mt coot-tha freeway

had more of a 'standard' working week so needed to do my longish run on saturday.
for a change set out early to leave the arvo open and collect DTI points.
arrived at jc slaughter falls carpark at 6am in pitch black to find heaps of cars there...WTF?
got a bit of a fright when i was getting my gear ready and about 50 people walked past the back of my car.
seems like a few people were doing 'kokoda' training - the challenge i mean not the historic png track.
tho there were a few with packs and poles on the mountain as well maybe doing this.

very cool during the week up here.
a few days with maximums 13-14.
my wednesday run (14km) was in tshirt and shorts and when i set out at sub 4.30 pace and was still cold but feeling buggered at 1/4 way i almost turned back!!
eventually warmed up.
apparently was 7 degrees with 'the wind chill' - didnt think that existed up here ;)

fantastic effort by all the western states people.
16/19 starters finished.
havent heard about whippets knee yet but he seemed to finish strongly.

monday: 14km recovery run 71.00 i think
tuesday: 60mins bike with hypoxicator on! didnt work well - machine got too hot
wednesday: 14km 63.30 (16.00, 16.00, 16.00, 15.30) quickest for a while - thanks to the cold
thursday: 60mins bike 130-140 watts; and massage
friday: physio (needles in bum)
saturday: 3.15hr coot-tha run. hilly!
sunday: nothing.

3 weeks to hardrock.
4 shifts til holidays!!

montrails at manchester

lake manchester run this weekend.
33km with 750m up/down most of it strung together so u can at least get in some sort of rhythm albeit a slow one!
LM is in the western section of brisbane forest park which is attached to gap creek reserve and mt coot-tha (to the east) and is basically a giant disneyland for trail runners.
had only been this far west once before when (with tam, tam and AB) i did 'poor mans half bogong' a few months ago: when we covered a similar distance in 6 hours!!
ran with kato the whole way and it was nice to have his company.
beautiful views of the (now disappearing) lake from the top/boombana knob.
excellent organisation by greg and his TRAQ team in their first attempt.
felt a bit guilty running and not helping out for a change!
we finished in a comfy 3.24 which i thought was pretty quick until i heard we were almost an hour behind the winner!
a guy called christian cobbold did the 21km (with hills!) in 1.22. amazing!!
the quick guys should definately stick to bitumen and leave the trail and ultra stuff to the tortises ;)

got the new montrail hardrock shoes this week and have already run in them twice on trails.
it was great to test out the grip on the weekend.
get the feeling i pronate a tad with them but maybe i'm just paranoid.
...regardless i'm in love!
is it wrong for a man to love a trail shoe?

a long time work and running mate just phoned and it looks like i will run gold coast HM with him.
he did a 1.23 in his first attempt a few years back but i'm pleased to say he's been busy having babies lately and is wanting to just sit on 5 min/kms which is fine by me.
pity i wont be there for the 'whole' CR cheersquad experience but i will be there nevertheless.

acclimation (US term!) going well.
doing daily 70-80min sessions and feel comfy even on 10% oxygen now.
fingers crossed that whippy gets thru ws100 next weekend and i have some pacing duty to do at hardrock.
my thought are with the 'aussie assault' at ws100 this weekend.


monday: cootha run 10km 43.43
tuesday: physio and 60min bike at 130-140watts
wednesday: nothing
thursday: 1.15hr run at whites hill reserve (thanks for the tip tanky!) and massage
friday: 60min bike at 140 watts
saturday: nothing
sunday: LM run 33km 3.24

hardrock in 4 weeks.

'almost a pb'

i guess that term shouldnt really exist.
there are pbs and pws and a lot inbetween.
ran the yearly mt cootha race this morning.
9.6km with approx 250m ascent/descent.
these days i usually run the trails of 'my second home' so i relish the chance for a quick hitout along the hard stuff.
after doing a 45.30 training run last week i figured my pb of 43.29 was looking pretty safe today and have to admit i almost didnt set the alarm last night!
ran what i thought was a nicely paced race for a 43.43 finish but obviously i needed to skim 14 seconds off somewhere!
and where was the cr cheersquad when u need them? ;)
for the record (and my future reference) splits were: 16.20 (top of hill/3km), 33.30 (roundabout).
felt great about 10 seconds after i finished so at least the endocrine system has finally recovered post w-g double.

did my first altitude session last night on the hypoxicator.
needed 12% (4500m) to get down to the target oxygen levels in the blood.
nothing unpleasant happened except the mask was a bit claustrophobic at first.
will have another 1 hr session today.

will do lake manchester next weekend - a nice hilly 33km.
and i need to give gcoast some thought.
made a verbal pact with karisma to have a crack at a sub90 HM but we didnt shake on it :) and to be honest i wouldnt have a hope of shaving 4 mins off the pb at the mo.
pretty fit but just no speed in the legs.
may jog the HM or try for a sub42 (?sub41) 10km or just cheer!!

monday - 10km cootha 45.50
tuesday - 1hr bike 140 watts
wednesday - massage
thursday - 30mins bike (up to 200 watts), 20mins walk/run tready
friday, saturday, sunday - nothing!

wishing happy travels to cr davo who left for a new life on the 'southern island' yesterday.

5 weeks til hardrock.
need to stop sticking needles in the whippet man doll!

shopping, golf, pilates, cleaning and weddings

didnt do much this week at all.
after attending my brother-in-laws wedding 'weekend' flew down with the other half to a conference in melbourne as her official 'appendage'.
spent the time wisely playing golf on monday and shopping on tuesday.
the other way around would have been diabolical with 50knot winds in the city on tuesday somewhat reminiscent of 'the prom' the other week.

to my suprise i found a timberland (outdoor) store in the DFO (city).
timberland make some nice trail shoes and whilst some of their clothes may not look out of place in brokeback mountain if u choose wisely u can do well.
the good news is they apparently now have stores in brissie (DFO) and sydney but the downer is they dont have any trail shoes in the aussie stores DOH!

got some more feedback on the official biomech report and theres lots to do.
did some pilates stuff with the ultrasound this week and will do more next week.
i will eventually become the 6 million dollar man ... faster, stronger ....
oh well maybe the 6 million dollar part anyway.

did a 10km run on monday and 69 minute 14kmer on friday otherwise bludged all week.
starting to feel human again and will probably head bush tomorrow.
had grandiouse delusions about doing the 10km today at qld half/10km but my body would have killed me and anyway i had to work.
should have a crack at the mt coot-tha run next weekend but we'll see...

spent all day saturday cleaning my 'junk' room with aim 1 being of course to completely rearrange and categorize the 'map library' which has now grown to significant size.

brendan/2p the hypoxicator is from altipower: http://www.altipower.com/
i have the one with the finger oxygen saturation probe.
will play with it this/next week.