A 1km personal best OUCH

I can’t believe it’s Thursday already..

Well I am going to do the 55km Frankston to Portsea run this Saturday, my flights are all organized and I'm ready to start hydrating. Something tells me this one is going to hurt! It’s a bugger of a race all hard surface and usually windy like the Melbourne Marathon. There are a few largish hills in the first 12km then a few more towards the end. I will probably go out too fast then blow up and stagger in. Looking forward to staying in the beach shack all the same.

Well I’ve had a pretty slack week I had an easy day on Monday and Wednesday with only 40min of running on each day.

On Tuesday And Thursday I went along to my training group and took it easy. Today was an interesting day. I had to do 5 x 1km intervals. The coach told me to take it easy and ramp it up by 10 sec for each interval.

4:40 easy
4:30
4:10 harder
4:10 suffered a bit
3:37 a 1km pb!!! OUCH

So there you have it. Three pbs in a week (or close to it) I’m sure all this interval running isn’t good for me but it is fun. Weight is going down still.

Next stop Frankston. Cheers, Brendan

A 5km PB in Penguin, Tas

Well I decided to back off a bit after Wednesday last week. I met my training group on Thursday but did the bare minimum. I had been training lots since my 98.5km run on the 5th March and needed to back off some. Still managed 93km.

I did nothing on Friday and Saturday. We flew to Tassie on Saturday for a weekend without the kids and to attend a wedding in an extremely beautiful coastal town called Penguin on the North Coast of the Tassie isle.

I spent the whole evening trying not to think about running but I was getting itchy seeing I hadn’t run in two days. So I decided that I’d get in the car and go to Cradle Mountain and do a run down there. That is until my wife (Juliet) found out and set me straight about why that would be a poor decision on a “romantic” weekend thus averting an argument at a wedding reception table (never a good idea to argue about my running plans in front of her mates).

Did a bit more research by asking the skinny people at the wedding reception and found out about the Dial Ranges. Fast forward to the next morning. Driving to the Dial ranges and stopped to ask some walkers if I was going in the right direction and was told about a 5km race that was to be held that morning nearby and that I would be very welcome to join in if I wished.

So I entered and ran. It was a 5km handicapped race and I was off 11:20 (ie. I start running 11min and 20sec after the gun goes off) it was a professional race being staged by the PCCCT (Professional Cross Country Club of Tasmania). And I even ran a 5km PB of 20min 24 sec on a relatively easy course after a very late night.

Juliet even came along to cheer me and the locals were really really friendly. Turns out Vlastik runs with them, but he wasn’t there today.

So I didn’t get to see the Dial Ranges but something tells me I’ll be back there soon beacuse our friends have a holiday place there.

Decided to drive the long way back to Launceston and went to Michael Wilson’s vineyard called Velo in the Tamar Valley (Michael is Tassie’s only ever tour de france rider). He is making some really nice wine but especially the Pinot Gris 2006 it's a wonderful light wine that seems to love being grown down there in the Tamar. So we grabbed six bottles of his product and met his wife Mary and saw him working very hard out the back. What an idyllic life. Pro cycling followed by wine making in tasmania.

Got back to Sydney about 6pm and was feeling a little guilty about only doing 7km this morning so I went out and chugged off to Nth Bondi on the coast run to add another 11km today's total. That makes 18km for today.

A great weekend.

It’s possible that I’ll run the 55km Frankston to Portsea next weekend, we'll see.

Wet one

Great session. 25km on hill and trail in 2hrs 10min. Ran with Spud, Sub50, Tony and Toby (a sub 35 10k guy) Felt a bit weak around the 23km mark but seemed to get strong again. Was absolutely soaked when I got back. On the way to work I heard the news reader say that the humidity was 100%. For those who are metrologically challenged 100% humidity does not mean underwater. It refers to the air’s ability to absorb moisture. Another great session. Decided to measure my week beginning Sunday from now. Why? Because I can.. Weekly Km so far.. 83km…

A big week, a STaR and a PB

Well after my big 12 foot (plus 8.5km) I took it easy for the rest of the week but still notched 100miles. On Sunday I went on the Chloe canter STaR with the Striders and missed both the 6am and 6:10am groups. SO I ran with the 6:20am group, much to Superflake's amusement. I hung in for a while and blew up. No matter it was 28km of fun after the dust had settled.

Monday was a double day. 10km in the morning then 6km at lunch in the humidity. Today was SWEAT training and a big PB. I was set 2 laps of the lake and 1 lap of the lake. Managed 11:43 for the 2.9km on rough ground. That's a pb. Almost exactly 4min/km. At the start I checked to see what Horrie was up to and he was also doing two laps but decided to give three a shot. So just tucked in about 30m behind him and let him carry me through. fantastic.

Ch.2 The track back to Jenolan

Chapter 2. I left the start at the explorers tree at 9am after my wayward journey from caves house. I was very disappointed to be arriving late. I finally caught Horrie at Megalong and we began our hunt for flesh. As the official grim reapers we knew that there would be victims straggling out along the track. At the cox's river crossing we horsed around in the shallows for the cameras and had a few pics taken there were three runners 5-10 min in front of us and we were closing in. We got to mini just before one of the sagging runners and we made our first kill dressed in our full and horrifying reaper kit as Horrie was the freshest he ran up and grabbed his broken wrist and I joined in in true clockwork orange harmony. Those steel capped trail boots certainly worked a treat. If he hadn't been a strider we probably wouldn't have stopped, But we did stop because there was fresh blood just up the trail, we could almost taste it. We lolled along and caught the next two at the Alum check point.

Two more victims of the Happy Brothers Grim. I think it take a fair bit of mongrel to be a grim reaper. Horries got it I recon Blue dog would have it, I found the first kill difficult but after that it was kinda fun. We were travelling at 7hr 30min pace and travelled for ages before seeing the next poor soul. We'd been chasing him up pluvi (made another kill on top of th pluv) and all while not travelling too fast but maintaining our steady pace. It was a couple of kays before Deviation when we saw him he was hobbling ok on the flat and up the hills but basically was unable to descend. That's what we do, we prey on the sick, ill and injured. Once we were within a couple of hundred metres behind him Horrie ran up and attempted to get his number but he refused to hand it over. I arrived and we stuck the sickles in for a while but he still refused to give in. We read him his rights and he wouldn't quit. Bottom line we couldn't have left him there so I stayed with him and walked it in for the last 12km. What a sad way to end a majestic 98.5km. I arrived and at caves house 15hrs after i had left there after getting only 2hrs of sleep. I was buggered but It was a great hit out.

Tesso, Spud, Sub50 and the 100 mile week

Yes. I need to finish my race report.. Chapter 2 is coming.

I'm shooting for the 100 mile week..

On saturday I did 98.5km as a 12 foot track.

Sunday I was dead.

Monday I was dead

Tuesday I ran in Brissy with the Pat Carroll group hosted by Tesso (13km)

Wednesday 19km around Lane Cove with Spud and Sub 50 (19km)

I think that make 130.5KM so far this week. May as well shoot for 161km only 30.5km to go.. Better get to bed.

Weight Progress - Getting there...

12 foot Track

Chapter 1 – Jenolan Caves to The Explorer Tree

In what most may regard as a reckless and pointless exercise, I decided to run a 12 foot yesterday. I had been accepted as the grim reaper, along with my mate Horrie and thought that it would be a good idea to get some steady miles in prior to the event. These extra miles all contribute to the training programme for the Western States 100 mile race in June.

In terms of gear. I carried a small bum bag with gel, a cdma phone, a uhf cb, a spray jacket, one hand bottle, a big boomer headlamp (and a small back up) and a small medical kit. I wore std running gear and trail shoes/gaiters.

I left Caves house at 2am, which gave me just under six hours to get to the start, easily doable in my current state. I managed to get 2hrs sleep and had some "breakfast" (a can of coke and a cup of coffee) before setting off.

As I set off from Caves House I made a loud COOOO EEEE sound (sorry if I awoke anyone). The rise out of Jenolan caves was magical, wallabies and inidentified animals were bounding around all over the place and I felt at one with the environment I was loving it. I was in front of schedule at the road crossing, where I had left a bottle of water the night before.

I arrived at the deviation ahead of schedule and went right where the big 6 foot track sign is. And ended up off course. Circumnavigating a pine forest. I got back to deviation and very very carefully decided to follow the sign again back to the pine forest and retraced my steps to deviation. I spent 10min checking maps and scouted again before getting back to deviation for the third time and realised that the track isn’t marked and I shoud go searching for a track that goes south east then east for 10.8km. At this point I almost returned to caves to pick up the bus leaving caves at 5:30am.

I finally found the track having wasted a lot of time and doing another 8.5km according to the garmin. So I decided not to go back, rather I should continue and push hard.

The trip from there was a bit of a blur. I just remember running into a few monster puddles on Black Range and gunning the pace. There were lots of RFS camps at the aid station locations and I did most of it without water because I only had one bottle. The temp was cool and I was feeling good.

The descent down pluvi and mini were brilliant canyon training for this year’s WS100. At Alum I came across a stranded four wheel drive with three semi sober guys who were out pig shooting and had got stuck, I didn’t hang about because their pig dogs were looking mean and doing lots of growlingand I arrived at the Cox’s river crossing with 1:30 before the start.

I lost more time while I bumbled around for a while in the darkness of the river shallows and decided to head upstream to the footbridge. The footbridge crossing was treacherous (now I see why the race uses the river).

The sun came up as I crossed the footbridge; it was nice to be working in daylight.

I was starting to tire and after numerous attempts in contacting people on my mobile I decided to press on. I had been without water for a good couple of hours by the time I got to Megalong road and the kind RFS team filled my handbottle. I stopped for 5min to recompose myself then proceeded to my halfway point.

It was great to see the Early Starters then Wave one come past me. It was a rare perspective to observe these runners in race mode. I even got some good luck’s from some of the runners. But most just said “hey mate you’re going the wrong way”.

I took it very very slow coming up a very slippery Nellies because waves two, three and four were coming down and I didn’t want to get in their way. So that took ages as I walked 3 metres stopped to let people past the scurried on the next few metres again.

What was wonderful was to view the whole race

I arrived at the start line at 9am. 53.5km in 7hrs on the Garmin and lots of hanging around. I was happy with that.

End of chapter one.

Influenza

Sorry for the long silence. Last week was a bit of a disaster. Arrived back from the USA on Monday and had picked up a cold. Went and did a lazy 22km on Monday night, took it easy at training on Tuesday. Hit the wall badly in a 13.5km session on Wednesday with Spud and Sub50. Was feeling very coldy and was pumped up with cold tablets and was feeling like shit so I took a few days off. As a result I did nothing on Thurs. Rode the bike 44km on Friday and rested on Saturday and took the kids along to see the Mardi Gras floats last night (Sat) which involved about an hour of walking.

Given that Horrie and I are the Grim Reapers at next week's Six Foot Track Marathon and I've just had some time off whle travelling, I've decided that there is no need to taper at all for next weekend. Woke up this morning Sunday 4 March, feeling a bit sore and achy with pressure behing my eyes but decided to go along to the Sydney Striders Balmain Bungle 30km STaR. At 6am it was 24 degrees and it felt like 95% humidity. Was only thinking of doing 20km but ended up doing the full 30km. Ran with the 6:10am group who were clicking off 4:30min/km to 5min/km pace and hung onto them for 22km before being spat out. Ran steady for the last 8km with Lachlan and actually felt a bit better for the first time in a few days. I'm quite happy with that for a hitout.

The usual suspects were there but I was so shattered at the end that I decided to slink off without really talking to anyone.

I've done lots of good work so I just need to rest up, get some more sleep and I'll be fine. We all go through little rough patches every now and then.

Planning to do the return trip from Jenolan Caves back to Katoomba next Saturday, I need a solid 12 - 15 hours on the legs. Plan is health dependant of course, I'll see how I feel.. Cheers, Brendan