21 December 2015

2015 Racing Review

January
Jan 24th I ran the Queensland Open 3000m Champs and was happy with 9;16.

February
Feb 26th 5000m in 15;54 at the State Open Champs - very close to my goals 15;51 and 15;49 but not quite close enough.
28th Two days later I backed up with a 15;56 at North Lakes parkrun treating it in my mind as a tempo run! 


March
March 5th QUEENSLAND Open 10,000m Champion 
at 53 years of age! - my 'racing' performance of the year. Run in really hot, really humid, windy conditions 33;43.




April 
April 3rd Sydney Australian Masters Champion M50 10,000m Champion 33;03 
April 5th Sydney Australian Masters Champion M50 5000m 16;05

I noticed a drop off in my performance following Nationals as performances deteriorated and I ended up with a hip injury which I struggled on with for a few months.

May
24th Noosa 10km Road 4th Overall 34;03

June
June 14th Launceston 10km Road 33;19 - brewery tour and pub crawl with the HuRTS boys took me months to recover from.
Launie was freezing cold, white long sleeves gloves and beaney

July
July 5th Gold Coast Half Marathon 73;20 ran with the lead group of women for a few K's then by myself for 10km.
I'm behind John (Barts)





August
August 16th Gladstone Botanic to Bridge 8km 26;41 2nd overall to Jackson Elliot, $500 first M45.

I took two weeks off running to give the hip issue a chance to resolve itself - I cycled everyday in the interim. The break from running seemed to work but hated getting swooped by maggies.

September
I turned 54
October
A racing reunion that took 35 years ! 
Oct 10th QMA State athletics facility;Treesey and me 3000m Mike was the victor in 9;28 with me 9;32
Oct 24th Sandgate parkrun Treesey again victorious 16;25 to my 16;28 
Oct 31st North Lakes parkrun 16;10 a pleasing return to form but then I go and  injure myself gardening!

November
Nov 16th Tokyo Japan 5000m 16;21 (Mike ran 16;16) if only Andrew Green, Mike Trees and I were in shape we'd have been comfortably run sub 16 minimum (Andy close to 15;00)
Mike and I behind #36 and #35 in a field of 50 runners, with 37 heats!

Nov 23rd Otawara Marathon festival Japan 10km 34;57 6th M40.  Japan is the spiritual home or World distance running.
December
Another two week break from running but this time I was unable to cross train on the bike - dieting for the first time ever meant the comeback wasn't quite as tough as normal. 
Mid December and I resumed training with the back very slowly getting better.

The motivation is higher than ever for training and  racing in 2016 with some unfinished business at M50 5000 and 10,000m. 
55 years old in September and World Masters Athletics in Perth in October.

2 comments:

coach dion said...

Nice set of results for the year...

The Phantom Menace year in review said...

It was a buoyant and upbeat David McSweeney , the face and voice of Garmin , who reflected on this year's Karaoke performances with the Garmin Lava faithful at an end of year tribute function at a secret location on the famous Roo plus Lake champion's field of dreams circuit . My fans were looking for something different this year and I think this quenched their insatiable appetites to be endlessly entertained . The jovial Scotsman opened up as to the strain being a global phenomena can be in world that is becoming ever more superficial , greedy and intrusive into the lives of the mega rich and famous . " I like to let my athletic performances do my talking " explained the GL with that rich Gaelic inflection to his voice that so captivates his feminine supporters , " but I think you can convey even more with song . It's simply a matter of finding the right lyrics and for me that's Led Zeppelin every time . I just have so much love to give my supporters and fans .They appreciate it . It's genuine and from the heart . So many of them lead drab and dull lives which I can identify with . There's no place more dull and drab than Glasgow . But I rose above it as my performances show . I think when my body finally gives out in a few decades time I'm going to focus much more on my Karaoke singing which I'd like to combine with my other great passion which is mime . I've been working on facial gestures in some of my races trying to avoid that robotic glazed expression so commonly observed especially in masters athletics . It's still a work in progress and I'm learning and perfecting it with every race but I think my fans appreciate it ." With that the man dubbed the Garmin Lama took to the stage and delighted the Garmin faithful with a haunting rendition of Stairway to Heaven slightly one octave off key but striking the right cord in regards sincerity and heart felt passion . Certainly the crowd appreciated it and at the end effigies of Mike Trees and Andrew Green were burned much to tne delight and blood lust of the crowd ever more greedy to see what the Garmin Lama has in store in 2016 . A veritable cornucopia of athletic and other delights I would suspect .