Sunday, June 25, 2006

its been a big week for a little boy

big week this week - little running but heaps of (way too) much other stuff.
spent the whole week talking to the council, lawyers, insurance people and real estate agents.
mainly due to the recent property purchase but also in a pre-end of financial year spending/paying bills spree.
also bought 2 new pairs of running shoes :)
are they a tax deduction??

monday - nothing
tuesday - 26km flat in the cold&rain. never thought i'd wear my single layer gortex jacket in brisbane!
wednesday - nothing
thursday - 30min easy exercise bike
friday - 30km glasshouse run including beerburrum and wildhorse mts. not sure why i decided to take the 'long' way via hamburger hill to mt beerburrum with martin schott (CR MRX) but i was sure regretting it half way up. just luv those GH training runs make me happy and content for at least a fortnight!
for some reason have come up with the crazy idea of a wildhorse -> beerwah -> beerburrum -> tibbrogargan (4 mountains) training run. sort of a variation on bill thompsons training run/walks between beerwah and tibro. i think i need some more mmmmmmmedication.
saturday - nothing
sunday - 30min ex bike

so thats 56km or so in 2 runs then another hour on the bike.
a bit of a funny training week.
but i've had a lot of them lately.
have an ultra race one week then short one the next. training is all over the place but at least i;m enjoying myself.
will do some shorter stuff next week and some more bike in prep for gc half.
will then need to change training tack yet again! and do some mtb and paddling before kathmandu adventure race the following weekend.
cant wait for either!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

yeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!

13.8km - 61.21
a pb for my standard 13.8km training run doesn't sounds like much but when you havent run a timed 10km run for 20yrs and have only raced a HM once you take every pb you can get.
start is at kangaroo point (thornton st ferry) and is an out/back with the turn at the tap just before regatta hotel/ferry terminal.
i do this run at least once a week and the pb has stood since 2002 (pre-glasshouse 100 miler) when i was doing 120km/wk plus on big weeks and that was 62.30.
have had a concerted crack at it a few times last year (when not terribly fit) and a few the 2yrs before when fitter so am pretty damn pleased with myself.
was planning to go out in 15.30-16 for 1/4 way and see how i felt but found myself there at 15.15 and felt good so cracked on.
splits were 15.15/15.25/15.20/15.20 and probably could have gone a bit faster in the last few kms but was smiling too much.
was trying to do a quick one pre gold coast half to see how i was going and will be upset if i dont go sub 95 there.
but realistically my higher priority is the kathmandu adventure race the following weekend (my first one!) so i need to stay fit & healthy for that one.
have had a busy week at work and buying and investment property so running has definately been a low priority this week.

weekly summary...
(monday - cootha 9.5km)
tuesday - nothing
wednesday - nothing
thursday - 13.8km [did a (non glasshouse) training run in the morning for the first time in about 5 years!] plus massage.
friday - nothing
saturday - nothing
sunday - 13.8km pb

plantar fascia has settled thanks to a PAINFUL massage.
need to hop back on the bike next week.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

mt coot-tha is a pissweak little hill

well its not really. did the mt coot-tha run on monday (public holiday).
its a 9.6km (race website says 9.4km!!) road loop with approx 250m up/down.
previous (soft) pb was 46' and was hoping to go sub 44.
usually run the trails there and it feels like home.
the good thing about going up first is that i actually need to work hard at the start of a run which i rarely do.
the bad thing of course is that everyone overtakes me on the flat/downs.
got up the hill in 16.30 which i figured was on sub44 pace.
was only passed by 3 on the way across and down the mountain which is pretty good for me.
came 12th out of ?35 or so in 43.28.
a really wide range of finish times.
the winner did a (record) 32.51.
shit that is quick.
there was some guy wearing moroccan colored shorts who was rumoured to have a 2.14 marathon to his name.
even if it was BS is was a nice story.
had a bit of plantar fascia trouble in the left foot for a few days before so will bludge this week (and remove the left orthotic) and things should be sorted out promptly.

to finish off the training week from before...
thursday: massage and 30min stationary bike (hard)
friday: nothing
saturday: 30min stat bike (really damn hard)
sunday: 12km jog with whippet at gold coast 100km
monday: cootha
did a fair bit of sweating on the bike this week - mainly to build the quads and get something anaerobic going for cootha.

was good to travel down to gc100 and see everyone.
huge effort from rob ware to win and claim selection in the aussie team.
team mellum member whippet struggled a tad but toughed it out for a strong finish.
good to see RMC finish 90 seconds under the 12 hour cuttoff.
have to admit i'd have a go at this event one day if i didn't think i'd run out of time on the last lap and be DNFd.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

dont tell the boss

left work (caboolture) early today. it was my last day before i go on 8 months leave from that job - holidays, study leave and long service leave.
rather coincidentally i had a run planned at glasshouse with ian and joe for this afternoon so that provided a great excuse to leave early not that i needed one!
was a little sad tho as i may resign so it could be my last day there.
have some leave planned from my other job so my LSL wont be wasted!

training week thus far
(sunday - qld half)
monday - 30mins stat bike
tuesday - nothing
wednesday - 25km approx flatish glasshouse
have massage and ?bike planned for tomorrow
will do the coot-tha race on monday

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

just a training run ... just a training run ...just a training run

often i say this but my brain leaves me on the startline and off i go.
was keen to do the qld half and have a look at the course but was determined not to injure anything - i always worry when i run on the road.
last time i used a half race as a training run i did 1.46 (gold coast ?2002) and was sore for bloody days so planned to do this one in 1.50-1.55.
nice course - a few lumps and bumps along the way - didnt bother me but im sure someone doing 3 min kms wouldnt be too pleased with all the potholes in the road and all the bumps going over the railway line ...
certainly not as pleasant as running in the bush but it was good to see fellow CRs and cheer them along the way.
i think getting up early and doing morning races (i am an afternoon runner) can only do me good even if they are road events!
could see along the way that hannah was looking good for her first sub2 and was pretty pleased about that - gave her a big cheer a few times and i think she thinks i'm a little nuts.
well i guess i am!
great to have the CR cheersquad out there - looks like becoming a regular thing - hope it continues on.
maybe there needs to be a cheersquad 'roster' so we can run some and cheer some !?!
...anyway... finished in 1.53 and dont think i ever breathed a hard breath.
no leg soreness the next day.
need to get back on the bike this week (maybe not the MTB - i tend to fall off. the exercise bike is ok) then i'll feel like i'm doing proper training again.
need to build the quads up and get some anaerobic fitness.
mt coot-tha 9.6km is this (long) weekend (250m ascent/descent) - i run there so often i feel like its my 'home' event.
have a softish (road) pb of 46' which i'll hope to break - tend to run more on the trails there now.
may run there this arvo and see what kind of form i'm in for the anaerobic stuff!
lets see if i can get up the hill sub-17!

now thats what i call a hill

tamborine trek report - 62km 27.5.06.
...spent the next 2 weeks post GH80 not doing much running-wise. made the trip to warwick for the 10km killarney ascent (i love hills!) and enjoyed the social atmosphere of the day.
nice to meet some CR 'southerners' - jen_runs, owl, miners.
certainly need to do the whole 5 events there one year.
tamborine CR report is here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000392;p=1
the brief version is i finished 11th/15 in 7.54 which i was pretty damn pleased with.
hadnt done this run before and put a lot of preparation into it in terms of logistics.
ruth (my other half) came with me so i booked a nice place at mt tamborine which made it a bit of a drive to the startline at nerang but it was worth it.
spent some time looking at maps and even rang the nerang state forest people so they could send me a trail map of the area.
printed out my own maps (how anal! - but better than the ones on the race website) so i could carry one with me and i'm glad i did.
had done most of my trail running at glasshouse before so with my sense of direction and nav skills (or lack thereof) i was a little worried i'd get lost like most of the field did last year!
unfortunately managed to catch the nasty gasto bug which is flying around at the moment on the wednesday night beforehand and spend a few hrs of early thursday morning in at work (i'm a doctor) on a drip.
probably would have struggled on at home a bit longer if i wasnt running tamborine but thought it wise to get a couple of litres of fluid into me.
still felt terrible on thursday (which was a worry when i was supposed to leave on friday morning) but kept the accomodation etc.. booked.
felt better friday (was actually hungry again by lunchtime) and made the trip down late morning.
had an initial goal of 7.5-8hrs looking at results from previous years but revised this to 8-8.5 in view of 'the squirts'.
the run is pretty nice - first 16km in nerang state forest on wide firetrails with good footing. then an annoying road bit for a few kms - lots of traffic before the traffic thins and you go up this enormous hill (mt tamborine) which is about a 550m climb in 3-3.5km or so (and then head back the same way).
had driven the road bits in the car the day before which was good because i certainly knew what was coming and left enough juice in the tank for it.
you can actually see the TV tower (at the half way turnaround) from about the 5km mark in the forest so its all a bit daunting!
arrived at halfway in just under 4 hours and figured 7.40 was on the cards but faded a bit in the long road section before the forest.
got a text message or 2 from whippet and phoned ruth once or twice with progress reports and its amazing how uplifting that is.
there was a 2.5km (5km total) out and back loop (with 12-7km to go) in the forest which was very useful for seeing where u are position wise - managed to catch RMC and a NZ girl (karen) in that loop and was eyeing off geoff last for a while (he was 8mins ahead of me on the loop).
gee those last 4km were long! have never looked behind me so many times before. saw geoff about 200m ahead at one stage and just thought ... yeah whatever!
managed to dehydrate myself pretty badly in this one in fact i dont think ive felt this bad for so long after an ultra - even glasshouse 100 miler a few years back.
it took me a good 3 hours or so to feel like my brain was working.
i must have looked like an absolute nitwit at the finish.
i must have drunk about 3-4 litres of tea/fizzy drink/juice over the next few hours.
at least my tummy wasnt complaining!
got up at one stage after a little lie down back at the unit and my right shin started cramping.
moved my weight (well there's not much of me!) onto the left leg then that shin started cramping.
whenever i watch the footy i see players cramp and i think 'get up you bloody pussy' - guess i've never had much in the way of cramps before!
spend the next 10 minutes crawling around on the ground screaming.
i can laugh about it now.
recovered enough to take ruth out to a nice place for dinner.
as per usual post ultra i feel really hungry but my stomach fills quickly so i didnt eat much.
went to work the next day and people thought i was an idiot for running 62km especially after being unwell ... i probably was!
realistically i dont think it affected my time - probably more just the condition in which i finished and my recovery.
this run certainly puts events like bogong hotham into perspective - B2H would have at a guess (havent looked it up) maybe 3 times the ascent/descent than this run - as well as weather extremes and tougher terrain.
hope i'm fit and healthy in january!!
2 ultras in 2 weeks. its bloody great to be back running again!

people in glass houses shouldnt throw ... up

(sorry about the crudeness of the title but it seemed appopriate ... belated glasshouse 80km report)
one version is on CR here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000362;p=12
but i guess the advantage of blogging it is that i feel more like writing the bad bits in.
which is very therapeutic.
preparation for this one wasn't ideal - was managing 60km/week inbetween ITB massages and about an hour of stretching/rolling/icing a day.
had done some longer run/walks up there in the weeks prior that gave me a lot of confidence but was mindful of the fact i had only done one or 2 'hard' ie. higher intensity runs beforehand. the reality was i wasnt going to drive spud and whippet man to the 1am start and not participate so i used them as an excuse to do the 80km instead of the 30 or 50km.
it was certainly a memorable weekend especially the incident where we stopped off at the BP servo at caboolture on the way to get batteries.
i preplanned and put some trackypants on but spud and whippet were in their running tights and certainly got some funny stares.
i guess its funnier when u know where caboolture is and what kind of people would be at the servo at 11:30pm on a saturday.
it was fantastic to be at the startline again with all the usuals and a few newbies and i certainly felt back in my comfort zone.
the first 30km or so went as planned until i arrived at cp5 a little early and decided to leave instead of having a sit.
then pushed things a bit hard on the infamous beerwah loop which is pretty hilly and has some tough terrain.
started breathing hard and sweating (in a thermal) which should have been a sign that i should back off but had the mp3 going and was buyoed by the fact i passed colin/pud and louie, a couple of early 50km starters and was catching joe/boonarga.
started feeling sick at the end of the rough stuff and without giving too much detail spent the next 50mins or so throwing up, sitting on the edge of the road, watching all the people pass me again before eventually staggering to cp6 feeling damn crook.
it was pretty damn cold (maybe around 5 deg) especially when my pace had dropped significantly.
it was pretty belittling to arrive at the half way mark of an ultra thinking about pulling the pin and i have to admit it was only a mixture of sheer embarrasement and knowing what crap i would get from whippet and spud for the next 10 years that made me determined to sit down until i recovered then try and move on.
took about 40mins to feel human again and i have to thank col colqhouhn for warming me up with his jacket and sleeping bag and feeding me tea to get me going again.
by this stage i was equal last (with tankie) again (which is pretty much my normal position at the half way of an ultra anyway) but had lost at least an hour and was looking at 11hrs plus (had hoped for 10.5-11).
left cp6 before tanky and after david and just started doing what i do best .... walking.
did that for the next 2 hours or so and with a few brief sits started to feel strong again.
it was pleasing to see all the 50km runners in the morning on the way to cp8 - meant it was morning again!
managed to still keep tanky (who passed me soon after cp6) and david/CR screaming knees in sight despite running very little - they ceratainly seemed to be slowing down.
caught them at cp8 and basically made the decision then to finish with them - assuming the feeling was mutual of course.
regretted it a little on the downhills on the loop at cp8 when i wanted to run hard and then again on the powerlines section nearing home but after 10 hours or so running with or at least within 20mins or so of these guys it felt wrong to split up.
needless to say if i'd issued a challenge to tanky i think she would have kicked my arse anyway!
david looked pretty buggered at the end of his first ultra but an 80km at GH is one hell of a first ultra to try!
felt pretty damn pissed to be honest at the finish (11.34) thinking if i'd pushed things harder in the last 20km i could have finished under 11hrs.
then when i looked at my splits i realised exactly how fast i'd gone out (approx 9 hour pace by the top of beerwah) i realised what a dumb race i'd done in terms of pacing and i think that was the key here.
i always try and even pace ultras - anything under 100km anyway so this was a big mistake.
writing this now 3.5 weeks after the finish of course i've forgiven myself but it really felt like a rookie mistake to make.
think i just got caught up in the excitement!
guess being a blog i dont have to thank anyone so i wont!
except maybe tanky in case she happens to stumble upon this.