Sunday 23rd December Cycled about 7.5km on my mamba MTB in 26min 53 secs to shops and back getting Christmas gifts for the first of the family gatherings this morning. Heart rate around the 114-144 range. Pushing into easterly winds up the Sacremento ave hill bumped it up to about 140's...Can't go very fast on this bike cos the big cog keeps skipping so I stick to the middle cog, but still managed to hit 33km/h which is not too slow. Felt good to finally get on the bike even if it was only for a very short time at low intensity. Hopefully more soon...anyhow have to get on with the "silly season", and try and celebrate the birth of the Christ so long ago, and make the most of the time with family...Plus try to get some training going in the midst of this and Jacob commitments...See how we go...

Saturday 22nd December Did 250 Ab crunches this morning here at Baby Central Christmas season edition. Pretty flat out with work,wife,kid,Christmas and money worries to keep me occupied. I am typing this one fingered (normally two fingered typist) while feeding the fantastic adorable very verbally expressive little one breastmilk straight from (via Mummy) the bottle with my other hand...Christmas tree is up. Presents are appearing there. The annual Hopman cup pilgrammage tix are booked. Christmas portrait photo today, I think its 4 family get-togethers to enjoy/navigate through in the next few days...Hope to get on the bike,run, or hit the beach soon, maybe tonight... Til then this is AND (Agent Novice Dad) signing off...

6-Inch "45km"** 16th December 2007;
1st Colin 3.46
2nd David 3.56
3rd Victor 4 hours 11 minutes
4th Craig 4 hours 33 minutes
5th Nathan 5 hours 36min
6th Mark 5 hours 36min
Equal 7th Tom and Rebecca 5 hours 53 minutes*
DNF's (Did Not Finish entire distance);
Rod 42km in 4 hours 01 min
Trent ran first 21km...

DNS (Did Not Start, but was entered as an intending runner)
Jonathon (I.E. me)

*Rebecca is the winning Woman and also now holds the ladies course record!

**Daves bonus K's rule applies...
Dave plans to email a race report to Kevin from Ultramag in the next day or so.
Photos are here
So 10 starters in 2007 3 more than the last 2 years. If I had been there it would have been 11... Excellent times there from the first 4 (Colin,Dave,Victor and Craig), If Rod had found the start line he probably would have challenged Craig for 4th spot....Daves record of 3.42 from last year just survives for another year. Apparently it didnt rain much and the conditions were perfect, at least that is what Dave says, but I dont know whether to trust that when he believes in things like bonus K's (in crowd joke)...Apparently Mark and nathan had some big troubles as did a few others with a Carpet Python blocking their way on the steep/rough section near Oakley Dam...Details in R4YL and Ultramag magazines soon which should encourage this race (now in its 3rd year) to get more well-known around Australia...

So good improvement on last year in numbers and quality of runners, but I still think we have not yet really had the breakthrough yet where numbers balloon out to 20-50 runners...Maybe in 2008, where I hopefully will be there that time....

So what happened to me, why did I pull a no show, why did operation sub 6 6Inch fail to even leave "the runway"...just chronic tiredness/fatigue really, and not using a good enough alarm on the day...

Well its been another tough week of 5 hours sleep or less per night this week for me. which combined with my physically demanding job has seen me falling asleep at work during the middle of the day a lot this week, and after an all day car trip to bunbury and back yesterday I knew it was going to be a struggle to wake up for 6-inch today, plus my lead into it has been rather discouraging with a lot of doubts in my mind as to how I would go, but I set my alarm for 3am last night anyway.

Unfortunately this morning I slept through the alarm, and woke after 7am, which of course was too late to go, which mean't I was a no show..Very disappointing but maybe its for the best, at least I got more than 7 hours sleep last night for the first time this week. Plus I have the wonderful blessing of being with Kathryn and our son Jacob, and we made it to church this morning instead.

So where to from here...to be honest I really dunno what I am going to do runningwise now, for sure I intend trying to do my 12th consecutive Bridges Fun Run in late March/early April, and I might try to get down to the track and/or do some triathlons in the next few months to keep me motivated...Maybe the Canberra marathon? in April...probably not...I think this pretty much confirms I will NOT be at 6-foot 2008 although I believe Dave plans to be there. Maybe 2009, as I need to have (a) a solid 6-inch run behind me before I attempt 6-foot, and (b) enough finances and logistical resources to take on the challenge, and to work out how this fits with Kathryn,Jacob and I, plus of course what God wants me to do with my life here and now...

On the horizon maybe my 6th consecutive Freo Half Marathon in June, perhaps my 5th consecutive Perth Marathon in July 2007 (although I think maybe it would be interesting to try the GC marathon for something different, but maybe not in 2008), maybe go back to the Melbourne Marathon again, would like to try the Sydney Marathon, perhaps the Alice Springs Marathon, so all variables considered, hoping of course my knees hold up...

So see where it all goes from here....

***Update Wednesday 12/12/07;*** Still no training but did a tough route on Greenmount Hill today for work, which I am pretty sure gave the calves some "hill-training", plus some time on Everest street in Alexander Heights on that 10 hour day I did last week, so hoping my work as a meter reader will help my 6-inch time to dip under 6 hours...(along with the 26k recon run 6 weeks ago, and the JG 10k track + 22k 2 weeks back, (and of course Melbourne Marathon 10 weeks ago)will be enough running for me to last the majority of the 45k at a decent pace... Ominous weather forecast today of 23 degrees and thundery showers for this sunday, although won't be surprised if that changes in the next few days, has already changed this week...***update ends here***

Well its been a hard weekend with working overtime again on Saturday and then getting a tooth extraction saturday night, followed by the usual collection of painkillers,antibiotics, my body rejecting the antibiotics as usual,(diahorrea this time, after hives last time, so thats two sets of antibiotics I don't like now) followed by panadol and copious rinses with salt-water, brushing, waiting for blood clot on gum to form, young Jacob being a handful, struggling to start eating again on one side of the mouth, and getting through a tough day at work in warm 32 degree heat, and thunderstorms hovering, making for tropical weather, its like Singapore weather almost...Last night after I had a shower/half a shave sorted out my mouth(saltwater rinses), and my lovely wife Kathryn made some pasta with silver beet cuts (I love silver beet!, high in iron too which is good cos I am vegetarian.), plus been drinking lots of sustagen (I bought a tin of Sustagen Mocha recently to go with the Sustagen sport I have, although I think Sustagen vanilla is my favourite these days, the best ever was when they used to make the honey/nut Sustagen back in the 90's, although that was only in tetra-pak), but I digress after all that I was asleep by 11pm which is a bit on the early side for me, and as a result I woke up a tad early this morning at 0430 (good practice for the very early start for 6-inch this weekend), even beating young Jacobs early morning wake-up for feed...As for training at the moment I am in "Whats training? mode", i.e. haven't had a chance to do any...

plus the mental dilemma of Am I going to run 6-inch?...every couple of hours I change my mind as to whether I am going to run it this year, but I think my mental consensus is that I am going to run it, I still feel like I may have a sub 6 hour effort in me this year, and I'd like to knock off Operation sub 6 hour 6-inch so I can get that mental monkey off my back, and steam towards a possible 6-foot attempt in the next few years. Every time I hear that Shannon Noll song: Lift (some good memories attached there for Kathryn and I)or something else inspiring like Demon Hunter: Coffin Builder for example, I think yeah I want this, and just like Melbourne Marathon this year which was a bit of a mad scramble to get to the start line intact, its the same again for 6-inch 2007 for me. It would be easy to say hey tooth extraction, lack of money,car wearing out, wife and 5 month old baby to care for, plus work the next day, time to take a break from weekend warrior heroics after running two marathons this year already,and what Kathryn and Jacob are going to do on the day, cancelling a photo-shoot, postponing our dedication of Jacob at church cos they clashed with 6-inch...so plenty of reasons not to run it this year...and a few more I can think of too...

Buttttt, I know I want to take on 6-inch again this year, and I will be disappointed in myself if I don't show up, plus the lure of the beautiful scenery to run in the challenge of taking on the tough terrain again this year, the curiousity of seeing how much the bushfires have affected the course, the adventure of cranking it out up Goldmine Hill with a few other "hard nuts"/crazy obsessive compulsive marathoners like me, and just catching up with various people, the social aspect, plus the intrigue of seeing how others go, and who else has the guts to show up. Also if any other hardy souls make the trek to watch us runners in the beautiful bush forest, Ive heard a whisper that 1 or 2 RWCWA people might show up as cheerleaders, and give us all a cheer, now that would be worth a photo... Its the 6-inch experience! Its unique in Western Australian running and I want to be a part of it again in 2007, after promoting it all year long...See
WAMC messageboard 6-inch thread AND Jons 6-inch FAQ page, and 6 inch thread on Cool Running...

....so now that I have psyched myself up a bit, despite my "who knows where I am at physically" status,...and me oscillating mentally from 5% chance of running to 50/50, I am pretty sure I will I be there, I hope so, I will be very annoyed and disappointed if not, Its one of those thingsa runner has to do, you'd only understand if you are a runner, which most of the people who read this are, so I am preaching to the converted.....so to borrow a stevenP-ism; Bring it on...just bring it on 6-inch!

Sunday December 2nd; Did 250 Abdominal (Abs) Crunches, after Kathryn,Jacob and I got back from morning church.

Saturday 1st December 2007; Ran 22km in 2hrs 58min 43 HR 129 at end
Splits; 1.14/1,44. Darlington to Great Eastern Hwy turnaround just past Mundaring and back. Railway Heritage trail with hills group runners ahead.

Got there late, just in time to see Hills group runners leaving. Managed to catch the injured runners walking including Gary, but was really struggling from the word go. Legs weary from last nights 10k on track, and just generally tired from not enough sleep, poor recovery change-over, general fatigue from another tough and frustrating at times week. Weary mentally and physically. Saw Terry running back (probably he went on the 17km hilly Llama loop run). Made heavy weather of it running uphill, and wanted to walk, but managed to go through Mundaring in 64 minutes only a few minutes adrift of what I normally do for there. Had one powerade which I drank a lot of about this time, and the conditions were very nice, with a little bit of drizzle, but not too much, so beautiful conditions in the beautiful hills!
Thought about turning at Mundaring but figured no I should try to get to Great Eastern Hwy. Tough going all the way, and the thought crossed my mind that maybe I should just go home. Fought this by reminding myself that 6-inch is only 2 weeks away, and it would be downhill on the way back. Made it to 11km mark atGreat Eastern Highway in 1.14, again not too bad, especially the way I was feeling. On the way back I ended up really struggling and walking a few times, plus stopping a few times to get gravel stones out of my shoes and socks. Found another reason to stop by reading all the signs about the railway history along the way. Learnt a bit more about the history of the place dating back to the 1800's when Mundaring Weir dam was built, and the Goldfields water supply started, and blokes looking for work in the goldfields used to camp at Mundaring. If only governments today had the same courage to build a Kimberley pipeline/canal etc...I reckon there would be plenty of people up north, forexample the Aboriginals in the communities up there the government keeps throwing money at, and cracking down on alcohol abuse and other problems, I am pretty sure a lot of them could do a good job of building a pipeline/canal to Perth, if given the opportunity to train on the job. Maybe I am just talking through my hat...who knows...God knows everything thats for sure.

Found a big sign about Mahogany Creek which mentioned a bloke called William Phillips who mined gravel from a quarry called Flat Rock near Mahogany Creek. Could be a distant relative of mine, and pretty sure that the Phillips Rd there is named after him. Mahogany Inn has a function room called the Prince of Wales.
Mahogany is so called cos they got timber from a Jarrah forest nearby which initially they thought was the English wood Mahogany because of its rich red colour and quality.

Counted off each 1.5km section and finally got to the finish after consuming my last mouthful of powerade and a Tri-Berry GU at MUndaring on the way back. I only had one 600ml Powerade, but the occasional drizzle and cool temperatures meant that heat was not a factor in the beautiful forest...Felt discouraged but kept myself motivated with Paradigm Shift song Burning Love in my head. Hoping Kathryn and Jacob were ok.

Overall a tough slow OD (Overdistance) style run, with legs very! weary, low intensity, low heart rates, and my heart not in it really today mentally.
Out there a few minutes shy of 3 hours so a good amount of time, makes this a solid overdistance session and coming on the back of last nights 10k its almost like running for 4 hours, so might be enough to keep me a chance of going sub 6 hours at 6 inch in 2 weeks time.

Not the most enjoyable run physically, but mentally a good one to have under the belt, and probably very worthwhile physiologically. The hard ones are often the ones where you make big gains, we shall see....

Friday 30th November 2007; Ran 10km on Track (Coker Park) in 48min 55 (HR 189 end).
(5km splits; 22min 54/26min 01)

Spur of the moment decision to go and have a run for fun. Only decided to leave work (Guildford) and go at 5.30pm. Race was in Cannington at 6pm. I did the B-race (the slow 40min+ race)...

The A race (sub 40min expectations) was won by english bloke over in Perth for a year called Angus in a sizzling 29 minutes I think! Not sure but it looked liked legendary running identity Todd Ingraham was 3rd, and Paul Mitchell the other Melville legend faded to 4th after looking a chance to be in the top 2 early on. The fastest woman was also pretty quick in about 36 minutes I think, she looked a bit like Kelly Exeter to me (3.15 in New York Marathon earlier this year and apparently there was a lot of triathletes in this state 10km championship, but I think it must have been someone else cos I think Kelly normally runs about 39-40minutes...

I went out strongly with the leading bloke (a triathlete coach so I heard afterwards) to split the first 400m in 1.16 sitting on his shoulder felt just like the good old days, but I knew given my lack of training/poor fitnes there was no way I could sustain that, although my legs were handling it easily at that stage (breathing wasn't though). So after my first moment of fun I decided to settle back into something more sustainable (I constructed a loose race plan in my mind during the day...---when I was still tossing up mentally whether or not to run, and about 2pm I decided not to do it, but changed my mind at 5.30pm---...of trying to hit 1.45-1.50's and to stay sub 2min per 400m, cos I knew that would deliver about 46min-50min for me, pretty unsure where I would be as my trackwork has been very occasional in recent months although not quite entirely non-existent, but I figured on the basis of my 48 and 49 in Challenge and Bridges earlier this year, and my Melbourne Marathon training I should be able to stay under the 50, despite no specific training targeting this event, only considered doing it, when I saw it in my diary this week) .....
So back to the race; 400m split for first 1200m were 1.16/1.40/1.47, and from then on I tried to hold onto the 1.50's but ended up blowing out to 2min for a few laps.
2km was 8.27 (4.13's per Km average), 3km 13.21 (so 1k split there was 4.54), 5k was 22.54, so hitting around 4.46 per km for that section. Then I took a bit of a break to drink 600ml of gatorade which I had left at the drinks table in the back straight. A bit mad in a 10k race, but I hadn't drunk much since I rushed from work in guildford, and despite the fresh north westerly winds, I was feeling the heat a bit. I got passed by Ian Roberts, Alan Deans, and Don Pattinson somewhere before or after 5k.
So I needed the gatorade, but then spent a few laps trying to avoid spewing it up, it was a bit much to try and hold onto that in the stomach and try and run sub 2 min 400m laps. So my 6k split of 28.54 shows a 1k split of 6min not too bad since I spent at least 30 seconds of that sculling the 600ml of gatorade. At some point in the race, when I was lapped by the leader, I latched on and ran with him for 200m which got me a 1.45 for that lap. But then it was back to the 2min 400's. Starting to feel the effects of not enough faster running in recent times by then. The surface of the track was very nice, reminds me of the stuff they had for the Sydney Olympics track at Stadium Australia when I did the 20km walk trials there. Wonderful place to run a 10km on track, reminded me of the good old days in the 80's and 90's when I raced and trained at Coker Park with Canning Districts and Riverton/Southern Districts... Went through 7km in 34.18 and then 9km in 44min 18, so 5.24 for 6k to 7k and smack on 5min flat for the 7-9k 1k splits... Brought it home a bit in the last 1km with a 4min 37, and a 1.45 last lap, and the usual dash for the line in the last 150m getting the heart rate right up there to 189.

Spent a bit of time after that chatting with Burnsy, and others, plus watching the exciting A-race unfold!!! Was like I had stepped back in time and was running with Canning Districts again (except that my time sucks bigtime compared to those days, and in those times I mostly was a racewalker only...)...

They asked me afterwards if wanted to coach their racewalkers...very tempting...dunno.... I'd like to, and I am confident I would do well, after all I have more experience than arguably anyone else in this state, noone else in WA has done the National 50km walk, although there have been a few who have done better at Nationals than me, and of course Michael McCagh went to the AIS briefly, and Sara raced extensively overseas in Commonwealth Games,European championships etc, so I she has much better top-level racing experience than me, me not really having raced internationally, although the Sydney Olympic 20km walk trial I did in February 2000 (my last competitive walk), had an international flavour with Italians, Mexicans, Malaysians and others in it,a s well as being an OLympic test event on the OLympic course that Jane Savillle was disqualified on later that year.

So a fun race, the time was pretty poor as usual but ok, enjoyed the night a lot, and then headed back to my poor wife and baby, who of course were wondering where on earth I had disappeared to...

A good sharpener upperer run....blows away a few cobwebs, that had been starting to set in mentally after my Melbourne Marathon last month. Pretty happy with the way the legs are moving, although as per usual the lack of reps is substandard/poor/a long way from where I could be. Six Inch 45km trails race in just a couple of weeks, hopefully I will be up for a sub 6 hour effort.

Tonight Kathryn and I went to Galleria, and I decided I would have a look around the carpark while she shopped, cos (a) I hate shopping and Kathryn loves it...and (b) I figured if someone stole her car they might come back to Galleria again, or they might have ditched the car nearby, so I figured I'd do a drive around the parking areas and nearby roads and keep a lookout for it. Sure enough about 2 minutes into my search I spotted a silver Lantra, checked the numberplate and WUHOO!!!! Praise God! it was the missing car with about a weeks worth of wattle flowers piled up on the bonnet. so alls well ends well! Now to get some insurance in place... Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 28th November 2007; AM; Did 200 Ab Crunches.
Trying to hold onto/re-establish the training momentum that I started with the 25km recon run a few weeks back, but was interrupted by cold and work, my wifes car being stolen, didn't get it insured in time, so $9000-$10000 down the drain at this stage, which makes one really angry/hurt. Hoping to turn some of the angst into some positive training sessions....We shall see if that intention can be transferred into something worthwhile.

PM; Cycled 21km (approximately) in 1hour 26min 09 (approximate splits 49min/37min) Heart rate of 141 at the end.

Night ride on my tired old Mamba mountainbike, with my trusty cateye light and cycle computer. started at 2115 hours (9.15pm), course was an out-and-back route from Beechboro to MIrrabooka and back. The Red Baron unvailable due to flat back tyre, plus I'd rather not risk the Red Baron on a dodgy course like this one. Turned around at corner of Sattleberg and Witchcliffe streets, and forgot to check map beforehand, so in the darkness couldn't figure out where the secret park with a glorious view of the Darling Scarp hills was, which I saw while meter reading there for work a few months back, and promised myself I'd ride back and visit someday.
Well I kept that promise tonight, and enjoyed the ride immensely.

Took the opportunity after some encouragement from my wife Kathryn to get out there while young Jacob was doing his usual sleep from 9pm onwards...Took no drinks and thought about turning around at Noranda, but decided to try and get to Mirrabooka.
So very much a make it up as I go sort of ride on the way out although I had a vague idea of the main roads I would use in my mind. I know most of the significant roads in Perth now due to the copious amounts of driving around the suburbs I have done in the last 15 years or so, especially in the last year or so with my meter reading work. Southerly wind, some nice flat roads, and some nice downhills on return, which allowed me to get to a maximum velocity of 35.7 km/h. Had one of the trip hop/trip house tunes called "momentum" from my recently bought Paradigm Shift CD in my
head, been playing that one a lot in the last week or so. Odometer on my new cycle computer has now reached 850km. Which added to the old cycle computer means I have done almost 15,000km on this Mamba mountainbike, since I bought it I think in 2002, so in 5 years, I have averaged almost 3,000km of cycling per year although I have done a lot less in recent years...some training trivia....

Have to go again in the daytime so I can ride the extra 200m to the secret park, and enjoy the glorious panorama of views, hopefully one day I can take my wife Kathryn and young baby Jacob up there for a picnic.

All in all nice to get a solid ride in, something that will assist my Six Inch plans to come to fruition somewhat, and if I do want to do any Triathlons in 2008, its time I started factoring in some rides. Right knee aching a little in the last 5 minutes. A good ride, although due to my mountainbike being in very poor condition, I took awhile to work out which way to go, and how to handle the low gears available on the bike and still ride at good speeds, hence why my return split was 12 minutes! faster. So a good relaxed cruisy session I am happy to put on the board. Feel a whole lot less Pauline Hansonish emotionally (the whole world stinks and I don't like it...please explain...everything sucks), and more like a line in a Yothu Yindi song; "its like the world is turning right"......(Track 7 from Freedom album.)

Sunday 25th November 2007; Ran for just under 30min, just under 5km, approximate time and distance as I was mainly going to the shop to get some urgently needed cat tins for our cats. Felt keen for a run, so combined the two needs, did the first 2km in about 10.41 so around 5.20 per km (probably ran the first 1km sub 5min per K). Approximate distances and time. HR at end was 150 and I had a bit of a sweat up. The last 2 weeks have been a bit of a wipeout trainingwise for me due to having a bad cold last week, and being snowed under working hard this week, including some tough grinding stuff in the heat on Friday. I think I have shaken the cold off pretty much now, but I worked on the federal election yesterday from 7.30am until 9pmish so no time to train really that day. Also dealing with some major dramas like my wife getting her car stolen, which was very upsetting,devastating,unfair,kick in the guts, has a huge impact on our family, as it was not insured, and we lost things we saved up for a total of about 6 months to get in our digital camera and the baby seat etc etc...Plus of course we just scraped together enough to pay rego and stamp duty on the car, which we had bought with Kathryns baby bonus money and the money from the sale of her old ute, so really heartbreaking to see it all go down the drain in one foul swoop.
I guess the lesson (which is very hard to swallow) is as is detailed in Matthew 6:19-20 , and a Tourniquet album/song; where moth and rust (and in this case thief) destroy...so satanic attack strikes again...but as in another Tourniquet song from the Psycho Surgery album called Broken Chromosomes; "I was already down, and you kicked me, but I'll get up...watch me get up....."....

I took a long break from my election work to get her home from the shops with the shopping, as I didn't like her to be stuck there in the heat with Jacob in a very upset state of mind....Its been a very dramatic and terrible weekend for various reasons, probably one of the only highlights was Kathryn and I playing some golf this afternoon. Hope to get training again in the next 2 weeks, otherwise I will not be running 6 inch this year...

Saturday 10th November Ran 25km in 3hrs 18 (including 30min no 2's toilet stop* and some walking) Splits 1hr.23/1hr.55(about 1hr.37).

Warning R-rated material, dont read this paragraph if a little sensitive to excretion management strategies being described in some detail. *no 2's toilet stop, I had to use gum leaves to wipe the backside. Last time I had to do that was 1991 I think. Eventually I found some "long-drop" toilets at Marrinup campsite that had some REAL! toilet paper yay! so was able to clean things up a little more completely. I write this as a warning to any runners who go trail running away from toilets, and are tempted to skip toilet stop before run, without putting toiletpaper in hydration pack.

Apart from the toilet stop about 1hr 50min in, a very enjoyable run, no significant injury issues, kangaroos,emus, echidna,kookaburras etc etc. Just beautiful scenic views that is 6 Inch. Ran with Mark,Craig,and Colin. Lovely to be back in 6Inch land! We had to do an out and back (Dwellingup to Scarp Rd and back) due to prescribed burning off making access unavailable to some of the Munda Biddi between Del Park Rd and Oakley Dam area. I icepacked my heel beforehand as a precaution, and like Melbourne Marathon that seemed to do the trick, so as long as I remember to icepack it before long runs and long races, maybe I can avoid any medical intervention.

All in all a pretty good long run sitting around just over 6 min a km for the first 15km or so...Turned into a bit of a plod for me in the last 7km or so, the bathroom issues had a lot to do with it, but the legs were also a little tired in the last 5-10km also. Great first long run back after Melbourne Marathon. Good blokes to run with too. Intelligent, interesting conversation, and they pushed me to a faster pace than what I often run, but until the bathroom issues started to become too hard for me to deal with, I was able to stay with 'em. Ideal pace for me. I was coming in off about 4 hours sleep per night this week, and was a bit underprepared, didn't goto toilet enough beforehand, and forgot to put body glide on, but managed to still get a good long run on the board. Saw a train coming along the rail line in Dwellingup when I finished. Magic run!

So a good starting point for my hopes of doing 6 inch again this year, and maybe even 6-foot in 2008 or 2009, we shall see....

Monday 5th November 2007 PM; Ran 5x300m reps @ Noranda Track, with 3min rests.
54.91-Heart rate 165/58.06 HR-180/61.65 HR-183/61.03 HR-186/63.68 HR-189
Total time for 1500m;4min.59.33.
1km pace~3.19.55 400m pace~1.19.82 100m pace~19.96.

Again long rest times to facilitate my poor recovery. I was reasonably happy with this session as I hit my main target of averaging under 1minute for each 300m rep.
My first rep was uner my next target which is under 55 seconds per 300m, which is what I'd like to work towards in the future. So all in all a good solid satisfying reps session. Another small positive step in the direction of working on my speed and cardio respiratory fitness.

I have the aim of really attacking my 5k,10k and Half marathon times hard in 2008, so I can have another go at trying to get my performance up to A-grade level, before I get too old, or my injuries other responsibilities make it too difficult (if that hasn't already happened). If I am able to do that then a serious charge towards a sub 3 hour marathon mid to late 2008 will be a real possibility. After almost two years of adjusting to getting engaged (December 2005), married life (since October 2006), and life with a baby (since July 2007), its time to have a serious go at going after some of my ultimate, more ambitious, more challenging goals again, if I can do so without having too much negative effects on my other far more important higher priority commitments. My numero uno priority is of course my relationship with the Creator Triune, closely followed by that with my wife Kathryn. Things like running, work, family friends, church are important but pale into insignificance by comparison with my numero uno and number two priorities. I'll have to learn the latin word for "two"...*LOL* :-)

Racing goals are;
SUB; 18min 5K, 38min 10K, 90min 21.1K & a SUB 3HR MARATHON, successful completion SIX FOOT 45km, a Half Ironman Triathlon, hike the entire Bibbulmun, mountainbike the MundaBiddi, Adventure racing, maybe a 24 hour race, climb higher mountains, entire Stirling Ridgetop hike (did half the Ridgetop walk for my Bucks weekend with Dave and Nathan in October 2006.),Hike the Appalachian Trail through Tennessee USA, and climb mountains in that area, and competing as a runner or racewalker in World cup, Commonwealth Games, Olympics, or some other international meet held overseas.
Its been my dream since I was a kid doing little aths at Kingsway, at Coker park for Riverton/Southern Districts (got my first of many state champs medals that year), or Dale(like many snotty nosed little athletes), to one day enjoy the thrill of "racing for Australia" or some other country.

I don't think I have the same passion for it that I had when I was younger, and my opportunities are fading for various reasons, but the fire to "have a go at it" still burns inside for me mentally, and I think there is still a small chance if I am good enough (many would say I'm not, but I am not convinced yet, Offspring lyrics from "Pretty Fly for a white guy"... comes to mind, especially the "everything he lacks, he makes up for in denial", which I remember yelling at my brother Tim, every time I tried to shoot a 3pointer over him (i'd miss about 80% of 'em and he'd make about 80% of 'em...) on our evening battles on the basketball pad at our house in Armadale almost 2 decades ago...good memories...), that I may have one last shot at it one day.....There Ive said it, crazy as it is...especially now. Good to say it in writing again even if nothing ever eventuates like that...
So a good start to the week, and a new session to add to my training arsenal.
Short sharp and sweet. On to the next one.

Was inspirational checking Kelly Exeter's splits in the New York Marathon from yesterday, and also watching dave and Nathan guts it out for many hours at the relay for life on Saturday night.
Kellys race week diary and raceday report HERE.

Hopefully these two reps sessions signal a return for me to some of the good things I have been neglecting in my life too much in recent weeks, maybe a significant paradigm shift in my lifestyle. I hope it sticks this time, Ive tried so many times to try and head in this direction in the last 12 months and before, not going to be too upset if it doesn't work, but it would be really nice to do better.
been playing one of my "new" CD's from NSOUL records in California today its
Rhythm Saints:Deep sustained booming sounds...Put me in the right mood mentally to go after this session.

I think if I really get the reps cranked up this summer, I might try and get down
the Track again for some "pre-season training". Just like I did in 02/03 and 03/04. Maybe some easy triathlons too. Plus I'd like to start going bush hiking again with Kathryn my wife and our young baby Jacob when they are ready. Kathryn has been taking Jacob for 20-30min walks in the McLaren! pram several times a a week for awhile now, which should be helping her fitness, which in turn should also result in a healthier Jacob, who in my mind is actually quite advanced developmentally I think, and is now sharing a lot of wonderful sounds,smiles,giggles, gesturing and an occasional dirty nappy or milky spew, which reminds one that life is never going to be a bed of roses in this fallen world... In the evening I try to go with Kathryn and Jacob for their walk, and we have a good chat and put a few K's of brisk walking on the board while Jacob enjoys the sights and sounds of the great outdoors! Hopefully a window to the future, hope for us all. There is my Paradigm Shift CD lyrics sneaking into my written expression....e.g. "hope for us all", "look to the future", "we are called to love"....

So its given me a few things to try and work on in the next few months other than just keep my long runs going for likely 07 6-inch run....

Saturday 3rd November 2007;PM; Ran for 1 hour doing laps of 300m track at Rushton Park in Mandurah with Dave,Nathan, and other relay for life people.

Good to catch up with them. Hitting 5 minutes per km initially then slipped out to 6 min. per km. Not the best environment to be running in, don't think I'd be keen to run in that environment again, although it was nice to be running on soft grass surface for the entire 60 minutes. Some of the music there was pretty cool, but a lot of slow walkers to get past, you had to lap score yourself, and I left with a headache from the wax in my head thanks to the dum candles around the whole track. Some of the music (Tommy Emmanuel style) was pretty good though, and great to be running with that to spur you on. My heel again needed to be warmed up but wasn;t to bad. Good to get an hour of running under my belt. Would like to have gone on for longer, but between the wax in my head giving me a headache and Kathryn and Jacob wanting to start the long drive home, couldn't see any point in staying any longer. Still good to get a little running done....

Friday 2nd November 2007;PM; Ran 3km Ladder @ Noranda

in 11min 54secs.81.
500m/1km/1km/500m the distances.

Average time per km is 3min 58.27.

Rep. 1. 500m-1min 45.75 Heart rate 171 at end.

Rep. 2. 1km-4min 07.12 HR-183.

Rep. 3. 1km-4min 10.22 HR-198.

Rep. 4. 500m-1min 51.72 HR-192.


Used 5 minute rests, which is maybe a bit long but my pathetic cardio-respiratory system needs the recovery time, especially as I have not done many of these high intensity sort of sessions this year.

Went to the track @ Noranda straight after I got home from work, before I could get distracted by anything else. I knew it would be tough and it was. Struggled to breathe just as I hit 300m in the first rep, probably cos I scorched along the first 100m in 15 secs, and managed to hold on a bit to split the first 300m in 58secs. In response to the need to breathe I slacked off a bit/lost the plot to go through 400m in 1.24 and then got back on track with a 21 second last 100m to cross in 1.45, which is around 3.31 per km pace, and 3 SECONDS QUICKER than what I did for my first rep of this same session back on June 12th earlier this year. From then on given the way I was feeling, and after a good start like that I knew I was a chance to beat my overall time for the 3km ladder I did on June 12th 2007.
See HERE for link to my blog post on that one.

My PB for this session dates back to my pre-blogging days when I used mostly off-line/manual/pen & paper training books (which I still do as well as my blogging...), and was done around Lake Monger which is a great place to do 500m and 1km reps. Although its a bit far from me these days.
That was a 10.26.54 (3.28 per km) on 16th January 2003. So I am about 90 seconds adrift of where I was almost 5 years ago. However I am confident I could still get back to that level if I did the right things and worked hard enough several times a week for a few months....although I am losing my ability to run really fast as my power starts to deterioate every year a little, the further I go into my 30's it shouldn't effect things too much for another 10 years or so. That is what I need to do if I want to threaten my 10km and 5km PB's, which in turn I need to do if I am ever to have a serious go at going sub 3 hours for the Marathon. I came to the realisation tonight that I may never get there, but if I don't I will concentrate on staying relatively fit and doing a few "FUN" races, just for the experience a bit like doing Melbourne Marathon was this year in the end. Then go bush, hiking, mountainbiking etc and cut down my racing commitments, similiar to what I have done in 2005/2006. But for now I still hold out hope that I can make a serious charge after my stated time goals i.e. the sub 3 hour marathon I really would like to get....

Anyway enough digression and idle philosophy back to this session...

Heart rate was only 171 after first rep, and as usual the legs were fine and it was my breathing that was the problem. My right heel which had been sore in warm-up, had warmed up and was fine now. In the warm-up it was pretty sore and I was wondering if I would be able to do reps at all. Anyway kept a close eye on some dogs that some people as usual kept letting off the lead...gee I hate that...
So then it was onto the less intense but more searching 1km rep. Again I started well with a 42 second 200m and held on ok to go through 400m in 1.31. Lost a few seconds in the next 200m (I was trying to hit 24 second 100m's which is 4min per km pace), to split 600m in 2.27, my 700m split of 2.55 kinda sucked but wasn't too bad, 800m split of 3.21 was slightly better, but still just trying to hold it together, then I fired up the "afterburners" a bit to rocket through the last 200m in 46 seconds to finish in 4.07, only 4 seconds adrift of the 4.03 I did in June.
Heart rate of 183 was about what I expected, maybe a touch on the low side.

This meant I had to make up 1 second in the second half of the session to beat my June effort. I knew it was unlikely I'd improve much on the last 500m, so if I was going to do it, it had to be on the next 1km rep...Started to get a hint of that "I am going to throw up" sort of sensation, so I knew I was working hard enough, plus the difficulties in recovering getting my breath back. Figured I'd have to do under 4.14 for this rep. to make up the necessary ground, and that to do it I'd have to start conservatively, keep things a bit more even early, but come home strongly.
My first 200m was 46 seconds so right on target, 400m in 1.40 was a bit slower than I hoped, finding it a bit tougher this time, and "cruising/floating" a bit...
I knew then that to beat my June effort I'd have to get a wriggle on just like my baby Jacob does sometimes...My 600m split of 2.32 was a bit better as I started to wind up for the last 400m. However I just couldnt find much and hit 800m in 3.26, which pretty much maintained the status quo, still 5 seconds adrift of my splits on the previous rep, just as I was at the 600m mark, so still close enough if good enough to get well under 4.14, but needed to make sure the last 200m was well under 50 seconds. Dug pretty deep for this one and worked hard to the line to come through strongly with a 44second last 200m and a 4min 10 1km time. Gasping for breath heart rate was very high at 198.

Took about an extra 30 seconds recovery after that one, got myself together mentally and physically, happy in the knowledge that all I had to do was hold it together on the last rep a much easier mentally (although faster intensity) 500m. Figured I'd have to do about a sub 1.55 to beat my June effort. That meant I needed to hit around 20 seconds per 100m again or at least 23 seconds for most of the way.
I had started the session at 8pm, so by now even with daylight saving and a well lit oval I was needing to use the light on my watch to get a good view of my splits.The track has recently been remarked and was in much! better condition than it was a month ago when I did a 10k reps session here.

Solid start in 19 seconds for first 100m, then went through 300m in 67 seconds, which with a 200m split of 48 seconds I knew I'd have to dig deep and make sure the last 200m was a little quicker if i was to beat my June time. Went through 400m in 91 seconds which once again maintained the status quo with a 24 second 100m split, but I knew my last 100m had to be quicker. Again dug deep, and pushed hard for the finishing line and managed to find a 20 second last 100m, to do 1min 51 for the 500m! Gasping for breath again, heart rate of 192 confirmed I had again put the "pedal to the metal" a bit. Warmed down, happy and confident I had shaved a few seconds off my June effort.

Now as I get out the calculator, it is clear I beat the June 12th 2007 effort for the same session by almost 4 seconds, so great to get a small improvement, and ensure I have consolidated/held onto the small amount of fitness for these high intensity type sessions that I have brought to my training table this year. I pretty much did no reps in the second half of 2006, and didn't really do anything under 4min 20 per km after March 2006, so 2007 has been a bit better for these higher intensity type sessions, just need to stringa few together and I will see some major improvement.

However I'd like to improve a heap more, so maybe, just maybe, in this summer I can start to break some new ground and get back towards the sort of stuff I was doing in 2003 when I was close to PB form for 5k and 10k....and did the Bridges 10km in 42min 40 that year (my fourth fastest 10km run ever) . We shall see. Either way its not the main priority just now, the main priority for the next 2 months is to get ready for 6-inch 45km, but this won't hurt. Heel injury is becoming a concern, but otherwise no other major problems today really.

I feel very positive after that session, but a long way to go, if we are to get anywhere significant...Its another start...