Bloop

"Bloop" .... pronounced like "shook", "hook", "book" .... now say to again ..... bloop.

Bloop is the sounds chilli makes while in the pot ... at least the way I make it ........ I concoct a large vat of brown pastey dense liquid complete with a handful of my home grown chillies ...... as the pot sits under the burner the surface starts to breath ...... eventually the diaphram of the surface receeds like a fast moving tide and erupts back up like a large mud bubble from a thermal spa and goes bloop!

Soon after the first bloop I put the lid on ..... and wipe down the walls, the bench tops and the inquisitive dog. Blooping is messy business.

And with all that said I have introduced you to the subject of Sports Nutrition leading up to a marathon ........

One must make sacrifices to be a fine tuned athlete, and so here is mine .......

Yes indeed the switch to low carb beer. Every extra pound is crutial on the big day and carbo loading is not due until the last 48 hours.

Monday morning there was something of a rumbling and pressure down below, if you know what I mean ......

Could have been the chilli .......... or the beer ...... or the dried fruit ........ perhaps even the licorice .......... or the chilli salami ....... well you see folks I am not prepared to be sitting back and relaxing just because it's taper week ..... I still like to challenge myself ....... stand back!

Market Life

For the last few Sundays the alarm has sounded a little after 4 am. Unlike the Saturday wake up call to grind out the 35K River Loop, the Sunday alarm trumpets the call to arms for the Market.

The story goes back to October last year ..... the day after running the Columbus Marathon, flying back home to Australia with lengthy stops at Houston and LA before touching down in Brisbane where the date had mysteriously moved along a couple of days. This gives plenty of time to contemplate the navel (after picking the lint out) and for planning goals for the future. It was at this time I gave birth to the notion that importing and distributing from the US would support an extravagant retirement strategy, eventuate into a self supporting workfree future and to top it off provide fully deductible world travel. Perhaps running a marathon and spending uncountable hours on a plane with free bar service was to blame.

So here we are 5 months later after regular correspondence with the inspiration and absolutely adorable Beth Powers embarking on the promotion and selling of a small stock of what we hope will change the face of running fashion.

So far the results have been slim .... insert no sales except from a friend. But fear not ... we are not discouraged although the original targets have been scaled down by a minuscule amount.





And we even opened an Ebay Store so if you excuse me I think there might just be a queue of like minded individuals who want to get into my funky tights.

Week 10 - 6 sessions left

Taper Definition: Less overall KM's to rest and recover but faster to practice and get used to race pace.

Note: Nothing to do with Tape Worms (and I was thinking that someone's training for her first marathon was on track and her coach had done a sensational job until this came out over breakfast .................... the conversation, that is)

[insert your own photo for this post .... even I dare not]

Total Ks: 61.52 versus plan of 72
Yassos 10 x 800 at 16.5 Kph or 2:55 minutes each
Medium Pace Runs 13K, 18K, 20K around 4:40 ish

Average pace over the week 4:35 min/K

What were you doing on this day 12 years ago? I know the answer to this one!

12 years ago my daughter was born and I was overcome by a sensation that I have never experienced before. It wouldn't have mattered if she had 7 arms, one leg, was pink with purple polka dots and had horns growing out the top of her head, she was simply the best thing in the world. Thankfully she had none of these afflictions and came out perfectly.

There is a better way!

I was thinking that there must be a better way than working for money. If only some complete stranger would come along and make me a millionaire without me having to work in just 90 days. Why should I have to spend so long doing this after all?

I know you are thinking I was dreaming, but amazingly this popped up on my Email. I didn't even ask for it. How lucky am I?



OK so with that taken care off ....... why run and keep off the yummy things in life to lead a healthier lifestyle. I want a diet that involves lying on the beach with cocktails. Well I have to pinch myself ...... again the internet delivers. Can they be reading my mind?


Alright now .... how about something that makes me young again or grows hair in the places I want. Rubbing the top of he screen with my eyes scrinched up ........ come on computer deliver it to me.

Week 9 - View from the top

Wheeeeeeeeee

Total Ks: 78 versus plan of 100
Yassos 9 x 800 at 16.5 Kph or 2:55 minutes each
Tempo at 4:11 pace
Long Run 35K @ 4:58 min/K (the last 5K were at 4:39 min/K)

Average pace over the week 4:51 min/K

What is a Yasso?

A Yasso is .......

a) A breed of mouse

b) Running 800 metres and then running 800 metres and then again and again ten times, all at the same pace. That time, being in minutes and seconds like 3 minutes 15 seconds, strangely this equates to what time your marathon will be, 3 hours 15 minutes. Or if your 800 metres is 3 minutes 30 seconds your marathon will be 3 hours 30 minutes.

c) An Italian Opera Singer

d) the answer is b)

Photo taken from Cute Overload which is a favorite site of Ihatetoast.

Shoe Tag

Two pairs of these shoes aren't mine!

The challenge is to post your collection of shoes on your blog now that I have shown you mine. I'm curious what an Italian heavy metal fan wears, what Shopper Susan's favorites are, etc. I especially did this for *Jeanne* because I thought she would appreciate being tagged.

Note that I have no Black Shoes .... something I'm proud of. I do wear orange cowboy boots to work and the running shoes are on rotation.

Week 8 - All wrapped up.

One more big week and then the taper. That's one more long run next Saturday and a couple of Yassos (9 and 10 times 800m in 2:55 minutes each).

Compared to my last marathon preparation, I'm ahead by a small bit. I managed 2 runs on Tuesday one in the morning and one at night. My leg is getting a little less painful and I had a 2 day break after Wednesday's mid-week 22K. It was 9:30 PM on Wednesday and I had completed about 15 or 16K when I sat on a park bench and stopped for a minute thinking "I'm a little tired". Could have been the time of night, but after working a full day, it gets really tough for me to complete the big distances at the end of my program. Considering all this, I'm feeling quite strong and ready to finish this marathon off with the anger of a young camel in a state of protracted sexual abstinence (this comes from my favorite post of the week). I think I'll have to wear a black arm band on the day due to the fallen warrior the Black Knight who has lead many around the world on journeys like mine.


Total Ks: 87 versus plan of 75
Yassos 8 x 800 at 16.5 Kph or 2:55 minutes each
Hills up and around the mountain finishing at 4:14 pace
Mid-week run 22K @ 5:11 min/K (but finished about the last 2K @ 4:00 min/K)
Long Run 35K @ 5:05 min/K (the last 5K were at 4:25 min/K)

Average pace over the week 4:57 min/K

Something of a triathlon has been accomplished in the land of crusty and soft bread. Master crouton competed in a regional swimming relay final and soft bread loving wife has taken to the bike and has posted how she created the "freckle bruise". The first born crouton clipped her wing at school camp but sounds chirpy and is recovering well.

The Fade

I was talking about marathon pace strategy with a friend recently and promised to provide more information. I thought that she should start at 4:50 pace and finish 5:10. The 5:10 would come in around the 30K mark or thereabouts. This seems to contradict the "start slow" line ...... The 4:50 would in fact feel slow and certainly be way above what she might feel like doing to start off with.

So now to provide some support:

1. There are several pacing calculators that cater for the fade.

This One and Here is another


2. These articles Advise 1 and Advise 2 are helpful. What sticks most in my mind and from my experience is your running economy will tend to decrease slightly during the race.


3. Looking at some real race results for:

3 hour marathoners (Avg 4:16) they averaged 4:09 pace over the first half and 4:23 after the 32K point,
3:15 (4:37) were 4:27 first half and 4:51 after 32K through to the end,
3:27 (4:54) were 4:45 first half and 5:02 after 32K through to the end,
3:30 (4:59) were 4:46 first half and 5:15 after 32K through to the end.

So that folks is about all I have to say on this topic but welcome your comments as always.

Imagine

Imagine this set up on Sunday at 5 am in the morning ........

Imagine it against a city building in a modern man made canyon where the wind howls .......

Imagine rain that move horizontally ........

Imagine this stall all wrapped in clear plastic in some feeble attempt to keep dry .........

Imagine a grade two cyclone ........

I suppose you can imagine that there weren't any sales ........

So 8:30, we packed it all away and went back to bed.

Week 7 - Running Heaven

I was thinking that this week flew by ...... not like it flu by for poor Tesso or even as it must have flown by for Clairie, who I swear must have sprouted wings. I got to the end of Week 7 of my program feeling like it wasn't such an ordeal, and that I can see the crest of the program as far as all the hard work goes (see diagram). Two more big training weeks is not such a big deal for me now.

In reality, last week was more like two weeks in one. It started with cutting short my long run a week ago, and then getting to the gym Tuesday to put together some Yasso 800s and not being able to get even one rep. So Wednesday, I put the clock away and ignored the pain in my leg and hobbled off with renewed focus. I ran my mid-week "half" 21k without my usual anal retentive obsession of worrying about my pace every 5 seconds. It was a major turning point and I haven't looked back.

Total Ks: 83 versus plan of 93 (dropped a session)
Tempo run on Sunday was SLOW .... I had some sad thoughts weighing heavy on my mind.
Yassos missed due to pains in my right lower leg. I was dressed and made it to the gym but just couldn't get it going, so went home with tail between my legs.
Mid-week run up to 21K @ 4:56 min/K
Long Run 38K (35 at @ 4:54 min/K) and 3 more with Clairie .... (I was thinking at the end of my run that I wanted her to reach her goal of getting the 38 and intended on waiting for her on the other side of the Goodwill bridge whilst she ran laps of the garden). The last 8K/5mile were at 4:30 min/K or 7:30 min/mile (It's a good sign of where my marathon pace is at).

Average pace over the week 4:52 min/K

I love my wife ........ she bought me a small pack of Doritos "Cheese Supreme".

In anticipation of tomorrows long run .......

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

SOUTHEAST COAST FORECASTS
Issued at 4:10pm on Friday the 3rd of March 2006
for Friday night and Saturday

BRISBANE METROPOLITAN AREA
A severe weather warning is current.
Rain periods, easing to showers on Saturday. Moderate to fresh SE winds.

Marching into March

I decided on this heading to put forward a positive and strong approach to how things were going for me. I got a little distracted searching for the marching band image that goes with the post.



Did I say distracted? .... Oh here is a quiz:

One of these statements is true:

a/ I was the guy at the back of the band with the triangle, bell and 3 other percussion instruments as well as the most disruptive in free time.
b/ I played the bagpipes because I like the way my legs look in a kilt (and the way the sporran tickles).
c/ I gave up trombone lessons as the braces on my teeth made my gums bleed.
d/ At band camp ............

So anyway .... I ran a 21K at a good sub 5min/K pace (13 mile - under 8 min/mile pace) last night and then backed up this morning for a quicker 11K.