31 July 2011

Lily of the Valley

Sat 5.24pm 10.55km Roo+Lake 40m03 3m48 K's
Sun 8.54am 6 X 1000m Nudgee 200m jog recovery;


#1. 3m08.46
#2. 3m08.44
#3. 3m06.60
#4. 3m02.72
#5. 3m05.15
#6. 3m03.18


Normally prefer to train at the track later in the day when it is warmer but happy enough with this mornings effort. It was 14.07 O C at 9.00am with a slight breeze. 6.5 lap warm up and 4 strides and into it. The cooler temps  equate to faster running conditions and these Winter sessions have surprised me as I'd thought I'd be sluggish but will be interesting to see how they compare with the heat of the Summer.
No Bingo players and no ducks but I did have the company of a couple of triathletes at the track for half the session. Left knee tendinitis still a worry but it eases with warm up.
This track is for my beautiful daughter Lily x

29 July 2011

All by Myself

Fri 12.27pm 11.76km Brisbane River 44m56  3m49 K's
Thurs 5.21am 9.29km Petrie Rail 42m56  4m37 K's


I ran completely 'all by myself' today and yesterday! 
It is a lonely furrow I plough. 
With any luck at the weekend at Nudgee I shall have the company of several hundred 'Bingo' players along the back straight and perhaps a few ducks that tend to inhabit the Rugby pitch infield.


27 July 2011

Patsy Walsh

Mon 12.40pm Brisbane River 11.69km 46m28 3m59 K's
Tue 12.14pm Brisbane River 11.74km 45m17  3m51 K's
Wed 12.22pm Brisbane River 11.86km 44m54  3m47 K's


Same course every day, nice and warm and sunny. For some reason the distance measured by the Garmin seems to be getting longer! perhaps it is all the weaving I'm doing along the South Bank where there are hordes or other runners, walkers and tourists.
Tonight I'm out for drinks with Patsy Walsh ( a mate I knew from London and a drinking legend) so will have a very slow run in the morning to pick up my car from Petrie.
Here are the Garmin details from this run last week.







24 July 2011

Cadel Evans

Sun 12.24pm 10 X 400m @ Nudgee 120m jog recovery   Ave 67.93
Sat 5.30pm 10.60km Roo+Lake 39m55 - 3m46 K's
Fri 3.46pm 10.54km (!) Roo+Lake 41m36 - 3m56 K's
Thur 12.19pm 11.80km Brisbane River 44m30 - 3m46 K's
Wed 12.20pm 11.76km Brisbane River 45m02 - 3m49 K's


The Tour has really taken its toll on my routine! fantastic racing by Cadel so all the late nights have been worth it.
Instead of early morning runs I have got out at lunch time at work and run in beautiful sunny warm conditions all week! It makes a nice change from the dark chilly mornings.
Today I thought I'd do a bit of speedwork and felt surprisingly good. Though I have been suffering a recurrence of the left knee tendinitis since the Gold Coast, anti inflam cream and a good warm up sees off the worst of it.Conditions were warm and sunny with  a slight breeze to contend with in the home straight. I felt good from the off opening up with a 67 was a nice surprise. The always difficult second rep was 69 and I was pleased I managed to keep it under 70 as I my goal was to run them all sub 70. As the session progressed I went from running 68's to finish off  with 67's. I gave this session everything I had - perhaps  proved by the last rep only equalling the previous 5.
That was probably a (recent) PB session. Recovery jog was between 70 and 80 secs.
# 1 ; 67.45   142bpm
# 2 ; 69.36   152bpm
# 3 ; 68.38   154bpm
# 4 ; 68.83   156bpm
# 5 ; 67.83   155bpm
# 6 ; 67.44   156bpm
# 7 ; 67.81   157bpm
# 8 ; 67.30   159bpm
# 9 ; 67.77   158bpm
#10; 67.20   158bpm



20 July 2011

Sacramento Wrap

Mon 5.55pm Roo 5.69km 23m32  4m08 K's
Tues 5.38am Lake+Roo 10.63km 45m25  4m16 K's
Too many late nights watching the Tour has my training routine all over the shop.
Loving how Cadel is going at the moment, can he keep it going?
My brother Tim in NZ made me laugh recently when we discussing Cadel , this is what he wrote.
"I struggle with the "look" of Evans, his jaw put's Desperate Dan to shame, I see no point in him wearing a "slip stream" helmet during the time trials, he'd be better off using "cow horn" handle bars on his bike to tuck his chin behind!"
At  the Worlds there were too many fantastic races to single out only a few but ...
Keith running a WR and Rob winning Gold in 1500m have special interest. 
The quality of the M45 5000m and 10,000m races were amazing.
Francis Burdett running sub 32mins and not getting a medal was really unfortunate. 
My eyes have now turned to the World M50 results and was thinking perhaps I could have medalled if competed in 8KM XC, 5000m and 10,000m.


17 July 2011

Jetty to Jetty 2011 3rd 34m10 (1st M40)

Sun 10KM Jetty to Jetty 3rd 34m10 (1st M40)
Sat Rest
Fri 5.34pm 10.57km Roo+Lake 42min00  3m58 K's



Jetty to Jetty 2011 3rd 34m10 (1st M40)
2006 10th (1st Cat) 33m37
2007  7th (1st Cat) 34m02
2008  5th (1st Cat) 32m36
2010 8th (2nd Cat) 34m48
2011 3rd (1st Cat) 34m10
Results are here


I was pleased with 3rd place (my best ever) but today's  time was ordinary. 
I thought I put in a decent effort, ran on my own from 1.5K when  Alistair Stephenson gapped me as he worked his way up to join Matt Brown in the race for victory.  
I think the breeze coming in off the Bay after the turnaround and the hills over the heads took it out of me.
I added photos from the day showing me wearing the famous African Violet from Loughborough. The Adidas version of this vest dates it pre 1980 my first year at Loughborough as by then we'd switched to a forerunner of Nike (can't remember the name! ?). Me and a guy called Kenny Allen from Northern Island swapped my old Shaftesbury Harriers vest for his Loughborough Adidas vest. It was from the era when Dave Moorcroft and Seb Coe ruled the roost at Loughborough more than 30 years ago!

14 July 2011

Jetty to Jetty

Sun 2.16pm 21.2km Roo+LakeX2 87m28s  4m08 K's
Mon 5.30pm 10.68km Roo+Lake battery died! was running 4m12's up to 8.84km
Tues 5.37am 10.68km Lake+Roo 46m48 4m23 K's
Wed 5.43am 10.66km Lake+Roo 45m28 4m16 K's
Thurs 5.48am 10.68km Lake+Roo 44m20 4m09 K's


I'm going to be racing 10KM at Redcliffe on Sunday morning in the Jetty to Jetty.
It is my local race over a certified course, slightly undulating as it passes over some coastal headlands.Nevertheless I ran 32m36 in 2008, I'm not in that shape but always
enjoy this race.

09 July 2011

Nudgee 6 X 1000m - 200m jog recovery

Thurs 5.45am 10.69km Lake+Roo 46m06 - 4m19 K's
Fri 12.22pm 14.08 Bridges 56m12 - 4m00 K's
Sat 12.43pm 6 X 1000m @ Nudgee 200m jog rest recovery


Thurs morning I wore socks on my hands as gloves! 
Just too cold for a softee Queenslander!
Decided to run in the warmth of the day on Fri so got out at work in the City. Unfortunately my normal course was completely blocked as repairs to riverside walkways meant I had to make up a run on the hoof. Lost a lot of time running down some dead ends and trying to cross busy road junctions and the inevitable dodgems around people as I ran through the restaurant precinct.
This arvo it was a return to Nudgee in sunny but windy conditions I ran 6 X 1000m with 200m jog recovery;
#1.  3m08  155bpm
#2 . 3m09  157bpm
#3.  3m10  159bpm
#4.  3m09  161bpm
#5.  3m08  163bpm
#6.  3m07  164bpm
Happy enough with that workout given the wind.
I Googled that M45 from the GC Half Marathon and found that Georges Richmond is in fact a French guy and he ran 2h36m in this years Paris Marathon.
The World Masters Athletics  Champs in Sacramento are off and running. 
The 8KM XC has been completed (Keith Bateman won the M55 in a time that would have also won the M50 and M45!! Also the initial heats for 800m have taken place with 'Our' M45 Robbie Schwerkolt qualifying second fastest. The big events of interest for  me will be the 5000m today (Sat) and the 10,000m.

06 July 2011

Georges Richmond

Sun Rest
Mon 5.28pm 5.69km Roo 24m02  4m13 K's
Tues 5.40am 10.68km Lake+Roo 46m02 4m19 K's
Wed 5.41am 10.68km Lake+Roo 46m53 4m23 K's

Immediately following Saturday's race my left knee seized up. I had difficulty jogging (limped) back to the car and changing gears on the drive back. Sunday the affliction was as bad, hardly able to extend knee. Pretty sure it is a continuation of the knee tendinitis I've suffered last 3 years only it is the first time I've had such a reaction.
I took some anti inflams and by Monday it was feeling better so tried a short 6K to see if it reacted.
Tuesday mornings run was OK and knee is back to the background levels of pain I've suffered all along so OK. The remarkable thing about Tuesday mornings run was the air temperature, I was running through pockets of air that must have been 20 C - beautiful! Today however was savage! My Thermometer read about 10 C and it felt absolutely freezing - definitely need to get some gloves if this continues!

The World Masters Athletics Championships starts today in Sacramento and a big call out to all those competing specially Aussies (Like Scott said Robert Scherkolt M45 (8 , 15 and maybe 5?), John Jago M50 (8) and Keith Bateman M55 8KM XC, 15, 5, maybe 10, and Mara !!
If you haven't caught up with his blog yet do yourself a favour and bookmark this as Keith gives a detailed account of pre Champs training and will be blogging whilst in Sacto.Give Keith some encouragement as he hopes to set a World Record (5 or 15).
Of course I must also  send best wishes to USA Master, Kevin Ford (like me another London Irish man) who will be running M45 5000.

Looking at the result from GC on Sunday I noticed this stand out performance;
14H0030GEORGES RICHMOND01:10:32   01:10:31      14M14    M45-49    1

Does anyone have any background details on Georges? He was only a dozen seconds off setting an Australian Half Mara record! Where did he come from? sensational running !

02 July 2011

Gold Coast 10KM 33m24 26th (1st M45-49)


Sat 7.20am Gold Coast 10KM 33m22   26th  1st M45-49


Fri 5.43am Lake+Roo 10.64km 44m19  4m09 K's
Thu 5.39am Lake+Roo 10.64km 44m16  4m09 K's
Wed 5.29am Lake+Roo 10.61km 46m16  4m16 K's
Tues 5.22am Lake+Roo 10.64km 47m19  4m27 K's
Mon 5.34pm Roo+Lake 10.65km 43m13 4m03 K's


Result are here


Up at 4.00am and on the road at 5.00am. Got to Gold Coast Hicks Road car park at 6.30am and picked up my number from Elite tent and warmed up with a 3KM jog. Wanted to try a reserved start and and see if I could pick things up in second half of race. Stood about 4 rows back on the start line and for me was pretty conservative in first KM. There seemed to be hordes of runners in front and I eventually found my race rhythm .
Prior to race day I felt rather under done in my training just steady 10KM mostly with a couple of faster tempo runs whilst in Cairns. I anticipated finding it difficult to  improve on my Noosa 10K time (33m45). As things panned out I ran in a small group between 2KM and 4KM and struck out by myself for the next couple of K's as we turned and started to run into a headwind. It was tough going and when I got caught by two guys between 7 and 8KM I took the time to shelter behind. By comparison to fronting the wind alone the' going' felt real slow (my splits confirmed this!). 
Normally I would kick on and run  'hard as' by myself but today my only goal was to win age category, so happy enough to bludge.
Amazingly we started to catch a small group up ahead. The finish of the GC seems to go on and on for ever. I was a little half hearted with my effort and very happy to cross the line.
33m22 net /33m24finish was  better than I expected. 
It gives me good encouragement because
A. It is a decent enough time.
B. I can certainly run better later in the year when I intend to peak (September onwards).
My Garmin had the splits;
2m58
3m12
3m16
3m17
3m22
3m26
3m29
3m29
3m24
3m21
+6secs
10.04KM


I met  HuRTS Squad member Jonathan Fenton  (JF) both before and after the race. He ran a brilliant  PB  33m54 (Tom  and Tim were pretty close on their predictions). 
Good Luck to all you guys running Sunday, unfortunately I wont be able to support in person but will be looking forward to the reports online. 
The Gold Coast Marathon festival is a brilliantly organised affair and I love how it attracts runners from all over the country.
My previous record here was ;
2007  10KM    33m14      18th &  1st
2008  HM       72m26      27th &  1st
2010  10KM    34m32      41st &  1st