 @ HR 162) and a debut time for 50k of 4:23:14.

I honestly don't know where today's run came from. My last two training long runs (36k) over the previous two weeks have been done at a slower pace than this and feeling very leg weary at the end. The only differences I can see where it is somewhat cooler, somewhat flatter and I ran after having breakfast and fuelled up during the run (seven gels in all).

One happy camper and my most Ks in a week ever 110.1k .

There was another aspect of the run which revolves around the music I had on my player. This is the third time I have worn my music player in a marathon. Each time I have loaded it up with songs from my Best of the Year compilations. This time it was 2002 Vol 1& 2 and 2003 Vol 1 & 2. So in the early parts of the race I was listening to the 2002 stuff. Now this bought back some fairly intense emotions in me.
In early 2002, I had not run for many years. I was very unfit. In April, I had a skin cancer removed from near my ankle and had a skin graft. Under doctor's orders I had to lie in bed with my foot up for three weeks. Knowing this before hand, I bought a batch of CDs to listen to. I used the occasion as a bit of an opportunity to catch up with a bit of main stream music that had passed me by. Some of those Cds such as The Bends by Radiohead, The Stone Roses, Essence by Lucinda Williams, became firm favourites of 2002 and it was pleasing to see how far I had come since those low days.
After that experience, I made a commitment to at least get fit. I bought a digital music player and commenced walking at lunch time. I did that for about six months before starting to slowly start running again. So those first albums, I placed on that player also remain dear to me and it was uplifting to hear them again especially given at this point in the race it was wet and cold. They include One Giant Leap, Sam Magwana Sings Dino Vangu and Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale.

Maybe it was the music that lifted me so high today.

Clayton's Taper

2008-04-11T17:21:00.002+10:00

Mon 7th 6.5k 34:11 (5:15 HR 137)
Tue 8th 11.0k 56:01 (5:05 HR 141)
Wed 9th 15.3k 79:54 (5:13 HR 137)
Thu 10th 16.3k 82:17 (5:02 HR 141)
Fri 11th 11.0k 53:23 (4:51 HR 142)

Week so far 60.1k

Now on to Canberra tomorrow morning.

It has been strange reading all the taper madness and excitement that goes on before a big race . For me it has just been business as usual and a normal training week. I feel it has been my best week of training for quite a while. On Thursday, I added an extra 4.3k to my normal 11k course so that by today I would over 60k. This now means if I do the 50k in Canberra, it will be my biggest week ever, beating my previous highest of 105.1k in late December 2007.

Plan is to start out at 5:20 pace and see how long I can keep it up. My training long runs have been around 5:30 pace but my course is quite hilly and the runs are done without breakfast or fuel along the way. So I'm guessing 5:20 should be comfortable for quite a way. Not that I will push on to the 50k at any cost. If I feel that it will take too much out of me I will be more than happy to pull the pin at 42k. I want to get back into normal training as quickly as possible after this event.

The weather is looking like it will be good. Probably won't need the gloves but I am packing them just in case. (BB the gloves are woollen not cotton).

Hope to catch up with everybody over the weekend. And to all runners, may your performance reflect the training you have put in.

Closing in on Canberra

2008-04-01T11:26:00.003+10:00

Training over the last two weeks.

Mon 24/3 6.5k 35:19 (5:26 HR 130) Recovery Run
Tue 25/3 15.3k 1:21:07 (5:18 HR 140
Wed 26/3 11.0k 56:11 (5:06 141)
Thu 27/3 15.3k 1:17:45 (5:04 HR 149)
Fri 28/3 Rest
Sat 29/3 36k 3:28:49 (5:48 R 135)
Sun Rest

Week 84.1k

Mon 31/3 11.0k 54:32 (4:57 HR 143)
Tue 01/4 15.3k 1:20:55 (5:17 HR 140)
Wed 02/4 11.0k 52:41 (4:47 HR 148)
Thu 03/4 15.3k 1:16:17 (4:59 HR 155)
Fri 04/4 11.0k 60:53 (5:32 HR 133) Very easy
Sat 05/4 Rest
Sun 06/4 36.0k 3:17:19 (5:29 HR 141)

Week 99.6k

At last I seem to be getting back to the times I was doing just over three weeks ago. My long run today (36k) was pleasing and over 11 minutes quicker than last week. It had been concerning me that my training was somewhat stalled and not showing progress. So one thing I have done this week is resume my dietary supplements which I stopped in January. This means a daily dose of a Multi-vitamin , Evening Primrose Oil, Omega-3, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C and Iron Tablets.

The last two Thursday's I have run in the late afternoon and I must say it confirms that I am not a morning runner. It is such a relief not to get up in the morning. On both theses runs I passed Ultra CoolRunner Rob Ware near the Ashgrove Golf course. Bay talked about an experience he had recently of being competitive with another runner whilst training. On the first Thursday, I saw him about 500m in front of me and I slowly caught up to him over a couple of Ks. As I got closer to him, I saw he had a CoolRunner cap on so I was eager to catch up to him and say hello. When I caught him, I introduced myself and asked the obvious question "How far you going?". He said two and a half and it took me a few seconds to realise he meant 2 and a half hours. He then added he liked to do that on Tuesday and Thursdays! I felt rather inadequate when I could only reply was that I was just doing 15k.

I am not planning any sort of taper for Canberra. My only decision at this point is whether to do the 42k in around 3:50 to 4 hours which would be a nice long training run, or go for a debut 50k at a slightly slower pace. I know doing the 42k and making a decision at the finish line whether to continue on for the 50k won't work, so need to make a commitment one way or the other before the start. One incentive to do the 50k is that if I complete all my planned training runs this week and do the 50k it will result in 109k which would be my biggest week ever. Still my focus is Gold Coast and I don't want to over do it just for the sake of weekly PB.

Mixed Bag

2008-03-24T09:03:00.002+10:00

It has been a mixed week. Last Sunday night I started getting a very bloated feeling in my stomach and cramping. I guess it was some sort of virus as for the next three days I still had the stomach problems, headaches and lethargy. I slept a lot.

By Thursday I felt recovered enough to resume training but I guess I still wasn't 100% as the times were way down on last weeks.

Thur 20th Mar
11k 54:31 (4:57 HR 152) Last week I did this in 52:19 at HR of 153!

Fri 21 Mar
15.3k 1:21:29 (5:19 HR 145) Last week I did 1:17:27 at HR 145!!!!

Sat 22 Mar
11k 51:57 (4:43 HR 153)

Sun 23 Mar
31.5k 2:58:54 (5:40 HR 136) Last week I did 2:50 at HR 137.

Still managed 68.8k for the week.

Here's hoping this week gets me back on track.

The upside to last week was that as I was lying in bed feeling sorry for myself I decided I would go down to Canberra for the marathon. So I have booked the flights and will go down Saturday and return Wednesday night, so should be able to see a few sights as well as catch up with everyone. I am taking the marathon as just a training run and suspect a time around four hours will be on the cards. Even contemplating making it a Personal Worst and going for something over 4:10.

Spot the Easter Bunny

2008-03-24T08:56:00.002+10:00

Can you spot the Easter Bunny in the picture below?
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Listen Buddy - the end of the cricket season

2008-03-17T22:00:00.003+10:00

Mon 10th Rest. Recovering from heat of Adelaide.
Tues 11th 11.0k 52:19 (4:45 HR 153)
Wed 12th 15.3k 1:17:50 (5:05 HR 148)
Thu 13th 11.0k 55:23 (5:02 HR 143)
Fri 14th 15.3k 1:17:27 (5:03 HR 145)
Sat 15th Rest
Sun 16th 31.5k 2:50:12 (5:25 HR 137)

Week 84.1k

Another solid week. Saturday was the end of the cricket season for Kewell, so I maybe able to get a run in on Saturday mornings now. Hopefully when soccer season starts in a few weeks the games won't start as early as the cricket!

Womadelaide - a hell of a time

2008-03-17T20:50:00.003+10:00

Fri 7th March

15.3k 1:17:49 (5:05 HR 148) a good solid run only soured by a back twinge that hit after about 100m.

Later that morning flew to Adelaide for Womadelaide.

It was another great weekend of music, only slightly spoilt by the Adelaide heatwave. It was actually the dust on the site more than the heat that made it unpleasant for me and especially My Wife who got hayfever from the haze.

Highlights

Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra. I took in both their shows. Each was magnificent. The Satrurday night gig had an extended number where various band members (balafon, guitar, ngoni, synthesiser) traded solos with Toumani's kora. Even the audience got a go with a vocal rhiff! On the Sunday afternoon, they replaced the duelling with an absolute killer dance groove that just went on and on. Sounding more Congolese than Malian, I will always treasure it as one the live music highlights of my life.

As I complete contrast about an hour later on Sunday, Toumani shared a different stage with his cousin Mamadou Diabate for a kora duet which was much more sombre but no less entrancing.

Mavis Staples did here soul/gospel/protest songs to perfection. She was backed by a three piece band (all while guys) who were fantastic. They got to do a long solo which took them from Born on the Bayou, through to some really heavy rock blues a la Cream.

Taraf de Haidouks, a ramshackle collection of middle aged to elderly (and some portly) gypsy musicians, played with the energy and drive of a bunch of teenage punk rockers.

The Black Grace dance company from New Zealand showed great originality and energy in their dance set.

Martin Hayes (Irish fiddler) and Dennis Cahill (American guitarist) played an astonishing set of Irish music that started slow and built to a wild crescendo.

A few Australian acts really caught my ear. Mojo Webb from Brisbane played a very enthusiastic blues set and really got the crowd worked up. On one song he roamed all round the park amongst the crowd while belting out a stunning guitar solo.

Victor Valdes and The Real Mexico Mariachi Band from Sydney were another revelation. He had a great voice and played the Mexican harp expertly.

I was also impressed with the fire show each night by La Compagnie Carabosse. Hundreds of huge candle-pots lit up the eastern side of the gardens. I do like a good fire and all the more impressive given that I thought there was a total fire ban!

I had scheduled to go for a run Monday morning before flying home but the three days of hot weather and completely dessicated me so gave it a miss. It is such a different heat then we have here in Brisbane in summer. Rather than a sauna it is an oven and if you turn the temperature up high enough the oven can be mighty uncomfortable.

Music to rule the world by

2008-03-06T21:18:00.004+10:00

The training is now back on track and I am at last starting to be able to focus on the Gold Coast.

Mon 25th Feb

4k - Recovery Run with Kewell at about 6:00 pace. Hopefully this will become a feature for Monday as my easy recovery run. It is just the right pace for the boy.

Tues 26th Feb

11.0k 52:33 (4:46 HR 150 80%Max)

Starting to incorporate some upper aerobic runs into the schedule.

Wed 27th Feb

15.3k 1:18:40 (5:08 HR 140 75% Max)

Thu 28th Feb

11.0k 53:30 (4:51 HR 146 78% Max)

Fri 29th Feb

15.3k 1:19:14 (5:10 HR 141 75% Max)

Sat 1st Mar

Rest

Sun 2nd Mar

31.5k 2:53:42 (5:31 HR 139 74% Max)

First run over 30k since Melbourne Marathon in October. Still taking it at an easy pace but the legs had no trouble going the distance or probably more relevant had no problem with the the close to 3 hours on the go.

Week 88.1k

A very solid and pleasing week.

Mon 4th Mar

10 * 200m with 30 seconds rest. At Kewell's school they have started a running club in the mornings from Mon - Thursday. Today was the first session and I anticipated that they would start with some easy laps of the oval so even though my legs were a bit dead from yesterday's long run I agreed with Kewell that I would come along. When we get there, the teacher says the session will be ten laps of the oval in around 60 seconds with 30 seconds rest. Now the lap is probably around 200m but for kids 8 to 11 years it is a pretty tough session. I didn't really want to be running too hard either. The first lap, the kids all shot off too quickly and I trailed well behind but of course they tired so I wasn't far from them at the end. After the rest, they all shot off again and I trailed again but I caught quite a few by the end this time as they tired. And they were all sucking in the air in the rest now big time. I suppose you can imagine where it went from there. As I warmed up the laps got easier for me and harder for them. For the final lap the teacher told them to go flat out but this time I shot to the lead and held it all the way. Seems I can't keep the competitive instincts in check even if it is against a pack of school kids.

The down side was that it was way to hard a session for a recovery day for me.

Tue 5th Mar

7k 40:00 (Easy ) Running club again and Kewell was keen for me to go again but I told him I would only be jogging around the oval today. No fast stuff. We were the first to arrive , so we just started doing some slow laps. As more kids arrived they would join us. After about ten minutes the teachers arrived (different from yesterday). They were happy to let them just jog around. So I basically ran around the oval for 40 minutes with the fifteen kids who turned up. They would drop out for a rest now and again but I just kept going. I think some of them were rather stunned to see someone run for that long and not be the slightest bit puffed.

The recovery day I should have had yesterday!

Wed 6th Mar

15.3k 1:19:08 (5:10 HR 143 77% Max)

It was a bit cooler and made for lovely running conditions.

Thu 7th Mar

Rest - I have felt like I have been fighting off a cold all this week. Delta and Dory both have got it. So decided to rest today. I certainly don't want to be sick for Womadelaide this week end.

I am planning on doing 15k Friday morning before jumping on to the plane to Adelaide with My Wife . Should be grand week-end.

IHateToast

We must live in separate parallel universes. I have no idea about Arrested Development other than as a funk-rap band from the 90s and I can't believe that I would need to explain double live as two LPs in one package of a live concert recording along the the lines of Frampton Comes Alive or in the case of Garth Brooks he even called his double live album Double Live.

I know our election has come and gone but wouldn't it be great if we could have Kevin and Little Johnnie being the inspiration of some great election tunes like they do in the US. Check out these for Obama and Clinton.

Password Fatigue & The Foghat Principle

2008-02-26T17:06:00.001+10:00

It has been a while since my last post. I have been making steady progress back to full training and last week built up to 85.6k for the week. So I am not far off now. The right hammie has given me no trouble and I feel confident that it has made a complete recovery. I now will start to up the pace a bit more.

In the mean time my left hip and upper leg have been giving me intermittent problems but never when I am running. I think it is referred pain from my back and it seems worse after lying down or twisting my back like when bowling a cricket ball. As I say it has so far not troubled me at all whilst running. Will be interested to see how it reacts to some more intense efforts.

Here was last weeks sessions.
Mon 18th Feb
11k 51:37 (4:41 HR 157) AM. Ran 1.5k with Kewell in the Afternoon. He is getting fit for the football season.

Tues 19th
15.3k 1:23:30 (5:27 HR 138).

Wed 20th
6.5k 33:21 (5:07 HR 139)

Thur 21st
11k 54:41 (4:58 HR 149)

Fri 22nd
15.3k 1:22:25 ( 5:23 HR 141)

Sat 23rd
Rest. Glad my rest day was on a day when the temp got to 40C!

Sun 24th
25k 2:19:32 ( 5:34 HR 142)

Week 85.6k
Feb: 208.6k
Year: 318.4k

I was interested to see that Password Fatigue was been officially added to the vernacular.

This noun means the level of frustration caused by having too many different passwords to remember, resulting in an inability to remember even those most commonly used.

At work, I certainly had a lot of different systems and applications that all had passwords which expired at different times leaving me with a whole range of IDs and passwords. It was not uncommon for me to have to enter a password 20 to 30 times a day. I turned this into a goal setting plus by always selecting passwords that directly related to my current running goals. For example, for the last three months of the last year all my passwords pointed to my target of doing 400k in December. Before that they related to the Melbourne Marathon. So every working day I was able to repeatedly reinforce my goals by entering my passwords.

Now that I am on leave, it has left a bit of a hole in my goal setting. So am thinking of putting a password on my home computer just so I get to the same effect.

Does anyone know the Foghat Rule?

Here Comes The Flood

2008-02-05T17:15:00.000+10:00

Tues 5th Feb

6.5k 30:41 @ 4:43 HR 153.
Third day in a row of running in the rain now and it was quite heavy. There was another 42 mm in the rain guage this morning. It has now got to the point where even along the cycle path where I have been running that large puddles are becoming permanent features. As well this morning, the creek had risen enough to be 15cm over the top of the path where it crossed the creek. This made for 10 metres of splashing to get across. It took me back to my days in the steeplechase on the track. As it is an out and back course, I had to negotiate this twice and it was certainly deeper on the way back.

That's about as fast as I want to go right now. The leg seems to have held up. Aim now is to start increasing the distance at a slower pace.

Here is another Congolese video. This time a live performance by Bella Bella from the early 80s including some terrific if somewhat badly dressed dancers.

Hippy Hippy Shake

2008-02-04T14:33:00.000+10:00

Since my last post, My Wife and I managed to get away for a short break at Caloundra. We went up Wednesday afternoon and came back Friday morning and we had a fantastic time. Got in a couple of swims in the surf, a game of tennis and a few nice walks.

Since then I am slowily cranking up the running again.

Friday 1st Feb
6.5k 32:53 @ 5:03 HR 141. My first run not in the morning since starting leave. Oh I do miss them but will probably continue with the mornings.

Sunday 3rd Feb
11.0k 57:06 @ 5:11 HR 141. Light rain the whole way.

Mon 4th Feb
6.5k 31:47 @ 4:53 HR 144. Steady rain the whole way.

After only having the pleasure of running in the rain once in a blue moon in the last three years, I have had seven rainy runs so far this year. Since Saturday, we have had 180 mm of rain in my rain gauge. I may even get some grass to grow in the backyard now in time for football season.

In my post on my favourite music from last year, I said of the Congolese group Les Quatre Etioles "Sagonini" that It is certainly one for the hips. '
At the time I was searching for some video of the group but couldn't locate any. I still haven't but I have found a clip that certainly expresses what I meant by that statement. Although by a Tanzanian Saida Korali, her music certainly captures all the hypontic qualities of the Congolese style and the video is all hippy hippy shake.

The day after the first day back

2008-01-30T09:48:00.000+10:00

Wednesday 30th Jan

6.5k 34:20 @ 5:16 HR 141 . A little quicker than yesterday but still taking it easy. So far so good. A huge down pour in the last K got me home completely soaked.

Well they were all off to school today. It is Ducky's 17th Birthday and her last first day of school day.

I can now settle back into a routine and get some control back into my world.

Hopefully a man's world.

So This Was 2007

2008-01-29T20:44:00.000+10:00

Over the summer holidays, I always look forward to making up a couple of compilation CDs with music from my favourite albums of the last year. This is now will be the seventh year of doing this, so I guess it has become a tradition. Some years the albums are easy to pick and the most difficult task is selecting which tracks to include from those albums. 2007 is not one of those years. I seemed to have been swamped by a flood of cracking music last year. I guess I could have taken the easy route and made this year into a triple set but having to make some hard decisions on what is in or out is half the fun.

2007 Favourites (alphabetically by title , five star rating)

Recent Releases

Grinderman – Grinderman (Aust)
Icky Thump – White Stripes (USA)
Lagos Shaking – Tony Allen (Nigeria)
My Name is Buddy – Ry Cooder (USA)
Orientation – Thione Seck (Senegal/Egypt/India)
Segu Blue – Bassokou Kayete & Ngoni Ba (Mali)
The Dusty Foot Philosopher – K’Naan (Somalia/Canada)
Upfront & Down Low – Teddy Thompson (USA)
Watina – Andy Placido & TheGurifina Project (Belize)
You’ve Stolen My Heart - Tribute to R.D.Burman’s Bollywood - Kronos Quartet with Asha Bhosle (USA/India)

Recent Compilations/Reissues

Booker Beats Vintage Afro-Beat, Afro-Rock & Electric Highlife From Ghana – Various Artists (Ghana)
The Lost Album – Salif Keita & Kante Manifila (Mali) 1980
Tropicalia – Various Artists (Brazil)

Older Releases

At Last! – Etta James (USA) 1960
Best of U2 1990 to 2000 – U2 (Ireland)
Kedu America – Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe & His Nigerian Soundmakers (Nigeria) 1992
Live Vol 1 & Vol 2 - Huun Huur Tur (Tuvia) 1991
Mermaid Avenue – Billy Bragg & Wilco ( UK/USA) 2000
No 1 de No 1 – Star Band No 1 (Senegal) 1982
Sangonini – Les Quatre Etioles (Dem Rep of Congo) 1986

My MP3 player has become my major source of listening time. My current player is only 2Gb so I periodically have a purge and remove content and replace it with new music. A certain sign of a favourite album is how long it can survive on the player.

By this measure alone, “My Name is Buddy” by Ry Cooder would qualify as my favourite of the year. The album is based around the trials and tribulations in Dustbowl America of Hobo Red Cat Buddy and his fellow travellers Lefty Mouse and Rev Tom Toad. The music and content is based in the mid 20th century of America covering styles like folk, country, blues , gospel and tex-mex drawing on the spirit of the likes of Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill and Pete Seeger. Cooder definitely has a message here but has certainly not resorted to mere political dogma (paron the pun). There is enough humour from the likes of bad meatloaf, tiny suitcases and footsteps to counterbalance police harassment, prejudices and dust bowl poverty. Given Ry Cooder has such a rich and diversified body of work and although he started his career with this style of music, this latest addition is surely one of his best ever which is high praise indeed.

Speaking of the spirit of Woody Guthrie and albums with cats on the cover, I thoroughly enjoyed “Mermaid Avenue Vol 11” the second instalment from 2000 of Billy Bragg & Wilco’s interpretations of his unrecorded song book.

Teddy Thompson on "Upfront and Downlow " choose to interpret a set of country classics by the likes of Dolly Parton, Jack Jones and Ernest Tubb. His voice is perfect for these bittersweet songs and his performance and the well arranged strings and slide guitar here certainly puts the ache into heartache without ever being melodramatic. There is one original here from Teddy which is certainly as good as any of the other songs. A really fine album.

A defining event for me in 2007 was my first attendance at Womadelaide in March. Salif Keita’s performance goes up there into the “Great Gigs (In The Sky)” category for me. Prior to Womadelaide, I had been mesmerized by “The Lost Album” a collaboration of Keita’s and Kante Manifila recorded in 1980 in the Ivory Coast and previously un-released in the west. At that time, the trend for West African musicians who wanted to hit the big time was to go more towards fusion with European styles of rock, jazz and funk in an attempt to capture the hearts and wallets of a larger western audience.

Keita followed that path himself and produced the classic “Soro” in 1987 in Paris but eventually the further the artists diverted from their roots both physically and musically the quality of their music suffered. ( I’ll get on to the decline of Congolese music later where the same occurred.) After Soro, Keita meandered steadily downhill into an afro-jazz quagmire, until he returned to Mali in 2001 and went back to his roots using a lot of acoustic instruments and traditional song structures producing two modern classics “Moffou” and “M’Bemba”. Then last year “The Lost Album” was released and it shows he always had this in him and was recording it some 27 years ago. Now it probably was a commercial decision to not release this material back then and in it’s current form it is a little rough in places with a bit of a demo tape feel but at times this actually adds immensely to its appeal as you get the feel of musicians actually playing together rather than the high tech over produced dross that was coming out of Paris. Some great trumpet work and as always very expressive singing from Keita.

The other great thing to come out of Womadeaide, was Tuvian group Huun Huur Tu. I was looking forward to experiencing throat singing. All reports indicated it was something you had to witness. Stand back and be amazed. And they were right it is truly phenomenal what these people can do with their tonsils. What took me completely by surprise was how much I liked their music.
Their stringed instruments were played with equal effectiveness on uptempo jolly gallops ( a lot of songs about horses) and poignant tonal pieces . I caught them twice in Adelaide and how can you top an opening introduction for a song that went “This one is from the 12th Century”. So I bought the double CD “Huun Huur Tu Live 1 & 2” recorded in 2001 plus another studio album (yet to listen to that one) at the excellent music tent at the festival and they sound exactly the same on the CD. I can put the album on and return to those two dreamy performances. One of the last reasons for still going out an purchasing CDs rather than downloading music is the packaging and extra information that some record companies go to. If I hadn’t bought the CD how would I know that on Track 2 CD 2 that Alexei not only did vocals but accompanied on tuyug (boiled and dried horses hooves clacked together) and xapchyk (rattle made from sheep kneebones in bull’s testicles).

On the other hand Kronos Quartet (USA) and Asha Bhole (India) had less impact on me with their live performance at Womadelaide. Maybe if I had been more familiar with their “You’ve Stolen My Heart . Songs from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood” I might have not felt so inclined to watch from afar whilst having a feed. Three days man …. You have to eat sometime.

But I did purchase the CD at the excellent CD tent. (Have I mentioned this was an excellent outlet? I judge a music outlet by the number of items that they have that I would like to buy. When coupled with a major life lesson regarding music that says : if you see something that you would really like to have and you have never seen it before in a shop then chance are you of won’t ever see it again , so to avoid a lifetime of regret , buy buy buy. This is why for many years I never had a credit card because I kind of knew places like Amazon could get me into a lot of trouble. )

Anyway back to Kronos and Asha. This is a collaboration between the American string quartet and the legendary Indian singer Asha Bholse , playing songs written for film by R.D. Burman (who just happened to be married to Bholse). By the way, Asha has reportedly recorded more than 13,000 songs and has more sales than Elvis and The Beatles combined, so the excellent sleeve notes tell me. The real revelation here is the brilliant Burman compositions expertly reproduced by Kronos Quartet. The excellent CD notes opens with these words
Just be forewarned: the more you hear of Burman’s captivating music, the more likely it is that his songs will burrow their way into your ear and make your head their home.
Pinning down the addictiveness of his music is more complex. Few twentieth-century composers ever fashioned melodic devices or plot twists that could transport listeners into fantasy the way Burman’s songs do.

I can relate to the burrowing into your head. This is definitely what this record did over a period of months. Not instantly appealing but with each play opening up and inviting you back to listen again and again. I have found this to be a common characteristic of many of my favourite albums over the years.

The same qualities applied to by "Orientation" by Thione Seck (Senegal) 2005, “Segu Blue” by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Blue (Mali) 2007 and “Watina” by Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective (Belize) 2007. All were bought on the back of universal critical acclaim. Segu Blue was album of the year in the recent BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards Critic’s Poll and Watina was second. They all failed to grab me initially, but then each worked its magic and burrowed away.

On ”Orientation” , vocalist Thione Seck uses musicians and singers from Senegal, Eygpt and India to produce a intriguing fusion of styles. With lots of beautifully arranged strings and its Indian influence, it at times matches the tone and melodic delights of Kronos Quartet and although both Bhole and Seck’s vocals can soar majestically they do so at quite different ends of the register. Rather than a tribute, this an adventurous pushing of the frontiers project resulting in a unique and powerful album.

Segu Blue is based around a ngoni quartet lead by virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate who added some great moments to Ali Farka Toure's album last year. The ngoni looks like a cricket bat with a few strings and is a precursor of the banjo. This is an album of traditional music played in a traditional manner with no need to diversify or embellish for the western market. The album has a wonderful sound and credit must go to producer Lucy Duran for capturing the fine instrument playing so well. There are also stunning vocal performances from Bassekou Kouyate’s wife Amo Sacko, and Mali legends Kasse Mady Diabete and Lobi Traore that gives the album a surprising variety and depth.

These are some videos on the group and the making the album.

The Garifuna culture of African slaves in the Caribbean and South America is as fascinating as it is sad and certainly gives Andy Palacio’s Watina album and interesting backdrop. But to dwell on the story does not do justice to this project and the music. I initially loaded this album on to my MP3 player and listened to it straight through a few times and found it a little bland. For some reason I went into shuffle mode which I don’t often do as I prefer to take in a whole album at once especially for new music. I guess I am not quite a product of the digital age yet . Not that I don’t enjoy shuffle mode but I don’t think it is a good way to get to know new music. Anyhow, I am on shuffle for a number of weeks and tracks from Watina keep popping up (as is the way with the shuffle) and I am always surprised and impressed by how good they sound. On return to normal transmission mode, I am really blown away by these songs. Patience grasshopper, pays off again. It doesn’t really sound like any other type of South American music but it certainly sounds good. Sadly Andy Placio suffered a stroke last week and died at age 47.

2006 was a vintage year for retrospective African compilations for me and compilations always lead to further investigation of artists that capture the ear. This has lead me in 2007 to “No 1 de No1” by the Star Band No 1 from Senegal. This is itself a compilation of tracks by them from the late 70s. This was an exciting time in Senegalese music with the birth of the new radical mbalax sound with its stabbing rhythm guitars, stuttering taba drums, shifting tempos and wailing guitar solos. These early examples from The Star Band capture this sound at its rawest, most inventive and thrilling. It is a mystery to me that the incredible electric guitar players from Senegal from this era are not more well known. They truly are some of the wildest and most inventive I have ever heard.

Congolese rhumba or soukous may not be as wild and quirky as mbalax but it certainly can be just as exciting. Sadly the sound has descended into synthesised dross over the last 20 years. But before the decline, Les Quartre Etioles (Democratic Republic of Congo) made some of the best of its kind in the early 80s as demonstrated on their compilation album “Sangonini”. The strident beat propels this music along even when the singing is sweet and especially when the guitarists chime in with their hypnotic riffs. Certainly one for the hips and great for running.

On the other hand Sir Stephen Ostisas and his Melody Makers (Nigeria) on “Kedu America” from 1995 are often not in a hurry to get anywhere and can be found slowly circling around before reaching a killer groove. There is a great feeling of intimacy about this album which was reportedly recorded in one day on a trip to America. Obviously they have honed a tightness as a group from countless hours playing together. There is some beautiful guitar work which interplays with a wicked trumpet and horn section and the economy and inventiveness of the drummer is a stand out.

One of the great African drummers is Nigerian Tony Allen who was the driving force behind Fela Kuti’s Afobeat. He continues to make great music and his latest solo effort “Lagos Shaking” is another fine example of modern African funk.

And it is always fun to discover something that doesn’t quite sound like anything that you have heard before. “Bokoor Beats Vintage Afro-Beat, Afro-Rock & Electric Highlife From Ghana” certainly fits that bill for me. This is a collection of songs recorded by John Collins in his studio in Ghana in the 70s and 80s. The majority are by the house band The Bokoor Beats. It certainly has elements of the local highlife style but all the harmonica and call and response vocals have a distinctive up tempo joyous blues/gospel feel. This is not the first Bokoor Studio compilation I have. I have “The Guitar and The Gun” on LP which I purchased in the mid 80s and it has always been a favourite but it is quite different from this. Makes you think that Collins must be a special character to be able to keep an independent studio going in West Africa through out that time and to produce such diverse and interesting product. Definitely one for further investigation.

The Dusty Foot Philospher (2005) from Knaan manages to bridge Rap and Afro rhythms. Descended from a line of Somalian poets but now living in Canada after having to flee his homeland, the quality of his rhymes and the positive outlook helps enormously in lifting this above the mire that is modern rap.

I don’t make much of an effort to keep up with mainstream popular music. So it is more by accident then design on what I get to listen to along these lines and is usually on the recommendation of friends or workmates. This year threw up a few gems. “Grinderman” by Grinderman who are Nick Cave and a few Bad Seeds is a rough and rowdy rollick of a record. The sound goes back to the era of The Birthday Party of the early 80s a time incidentally when I did paid far more attention to this sort of stuff.

“Icky Thump” by The White Stripes is in a similar vein although much more dependant on the big guitar riffs to move it along.

The big surprise was how much I enjoyed Best of U2 1990 – 2000. I don’t listen to the radio (who does? Sports?), so was not really aware of most of these songs. The songs are well written and crafted with enough cutting edge to escape MOR blandness.

You could never label theTroplicalia movement that had a brief moment in the sun in the late 60s in Brazil as bland. The compilation “Tropicalia A Brazilian Revolution in Sound ” captures the spirit of the movement perfectly and all its inventive glory. Psychedelic samba. Sgt Pepper meets Sergo Mendes.

And finally more music from the 60s. This times it is 1960 and a young Etta James with her first album “At Last”. For a long period on my MP3 player At Last came before “Back in Black” by Ami Winehouse. It was an interesting pairing and a good opportunity to compare soulful approaches from two different generations. Etta James won on a points decision in the end and I think it was just the quality of her vocals got her over the line.

Which puts Ami in the list of very unlucky albums that I rate highly but in a bumper year just couldn’t crack the top list.
Other unlucky albums are
Aman Iman – Tinawarin (Mali)
Burlesque – Bellowhead (UK)
Rough Guide to West African Gold – Various Artists
Freedom – Burning Spear (Jamaica)
Oceans Apart - The Go-Betweens (Australia)

Back to School

2008-01-29T14:39:00.000+10:00

It has been a cautious week. Lots of stretching and strengthening exercises with a couple of pool sessions and net sessions (cricket that is).

Tuesday 22nd
I did a 55 minute walk.

Thursday 24th
An 85 minute walk.

Sunday 27th Jan
I went out for another walk and after 50 pain free minutes thought it was time to test the hammie a little. I did a further 35 minutes of slow jogging. Felt good.

Tuesday 29th
Back to school for two of the kids. The other two start tomorrow. This would be my first real run. 6.5k 35:05 (5:23 HR 140) and all is well. Nice and easy though. Will look now to slowly get back into routine during February.

I see that Qtrax didn't quite make it off the launching pad today.

This video from Erykah Badu is for those of you who remember the pleasure of LPs and going to a record store.

Running From Strangers

2008-01-22T20:50:00.000+10:00

I said in my last post just before going off for our beach holiday, this rather optimistic statement

The weather is not looking good for surfing but OK for running.

True the weather was not good for surfing and in fact the beach was closed the whole time and we didn't even set foot on the sand but it was also atrocious weather for running as well. A big low pressure further up the coast generated cyclonic winds and sheets of rain. But it was mostly the wind which blew the whole week. A local surf club measured gusts up to 105k/hr at times.

My first 10k run was a indication of what was ahead. The wind was strong but often at an angle and I didn't really get to run directly into it till about 50 metres from the turn around point. I lent against it's full force, head down and plodded on. After about ten seconds, I looked up and had the worrying thought I wasn't ever going to get to the turn around. I obviously needed to put in a bit more of an effort, so put the foot down and eventually got there, turned around and whooosh I was off. Sunday morning I did 26.7k in the wind and rain which racked up 105k for the week.

I was now sitting on 392.9k for the month and with a 11k run on the last day of the month I got to 403.9k for December and a 2007 Total of 3,388.3k.

By this stage I had already abandoned my music player for runs. I wasn't worried about the rain because I have a water-proof case, it was just a matter of the noise of the wind on the speakers made it really hard to listen to. New Year's morning was the worst conditions of the week. Again for this 10k, the wind was howling and the rain was heavy and almost horizontal which really stung the face and eyes when running into it. On Wednesday the wind had dropped slightly but it was still raining for the 16.6k run. Thursday conditions were still the same and I went out for 10k. I started to feel a bit of a niggle in my right hamstring with about 3k to go. This was after a long stretch with the wind behind me and it continued to niggle all the way home without getting any worse.

Next day I woke with my alarm. I was on a streak of 19 days in a row but looking out, it was still windy and raining and I rationalised given the niggle that a rest day would do no harm, so went back to bed.

Returning back to Brisbane, I went out on the Sunday but was surprise that after about 4k the niggle was back so I turned for home and abandoned the run. I thought I would give it a few days rest just to be safe. Given that I had done 758k in the last two months I didn't think a few days off would be a problem.

Funny thing is that after a few days off I didn't actually feel like going back out for a run. I think my week of beach running and the effort to get to 400k for the month had used a little bit too much will. If you follow the Mystery Coach over at Mike's Blog you will remember a recent post on using your will in response to the question ,

How much "mental" effort are you putting into your base training?

His answer was.

Most of your efforts during the base building phase should low efforts. Read the next passage by Percy Cerutty which explains why "willing" too hard at this stage is counter productive:

THE USE OF THE WILL. I have long said, that the real use of the will is a “starter”. That is, to get us out of bed to train, rather than to conduct our training as if it was necessary to kill ourselves by continuous ill—advised effort.

Whilst I, and none better, recognize the need of serious and hard effort both in training and racing, I also realize that an over use of the will to ever-lastingly drive us along, day after day, year after year, can in time, end in nothing but staleness.

True, we must be conditioned to do certain efforts, almost routine, but the over—use of the will in exhausting and punishing “do or die” efforts is to be depreciated,

Very often, those blessed with a powerful will, a will that has been the means of lifting their efforts from the mediocre to class performance, these are the very people who find difficulty in using their will in the reverse direction, These athletes find the greatest difficulty in forcing themselves to take a rest, a holiday. to “give it away” for a week, a month, or a year.

The worse their performances become, the more they aggravate the trouble by “willing”, and by redoubled efforts strive to succeed despite Nature’s warnings and symptoms.

Your hard training (specific and speed type) should only start eight to ten weeks out from your race (with the heaviest mileage and speed workouts from eight until four weeks out. Save your mental effort for that time period.

So I am figuring that all that effort fighting the conditions may have been an over use of the will leading to some staleness, and all that running with the wind behind me although making me feel like I was super charged has over used my hammie and given me a physical problem.

This in someways explains why this is my first post for the year.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I lost my mind.

Sorry brain freeze. Fast forward to present time. To cut a long story short, I got my mojo back and after nine days off, last Thursday I went for a 6.5k run (4:57 pace) . It felt like I hadn't run for nine months not nine days. I am seriously going to reconsider the taper after this experience. Hammie was Ok up until about 4k when it started to squeak a little. Same run the next day (4:52 pace), and again it was OK at the start but I felt it a bit more near than yesterday near the end again.

Decided I wouldn't push it too hard, so Saturday I just walked the 6.5k. Managed this at 8:19 pace @ Avg HR 100 (54% Max HR). No problem what so ever from hammie.

So Sunday, I tried the run again but made sure I didn't go too fast. So kept it to 5:13 pace. Bad news is that I felt that damn hammie every step of the way. I certainly have underestimated this one. When I did my left hammie the week before Canberra last year at least it had the audacity to go snap. Running one second , pain, stop , no more running the next. Instant respect. This time it is just a nasty niggle. Now you have niggles all the time and they usually just go away. Sometimes a couple of days rest and there gone. But this one isn't playing the game.

So I pulled out my bible Sport's Injuries by Vivian Grisogono. I have had this book for 24 years and I rely on it when treating any injuries. I poured over the section under Hamstrings - Acute Injuries last year but there is also a section Hamstring - Overuse Injury. The description there certainly fits the bill. The most sobering lines are- In general, the overuse, insidious strains take much longer to recover than sudden strains. Although the pain of the overuse injury may be much smaller, it is extremely important to make a full functional recovery before stressing the muscles again.

So I'm into full rehab mode, with stretching and strengthening exercises for the hammie, and doing walks and swimming at the pool to keep the fitness levels up. Hopefully another week off and I can start getting back into it.

Festive Running

2007-12-28T09:12:00.000+10:00

Tuesday 25th Ashgrove Cycle Path
15.3k 1:19:55 @ 5:13 HR 139 (75% MaxHr)

Wednesday 26th Gap Cycle path
11.0k 55:29 @ 5:02 HR 139 (75% MaxHr)

Thursday 27th Kelvin Grove Rd
20k 1:44:04 @ 5:12 HR 133 (71% MaxHr)

Friday 28th Gap Cycle Path
11k 54:29 @ 4:57 HR 140 (76% MaxHr)

Week 68.3k
Month 356.1k

Starting with Christmas Day it has been much milder and less humid this week. This has made for better running. I also feel I am very much in front of the recovery curve this week. The run this morning took me to 356k for the month so far which betters last month's PB. 400k is certainly achievable in the next three days. Today we head up to Caloundra for a week. The weather is not looking good for surfing but OK for running.

On the music front, I have been compiling my end of year CDs from my favourite albums. I will post on that when I get back. I also have done a clear out of my MP3 player and loaded lots of new listening albums on to it. This is what I have on there now which will be my soundtrack for running over the next couple of months.

Fulani Journey - Afrissippi
Aye Carumba - Ska Cubano
Una Sangre One Blood - Lila Downs
Plays Standards - Duke Ellington
In Rainbows - Radiohead
Young Moderns - Silverchair
Rekku Mi Rokka - Youssou N'Dour
The Crane Wife - Decemberists
La Radiolina - Manu Chao
Megamix Vol 1 - Lokassa & Soukous Stars

Monday - A night at Club Baobab

2007-12-24T14:50:00.000+10:00

Monday 24th December
Gap Cycle
11k 57:41 @ 5:14 HR 138 (74% MaxHr)

Week 11k
Month 297.8k

After the showers yesterday, it was cooler and less humid this morning and a nice recovery run to start the week. I have set the goal to get to 400k this month which means another 100 plus week ahead of me.

Today's album is from Senegal's Orchestra Boabab A Night at Club Baobab.

It is a collection of their songs from the early seventies. Their album Pirate's Choice from 1982 is one of my all time favourite albums. The music here has more of the Cuban influence then their later work. I am really looking forward to getting my hands on their new release Made in Dakar but this will do in the mean time to put some historical perspective on a super band.

Here is a live version of a song from Pirate's Choice.

A Merry Xmas to you all and see you on the road in 08.

I hope Santa brings me some new music ;-)

Sunday - Electric Gypsyland 2

2007-12-24T14:04:00.000+10:00

Sunday 23rd December
Bowen Bridge

25k 2:18:33 @ 5:32 HR 136 73% MaxHr

Week 100.8k
Month 287.8k
Year 3272k

I knew it was going to be a very humid run this morning when the alarm woke me at 4:00am and I had already been sweating in my sleep. I started out with the intention of just keeping it easy all the way. I actually felt better than I did on yesterday's run which was a relief. The thought of getting to over 100k for the week kept me going all the way to the end. I haven't run that far in a week since early March this year.

For today's album I return to the Womadelaide 2008 theme. One of the headline acts is Taraf de Haidouks from Romania.

The album is Electric Gypsyland 2. It is a mix of traditional Balkan music and modern electro dance music by a mix of bands and DJs. One of the bands is Taraf de Haidouks. A bonus second CD has the original songs. It is this CD that I played. It is all rollicking good fun and I do like a good fiddle.

I bought this one about three months ago from J&B HiFi, before I even knew the Womad lineup.

Saturday - Duke Ellington Plays Standards

2007-12-24T13:30:00.000+10:00

Saturday 22nd December
Gap Cycle Path
6.5k 34:26 @ 5:17 HR 134 (72% MaxHr)

Week Total 75.8k
Mth Total 262k

If you follow Mike and The Mystery Coach at Running With Lydiard you will be aware there has been some discussion of late about keeping ahead of the recovery curve. Today I felt the curve may have caught up with me. Saturday is normally a rest day for me but in order to get 100k for the week I need to do over 6k today and 25k tomorrow. Now 6k isn't too far and I did take it slow but it took quite a while to get going. Only time will tell if it was Madness to go One Step Beyond.

Today's new album is Duke Ellington Plays Standards. This is part of a This Is Jazz Series on Columbia records of which this is number 36.

I have no idea how many are in the series. I bought this (as well as three others in the series) a couple of years ago at Myers. As I recall they were very cheap at $8 each. I find it hard to go past a bargain which is one of the reasons I find myself with my music stockpile. Well playing this makes me realise what are bargain I got with this one. The music on this is just superb. The recordings sound great even those from the 30's and 40's. It opens with a great live version of Take the A train complete with a vocal scat by Ray Nance.

Friday - 100 Days 100 Nights

2007-12-24T13:11:00.000+10:00

Friday 21st December
Ashgrove Cycle Path
15.3k 1:20:15 @ 5:14 HR 145 (78% MaxHr)

Week Total 69k
Mth Total 256k

My heart Rate was 139 (39:00) to the turn around but was 150 (41:15) coming back. The humidity seemed to be much higher this morning and from those numbers you can tell I struggle in those sorts of conditions.

Today's new album is a follow on from yesterday's and involves another Womadelaide 2008 attendee. This is in fact the last CD I purchased and I got it through ebay this month. It is 100 Days 100 Nights by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. This is modern day soul music. I will certainly be playing this more in the lead up to Womadelaide but on first listening it doesn't seem to have that edge that Ami Winehouse seemed to have on this year's Back in Black or the class of Etta Jame's 60's album At Last both of which I listened to extensively this year.

Thursday - Rough Guide to Afro-Peru

2007-12-20T20:23:00.001+10:00

Thur 20th December
Gap Cycle Path
11k 55:42 @ 5:03 HR 138 (74% MaxHr)

Week Total 54k
Mth Total 241k

A nice easy run this morning in mild conditions.

Today's new album is the Rough Guide to Afro-Peru which I purchased on ebay about two years ago. I am a great fan of the Rough Guide series and I have about 25 of the compilations from the series. They are a great way to explore music from around the world as the selections are always first class. They rarely disappoint and this is no exception. This is not the pan pipe music by guys in woolly hats that most people associate with Peru, but music from the black African slaves who lived and worked on the coast. I already had experienced and enjoyed the 1995 David Byrne compilation Afro-Peruvian Classic The Soul of Black Peru, so the music here was not a surprise to me and this album shares a lot of the same artists. One such artist is Susana Baca who will be appearing at Womadelaide 08.

Wednesday One Blood

2007-12-19T12:16:00.000+10:00

Wednesday 19th December
To Kelvin Grove Rd
20k 1:46:22 @ 5:19 HR 137 74% MaxHR

Week Total: 43k
Mth Total: 3214k

Another relatively cool morning at least for this time of year. I hope to get to the point where I am capable of doing a couple of these a week. This course takes me along the cycle path towards town. The turn around point is at Kelvin Grove Road. For my Sunday 25k runs I continue on to Bowen Bridge Road. Parts of this course can certainly be called hilly. Overall it is down hill going out and uphill coming back, so I generally get a rise in Heart Rate in the second half.

All the courses I will be running from home over the coming months are hillier than those I have been used to along the river. I am hoping this will be the secret ingredient that will boost my performance come July. (As opposed to Scott's singing/showering secret).

Today's Album is One Blood: Una Sangre by Mexican Lila Downs (2004). I bought this one at Womadelaide in March this year along with Border La Linea (2001) . You may notice on the cover it has been personally signed by Lila to me. Two of her albums were amongst my favourites from last year, and this certainly has all the qualities I enjoyed on those releases. The big voice, the passion, the humour. One song La Cucaracha bought back wonderful memories of her first night Womadelaide performance where she engaged in an erotic duel with her harp player's harp. Another keeper and another I just want to play again.

Tuesday - Mambo Sinuendo

2007-12-19T09:38:00.000+10:00

Tuesday 19th December
11k 56:43 @ 5:09 HR 140 (75% MaxHR)
Week Total: 23k

After some overnight rain it was a pleasantly mild morning for a run along The Gap Cycle path. A lot of people walking dogs and a few other runners. I guess I will be seeing a lot more of these people over the coming months. This course will be my standard easy run. It isn't what you would call hilly but undulating and for that reason I always find it hard to keep and even Heart Rate. It is nice and shady in the morning which is handy.

I have a passion for music and like Homer Simpson and food at an all you can eat buffet, I acquire much more music than I can possibly adequately pay serious attention to. This is resulted in a mountain of CDs I have never played and so I have set myself a goal of listening to a new one each day. Now I'm not exactly happy about this. I like to savour my music. I like it to get under my skin and embedded into my brain which I find takes many repeated listens. Often music that has the most lasting appeal is underwhelming of a first listen. But I will use my years of experience and some triage strategies and hopefully identify the ones with the most potential for further listening.

Today it was the 2003 collaboration Mambo Sinuendo by Ry Cooder and Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban (who featured in the Buena Vista Social Club). I would say it must be close to three years ago that I bought this one.

My first impression of this is a keeper. Nice guitar interplay and wonderfully produced with some great sounding twangy guitar. A mixture of instrumentals with styles from up tempo cubano to late night jazz. I already want to play it again!

Day One

2007-12-17T21:41:00.000+10:00

Only 159 more days left before I have to go back to work now.

My first task for my first day of long service leave was to take the family car to have it's 12 month service. This meant dropping it at Newmarket at 7:30 am and running the 12k to home. I love runs like this when you actually achieve something other then just a training run. It fitted perfectly into my plan to convert to morning runs also. I have now started the pattern so now only have to keep following through each day.

I was a bit worried about this run this morning. Generally I have 36 hours recovery time after Sunday's long run when I run Monday night. Today it would only be 24 hours. Secondly I would only usually do 9.5k but today would be 12k. Thirdly the course today is far more hilly than my usual and finally it would be a late start and it could have been quite hot and steamy. So all things combined it might have all been a bit too much but luckily the weather was kind and I seem to have come out of it unscathed.

For recovery, I laid on the couch and watched the two EPL games I recorded from last night (Liverpool v M Utd and Arsenal v Chelsea). Did I mention only 159 more days to go?

Today's run
12k 1:06:48 5:29 HR 139 75% Max HR.

Today I upgrade my Internet plan to a 12Gb ( from a measly 1Gb) so I will be relatively free to surf and download for the period of my leave, as long as the kids don't find out about it.

With now just under 200k for the month so far, I an considering setting a goal of 400k for this month. My mind is willing but will have to see if I can drag the body along for the ride.

An end to hard work

2007-12-17T21:28:00.000+10:00

13th - 16th December

Thu 14.5k 1:15:10 @ 5:11 HR 139 75% MaxHr
Fri 9.5k 46:01 @ 4:50 HR 142 76% MaxHR
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:17:27 @ 5:30 HR 136 73% MaxHR

Week 92k
Mth 187k
Year 3171k

Another solid week of 92k to back up last weeks 95k. This was especially satisfying as there was a lot of loose ends I was trying to cover off at work before going on my long service leave.
I set out on Sunday's long run at 4:45 am to escape the humidity. It was most pleasing to be able to go that far without the Heart Rate creeping up too much this week.

Highs and Lows

2007-12-12T22:04:00.000+10:00

It has been a while since my last post so I'll quickly get things up to date.

26th Nov - 2nd December
Mon 9.5k 46:25 @ 4:53 HR 143 77% MaxHR
Tue 14.5k 1:12:40 @ 5:00 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Wed 9.5k 46:35 @ 4:54 HR 141 76% MaxHR
Thu 15.3k 1:12:00 @ 4:59 HR 144 77% MaxHR
Fri 6.8k 34:27 @ 5:04 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Sat Rest
Sun Missed Session

Week 55.6k
Nov 353.1k

Well I made my target of highest number of Ks for a month. I reached it on the Thursday with a day to spare. My normal run that night would have left me just short of the total so I did an extra 800m just to make sure. It was a tough week. My legs felt very tired each day. I bought a new pair of shoes and wore them Tuesday and Wednesday but they didn't seem to make things any better. But looking back now, the pace for the week was quite acceptable considering the phase of my training.

The week ended on a sad note, as My Wife's father who just a little over three months ago was diagnosed with a cancer of his spinal fluid died in hospital at age 77. A sombre lesson to make the most of life as you never know what is around the corner.

3rd - 9th December

Mon 19.0k 1:36:14 @ 5:03 HR 142 76% MaxHR
Tue 11.0k 55:00 @ 5:00 HR 147 79% MaxHR
Wed 14.5k 1:13:46 @ 5:05 HR 140 75% MaxHR
Thu 14.5k 1:17:56 @ 5:22 HR 136 73% MaxHR
Fri 11.0k 55:39 @ 5:03 HR 140 75% MaxHR
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:17:09 @ 5:29 HR 139 74% MaxHR

Week 95.0k
Mth 95.0k
Year 3,079k

The pace was a little slower this week but a nice increase in distance to 95k. It certainly didn't help with the weather becoming very steamy. Looks like summer has finally arrived. The last couple of Ks of Sunday's long run was particularly tough and that clammy feeling of running in sweat soaked shirt, shorts and socks was back. Glad I was not having to do a 30K run. In fact I have found the 25k long runs to be perfect. They are long enough to give you lots of time on your feet but short enough that Monday's session can be more than just a gentle recovery run.

10th - 12th December

Mon 9.5k 46:54 @ 4:56 HR 146 78% MaxHR
Tue 14.5k 1:14:03 @ 5:06 HR 141 76% MaxHR
Wed 19.0k 1:41:03 @ 5:19 HR 135 72% MaxHR

A strong start to the week and I am thinking I might be able to get to 100k by the end. I now only have two more days of work before I go on Long Service Leave. I don't have to go back till the end of May! I am seriously considering switching to running in the morning over this time. This will break the habit of a life time. Getting up every morning may be harder than the running but I'm prepared to give it a go.

In this world of troubles

2007-11-26T20:45:00.000+10:00

19th - 25th November
Mon 9.5k 47:20 @ 4:58 HR 139 75% MaxHR
Tue 14.5k 1:12:43 @ 5:00 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Wed 9.5k 46:17 @ 4:52 HR 139 75% MaxHR
Thu 9.5k 48:33 @ 5:06 HR 142 76% MaxHR (From Home)
Fri 14.5k 1:11:58 @ 4:57 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:20:59 @ 5:38 HR 135 73% MaxHR

Week 82.5k
Mth 297.5k
Year 2,928k

Another good base building week. I only need 49k in the first five days of next week for it to be my best month ever.

Friday's run was a bit of a suprise. On Thursday I had run from home and the course was one with plenty of hills. So I was feeling a litle leg weary on Friday so just went out to go easy. I found it hard to believe my time at the turn around was so good as I felt I was just plodding and I was able to keep up the pace all the way with no rise in HR. I haven't really being doing any upper aerobic runs as yet so things can only get better from here.

Sunday's long run was more a mental struggle than a physical one. In the end "my music pulled me" through.

A short term goal

2007-11-20T22:25:00.000+10:00

12th - 18th November
Mon 9.5k 47:38 @ 5:00 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Tue 14.5k 1:13:04 @ 5:02 HR 144 77% MaxHR
Wed 9.5k 46:38 @ 4:55 HR 137 74% MaxHR
Thu 14.5k 1:14:40 @ 5:09 HR 139 75% MaxHR
Fri 9.5k 46:59 @ 4:56 HR 141 76% MaxHR
Sat Rest
Sun 25k 2:17:21 @ 5:29 HR 142 76% MaxHR

Week 82.5k
Mth 215k
Year 2,845k

Another steady week of base building. I am now really keen on getting past 346k this month to set a month PB. With just easy running it shouldn't be too difficult. My biggest risk is getting sick as Ducky and Dory have both had colds. Still you only catch a cold in a taper so I should be OK.