QMA 10,000m 33;37.83 1st

Unusual to race on a Monday night but then again it was unusual to race on Thursday night. It was one of the hottest October days on record in South East Queensland with many towns setting all time October highs. In Brisbane we got to mid 30's but then it clouded over and a few storms came through dumping a few mm's of rain. It didn't cool down significantly, BOM had the temperature at start time 7.00pm as 26 O C and 72% humidity. 
Con and Pete were going to race the first 1500m of the 10,000m as prep for their Pan Pacs. This did provide some element of competition as I listened to their footsteps/breathing over those first 4 laps. Only 21 laps to run by myself. The wind from those storms was still buffeting early on but died down by about halfway. I tried to run the laps going hard into the wind sections hoping to coast the rest with the wind behind me.
The wet track soon put weight into my racing flats and my shorts felt very heavy, very early. 
I went through 3000m in 9;50 and 5000m in 16;30. 
At that point I worked out I was already outside of Ronnies mark 32;54, so I just did my best to hang on for the next 12.5 laps. 
We had a water table on lane 3 with a volunteer offering cups of water but I was never going to be capable of drinking from a cup on the run so I ignored it. 
I threw off my cap after 600m as I thought it was going to get blown off but that left me with sweat dripping down my face for the rest of the run. 
Con and Pete restarted following their 1500m TT and jogged around the remaining laps (but were DNF'd in the official results along with Colin McLeod - not sure why). 
Paul Shard still getting over a major back Op did well to hold 4;40K's for 44mins. Michelle Mackenzie bravely ran 57mins.
And a walker Peter Bennett I think, walked 52mins.

I was disappointed with my 33;37 which equates to 80 second laps or 2;41 800's or 3;21 K's. It has been said many times that everything has to be perfect if your going to bring out your best performance. You have to be 100% mentally and physically and conditions need to be on your side. I was happy though to record a 10000m track time that according to the World Masters ranking puts me in 3rd place for M50's with Bruce in 2nd.
I also attach a lot of relevance to what's happened in the UK and no M50 broke 34mins this year!

http://www.mastersrankings.com/rankings.php?gender=MEN&season=Outdoor&year=2014

Cool Night Classic 5.00km 6th 16;37

Sunday 30km I had some idea where I was going to run when I left home but I didn't know where I'd get a drink and as I had no gels that was rather poor planning. I ran for two hours before I got to a tap! I didnt want to deviate too far from my planned route to locate parks where I might have found water and on a hot afternoon I began to suffer. 2;14.12 for 4.22 km's
Monday As ever 5.00am the day after a long run and I'm normally hardly able to walk let alone run 10.6km in 4;24 K's
Tuesday. Nudgee. Nick was doing a very lactate session (3 x 1000 on rolling 5mins) so I decided on 16 x 400 with about 80 or 90secs recovery 110m jog. 
Averaged 71.25 on a very windy night so good set.
Wednesday morning after track did well to get around 10.6km in 4.15 km pace.

Thursday Cool Night Classic in the CBD. warmed up with Jacko and shot off at the start as huge numbers meant a quick get away was imperative to avoid being swamped. We had to do an immediate U turn then down hill to the Goodwill Bridge (uphill) then sharp right along the South Bank. I went through the first K too fast in 2;59 and had to recuperate in the second as Hagan Carlson and Dewar gapped me. Jacko was already out in front. I was running the next few K's with O'Shea who pipped me last year and Brandon Dewar (who finished 3rd last year). 
It was a horrible course, full of pedestrians and U turns and right turns and ramps. A U turn at Kirrilpa bridge gave an opportunity to assess  race position but you all know at 2km into a 5km race know one is likely to change position very much. I managed to get past O'Shea on Victoria Bridge and survive the double 180 down ramp to get back onto the riverside cycleway and head for home.
Brandon had gapped us and there was no coming back to him. Finished 6th same as last year but we didn't have Jacko racing then. The big prizes attracted sufficient quality to leave me satisfied I'd put in a good effort and wasn't ever going to be good enough to get podium.

Friday was recovery 10.6km in 4;17 K's 
I woke with a sore throat that developed into a streaming nose and wheeze cough!
Saturday Mini taper racing 10,000m track on Monday if virus allows 
10.6km in 4;05 K's
Sunday another easy run late afternoon planned - waiting for it to cool down, its 30 O C today!

Kirra parkrun 16;06 1st

Up at 4.00am!!
90min drive to Kirra. 
Is there a better setting for a parkrun?
The beach and surf is far better than anything up the coast- there is no surf north of the Goldie. 
The footpath at Kirra is also far better than Sandgate, much wider and better quality smooth surface but it does still have some bumps and falls and bends and pedestrians with dogs and cyclists! 
With two 180 O turns we debated just how fast this course would be. 
Throw into the mix heat, humidity and wind! It was what it was.
2km warm up. 
Fast start, hairing off into the lead not sure if the wind was in front or coming off the beach but it wasn't helping. Didn't feel comfortable and 'felt' someone on my tail, it turned out to be Dan Stein, a triathlete. Felt him all the way to 2km where we do a 180 and I still dont see him as he's following tucked behind me. 3rd 4th and Con and Pete seemed really close to me and I start thinking I'm running really poorly (never look at the watch). I thought it would be a matter of time before Dan would take me but he didn't. I worked hard and set myself goals to keep the effort consistent - get to the 3km mark then its only  6mins 30secs of running. I got to 4km and the timekeeper calls out 12.59. I say to myself just 90secs to the 2nd turnaround and then I can go for home. 
Dan started to drop off and I was clear. 
A horrendous slowdown at 4.5km to turn but do my best to pick it back up (it would have cost at least 5 secs). Overtake three girls walking abreast  on the outside then I'm clear to run the tangents to the finish line.16;06 official. Happy with that effort all things considered.
results are here; 
http://www.parkrun.com.au/kirra/results/latestresultshttp://www.parkrun.com.au/kirra/results/latestresults/

Breakfast at Con's 'holiday home' nestling up the mountain behind Kirra, a gorgeous location and delightful breaky

My car park for parkrun expand the horizon to see Surfers

.

parkrun Australia top age graded results

parkrun global top age graded results

“a twinge of conscience”

Sunday 30km @ 4;03 KM's around the peninsula, nice and easy when the wind was behind me but hard work into the wind. Hot conditions but fortunately lots of water on route.
Monday 10.6km roo+lake recovery run 45mins 4;16K's
Tuesday Tooheys Tuesday @ Nudgee. It was windy and I didn't much fancy running by myself so did Nicks session;
3 X 3 X 600m rolling 2;30mins and 5mins between sets. Ran about 3min pace ; I had forgotten my watch. Nick 80m in front me just in front of Pete on first set and trailing behind on sets two and three.
Decided I wont do any more lactic sessions like this and only do aerobic endurance sessions.
Wednesday 10.6km roo+lake recovery 43;38 - 4;07 K's
Thursday 10.6km roo+lake recovery 44;25 - 4;12 K's
Friday 10.7km not roo+lake (yeah I altered my run!) recovery recovery recovery 45;49 - 4;17 K's

I had an interesting chat with Peter Reeves about the following email I received celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Billy Mill's 10,000m Tokyo Gold and the part played by Pete's behemoth coach Pat Clohessy in coaching Billy.

Today is the 50th anniversary of Billy Mills’ win in the 1964 Olympic 10,000-meter in Tokyo. As you enjoy one of the most famous running videos, here are six things you probably didn’t know about Mills and the race.
1. His origins: Was there any sign that Billy Mills might achieve something in life?
He was raised in poverty on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Reservation in South Dakoka, surrounded by alcoholism and depression. His parents separated, his mother remarried his uncle, but died when Mills was 9. His father died four years later. Soon after the mother's death, his father sat with the despondent boy one day and told him he could rise from having broken wings, “and one day you will fly like an eagle.” As Mills tells it now, once he discovered his running talent as a teenager, he always believed that “the Olympics would be my day to fly.”
In later interviews he has been consistent about that belief, calling it “self-hypnosis,” and saying, “I put in my journal that I must believe I can run with the best in the world and beat them in Tokyo.”

On the athletes' bus to the stadium he sat next to an Eastern European long jumper, who asked, “Who's going to win your 10,000 race: Clarke, Halberg or Bolotnikov?” “I will,” the unknown American told her. That ended the conversation.   
2. His improvement: How did he suddenly get so good?
He was good enough at the Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian Nations University) to get a sports scholarship to Kansas University, where he was a three-time All-American in cross country and a good but not outstanding track runner. In 1963, he met the Australian Pat Clohessy, twice the NCAA 3-mile champion, who won the AAU 3-mile title that year. Clohessy (an Arthur Lydiard protegé, later Rob De Castella's coach) advised Mills to train more on the Aussie/New Zealand system, with more distance work in the mix, instead of the then American emphasis on fast track reps.
It's only a theory, but Mills's improvement dates from that exact time. In 1964, now in the Marines, he was second in the U.S. 10,000-meter trial, and revealed new endurance by placing second in the marathon trial on a hot July 26 in Culver City, California. Clohessy confesses he felt “a twinge of conscience” after Mills beat Clohessy's friend Ron Clarke for the Olympic title.
3. The conditions: Did he get lucky?
A key factor was the rain-soaked track. Tokyo was the last Olympics before the introduction of all-weather track surfaces, and heavy rain had made the cinders soft and uneven. That blunted the edge of pre-race favorite and world-record holder Clarke's habitual high-revs front running. Clarke on a firm surface pranced along upright and magisterial in authority. At world record pace he might well have dropped the whole field. But instead of a sustained fast pace, in Tokyo he used long surges, with slower laps between. Plenty of great runners fell back, but the unfancied Mills and Mahomed Gammoudi of Tunisia clung to Clarke all the way.  
And when Mills began his wondrous outrageous knees-pumping 80-meter gallop to the tape, he was in an outside lane where the surface was less sodden and cut up. Luck or judgment? Clarke gave credit to Mills' astute choice of “making his bid on the outside lane, which was firmer.”
However you read it, the wet track was a factor.
4. How the race was run: Any other deciding factors?
They passed 5000 meters in 14:04.6, one second slower than Mills’ personal best. At the halfway he was leading.  
“I decided to lead a lap, so I would know at least I'd led the Olympics, even if I couldn't finish,” he says.  
The last laps were a shambles of lapped (some double-lapped) runners. Many did not move out as the leaders passed, perhaps because they were all elite runners, unaccustomed to getting lapped. In The Unforgiving Minute Clarke wrote, “This race was becoming like a dash for a train in a peak-hour crowd.” He describes how with 300 meters to go he found himself trapped in a bottleneck between Mills, “thumping along at my shoulder,” and a slow lapped runner dead ahead. Clarke had a nightmare flashback to “being hemmed in that way once before” in a 1962 championship 6-mile race, which he lost.
“I tapped [Mills] a couple of times, indicating that I wanted him to run wider...anything so long as I wasn't forced into the back of the lapped runner,” Clarke wrote. When Mills didn't respond, Clarke “crashed Billy with my right arm.”
Mills staggered out a lane, and veered back in alongside Clarke. Then came the extraordinary moment when Gammoudi put one hand on each of the two leaders, gave them a hearty shove apart, and scooted in between them into the lead. Mills went staggering out again, and as Clarke closed on Gammoudi round the bend, Mills seemed to be out of the race. With Clarke and Gammoudi scrambling for the gold around bunches of yet more lapped runners, Mills found a space inside one who had considerately moved aside, chose his route of advance with a Marine's eye, and stormed to the tape.     
Later he told Clarke, “our skirmish won the gold medal for me,” because before the jostling he was about to launch his sprint, which would have been too early, and probably doomed him to get passed again.
Clarke paid a generous tribute: “There were no excuses. Billy deserved to win for his persistence, his opportunism and his sound tactical sense,” he wrote.

5. The context: How do we place Mills's victory historically?
He broke the Olympic record, despite the heavy track (28:24.4, bettering Pyotr Bolotnikov's 28:32.2 from 1960). He is the only American to win the 10,000-meter gold. An important and relevant precursor as 10,000-meter medalist was Louis Tewanima, also a Native American (Hopi), who took the silver medal in 1912. The only other high US placings are Max Truex (6th, 1960), Frank Shorter (5th, 1972), and Galen Rupp (2nd, 2012). Four days after Mills’ victory, Bob Schul joined him as the only other American long-distance track gold medalist, winning the 5000-meter final.
6. The aftermath: What has Mills done since 1964?
Mills (whose tribal name is Makata Taka Hela), now 76, placed 14th in the Tokyo Olympic marathon (2:22:55.4), and in 1965 set a world record for 6 miles in a dead-heat with Gerry Lindgren (27:11.6). He has spent most of his life as a speaker and advocate for Native American needs and rights. The 1983 movie Running Brave revived public awareness of his unlikely transformation. As a speaker, he tells a compelling rags-to-riches story as remarkable as Meb Keflezighi's. With charismatic passion and wit, he can transfix an audience with his plea for the need for Native Americans to rise out of the pit of poverty, addiction and domestic violence, and have their rights recognized.

In private, he talks with quiet sincerity about the follies as well as sufferings and rights of his people. You sense that he carries huge responsibilities as a leader and spokesperson, yet he has not allowed public eloquence to be an end in itself. Don't even get him started on the name of Washington, DC's football franchise.

In 2012, President Obama awarded Mills the Presidential Citizen's Medal for his work for the movement Running Strong for American Indian Youth. He is the only track gold medalist to receive that honor for his later life work.  

QMA 3000m 9:28.3 1st

I ran my standard 3km warm up with the boys. Conditions warm humid but at least still.
Decided to start fast after last week's sluggish 36 first 200 and ran 32 secs this week which was perhaps too fast.
Through 600 in 1:47 and 1000 in 3:04.
Worked hard through the next 1000 but it took 3:12 for 6:16 at 2k.
The beauty of 3000 is its all over before you know it so your able to keep the effort levels high. Unfortunately I felt I was tieing up so effort did not get rewarded and ran the third K in another 3:12 for 9;28.3 all up.
I would have been happy if I ran sub 9:20 but I shouldn't be too disappointed with 9:28. When I turned 50 my early season 3's were all about 9:30 and I anded up running 9:13 in an evening meet running with the kids at a QA evening meet. It takes a few track races to get back used to track racing!
4km warm down on the Peters circuit in the bush.

I picked up my Queensland M50 record certificate this morning :-) 

Saturday results

Treading the blue

Tuesday = Tooheys Tuesday @ Nudgee
Nick missed the session due to dentist leaving Shane Ward, two Nudgee boys and I to line up for 3 X 4 X 400m off a rolling 2mins and rolling 4mins between the sets. 
The boys were running 3 X 3 with 5mins so it dovetailed nicely with our sets. Shane led the first set, I led the second set, and we mixed the last set. 
Ran 67/8/9 off a 50sec recovery was good going on a windy evening.
Wednesday first morning roo+lake in ages - it's almost daylight at 5.00am 
4;12 K's for 10.6km
Thursday 10 X 200m Hill Sprints (10km)

Treading the blue @ Nudgee

A koala and a pair of Galahs

Yesterday's long run 29km 2;04;22 @ 4;17 K's running out and about to Narangba/Dakabin/Petrie/Kallanger and back to North Lakes. 
Ran at 11.00am so hot and windy. 
First drink at 60 mins and took a Cliff Bar energy gel at 75mins. 
Long runs really leave me jaded but I'm sure there do the world of good. 
The day after a long run are painful so just try and get out and cover some ground. This afternoon I saw a kolah running alongside the pathway - something I've only seen twice before. I also came across a pair of Galahs to complete the runs menagerie.
Today 10.6km roo+lake 43;41 @ 4;08 K's
I didn't record last Tuesdays session for the record it was Tooheys Tuesday 3 X 2 X 1000 with 2mins between intervals and 5mins between sets. A big turnout including Nick's Nudgee Boys middle distance group, top class triathlete Nick Hull and 1500 star Peter Bock as well as the regulars (Pete/Shane/Nick). I ran 18;18 so averaged 3;03 K's running mid group!

QMA 5000m 16:21.9 1st

I'm always a little rusty first track race of the season, and this was probably first track race in 2 or 3 years!
Having said that I side have my track legs on this morning! A good warm up but conditions breezy/windy humid 68% and 22 0 C. A large field of runners and walkers meant I'd have to do an awful lot of overtaking., compounded by a number of novice runners, one in particular running in lane two the whole way (a barely moving road block, I reckoned I passed 8 or 9 times!
Through 200m in 36 and I was only just on pace. Everything else compounded and I just slowed. Through 3000m in 9:43 I was way off pace finding it difficulty to push on and really just going through the motions trying to find the right way to overtake. I ended up one and three quarter laps in front of Con who was running 2nd and over two laps in front of Phil in 3rd.
I'm going to have to run withe kids in some QA night races.
Although disappointed at only running 16:21 I take some solace from the fact that the current World Rankings would place around 4th and 90.4% age grading is in the World class bracket (according to USA Masters)
http://www.athleticsrankings.net


http://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/agegrading/

Official Masters Podium Robot Me Shardy (Con and Phil ran a lap short and 2nd finisher Ann ops the Ladies podium)

Results from the day - Note Massage is Available!!!