My Birthday - plus 21k

21km 2hr05 @ 5:59 HR 146

Today I did something that until recently I would have considered completely insane - I got up at 5:30am on my birthday, drove to the coast and went for a 21km run, from Burns Beach down to Hillarys and back. I took it easy and enjoyed it, increasing the pace near the end. There are plenty of little hills round Ocean Reef to keep things interesting. There were plenty of other runners about, even a few Coolrunners (Knoddie saw me but I had my headphones on). 

Also today was the London Marathon, where Martin Dent came in 14th around 2:15. Not a bad effort!

Anzac Day 8k

Well today was not meant to be a run day, according to my Hal Higdon Novice Marathon plan. But the family were with friends, and I had volunteered to help fix a friend's computer up in Clarkson. That didn't take long so I took the train back to Joondalup and decided to sneak in an 8k run. Well it was either that or do the dishes! That's one of the things I like about running - you can just up and go. I'm lucky 'cos I have a pretty good regional park 200m away, Yellagonga. I did the 8k in 40:33, and was pleased to see increased pace all the way to the end, doing 4:30 pace for the final km. Again I didn't warm up till about halfway. This seems to be a recurrent theme with me, and something to be aware of, especially for 10k races where I may need a longer warm up.

10k run, Week 8 of marathon training

9.9km 51:34 @ 5:13 HR157

Felt good in this arvo's 10k (well 9.9). I'm pleased that the 1k splits show I can increase the pace throughout the distance. First km was 5:37 and final km was 4:58. I suspect the slightly cooler weather (low 20's) has helped. I definitely felt more comfortable at the end instead of the usual sweat drenched monster.

During the run I wore my new Sansa Clip mp3 player. This is like an iPod Shuffle except has more features and is cheaper. It has a little screen and an FM radio, and can clip onto running shorts or singlets etc. I only bought the 1GB model for AUS$40. Thumbs up for it so far.

Canberra and Boston Marathons 2009

Last year I said I would try to do this year's Canberra marathon, but in the end I had to drop it due to things like having a baby. Fortunately WA was represented by famous CR StellaBella who was running her first marathon. She did really well to finish in 4:54 and I think she surprised herself. There have been videos on YouTube of some CRs finishing, which I have loved watching, and the presentation ceremony. CR's own Dave Criniti won the men's marathon in 2:26 I think. 

On the other side of the pond the Boston Marathon took place on Monday and I managed to watch it live on a webcast. Ain't the Internet great. Deriba Merga took out the mens in 2:08 (think he came 4th in Beijing Olympics) with the American Ryan Hall in 3rd. Australia's (and another CR) Lee Troop came a brilliant 13th. There were some more CRs there, including djc42 who I think finished in 3:02. 

I just love watching and reading anything about marathons at the moment, trying to absorb it all before July.

Gallipoli 8k Fun Run

Time: 38:10, pace 4:47

This was the annual 8k race held in Kings Park, run by Synergy and part of Anzac week. It's a great little run with a few hundred competitors taking part. This year Olympic pole vaulter Steve Hooker was in the 4k race. While I was warming up a bloke started talking to me about Masters Athletics. I said I might be interested and they seem a friendly bunch, a bit older than the usual runners. I think you need to be over 30 to do Masters. So I'll fit right in :-)

West Aussie running legend John Gilmour said a few words at the beginning, then the bugle played and there was a minutes silence. I always find this very moving. And then we were off! I was hoping for 4:45min/km pace which would give me a 38min finish.

I had done this run last year, but I'd forgotten about the 1km climb at the start. This really took the wind out of my sails, and I took 5:22 for the first km. Luckily the downhill was next and I did 4:38 and 4:12 for the next two, so I was back on track. I found it quite tough as the start was at 9am and the sun was already quite high and hot. I managed to just hold the pace for the second 4k to finish in 38:10, over a minute better than last year. So I was pleased with that, especially coming off the back of yesterday's 18km LSD.

The 8k race was won by Courtney Carter, who is turning into something of a sensation here in WA.

Afterwards me and the family had a slap up binge brekky at Zamia's cafe which didn't leave much change out of $90 (gulp).

At last a proper long run

Ok it's 12 weeks to the Perth Marathon on 5th July. Looking at my old spreadsheets (I'm a statto) I see the last run I did that could be described as long was the Freo HM 7 months ago. Since then I've done a handful of 13k runs and that's it (lots of short ones though). So...maybe I'll be a little underbaked for the Perth mara!

So anyway, this morning I headed out at 6:50am for an 18k run. It was warm. A bit humid too. I set the Virtual Partner on the Garmin to 6:00min/km pace, but soon discovered this was too optimistic. I am a really, really slow starter in the early morning and so the first couple of kms were done in 6:20 pace. After that I had warmed up and moved to a steadyish 6:00 pace with a couple of 5:30s in near the end to get the heart rate up. 

Total time was 1:52, distance 18.4km, HR 141.

I am quite liking the Heart Rate Monitor on the Garmin. The info is quite revealing. For instance, today as it was a LSD (Long Slow Distance) run I knew I had to keep my HR in the aerobic zones of 2 and 3. My average HR was actually 141bpm which gives me an indicator as to how hard I'm pushing myself. For comparison, a fast run (for me) at 5:00min/k pace over 6k my HR was 154.

The Garmin even shows an HR graph on screen which is cool, but I'm not sure of it's usefulness.

To do a 4hr marathon I need to run at 5:40 pace. Right now this seems very unlikely!

My current fitness points more to 6:00 pace and a 4:15 finish. Still, I have plenty of training left to do and after all, I shouldn't wish for too much for a first marathon!

Speaking of Garmin, the strap on my 405 has broke after only 2 weeks use! Admittedly I had been using it as an everday watch too, so it was getting bashed around a bit. My missus couldn't believe I'd be so stupid as to wear a $400 GPS watch continuously, but I thought that was the whole point of the 405? Otherwise I would have got a 305 which is chunkier but has an easier to read screen. Anyway, I fixed the strap by brute forcing the flimsy pin back into place, but I reckon it's been weakened. So...now I'll only wear it for training and races. 

What's it all about?

I have been running regularly for nearly 2 years. That's long enough to realise I'm taking it seriously. I want to start documenting my progress and thoughts about running, and hopefully others will gain some motivation and/or derision.

Let's see where this goes.