Monthly Archives: November 2014

Zatopek Week 7 – Finding my feet

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So this week is an improvement – 2 sessions that were a big step forward based on previous weeks. Hopefully things are starting to click now and I can come into form in time for Zatopek 10,000m in 3 weeks.

Monday – 66 mins home from work at 6.40/mile. Felt better. (10)

Tuesday – AM – 40 mins easy (5.5)

PM – 8 x 1k on the track off 90 secs. Felt a lot better and like I was running comfortably. Ahead of Yugi and Nipper only got away on last 2. 2.54, 2.50, 2.52, 2.56, 2.50, 2.52, 2.51, 2.48. (10)

Wednesday – AM – 77 mins easy/steady. Typo in my training program – should have done 90 mins. Never mind. Also had massage from training partner Nipper. Then I had a coffee from the trendy cafe in the physio building. It was nice. 6.54/mile (11)

Thursday – AM – 40 mins easy into work. (5.5)

PM – 60 mins with 2 x 7mins tempo off 5 mins. Ran with Nipper and kept it pretty relaxed. Tempos were 3.15/km or so. A nice old man came over afterwards and said “I bet you boys could run a 2.40 marathon!”.  (9)

Friday – AM – Pilates.

PM – 67 mins easy at 7.08/mile – (9.5)

Saturday – AM – Grass session – 5 x full lake (1470m). Felt pretty good and splits were close to my best times. Haven’t been at the front of group for a while! 4.28, 4.20, 4.19, 4.18, 4.14. (11)

PM – 45 mins easy at 6.57/mile (6.5)

Sunday – 2.17 long run. Legs felt really dead so just got it done. 6.31/mile. (21)

97.5 miles. A much better week. 2 good sessions, which had been poor recently. Finding my fast legs again!

Zatopek Week 6 with NSW State 3,000m Champs

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Hi all,

Sorry this is a week late, but y’know, I’m busy and a bit lazy, and I figured you weren’t all desperate to hear about my 13th place at the NSW StateNSW state 3k 2014 3k Champs. My comments on the race will be kept reasonably brief. Basically, I’m not fully fit, and 3,000m is too short for me without a few track sessions under my belt. I figured if I ran close to 8.15, I’ve done pretty well, but after 400m when I saw the lap split of 66 and how quick that felt, that I was going to struggle to achieve this. The lead group was already pulling away and would go on to run 8.03-8.09. My km splits went 2.45, 2.48, 2.51 and I struggled my way round to 13th place in 8.24. In previous years I have run 8.02 for 2nd (when fully track fit) and 8.09 for a win 3 weeks before my marathon PB in Fukuoka.

However, with the benefit of hindsight writing this blog 1 week late, this race has helped me and I’ve felt much more comfortable in sessions this week and I expect I’d be much closer to 8.10 if we ran it again. A real rustbuster and shows that racing can really help move things along, even though the result may not be pleasing.

Screen Shot 2014-11-16 at 16.45.43

Here was my training leading into the race – glad I didn’t taper for it!

Monday – 66 mins steady home from work at 6.31/mile (10)

Tuesday – AM – 35 mins easy (5.5)

PM – 3 x (4 x 400) off 30secs for set 1, 45secs, 60secs. 5 mins between sets. The track was ROCK HARD and I tried wearing spikes. I fear my already complaining calves won’t be happy. 65, 64, 64, 64,  64, 63, 63, 64,  63, 63, 63, 61 (10)

Wednesday – AM – Pilates

PM – 90 mins steady at 6.45/mile. Sore calves. (13.5)

Thursday – AM – 38 mins easy. VERY sore calves. Not painful, just so incredibly tender.  5.5)

PM – 40 mins easy (5.5)

Friday – 30 mins easy. Calves a bit better. Race tomorrow should be ok. (4)

Saturday – NSW State 3k – 8.24 (9)

Sunday – 2.15 Long Run at 6.23/mile. Took my frustration out on the run a bit. (21.5)

84.5 miles. Race wasn’t brilliant but a decent week otherwise.

Zatopek Week 5 with Noosa Bolt 5k

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I guess I could be working while everyone else is at the Melbourne Cup, but seeing as productivity in Australia has ground to a halt, and I’ve already done a couple of Sporcle quizzes today then I shall use my time to write a blog on some running I did last week.

The plan for last week was to do an almost full week of training and then race the Noosa Bolt 5k at the end of it. I’ve missed too much time to have an easy week and so I need to cram in all the training I can.beach

The Noosa Bolt 5k itself was really cool. It’s a sideshow compared to the Triathlon festival that goes on in Noosa that weekend. It’s the largest triathlon event in the Southern hemisphere apparently and the usually quiet, small beach resort-town of Noosa was rammed with athletes and had a great atmosphere

 

The race itself is 4-and-a-bit laps of a 1200m circuit that’s really just 600m out, around a cone, and then back again. this makes it great for spectators, but also leads to lots of slowing as you navigate the hairpin turns. I knew I wasn’t going to set the world alight here but was hoping to be in the mix with my 4 training partners who were running. I started off reasonably steadily in about 15th place, and moved through the Racefield as the race went on. I probably shouldn’t have let Roffy and Jeff get away from me early on, as this isolated me a bit and meant I got the full breeze in my face for half of the loop. As things turned out, I moved into 8th place and was slowly gaining on Roffy and Jeff but couldn’t get close enough to challenge them. 8th place was where I finished, in 14.57. My Sydney Running Academy teammates all ran to form really – Nipper had a strong run for 2nd and young Jack Stapleton challenged well for 4th. Jeff, Roffy and myself all need a bit more training in our legs. Still, 5 in the top 8 for this Asics sponsored race makes the sponsors happy.

results

 

The biggest disappointment for me was that I wasn’t on the warm-down party that got lost and saw an echidna in the national park. I’m yet to view one of these prickly little chaps and so that would have been excellent.

Anyway, here’s last week’s running:

Monday – 68 mins very easy. Felt really dead after the hot long run the day before, so just kept it slow – 6.48/mile (10)

Tuesday – AM – 38 mins easy (5.5)

PM – Quarters on the track – 14.25. Averaged 68-69 for the 400s, and 38-39 for the 200s. Felt tired still. (8)

Wednesday – 90 mins very easy. Felt tired again…. 7.20/mile (13)

Thursday – Am – 42mins easy (6)

PM – 43 mins easy (6.5)

Friday – 38 mins easy (5.5)

Saturday – Noosa Bolt 5k (9)

Sunday – 2hrs 15 around the National park and Noosa coast. Started off with a few wrong turns – sand, steps, hills. I found the last 15 mins really tough as the humidity caught up with me. But again, got it done. Pace hard to tell as Garmin got lost in the woods. (20)

83.5 miles. Calf threatened to get sore after track and race but held up ok. Just got to get the training done and hope things start to click soon.

whiskyAt the end of it Amelia had booked lunch at a very nice Japanese restaurant called Wasabi. Here’s some sort of glass decanter they keep their whisky in.