B.F.G.

On Sunday I went to bed at 10.30pm and got back up at 2;30am to watch Arsenal win the FA Cup for the 12th time in a match that had none of the usual angst I suffer thinking 'we might get beaten!' it was just so comfortable and 4 - 0 probably flattered Villa. Of course Alexis screamer of a goal was the highlight but I also enjoyed the moment when Per Mertsacker made it 3 - 0 to Arsenal and Laurent Koschelny (The Chairman) had his shirt turned into a hoody by the Villa defender, Laurent had his arms outstretched appealing for the pen while the rest of the boys were celebrating the goal.
So I got to bed again at 4;40am and then got up again at 6;00am to get up to the Sunshine Coast for the 5th in the series XC 12km at Ben Bennett Botanical Gardens.
The conditions were unseasonally warm even with much of the course was in the shade of the forest, some muddy sections, some inclines, but much kinder than a fortnight ago at Mooloolah. 
Like last time I had Satoshi Ashida for company till halfway. 
Satoshi ran well at Noosa doing the Half in 74mins . So he certainly kept me honest. 
He just dropped off enough for me not to hear him and feel comfortable however on the last lap , ever diligent, I did take a look over my shoulder with half a KM to go and saw he was a lot closer than I expected so more hard work up the final incline to finish just 12 seconds in front.

I went to see my consultant on Thursday last week as I had been suffering pain/ache in the hip/pelvis and decided to have it checked out. 
Had an MRI and the result was all good!, remarkably good looking pelvis for a 53 year old which gives me a lot of comfort to plough on but perhaps be careful about any off road deviation in my training. Also talked about the benefits of some alternative cross training like cycling and aqua running. I will no doubt get coached in the drills for aqua running when Mike Trees Mike Trees  Mike Trees  gets to Brisbane in October.
Mike was kind enough to send me two pairs of his Newton Shoes which I have been testing over roo+lake.







So look out for Laurent getting his top pulled over his head and the German commentator explaining what  B.F.G. stands for!

The David Heath phenomenon

David Heath is another of the  Loughborough Uni production line of top runners in their youth to Masters Greats (Andrew Green  Mike Trees Dave Buzza)

David however is phenomenal, he's retained his sub 4 minute mile speed and is going to knock the M50 World Records for six this northern summer.

He's one of the lucky eight runners who have been selected to run in Bejing at the IAAF World Championships in a Masters Showcase 800m - expect him to win sub 2;00 !

Can you believe the guy had heart issues at age 37! 

Noosa 10km 4th 34;02

20/8/06 Noosa 34;02 5th 1st
19/8/07 Noosa 33;59 10th 1st
22/5/11 Noosa 33;45 8th 1st
24/5/15 Noosa 34;02 4th 1st

When I look at my record for racing at Noosa I should be pretty happy to be running times I ran in 2006 and 2007 but actually I think I'm a minute off pace from earlier this year. Aerobic fitness is fine but something else is limiting my running at the moment and wont speculate (like I have been doing!) until I get a consultant opinion.
Noosa is one of the big race festivals here in SE Queensland. I arrived just in time to see Jacko majestically finish the Half Mara by himself 5 mins ahead of the field in 67mins on a windy course worth at least 66mins.
Cassie Fien was equally impressive in the ladies running 73mins! about 3 mins in front of Clare - a huge margin.

So with Jacko out of the 10k field who was going to be favorite?
Johnny Peters is about on a par with Jacko so we did have a sub 30 capable leader to follow for 100m of so before he disappeared. I felt OK and ran to my maximum eventually hauling in a few guys ahead to finish 4th but having Mick O'Shea 20 secs up the road in 3rd place made me feel things weren't quite on song (Mick was 2nd in my Queensland 10,000 Champs triumph).
Forgot to mention Ronnie ran superbly for 36;33 ! a cracking performance.

Noosa

Sundays XC smashed my calves! I did get back out for 10km in the afternoon but pain was still too great for me to contemplate track on Tuesday night. In the end I decided to just run easy all week with a double on Wednesday (10.6+11km). I'm going to race 10km at Noosa on Sunday, I actually thought it was going to be Saturday but found out today its Sunday. Its a good fast course, pretty flat (couple of humps - bridges over the canals), out and back. Jacko is running so he'll be taking it out at 3 minute pace. As for me, I'll be interested to see where I am at. Had 4 weeks averaging 100km a week. Had two poor parkruns, got a niggle I'm hoping isn't affecting performance. We'll see. 

SSCXC Mooloola 12km 1st 45;07

A tough hilly twisting course beside the reservoir. It took me a while getting into my stride and on the first of three laps I settled in behind Satoshi Ashioa who at times dropped me!
I was poor on the tough uphills which came at us four in a row and I was also poor on the downhill as I tried to prevent the momentum from crucifying my knees and hips! I have been suffering some sciatic pain (self diagnosis) through my right leg for the last 6 weeks but running has not been affected until today where for the first time I could feel the issue at the top of the hills or on the tight twisting forest sections.
I sensed Satoshi was struggling after the hills section the second time around so I passed and kicked along the dam causeway section gapping him after about 500m.
It is a single track through the woods with a number of metal pole chicanes designed to stop trail bike riders from using the paths but these do a very good job of stemming your stride and rhythm. I wished I had worn my heart rate monitor as my heart rate felt like it had gone through the roof as I went over the hills.
A comfortable victory in the end to add to my two runners up and one third place in the series. Johnny Peters was away this morning at an engagement party.
I think I'm a crap cross country runner but 12km of running through the woods beats 20km on the road, and is excellent conditioning. Will try and run this arvo to see if I can loosen up any knots.

100km plus per week club

With some Half's coming up over the last few weeks I have raised the mileage by doubling on Tuesday and also either Sat or Sun depending on XC /parkrun running. It has just pushed me over the 100km a week mark for about the first time in my masters career. I feel the need to recover from my Tuesday track session and my weekend long run so nothing much in-between though ideally if I could I'd like to be able to put in a second session on Thurs/Fri but the risk of injury may increase exponentially so I'm unlikely to add further quality.
Following my average run at Wynnum parkrun on; 

Sunday 3rd May 24km 4;24 K's

Tuesday 5th May a.m 10.6km Roo+Lake 4;04 K's
p.m. Nudgee 4 x 1500 with 94/80/82 secs jog recovery in 4;54, 4;51, 4;52, 4;46

Saturday 9th May 20km 4;18 K's
Sunday 10th May a.m. 10.6km 4;18 K's  p.m. 8.4km 4;14km

Tuesday 12th May a.m. 10.6km 4;17 K's 
p.m. 400/4x800/400 73 secs recovery 69, 2;27, 2;28, 2;27, 2;26, 67

Was happy with that last set, it only put me a few seconds behind Andrew Green (running in the UK in windy conditions the night before [same Phil Hicken session]) who is currently blitzing world age bests for M52 , he has just run 15;30 5km road, 31;32 10km road and 71;11 Half !! 

Barely imaginable times. 
He's running a 5000m tonight in Manchester UK, could run something very special!

Wynnum parkrun 1st 16;27

On Friday our neighboring suburb Caboolture received 333 mm of rain (277 mm fell in 3 hours alone on Friday afternoon).
At work in the arvo  I had a call from my son at home saying the water was backing up on our patio lapping at the door! the water was a combination of just heavy rain not getting away (through the drains) and overland flows coming in from neighbours at side and rear over timber retaining walls.

I explained how to conduct a 'backwash' and this thankfully brought the level back down to just an infinity pool once again! 
Not that you'd swim in the brown green goo that was left!
I left work straight away but got stranded on a train unable to move due to flood water over the tracks. 3 hours later we eventually got to Petrie but were told we'd not get any further north. My car was at the next station Dakabin 5km up the road so I tried to get Natalie to come pick me up. No luck there as the roads were all closed, nothing else to do but run it in my civvies! It was dark and running along a flooded country road (Narangba Rd) with cars high beams blinding me , bag under my arm, black shoes black trousers black jacket it would have made a fantastic photo/video. The rain had stopped me from doing my morning run so this was a belated run not recorded on the Garmin (thought about putting it on the phone Strava app - but battery was low and might have needed it once I got to the car).I thought the parkrun would be cancelled we'd arranged at Minnippi due to it being very low lying ground and indeed it was cancelled - when I drove past half the course was under flood water. We transferred our Masters event to Wynnum which fared remarkably well other than tonnes of seaweed quite thick and slippery in places washed up onto the esplanade pathway. This course is a bit like Sandgate except you run south  1.6km 180 O turn run back past the start finish and run another 900m and do another 180 O turnaround and back to the finish.
Like at Sandgate I went 'all out' but again suffered a similar form reversal finishing in 16;27. Somehow I  have dropped 30secs and cant fathom where. Aerobically I feel fine and physically OK other than the standard niggles and aches. The latest is a sciatic type pain Im experiencing in the right leg for the last 4 weeks. Maybe that is impacting my pace will get some iron down me just in case its anemia.  
Bazza put on breakfast back at his place hosted by the lovely Olga. They did a magnificent job once again coping without electricity (due to the storms). 
Anne Ryan once again smashed it on the age grading and The Robot, Peter J. Reeves finally managed to wallop his beloved Garmin Lama (me!). Special guest at breakfast Pat Clohessey - coach to Deek and many many Australian Running Royalty gave a talk on the influence of John Landy.
Special mention to Paul Shard (Shardy) who following on from a major back operation last year is managing to continue to chip away at his time.
Here are some photos (thanks Barry and Olga) I'm hoping google will turn them into a GIF for me so you get more of an animated clip than a zillion photos.

Olga and Pat Clohessy

I was so weak Pat had to hold my arm up whilst Olga held me upright!

10x800with 60secs recovery ave 2;37.1

Nudgee again for another 10 x 800m. Managed to average 2;37.1 compared to 2;33 last time out a few weeks back don't know if a 7 second less (ave) recovery had an effect or the 10.6km roo+lake in the morning contributed to the 4 second per 800 deficit.

Sunshine Coast Cross Country Maleny Golf Course Obi Obi Creek 12km 3rd

Boy it was cold up in the mountain country that is Maleny! plus it was pretty windy real cross country weather ? actually not a patch on what you'd have to cope with running in the UK!.
Johnny Peters again disappeared off into the distance like he has done on the previous two races in this series. His only difficulty would be trying to stay on two feet and stay on course. This race is run over the Maleny golf course which is under construction and presently consists of about 4 or 5 holes. The course runs up and down the sides of fairways and the hills were pretty hard word compared to other courses this year. Ryan Devlin who I had previously managed to beat (first two races) started fast and hung on very well to beat me by a minute. The course was 3x 4km.

I managed to get out in the afternoon for a 10km Roo+Lake run to loosen up the legs for Mondays recovery run.

16x400 74.4 ave with 43 secs recovery

Sunday run Callahan Road 24km 1;44.41

Beautiful morning for a run but still a little hot.
I took a gel along for nourishment as there is only one tap in the first 20km.
Australians have a term 'ferrals' to describe earthy looking drongos. Two of these were walking along the road with beer cans in hand (@ 11.00am!) blocking the pathway. 
The distraction was enough for me to miss my right turn at Mackie Rd Narangba, and the only water fountain outside of North Lakes! but I was happy enough to continue on Narangba Rd to Callaghan Rd before turning right and heading back in the direction of North Lakes. It was fortuitous as Callaghan is a beautiful road full of acreage homes with some rolling hills to test you. 
24km is a good distance for me so I will repeat this in the future.

Sandgate parkrun 2nd 16;23

I ran this one hard, a flat out effort, a young lad managed to stick with me and out sprinted me at the finish. It's a shame he didn't put more effort into his own performance rather than just going for the win.I saw some photos of me looking 'all out' and him hardly breathing! My attitude in nearly every race is to run all out! is there any kudos really in winning a parkrun?
At the finish I looked at my watch and was a little disappointed (even surprised) to see it read 16;23. It felt like at least a sub 16 effort. Mind it was very high humidity 90% and perhaps I was also feeling the affects of a flu jab I'd had during the week (hope so anyway!).
In the age grading Anne Ryan smashed out a 93% top performance whilst I comfortably held off the Robot (Peter Reeves).

Over 350 of us in this parkrun!

20x400 77.4ave 35.5ave recovery

Sunshine Coast Cross Country Race 2

2nd

10 x 800m 2:33 with 67 recovery

Track season is now completed for this summer but I think I will keep the long interval short recovery sessions going.
Nudgee was swarming with mozzies and as humid as ever. I completed the session as normal these days blind on times just hitting lap each time I finished or started an interval. Drenched in sweat by end of session. Still about 6 sprinters using the track which I find surprising.

Australian Masters Athletics Championship

Friday 10000m 1st 33:03

Conditions were great cool! About 18 C drizzled rain and little wind. Always planned to go out hard and hang on.
Led for about a lap then M40 Neil Pearson passed and gapped me . I had Bruce Graham for company for the first 5000 16:24 but he dropped off almost as soon as we past halfway.
I did my best to ignore the finish line clock never calculating my laps or likely finish time but the halfway split told me Ronnie's 32:54 would be safe, but I never felt I was going to be for it finishing with 33:03. Which is 9 shy of Ronnie, but I was happy to break an Alan Bradford Championship Best Performance though sub 33 would have been better but then I'd have been really annoyed at not getting up to Ronnie!

I had Bruce for company for the first 5000m of the 10000m (other chap being lapped)

I

Saturday morning was going to be a nothing day so headed out to local Menai parkrun for a stroll. Pi$$ing down and the least conducive course and me not knowing it had me running 18:10.

Sunday 5000m 1st 16:05
Rain finally stopped overnight and dawned warm and sunny.
Much warmer than any of us anticipated during the race. Bruce picked up a virus and was a non starter which left me pretty much to run by myself for the whole race. The only time I noted was 3000m in 9:38. Finished in 16:05 to miss the CBP by 3seconds which was a disappointment.
I think to crack it next year I'd have to race only the 5 and miss the 10 but Adelaide is a long way to go for one crack at a record.

3 x 1600m 1;49 recovery 5;05, 5;07, 5;08

A drenched Nudgee track last night but at least the actual rain had stopped by the time I started my session. Grateful that for once it wasn't a battle into the wind.
10 minute warm up, few strides, throw off the top and into it.
Decided to run in flats as have not run in spikes for a while and racing on Friday so didn't want to deal with calf muscle pain. As ever, ran the set completely blind on times just pressing the lap button for start and stop. Happy enough with set though I am a long way off Andrew Green (M52) who last week ran 4 x 1600m  4;55 with 2mins recovery - he is setting the bar so very high!

My heart rate is working

Here are my splits

Jucee Lucy

Thanks Jucee I was wondering why you mentioned Monnas and I see he ran parkrun yesterday too, 16:26

Quite tight between Monnas Brave heart and me!

This morning I ran the Sunshine Coast XC series race 1 at Buderim!
Ronnie and Scroopy were also taking part. Queensland must be one of the few places were you need to apply suncream for  a crop country! It was hot!
Ronnie's son Johnny took off at the start and that was about all I saw of him until the finish! Another youngster was in second and I was 3rd from the gun. The Bockster was 4th (Peter Bock) he's not one to race XC seriously much more of a 1500 guy.
Anyhow the kid looked like he was coming back to me after 2 of the 4 laps, but I wasn't in a great hurry to chase him down as the effort was too hard!
However the kid caved and I caught and past him early on 3rd lap, to bring it home.
I twisted my ankle slightly on a small ditch close to home and decided to give the 3km a miss. Didn't really get a chance to catch up with Dave or Ron.

8 x 1000m ave 3:15.6 with 53.7sec recovery

Sunday I headed off to Scarborough for 20km easy along the peninsula (4:07km)


Tuesday back to Nudgee for 8 x 1000m.
Conditions warm humid and breeze was picking up.
2000 warm up and into it. I run with the Garmin but can not read it when im running so never know what my splits are till I get home. Wanted to keep the recovery short but also wanted to run the same 2.5 laps, so decided to run back across the infield each rep. Felt like recovery was pretty swift covering 100m in ave 55secs and the Ks ave 3:15 which I was happy with in those conditions.
The rest of the week was recovery though I had to change things about a bit when abroad closed off my standard roo+lake for 3 days!
This morning I headed to North lakes parkrun for a bit of a tempo 5km. Took it quite easy at start, chatting with 2nd placer Ben Merlin for first lap. But your not supposed to be able to chat on a tempo so I put my head down and hot to work. I didn't mind getting blocked overtaking from lap 2 I was just trying to keep in controlled looking for the gaps to pass. I felt quite light on my feet which is a good sign. 16:28 official time including a 3:12 km which is race pace!
Tomorrow I want to head up to Budrim for the first Sunshine Coast Cross Country 12km plus 3km.
I enjoy doing that much more than a long run by myself.
Sydney Nationals 10000m on Friday 5000m on Sunday staying with relies in Engadine.

Three Half Marathons

Its been a few years since I completed a Half Marathon so I have just entered THREE of them!

Queensland Half at Deagon on 7th June

Gold Coast Half at Southport on 5th July

Sunshine Coast Half Alexandra Headlands 30th Aug

Better start getting the miles in! 

Calf is OK to run on but still painful when rotating ankle. 

Many other aches and pains but hope that putting these on my calendar keeps me motivated.

Check out this web site that lists the world age best records.

http://www.arrs.net/SARec.htm

There is an occasional gap or lapse where you might be able to exploit! Goodluck!

If only we had "indoors" here!

I'm going to be racing over 10000m and 5000m over Easter at the Australian Masters championships. Bruce Graham and Keith Bateman will be there.

M45 Dennis Fitzgerald is running the 5000m and XC, and our front cover model, Phil Davies is entered in every event!

http://www.amasydney2015.com.au/

two of the best M50's in the world : Andrew Green and Mike Trees

You may need to register with powerof10 to open the following links; 

this is Mikes results history from the past 10 years;
http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=4851

and this is Andy's;
http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=409922




I tweaked my calf on Tuesday 8x800 ran OK on Wednesday but thought discretion the better part of valor and decided to rest it for 3 days.
No point in pushing it beyond limits and besides don't plan on racing for at least three weeks.

Major goal now Tokyo where I'm meeting up with two of the worlds greatest M50 runners. These guys were one year below me at Loughborough Uni. Mike made a career as a pro triathlete in Japan while Andy ran 2:10 Mara racing all over the world on the road.
Mike topped the M50 World rankings from 1500 to 10000 in 2014
Andy has just run 15:33 and 31:32 on the roads in the UK both world Age M52 records!

Andy is single handedly redefining what M50 World Class running is all about! His training is phenomenal.
So I have my work cut out just holding my head above water racing these two over 5 or 10 on the track and a 10km on the road! My target goals the Aussie M50 records look pedestrian compared to what these guys are doing.

Queensland State Champion !

Queensland State 10,000m Championship 1st 33;43

I get to the car park at SAF and saw an exact replica of my car (same make model class and colour) but with the rego 
JUICEE, 
it was a prophetic sign, sent by the Robot to inspire me (he has often written about LUSTY Lucy but a JUICEE  Lucy will do).
The conditions were ridiculous. 
I sat for half an hour in my car in the car park with the air con blowing and the outside temp showing at 34 O C and it was windy as too!
I cut down my warm up to 2km and even then got back sat down and the sweat poured off me.
I felt awful and didnt feel like racing at all.
All up about 20 runners started and I for once didn't go for time, 
this was only ever going to be about the race. 
I tucked into a group of about 6 of us, Dennis Fitzgerald did all the leading, Mick O'Shea, Clay Dawson, Patrick Hagan and Michael Colston (along with me [Sweeney] this race could have been in Ireland!).
The heat and wind were oppressive and I did well to tuck into the inside lane except during the multiple lapping scenarios. 
Early on I didn't feel great and there was a point where the group very nearly dropped me.

The guy in the orange vest Siune was a PNG runner who ran about 65 on the first lap (!!!) he hung with our group for a while but I ended up double lapping him!
His name is a pigeon version of mine!!
Soon after the 'near dropping', the pace slowed and I started chopping my stride to stay at the back of the group. It felt very easy and we carried on like that for 15 laps!
I went through 5000m in 16;33. 

Are you looking at me??

Patrick Hagan was the class of the field, not sure what time he's run for 10KM but he's about a 30 minute guy easy. With 10 laps to go it looked like Patrick was going to make a break as he pulled wide but he actually dropped out! But as I was covering his move and pulled wide and decided to keep the momentum and make a break with 10 laps to go!
What was I thinking??

I gapped the field immediately, we'd dropped from running steady 80's 81's to mid 80's and I reckon I must have gone sub 80 for 2 laps. I was convinced that I would be caught but managed to work hard and hang in there. At the bell I realized I had it won because the bell wasn't rung again till I had passed 300m to go! 
Wow  I was going to win the State title at 53! 
It was definitely worthy of a finish line salute!

Ronnie won the State a few years ago so I wont claim to be the oldest ever State track Champion but nevertheless it was a tremendous thrill for me and I was chuffed to bits! 
Of course in many ways my victory is a damning indictment on the state of 10,000m running in our State but in truth you have got to be seriously motivated to race 10000 on the track in our conditions. My time was shitehoussen but I'd be a minute quicker on a calm cool day.

Bronzed Lasse Golden Bazza

The great Finn, Lasse Viren seen here holding a limited edition bronzed statue of himself. 
He also has a life size statue erected .
We should celebrate our champions and immortalize the greats.
Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp have their statues at Arsenals Emirates Stadium. The King (Wally Lewis) is immortalized at Suncorp. 

Which running Gods in Australia deserve to be immortalized?

North Lakes parkrun 1st 15;56

Colourful start

Clare had help pacing her under 17mins!

The loneliness of the long distance runner?

It was not very comfortable heat and humidity

OK so you can see my dilemma on laps 2 and 3 when you come up to lap groups, inside blocked and dogs on leads, I'd have gone wide right onto grass. 

I was about 200m from the finish when I lapped a guy and I hear him say to himself "I'm not having that!" and he took off to try and unlap himself but I say to myself "Oh no you dont! I'm in sprint mode and your not going to pass me!"

I've got a bet on with a mate to see who can go the longest not having a hair cut! Its starting to show!

Effortless tempo training run finish! Garmin Pose!

Braveheart

ian Cameron 17:24 age 61

It was remise of me not to mention Brave hearts superb performance on Thursday!
It was world class! It was funny Ian was running in the same singlet/vest as me the Queensland Masters top, I didn't realize it looks like a white vest from behind and I wasn't sure it was him. Anyway I managed to pass him and I hear this clatter as Ian stumbles against the metal rail marking the inside lane!
I'd like to think it was the sonic boom in my wake but much more likely I distracted him but glad he didn't take a tumble. The Robot will have his work cut out getting back up to Brave hearts fitness!
I had a recovery day Friday (it was a late night Thursday racing so tried to have a lie in but not much chance of that in our household! When I got home Friday evening I spent 2 hours doing the lawn! We don't have daylight saving here  (shocking backward I know) so it is dark at 7.00pm and I'm mowing in the pitch dark! At least it is not so hot then and gets one of the nasty weekend chores out of the way but no time!for a run.
So today I decided I'd head back to do a parkrun for the first time in a few months. Always intended to treat it as a training tempo run. Clare  Gerahty asked if I might make pace for  her but she had other help without me so I took off at the start and tried to run hard but comfortable never pushing too hard. It was steaming warm conditions with ridiculous humidity. 240 runners walkers dogs and prams made it tough as always overtaking on laps two and three so was happy to record a sub 16 15;56, Clare broke 17:00 too , so she was pleased.
Next up for me State 10000m on Thursday night.

Queensland Open 5000m Championship 13th 15;54.7

This race was postponed for a week because of Cyclone Marcia and the deep trough that rained down about 18 inches of rain on us over a weekend. Plenty of extra time to think about the race and what I wanted to achieve.
I again had a muted weeks training, an easier 20km on Sunday and shortened interval session on Monday (5 x 800) and then steady roo+lakes till Thursday. I'm most probably just like you on race days.
My competitive nature kicks in from a few days before I'm less able to speak freely, I am all consumed by  the race. I'm mindful of every niggle and sniff. I banged my 'oh so sore knee' on the door frame running out into the back garden to collect the clothes off the line when it started raining at the weekend. I was ready to throw in the towel as I howled like Sascha (our dog) in pain!
I'm in good shape and I felt reasonably confident that I could run a M50 Australian record 15;49.
Conditions were good , little wind, 24.4 0 C , but 72% humidity.
I'd planned to run around 9;20 for 3k and try to hang on. However, as ever the best laid plans fall to dust when the gun goes!
40 starters in two groups toe the line and I'm on the outside bunch running around the outside lanes for the first bend.
I smash the first 200m in order to gain position (silly mistake - should have just started steady and work my way through). Eventually I get to the inside lane and start to settle down, the lead group breaks away from me and I'm leading a secondary group. I passed 1km in 3;01 and that unfortunately caused the damage. It hurt! I suffered , I slowed, my arm carriage went high, and I tensed up. It didn't feel comfortable I went through 3km in 9;26 and I assumed my race was cooked, I'm only 4 seconds ahead of steady state schedule, how can I hang on for 2km if I'm slowing? so in my mind, records off and I'm having a bad run.

Remarkably however I did hang on, though the 4th km was ugly, the 5th km was ok, so at the  finish I was only 4 seconds off schedule.
If I'd have only lifted 800 from home (when Jackson Elliot cruised past to lap me) I'd have had a good chance, even if I'd have gone with 400 to go but I just hung on till 200 to bury myself to the finish.
So 15;54 is my best time as a M50, it bettered the  solo 15;55 and 15;56 I ran as a 50 year old. 
I loved the evening, all those nerves, warming up with Dennis Fitz and Jackson Elliot. Running a cool down with the boys through a pitch dark Tooheys Forest.
Banter on  'I was, or am a runner' group on facebook.
McMillian has the age percentage at 95%, I was happy to run sub 16 but gutted to miss Queensland and Australian marks. The opportunities to run with competition in good conditions are limited unless I travel interstate ( well actually I am going to Tokyo in November to run a 10000m on the track and a 10km road race!!!).

Open race results

U20's same race as Open

Started in an outside group and battled to get to the inside lane

Now what was I thinking? The runners skull in evidence here!

I'm killing myself but I love doing it!

Hornybrook

The Sandgate/Hornybrook/Brighton path

Last night did a set of 5  x 1km with 60sec recovery. The odds were into a headwind but had some (10m) down slope the evens conversely had benefit of wind but 10m incline. One 90 o turn run on cement pathway. I felt like I was working pretty hard but getting a heart rate reading of 194bpm must have been an erroneous reading!

 I don't know where my recovery went in between the penultimate and last effort (must have been erroneous reading) but I was pleased to see how swiftly my heart rate fell after the last K

I'm going to race the State 5000 on Thursday so some slight tweaking to my routine, not so long on today's run, just 15km but with yesterday's KM's still in my knees it was tough going.
I drove up to Sandgate and ran back across the Hornybrook turned around and came back up and past the Sandgate parkrun course.
On the turnaround at the bridge a female runner in a skirt running with a border collie was heading in the same direction.
It seemed to take an eternity to catch and pass her. I checked my watch and I was running 3:40km pace! Does anyone know if Cassie Fine lives over this side of town because whoever it was she was going hard at it as was her dog! (I later messaged and confirmed it was Cassie).
I will do a shorter interval session Monday night then take it easy till Thursday.

where I parked my car