Training Log Archive: Craig

Event: City to Surf
 

City to Surf Marathon.
Perfect conditions and pretty close to a perfect race for me. A bit of minor heart trouble about 10 minutes in but it didn't last long.
Felt good up to about 8k where 4:10/km seemed to suddenly go from feeling very easy to feeling close to my limit. Had good and bad patches for the rest of the first half but held the pace fairly well and was still kind of looking forward to the second half. Reached half way in 88:37, right on target.
Had a couple go past on the climb into KP and one of them then seemed to keep surging and slowing around KP which sucked me into racing him a bit. I was a bit worried that this might hurt me but I ended up leaving him behind and passing a few others so maybe it helped.
Feeling pretty tight in many places by the time I left KP but still moving freely so I tried to use the downhills through subi to keep the pace around 4min/km and get a bit of a buffer for the final hills. Getting more confident of cracking 3 now but still wary of the hills to come.
Could feel the fatigue setting in by the hill after Selby St but I was getting a sniff of the finish now so I worked hard on the final flatter section to hold onto my buffer. Final hills were hard but I knew I had time in hand so I just tried to keep it controlled until I could see the final crest and then hammered the final downhill as I could hear someone closing from behind. Really tight in many places but still nothing really restricting so I was able to make a good push for home getting down to 3:40/km in the final 200m.

Really happy with that.
Training is overrated.

Half splits 88:37, 89:49

Oscar was 6th in the half in 73:38.

Rachel had a good first half then everything that could go wrong did go wrong and she walked most of the second half just to complete it so she wouldn't have to try again.

C • Smiling 7

Set out just before 6am to see what conditions will be like at the start of the marathon. Jogged around Rosalie Park then did a practise start along Onslow Rd as far as Centre St (about 800m), jogged a lap of the roads around the lake with another short stretch at race pace at the end and jogged home along Herbert.
Pretty cold on the arms and shoulders while jogging but soon forgot about it at race speed. Singlet should be fine for racing but will want something warmer on until just before the start.
Felt pretty good.

Easy run in KP.

Easy run in KP. Started out slowly but felt ok so sped up a bit as I warmed up. Ran past 3 guys doing intervals around the footy oval at Rosalie Park as I headed out and they were still going when I came back so I joined in the final 200m of one 400m interval which they ran in 75, had a bit of a chat in the recovery and then did the last 400m with them in 76 seconds which felt surprisingly easy.
It was a small subset of the Rosalie runners group that do an easy hour from the school on Wendnesday mornings. They also do a tempo on Thursdays and long run on Sunday so could be a good group to hook up with as it fits in quite well with our usual routine.

Event: Umuna
 

H2 at Umuna. Felt a bit sluggish all the way but didn't seem to tire too badly and had a good run navigationally. Slightly right of my intended line approaching 9 and a little left of it leaving 11 but knew where I was each time clean through all the controls so pretty happy with the run overall.

Followed Henry around the H3 fairly soon after finishing the H2 so ended up running longer than I did on Friday's "final" long run. Tried to make it easier for myself by cutting a few corners particularly if it allowed me to cut out some climb or walk up a hill but I still had to run pretty hard at times to keep Henry in sight. Started to feel a bit better towards the end as Henry tired.

Observations...
1. Rushed through the start and didn't turn right sharply enough so went via 12 but recovered well. ~30sec
2. Started well but climbed to top cliff at top of rocky ground instead of dropping to cliff at bottom. Jumped to incorrect conclusion when it seemed to come up quickly, should have taken a little time to read map again. ~15sec
3. Good.
4. Climbed more than necessary from mid-leg, overshot slightly, ran to boulder cluster first. ~30sec
5. Good.
6. Turned right slightly after crossing rocky breakaway in middle of leg then massively overcorrected turning left and running backwards towards 9. Good recovery after seeing big rock surface near 9 but missed slightly in circle losing a few more seconds. Needed a clearer plan and stronger focus on maintaining direction. ~60sec
7. Mostly good, wasted a little time on an impulsive deviation entering the circle. ~10sec
8. Good, although I wasn't really watching as I was cutting the corner and walking up the hill.
9. Good execution of chosen route but could have cut out a lot of climb by contouring around to the right. Appeared to go to the SW cliff first but I was cutting the corner again. ~60sec
10. Climbed too much leaving 9, probably distracted by me cutting the corner. Seemed to correct well. ~30sec
11. Good but clearly getting tired.
12. Good but seemed to lose a bit of time after crossing big gully, probably faster staying in clearing left of knoll but fatigue also a factor. ~10sec
13. Well left of straight line, took a while to relocate on rocks after crossing track then good into control. Would have been better to contour out of 12 then follow clearing down from saddle. ~40sec
14. Good.

I would estimate around 41 minutes for a clean run which is about the same pace I ran for the H2 so the speed is definitely there, just needs a little fine tuning of the navigation.

Main things to work on are...
Taking a little more time to read the map more carefully, particularly early in the course and approaching controls.
Using the compass and broad contour features to hold a straight line on the longer legs.

C • climb 1

Hard 2 - Splits

Long slow run through KP. Wasn't commited to doing any more than my usual 30 minutes but it was so nice out there I decided to keep going and make this my last long run before the marathon. Calves seem to have loosened up finally and I felt quite happy jogging along nice and slowly.

Another short loop in KP. Ran a bit faster most of the time but slowed to a jog any time I felt like it. Mostly felt pretty good, calves still a little tight.

Easy run in KP. Calves a little tight but not enough to restrict me at all. Felt pretty good after about 15 minutes so added an extra loop of about 10 minutes.

Event: Pancake Run
 

Run to start of pancake run with a little extra loop to catch up with Terry who was setting out on a long run.

Pancake Run 15k at marathon pace. Aiming for 4:10/km which is the pace I want to try to run for the flat first half of the marathon in 2 weeks. Pace felt pretty comfortable but I could feel my calves starting to tighten up within the first 5km which is a bit of a concern. I think I could probably manage 2 hours at that pace, not so sure about 3.
Oscar won the 15k by a big margin in about 51:30 despite losing a bit of time when directed the wrong way. He said he went through 10k in 33 minutes and he looked very comfortable when I saw him at about 11k.
Henry did the 5k and I think I ruined any chance of a good time for him by suggesting starting a few rows back to reduce the temptation to start too fast. They changed the course a bit and the path narrowed dramatically after a short distance so we got stuck at the bottleneck and had to walk for a while which left Henry a lot further back in the field than I had in mind. Not sure what time he ran in the end as he had a timing malfunction.

C • Oscar's pace 7

Dicky heart.

Easy run in KP. Still not 100% healthy but felt pretty good running.

Feeling a little sick the last couple of days so starting the taper early.
First weigh in for a long time, not as bad as I feared.

Easy run in KP. Regretted attempting more than my usual 30 minutes, felt longer than it was.

Event: (Badge) Malmalling North
 

Malmalling badge event. 12.1km straight line.
Heart was a bit twitchy on the climb to number 1 so I backed off a bit to try to keep it under control. Still feeling ok heading across to 2 but started rushing things a bit with lots of other people around and feeling the pressure of racing Oscar. Hit a higher clearing and took a long time to work out what I'd done losing about 3 4 minutes, biggest mistake I've made for quite a while. To make matters worse the stress of making a mistake set my heart off again so I couldn't run any of the hills in the easy section following.
Heart finally came good again after the big downhill to 11 and the rest of the course was solid but never really felt strong.
Somehow still managed to finish 20 minutes ahead of Oscar so it seems he does still have a bit to learn.

C • Or maybe 5

Course 1 - Splits

Easy run around the lake with some drills and strides on the north side. Much quieter than Rosalie park.

Easy run in KP. Stayed high as much as possible to keep warm. Feeling ok.

5x1k with 90s rests around the river down past Tawarri and back. Longer jogged recovery before the last effort to get across Hackett Drive. Aiming for about 10k pace but probably went a bit harder than that for most of it. Quite a strong headwind on first couple and tailwind on next two, last one through UWA more sheltered and crosswind. Did it all on the hard surface to try to get my legs a bit more used to it before the marathon.
Surprised how well I seem to have recovered from Saturday.

Easy run in KP.