Mudgee Marathon 3.33.59

Yes it was run 24 August!!

I have been very lazy

I felt good at start and Anth I quicly settled into 4.50ks. The rough aim was to run a 3.30 and with the big climg before halfway we wanted to put a bit in the bank but not too much. Also the second half has a lot of long downhill stretches and we thought we could pick up some time here. We managed to keep the 4.50's going until the hill.We gave all of our time in the Bank to the hill as we suspected.

We got to halfway in 1.44 that put us right on 3.30 pace. With the lack of and sustained or serius for some months I was doubting for how long I could hold the pace.

After halfway we settled into a good pace and managed to maintain a just below a 4.55 pace until 32k. Anth then just started moving a head and I began to fade however I reached 35k still just ahead of 5 minute pace up to that point.

I needed a 35 minute last 7 ks to finish in 3.30 but drifted to 39 minutes to a 3.33.55 or so finish. Anth got quicker in the last 7 k and was home as he said in 3.26.59.

So managed a 1.44/1.49 split. A 4.8% slow down that was expected because of the early pace being a bit quicker than it should have been with the lack of training to suport it.

It was enjoyable (well at least until 35k) and then was just a slog to get home without walking. I was suprised to be able to maintain the pace for the 35k and absolutely enjoyed the run with Anth. He gets wiser and stronger with each run and will for a while on the right course with the right conditions continue to break his PB until .... well I think he has a lot of potential to tap into yet so it will be interesting to watch his progress. Or maybe I need to get some serious training done and run some 3.10's with him. If only ..... cool.gif

Wagga Trail Marathon : 33.38.34 @ 5.12

I had some teaching to do on Saturday and so I couldn't leave Sydney until 3.30 pm. I decided to drive. It was picturesque in the late afternoon in the Southern Highland with the yellow wattle in full bloom. It was made even more spectacular by the yellowing light of the setting sun from the west and dark storm clouds to the west.

I arrived at Wagga at 8.00 am and was staying at what was previously the Wagga Gentleman's Club build in the 1880's. It maintains a lot of the characteristics and charm from that era.

The marathon started late ? at 8.00am with the temp below zero. Where I was staying was a 2 minutes walk to the start at 'Wagga Beach' on the river. The river looked very much like beach with very little water at this part with lots of sand.

A pleasant but tough course with trail running, roads, steep long hills, short sharp hills and a whole lot of other types of terrain. I had no idea about the course and so just ran alone and was steady. The biggest climb between 10 - 15 k was tough and I was not sure if more was to come.

I just kept it as steady as I could but because of the changing terrain that was difficult. Made halfway in about 1.48. I then started to struggle and was dropping back to past 5.30ks from halfway to about 30k. At 30k we come into a residential area. I was told that most of the run home would now be on roads and bike paths. Now that sound more like my style - black with a white dotted line down the middle. I then manged to pick the pace got home in 3.38 for a second half split of about 1.50.

Not a flat course and very challenging and varied.

The ankle was just painful and restricted my running all morning. But it got no worse than when I started the marathon.

A steady week with 122k's of running.

Mid week update

Monday: No run

Tuesday : 28k @ 5.30

Wednesday : 26k @ 5.25

Still a lot of problems with the ankle. When it warms up it is okay but impossible to stride out fully. But then again the pace is just a bit slower than I would be doing if I was fully fit. At the moment it is distance that has priority and not the pace. With the increase in k's I seem to recover okay but the weakness/pain never goes away completely but some days it is better than others.

No taper for this marathon . Time - I hope between 3.40 - 3.45

Week in review : 112k for the week

Thursday : No run work commitments

Friday : After a warm up 15k steady in about 5.10 pace

Saturday : Steady 15k in about 5.15 pace

Sunday : Steady 31k in 5.30 pace.

Ankle no better and no worse. 112k for the week with all steady base building type running. I would have made 125k for the week but work got in the way of the run on Thursday. Impression: I just feel that I am struggling and felt that at 15k on Sunday but was a bit faster on the second loop. So slowish to start off with an felt uncomfortable but managed to maintain the pace on the second loop.

Wednesday : Easy 15k

First thank you to all you made positive and supportive comments. We all go through up and downs mentally and we we do need to get ourselves out of the downs that is sometimes difficult but it is certainly helped by having support. Really I shouldn't be down as life is very good at the moment and running should be just one aspect but for some of us it is part of our essential fabric and if running is not going well it seems to drag all other other good things down a notch or two.

Anyway onto he positives. I ran again and was pleased that after a late and tiring work night I got out an ran. A 10k TT in 52.xx and that was as fast as I was prepared to go or in reality could go. So that is SLOW.

Marathons coming up are Wagga (Dan see you there) on 22 August and Mudgee the following weekend.

Provided the ankle hold up I want to build up to 125k per week and just run through each marathon - that is no real taper. We will see how things go.

Update

Hell has it been that long since I last posted. In reality I don't have much time these days to read other Bloggs and so in reality I assume no one else reads mine either.

Well since the snow I have done NO training but a few marathons and they were :

20 July : Hunter Valley 3.36

26 July : Bush Capital 3.50

27 July : M7 3.51

Same sequence I did last year but this years the times were much worse and the least said about each one the better. They were quite franking very depressing times and each very difficult over the last 10k. I usually do not have that problem. I however know what the problems are: an ankle that is in continual pain and the cause is not known (so I am just continuing to run as best as I can which is not that good) and because of the ankle very very limited training and so my fitness is being lost at a rate of knots.

Those two combined elements just cause down right lack of keenness and that results in not getting out to train that results in lack of fitness that results in .... get the picture.

This is not usually me and I am struggling to get motivated and to get out training again notwithstanding the ankle issues. So I have made a commitment to myself this week to get out each day and do what I can and just accept that and work on slowly building a base for the BIG ones later in the year. Although GH100 miler is just under 6 weeks away. Not far really.

So where from here. As I said accept the pain and discomfort that is now always present but notwithstanding that just get out there and run and train. By doing that I hope that I just get to the start line of GH and GNW in a condition that enables me to finish provided I run smart in the race.

If they go well I may finish the year off with a rather interesting and challenging run and so take Canberra out as a focus run for time in 2009 provided I stay motivated that is.