26 May, 2008

Gold Coast - 6 Weeks Out

Only 6 Weeks until the Gold Coast Marathon. Where has the time gone. I haven't put in the effort that I did for Canberra. Last year was the same story and I ran my my slowest Marathon at the Gold Coast in 2007. I am feeling a little more confident about the Gold Coast this year. Though my mid-week training hasn't been up to scratch, my Sunday long runs give me a degree of comfort.

Yesterday, Sunday 26th, Tegwen, my running buddy, was again not able to join us due to illness. When I arrived at Park Road at 5:00AM, it was just Craig waiting for me. Ben was a no show due a back injury. Craig, who was training for his first Half, is now training for his first marathon. He upgraded his Gold Coast entry. Craig was keen to run 3 Hours so we decided to run to the Goodwill Bridge, onto to Highgate Hill, the Corso, Yeronga, Tennyson, Chelmer, Indooroopilly and UQ. At UQ we did a loop around the Uni to ensure that we would hit the three hour mark by the time we arrived back at Park Road. This was the first time Craig had ever run this length of time or distance. He didn't shy away from the extra loop at the Uni and finished still looking strong. We covered 33.5K at an average pace of 5:18. It was a solid and satisfying long run.

Next Sunday Ben, Craig and I are doing the Doomben Half.

19 May, 2008

A Little Better

It was a slow week but I did manage to run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. That was an improvement. I just couldn't push myself to any descent pace though.

On Saturday Tegwen ran and said if she wasn't at Park Road by 5:05AM to go as she wasn't well and probably wouldn't make it. She sure didn't sound too good.

Sunday morning was freezing and, not surprisingly, Tegwen didn't make it. I headed out along the river to the Brisbane Cruise Terminal at Portside. I had run to Newstead with a couple of guys, Ben, the PT, and Craig. Ben was having Achilles trouble and our average pace on reaching Newstead, 14k, was 5:20. Ben and Craig headed back while I continued on for another 3k. By the time I got back to Park Road, a total of 34k, I had reduced the average pace to 5:06, the run having taken 2:52:45.

11 May, 2008

So Much for Good Intentions

Well my intention to exercise willpower and run more consistently didn't translate into reality. I ran Tuesday and Wednesday then fell in a heap. Although the run on Wednesday was really good and run at 4:37 pace for 14K.

Today, being Mothers Day, it has become tradition, apparently, to run two anti-clockwise laps of Mt Coot-tha. Anti-clockwise is the toughest route. Tegwen and I left Park Road at 5:00AM and arrived back 2hrs 40mins later, having covered almost 28K.

Plans for the New York Marathon trip are progressing well. If things go according to the current plan, my last long run before New York will be the Chicago Marathon on 12 October, three weeks before. On the weekend before New York I will be running a 10K race which is part of the Niagara Falls International Marathon event. I am quite excited.

05 May, 2008

Gold Coast

After three of weeks of lethargy since the Canberra Marathon I have decided to start putting in a bit of effort. I do not want a repeat of last year's dismal Gold Coast marathon performance. It wasn't so much that it was my slowest marathon to date, it was the the dreadful experience over the last 5 or 6 K's which I don't want to experience again. Last year I dropped my bundle between Canberra and GC marathons and simply didn't put in the K's during the week. The Sunday long runs were not too bad because I was running with friends but I found it hard to summon the willpower to consistently do the runs on my own during the week.

Last week I ran on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (yesterday). My 14K circuit that I used during my Canberra training has had to be altered due to some major road works. My new circuit is now 14.5K. Benefits of the altered circuit are more lighting and more paths which is much safer.

On Sunday I went of to Park Road with intention of running an easy 26K. However, I didn't allow for the fact that Tegwen had invited a couple guys, much younger than me, with whom she runs during the week. Craig is training for his first half and Ben for his first marathon. We set off to Newstead along the river. Craig didn't need to run 26K and Ben wanted to do 2.5 hours. It took us 1:15 to do the 14K to Newstead. That was nice and easy.

At Newstead it was decided that Tegwen, Craig and Cathy would head back to Park Rd via Victoria Park giving them 21K all up. I decided to head back the way we came with Ben to make up a total of 28k. I was quite prepared for Ben to ramp up the pace and leave me behind as he had told me that he is aiming for a sub 3 at the Gold Coast. We did ramp up the pace right from the start. As we chatted along the way, Ben told me that his training schedule was determined by the business which he owns. "What busines is that?" I enquired, "Personal training" was the response. Hmmm! I thought, this is going to be interesting.

So much for my easy run. I know I didn't have to stick with him and possibly he could have easily left me behind but Ben seemed happy enough with the pace we were doing and we setteled into a steady rhythm. We were doing under 5 min K's. By the time we got bact to the City Gardens my legs were tiring but I still felt OK. Under the Riverside Expressway we picked up the pace a little and by the time we were past the Grey Street Bridge I was thinking if I keep running at this pace I am going to throw up. We got back to Park Road in 2:22 for 28.3K, an 8 minute negative split.

Upon checking my Garmin, I found that the 26th K, the one where I felt I mght throw up, was run in 3:28. Maybe I should train more with Ben. Then again, probably not, I might have to pay him.