Martin Rees

Ronnie suggested I post this fascinating (for us old geezers) article on Martin Rees who ran 71m32 for the Half Mara at Bath (UK) this year aged 60!
A M60 World Record.
He is running 70miles and doing 2 or 3 speed sessions a week.
His training is not far removed from mine though I would not cover that amount of miles, I would get up to two speed sessions a week when fully back into it.
At the moment I am still building back up and slowly introducing some speed, mindful of my Achilles Heel = my heel!
Last week was pretty much steady runs (Thursday was a rest day = travelling to Rocky and back).
Friday I flew around my Roo+Lake course in under 40mins which is pretty rare. 
10.6KM in 39;59 = 3;47 K's, 
followed on Saturday (short on time so only squeezed in a Roo)
5.7km 21;33 = 3;46 K's.
Sunday I ran a steady 
21K's 1;28;37 = 4;11 K's
This morning (Monday) I cycled for an hour and 15mins by way of a recovery day.

Martin Rees



Click on to enlarge;

My Training to 27th July 2013

Lanterne Rouge

Saturday 21.1km 1;29;39 4m14 K's  First long run in forever! 

Did OK felt OK.

Sunday 2KM warm up 3 X 3 X 400m 2KM Warm Down 

- I chose this by way of an easy reintroduction to speed work. 

Lots of recovery and run on grass oval at school (rough). 

First set at race pace (I chose 16min 30 as base line), so 79's with 100m jog recovery then 400m jog and 

Second Set 3 secs quicker (76secs) with 200m jog recovery, 400m jog and 

Third Set 6 secs quicker (73secs) with 400m jog recoveries.

2.1km Warm Up 8;42 4.07km pace

Set 1, 78/79/77

Set 2, 3m44 Ave 74.6

Set 3, 3m38 Ave 72.6

1.85km Warm Down 9;32 5.08km pace

Nudgee is calling but thought better to stay on soft oval at local school, barely discernible track marked out but it seemed quite accurate. I had a pair of Plovers for company that dive bombed me on the warm up so I tried to tier them out by standing my ground for 10 minutes while they screamed and carried on, eventually moving off. Also had to contend with a golfer lobbing balls actually onto the track! He did take care not to fire them when I was rounding that side of the track. It was tough trying to judge pace but I got the first set pretty good the second set was too fast and the third set just quicker than target. Great to feel like I was moving again and the heel and calves were OK.

Monday;  got up early to see if Cav could make it 5 in a row on the Champs Élysées but he didn't quite get the lead out he has had in the past (ala Renshaw) and it was Kittel and Gripel followed a wheel behind by Cav.

In honour I got out on the bike for a recovery 33km at 28kmph

Natalie said to me as I went out the door to "ride like it was the Champs-Élysées" but I fear I rode more like I was the Lanterne Rouge, there again it was a recovery day ;-)

Alpe D'Huez

There was no way I was going to miss two times up the Alpe D'Huez last night on le Tour so having gone to bed at 2.00 a.m. it necessitated another lunchtime in the city run along the Brisbane River. This time I remembered to bring my kit! but my Garmin battery died  just after the turnaround. I was maintaining sub 4 min KM pace but slowed down as I turned back into a breeze.
It is so pleasant to run in a comfortable 22 O C about 70 O F temperature in the middle of the Winter. I believe that this sub tropical climate is half the reason why I am able to run(cycle) through the year. Back in the UK the Winter is miserable I don't think I could keep myself active at my age.

It has been disappointing hearing all the criticism Froome has had to put up with but understandable given his dominance. If the only 'evidence' is from 'worked out' data output it is not very scientific. Last night Quintana and Rodriguez beat Froome up by a minute and Quintana's time was only good good enough for 39th on the All Time Alpe D'Huez rankings. Last night Froome looked quite human and potentially vulnerable, but for Richie Porte he would not be in the commanding position he still holds.

Letting it all hangout!

I just ran 11.5 kilometers! Check it out on #strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/67922427

Letting it all hang out!

Very late nights watching the tour didn't much fancy bed at 2am and getting up at 5am for a run, the answer was a lunch time city stroll. I gather up my kit bag but left it on the breakfast table!
As a consequence I had to make do with kit that was lying around in my locker for a few years and my work socks!!
The elastic in my shorts started crumbling as soon as I put them on and they required constant pulling up until I sweated enough to have the sweat stick them to me. The other problem was that the inners never sat right and the old fella kept hanging out!
The Garmin was at home with my kit so ran with my phone and used Strava to record. Only problem with that was I couldn't work out the lock release to stop the timer which made for a very slow last half KM.
No issues during the run with the heel but some reactions following so iced it.
Went home sock less :-)
11.5km  @ 4mins04 felt good but just a twinge from the calves so I backed off.

Training Update

I have been running just over a week. Aerobic fitness is fine and shows that the cycling has kept me in the game. However the running has taken it out on all the leg muscle groups and I am only just overcoming the muscle soreness. The heel has gradually started to hurt after a run so I guess I am not cured and will have to manage it carefully.
Click on the image to enlarge.

Gold Coast Marathon Masters Results Sally Gibbs

The most outstanding performance of the weekend goes to Sally Gibbs F50 2hrs 42m59 a phenomenal performance. Australian W50 Record by 1m13.

Gold Coast Half Marathon Masters Results 2013

Congrats to Chairman Tommy in his last year M35 running a PB 71m18.
Lee Troop showed what a class act he is running 67m56 to win M40

Tim Toner 74m43 won M45 Cat and well done Queensland Master Shawn Claydon for getting runner up.

Bruce Graham again blitzed the M50 Cat. and congrats to David Scroope coming back from heart surgery you are inspirational!

Here are the M55 Cat results

My 'Masters Performance of the Day' in the Half goes to Ronnie, the man is a machine 75m10 at M60!
This year Ronnie ran 75m52 at Noosa to break the National M60 record and  76m40 at Doomben.
This performance tops it off, three World class performances from Ronnie so far this Winter!

Gold Coast Marathon Weekend Mens Masters 10KM Results

Some great running by Masters out there this weekend.
In the 10KM
M40 Dennis Fitz 32m40 for 25th overall.
M45 Greg Webster who lives in the next suburb to me ran 35m50

My Age group was taken out by the incomparable Monnas in a new M50 Course Record 32m58, some superb running by Brisbane's finest Gary Francis Con and Barry.

It must have been like a Queensland Masters reunion out there as in the M55's Peter Reeves took the cat win in 36m08

Congrats to Craig Welsh on 4th in the M60's and all the others who took part in the biggest best running festival in Queensland.