Glasshouse Trails, Flinders Tour - 50km

I sort of decided through the course of the week that I was going to have a go at this, though I had a lot of km's in my legs recently I have been running well so why not. Unfortunately, I hadn't decided on a thorough race plan and I've learned, sometimes the hard way, that this tends not to produce a good result - no exception yesterday!

Long story short, I caught up with Tamsin Barnes relatively early (maybe at about 8/9km) and we were both running well and seemed to be good company for each other. Unfortunately, we were getting on so well that we missed the turn into the goat track at about 15½ km because we were too busy yakking! About 3½ km later we'd realised our mistake but the damage was done I think.

The extra km's we 'chose' to do while very scenic were also very undulating and, stupidly, we ran back to the turn a little more quickly than we ought to have.

It was a shame because I'd pulled back the time lost climbing Beerburrum and was on rough five hour pace. Still, finished the rest of the first loop at a reasonable pace only to find that M1 and Glendry had passed me and were there already, M1 having sustained what looked like a bad fall but she seemed ok.

We all left together and carried on until Glen stayed with twin brother Craig for a while until CP4a and M1 and I carried on for a while longer until she sent me on my way. I did notice her breathing was a little laboured at this point and it turns out that she has bruised ribs as a result of the fall.

The walking we had done from Beerburrum to this point probably did me good as I was able to pretty much run it home from here after getting back through the goat track.

And that was the way it went. Picked up a couple of stragglers in the last 5/6 km and it was getting pretty hot by then too.

10km splits were 1:03:49, 1:02:23, 1:01:25, 1:10:36 and 1:02:23. The last (extra) 4km being 21:50.

All in all, I didn't have a hell of a lot of spring in my step and legs were a little heavy from the start so, 5:42 over a total 54km was pretty favourable and should serve me well in September.

Wild Horse Mountain

Good finish to what started as a pretty ordinary week given Tuesday nights mini blow up.

After squeezing in the 19km yesterday morning after my failure to get out of bed, what a welcome change today to end up being able to run at a relatively reasonable time with no concerns about having to be back by a given time as Stacey turned out to be not working today after all (under the condition that the rest of my day was congested with domestic duties!).

Anyway, got to my start point by 6:20 am and headed north toward Wild Horse Mountain, not that it was my intended destination, I just planned to run 15km along trail that I hadn’t run before and then come back. I had eyed it as a convenient target for a run for a long time though and as it turned out it’s just on 15km along a very undulating (ok, hilly), mostly wide trail.

I was working hard at the end but my 10km splits were 59:50, 59:41 and 58:11 (with just over 2 minutes for an additional ½km). Very steady, very pleased.

To put the icing on the cake, got out with the dog later this afternoon and used it for a gentle 10km recovery. Very slow, very stead, little soreness and no pain. Rounded off a 92km week which is a pretty good result given that I dropped my Thursday night 21km.

Just a 12km jog on Tuesday, maybe a shorter one on Wednesday but pretty much rest all week for the 50km at Flinders (Glasshouse) on Saturday.

Saturday slothness again.

This was a much better run than I thought it was going to be. I dropped the planned 21km on Thursday following my experience on Tuesday evening. Half intentional and half dicated by Stacey getting stuck in work. The rest wouldn't have hurt me.

Back to today. Slept in again (having real problems getting out of bed on a Saturday morning this last few weeks) but still managed to get 19km in even having taken a 10 minute km for a ... err ... comfort stop!

Spent a fair bit of time just having a look around on a few tracks that criss-cross my usual routes. Pleasure to be out.

Looking forward to enjoying my 30km outing tomorrow morning as Stacey isn't working so I can start at a sensible time (about 6:00 am) and get on with it without any time constraints.

Looking forward to next weeks rest leading up the 50km at Glasshouse on Saturday.

Phew.

Glad to get this in the bag after last night. Started to feel a bit queezy early on but I think it was nerves. Lesson learned, watch the diet. Niggle in the left calf won't go away either.

Even pace overall but included some fartlek just to break up the intensity. Nice run.

Ouch! (first one for a while)

Well, I learned a valuable lesson in respect tonight.

Ate a lot of crap food this afternoon then went out for dinner when we got home to maintain the domestic equilibrium, had a very ordinary chicken schnitzel meal (figured I’d be right for my 21km about 1½ hours later).

Out I went at about 9:40, only planning on 6:00 pace and that’s what I got. No leg problems, no soreness, etc. At about 12km, all was not well with the world and I knew I was about to get a spanking!

Through 14km, I was feeling decidedly unwell (legs were fine though) and by about 18, I was positively nauseous. Pulled the plug at 19km and had a 50m walk. Finished km no. 20 and walked in the rest. Legs were great and so was I almost the instant I stopped running.

Contributing factors?

• I’ve had three solid months of training following Brisbane with GH, Mt Mee and GC thrown in, so obviously there’s an element of fatigue.
• Diet yesterday was a major factor (loads of sweet rubbish from a conference we had) as I’ve been very well behaved with it in the last few months and it just didn’t agree with me
• Was back in the gym for the first time in three weeks on Monday (it’s been closed while students were on holiday) and had a pretty tough session.
• Big meal at a time I never usually have one, certainly not 90 minutes before a long run!
• Here’s the biggie, the main contributing factor … total complacency and lack of respect for the distance. 20km is 20km. I think this happened just in time to prevent me from becoming an ultra snob (a real one!). Here endeth the lesson!

My heart rate didn't get above 145 all the way around and was only about 135 at my worst. I could have just finished and was digging in but as my watch beeped at the 19km mark, I just thought, "nope, nothing to gain here." (12 months ago it would have been "gotta finish, gotta finish"). I calculatedly made the decision to walk but it was my body telling me to stop.

Gym again today along with 12km tonight. See how we go

Noela's Garden - Donnybrook

I couldn't have hoped for a better recovery from the adventures of last Sunday. This week has been ridiculously comfortable as far as niggles, aches and pains are concerend ... notice I don't say easy? I find nothing easy about a week that's had 2x20km runs and finished with a 30km but most runners would be able to relate whatever their preferred distance.

Very nice run to finish the week week off after GCM. A bit heavy going for the last few km but mainly psychological as I'd miscalculated the distance and was already winding down to the finish. Some might argue that for the sake of a few km's/minutes it makes no difference ... try telling that to Roger Bannister! My week has gone well and my schedule had a 30km run in today and though last weeks marathon turned out to be a different affair than was originally planned, there was no reason why I shouldn't do it. When it's the middle of the night at Glasshouse in September and I have 40km still to go, I'll need to be able to pick myself up and switch on again and I think this sort of thing is important (that is to complete what I set out to do).

Anyway, I took a detour and found a few extra km's somewhere else at the end. Very steady 6:00's all around.

One thing though, from about 14km I was in the dark. No problem, I had a light with me. I was running on a wide fire road for a while so I left the light off until about the 19km mark where I turned back into the denser trail, at which point I had to put it on. Strangely, I felt very nervous about running through the bush in the dark and it's really never bothered me before.

It was raining, so visibility was very 'different', but I really can't put my finger on what it was.

Anyway, like I said, very steady tonight and finally found a new loop that I suspected was there but hadn't had time to investigate.

I also discovered 'Noela's Garden' at Donnybrook. Only glimpsed it from the outside but it's a stunning jewel in what seems to be the middle of nowhere.

Check it out here

So much for taking it easy.

Another good run this morning, took a while to warm up, maybe 5/6 km?

Couldn't get out of bed this morning and dozed off after the alarm went off. My conscience got the better of me in the end and I dragged myself out. Started running an hour and ten minutes after I planned and figured I had 1½ hours running time before getting back to take Rhys swimming (and it would be tight)

All going nice and steady, managed to do a little more exploring having calculated where I needed to be to get back to the car in time at the one hour mark. Only one problem, I had parked the car 2km further away than usual (to get the extra km's) and was working on where I usually park so I was 2km short of where I needed to be!

Went from easy recovery type 6 minute pace to 5:25 to 5:00. Ended up getting 19 of the originally planned 20km in (good result having slept so late) with a six minute negative split!! I finished much harder than I would have liked and only got home in the nick of time. Good workout in the end though and managed to keep the domestic tranquillity on an even keel while only being ten minutes later than planned - just in time!

M1 will throttle me when she reads this

Recovery and stuff

To say I’m having a purple patch at the moment would be understating it.

After the GC Marathon on the weekend, I had two rest days in my schedule followed by 12km on both Wednesday and Thursday before ramping up again on the weekend. I wasn’t going to be able to get time to run on Thursday because of family commitments so I shifted everything forward a day and figured rest day’s on Thursday and Friday would have to do.

I went out on Tuesday for a very steady, very comfortable 12km in about 5:40’s. Legs were a bit heavy toward the end but no surprises there.

Last night however was fantastic. I’ve had little soreness all week so I decided yesterday afternoon to go and run my staple road half in the evening. Still little or no soreness and a very steady run in just over two hours with almost an even split (5:43’s).

Also, got my pictures from GC today. Self-indulgent I know but I couldn’t resist as I had a good picture coming across the finish line with virtually no one else in the frame apart from a few guys finishing the half marathon in the background.

Two days off now and maybe a few beers this evening too. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the trail for back to back long runs this weekend (20 and 30km respectively) and building up to the 50km at Flinders (Glasshouse) on the 26th.

In other, more important, news, good to note that mates are doing well.

Best is that Rachael (a good friend of M1’s) is running again after her stress fracture. Probably too much too soon if here backbone is anything to go by but definitely light at the end of the tunnel

M1 seems to be getting stronger, really putting a lot of work into her recovery with deep water running and some speed work and it seems to be coming off. She took a stroll on Sunday in the GC Half Marathon and trotted in nonchalantly at about 1:54 ... ho-hum.

M2 (Michelle Lake) came at 1:46 in the same race which I believe was at least a three minute PB.

What else … oh yes … Looks like Glen (Hendry) isn’t going to the US after all and will be toeing the line for the 100km race at the Glasshouse 100 in September. Interesting times ahead

AT (Andrew Townshend) is chilling out in Portugal giving a presentation at a conference before heading to Switzerland. Apparently he’s surrounded by nubile young exotics … bit of a chore but I’m sure he’ll get over it!

Gold Coast Marathon - July 6th 2008

Well, the ankle held up, I had two comfortable runs early in the week and was well rested by Sunday for the Gold Coast marathon.

I couldn't have had a better preparation what with being able to stay within five minutes of the start at M1's and was very well looked after as she's done this event a couple of times and just new the lay of the land. Went for a quiet dinner at the surf club with M1 and Rachael (a friend of M1's who I've run with before), early night and all good.

What a motivator and guide. For both my marathons she's proven to be a rock of encouragement and inspiration.

40 minute PB with a negative split, couldn't have wished for more.

Briefly:

• My half split was about 1:50:20, so about a 1½ minute negative split.


• I took six GU’s – one 15 minutes before the gun, and finished each one of the rest as close to every 45 minutes as I could from then. I.e. I started them about five minutes before they were due so when it was time I already had it down me.


• Didn’t take on any Endura until about 30km and made do with probably about four cups of water until then (I was well hydrated beforehand)

The first five km was relatively erratic mainly due to the crowd (first km was 6:13) and I was actually pretty nervous/pumped and took me a while to settle in. I caught up with John Sellars, whom I've run with a few times before, at that point and decided to run with him for a while as he’s pretty steady. From this point I got into a really good rhythm and though I was going quicker than planned, I felt good enough. I figured I’d get to the start finish at about 26km and ease up for five to ten to set myself up for the last turn and the run in which would be about 7km.

I had planned to catch the 3:45 pacer by halfway and see if I could pull away. As it goes, I was about 1½ minutes in front. That’s how it panned out. Couldn’t have worked better. I think I ran as good a race as I possibly could with my current pace and from the first turn at the south end there were very few people who passed me.

It was pretty humid, got to over 80% I think (70% at 6:00 am). There was the wind too and some of the posts on CR suggest it was a tough day. I felt they were perfect conditions as though the humidity was up it was relatively cool, though there was a stretch from 30 to 35 km that had shelter from the wind and it got hot there. I was saving myself through that stretch anyway but it did occur to me that it was just as well. Anyway, I thought it was perfect and am surprised that some people have said the conditions were hard (it was raining like hell and blowing a gale the night before and until 5:00 am so it certainly could have been worse!

Also, while I enjoyed the course, I don’t think it’s as flat as everyone suggests. There’s nothing steep but there are a couple of slow climbs that would take it out of you without noticing I think.

It was good to see M1 get through a comfortable ½ marathon too as she's building from here injury.

Nice to beat Mr Hendry too!!

Anyway, the splits are nice and it's always good to see a picture, so here they are: