Double Entry

Because of this ......

We get these:

Recovery

Marathon + 10 days ...... I'm still recovering and will be hitting the 60 something km this week (about 40 miles).

Should I feature a product from the Make Me Heal range?

What if I got Katy this?

On another matter ... Boston 2008?

In the more immediate future, I'm planning on the Warwick Pentath. It is 5 races over 2 days, centred in and around the small country town of ... Warwick. First up is the half marathon in the morning, then 4.6 km cross country around a dust bowl equestrian course and ending in the evening with a 5 km road race. Next day is a 10 km race up a mountain and at last the 1500 m through town. Add it all up and you get a marathon distance. 22 days to go!

Katy will be running her first race back from injury. We ran last night for 2 km and she did push ups at the end. How inspirational is that?

P.S. Don't you like the way I was able to link the earlier Boston reference into the end?

Canberra Race Report

What sort of person graphs their marathon?

No answers please.

Here it is my pace over the 42.195 K's or 26.2 miles. First 5 K's 4:40 min/K ... tick. Drop it to 4:30 pace ... tick.

Ok, point "A" is 25 K's or around the turn to face the last lap. I averaged the time over the next 5 K's but at the water stop past the 28K mark, I stopped and walked whilst I ate my gel and washed it down. This would have added time and bumped up the average for those 5K's.

Point "B" 36K. I'm in a whole lot of pain as my calf feels like tearing. Might have been a cramp. My hamstring and quads twinge with sharp pains. I start thinking that I'm doing damage and will need a long recovery after this one.

Point "C" is a slow K due to the 35K water station, where once again I walk, drink a can of V and take my last gel. Then face the last 6K's.

At this stage, I was running with as much effort as I could put in for each and every step. I looked at my arm for the invisible inscription I use to dig deep (Clairie, it got me through). I drew upon all the times in training where I would push myself when I didn't feel like it. By my rough calculations, I needed to stay under 5 min/K to land at 42K around 3hr 16 min. If I could find something extra, I could reduce the minute I might be over my PB. It was one hell of a chase, but in the 30 minutes or so, I fell short by 25 seconds. Looking at my photos I noticed that I wasn't smiling much. Katy, I might not have looked happy but when I turned the bend around 40K and saw you shining in you costume in the distance it did lift me. I love what you did to cheer and how much it meant to so many many runners on the day.

I believe that when it gets hard in the end of a marathon, I am unlikely to get any quicker and holding speed is the best I can achieve. It's a theory.

The things I am most proud of and get satisfaction from in this marathon are:

1. Running the 3:10 race plan up to about the 30K mark.

2. Hold it together to achieve the pace I did for the last 6K's.

I came back from 2 marathons of 3:40+ to run a 3:16:32. I qualified for Boston and for 30K was running a New York qualifier. I went into this race positively with an ambitious goal. I might have chosen sub 3:15 and nailed it, but would wondered if I could have achieved more. This way, I might have sacrificed the overall time a little by running hard and aggressively from the start, but I have no regrets. I do feel the 3:10 .... not sure when .... but for the first 2 hours it was happening and it leaves me still wanting to do it all again. In fact for the first 30K, I was relaxed, comfortable and in control.

For now I will prepare for Warwick in under 4 weeks and use that race to lead into the next ones.

Canberra is over and I have a lot of relief.

Lady by the lake

You are all Kenyans to me!

This was costume number #3 in a series. Katy went through a 8 hour quest to cheer each and every single runner in the Canberra marathon. At 6am, an hour before the start, Katy dragged a huge suitcase out to her chosen position.

Every single runner from start to finish!


That's me on the left, without cheeks exposed below a short pink cocktail dress painted with a spoon in our hotel room a few nights before.

Oh, the marathon .......

Well, I executed my 3:10 race plan and was 20 to 30 seconds ahead of time at the maximum according to my splits. By "ahead", I mean that was ahead of schedule. My half split was 1:35:20. I intended to run 4:40 for the first five and then 4:30 min/k after that. I was targeting 1:35:50. Somewhere after about 30K, I slowed by about 10 seconds per K .... I'll graph it later. I never blew out, but for the last 10K was hurting. I calculated that I would be close to running a PB at the 36K mark, and so started the chase to finish under 3:16:05 ..........

to be continued

Canberra, here come the Queenslanders!

Graham Robertson #52 - 2:53:50 1985 ... It seems that every runner feels like he is coming down with something in the week before the event. Robert Song has been training like a champion and looks set for something sub 3:20.
Mark Hewitt #171 - 3:16:05 2005 ... Hey that's me.... Yeah Toast! Why isn't anyone else wearing budgie smugglers?
Theresa Fabian #F44 - 3:26:46 2005 ... Entered the 50K event and in her best form. No pressure Tesso.
Glen Bartholomew #194 - 3:19:55 2002 ... Partner in crime in the long run Saturday mornings
Claire Bellenger #F33 - 3:23:00 2006 ... My training partner ... I thought she was over doing it ... turned out to be morning sickness. Played the biggest part in my preparation for this one.
Wayne Ralph #729 ... A fellow "Pat Carroll" runner. It is his first marathon and I have seen him many many times out around the river looking strong and fast. He won't read this, but I believe he can run close to the magic 3 hour mark.
Robert Lofthouse #11 - Robbie has become a regular on the mid-week run with me. After many time trials together, he showed me how to race. Robbie is running the 10K on the day before the marathon and his support on the day will be a huge bonus.
Rob Richards #187 - 3:18:40 2004 - Fast Eddie has done all the hard work and primed for another sub 3:20.
Mathew O'Brien #715 - Lining up for his debut marathon. Looks comfortable on the long runs and you can't ask for more than that.
Celeste Du Toit #F57 - 3:33:00 2006 - Another "Pat Carroll" runner who has join in on the long runs on Saturdays.

Cathy Newman #F43 - 3:26:40 2006 - Not a Queenslander but we would be honoured to have her as one.
Marjorie Van Rooyen #F82 - 3:52:00 1992 - Could just be the happiest runner in the field and I'm told that when she and Katy get together no one else can get a word in.
Mal Wilson #146 - 3:12:00 2006 - I did my last 20K run with Mal and let me tell you there is still "plenty of stuff in his basement" ... he scares me!.

That time again

I have been away and wondering what I might post next. I could record all the details of my runs over the last few weeks. I am not sure that even I want to read that. I find myself with 2 weeks left before the Canberra Marathon. It will be my 11th and again I have the opportunity to run at my best (no injuries and a good preparation). I still got "stuff in the basement". I picked that one up from watching Rocky Balboa on the flight back last Friday night. There is still something there that makes me want to run and see if I can reach the next time goal. So what is that time?

I know the qualifying time for me to run New York is 3:10. I know I am close. Can I do it? is the question on my mind.

I read "Many marathoners obsess on the five- or 10-minute gap between their goal time and the time they "fear" they might actually run" for me that is around the 3:15 mark. You know what? I am going to run 3:10.

3:10

I have done the training. My race strategy is clear in my mind. Running 4:40 min/K until the top of the hill at back of the Parliament building at 5K, then sitting around goal pace of 4:30 until the last bridge. From the last bridge with 5K to go, I finish it off. I have practiced and nailed my marathon pace lately. I'm ready. Bring it on.

There was another scene in the movie that grabbed my attention. Rocky gave a speech to his son and the content was in tune with a philosophy of mine. "Keep moving forward", take the hits but keep working on where you want to be. That is how I got my new job.

I also find scenes involving a father and his kids emotionally moving and was getting choked up. The Croutons are coming on Wednesday, just 2 days after Clare has some teeth out. I plan to take them to the 3K Easter Run on Friday. I have fond memories of doing that last year.



Being away made me think of a few things. I also decided to ride with Katy on Sunday as a recovery session, but more than that to spend some time together that never happens as often as I would like (except when she calls me honey).