The Brissie Marathon Weekend Part I

Well, the weekend officially will begin at about 8.30 tomorrow morning when I pick up MJ and we head down to the Expo to help with registrations for the day. At 3pm we're having our 'introduce a pacer' thing and then I plan on going home for the rest of the afternoon and relaxing a bit. I have been changed to a 2hour pacer so the pressure is off slightly, which is good and I know of at least three people who are planning on running in my group, hoping to go under 2hours for the first time, I am definitely hoping they do too!

I ran on Tuesday and Thursday this week only, Pats session on Thursday was great and on Tuesday I just got out and did some pacing practice. Feeling very tired at the moment, so no more running until Sunday now.

A little less scared

Well, firstly, thanks for all the comments, its great to hear I'm not the only person ever to be feeling a litte unsure and it sounds like it should be okay. I particularly like the idea of tying the balloon to someone else :) A special big thanks though to Tess, who turned up on Wednesday night at our nutrition talk with her garmin for me, which I test-drove this morning.

This mornings run didnt have a plan as such, other than I was going to do my big loop and see how the pacing went a la Garmin style. The first couple of Ks are under tree's and a I lost a bit of distance here, the same thing happened a couple more times, but on the whole I think it would be a fairly accurate representation. I did 10km trying to keep to race pace of 5.24/k, then 5km comfortably, then the last 5km (well 4.5) at race pace again.
Below is the table of what the race splits should be, and then on the right column what mine were this morning...


km Splits
1 5:27 - 6.13
2 10:54 - 11.54
3 16:21 - 16.59
4 21:48 - 22.43
5 27:15 - 27.42
6 32:42 - 32.54
7 38:09 - 38.13
8 43:36 - 43.26
9 49:03 - 48.46
10 54:30 - 53.59
11 59:57 - 59.39
12 1:05:24 - 1.04.57
13 1:10:51 - 1.10.33
14 1:16:18 - 1.16.11
15 1:21:45 - 1.22.07
16 1:27:12 - 1.27.30
17 1:32:39 - 1.32.13
18 1:38:06 - 1.38.13
19 1:43:33 - 1.42.19
20 1:49:00 - n/a
21 1:54:27 - n/a
21.1 1:55:00 - n/a

On the whole fairly pleased with that, a bit of a shakey start, partly attributed to lack of signal and also probably me, I always find it takes me the first couple of k's to settle in, and I'm sure the start of this race will be no different to anyother, the game plan is to be on track by 3km though... and hopefully through to 21.1km!


Other things this week;
Had two fantastic sessions at Pats this week, the legs were turning over nicely for once, rather than just hardwork it is starting to become good fun and hard work again.
We also had a nutrition talk on Wednesday night, it was in fact the same nutrition talk as last year, but I felt different things were relevant to me this year, I have since gone out and bought some Iron supplements. I spoke to the lady at the chemist and the type she recommended apparently have some other added mineral particularly useful to athletes, she could be telling porkies, I dont know, but I'm happy to try it out :)

Scared now....

Dont you just hate it when you cant work out what to do for the best, I keep making up my mind only to change it again.

I committed to do the Brissie Half as a pacer, I'm still happy with that, my dilemma is that while I requested (with MJ) to do a 2/2.10 hour time I have been given a solo pace time of 1.55. I am struggling with this as;
A/ I feel like I am just getting back on track from an injury and dont want to anything to compromise that;
B/ my pb is only 1.47, which was GC last year. Since then I ran an (injured) 1.58 at Noosa and only have only done one race since which was 19km in two hours at Caboolture;
C/ I really dont want to let any pacer assisted people down;
D/ its a solo run, which is a bit scary due to all of the above... there would be no pulling out!

I know I am 100% better than I was at Caboolture in terms of speed and distance, when I ran that I hadnt done more than 10km since Noosa (4 months), my 3km tt has me at 4.40's, my longest run this year is 22km, a 1.55 Half is about 5.42/K. There is no reason why I shouldnt be able to do it, yet still I have this nagging worry... does anyone out there know how much above your pb you should be pacing at. I think I probably just need a confidence lift... how do I get that in 10 days though... ideas on a postcard please :)

A couple of days round-up

Thursday, 13th
Pats session this morning and numbers were low on the ground with a large amount of people either having already left for Easter or saving themselves for the Easter 10km. I was definitely feeling fatigued after having run the previous two days, plus the big run last weekend, though managed to find the desired extra push to get me up the River Stage hill in at a speedy pace.

Friday, 14th
Fourth morning in a row up at 4.40am, felt quite strange not putting on shorts and singlet though and instead opting for jeans. As I left the house to get MJ & Matt I had a HUGE craving for coffee, called MJ and got our orders for two large coffees courtesy of 24/7 Maccas and we all drove down to Orleigh Park for the Intraining Easter 10/3/1km.
Volunteering is great, and although I wanted to be running, the fatigued feeling from yesterday was still there and I was a little bit glad to not be lining up at the start. MJ and I had the very important job of official time-keepers... unfortunately the tape in my stopwatch ran out after about 40mins, when mainly only 3k-ers were complete. Still I was able to cheer the guys over the line and help direct them to the desk, had a close call with one young lad though, who less than a meter from the finish threw-up everywhere :( It was pretty hot out there though and I wouldnt be surprised if he'd never done that distance before as both mum & dad were with him.

Saturday, 15th
No run this morning as we headed up the coast to Eumundi markets and then back down to Coolum to stay in the Hyatt there for a couple of nights. Did note a couple of tracks around the place though ready for a Sunday morning run

Sunday, 16th
I wasnt allowed (instructions of Mr Chelle) to set my alarm this morning, but I still woke up at an early enough hour to get out at about 6.30 for a run around Coolum. I ran through the resort down to their private beach access and headed out south on the beach. After 40minutes of running (20 on the sand) I was finding the slope of the beach, due to a high tide combined with the sand very hard work on my knee. I took the sensible option and headed up towards the seafront footpath, this didnt last for long though and soon I found myself running on the almost empty road. When I got to Marcoola and past the airport there, I had a really good stretch as the early warning 'knee numbness' was starting to take hold. I took my time, probably 2 or 3 minutes before turning around and heading back up to the Resort. All up only 80 mins, but with the extra sand running and a fairly swift pace on the way back I was quite happy with my efforts. I've tried to get a best estimate of distance by whereis-ing my run, and I think 14km would be a good round figure, which is about 5.40/k

After getting back and having the usual shower and not-so-usual hotel breakfast we decided to hire bikes for the day. I think its been about 10 years since I last got on a bike, so it was a bit of an awakening. Probably did about 90mins in total, 50mins of that in one hit, but it was better than no x-training at all and I am now quite keen to get out on the bike once a week... just need a bike first :)

dark dark morning run..

7k's this morning with the dog, took slightly longer than my actual run time of 38mins due to losing my dark coloured dog in a wood off the footpath for a couple of minutes... must get one of those reflective jackets for him (except I promised Mr Chelle I'd never do that) for our next early morning run.

that bloody hill again....

Call it the Gold Coast Hill, the Medina Hill or just 'that hill' it sure does get the heart racing and thats after a decent session of 1min x8 with variable resting a la Pats stopwatch style!
It was so good though, I felt great this morning, even though I had my least favourite 'clompers' on my feet. I bought these shoes on recommendation from the running shop almost a year ago but have always found them a bit heavy to run in really, thought I should give them an outting this morning though.

So K's are notching up nicely now. I have not entered the 10km on Friday as I was asked to help out instead, they seem to be really low on volunteers if they are recruiting individually, I figured I get a lot of out of running and the running community, so missing one race would be okay. Plus I am really keen on upping the mileage ready for GCM rather than hitting out 10km pb's (okay, so that is in the back of my mind also!) at the moment, and this will mean I'll do a long run at the weekend intead. I'm heading up to Coolum on Saturday for a couple of nights, it'll be nice to have somewhere new to run.

The Chelleberra Experience

Well, today was a big day, not just for me but for a lot of my friends who were out going for broke in their (first) marathon in Canberra.

The plan this morning was to go out and run 2.10. I cant remember exactly, but i am fairly confident that would be my longest run ever! I set off just before 6am, it was slightly cool, but within a couple of mins I was warmed up and on my way up towards the Hornibrook bridge... I stopped after 20minutes for a stretch and then back on my way again. I made it to the bridge in 31minutes, which was a minute quicker than last week, and then on along Shorncliffe I went. The Run Inn had a race setting up this morning, so there were a few familiar faces which was nice to see. This week was definitely a lot easier than last, I think the cooler weather and less humidity had a lot to do with it, plus every time I felt that I might want to slow down I thought about the guys in Canberra who were doing double the distance (and I later found out in well under double the time!!).

When I got back to the bottom of my road I was only on 1.46, a good couple of minutes quicker than the previous week, as my goal was still 25minutes more I headed off in the opposite direction for 10minutes before doing a small loop around a park and then back home. I crossed the driveway (my official finish line) 132minutes after I'd left... longest run ever I think. All up I think I did about 22km, Mr Chelle thought it might be slightly more, but I'm not convinced.

I had a bit of knee-numbness at 45minutes, and again at 90minutes, luckily I wasnt running at 135minutes, but it would have been interesting to see if it had reoccured then too... will keep my eye on it and do a lot of stretching over the next few days to hopefully nip it in the bud.

9th day of the month and I just cleared my entire month of Feb's K's..... yaay!

This morning was a 50minute easy run, followed by a no-watch 1km. Its a bit like a reward for doing the TT I think. I ended up running with Jacquie, who I think if probably a bit faster than me, this is for the best though, stops me from slacking off :) At 28mins, the turnaround point we were just about by Merthyr Rd bowls, the smallest of knee niggles, but on the whole I was feeling pretty good, if perhaps a little dehydrated by the time we got back to the Gardens.
I had put down 4.50 as my 1km time and came in at 4.59... not too bad, Tess was better though and got it smack on!

In the anouncements today one of the girls received a Pat Medal for 3 consecutive faster times at the TT. She's already so fast, its just incredible to think she's still getting faster, good inspiration too for when the inevitable plateaus hit from time-to-time.

I am definitely loving running at the moment, if it wasn't for it being the unsensible choice I would be up again tomorrow I think :)

5km recovery

Starting to pick up the training runs a bit now and as of this week have increased from 3 to 4 sessions a week. The plan is to increase by about 10 minutes each week until I get to 60mins and then just sit on that and see how I go. Nice easy 5km with the puppy this morning to kick it all off.

TT... not as bad as I thought

It was my first TT this morning since maybe July last year, so I'd promised myself no pressure, see how it goes. I had an official goal of 'anything under 15', but knew I wouldnt really be happy if it wasnt sub 14.30.
I was running okay until about the half way mark, then I got a bit of a stitch, managed to run through within in a couple of minutes though and started to feel pretty good on the home straight. Langy and Matty were good enough to pick me up about 150meters from the finish and Langy really made me sprint for the last 50meters, I was so glad, I came in at 13.57.
For some stupid reason I thought I had a PB of about 12minutes (shows how long its been since I've done a TT) but I've just had a look at last years results and my pb was actually 12.49, the slightly higher end of 12minutes! So actually this made me feel quite a lot better, I'm only just over a minute away and given that a couple of months ago I was running 6m/ks I'm quite happy with todays effort of 4.40s.... onwards and upwards!

Two walks, some pilates and a sore neck!

Sunday, 2nd April
I resisted the temptation on Sunday morning to go for a run, and took the dog out for a 30min walk/runaround. Unfortunately we lost the ball within the first 2 minutes, but he seemed quite happy off his lead running around in the wet, muddy, smelly (yuck) water. On our way home we were just at the top of the footbridge over the highway when a trailer lost its load. It stopped momentarily and then just drove off; I watched almost behind my hands as cars and trucks swerved across into the other lane to avoid the debris. From our house we would be able to hear a crash and I wasnt too keen on that idea, so when I got back home I did my good turn of the day and called the local police to come and sort it out.

I decided to do some pilates after that, I use to go to classes every week and swear by it, unfortunately I cannot seem to find a suitable class time anymore so a DVD is the next best option. I did an exercise though that must have put a bit too much pressure on my neck (I should have bothered to find the floor mat) and I now have a very sore neck, like I slept funny almost.

I headed down to New Farm park for lunch with some friends but at about 3.30pm decided to head home to take puppy to the beach, when I got there though my partners 3 year old niece was there so I was pulled in to a game of Barbie and it became too dark for a trip to the beach, so we headed down the park and played ball for 30minutes before walking back home.

Monday, 3rd April
I'm doing nothing today, my neck is still sore, plus it is TT tomorrow. I have no great aspirations and am treating this as my first time trial ever and will just aim to put a time on the board to better in future months to come.

A talk and a run

Friday, 31st March
Last night was the official launch to the PCRG GC Marathon campaign. Pat, as usual, did us proud and has collected over $7000 of sponsorship, providing nibbles, music and random draw prizes (that everyone got!). Last year we saw a clip of Pat winning his first GC Marathon, this year another bit of footage from a different year (he won again). Its so good to have a coach who you know believes in what he is talking about and it hasnt just come from a text book. Anyway, Steve gave a talk on footwear and touched on injury prevention, of course the beloved ITB was a hot topic & although I didnt learn anything for it, everything fitted in nicely with what I've been told over the past 6 months and what I am currently doing. The night finished up just after 10pm, and after dropping Langy and MJ off on my way home it was almost 11pm by the time I got to bed, still the alarm was set for 6am for my solo run.

Saturday, 1st April
How easily I could have rolled over this morning, not a great nights sleep, but with nothing planned for the rest of the day I decided I could always have a nanna nap later. Before leaving this morning I did some tests on my shoes that Steve had shown us last night, they seem to be in pretty good condition.
I wanted to do 2 hours today and decided to add an extra loop to my long run (15km) of last week. After two false starts, as puppy decided he wanted to come too and got out under the fenced and started to follow me down the street, I was heading out towards the bike path up to the Hornibrook bridge, I switched my usual music to the radio for a bit of company and charged on. Taking Steves advice after about 20mins I stopped and had a quick, calf, quad, hammy stretch. I couldnt believe how much better I felt after that, in future I will be trying to do this a lot more. The loop as per last week took me up to the Hornibrook bridge and then along the shorncliffe front, it was pretty warm out there this morning and I choose to drink almost all my water by the time I got to the end of the esplanade so I took 2mins out to fill up my water bottles before carrying on around the headland.
The headland has a rather steep hill on it, so after charging up there I enjoyed the nice view and cruisey downhill slope on the otherside. There were a lot of boats just off the coast this morning, must be some good fishing out there at the moment. The rest of the way home (about 40mins) was flat and I was able to get out of the sun a bit. All up I did 1.56mins. I'm not 100% sure on the distance, originally I thought 20km, but maybe a bit less.

Currently sitting here with RICE-ing my knee, as is the norm for me after a longrun from home, but no real niggles and no pain at all.