Three weeks ago I set a new 30km PR of 3:39, which I also broke yesterday with a 3:28:36.

I also learned a lot about how I respond to training and what I need to do going forward.

My biggest issue is my aerobic threshold, or the speed at which I can basically run all day. At the moment it’s around 6:45 mins/km. According to many legendary coaches like Arthur Lydiard, it’s built by running 1 hour or more per day at your easy pace.

It’s funny that I stumbled on that formula by myself during training. After coming back from the last injury I decided to leave aside any speed work and just focus on the fitness side of things. I ran 10km per day easy at that 6:45 ish pace, sometimes pushing Jamie in the pram. Ran pretty much every day, which worked out at 60km per week.

To prove to myself that the 10km/day/easy formula worked, I ran a 30km one day on the back of it, finishing in 3:39, which was a 20 minute PR for me. Also ran a 15K race over some pretty long hills 2 weeks ago, doing that in 1:30:38, which was 6:02 pace and something I’m extremely happy with.

At the marathon, I planned to run the flat first half between 6:40 and 6:45 per km. Did it in 2:22:36, which is 6:45 pace including all the twists and turns. According to my watch all the km splits were between 6:40 and 6:45 (except a random 6:33).

Hydration was perfect. I tried a new method where I used a wide mouthed powerade bottle that at all the water stops I took a couple of cups, quickly filled up the bottle and went on my merry way. A problem I’ve had in the past is that I need at least 2 cups of water at every stop (I usually need 1 litre per hour or more) which means a lot of water hitting my stomach at one time, causing GI distress. But yesterday was excellent and I’ll be doing that for every longer race from now on.

Some things couldn’t be helped – I tweaked my hip rounding a sharp bend at around 15km. That got progressively worse. Then the ankle I rolled a couple of times in training lost power and felt a bit unstable, but I kept pushing through and ran most of the way.

It was a huge morale boost this year – by being a lot faster (15 minutes faster through the first half) I ran the whole second half with the Half Marathoners. Got a fair bit jostled by the ones at the front, but I like to think that with my 6’5, 100kg frame they came off worse than me. At one point I felt like shouting “yes I’m going slower than you – you’re in your second km, but before you even started I ran further than you will all day”. Had to work hard to keep calm, think positive and banish the negative thoughts. But running with them, especially when the slower ones caught up with me later, was a massive difference from the marathon 2 years ago, where the hardest thing to deal with (other than the distance) was the crushing loneliness of being 100m+ behind the guy in front and the same in front of the next.

Once I’ve recovered from this race I’ll be back into the 10km/day mode for the rest of the year. Not sure yet whether I’ll do it as a 90 day challenge, but I may.

Thanks for following my journey.

Because my garmin strap is broken and the new one is still on its way, I’ve been running with runkeeper on my phone. That means I can’t check pace very often and I don’t have any automatic cues like the km beep on my garmin. As a result I’ve been doing most of my runs completely by feel. It’s not too bad, but I’ll be glad when the strap comes through (hopefully in time for tomorrow’s intervals!).

On Sunday I had to be out of the house with Jamie for the day, had some time to kill, so we drove over the City 2 Surf Marathon course from start to finish. I’ve run it before, but it was great to have a refresher. I didn’t realise just how flat the first half is, nor how hilly the second half is!

Found that with some small changes to my running route I can hit hills very similar to those I’ll face on the course. I’m now incorporating a lot more hill work into my regular runs. Both up and down are important to get used to what will be on the course.

Today’s easy 6km was in 37:57 @ 6:19 mins/km.

Ran 12 x 400m intervals at 126 seconds (5:15 mins/km pace – hey that’s very fast for me!) with jog recovery.

Very happy with how I did. The interval times were:

1. 122
2. 121
3. 120
4. 118
5. 129
6. 128
7. 128
8. 124
9. 128
10. 128
11. 129
12. 129

Now because I did them by Garmin, rather than on a track with a timer, the times are likely out by a bit. I dropped the pace on the 5th because I realised I was running them too fast for what I was trying to achieve, which is running close to my VO2Max, which is around 5:15 pace.

I’m glad I read the instructions in Hanson’s handbook because they said if you can’t jog the recoveries, you’re running the intervals too fast. Rather than keep the pace up and walk the recoveries, I dropped the pace. They also said it’s ok to drop down because the benefits come from anything over 80% of your VO2Max, so I know today was a good workout.

Man I’m feeling it now! All up, and including the warm up and cool down kms, I ended up with 13km today.

Eating is a bit tricky, because while I want to lose some weight to make running easier, I seem to be hungry all the time. It’s just a case of eating high nutrient foods most of the time and leaving the weight to take care of itself. I know when I start training in the higher km weekly range, the weight just falls off, so I’m not too concerned.

Today’s run was a relaxed 6km in 39:18 @ 6:33 mins/km.

I had to turn it to time only when it showed (I was running an even pace) 10:14, 4:32, 2:04, 2:38, 2:15 etc. Um, what? I wish I could run that fast! I worked out I would’ve run a 13:15 5K, which let’s just say would be a significant improvement over my current 5K PR lol!

When I got back I measured the course. Turns out I had run 16km, give or take 20m. Ok, so I’ve run it before and knew the distance lol, but I was surprised how close I got. Ended up doing 16km in 1:48:24 @ 6:46 mins/km. So even by feel on a longer run I managed to keep pace. Pretty happy with that.

This takes me to 44km for the week with 2 days left to go. My current 12 month weekly record is 55km, so it’s going to be tempting to do an easy 6km on Saturday & Sunday to beat that. We’ll see how I pull up from this one. Don’t want to risk injury over it.

I also realised I’m now 20km away from 2,500 km lifetime, so next week is going to be a bit of a celebration.

Funny thing is even though it’s 9th May, I’ve already beaten April’s kms.

As I type this it’s hard to hear myself think with the din of the rain on a tin roof (I’m in a newer part of the house). I’d be a drowned rat if I were out there now. I probably would’ve also packed it in at 6km rather than doing the 8km in 52:42 @ 6:35 mins/km that I did today.

My wife Cat is tossing up whether to join me in the City2Surf Marathon in August, so if you feel like putting some peer pressure on her, fire away She’s trying to run about whatever I’m doing every day, so she’s on track.

Have a great day and if it’s raining where you are, stay safe & dry (unless you’re running, in which case just stay safe lol)

Sometimes the goal of training is to rack up the kms. Other times you go out knowing it’s going to hurt. Today was one of the latter.

On the flip side, tough runs help you feel really good about your running. With the Run For A Reason just 20 days away, a run like today’s makes me confident of achieving my race target on the day. I’m aiming for around 75 minutes for the 12km race.

Yesterday I was a marshal for the Perth 32km Race put on by the WA Marathon Club. I rocked up at 6am as instructed, for a 7am race start. There were quite a few volunteers and they finally gave me my assignment at 6:30. As I was half expecting, my station wasn’t close.

I was around the 8km / 28km mark of the out & back race. That meant a 5km run with a pack in time to setup before the front-runners got there. Front-runners whom I know run around 3:10 pace the whole way (they did).

I stupidly had decided not to pack shorts “just in case”, but I had everything else for running, so I stripped to skins/tights/whatever, tshirt & running shoes. First time I’ve ever broken my rule to never wear skins with no shorts over, but it was dark and it was an emergency.

Got to my station in time, marshalled for 4 hours, noticed a lot about different form, got abused by selfish walkers who wouldn’t move out of the way of the runners, had a good day.

Just ran 7.5 km in 48:26 @ 6:27 mins/km pace across both road and trails (and a fair bit of grass).

Feeling really good about where I’m at with my running at this stage of the training cycle. I’ve got the HBF Run For A Reason coming up later this month. I won’t train specifically for that, but I will do around 170km before I get there which should put me in good stead. Just going to focus on pushing to the higher part of my allowed base pace of 6:20 mins/km from now on.

I ran 10km yesterday around Herdsman Lake. I’ve done 35.5km so far this week and I’ll finish off with probably a 5km tomorrow.

It’s strange to think that less than a month ago I was really injured, missed a race I was looking forward to and generally feeling glum about my chances of running a marathon this year.

The whole idea of base pace is it’s meant to be easy. You just go out and run it, come back and you’re still feeling fresh. It’s been a couple of months since base pace has felt this good.

For my goal of a marathon in 4 hours, base pace is between 6:20 and 6:45, according to Hansons. But I try to hit 6:30 for every split in the early part of my program, then slowly move up to 6:20 by the time later sessions come along.

Worst case scenario, if I can only manage 6:30 average in the marathon, I’ll still be ok because that’s just over 4:30. I’m ok with that this year.

Main thing is I kept going, sucked it up and got it done.

6km in 39:23 today.

My training has been on and off due to injury. Had a particularly nasty knee (PCL) strain that came from an imbalance. Way too much rehab, not enough running!

So I’ve basically given up on running the Perth Marathon this year, instead focusing on the second marathon from this challenge – the City 2 Surf Perth Marathon in August.

This week was the first time in almost 2 months that I managed to get in 2 back to back runs.

How did I come back? With a 40km week. Oh yeah!!

I ran 6km on Sunday, 6km Monday, missed Tuesday (thought I had more time before the evening’s events), 8 km Wednesday (with a bit of trail in there), 6km Thursday, 8km Friday (BRUTAL hills), 6km today.

I’ve got a bit of a hip flexor issue, but it’s an old injury and I know if I just take it a little easy for the next few days and continue my stretching, I’ll be right. It’s not stopped me before and it won’t stop me now.

This also marks my highest number of kms run this calendar year. I’ve still got a few more to go to beat my highest in 12 months (55km).

This week was also my first week of the 18 week Hanson’s Beginner Marathon Plan. I’ll be modifying the first 5 weeks based on experience and what I know I need. Instead of the much slower buildup they have, I’ll be doing higher mileage to get ready for week 6 which is when the training starts in earnest.

Week 6 works out at around 65 – 70 km, so to build up I’ll be doing 40km (check), 40km, 50km, 60km, 70km. From previous experience I can handle that build up and it’ll get my fitness on track ready to gain the most from the intervals, tempos and long runs that start in Week 6.

Had a surprising amount of bounce in my legs just before I went into the fast section. Felt superb. Locked up once I cooled down and had to go for a mile slow, creaky walk to get the blood flowing again.

Was lovely running around Herdsman Lake & Lake Monger. Beautiful places with lots of fit, healthy people running, walking and cycling.

Was supposed to be 5x 1km @ 5:20 with 800m jog break. Did 2x 1km @ 5:08 & 5:28, with 1x 600m @ 5:19. I’m really struggling to hit pace. Usually go way too fast and have to real it in, but the damage is done & I blow up.

With a couple of kms of warm up & cool down, I ended up running 9km today.

Just saw that last month was officially my 3rd highest mileage month. I will have been running for 2 years in 4 days time (10 Jan 2012 was my official start date).

I can already see I’m responding to the speed work, which is pretty cool. I’m not too far off my current PR pace of 26:42. I’ve never done a 5K race, so it should be a lot of fun running something that’s over so soon

I did a mere 22.3km last week, due to injury. But I’m so glad I took most of the week off or I wouldn’t be able to run the workouts I’m currently doing.

My first speedwork in several months. Was meant to be a 5km tempo at 5:20 average, but towards the end of the 2nd km I was gasping for oxygen. Rather than chuck it in, I turned it into Cruise Intervals.

So I did the 2km, then after a walk/jog did 3x 1km with walk/jog recovery. Km times were 5:07, 5:22, 5:13, 5:10, 5:15.

As a reference, if I had done that with no rests, I would have a 30 second 5K PR, so I’m pretty pleased with myself. Calf held up well and hasn’t seized up after cooling down like it did yesterday.

Couple of kms of warmup and cooldown in there too.

The route was a little crazy because I was trying to avoid running into the 30kph headwind or up too many steep hills for the fast portions.

Did a lot of research into calves and figured out why I got injured. I’ve corrected my form accordingly, but it’ll be a while before it’s second nature.

The muscle I injured was the medial head of my gastrocnemius. The gastroc covers the ankle and knee joints, so it’s most at risk when you stretch your achilles while you’ve got a straight knee. I changed my form slightly to run with more bent/soft knees. As a byproduct I found a decent turn of pace as well, which is exciting.

During my couple of days off, I looked at my two target marathons (Perth Marathon and City 2 Surf Perth). I’ve decided to target the Perth Marathon for my sub-4 hour as it’s pretty flat the whole way.

I’ve decided to follow the Hanson’s training plan for this marathon cycle. That’s an 18 week program, which will start on 10 February (to finish on 15 June). There’s a perfectly placed 5K race on 9 February which I’ll train for starting now and will use to gauge my speed and starting point for the marathon program.

January will be about training for the 5K on 9 February. I’m training to run around a 25 minute 5K, which will be a new PR for me. Even going close will set me up for a great marathon cycle.

As a result of all that, I’m changing my running focus slightly from running 50km a week through January to following the latter half of the McMillan 5K training plan. It works out around 50km a week, but that’s not the focus.

Gonna be great to get back into racing.

These are the questions rattling through my brain at the moment. The brain is a goal-achievement-seeking machine, which further complicates matters. It really, really wants me to risk it when I’m so close. It’s saying “why not just do it, you can rest from tomorrow”. No brain. In this situation, I know better than you.

My brain’s coming back with “why not just walk it and call it running”. Lol that’s not how it works. And if it was, then I’ve met my target because I have over 10km walking tracked on Runkeeper this month.

And with that, I’m signing off for 2013.

Happy New Year everyone!

As it stands right now, I’m not going to run tomorrow. But a night’s rest can do amazing things, so I won’t say never.

I’ve run 167.3 km this month. 177.2km is an average of 40km a week, so it would be nice to get that, but I’m not going to risk my marathon preparation over it.

I felt fine going for an easy pram run pushing Jamie today doing 5.2km in 38:51. But now, a couple of hours later, it’s not feelin so good.

Ended up doing 7.3km today in 55:50 (yeah I know – my 10K PR is faster than that). But this part of my training is all about building a solid aerobic base, so this run contributed nicely.

One of the things most beginning runners struggle with is running too hard. The slow steady runs build up your aerobic base. The speed work comes later when your lungs, muscles, tendons and form is strong. Building a solid fitness base is similar to building a house – the stronger the foundation, the better the structure above will perform.

Ran the last 2km lightly, walking up one of the steeper hills. It was hurting whether I walked or ran lightly. I determined I wasn’t doing further damage and had to get home by foot anyway. Fingers & toes crossed.

Ended up doing the 6km in 46:39.

I’m not going to risk further injury just to keep on track with this marathon challenge, so I’ll have to see how it goes over the next few days. If I can’t run, I’ll consider walking the distance, but if that’s too much, I’ll just miss the time I need to miss and pick up wherever I pick up.

I took Christmas (yesterday) off as well as the day before. It was good to have a bit of a break, go for a swim, eat to satisfaction (but no more – what’s the point in feeling sick after?), spend time with friends & family, watch the first day of the Boxing Day Test and have an all round great 2 days.

Aim was to run 7km today to make sure of hitting this week’s target. But my garmin ended up dying at 5.62km, so I had to run by feel. I overshot rather than fall short and ended up doing 7.6km in 49:02.

I’m zeroing in on 6:30 as my base pace. Most of January will be run at that pace. It’s a good spot to springboard into a 6:10 long run pace and 5:40 tempo, which will deliver a 4 hour marathon. So I will have covered my goal. If things go well, I’ll up the base pace a little and train for a sub 4 hour marathon.

Only a couple of days left of running 40km weeks. Soon it’ll be time to upgrade to 50s.

Read half of Born To Run last night for the umpteenth time. Love that book.