About a Ewen

Lydiard and the Quarter Mile

2012-01-27T05:20:00.001+11:00

Why the secret to running fast is confusing

Recently I stumbled upon a fascinating article titled 'Train SLOWER to Race Faster' by Andy Friedlander. It wasn't (as you might suspect from the title) about Lydiard-coached runners logging 100-mile weeks in the base-training period. It was about 400 metre sprinters! Now there's a contradiction in terms — how could training slower possibly produce a faster quarter-miler? Isn't the one-lap race all about speed, speed and more speed? Apparently not!

It turns out that the great coach Clyde Hart (maker of Olympic gold medalists Michael Johnson, Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson) found that "the key to running fast 400s is to slow down." Hart's method of training quarter-milers came about when trying to get an injury-prone Michael Johnson through a full season of racing. Hart's system is Lydiard-like in that it begins with a large volume of easier running (to build strength and aerobic capacity — Hart believes the 400 is 40% aerobic), then gradually progresses to a smaller volume of faster running. In the autumn his athletes start with 20 x 200m "at a very slow pace, about 40 seconds each, on the grass." Now 40 seconds for 200 metres is incredibly slow for an athlete with a PB of 20 seconds or less. These are done with a short recovery. As training progresses "pace quickens and the repetitions shrink, but never to the point of full-speed sprints." Eventually his athletes might be running 6 x 200m in 26 seconds with a 90 second recovery. Training 'slowly' didn't produce plodding runners with fast-twitch depleted muscles. It produced athletes with the aerobic capacity to withstand a full racing season and the multiple rounds of championship competition.

Janene has blogged about the 80:20 rule of training for distance runners (which states that 80% of running should be below lactate threshold and 20% above). This ratio is more likely to be 85:15 or 90:10 for elite distance runners. What's confusing for recreational runners is that the perfect ratio varies according to the weekly volume run, age, and individual response. If running volume and frequency is low (for example, 3 days per week for a total of 40 kilometres), then the best ratio of 'easy' to 'fast' running might be 30:70 or 50:50. As volume is increased, the ratio must change. For example, it would be physically impossible to run 160 kilometres per week with 70% of that running being above lactate threshold. One pay-off with higher volume training is that the volume of 'above lactate threshold' running can be higher.

Good training leads to a bad race

2012-01-15T16:08:00.003+11:00

I try to embrace poor races because they usually teach rich lessons. I ran a 3000 metre track race Thursday night — this time finishing fourth-last in a time of 13:34.93, around a minute slower than I expected. I ran at the pace (4:31 per km) that I'd hope to hold for a 10k race. I was lapped twice by the winner Marty Dent (8:38) who I guess only ran at his 10k race pace; but he had the excuse of winning the mile an hour earlier in 4:25! The lesson I learned from this race goes back to the training I did with the Speedygeese on Monday night...

I've felt for a while that my fast-twitch muscles (and leg turn-over) could do with a boost. If it's not possible to run comfortably at 48 seconds per 200 metres (4 minute kilometre pace), then it's going to be bloody difficult to race a 5k in 20 minutes! I modified the session that Geoff had set out to give myself sufficient recovery to run at close to maximum speed for 200 metre repeats. These were run on a smooth grass foot-path with a favourable slight down-hill slope. I ran 11 repeats, walking back to the start each time in about 2 minutes. The average time for my 9 best runs was 42.1 seconds, which works out to be a tad over 3:30 per kilometre, so quite a change for my legs compared to my normal running speeds.

On Tuesday I ran 10k in 58:28 with legs that felt a bit ordinary. Wednesday another 10k in 57:55 but with a noticeable case of DOMS! Did those 200s do that much to my legs? On Thursday night I jogged a very easy 5k warm-up with Ruth — legs all the while feeling like they didn't want to be there. After the split start I ran a little bit behind Hugh, Carol and Amanda with Bob just on my heels. After two laps Bob eased past (he ran 12:57) and I gradually lost ground for the remainder of the race. My legs weren't agonisingly sore — they just weren't responding as I would have liked. Splits were 4:22, 4:38 and 4:34. So I guess the lessons from my bad race are that I do need to keep working on my speed and not to expect to race well with sore legs. My week's training will total 80k, including a good 'long' 15k run around Lake Burley Griffin yesterday and a pleasant recovery 13k run on the grass out at Stromlo Forest Park this morning.

Yelena, now 30, can race on the track against old people!

New Year, Same Goal

2012-01-07T16:34:00.004+11:00

Although it's a new year, we're in the middle of the season for track racing in Australia. My goal for 2012 remains the same as for last year: run faster than 20:00 for 5000 metres. My mate Bruce suggested I have an easier goal — under 22 minutes for example, or even to break my M50 PB of 21:29 from 2008. Wimp! I like difficult goals!

Just how hard is it to run a 20-minute 5k? Not hard at all for some runners. Jaymee Marty runs faster than that pace for a marathon... on one good leg and rapping about it all the way. For me though, in 2012, it's plenty hard enough. I have to run at 75% according to the age-grading calculators. My all-time PB of 17:33.5 is equivalent to 72.69%, so I need to run over 2% "better" as a 55-year-old (in April), than I did as a 33-year-old. Phew!

My running has been going reasonably well, although my heart-beats per kilometre readings have taken a hit since giving blood last Saturday. Prior to that I'd been recording 710 to 730 HB/KM for my 10k courses. Three days after giving blood that number was 757. A temporary hiccup. I raced 5000m on Thursday at what I estimated to be a high tempo effort rather than all-out. In a 40-person field I finished last in 23:55.74. I was dizzy counting the number of times I was lapped!

The training I plan on doing to run 20 minutes for 5k revolves around two things: 1) Consistency, and 2) "5k" Training Sessions. I want to run consistent mileage (the more the better, provided I'm recovering well). I want to run one (or two if I'm not racing) sessions per week of race-paced or faster running of the type that Julie's doing as she edges towards 20 minutes. I started on Monday with the Speedygeese and a 10 x 200m session on one of the grassy footpaths at Parliament House.

If I'm to run 20 minutes for 5k I should fine-tune my heel-striking running technique! [J Harding photo]

Running with stars

2011-12-11T16:13:00.004+11:00

I suspect this could be my last post for the year. If so, I hope you've enjoyed a happy year of running — or at least a year where you've learned something! Running's a game where you never stop learning. For instance, last night at Yelena's 30th birthday party I was chatting to a bloke who is recovering from achilles tendon surgery. His torn achilles (in a soccer game) was caused, he suspects, by training in running shoes with built-up heels before switching to soccer boots with no heel-to-toe drop. The broad running lesson here could be to "don't suddenly do something different!"

I've no more races scheduled for 2011 so my goal of running a sub-20 5k will carry over to 2012. A few recent training sessions have offered hope that I'm not far from the next jump in performance. On Friday I ran a 'tempo' 5k on the grass track at Calwell in 25:20 after a quick 5k warm-up. The HR trace for this run shows 'the hill' on the Calwell track. I run up the hill from the finish line to the 200m start then down the hill back to the finish. It's a very slight hill, but my heart notices it!

Twelve and a half laps of Calwell

On Saturday I ventured out to Stromlo for a community run with Deek (Rob de Castella) and four of his Indigenous Marathon Project runners. They were in Canberra for a training camp. I was impressed by the female runner, Kelsey Youngblutt — she could pass for Deratu Tulu's younger sister! The group is training to run in next year's Boston Marathon. An inspiring documentary 'Running To America' was aired on ABC-TV about the project and how the first runners tackled the 2010 New York Marathon. You can watch it here until the 15th of December.

Deek, Joseph, Ewen, Jamie & Kelsey at Stromlo Forest Park

Learning something

2011-11-27T20:44:00.003+11:00

I've got the lyrics of this song spinning around in my head. Bow River is the song — you can see it on Youtube. "I've been working hard, twelve hours a day; the money I've saved won't buy my youth again." Okay, I don't want to buy my youth again — I just want to work eight hour days, not the eleven hour ones that have been more common for me lately than sub-2:06 marathons have been for Kenyan runners.

I raced twice again this past week. On Tuesday a 5k and on Thursday a 1500. Both races were an education. Loved Tuesday's race! Decided beforehand my tactics and executed them perfectly. My goal was to finish ahead of my long-time rivals Charlie and Jim by starting 'slowly' and gradually picking up the pace. It was an exact 3-lap course of 1.7k per lap, about 1/4 on a bike path and the rest on reasonable grass. I started the race at a comfortable effort, running with Geoff and Tori early. The first lap felt pretty easy. There was a large finish clock so I couldn't employ my 'no watch' method of running. 8:04 for the first lap and caught Charlie soon after. The funny thing about the next two laps is that I thought I was picking up the pace quite a bit but they passed in 8:01 and 8:00. I now have a better understanding about how 'even paced' running feels. I caught Jim with about 400 metres to go. 24:05 sounds slow but I was more in the 'tempo' HR range for this 5k (AHR of 146) and it wasn't a quick course.

On Thursday I raced my first 1500 metre event since early 2010. It wasn't pretty! Had 27th (and last) place sown up after 50 metres. Throughout I was desperately trying to stick with Janene (and Roger ahead of her), while feeling very ordinary and realising early on the finish time was going to be outside six minutes. Janene broke the elastic with about 600 to go. I ran 6:13.60, possibly my slowest ever 1500 in which I'd been trying. Splits were 95, 101, 103 and 73 (300m). Thankfully I was wearing the heart-rate monitor. My average (143) and max (157) readings told me my body/legs were just too tired to run fast. I'd expect 153 and 160-163 in a normal 1500 metre race.

The Barrenjoey Drive 5k

2011-11-20T15:34:00.005+11:00

I enjoyed another good race last Tuesday evening at the YCRC 'Summer Series' event down by Lake Burley Griffin. It was a 3-lap course with about half of each lap on a smooth gravel road and the remainder on a narrow winding trail. No hills to speak of. In the comments on my last post Canute talked about racing 'in the moment' and Lize of leaving the watch behind for races. Well, I didn't leave the Garmin behind, but with the discipline of a Trappist Monk, managed not to look at it once, so ended up with an 'in the moment' race experience.

The afternoon was warm and balmy — about 26 Celsius (the BOM said the 'apparent' temperature was 22), so I was happy to jog a one-lap warm-up with Maria and Tori. I lined up one row back on the left side of the road and ran off at what I guessed was the correct level of effort for a 5k race. After a couple of hundred metres I settled in near Charlie and Ken. Susie and Lucy were just ahead with a fair gap to Hannah, Maria, Kym, Jim and Craig. We turned left onto the narrow trail and it was Lucy's blue shirt that I followed. The second lap saw us overtake Hannah while gaining ground on Maria and Jim. Onto the narrow trail for the last time I managed to slip by Jim before putting in a major effort to pass Lucy, doing so just before the trail turned right onto the (thankfully) shortest finish straight in history. My time was 22:22, so 26 seconds quicker than for the Boathouse 5k. Lucy and Susie were one second behind and Maria (who had been out of sight on the winding section) 3 seconds ahead.

Two days later I ran in the ACT Veterans' 1 hour track race. I guess I'm a sucker for punishment! Wasn't quite on my game for this one and ran 12,568 metres, 243 short of what I ran in last year's event. Pace works out at 4:46 per km (7:41 per mile), which for me is quite quick considering I wasn't feeling fully recovered from Tuesday's race.

I really think 'recovery' is the one aspect of training that I'm not managing well while on this weekly racing gig. Not sure exactly how to schedule my weeks in order to elevate recovery to its rightful place in the training pyramid. Perhaps follow each 5k race with three days of aerobic running, a workout day, then two days of aerobic running prior to the next race?

We ran 3 laps of this course for the Barrenjoey 5k. After the fact, my Garmin said my km splits were: 4:18, 4:28, 4:32, 4:40 and 4:24.

A Tale of Two Races

2011-11-13T12:10:00.003+11:00

One negative consequence of weekly racing is that one runs a fair chance of not being fully recovered for the race. If the race goes badly one can tip off the knife-edge of 'satisfactory performance' in a big way. Such was the case for me in my most recent 3000 metre track event on Thursday night. I had one of those races most runners would have experienced — starting at what seemed like a reasonable effort (a 4:21 first kilometre), then feeling my speed agonizingly drain away prior to a feeble attempt at a sprint finish to break... no, not 12:40 or 13:00, but 13-bloody-20! 13:19.98 to be exact. A second km of 4:30 was followed by a 4:29. The experience of having runner after runner go by and not being able to do anything about it is fairly sobering.

The funny thing is, just a week earlier I enjoyed a positive race experience. This was in the YCRC 'Spring Series' 5k road event (Boathouse East), out and back by the Molonglo River. Strangely, I had a quite awful warm-up jog with Speedygeoff. Legs were so tired and lifeless that when Geoff suggested he was going to run a tempo effort "5 minutes per kilometre sounds good", I decided to tag along.

The start was on a wide sandy beach for about 100 metres before the course narrowed to a 2-person bike path. So there was a bit of a rush initially to position ourselves into a roughly sensible order. I felt we were running quicker than 'fives', but went with the flow, staying with a loose pack that included Geoff, Robert, Graeme, Bob, Lucy and Emily. My Garmin beeped at 1k and I took a quick glance — 4:26! "I thought you said 'fives' Geoff!" With that I decided to ignore the watch and to actually race the race. I'm so glad I did that. I really enjoyed myself.

I relaxed and thought about tactics. Do I stay with this group for a while longer? Try to bridge a gap now? That sort of thing. We were running with a tailwind (in our faces for the second half), which also made tactics important. Up ahead I could see my old rival Jim, ultra expert Pam, and a young girl named Hannah. I managed to keep what felt like a fast/smooth rhythm going to the turn-around while steeling myself for the effort against the headwind. Geoff meanwhile, had disappeared out of sight. Obviously four-thirties was too slow for his tempo effort! I gradually gained ground on Jim, catching him at the last little rise with 1k to go. Pam was next, then Hannah. The youngster rallied and we were virtually side by side for the last 500 metres. Rounding the Boathouse we met the full force of the headwind and the prospect of a sprint-finish on the beach. I could also see the clock relentlessly clicking over (as clocks do), and realised we'd be under 23 minutes. Wow, that's not bad in these conditions! I fired up the fast-twitch muscles and gave it all I had. Hannah was up for it though and with a final surge, beat me to the line. The nerve! We'd both run 22:48.

A long run of 13k with Andy and Ruth yesterday included plenty of stops for phone photos.

Summer's first 5000

2011-10-29T21:32:00.001+11:00

My second race in what I hope will be an endless summer of racing was run on Thursday 20 October. It was a 5000 metre track race organised by the ACT Veterans, once again held in conjunction with a 3000 metre event. These 'combined' races are a strange experience if one is racing the longer distance. The 3000 is the popular race (27 runners verses 5 in the 5000 on this day). What's strange about them is that I'm running 'with' a group of people (Ken, Emma, Heath and Janene for example), when they abruptly start kicking down the pace on their last lap while I still have 'six to go'. Then when I have 'five to go', the track looks like the aftermath of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral — sparsely populated by people, just when I need them to compete with to the finish.

Needless to say, my concentration waned somewhat in those last five laps. Especially as I knew by my 3k split that I was racing towards an 'average' finish time. I ran 22:40.02. I was hoping to run at least '21-something', even though McMillan predicted 22:38 from my result in the previous week's 3000. Anyway, I'm confident about running in the 21s before long. Under 21 and my dream goal of breaking 20 for 5k could take a while. But I'm not going to stop trying!

Looking back over the years, my best 5000s have gone like this: 2005 - 21:03, 2006 - 22:30 (road), 2007 - 21:45, 2008 - 21:29, 2009 - 21:59, 2010 - 21:50, 2011 - 22:40. In the summer of 2006/07 I started the season with a 14:08 3000 and improved to a 21:45 5000 — this reminds me that it's possible to make significant improvements over the course of a season. I'll finish this post by wishing all those readers who have big races coming up 'fast times' — and for those who are returning from injury or illness a fast recovery!

Breaking Thirteen

2011-10-15T20:31:00.003+11:00

I like the electronic timing that one usually gets with track racing here in Canberra. I raced a 3k on Thursday night, finishing 5th in 12:59.91. On the road that would have been 13:00 — 12-something, even though no faster, looks and sounds better. Just as 29:59 for a road 10k would have looked better for the 46-year-old Steve Moneghetti, had he run that in Launceston instead of the equally incredible 30:00 he recorded back in 2009. As is the rule with all road-race times, his 'sub-30' was rounded up to the next whole second.

Mine was a strange race. A 'combined' 3/5k with only 9 starters. Initially I had planned to race the 5000, but binned that idea after running the first two laps too fast. I was sitting about 10 metres behind Ken and Heath who were following about 20 metres behind Katie (she would run 12:17.50). Heath would drop out not long after the 1000 metre mark. I passed that point in 4:14 — the pace I'd like to hold for a 5k, but too quick this night. I briefly moved ahead of Ken just after 2000 (a 4:20 k for me), when he temporarily slowed. He was doing a training run of 5 minutes 'on', 1 minute 'off'. With 700 metres to go Roger eased passed. I chased with all I had left (not much!) — saw the photo-finish clock with 75 to go in the home straight and realised a 'sprint' would be needed to break thirteen. Roger had run 12:54.72 and Ken 12:45.25. The race was won by Steve in 12:09.39.

I think I'm at a good place to start the summer season. Average heart-rate for the race was 148 and I can usually average 153 - 155 for a 3000. I'm one of those runners who tends to improve with regular racing and I'd only completed two sessions of intervals in the lead-up to the 3000. I raced the Melbourne 10k last Sunday in 47:16 and didn't feel fully recovered from that effort by Thursday. Although Melbourne was more of a holiday than a serious 10k race I ran hard! One consequence of a moderate mileage programme is that the 10k seems like a very long race (at least mentally). While in 'beautiful one day, perfect the next' Melbourne I enjoyed cheering on friends in the marathon and half, as well as a relaxed post-race lunch and coffee at the Observatory Cafe.

Jim White took this photo of me warming up for a Vets' Handicap race. The trail is less than a kilometre from the AIS 400m track - perfect for an easy warm-up jog.

The Long Runs Kissed Goodnight

2011-10-02T21:19:00.002+11:00

I've had one low-key race since The Canberra Times 10k — a 4k handicap organised by the ACT Vets. I ran 18:56 on the not-so-easy course, made harder by an overly fast start. Regular weekly track racing commences on Thursday week and I intend to race events from the 800 to the 5000 metres. Can't wait!

My training will be geared towards racing a good 5000 (and road 5k). With that in mind I'm dropping the long runs from my training programme. I have a tendency to plod and shuffle on runs much longer than 60 minutes. Running with that technique doesn't help my goal of developing springy muscles and a springy stride. Very long runs (2 hours or more) just make me tired! I think replacing the traditional weekly long run with another speedy session will help my 5k goal.

I don't think I'll lose much in the way of aerobic endurance by running 'low' mileage. The 46:25 10k was preceded by 12 weeks averaging 58k (36 miles) per week. For the 2008 version of the same race (46:44) my average weekly mileage was 81k (50 miles) for the 12 weeks. So I'm relaxed about a low volume summer. I haven't decided what a typical training week would look like. Perhaps something like: Thursday race, Friday 10k, Saturday 10k, Sunday long intervals, Monday 10k, Tuesday short intevals/hills, Wednesday 10k. A rest day out of that when I feel I need one. The 10k runs would be at MAF heart-rate.

I was happy to see 37-year-old Paula Radcliffe (a runner who has a particularly springy stride) run a good marathon at Berlin recently (2:23:46), coincidentally on the same day that Patrick Makau ran an astonishing 2:03:38 to break the great Haile Gebrselassie's world record. There's a video of Paula racing to win the 2008 New York Marathon which brilliantly shows her springy stride breaking away from the flat-striding Ludmila Petrova at 22 miles. I'd love to run like Paula. Just a little.

From the fire roads to the interstate

2011-09-11T17:03:00.004+10:00

I raced in the Canberra Times 10k this morning — my first road 10k since last year's race at the Gold Coast on 3 July. Then: 49:26. Today: 46:23. So, a nice improvement, but aside from that, I was most happy about how my legs felt. They were springy! Especially so during the first 3k, prior to the gradual 2k climb up by Julia's house (I didn't see her cheering).

My race tactics were to run an even effort from the start, try to pick off a few rivals along the way, and to finish strongly. I was moderately successful. Ran through 1k in 4:25 before spotting Jim up ahead then gradually pegging him back by 3k. He was slowing though, so I set my sights on Charlie, about 80 metres ahead. For the rest of the race the elastic in that gap only varied slightly — until, that is, the final kilometre. Suddenly I could see that I was catching him! I put in a major effort and closed to within 10 metres before the last little rise, 100 metres or so before the finish. Then it was a matter of kicking very hard inside the last 30 metres to take the 'victory' by less than a second. It had been a fun race!

I like racing! As I've said in earlier blogs, I much prefer tactical racing than 'time-trialing' during a race (with the goal of running a personal best time for the distance). The recent World Championships in Daegu has me thinking about the tactics I might employ during races to finish ahead of my rivals. For instance, I could just run hard out in front and hope to burn them off — like Binnaz Uslu did in her heat of the women's 3000m steeplechase. Or I could follow the pace à la Jennifer Barringer Simpson in the women's 1500 final before kicking hard off the final turn (Joe wrote a nice piece about Jenny B). Or I could run steadily with my rivals for over half the race before putting in a withering surge, leaving them demoralised (as Abel Kirui did by running a 14:18 5k split from 25 to 30k in the men's marathon). I have lots of opportunities for racing coming up, with the commencement of our Spring/Summer racing season. The ACT Veterans organise track racing on Thursday evenings and the YMCA of Canberra Runner's Club have a 5k series starting on 1 November.

I'm wondering how you, the readers of this blog, go about racing? How many of you run races as time-trials and how many enjoy employing tactics against your rivals as I do? If it's the latter, what tactics do you use? Promise I won't tell!

I used tortoise tactics to beat Charlie today - as I perfected at Copley Square in Boston on our recent holiday

Goodnight, Irene

2011-08-28T18:25:00.003+10:00

I've been back in the land downunder for ten days — that's a week of 9 to 10 hour shifts on the chain-gang, and I'm not enjoying it. Where can I get a job that's a six-week holiday that lasts forever? I read in the news that Hurricane Irene is "set to slam New York and Long Island." How lucky were we to only have to survive a 100 Fahrenheit heat-wave? I wouldn't have enjoyed running up Cat Hill in Central Park with Irene's 80 mph winds blowing into my face.

I ran my first interval session last Thursday on the now very soft grass track at Calwell. Nothing spectacular — just four 1000s at what I imagined to be 10k race effort. They averaged 4:32.5 and the recovery was a 1:55 walk. It was windy. I've entered two 10k races, which I'll regard as over-distance tests in my plan to race well at the 5000 metre distance. The first is on September 11 in Canberra and the second is on October 9 in Melbourne. I'd like to run something close to an M50 PB in Melbourne, so under 45 minutes.

With my running training, I remain extremely curious about the whole 'springy muscles' effect. Do springy muscles (and tendons) give one a 'free ride' when running? I know they produce a longer stride. Can one's training produce springier muscles? If one runs 'a lot' of weekly distance, do muscles become less springy? We all know about the classic 'marathoner's shuffle', which is quite efficient for running marathons, but not so much for racing the 5k distance. For myself, I feel that I'm well advanced in overcoming my marathoner's shuffle (even non-marathoners can run with a shuffle!). My training times/heart-rates are good, and for longer runs (12k!) 5:30 minutes per kilometre (8:51 per mile) is now a comfortable pace.

Those canny New Yorkers have decided to protect the New York Stock Exchange against Irene's fury by wrapping it in a giant U.S. flag.

A Long Flight to Vegas

2011-08-13T15:34:00.003+10:00

I'm on Continental Airlines Flight UA*0052 to Houston, so have some time to write. We're taking the scenic route to Vegas: From Logan Airport in Boston (where we left the Buick, a great car by the way) to Houston, Texas, then 50 minutes later to Las Vegas in Nevada. Five weeks of the trip down and one to go.

I must apologise for being a slack-arsed bastard in not reading and commenting on blogs the past five weeks. I've missed that, but when one is with friends, it's a case of compromise in the time-on-line department. So I've been keeping up with emails, Facebook updates, and my running diary — that's about it. Hope you're all running well and enjoying life.

I've managed to run every day, so that's quite a bit of exploration on foot of the U.S. and Canada. The list: Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York, Boston, Brunswick, Bar Harbor, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Lake Placid, Killington and Haverhill. Coming up is Las Vegas — don't know where the hell I'll run there!

I'm running well (I think), going by average heart-rates on all my runs (which have ranged in distance from 5 to 10 kilometres). 5:30 per kilometre pace (8:51 miles) is feeling very easy and produces an AHR of around 127. This is a good bit lower than what I was recording before the trip — 130 to 132. Most of the time my legs are feeling springy, so I think it's this that's producing good running economy. I wouldn't have thought that 60 kilometre weeks would give me huge aerobic gains.

I missed my one opportunity to race back in New York City, when the Big Apple suffered a heat-wave and I got lost (took the wrong train) on the subway out to Van Cortlandt Park. I think I could be short of race-specific muscular endurance. I suspect I might run somewhere between 21 and 22 minutes for a 5k race, but proving this will have to wait for my return to Australia. Until then, I hope y'all have a good day, and enjoy your running!

While at Lake Placid I ran two laps of Mirror Lake. It's there in the fog behind me, not very mirror-like.

Running in America

2011-07-23T09:26:00.003+10:00

I'm free to write this arvo as we're at home in our Guest House (just off the upper east side of Central Park), enjoying the air-conditioning on this, the hottest July 22 day in NYC history.

I've been keeping the running going — generally, daily runs of 5 to 10k in the MAF heart-rate zone (tempo runs if you wish). For the first few days in Washington DC it was stinking hot, so I ran on the hotel treadmill. I've changed my opinion about treadmills — they're excellent tools for neuromuscular conditioning; learning to run with good form at a particular pace. Movement must stay the same at a steady speed if one wishes to stay on the treadmill! They're also boring for anything longer than a 5k run!

We're now on our last day in NYC (after a busy week here). I've been enjoying the city (and the running in Central Park most mornings). I was also taken on a tour of Roosevelt Island and the 59th Street Bridge by TK one morning. The 59th is her bridge! Really enjoyed that — her company and the views of Manhattan over the East River. On our first full day in New York we got to meet upover bloggers Flo, Julie and Joe (plus non-bloggers Jonathan and Heather). Julie wrote a great story about it, as did Flo. Thanks! You've saved me some work there.

We're off to Boston tomorrow (escaping the record heat of New York). Will blog again when I get a chance. I also have some video footage of running with TK and in Central Park... which needs careful editing.

Meeting my good up-over mates at Ditch Plains

Waving the flag: red, white, and blue

2011-07-03T11:56:00.004+10:00

I'm excited! Two things: a couple of runs this week harked back to my 2008 (M50 PBs) fitness levels, and pretty soon I'll be downing a few Old Speckled Hens with upover mates Joe, Flo, Julie, and TK in NYC.

With the running, I'm still striving to perfect my 'both feet in the air' style of movement. As can be seen in the latest photo from the Vets' West Stromlo race (brilliantly timed again by John Kennedy), I have work to do. My head is down, spotting the landing. I need to look up and run tall!

About those two training runs this past week... I ran my 10k course in 53:36 with an average HR of 130. This works out at 697 heart-beats per kilometre, the easiest my heart has been working on such a run for a very long time. That was Tuesday's run. On Thursday I ran my 8k course pretty much exactly the same as I did in 2008, the day before I ran 12:16 for 3000 on the track. The 8k was run in 42:24 with an AHR of 130. In 2008 I ran the 8k in 42:31 with an AHR of 130! So, I'm fit (for 5k racing at least). My first session of hill repeats on Wednesday (5 x 400m) were revealing in that my legs have quite some way to go in terms of gaining strength and speed.

It ain't me, it ain't me, I'm a fortunate one. For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out, at the old ball game!

Running with two feet in the air - no joke!

Proof

2011-06-20T04:17:00.002+10:00

We competitive runners are always seeking proof of improvement. The most obvious test of course is the race: run a Personal Best in a race (or an A/G best for us old folk) and one has improved. However, it's also reassuring to have proof that our training is likely to produce that exciting race. For myself, I like the MAF test (my version of it), where I run a steady 10k at around 79% of my maximum heart-rate (which happens to be 130). If I've improved then the pace for the 10k is faster than previous tests.

On Sunday 12 June I was visiting Mum (with one of my sisters) in Wagga and ran my usual 8.2k loop. I had a good run! Covered the distance at 5:17 per kilometre (8:30 miles for imperial readers) with an average heart-rate of 134. Some rudimentary mathematics suggests this is equivalent to 5:26 ks at a HR of 130. If so, this would be proof that I've at last improved from the 5:37 ks I've been stuck on the past few months. Recent runs have confirmed this improvement! Phil Maffetone's table on my post Whispering Sideways says 8:45 miles for the MAF test means a 5k race somewhere between 20:58 and 21:45. If I could do that right now I'd be one very happy wombat.

Now, the reasons for my improvement aren't clear. As Jog said in a comment on my last post, the variables affecting running performance are many. My mileage remains relatively low — around 60k (37 miles) per week. There are more tempo runs in the mix (some of these have been races at 'tempo effort'). I'm also running my 7k hill loop again, which contains 12 hills of various gradients. I feel like my leg muscles are regaining some springiness and my stride is becoming longer.

Kangaroo droppings are proof that Roos have visited my front yard!

From the Verandah

2011-06-12T12:54:00.003+10:00

I've been a little busy lately (working 6 to 4 on the chain gang), hence the late blog post. I read about Em's first marathon and it occurred to me that my first was 30 years ago (yes, I was crazy to start my running life as a marathoner). I should run another marathon one day, before my running becomes too glacial. Bob, now 76 (red striped singlet in the photo), said he became too slow for 42.195 kilometre races at 55, when he could no longer break 3 hours!

Jog asked in a comment on my last post about my use of the Powerbreathe. I've stopped (temporarily), as I'm trying higher quality, lower volume running (in my quest for a longer stride-length), and don't wish to muddy the waters by having too many variables going on in the experiment.

Speaking of the experiment, it continues to go well. I raced 8k cross-country last Saturday over a particularly bumpy, spongy and awkward course. Finished 23rd (again) in 40:16. What's encouraging is that my time was almost a minute faster than 2007 and at a lower average HR (150 compared to 153). Towards the end of '07 I ran 20:54 for the Stromlo 5k and what still remains my M50 10,000m track PB of 44:54.57. So my logical brain says that it's possible to kick on from here and run close to 20 minutes for 5k.

Happy runners after the Nail Can Hill Run

Running better than Paula

2011-05-31T16:35:00.003+10:00

I received a tweet from Paula Radcliffe this morning: "Thanks guys. Pretty s**t day for me but great to see the London course looking so good and so many runners. Just need to fix myself!" She'd just placed 3rd in the Bupa London 10,000 in 33:17 — a respectable time for a 37-year-old mum, but well outside her road PB of 30:21. Paula's disastrous run reminds me that all runners have their own individual standards as to what is a 'good', 'average' or 'bad' race.

In my current state of fitness, if I were to run 12:45 for a 3000 metre race I'd call that a 'good' performance. On Saturday afternoon I raced in the YCRC 3k at Campbell Park. I placed 23rd in 13:43, which looks to be well outside my definition of good. Thinking about it though, I'm encouraged. The race was cross-country (on dirt tracks actually); there were tree roots, rocks, rutted tracks to negotiate; a horse stile on a sharp turn at the 500m mark; a dry creek crossing; a climb of some number of metres to the half-way turn. Most of the runners in the race ran a minute or so slower than what they would for a track 3000, so I'll be generous and give myself a 'good' rating for that race.

How did my stride feel? Not quite as expansive as it did in the 5k the previous week. I tried to take on board Rick's tips (from Earl Fee's book) about keeping my hips and chest forward. I couldn't quite get it happening though. Perhaps the 10k jog I did Saturday morning took the edge off my legs. Improving my stride is still a work in progress. Also on Twitter, Pete L. linked to a video from Dr. Yessis about over-striding and stride length. The doctor makes some good points that make sense to me, including "If you want to increase your speed the first thing you should do is increase your stride length, not your stride frequency."

Getting my stride back in a 5k race

2011-05-22T18:57:00.002+10:00

With running, one thing I'm sure about is that I never possessed the wonderfully flowing stride of a Herb Elliott or a Catherine Freeman, but there was a time (last century) when I at least ran with the feeling that I was 'striding out' and not shuffling along. My 5k race on Saturday afternoon was something of an epiphany in that at last I felt like I was moving well. Now I know that running is a numbers game, and the raw numbers from the race are nothing extraordinary: 35th place in 23:06 — 1:20 slower than my best time on the course from 2008. The thing is, my excitement about the race has nothing to do with numbers. It's because of how I felt about my movement whilst I was running. And that was a good feeling.

There was a beautiful study by Pete Larson of high-speed (slow motion) videos taken at this year's Boston Marathon: Gait Variability Among Elite Runners at the 2011 Boston Marathon. It contains a table showing the variability of different stride 'components' amongst some elite female and male runners. For example, 'step rate' (stride frequency) varies between 173.9 and 188.5 strides per minute for the men and 181.8 and 194.6 for the women. What has this to do with real-world (particularly aging) runners? I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I think it's easy enough to run with the same stride frequency as we age. An 81-year-old lady can race with the same number of steps per minute she used when flying over the ground in her thirties. What changes as we age is stride-length.

Rick reminded me about Pete Magill's article in Running Times: Solving the 5K Puzzle. The first piece of the puzzle is Stride Efficiency, so that's why I'm happy my stride felt good on Saturday (even though I'm yet to commence the drills and short hills that Pete recommends in the article). The only thing I've been doing thus far is running less mileage (50 to 60 kilometres per week rather than 90 to 100) and running faster (while concentrating on form) during these runs. I'd like to build the weekly mileage to something higher and assemble the other puzzle pieces over coming months.

A sucky race, and feeling good

2011-05-08T11:53:00.002+10:00

Last Sunday I raced in the Nail Can Hill Run for the 6th time, managing to record a PW of 63:07 on a spectacular autumn day. I was spectacularly slower than '08 when I ran with a camera, stopping to take photographs while still managing 56:53. I'm nowhere near being in the shape needed for a hilly 11.3k race. However, I'm not unhappy. I enjoyed the day out with my running mates and my legs felt good — for 3k!

On Thursday I ran my 10k MAF test course at 736 heart-beats per kilometre, which is only marginally inferior to the 732 I recorded on 3 March. On the face of it, I'm not too far away from the 710 to 720 beats per km I was recording in '07 around the time of my M50 10,000m PB and 20:54 5k at Stromlo. But, I'm not sure... my mileage since the surgery has been about 60k per week (including quite a few rest days), so is the apparent aerobic improvement just due to having (relatively) fresh and springy legs?

My quest for springy legs is in its early stages. The only change to my training thus far (besides the reduced mileage) is to do as many of my runs at close to 5:30 per kilometre pace. This is about 82% of my 10k race-pace (if I could run 45 for 10k, which I'm not sure that I can!) — for a runner capable of 36-flat for 10k it'd be like doing regular runs at 4:23 per km (7:04 per mile). Not all that fast, but a pace that requires some springiness.

My mate John finished so far ahead he had time to grab his camera and take this photo. Thanks John!

Something interesting: The value of springy muscles

2011-04-25T16:25:00.002+10:00

I'll need some help with the conclusion to this blog-post. I have the plot, but it's without resolution. The interesting thing I discovered after going 11 days without running (or cross-training) was that my legs had regained a springiness that I haven't felt in a very long time. A springiness reminiscent of what I remember from my (somewhat) serious 800 and 1500 metre racing days twenty years ago. It's not a measurable feeling — purely subjective, but very alluring.

The thing is, I know I also lost aerobic fitness over those 11 days. My first run back was 10k in 56:34 at an average HR of 139. Prior to surgery, I would have run about 53:15 for that heart-rate. So, on the face of it, 3 minutes slower. But, my legs felt amazingly good! I was expecting to run 60 minutes for that amount of effort after 11 days off, so were springy legs worth 4 minutes of speed?

Not long ago I read a blog post by Steve Magness about muscle tension — specifically, the value of retaining muscle tension during the taper for a race. What has me intrigued after my little unexpected experiment is the idea that there could be value in holding onto some muscle tension during training (or at least not straying too far away from that happy state). I'm addressing the following questions to readers on the experienced side of the age of 35, for I don't think spring-less muscles are a problem for younger folk. Do you think it's worthwhile trying to train in a way that promotes the retention of springy muscles? If so, how could this be done? If it means sacrificing weekly or monthly 'mileage', how much could I sacrifice and still retain a high level of aerobic fitness?

Prelude to something interesting

2011-04-17T20:45:00.003+10:00

I'm back running after eleven days off under doctor's orders. Ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a total of 30 kilometres and 206 for the last four weeks. I haven't forgotten how to run. I want to write at a little more length about a discovery that my usually cumbersome legs gained some springiness after all that idle time. I'll do this in my next blog post over the Easter/Anzac Day weekend. While I'm here I'll raise a glass of Samuel Adams to my marathon friends running in Vienna, London, Enschede and Boston.

I'll leave you with a photograph of the stitching on my right calf (just below the knee), and another of three amazing women. Pam, Liz and Ruth completed their 10th Canberra Marathons last weekend, thus earning 'Griffin' status. There are only five women in the Griffin Club. Pam ran the marathon in 3:43 and continued on to complete the 50k Ultra in 4:31. Pam has entered this year's Badwater Ultramarathon. Liz (despite some anaemia and other issues) ran 3:19, and Ruth broke the 6-minute km barrier with a 4:12. Well done ladies!

Stitches on my right calf and an Aussie Dollar

Three Griffins - 30 Canberra Marathons!

A bump on the track

2011-04-04T19:00:00.003+10:00

I'd planned to race the 5k this Saturday at the Canberra Running Festival weekend (there's a supporting marathon race on the Sunday). This afternoon I had a skin cancer cut from my right calf and the doc said "I don't want you to run for ten days." There are only eight stitches in the wound but I should heed his advice. Bugger! There are plenty of 5k races on the calendar so I'm not fretting. I could be a marathoner who's almost torn her hamstring off the bone or a runner who's missed a lil' ol' cross country race due to a stress fracture.

The hazards of living at a high-ish altitude in the country's sunniest capital city. That's one of the reasons I prefer running at dusk — no need to lather litres of sunscreen all over my ranga-esque body. On Sunday morning I watched almost a thousand females race through the parks down by the lake. The Youtube video is here. The frame below shows how much "air" the two leaders are getting. But not as much as me! I reckon the other photo is proof of a new air-time PB. What do you reckon?

Andrea and Sarah leading the Women and Girls' 5k

I beat them for air-time on the green grass of Stromlo

Lauren Fleshman: Too cool for school

2011-03-27T20:33:00.004+11:00

I imagine most fast young runners ask themselves the question: "Am I talented enough to make a career out of running?" For myself, the answer would have been a resounding "No!" (if I'd been a competitive runner in school). I started running at 23 and it took me seven years of training before I could break 18 minutes for 5k. I was born slow.

In spite of being born slow, I still love running and racing. I'm actually happy that my talent for running wasn't even borderline good enough to contemplate running professionally. The runners that do run full-time need to find that delicate balance between injury/illness and running spectacularly well. Two runners who now find themselves on the wrong side of that balance are Benita Willis and Lauren Fleshman. Benita is well known to Australians, but Lauren is not. I found out about her a few years ago when I was looking online for examples of running drills. Here's the video I found.

Lauren writes well and a recent blog post talks about her rehabilitation from persistent foot pain. She went on a road trip from Oregon to Phoenix to seek help with her injury. On the way she invited Twitter followers to comment on photos she took of the scenery. I left a comment wishing her good luck with the foot (not expecting a reply), so imagine my surprise when she did so saying "Thanks Ewen." What a thoughtful person! I hope she overcomes her injury and makes it onto the US team for the London Olympics. I'll be cheering her on.

Twitter timeline on the day Lauren said "Thanks Ewen."

A day off and Japan

2011-03-20T19:27:00.005+11:00

I took a day off from running on Friday — hadn't missed a day in the previous 41 and could feel I was in need of a rest. My heart-rates on runs have been a little on the high side for a week or two. After the day off I enjoyed a particularly good long run on Saturday morning with my mates: Geoff (and a couple of his Metro runners for a while), Ruth, Emma and Andy.

We ran beside the lake and then through the bush around Mount Ainslie for a distance of 20k in 2 hours and 9 minutes. In my book that's a long run for a 5k racer. Afterwards we met up with a couple of other friends for coffee (and lunch) at the War Memorial café. The perfect morning! Today's run makes 91k for this week and 380 for the past four.

I have running friends living in Japan, and thankfully they and their families are all okay. Bob is actually racing the LA marathon in California today. Go Bob! I found a website via Twitter last week where runners around the world are coming together to raise money for British Red Cross which is helping people affected by events in Japan. It's called Run For Japan. The first runner was Paula Radcliffe (I was the 42nd) and now there are 242 runners who've run 3,481 miles. The website's goal is to run around the world (24,901 miles) in 28 days.

28 miles is the longest 'run' I do. 2009, 1 mile in

Will POWERbreathing make me faster?

2011-03-14T14:27:00.002+11:00

I still have my Maffetone 'patience phase' of training rolling along. Just making slight adjustments week to week — I'm finding that 90 to 100 kilometres weekly is a manageable amount of running to fit in around my sometimes long hours at work. Last Thursday I ran on the immaculate grass of the Calwell 400m track — eight 200s to remind my legs of the speed needed for a 20-minute 5k. A neuromuscular workout of sorts. I had a rough goal of 48 seconds for these and averaged 47.8. Walked back across the infield for a full recovery. They felt OK — like I could have run faster. I held back as I didn't want to get into any sort of high heart-rate or lactate accumulation territory.

I also purchased a POWERbreathe 'Sports Performance Plus' inspiratory muscle training device after reading some interesting research evaluation blog posts from Canute. Does anyone use one of these? My experience thus far is positive. On the first day I found it very hard to do ten breaths on the easiest of ten levels. Thought I'd purchased the wrong model! Now I'm up to 30 breaths twice daily and can foresee increasing the difficulty level and number of breaths to 2 x 30 twice daily. The POWERbreathe people recommend having the level set so that one 'fails' at 30 breaths.

I think this type of training might be suitable for people racing distances of 10k or less. For marathoners, breathing doesn't seem to be a 'roadblock', but it can be for distances where lactate accumulation is higher and for hilly races. Speaking of hilly races, the Six Foot marathon was held on Saturday (the first time I've missed it since 2003). Thought I'd leave a link to a video showing the amazing sure-footedness of female race winner Anna Frost. She recorded the third fastest female time in race history — 3:52:48 for 45k of mountainous trails on a hot day. Amazing.

Being a Ferrari (cap) owner, I can afford a POWERbreathe

Inspiration and Improvement

2011-03-05T19:19:00.003+11:00

Scott Brown told me of the great story from last Sunday's Tokyo Marathon — the one about Japanese runner Yuki Kawauchi who placed 3rd in 2:08:37. This was a 4-minute PB from last year's race and 9 minutes faster than his PB from 2009 (2:17:33). The amazing thing about Kawauchi is that he fits his training around a regular 9-hour work day! One doesn't have to live the life of a professional runner to come up with inspiring performances.

If Kawauchi's improved running doesn't do it for you, then how about Ben St Lawrence's on Thursday night? Young (29-year-old) Ben raced the big guns of 5000 metre racing at Olympic Park and came away with a 15-second PB, running 13:10.08. A storming last lap dealt with Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp, with Bernard Lagat having to drop down another gear in the home straight to hold off St Lawrence and take the win. Four years ago Ben St Lawrence was an overweight (90 kg) door-to-door salesman and party animal. Now that's some improvement!

I'm inspired! And this week, slightly improved. I ran my 10k MAF test on Thursday at 5:38 per km with an average heart-rate of 130 (my fastest speed thus far in this patience phase of training, and the best I've run since February last year). One change I've made this week (after reading a blog post from Canute), is to practise deep diaphragmatic breathing during all my runs. I wonder if I can match the 6% lowering of heart-rate (at a particular speed) that Canute found when using this type of breathing? Even if my improvement is more modest, better ventilatory capacity is sure to help my 5k racing times. I intend to run some trial races on the track in the coming weeks, so I'll find out soon enough.

My 'excited' new running style

Running for a Sheep Station

2011-02-20T17:52:00.003+11:00

I've completed another 4 weeks of Maffetone-style base training — 353 kilometres (a little under 55 miles per week). The pace for my 10k MAF tests (on a good day), is around 5:43 per km, so still some way off the 5:20 goal. On some runs I can detect a weakness in leg-strength, so I've begun running my hillier Rose Cottage course. I plan to introduce some short hill repeats (with long recoveries) and some short sprints (100 - 170m) on the track.

I was a spectator at the Stromlo Running Festival yesterday to watch the Australian Age-Sex Adjusted Cross Country Championships. A number of my running mates were competing in the 7.5k handicap race. The winner was back-marker and marathon silver medallist at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, Michael Shelley. My friends did well — Kathy being the first female to finish, with Liz, Michelle and Geoff not far behind.

It was a bit of a worry to see Kathy get "the staggers" in the last 400 metres, only just making it over the finish line in front of the next (much younger) female. It was a warm and humid morning. I can't do that. Don't know whether my Central Governor is wound up too tight, but I just can't push myself to the extent where I might collapse in a race. I'll stop running first. I think it comes from having done that a few times in my early years of running (particularly in the City to Surf), and giving myself a scare. Since those days my strategy has been to get in better shape than I need to be and race conservatively (my Dad would have said "you're not running for a sheep station"), only pushing the pace in the last couple of kilometres, and only if the weather is runner-friendly. How do you race? For a sheep station, or not?

Geese cheering on Michelle at Stromlo — green grass and humid clouds

Ten thousands aren't easy

2011-02-13T19:01:00.002+11:00

One day I'll add up how many 10,000 metre track races I've run. In this town we have two opportunities per year to race this distance and I like the challenge, so I guess it's somewhere between 15 and 50. A lot of laps of a 400 metre track!

On Thursday evening I ran in the ACT Championship race. Finished 26th in 49:26.0. Not great, but not woeful. Last year I ran the same event in 45:57.54 (at a similar average heart-rate — 153 to 152 this year), so I still have work to do on the aerobic endurance side of things. I'm not one to whine, but I guess the mitigating factors this year were the remains of a head-cold and some longer than usual hours at work.

The race itself was interesting enough. I got out ahead of coffee groupie, Ironman and 3:26 marathoner CJ (she was having a bad night!) and amused myself by guessing how long it'd be before she went past. The inevitable happened around the 4000 metre mark, after which I tried to keep the elastic from stretching to breaking point. CJ increased her lead to 100 metres or so before suffering a dead patch between 7 and 9 k. I slowly clawed back the metres until she was half a straight ahead. With 1000 to go she must have wanted the suffering to be over and done with, so took off, finishing in 49:01.

Splits: 4:45, 4:46, 4:53, 4:57, 5:01 (24:22), 5:01, 4:59, 5:01, 5:04, 5:00 (25:04).

Whispering sideways

2011-02-06T13:04:00.003+11:00

There was a discussion on the radio last week about Word of the Year, and one that was mentioned during the conversation was "presenteeism" (the opposite of absenteeism). It's when the inconsiderate git working next to me on the railroad gang coughs and sneezes for a week, thereby passing on the gift of his cold. I've been suffering with this gift since last Sunday.

My gradual build-up of ego-free mileage has gone slightly sideways. Weeks of 90 and 94 kilometres have been followed by one of 72. I'll call it whispering sideways, in deference to Lorraine Moller's story in the November 2010 issue of Running Times: Becoming a Body Whisperer. Moller talks about running without a watch or heart-rate monitor and tuning into one's body. I'm still wearing the Polar, but don't feel the need to look at it constantly or check the split of every kilometre.

One of the aspects of the Maffetone training I'm doing that fascinates me is the table in the 'Want speed? Slow down!' document correlating pace at MAF heart-rate on the 5-mile MAF test with 5k race time. I'm running the MAF test on a 10k course which isn't dead flat. I call my MAF heart-rate 130 (35 beats below maximum HR) and on 25 January ran at a pace of 5:45 per km (9:15 per mile). According to Maffetone, that would put my potential 5k race time at 22:08. In late 2007 I was running a similar 10k course at a pace of 5:50 per km at a HR of 124, which would be roughly 5:34 per km (8:58 per mile) at HR 130. I raced a 5k at Stromlo two days later in 22:25, then two weeks later on the same course ran 20:54. This is my thinking as I patiently log the kilometres: When I can run 10k in 55:40 at an average HR of 130, I should be only a couple of races away from a 21-minute 5k.

Ego checked at the door

2011-01-22T20:34:00.002+11:00

I placed last in the 5000 metre race on 13 January (24:14), but feel satisfied the race marked a small improvement on the Base Camp 23:54 run of 18 November. "How so?" I hear you say. Well, in November I raced pretty much flat-out with an average heart-rate of 154, whereas for this race I ran at something akin to tempo effort for an average heart-rate of 149.

Scott Brown brought my attention to a post on Tim Waggoner's blog about MAF training. Tim was told by Mike Pigg in 1996 "to just train at HR 145-155 as much as possible and I would do anything I wanted." Following this advice, Tim went on to be #1 amateur in the world at the Ironman Triathlon by the year 2000. This is the base-phase training advocated by Phil Maffetone. Googling around I came across a forum post with a lengthy excerpt from the "Lore of Running" in which Timothy D. Noakes talks about the training of Mark Allen under Maffetone.

Mark Allen has an article on his website about how he switched from the "No Pain, No Gain" motto when he was a competitive swimmer to training for triathlon with his ego checked at the door. In other words, not "winning" training sessions but patiently logging mileage in the heart-rate zone advocated by Phil Maffetone. According to Noakes, Allen would monitor his progress by "regularly completing an 8-km run at his maximal allowed aerobic heart rate of about 150 beats per minute. During his Patience Phase his average pace when running at that heart rate would fall progressively. When he first started training according to the Maffetone approach, his aerobic pace during this test was 4:05 per km. During this phase, Allen would expect his running speed at his aerobic heart rate to fall by about 3 to 4 seconds per km per week. When Allen retired in 1995, his aerobic pace had improved to 3:19 per km, as the result of a steady progression during his entire career. For physiologists used to reporting human training studies lasting a few months, this is a remarkable finding. It shows that the human body may continue to adapt for 10 or more years to the form of prolonged, intensive training undertaken by Allen."

What do you think? Is there something bad in the blood chemistry of anaerobic training that retards aerobic development? My inclination is to continue training along the lines advocated by Maffetone until my pace for the MAF test stops improving. The training range for me is a heart-rate of 130 to 135 (or lower) and I'd test my progress at a HR of 130 (79% of maximum). My pace at this HR right now would be about 5:48 per km (9:20 per mile). If my pace at that HR improved to 5:20 kilometres (8:35 miles) I'd be within cooee of running 20 minutes for 5k.

Chugging along

2011-01-09T19:42:00.002+11:00

I've had a slow start to 2011. Feel a bit like the GSX1400 chugging along on three cylinders. Two weeks down — 53k and 82k (my "year" started on 27 December due to my habit of logging mileage in 4-week blocks — 4 x 13 = 52). Spent some time over Christmas and the New Year in Wagga Wagga helping the siblings with a garden makeover at Mum's. She's 85 this year and going strong, but has this strange habit of collecting thousands of pot-plants.

I'm behind the first two weeks of last year, which were 83k and 90k. Speedygeoff has run 100k this week and I'd like to join him on that type of mileage as my base-building phase continues. Had a lovely (if humid) run around Lake Burley Griffin yesterday for 24k with Ruth and Andy. Struggled a little after 20 — I'm not used to running that far! Plan to race the 5000 on Thursday evening — would like something under 23 minutes, but my confidence isn't great. We'll see.

With the Suzuki in August 2004

What Runners Want

2010-12-29T17:19:00.004+11:00

I told Scott Brown that I had a great idea for this post. Woke up in the middle of the night with the first paragraph fully formed in my head. It was well written. I failed to write it down. There's a tip for you. If you wake up startled with a great idea in the middle of the night, resist the temptation of the pillow and write it down!

I wanted to talk about what runners want. Well, what I as a runner wants. I'd like my running to be at that exciting stage where I can see potential for improvement. Faster times. Exciting races. M50 Personal Bests. For the majority of 2010 I haven't been in that place. My races have been struggle-fests. Killing myself at the Gold Coast to break 50 minutes for 10k. Since March this year I've felt like I've been running in six inches of powdery red dust on the back road to Uluru.

On the 15th of December I bumped off that dirt road onto a narrow ribbon of bitumen. Coarse bitumen. I saw a number on my heart-rate monitor that indicated I was, at last, improving. My heart-beats per kilometre (the RS scale) for that 10k run with my mates, were 745. Since March this number has been north of 760 — often closer to 800. The day before my one good 5000 (21:50.7) back in January, I ran at 718 heart-beats per km. As 2010 draws to a close I'm excited that improvement once again seems possible. The 20-minute 5k can happen.

What do you want as a runner? Maybe it's nothing more than feeling the breeze cool your sweat during a warm evening run in late December. If so, enjoy!

In Slow Motion

2010-12-12T18:42:00.002+11:00

I'm writing this just before heading out for my last run for the week. It's a lovely afternoon — sunny but not too warm or humid. 15k will see 85 for the week — not too bad considering this crazy time of the year. Dubs asked in a comment on my last post about how I felt the Hadd/Lydiard base-building was going. It's going well thus far!

This week I ran in three 'training races' — a leg of an 8 x 1 mile relay on Tuesday (roped into it, and took it pretty easy, running 7:14). On Thursday night at Vets I ran a 3000, followed an hour and a half later by a 10,000. Felt pretty tired for the last half of the 10k. 14:55 and 51:49.

I've made a short video of the aforementioned relay race. I slowed the runners down to get an idea of how they ran. The times for their mile legs are sub-titled below the runners. I'd like to get hold of a Casio High Speed camera (which uses high frame rates) to do more of this slow motion photography. The music is by My Little Trotsky. As Molly would say, do yourself a favour and check them out!

Good to Go!

2010-12-05T19:24:00.003+11:00

I had an appointment with the thyroid specialist on Friday. He told me my hormone levels are back in the normal range and I'm to continue with a daily dose of 50 micrograms of Thyroxine. This is great news! It means that (all things being equal), I should no longer suffer from fatigue, low energy, muscle soreness, and numerous other symptoms which interfere with good running. He has ordered another blood test to check my Vitamin-D levels. If those are low I'll be on 2-3000 IU per day for 2 to 3 months.

So, I'm good to go! The only thing holding me back over the next 3 weeks is an excessively busy schedule at work. Last week I slaved through three consecutive 12-hour days. It's an effort to squeeze in even a 45-minute jog on such days. I'm wary of pushing myself over the edge in terms of stress. It's like a jungle sometimes — I often wonder how well Jaouad Gharib or Tirunesh Dibaba would run if they had to fit training around 12-hour work days? I guess they'd be a little slower, and not win so many races!

Last week I ran 55 kilometres — about 40 below par for my Hadd/Lydiard base-building plan. On Monday I had an inkling that my heart-beats per kilometre were falling slightly — a sign that my aerobic fitness might be improving. Yesterday I ran 20 kilometres with my mates on bike-paths near a swollen, muddy and debris-filled Lake Burley Griffin. Amazingly, this was my longest run since March! I need to become more familiar with this sort of distance for a long run. I hope all of you have been training well and are good to go. Race well!

My shirt says it's time to go!

A fork in the road

2010-11-28T17:36:00.005+11:00

In my post The Unforgiving Twenty Minutes, I said I'd be basing my training on the Pete Magill article in Running Times: Solving the 5k Puzzle. I've decided to take a detour for a couple of months before embarking on Pete's training program. My aerobic condition is somewhat less than brilliant, so I'd like to polish that particular weakness first. My idea is to do some running which is fairly similar to the Hadd Training I was undertaking in 2007 — training that preceded a 20:54 5k at Stromlo.

I plan to run a "good" volume of mileage at an intensity which is at or below the 'Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate' as described by Phil Maffetone in this article. For me, this is running at a heart-rate of 130 (or lower) — around 78% of my maximum heart-rate. Over time (hopefully) I'll see an improvement in aerobic condition. My running speed at that heart-rate (and higher heart-rates) will become faster.

At the same time (if it's not too stressful), I'll do a small amount of training to work on my glaring "top-end" speed problem. Things like short/steep hill repeats, 100 metre fast strides, and running drills. I'll also run a few of the ACT Vets' Thursday evening track races — most likely some 3000s and 1500s.

Sweating up a storm at the end of a 10,000 in February

Base Camp 23:54

2010-11-21T13:54:00.002+11:00

On Thursday evening I raced my first serious 5k since the ACT Championships on 14 January. Finished 2nd-last in 23:54.55. One of the many things I like about track races is that one (usually) receives a finish-time recorded to hundredths of seconds. 19:59.99 is infinitely superior to 20:00.1 — I can say with confidence that there's much work to be done before I'm anywhere near running 19:59.99. My base camp is a long way down the mountain.

The race itself was a little boring. It was a combined 3000/5000, with the majority of runners stopping after 7 1/2 laps. Warming up with Speedygeoff before the race, he told me his goal (achieved) was to run 4:30 kilometre pace. Summoning up the confidence of Scott Brown, I thought 22:30 sounded logically possible. I kept up with Geoff for the first kilometre (4:32 for me), thereafter gradually slowing with splits of 4:40, 4:52 and 4:59. Bronwyn was calling times at the 200 start, so I knew I had to get a move-on if I was to break 24 minutes. Managed to do this with a 4:51 last kilometre.

So, another lesson learned. I'm not only slow in terms of top speed, but I'm also slow aerobically. My heart-rates for the race on Thursday were pretty much the same as for the race in January, which was a little over 2 minutes faster (21:50.7). Maybe a lack of base mileage in recent months is the reason for my glacial 5k speed? My weeks since September have gone: 40, 5, 0, 30, 44, 52, 56, 74, 65 and 82 kilometres. I'd like to run mileage in the 90 to 100k range over the coming months and see if that produces an improvement in aerobic fitness.

A stunning revelation

2010-11-13T19:40:00.003+11:00

I'm slow. Not in the way you might think (how fast I can race a 5k), but in a different way. I have run a couple of low-key 5k races in the past two weeks, and I must admit they weren't speedy (for a person wanting to run 5k in under 20 minutes) — 25:57 and 26:43. I tried to run these at "tempo effort", so I'm expecting something quicker next Thursday in a track 5000.

The slowness that stuns me is the time it takes me to run 200 metres. Last Sunday on the lovely grass at Calwell I ran 10 x 200 metres, with full recoveries between each run. Average time: 46.7 seconds. This is not nearly fast enough for someone who wants to run 48 seconds for each 200 of a 5k race. History shows that I need to run 10 x 200m in 36 to 37 seconds. When I was doing that (2001), I raced 5k in 20:06. In 2004, with 200 metre interval speed of 37 to 38 seconds, I ran a road 5k in 20:43.

I ran another session yesterday to check my basic speed — 10 x 100 metres, again with full recoveries, and running pretty much flat-out. These averaged 20.2 seconds, so quicker than the 200s, but still slow. I put this lack of basic speed down to weak fast-twitch muscle fibres. I've been lax in doing fast speedwork in recent times. I should exercise my fast-twitch muscles regularly to improve their strength. I'm wondering how fast you are in terms of basic speed? How fast can you run a session of 100s or 200s? How fast can you run a lap of the track? Do you think it's important to be fast over 200 metres in order to run a fast 5k race?

An 8k race at Weston Park in June 2010

Don't Fight It

2010-10-30T23:14:00.002+11:00

I guess this is a brief report into the status of my quest to run 5k in under 20 minutes. You're not going to get much! One of the things I've realised about distance running (after doing it for 30 years), is that improvement is usually slow. For me that is. You might be one of those runners who's blessed with fast improvement. I ran most of my personal-best times in 1991 — ten years after I started running.

What I'm trying to say is two things: Firstly, if you haven't been running long and think your race-times have plateaued, keep trying; and secondly, don't fight it. Do the training you think will produce the desired result and the times will come. Eventually. Consistency and patience count for a lot.

By tomorrow I'll have run 70 kilometres for the week (my biggest week since late July). I enjoyed my first interval session on the grass at Stromlo last Sunday — 3 x 1k in 4:34, and on Tuesday ran some continuous laps on the lush grass of the Calwell Track. I can tell that I'm not yet fit enough to race well (which I'd define as 22 minutes for 5k). I guess I'd run 24 minutes. I think I'll "race" the Cross Country Club 5k events on Tuesday afternoons (as tempo efforts) to ease my way back into the racing scene.

The Unforgiving Twenty Minutes

2010-10-23T15:15:00.003+11:00

I've been thinking about racing goals for next year. I should choose a goal that's exciting; on the edge of impossibility; one that I'd love to achieve. A fast marathon maybe? No, that's not my scene. I do believe in ideals, and my ideal race is not the marathon. OK then, here's the goal: I'm going to try and break 20 minutes for 5k. My history and progression indicates I'm likely to fail. Breaking 21:30 would be hard enough. Why set myself up for probable failure? I like the idea of the challenge; the likely long and arduous journey that will be set in motion by the goal of running under 20 minutes for 5 kilometres. I've never derived satisfaction from achieving soft goals. I'd rather fail at a difficult goal. There's also the good story I'll be able to tell at the end of the journey — a story surpassing any tall tale Scott Brown is able to tell.

On Tuesday night I was chatting to Gary at the Speedygeese dinner. He said something that has inspired me to try and run this hitherto considered impossible time. It so happened that back in July, Gary ran a six-year PB for 800 metres. 2:32 was quicker than any 800 metre race he'd run since 2004. What's more remarkable is that he's in the 60-64 age-group! I'll have to turn back the form-clock to 2001, but why can't that be possible? Getting on top of my thyroid problem is sure to help, as will shorter hours at work and "proper" 5k training. I also received further inspiration from an unlikely source — the description of an angry 5k race that resulted in a 19:51 finishing time. I need to get angry with my racing!

One consequence of my 5k racing goal is that I won't be running Six Foot next March — the training for a 45k race over mountains is too far removed from what's needed to run fast for twenty minutes. I should give myself at least 18 months to race under 20 for 5k. My training will involve putting together the puzzle-pieces talked about by Pete Magill in the April 2010 issue of Running Times. I'm not aiming for a particular race (although I'd like to run well at the ACT Championships in 2012). There will be many races, as I tend to improve with regular racing. There will also be breaks from racing, to recharge the batteries.

Not 5k Racing

A measurement of fitness

2010-10-10T19:48:00.003+11:00

In spite of not racing a half marathon in Melbourne today (or perhaps because of that fact), I'm feeling pretty good. Quite a few of my mates were running — you can check out their results in due course at Speedygeoff's. I ran 44 kilometres this past week, including a session of 200 metre repeats on the lush grass track at Calwell. As expected, these 200s were a bit of an eye-opener. They averaged 48.5 seconds (4:02 kilo pace), so pretty slow. The only other time I've run 200s this year was back in June and those averaged 45.3 seconds. I need to do more of this type of running.

Being a bit of a pedantic bastard, I've made a habit (regularly since 2006 and haphazardly before then) of recording my average heart-rate on regular (non-track-session) runs. I record my "average heart-beats per kilometre", for I believe this is a good measurement of aerobic fitness. I call this the "RS" number (for marathoner Robert Song who gave me the idea). On the 3rd of October I ran 10k at 866 heart-beats per km. Yesterday I ran the same course at 833 heart-beats per km, so that indicates a fitness improvement in one week. It's exciting how fast one improves after a lay-off! The faster one runs the more efficient one is, so running speed needs to be not too much at variance when using this test (and that goes for weather conditions too).

One thing I haven't done well in recent years is to match leg strength and speed to improving aerobic fitness. Having a comfortably low heart-rate is great, but it's even better to also have speed and strength in the legs. Short intervals, short hill repeats, and running drills are regular sessions I plan on doing to address this shortcoming. I hope all who raced on the weekend enjoyed it and ran well. I'll catch up with your blogs over the next day or two.

Date	Time	Ave HR	H-beats/km	Description
31 Oct 1993	41:20	164	678	10k race
10 Nov 1993	74:52	148	652	Corkwoods 17k
16 Nov 2007	58:53	124	730	Pines 10k
7 Aug 2009	59:29	120	714	Pines 10k
3 Oct 2010	60:34	143	866	School 10k
9 Oct 2010	58:39	142	833	School 10k

The above table shows that I'm "fit" when heart-beats per kilometre are 730 or better

Learning to Run

2010-10-04T13:52:00.004+11:00

This past week I've gradually resumed running. On Monday, 5k with the Geese (Katherine dropped me at Kings Avenue Bridge on the 8k warm-up run — 5:44 kilometres was too much); Wednesday a very slow 9.5k with my mates, enjoying the lengthening daylight hours; Saturday, 6 x 500 metres with 58 second walking rests (these 500s were hard, slow); Sunday 10k on the flat in 60:34 at a heart-rate that's usually good for 53 minutes when fit.

I feel like I'm learning how to run again. Not exactly with a blank sheet of paper — more like a sheet of paper pencilled with a few numbers and doodles. I'm glad to have scrambled 75k in the past 4 weeks. I haven't lost it all. Whatever "all" happens to be. It's just so joyous to be running — breathing in the lovely temperatures and smells of Spring.

I know I have readers who'll soon be racing marathons or half marathons, perhaps in Melbourne or Chicago or New York. Enjoy the experience, run well, and have fun! Others of you have just raced — perhaps a 5k in Philly, a 10k in New York, a marathon in Zeeland or Toronto. Well done! Still others are injured and not running, or postponing races à la Ryan Hall. I have no idea how many people read this blog, but thanks to those who take the trouble to leave comments. They're quite encouraging (and at times entertaining). There could be readers who've run off course (as in a poorly marked fun run), ending up here at the end of a Google-search for "obsessive compulsive runners" or "good looking Aussie blokes" — to the latter girls I apologise — even my Mum doesn't think I'm deserving of a walk-up part on The Bachelorette.

Racing a 1500m on the track in 2008

Do you remember the 4th of July?

2010-09-26T16:34:00.002+10:00

Physically, I'm over my recent illness. I haven't run for 13 days. For me, this is a long break. I'm one of those runners who loses fitness quickly — four days off and I'm puffing on the warm-up run for the Speedygeese session at Parliament House. For this reason, I tend to run pretty much daily if possible.

The last time I had a significant break from running was in 2006. I ran sporadically during a 5-week holiday to America. On the 4th of July I ran from Old Town in San Diego through Presidio Park. That evening we rode the trolley down to the marina to watch the fireworks display over the harbour. The following afternoon I ran 5.5 kilometres and the next day we drove north on 101 to Los Angeles for the flight home. I didn't run for the next 9 days.

I'm happiest with my running when the training is ticking over with regularity. Runs build upon runs, sessions upon sessions and fitness for racing well seems to be there all the time. It's taken for granted. When this is happening I'm loathe to choose to stop running. Why stop? Looking at running as a lifetime activity, I think it's healthy to have one or two periods every year where one doesn't run. Of course, these periods would be choices, not stoppages due to injury or illness. I know many of the Kenyan elite runners, at the end of the competitive season, have a break of up to a month where they don't run a step. I want to be running when I'm 81 — not racing marathons mind you, just running! I think a planned break from running will make this long-term goal more likely. I've extended my rest due to illness into an "end-of-season" break. I think I'll run tomorrow.

Playing games on the 4th of July, 2006

Missing Melbourne

2010-09-19T16:15:00.003+10:00

I have my number for the Melbourne Half on 10 October, but I won't be running. I'm sick. The doctor says it's a viral condition. If so, it's one tough virus! I started to feel a cold coming on four weeks ago, 21 August. Had 5 days off work, then started running again but wasn't 100% cured. Ran two weeks of 64 and 40 kilometres then started to feel crook again last Saturday. I've had the last four days off work — it looks like being a few more days (hopefully that's all) before I'm well enough to return to work.

This setback means I won't be racing the Melbourne Half. My preparation hadn't been great anyway, but I was looking forward to the run and mini holiday with my friends. Separately to the virus problem I've also had a couple of blood tests. I was curious to see if iron deficiency (rather than slogging through too many 10-hour work days) was a reason for my lethargy and lack of enthusiasm for training. Turns out my iron levels are okay, but I have Hypothyroidism — not all the symptoms mind you. The ones I have experienced are: fatigue and low energy levels, intolerance to cold temperatures, and fatigued and aching muscles. I'm on a daily 50ug dose of Thyroxine which will be monitored with future blood tests.

In the grand scheme of life, the universe and running, missing Melbourne is no big deal. It has made me think though, that we shouldn't take our health for granted. Running usually brings one good health, but one needs to be healthy to run! Stay healthy friends, and have a great week.

My Melbourne number. There's always next year!

A hiding place where no one ever goes

2010-09-05T20:15:00.002+10:00

I'm honoured to have been chosen to join Joe's dream road-relay team. It's probably beyond the bounds of cyber-friendship, but I'll ask my captain in advance if I can run the short and/or downhill legs. The requirement for hopping on board Joe's van was to answer an intriguing question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be? Before I answer the question, I'll offer six random readers the chance to ride in my van if they're brave enough to answer the same question. It takes a little manning-up to ride in a van that could be driving on the wrong side of the road. Let me know if you take on the challenge.

Now... changing one thing. Backwards time travel isn't possible, so I'm fortunate to be an optimist. I look forward to future possibilities. I might as well be creative with this question. My answer: I'd change my parents and I'd get a better (university) education. If I could choose my parents, I'd select Herb Elliott and Grete Waitz. A 15-year age gap, but possible. I'd have been born in 1975. That'd make me 35 years of age. I'd be in the twilight of my professional running career — preparing to race the marathon at the XIX Commonwealth Games in Delhi. With parents like Herb and Grete I'd have been blessed with talent for running. I've always wondered what it's like to run with talent. How much easier is it?

The better education part of my answer is because it's something I really do miss. I was intelligent enough to go to university, but at the time, had my mind set on doing something that didn't require such an education. A well-rounded education, even if it seemingly serves no practical purpose (besides giving one a qualification and a high-paying career), provides knowledge of life and the world. There are things one just doesn't learn from the school of hard knocks.

One hundred k in a day

2010-08-21T21:16:00.003+10:00

I flew to Melbourne with Ruth last weekend to "crew" for Liz in her first 100k ultramarathon. It was quite an experience — I now have some understanding about what lures seemingly sane runners to push themselves over such incredible distances. Sunday passed surprisingly quickly (for us!) as we watched Liz and friends complete 26 laps (plus 500 metres) of The Tan — Melbourne's famous and popular running track.

The track is a 3.827k loop with most of the surface being compressed gravel. There's one hill — the not insignificant Anderson Street, an asphalt footpath. The unofficial one-lap course record is held by Craig Mottram at 10:08. At the end of the day, Liz was the first female to finish. She passed the early leader not long after 50k and pushed on to run 9:47:30. She was amazing! One hundred kilometres in not much more time than a regular working day. Also running in the 100 were two other friends from Canberra, Steve and Nick. Steve finished in 11:38, but Nick had to retire at 54k.

In conjunction with the 100k there was a 53.5k "fun run" starting at 9:00 AM, 2 hours after the 100k. We got to cheer on a couple of trail-running friends — John and Di. We also managed a little shopping, eating and coffee drinking over the weekend. It was good fun.

Still Red

2010-08-12T18:42:00.003+10:00

I raced the City to Surf on Sunday — my 27th trip from Sydney city to Bondi Beach. On the face of it my time looks slow, but I must say I'm very happy with the result and how I ran. Finished in a chip-timed 72:04 for the 14k, which is 5:09 per km pace (8:17 miles). Significantly, this was safely under the 75 minutes needed to start in the Red Group (first corral to start) next time. I also enjoyed a great weekend spending quality time with my friends from Canberra.

I used my disliked Ryan Hall race strategy — running an even effort throughout — dropping down a gear on the uphills and staying off the brakes on the downs. I avoided racing until the last kilometre, when I tried to kick-down with a couple of teenage girls wearing tutus. I lost that race!

Speaking of Ryan, I was reading Rick's blog and saw an article by Ryan's wife Sarah. It came from the Master The Shift Facebook page (under the 'Ryan' tab). Sarah contends that there are two types of runners — those who train to race and those who train to train. She places herself in the first category and Ryan in the second. Sarah races about 20 times a year and Ryan 4 to 5 (of which one or two will be marathons). I was wondering where people lie on this running spectrum. I myself am more Sarah than Sarah, having raced 18 times already this year. This might seem like too much racing, but in my "PB year" of 1991 I raced 41 times. I like racing! However, when you end up running like a dog that's been beat too much, you don't look forward to racing. The results from a blood test will be back on Tuesday — I'm hoping a simple iron deficiency (rather than working too many 11-hour days) is the cause of my poor recent form.

With my fast beard and mate Gordon — weekend of the '98 City to Surf

An interesting experiment

2010-07-25T18:55:00.001+10:00

I haven't been running much these past few weeks. Some focus group high up in Massive National Corporation has decided that understaffing the wage-slave class is a sensible way to improve productivity. We slaves have been working 11 and 12 hour days (including a 30-minute lunch break). If this madness continues, I fear I might have to "do a Thomas" — drag myself out of bed at 3:30 AM and run before work.

I raced a 10k on Saturday, finishing 60th in 54:57. I ran at high-end tempo effort (an average heart-rate of 87%). If I'd laced up the racing flats and let it all hang out (92%), I suspect I may have run around 52:30. What's interesting about this result is how much slower I race due to running less mileage. The faceless executives in a Sydney glass tower have given me this wonderful experimental opportunity.

Glen Coward told me once that a runner is only as good as her previous six weeks' training. My experiment proves this contention. I raced a track 10,000m on 11 February in 45:57. In the previous six weeks I'd run 530k, or 88k (55 miles) per week. In the six weeks prior to Saturday's 10k I'd run 327k, or 55k (34 miles) per week. Result of the experiment: I run 60% of my normal weekly volume and I race six minutes slower for 10k.

Good holiday; bad race

2010-07-09T18:05:00.003+10:00

Embarrassingly, I wasn't able to offer Jojo even a modicum of competition. I was unceremoniously smacked down — flattened to the canvas inside the first round! 49:26 for myself; 46:01 for the victor. Although it hurts, I'll be paying the café bill when next we meet.

It was one of those races in which I never felt entirely comfortable. Or in pain. Got stuck early in a groove that was more like half marathon effort. Started next to Andy, not too far from the front, but couldn't spot Jojo. After the gun, we were 14 seconds to the start mat; Andy ran to my right and gradually drifted ahead. He would run 43:42. I split the second kilometre in 4:43 (my fastest, but still slow) and soon after was running around 5-flats. It was my slowest 10k race since I-don't-know-when. The only bright spot was being amazed by the beautiful running of the girl who placed 5th in the 12-14 age-group. She flew past in the last kilometre. I bumped into her in the recovery area — she had just turned 12, and run 48:45.

A dud race failed to spoil my holiday. Had a great time with my roomies Andy and Ruth. Enjoyed running in warm temperatures and doing the tourist thing in summer clothing — an all-too brief respite from Canberra's sometimes gloomy winter. So, it's back to the grind of wage-slavery next week. Before then I hope to catch up with your blogs. We didn't have an internet connection in Queensland — being out-of-touch for a while was kinda nice.

The view from our apartment was spectacular!

Enjoying lunch after the marathon on Sunday

Roger, Ruth and Andy during our Tuesday bush-walk in the Lamington National Park

Smackdown in the Sun

2010-06-28T15:34:00.004+10:00

I thought I'd write about two things that pretty much sum up where my head is at the moment. I'm totally excited about trying to improve at 5k. I raced the Canada Day 5k last Sunday. It's an annual fund-raising fun run (for the ACT Cancer Council), and happily for me, only the times of the first 25 men and women in the 5 and 10k races are recorded. I timed myself at 23:31 — a small improvement on my CRRF race. Started fast (4:16 first k) and died an ugly death in the hills with 5:16 for the fourth kilometre.

I'm reading a novel. My generous Minnesotan sister Anne gave it to me. It's Once a Runner, by John L. Parker Jr. I've just read chapter 17 — Breaking Down — in which the protagonist Quenton Cassidy is left in a broken state by seriously difficult training.

"The toll on the runner — and those around him — was high, psychologically as well as physically. He became weak, depressed; he needed twelve to fourteen hours of sleep a night. He was literally desperate for rest, spent his waking hours with his legs elevated, in a state of general irritability. He became asexual, rendered, in the words of the immortal limerick, really quite useless on dates. He was a thoroughly unpleasant person."

Now quickly I must say, I hope that doesn't apply to me. I do however, regard myself as a serious runner. I hate offering (and generally never do) excuses for a poor performance. Later in the same chapter, the inevitability of training that serious runners do is talked about:

"Quenton Cassidy knew what the mystic-runners, the joggers, the runner-poets, the Zen runners, and others of their ilk were talking about. But he also knew that their euphoric selves were generally nowhere to be seen on dark, rainy mornings. They primarily wanted to talk it, not do it. Cassidy very early on understood that a true runner ran even when he didn't feel like it, and raced when he was supposed to, without excuses and with nothing held back. He ran to win, would die in the process if necessary, and was unimpressed by those who disavowed such a base motivation. You are not allowed to renounce that which you never possessed, he thought."

The other thing I'm thinking about is how, as an older runner, to run faster. There was a link on Flo's blog to a July/August 2010 Running Times article about running form. It's a great read. In it there's talk about running economy, and how the body becomes economical (with energy use) after doing many years of running. Pete Magill says "This belief system that just doing it over and over is somehow going to make us better is really crazy. Long-time runners actually suffer from the body's ability to become efficient. You become so efficient that you start recruiting fewer muscle fibres to do the same exercise, and as you begin using less muscle fibres you start to get a little bit weaker." This is where I am right now.

Next Saturday morning I have a 10k race at the Gold Coast. I challenged Robert Song to a race in the Half Marathon, but have decided to race the 10k. So now I have a showdown with Jojo — the Smackdown in the Sun. She's an 800m runner with a 10k PB of 44:35. I'm decidedly nervous about the outcome. I fear that I'll be buying the cappuccinos.

Hitting the wall 4k into the Canada Day 5k

How much should I run, and how fast?

2010-06-17T19:18:00.004+10:00

I've been thinking about the weekly volume of running I need in order to race "a good" 5k. In the last 4 weeks I've averaged 65k per week (40 miles). My aerobic fitness doesn't feel as great as it could be. When I ran 20:54 for the Stromlo 5k at the end of 2007 I'd run 92k (57 miles) per week for the previous 4 weeks.

Flo wrote recently asking "Is more mileage better?" — to which Joe Garland replied "I think the more the merrier provided that you’re not constantly worn down." That pretty much answers the first part of the question posed by this post. Now I know there are runners out there who do amazingly well off "low mileage." Like my friend Kathy S, who runs very fast age-group times off 50 to 60k per week. That's kilometres, not miles! I'm not the type of runner who can produce PBs off low mileage, no matter how intense those miles are run. I'll run as much as I can — more than 80k, but a good few less than the 170 to 200 weekly kilometres Scott Brown's putting away.

So, my simple plan will be modified. A confession here — it wasn't working that well anyway! One day of long easy running wasn't enough to recover for a hard session. I'll try "Simple Plan 2.0." — a workout day followed by two easy/long days. The second part of my question is "How fast do I need to run?" For the easy days, I don't believe it matters. The easier the better, so my legs are good-to-go on the workout day. The famous black/white training of Nic Bideau. Or in my case, black/white/white. How fast do I run on the workout days? Maybe a variety of speeds — from near maximal sprinting all the way down to half-marathon paced tempo running. I see sprinting as important because my old mate Gerard Ryan (3k steeple in 8:30-ish) said that 5k speed depends on how fast one is over 100 metres. At the present moment my 100 metre speed is more Athabasca Glacier than Niagara Falls.

A Sony phone photo from the track around the hill near my place

Sunset over the Brindabellas from the same location

How to choose an event

2010-06-06T12:40:00.006+10:00

Following up on my last post, I thought I'd outline my reasons for choosing the 5k as my main racing distance for the foreseeable future. I've used a simple table to do this — with a rating of 0 to 10 for different reasons to choose an event. The 5k is the easy winner, 40 points to 23. The 'good at it' row is based on my performance as a percentage of the world record. As you can see, I've pretty much sucked at running ever since I started doing it! My best event ever was the 800 metres, at 74.9% of the world record. As a 50+ aged runner, my 1500 ranks highest. I'd like to get the 5k up to 70%, which would mean running 21:05 at age 53.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I know some have raced the Christchurch Marathon, and some haven't. I raced an awful 8k cross country race yesterday, which is best forgotten. An enjoyable 15k jaunt through the Aussie bush later this afternoon will make up for it.

	Marathon	5k	100 metres	Olympic Tri
Like racing it	2	9	4	5
Like the training	6	10	5	4
Good at it	2	5	3	2
Friends do it	7	7	1	2
Emotional attachment	6	9	2	2
	23	40	15	15

Event	Male World Record	All-time PB	Open A/G %	M50 A/G %
100 metres	9.58	13.8	69.4	No PB
800 metres	1:41.11	2:15.06	74.9	69.6
1500m	3:26.00	4:39.8	73.6	71.8
5000 metres	12:37.35	17:33.5	71.9	67.7
10000m	26:17.53	36:33.8	71.9	67.6
Half M	58:23	81:38	71.5	67.0
Marathon	2:03:59	3:11:02	64.9	No PB
Olympic Tri	1:48:24	2:46:55	64.9	No PB

Reasons not to race a marathon

2010-05-30T18:30:00.005+10:00

First up, a confession. I haven't followed my simple plan to perfection. Running last weekend was the second thing on my mind. I had a couple of days in sunny Melbourne with my non-running friends Joy and Mal. The primary purpose of our visit was to see the Blues thrash the Hawks in an AFL game Sunday afternoon (Mal is a huge Blues supporter). Sadly, "our team" lost — badly! We slunk out of the ground before the final siren.

I managed two runs — 7.5k on the hotel treadmill (finishing in a lather of sweat), then on Sunday morning a lovely 8.3k run up the south bank of the Yarra River to the famous Tan track. While in Melbourne we also shopped (Joy for shoes, us boys for motorcycle accessories), visited Mali at the Melbourne Zoo, and won/lost money at the Casino. It was a good weekend.

Back in cool Canberra I ran 4 x 500 metres on Friday afternoon, then a solo 15k in the rain Saturday morning, before catching up with serial marathoner Liz for a coffee. The 500s weren't that quick (2:07.5 average — 6:50 mile pace), but what was amazing was how they seemed to transform Saturday's easy run. My stride felt easier, longer and bouncier than it's usual slow-run shuffle. A friend of Flo's linked to her blog an article in Running Times where coach Greg McMillan talks about changing the stride of Paige Higgins. According to Greg, Paige is a "super shuffler", who needs to improve her stride in order to make the US team for the London Olympics. I'd like to improve my stride so I can run a faster 5k. That's the distance I'd like to improve the most. After listening to Joe, Flo and friends at the Runners Round Table, I now have a couple of extra reasons not to rush into another marathon.

My mate Mal (blue T-shirt) in April 1983. We were having a 4-Owners motorcycle club weekend at Narooma Beach

A simple plan for a simple man

2010-05-14T18:49:00.003+10:00

I've devised a training plan to (hopefully) carry me through this busy period of wage-slavery and emerge from the darkness as (perhaps) a better runner than I am now. An admission here: I like backing sure things, and it wouldn't take much to improve from being a 24:02 5k runner!

My plan borrows from Yoshihisa Hosaka — the World's best M60 marathoner, who repeats the same training day ad infinitum. In my plan, I repeat the same two training days. The first day calls for a longish easy run — 90 minutes to an hour 45, which is around 14 to 16 kilometres at my pace. The second day is short — 7 or 8 ks, run as some sort of workout. This could be as simple as a sustained upper aerobic run, to as complicated as 8 x 400 metres with 200 metre jog recoveries preceded by a set of Pete Magill drills. I'll decide on the day what I think I need/can cope with/would enjoy.

Every eighth day will be a rest day. That bit is borrowed from the training of Paula Radcliffe and Mara Yamauchi. The diary will look something like: 16, 7, 14, 8, 16, 7, 16, Rest. What is the thought process behind my simple plan? Day one is for cardiovascular endurance but is gentle running, so easy on the legs. Day two is for running at efforts somewhat slower than (or faster than) 5k race-pace, and using race-pace form. I think this modest plan will help me hit a sweet spot of training that produces improvement. On the weekends I'll run on soft trails through local bushland with friends and curious kangaroos.

We often see kangaroos on runs around Canberra

Zen and the Art of the CRRF 5k

2010-05-02T19:34:00.003+10:00

I talked in my last post about the idea of planning a strategy to beat an opponent in a race. This presumes one is capable of running with the opponent in the first place — just as Marty Liquori was capable of running with Jim Ryun in 1971. On Saturday afternoon in the CRRF 5k I was no Marty Liquori. After 1k I was already 30 seconds behind my rival, Jim White. I was having the Dave Moorcroft dream — racing in the 5000 metres at the '84 LA Olympics; losing contact early; being lapped by the winner; eventually finishing 14th, a minute outside my PB (which happens to be the world record).

I'm not running well. Maybe I've caught the Scott Brown or Steve Lacey virus? I've been working unavoidable longer hours recently — 10 hours or more some days. Training at the end of a long work day isn't something I look forward to. Maybe I should employ a Zen attitude and pretend that swinging a sledge hammer on a railroad gang, knocking down them cross ties in the rain, is a pastime of beauty and empowerment?

The ugly splits: 4:30 (147), 4:41 (153), 4:58 (156), 4:47 (153), 5:07 (153) = 24:03. Jim ran 21:49.

Nadine snapped this photo and posted it on Facebook. I'm running through the park up the hill (well, it felt like a hill!) — I think I look suitably tired but not totally ugly.

I race like Ryan Hall

2010-04-24T18:26:00.004+10:00

The Boston Marathon was run late Monday night our time. A couple of online mates of mine were running — Flo and Robert. Both ran great times. I followed the elite race coverage after the fact on LetsRun.com. The women's race resulted in an exciting finish as Tatyana Pushkareva came from behind to almost run down breakaway leader Teyba Erkesso. In the men's race, Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot and Deriba Merga traded second-half surges until Cheruiyot eventually despatched the pretenders to win in a course record of 2:05:52. Ryan Hall employed an even-pacing strategy which saw him dropping off the lead pack when surges were applied, then suddenly appearing at the front of the pack when they slowed. He eventually finished fourth in 2:08:41.

It has occurred to me that I race like Ryan Hall — at least in long races, which I'll classify as 15k or longer. I try and run an even pace throughout the race, which is the proven best way to run a record time — in my case, a personal best. The thing is, I'm not actually racing! I'm running a glorified time-trial with other runners for company. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I'm not sure. I think I'd like to RACE! You know, sit on a rival's shoulder before throwing in a mid-race surge to break their spirit. Or run quietly with the pack (that's the local pack of runners I know who are near my ability) for a few kilometres before running a fast 2k split to get away, then surviving until the finish. This is the tactic Ismael Kirui used in the 5000 metres at the Stuttgart World Championships. He jumped away from a pack which included Haile Gebrselassie by running a 4-minute mile, then survived the chasers to win in 13:02.75.

My next major goal race is the "21k" at the Gold Coast. It's actually run over a distance of 21.0975 kilometres (13.109416 miles), but apparently the correct distance is too long to fit on the T-shirt. I'll be trying to run an M50 PB — 1:40:47 or faster, and probably use the Ryan Hall even-pacing method. There will be shorter races before then, both on the track and over the country. I'd like to be game enough to sometimes try Kirui, Merga, Steve Prefontaine, or Ron Clarke tactics in those races. In the next days and weeks various on and off-line friends will be running marathons in London, California, Oregon, Kentucky, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Canberra. Good luck to all!

Running and Watching

2010-04-11T16:20:00.002+10:00

I've decided not to run the Christchurch Marathon. Rinus said I could run a marathon "for fun", and that's true enough, but I'd like to attempt a respectable time for my next marathon. If I do run one, it'll be later in the year. Until then I'll keep trying to improve my times from 3k to the half marathon.

I thought I'd show you one of the places where I run. It's the track at Calwell. If I had a dollar for every kilometre I've run down there I'd be rich enough to shout the bar many times over at Scott's Bar & Grill. Late on Thursday afternoon I ran 3000 metres at tempo pace and felt the best I have since Six Foot.

On Saturday morning I ran 16.7k down by the lake with my mates — felt fine for that one too — then this morning marshalled near a bridge and had the pleasure of watching 1000 or so women and girls participating in a 5k fun run. It was a good weekend!

Unsure about Christchurch

2010-03-28T19:00:00.002+11:00

I've been thinking about the Christchurch Marathon — it's on the 6th of June. That's ten weeks away — just enough time for a marathon preparation under normal circumstances. Trouble is, I've been struggling to recover from the Six Foot Track. The legs are feeling pretty normal now, but aerobically I'm not great. My heart-rate is much higher than usual for any given pace. I didn't start in the 5000 metre race last Thursday. I'll wait a few more weeks before deciding one way or the other about Christchurch.

Yesterday I ran 20 kilometres around the lake — quite slow at 6:23 per km (10:49 mile pace). I ran with Ruth and Jen, who were happy to jog easily on what was a typically perfect Autumn morning in Canberra. We saw many others doing the same thing, including Martin, running fast with a back-pack.

Something else I've been thinking about lately is the possibility of running better. That's "better" as in running with improved form. Would overhauling my form help me to run faster? Paul showed me a link to a fascinating video which shows a side-by-side comparison of a female runner using markedly different running form. The left half of the video shows her running with a heel landing while the right side shows her with a forefoot landing. The forefoot side certainly looks better, and if function follows form, one would have to say it's probably faster.

Self portrait of three Geese on the wooden bridge

An email from Colin

2010-03-15T18:40:00.004+11:00

I'm sitting here feeling a bit battered and bruised, licking my wounds while thinking about what was a fantastic weekend in the Blue Mountains. It started last Monday with an email from Colin Jeftha, Race Director of the Six Foot Track Marathon, offering ten guaranteed last-minute entries. There had been late withdrawals from the race and the committee wanted the event to start with "as close to the 850 race limit as possible." In a sliding doors moment of impetuousness I pulled out the credit card and entered.

My taper wasn't that scientific! I jogged shorter and easier with the Wednesday group, then had two days of no running. This didn't work! My legs felt ominously sore during the first slippery downhill 300 metres of the race. Once at the bottom of the Nellies Glen steps I continued to run easily hoping the legs would come good. They didn't. My official split at the Cox's River was 1:51:21, about 9 minutes slower than last year. I knew then it would be a long day!

From the Pluviometer (26k in 3:46:08) to the finish at Caves House there was much more walking than jogging. 2 hours 50 minutes is a long time to cover 19 kilometres! I was extremely happy when Finisher's Medal #7 was hung around my neck by a smiling volunteer after a 45 kilometre adventure. 749th place (out of 806 finishers) in 6:40:05. I'm not sure this over-distance run will have a positive effect on my 5000m race on 25 March, but right now I'm not too worried. It was a fun weekend.

Pre-race breakfast with Graeme (5:49:22), Steve (4:52:15) and my cousin Don (6:11:41)

John Harding's photo shortly after the Wave 3 start

The day after - Nick (4:58:28), Steve, Ewen, John (5:18:06), Graeme, Catherine (6:13:55), Michael (5:21:21) and Diana (6:35:37)

How do we run?

2010-03-08T15:05:00.002+11:00

I've been reading some interesting blog posts from Steve Magness about running technique, shoes, barefoot running and the like. There was one about footplant and the role it plays in efficient/fast running. Apparently a mid-foot or forefoot landing is faster, due in part to the 'storage' of elastic energy in leg muscles and tendons. Mid or forefoot landings also produce shorter ground contact times. The one caveat is that changing your running form from a heel landing to a mid-foot landing needs to be done gradually if one is used to the cushioned shoes designed to touch the ground heel first.

Yesterday afternoon I did a session of running drills with Ruth and Jen on the grass near the Portrait Gallery. When we'd finished I took some slow-motion video of our running footplants. My camera is not the greatest for this as it only records video at 30 frames per second. A high speed video camera would be better. I've slowed the video down to 5 frames per second in the YouTube video at the end of this post.

On Saturday morning I ventured out with the Molonglo group — we started in light rain, which soon abated. The temperature throughout the run was about 19°C. Andy turned at the National Museum while Ruth and I continued around West Basin for a total of 30.5k. Ruth ran extra to make 31, but I'd had more than enough at 30.5 — that's close enough to a nice round 19 miles, so my obsession with round distances was amply satisfied.

Long runs are possible

2010-03-02T12:33:00.004+11:00

I'm similar to Joe Garland (and Flo for that matter), in that I won't feel bereft if I never do a long training run again — once the marathon is over. The 30k on Saturday went well. It was one of those calm sunny mornings that Canberra prides itself on this time of the year. Hot-air balloons were floating high over the lake.

We were out for a bit over three and a half hours, but the running time was 3:06. Coming back through the Wetlands near the end of the run, the foot-bridge over the river was blocked for repairs. We ran down to a railway bridge and sheepishly made our way across, then bush-bashed through an old dump before climbing a few fences and rejoining the path. All good fun! Bronwyn's Garmin map below shows our anti-clockwise trip around the lake and the detour near the end. The run went so well that I'm planning a similar distance on Saturday. It's most likely that I'll aim for the Christchurch Marathon on 6 June.

The YouTube video below shows part of the warm-up run for the Speedygeese Monday session at Parliament House. Yesterday we ran 'relay sprints' on the soft grass in front of the house. 30 minutes in teams of 3 — it was challenging and fun!

Follow the yellow bitumen road (and a railway bridge)

Sweating on a long run

2010-02-26T14:53:00.002+11:00

Tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I plan on running 30k with friends around beautiful Lake Burley Griffin. We'll be out for around 3 hours 15 minutes — afterwards, hopefully I'll be feeling normal enough to enjoy coffee and breakfast. I've been sweating on this run. It's a good bit longer than the 23k I'm used to on Saturday mornings. It's a bit of a test to see whether I'll like marathon training.

I'm slightly worried because my races haven't been going well. Thursday a week ago I started in the 5000, but reached 5 laps feeling very ordinary, so decided to bail out at 3k (12:47.4). Last night my legs were totally dead — was lapped by Speedygeoff, Brett and Nadine. Janene, Jim and Bronwyn were out of sight. I ran 13:59, which is more like half marathon goal pace. The heart-rate monitor told me I was running at tempo effort (86%), but the legs just wouldn't go faster! Anyway, my fingers are crossed for tomorrow's run.

Speaking of sweating, I've posted a couple of David Appleby's photos from the 10,000. You can see the sweat pouring out of me! In the second photo I'm being lapped by the third-placed female. There's also a link to a YouTube movie of a mystery run with the Wednesday Wiggles group. The quality isn't great — I need better video compression software, so if anyone knows of a good program, let me know.

Sweating in the ACT 10,000m Championships

Being lapped by the 3rd-placed lady

Wednesday Mystery Movie

Aging Disgracefully

2010-02-14T13:13:00.002+11:00

I ran 45:57.54 in the 10,000 last Thursday evening — 1:03 away from an M50 PB. I'm at peace with the result. The race plan went well — started with 1:48 for the first lap, 4:28 for the first kilo. Kept up that effort throughout the race and ran the last kilometre in 4:29. Unfortunately the weather decided to put on a show more suitable for outdoor dining at midnight, rather than one for racing 25 laps of the track. It was 27 degrees when we ran (81 Fahrenheit), and humid. The sweat was pouring out of me. I'm a generous sweater, so don't run next to me on a training run in summer! Deek once said that the marathon should be held during the Winter Olympics. I'll add the 10,000 to that request.

For the first few laps I ran behind the group of John, Roger and Bronwyn. I overtook Bronwyn but John and Roger gradually got away — they were running too fast for me. The rest of my race was pretty lonely. I just concentrated on keeping the effort constant. Took one drink from the table set up on the back straight, but could have taken more. With 10 laps to go I saw the distance between myself and John shrinking from the 100 metres he'd built up. I managed to pass him with 2 laps to go, then calculated I'd need a quick last lap to break 46 minutes — did this with 1:40 for the last lap.

I've been thinking that I haven't aged gracefully. Like the motorcycle club I'm a member of, I've grown old disgracefully. If I were to run 45 minutes for 10k (on a cool day), the age-grade tables say that's worth 39:45 for a whipper-snapper. I'd need to be running 41:30 now to be "as graceful" as I was back in '91. Anyway, I'm having as much fun with running as I was back then, so that's the main thing. With running, it pays to have a sense of humour. If you can't laugh, you won't survive the pain inherent in running to the best of your ability. That's why I run with funny people — like the Speedygeese, or the Wednesday arvo runners — pictured below doing their best Wiggles impersonation on the front porch of Parliament House.

10k splits: 4:28, 4:32, 4:35, 4:33, 4:34 (22:42), 4:37, 4:41, 4:43, 4:45, 4:29 (23:15).

Running is less painful when you run with funny people

The Coach and I

2010-02-09T13:29:00.005+11:00

I'm racing 10,000 metres on the track this Thursday. Canute expressed confidence when commenting on my last post that a time "comfortably under 45 minutes" was likely. If the Seiko at the finish reads less than 44:54 I'll have an M50 PB — how I want one of those! My tactic will be to run the very even schedule that worked for the one hour race. First lap in 1:48, first kilo in 4:30, and so on.

Scott wondered if my absence from blogging was due to stumbling through the back verandah's glass sliding door in a lamb chop and wine induced stupor! Thanks mate! Actually, I've been looking over my training diary from 1991 — trying to figure out what led to seven lifetime PBs. I think the simple answer is that I was desperate to run well, and sought out a good coach. That coach was Geoff Moore, who these days leads the highly popular Speedygeese running sessions. Geoff is a great motivator and in '91 gave me the confidence I needed to achieve breakthroughs.

The group was small compared to the multitudes that run with Geoff these days. There were less than a dozen serious runners, and we trained on a lovely grass track that's since been taken over by the Canberra Raiders football club. Geoff introduced me to long warm-up runs. We'd run 5 or 6 kilometres around the hilly Eucalypt Trail before doing our 1000 metre repeats on the grass track, then finish with a 3 or 4k warm-down run. In the depths of icy wind-blown Canberra winters we'd sprint hill repeats on Regatta Point. In the dry heat of Canberra summers we'd race on the AIS track. Wherever we were there'd always be friendly encouragement from all in the group. Happily, not much has changed.

Geoff (dark blue), supervises hill sprints at Parliament House, February 2010

The Shortest Hour

2010-01-24T18:05:00.005+11:00

Sliding Doors is a movie I remember seeing on a flight to Canada in '98 with friends Gordon and Maggie. It's about the life of Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) and follows her through two parallel universes after she's fired from her job. The movie made me think about what might happen to my life if I opened a different door; followed an unfamiliar trail; was active instead of passive; became a 'yes man' instead of a 'no man'.

What has all this philosophising got to do with running? On Thursday I was set to race 1500 metres on the track. The previous day I felt confident of running a season's best. Maybe sub-5:50 if all went well. I did a slow warm-up jog and all the while my legs were saying "We don't want to be here! We feel second-hand and sluggish!" I listened to my argumentative legs and decided to miss the 1500. I'd take lap splits for some of the Speedygeese and jog 4 or 5 k for an easy running day. I had also arranged to lap-score for a friend in the annual one hour race. Fifteen minutes prior to the start my friend still hadn't arrived, so I said 'what the heck', and decided to run the one hour race myself for 'training kilometres'.

The race went sublimely well! It was a warm evening (around 27°C), and as luck would have it, I guessed the correct pace by feel from the first lap. I gradually caught up to Bronwyn, then as the race went on, others who had started too fast — Roger, Dale and Susan. I had an amazing run! Sped up just prior to 10k so I'd break 47 minutes, but apart from that, ran very evenly. Finished with 12,811 metres and felt afterwards that I could have run another 10 laps at that pace (4:41 per km). If I'd gone through the sliding door of the 1500 I'd have never run this race. Yesterday morning I ran 'long' through the bush of Mount Ainslie and around the lake with Michelle, Brett and Nadine. 22.6k, with 14k of 'good' and 8.6k of 'less than good'. Starting fast on a long run is a sure way to find one's limits!

2k splits and average HR: 9:18 (139) 9:23 (148) 9:29 (148) 9:28 (148) 9:21 (150) 9:27 (151) + 3:34 for 811 metres (152).

A lonely 5000

2010-01-17T18:09:00.003+11:00

Last Thursday evening I raced 5000 metres on the track. Finished 9th out of the 10 who ran 5k. The race was combined with a 3000, so us long-distance nuts continued on for 5 more laps. Crazy people! Time was 21:50.7. Sort of OK with that, as it was a season's best and my fastest 5k since November 2008.

I felt tired warming up, so decided to practise running as evenly as possible. I didn't want to hit the wall in the 4th kilo due to an early attack of the 'Steve Prefontaines' (I was going to say 'Scott Browns', but Scott is now the master of even-paced running). My tactic was successful, but perhaps detrimental to a faster final time. After the first 200 metres, I detached myself from the runners ahead (Jim, Bronwyn, Thea and Janene) as I felt they were running too fast. I ran the next 8 laps about 30 metres behind this group. In still conditions this would have been fine, but there was a noticeable headwind in the home straight. Nobody to draft behind — not that I like doing that, but I'd have been happy to share the work into the wind. My km splits were 4:22, 4:19, 4:21, 4:27 and 4:21.

I said in my last blog post that I'd start trying longer Saturday runs to see if I might enjoy training for a marathon. Bugger that! Something is whispering to me, so I'm listening. I'm excited — just haven't decided which marathon to target. Greg reckons my 5k on Thursday is worth 3:32:51 for the marathon. What would he know?! I've never been the best at converting 5k times, but if I follow a good training plan I know there's room for improvement!

A Marathon — Maybe

2010-01-10T14:44:00.005+11:00

Joe Garland recently described, with particular eloquence, a conversation he had with himself while on a cold Walkman-less run. It was about the siren call of the marathon. Particularly the New York Marathon, and the magic of 'being carried by the crowd through Brooklyn'. It was about wanting to race 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons, and the fear of 'failing' at the marathon. It was about possibly not having the genetic gifts of a born marathoner.

Joe's conversation is similar to an on-and-off one I've been having with myself since my second marathon in June, 1981. That marathon was 3:28:28 — a 13 minute PB and sub-8-minute mile pace (I used miles and kilometres back then). I wouldn't finish another marathon until 1992. You see, 42.195 kilometres has never been my favourite race distance — but I've been thinking lately that I might run another marathon. My last was in 2005 — a very unsatisfactory 4:37.

With this scary thought in mind, I've decided to allow my Saturday long runs with the Molonglo group to gradually lengthen. Yesterday we ran 24 kilometres — starting in relative coolness, and finishing in uncomfortable warmth under an azure blue sky. At times I ran with Michelle (3:31:09 last year in Auckland). She was too fast, but graciously ran with us at the start, and stopped at the Mount Ainslie saddle for the group to catch up. If these Saturday runs get out to 30k, I'll ponder more seriously the prospect of a marathon. Perhaps at the Gold Coast in July, or Melbourne in October. I'd only start if I thought I was capable of a 'respectable' time. I'll define that for myself as 3:40, or on a dream day, a Boston Qualifying 3:35. My racing plans in the meantime, are at the track — trying to improve at 1500 and 3000 metres.

December BBQ with the Wednesday afternoon runners — Richard, Andy, Jen and Ruth. Chris was the honorary photographer

Dad

2009-12-30T21:14:00.004+11:00

2009 is almost over. For me it's been a year of happiness and sadness; of Yin and yang; of pleasure and pain; of fast and slow. In short, the year has been just like running.

December 16 was the saddest day. After returning from a run with the Wednesday group I received a phone call from my sister Jane. Dad had passed away — he finally succumbed to complications following heart valve surgery. His passing came as something of a shock, as he had seemed to be rallying after many weeks of intensive care. He was 84.

I ran my first marathon with Dad back in '81. It was also his first. We completed our weekend long runs together on quiet roads through the flat farmlands south-east of Wagga. On other days Dad would sometimes accompany me on his Malvern Star 10-speed and urge me to run at 14 or 15 kilometres per hour. I think he was impressed with such running speeds because at age 55 they were beyond him. They are now beyond me! In the marathon I ran 3:41, and Dad 4:38. Both our marathon careers soon stalled, although not before Dad had improved his PB to (I think) 4:10. He took up competitive kayaking while continuing with sailing and 'fun running'. He completed many City-to-Surfs during the 1980s and early '90s. I gave away marathoning in a quest to improve at shorter races.

The funeral was on December 22 near Chinderah in northern NSW. I arrived on a flight from Sydney and Jane from Tasmania via Melbourne. My brother rented a holiday unit near Coolangatta beach for a few days. It was great to spend time with him, Catriona and the kids — Nathan and Claire, now teenagers — how fast they've grown! Also, a rare meeting with some of the cousins — Mike, Col, Jan, Wendy (Granny Lulu), Rob, and Rob's wife Sherry. We don't see them very often, so enjoyed their company in spite of the circumstances.

Anyway friends, back to running — which I guess this blog should be about. In terms of Yin and yang, the year was a failure — although not as disastrous as the year experienced by Julie. I wanted to run 11:39 for 3000 metres, but could only manage 12:26. Are times that important? Yes. And no. Enjoying racing and training is important to me, and I had fun with both. It was also my good fortune to meet some new friends, while trying to keep up with the old ones — they all run so fast! Here's to more of the same in 2010, and here's to you too — may you enjoy a year of happy and successful running.

Jan, Jane, Ewen, Wendy (Granny Lulu), Graeme, Dot, Nathan, Rob, Sherry, Claire, Mike, Catriona, Col

Out

2009-12-15T16:02:00.003+11:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. Do I have permission to say 'It's that time of the year'? You know — parties; shopping; chat over coffee; BBQs; running. My apologies in advance for absent comments on your blogs for the next few weeks. I'll still be reading, so keep writing!

We all have our preferred race distances. For many of my readers, it's the marathon. I like track races — from 800 to 5000 metres. Of those, my favourite these days would have to be the 3000 — short enough to need some speed, yet long enough to require endurance. In spite of my love of track, I've habitually run one long race during each of the past six years. It's Australia's major trail race — The Six Foot Track 45k 'Marathon'. If you have a spare 10 minutes, this video will give you some idea of why Six Foot is so popular.

The 2009 race was fully subscribed over a month prior to the March race weekend (there's an 850 runner limit). I arrived home from work on December 1 (online registration for the 2010 race opened at one minute after midnight), to find the race had 'sold out' by mid-morning. Six Foot had out-Bostoned the Boston Marathon for popularity! So I'm out. I'll have to console myself with frequent track racing for the remainder of the summer season and regular coffee talk-fests with friends after training.

I hope everyone has had fun with their year of running. Catch you all (if I'm fast enough) in January.

Crossing the Cox's River in 2005

A low-five coming up in 2009. After 45k, am I permitted to be a heel-striker?

The Wanting Comes In Waves

2009-12-01T15:00:00.003+11:00

I did a boy-thing last week — made a bet with Steve on the outcome of the Vets' 5000 metre race. If he managed to lap me, he'd win a beer. I thought I was safe. Surely Steve's tired ultra-running legs would struggle for track speed and he'd run about 20:30. Therefore I'd need to clock 22:15 — a time I was confident of running.

Now then, I'm very serious about track races — my PBs in this most universal of racing locations mean the most to me. I didn't think the beer-bet would come into play. So, it came as quite a shock when I heard Steve's pitter-pattering feet closing fast when I still had a lap and 150 metres to run. Steve was on his final lap, and he drew alongside as we entered the home straight. I sprinted as if the beer up for grabs would be my last! We ran shoulder-to-shoulder towards the 'finish', but the bastard got the better of me in the final metres. He'd run 20:10! Feeling sheepish and deflated, I then dragged a pair of protesting legs around my last lap for a time of 21:59. Although losing the beer, I was happy enough that running 30 seconds faster later in the season seems possible.

The above video is a day in the life of Jennifer Barnes, produced by her loving husband Zach. I've been reading Jen's blog for a couple of years (we have similar running PBs). She's raced the Boston Marathon, and is now an Ironman. A warning though — have some tissues handy, if like me, you're touched by emotional stories. Yes I admit it, there was moisture in my eyes.

I'm no Herb Elliott

2009-11-22T18:09:00.004+11:00

I raced in the 1500 metres at ACT Vets last Thursday night. I ran in heat 2 (slower runners), which was a good choice — I would have finished last by a long margin in the first heat. Prior to the race I was thinking a time of around 5:50 might be possible, but I was nowhere near that. Ran 6:01.36 for 4th place out of about 12 starters.

I enjoyed the racing aspects of the race. It felt like a 5:30 1500! I started on the very outside of the curved line and when I joined the inside runners found myself next to Bronwyn. Roger and Amanda were well ahead, followed by Kathy Sims. On the first curve I clipped Bronwyn's feet but thankfully she stayed upright — sorry about that Bron. At this time I think Helen got inside me so I followed her through the first lap in 94 seconds.

Up the back straight for the second time I managed overtake Helen. I focussed on trying to reduce the gap to Kathy, and could hear Helen following me closely. The second lap was 98 seconds. Heath then went decisively ahead, so I tracked him through the third lap — 99 seconds for that 400. With 200m to run I could sense Heath struggling, so I eased past and sprinted (figuratively) the last 100 metres. 70 seconds for the final 300m.

I want to improve in the 1500. As yet, I'm not feeling the benefit of the Pete Magill drills, but I still have faith that they'll help me become a better runner. I ran a good session of them this morning with Ruth on the lovely shaded grass opposite the National Portrait Gallery. Finished off with 5 x 10 second steep hill sprints back at Parliament House, followed by coffee and 'people-watching' down by the lake.

1. Roger Pilkington 5:31.30, 2. Amanda Walker 5:44.33, 3. Kathy Sims 5:58.40, 4. Ewen Thompson 6:01.36, 5. Heath Pearce 6:01.97, 6. Helen Larmour 6:02.64.

Watch the video of Percy Cerutty and Herb Elliott running up steep sandhills

Counting down the laps

2009-11-13T17:40:00.003+11:00

There are certain things I don't like hearing when racing 10,000 metres on the track. Things like, "Eighteen laps to go!" It's a long time from that point until the sweet sound of the clanging bell when there's one lap to go.

I ran the 10,000 last night mainly as a test of my fitness. I knew from the previous few days' training that my heart-rate wasn't where I'd like it to be for a race of this length. After my fight with the chicken last week my legs felt sprightly during the Speedygeese hill session on Monday, but while running I was wheezing like an old man walking up a steep flight of stairs. Good legs, not so good heart and lungs.

At the start of the race I slipped into 4:30 per kilometre pace — just in case the running gods were benevolent enough to allow me to run under my 50-plus PB of 44:54.57. I settled in behind Burkie and Roger for a couple of laps, then started to drop back — just as Speedygeoff cruised past. For the remainder of the race I was running alone — keeping alert by trying to guess the identity of lapping runners from the sound of their feet. The 5k split came up in 22:44. It was about this time that an unusually slow starting Pete Cullen overtook me and steadily drew ahead. He'd go on to run 44:54.42! I plodded a bit in kilometres 7, 8 and 9 before managing some semblance of a kick-down over the last two laps. Final time was 46:38.11 — not too bad under the circumstances, but it leaves me wanting more. Don't competitive runners always want more?

My plans for the rest of the summer are to "get into good shape" and race 1500, 3000 and 5000 metres on the track. Perhaps some 800s too — an M50 PB for that extended lung-burning sprint has to be doable!

Splits: 4:27, 4:29, 4:32, 4:35, 4:41 (22:44), 4:44, 4:50, 4:53, 4:49, 4:38 (23:54).

Why did the Wombat cross the road?

2009-11-08T16:33:00.003+11:00

I'll give you one possible answer to the title question of this post, but feel free to come up with something more humorous. Answer: I crossed the road to exorcise the chicken.

A bit of unintended drama this week. I should have listened to my mother when she told me to thoroughly chew my food before swallowing! On Wednesday evening I ran with friends around the Wetlands — somehow managing to miss out on some interesting conversations by running behind Chris and Andy but ahead of Jen and Ruth. I'm always missing out! On the way home I bought take-out roast chicken for dinner. I took a phone call during dinner, then was rushing to finish eating before bedtime. Long story short... I ended up in casualty at Canberra Hospital early Thursday morning — admitted for an operation that evening to remove the evil piece of chicken from my throat. All good now after being collected from hospital by Joy (my mate Mal's wife) on Friday afternoon.

Three days off running have left me feeling unfit. How can that be?! I ran a Pete Magill drills session this morning and finished with a trial run of three repeats up a 60 second hill (as recommended by Kathy in my last post). My legs felt good during the drills and semi-good for the hills, but the heart-rate was quite high for the whole session. I'll wait until Thursday before deciding whether or not to race the 10,000 metres.

A good hill near home for 60-second hill repeats

Which training plan is the best?

2009-11-01T19:40:00.004+11:00

Robert Song wrote a comment on my last post (The Secret to Running Faster) which I thought worthy of discussion. Yes friends, there's not a lot happening in this Australian territory of running heaven. Spring has finally arrived — sunny days in the 20 to 30° C range have replaced the wet and windy ones of less than 10° C. I continue to train — weeks of 63, 71, 64 and 90 kilometres have included 3 sessions of Pete Magill drills. I sense a slight improvement in my stride, but it's a work in progress. Fingers are crossed that this particular work isn't of Sagrada Família proportions.

Anyway, back to Robert Song's comment: "Maybe if you shaved off your beard and hair, it could make all the difference to your performance ;-) You seemed to have tried every other plan going around."
This is true! The bit about trying every other plan, not the bit about running sans beard and hair — that's not going to happen! I like trying different training methods out of curiosity. I want to see what effect they have on my body. I'm not in a desperate quest to find the holy grail of training methods. I don't particularly mind if a training method produces slow racing. I spent the year of 1984 doing "high quality, low mileage" training (two track sessions, a race and other runs at a good clip), which produced unspectacular races. In that year, my 3000s were around 10:30, whereas when I ran with higher mileage I was usually in the 10:00 to 10:10 range. Such is my curiosity for experimentation.

Now I also know that "high quality, low mileage" works brilliantly for runners of a certain body-type and talent. So I don't dismiss this type of training out of hand. The drills sessions that I'm now doing would work well within any type of training plan. In a high mileage plan they'd have to be on a day/run when one's legs are feeling good, so that would need a little finessing. I'm finding myself waiting for such days even on my current moderate mileage. Doing drills with dead legs isn't a great idea!

The following photograph is from this year's Lake to Lagoon Fun Run. My sister Jane took it, and the location is just two blocks from the family home of my youth. I ran this race in the late '70s when it used to go in the opposite direction. I like the ever-so Australian EH Holden in the background. Our family car was a slightly newer HK Holden station wagon.

#1656 hangs with the mid-pack 3k into the 2009 Lake to Lagoon Fun Run

The Secret to Running Faster

2009-10-22T17:49:00.003+11:00

I'd like to run faster. There are two things in particular that I plan on doing to achieve this seemingly simple goal. The first is to do regular "running drills". By 'regular', I mean at least once per week. I've done these haphazardly in the past, often joining in with the kids who train at Calwell. The drills that I'll do will include those demonstrated in this video on the Running Times website.

Why this new enthusiasm for drills? I think it was Rick who pointed out a podcast by Peter Magill where he lucidly explains the importance of drills for older runners. Pete mentions studies that show runners do a great job of retaining their stride frequency into old age. An 80-year-old runner can run the same number of strides per minute that they ran with at age 30. What they can't do is run with the same stride length. Pete says, "that by not doing things to maintain your stride length you're just getting slower."

This loss of stride length is a particular problem for long distance runners — especially those who never do speedwork or shorter races. It's pretty obvious that my stride has become shorter over the years. How short? About 25 centimetres (9.84 inches) shorter for each stride during a 3k race! If I could regain just a fraction of that stride length I might be able to run an age-50 PB for the 3000.

The other thing I plan on doing is to get the Goldilocks training happening. Joe Garland talked about this in a recent blog post about Charlie Spedding. Goldilocks training is running a workout not too hard, not too easy, but just right. Apparently this is the effort that Kenyan runners fall into naturally during their workouts. Marius Bakken took lactate measurements from Kenyan runners and discovered they always run at around anaerobic threshold. This intensity is from 87 to 88% of maximum heart-rate, with variations from 80 to 88%.

So, that's the plan. My next big thing is a 10,000 metre track race on November 12. A time of 44:54 or quicker is what I'd like to run — that would be an M50 PB. Is there time to perfect my new longer stride?

The 2009 Melbourne Half Marathon

2009-10-13T16:10:00.003+11:00

In August I wrote a story about a half marathon being a long way to run. Well, on Sunday I raced in the Salonpas Melbourne Half Marathon and it didn't feel quite that far — I was wanting it to finish at 17k, not 14k! I think the lovely Melbourne weather helped immensely, as did the picturesque course — the shaded St Kilda Road, the Albert Park Lake, the city skyline and the spectacular finish location inside the MCG.

I didn't receive an official time or place as my timing chip appears to have malfunctioned. I timed myself between the start and finish mats at 1:43:00. Perhaps it was a second or two faster, as I have a habit of waiting until I've crossed the finish mat before stopping the watch. Anyway, I'm reasonably happy with that. I'd loved to have been a couple of minutes quicker, but I think I got the most out of myself on the day.

My starting speed was about perfect. Nothing Pre-like about this one! I was behind the 1:45 pacing balloon up the hill at the start and around to Federation Square. I gradually drifted ahead and was feeling good, passing the 5k sign in 23:33. Onto the smooth, flat bitumen of the Grand Prix circuit I was still entertaining thoughts of an M50 PB and possible sub-1:40 at the 10k sign — 47:16. Running up the slight hill out of the park I lost some momentum, but failed to realise I was now running 4:55 kilometre splits rather than 4:45s. I was being overtaken by runners but didn't feel like I was slowing that much. Strange! By 15k I knew the M50 PB was out of reach, but thought the final time would be about 1:42. Running through the dark tunnel into the huge stadium and onto the hallowed turf of the MCG was a special moment. There was even an unknown spectator who yelled out, "Go Ewen!"

Even though I'm not a huge fan of long races, I think I'll run this one again. I like it — and how could one not like Melbourne? The weekend is also a welcome respite from the cold and wet of Canberra. I enjoyed catching up with friends old and new, including the famous 800m runner Jo and Western Australia's Jonathon. Sorry I missed others. Next time!

5k splits (Av HR): 23:33 (148), 23:43 (149), 24:44 (149), 25:27 (149) + 5:33 (151).

Turning Point

2009-09-30T16:47:00.002+10:00

I've reached an age where rational decision making tends to override spontaneous what-the-heckisms. After reading Duncan Larkin's piece in Running Times about the value of long runs for short racers, I decided to head out on Saturday morning for my one over-distance run prior to the Melbourne Half Marathon.

So it was that I arrived at the Cotter Reserve at the crack of dawn on a decidedly bleak and threatening day. I was going to run 15 miles (23.9 Garmin kilometres), over some big hills, in a spectacular location. On a clear day there are panoramic views that hearten the soul — largely the result commercial forestry and the 2003 bushfires. Fifteen years ago "The Cotter" was the perfect location for a summer run — the three courses (15, 18 and 21 miles) being shaded by towering Radiata Pines.

I set off with the impetuous intent of keeping the other (faster) runners in sight. Not an easy task on a course that climbs steadily for the first 20-odd minutes. Dumb idea! I was at close to racing effort, yet the three leaders steadily increased the gap. Steve must have felt some pity, as he waited patiently at the top of the first hill while I breathlessly caught up. "You go on and catch the others," I said. "I know my way, and need to slow down."

Half an hour later I was climbing the aptly named Jellylegs hill, battling into a headwind under steady rain. It was a miserable day. When I reached the gate at the top of the climb I took a drink. I stood there in the cold rain for what must have been a good five minutes, debating with myself about whether to turn right or left. Right was a short-cut home that would reduce the run to about 17 kilometres. Turn left and I'd be committed to the 24. In the end I thought "what the heck", and turned left. Fifteen minutes later I crested the rise on Bullock Paddock Road wondering what I'd done. The wind was biting and there were snow clouds blowing down from the mountains. I was freezing.

I can only remember a couple of times when I've been worried about my safety whilst out running. Once I was jogging beside a quite road towards Crater Lake in Oregon — just me and my thoughts, having a great time until I heard something moving in the forest. Immediately I recalled the stories about joggers being attacked by cougars or black bears. Needless to say I ran with adrenaline inspired urgency for the last 5k back to our lodgings.

What saved me on Saturday was a fortuitous break in the weather. Weak shadows appeared on the ground just after I reached Padovans Crossing. I'd never been so happy to see shadows! I was still cold and wet, but the rain had stopped and I was slowly jogging. At Vanities Crossing my legs were numb and dead from the cold. I was only 7k from home, so I walked the long hill towards Pierce's Creek then jogged the last 2k down to the cars, thinking all the while that this was one run I'd remember for a long time!

The Sydney Half and Lloydy

2009-09-21T16:06:00.003+10:00

I raced in the Blackmores Sydney Half Marathon yesterday. I was wide-eyed in wonderment at running over a traffic-free Harbour Bridge amongst a crowd of 7,000, and some time later, past the tourists of Circular Quay to finish near the steps of the Sydney Opera House. I had a great time! It was a perfect shining Sydney day.

I kept an eye on the heart-rate monitor in the early stages, just as Canute had done in the Robin Hood Half. I eased the throttle when the heart-rate went over 145. This method seemed to work pretty well, as the first 10k felt comfortable enough. After the turn I picked up the effort, but as I checked each kilometre split, realised that I wasn't producing any extra speed. Maybe it was just a bad hair day? Who knows? Anyway, my chip time was 1:46:10, so a little slower than for the Vets' Half, but on a warmer morning. My result doesn't fill me with confidence that I can run 1:40 in Melbourne in three weeks' time.

At the race expo on Saturday I bumped into Andrew Lloyd. For those who may not know, "Lloydy" ran in one of the most exciting 5000m races ever, when he came from behind to beat John Ngugi in the 1990 Commonwealth Games. I remember watching the race on live television, urging Lloydy on over the last thrilling lap. Steve Moneghetti in commentary was almost as animated as I was — it was a moment I'll never forget.

5k splits (Av HR): 24:43 (143), 24:42 (146), 25:26 (148), 25:41 (145), 5:38 (150)

With Andrew Lloyd at the Expo on Saturday

My Hometown

2009-09-15T15:36:00.004+10:00

Last Saturday dawned with weather perfect for motorcycling. Unfortunately the GSX needs a new rear tyre, so I drove the car to my old hometown of Wagga Wagga. I had planned to race the Canberra Times 10k on Sunday, but my sister was staying with Mum in Wagga, so it was a good opportunity to see them both before Jane's move to Tasmania. Jane had recently returned from an overseas trip where she visited the UK and later caught up with my other sister (now living in Minnesota) in New York City.

Lucho has ten rules of running. Rule #1 is "Family comes first". Rule #2 is "Did you read #1? If not, please read again". So, it was a family weekend. As serendipity would have it, there just happened to be a race in Wagga on Sunday morning — The Lake to Lagoon 9.5k Fun Run. I put in a late entry and ran while Jane and Mum went to church. Running is my church.

I enjoyed the race — well, the first 6k — having made a strategic decision to put my Prefontaine tactics on hold for this one. It was hot. In truth, the temperature was only 26°C, but having spent a Canberra winter running in temperatures south of 10°C, I was psyched out by the unseasonable gloriousness. I'm not a good hot-weather racer. There was also a fresh northerly wind whipping up waves on the normally placid Lake Albert. It was a headwind for much of the race distance.

With the weather conditions in mind, I raced with a little space between the throttle and the floorboards — perhaps starting at half marathon effort. Even so, I didn't have much in reserve for the last flattish 3k beside the river to the downtown finish. I enjoyed dicing with the local runners. There were a couple of small boys — one who surged Pre-like whenever I edged alongside — you've got to love that! There were two grey-haired old blokes, some footy players, and a couple of 20-something girls — one who had a mesmerisingly perfect running style.

My time for the race was 46:05, so not great, but safely home and living to look forward to the next one — which happens to be this coming Sunday in Sydney — The Blackmores Half Marathon. I get to run over the Harbour Bridge — Woo-hoo! I want this race to be a good trial for Melbourne in October, so I'll run as Canute did in the Robin Hood Half — keeping the heart-rate under control for the first 12 to 15k. If the shiny side is still upright for the run back to the Opera House I might bring in a little Pre-work. We'll see!

Ready to go in the 2006 Lake to Lagoon

Learning to run like Pre

2009-09-05T21:31:00.003+10:00

I've been thinking about Canute's comments in my last post where he mentions the central governor theory. Is it possible for me to cajole the pesky governor into allowing a slacker rope, such that I can run with the abandonment of Steve Prefontaine? Speedygeoff also mentions running a Pre-style 70 minute half marathon when he latched onto 2:15 marathoner John Andrews.

Jonathon, in a recent blog post, pointed out Pre's 5000m race in the 1972 Munich Olympics. It shows the final three laps of what is a fascinating race. Pre is leading and has set such a pace that all but four runners have been dropped. When he's finally overtaken, he bursts back into the lead only to be overtaken again. He manages to regain the lead once more, yet loses the bronze medal to a fast finishing Ian Stewart. My take on his thought process is that it goes something like: "bugger you mate, you're not going to lead my race!" I think Pre's accommodating central governor may have cost him a silver medal behind Lasse Virén.

Anyway, I'm never in the running for medals, so I'm open to suggestions for training sessions that might teach my pompous central governor a lesson — just as Gough Whitlam promised in 1975 when he said: "Well may we say God save the Queen, because nothing will save the governor-general!" Thanks Scott for mentioning that apt quote.

For 'Pre practise', I've done one 10k run where I warmed up for 2k, then alternated 'hard' and 'harder' 2k sections. 'Hard' was at about marathon race effort, while 'harder' was at about 10k race effort. This seemed to be a somewhat effective central governor humiliation strategy, as he tried mightily (but failed) to prevent the final 2k 'harder' section.

Early in the ACT Veterans' Half Marathon

A half marathon is a long way

2009-08-24T16:30:00.004+10:00

I raced in the ACT Veterans' Half Marathon on Sunday. It was a cool and sunny morning, with a yacht-friendly breeze blowing across Lake Burley Griffin. I decided in advance to make good on my promise to Pre — I'd start fast and hold the pace for as long as possible. Somewhere around 16k I found out that a half marathon is a long way.

The race has three separate starts, and I was in group two (for runners expecting to finish between 1 hour 40 minutes and 2 hours). Surprisingly, my quick start had me nowhere near the lead of the group! I was probably in around 12th place after the 2k sign, which I passed in 9:04 (1:35:40 pace). I kept running as hard as possible, but inevitably began to slow down.

After 5k I was overtaken by Roger, then Speedygeoff. Approaching the Governor General's residence Helen caught me — I managed to run with her until the aforementioned 16k mark. Gary also went by around here, saying something typically cheery. I found myself thinking about Malcolm Fraser, and did he really say "a half marathon wasn't meant to be easy". Anyway, I finally made it up the last hill, and down to the finish-line in 1:45:18. A very welcome finish-line indeed! Obviously I have a lot of work to do if I'm to get down to 1 hour 40 minutes for the Melbourne Half in October. Some long training runs will help — let's get this party started!

5k splits: 23:40, 24:33, 25:14, 26:08 + 5:43 (1.0975 km).

Being blown backwards near the finish of the Ski-jump 5k

A brief apology to Pre

2009-08-14T20:50:00.002+10:00

Last Sunday I finished my 26th City to Surf. Aside from the rather esoteric 3000 metres on the track, the City to Surf is my favourite race. At 14k, it's long enough to require some endurance, but short enough that it doesn't resemble a slow and painful tooth extraction.

New sub-3 man Scott Brown has been kind enough to nominate me as southern Canberra's answer to Steve Prefontaine. I've taken this on board and have decided to run all races out hard, in front — because (in the words of Pre) "winning any other way is chicken shit!"

This is the tactic I used in my recent Calgary ski jump 5k. Except that I wasn't "in front" — I'm too slow to ever be in front, but I can still race out hard, and bugger the consequences. These were my thoughts as I was chatting to Adam prior to the start on a beautifully cool and sunny day.

Sometime between that chat and the gun firing to send 63,000 runners charging down William Street, I reverted to type. I couldn't force myself to race out hard, so as I ran up to the Kings Cross tunnel, I said under my breath a brief apology to Pre — "forgive me this one time".

My conservatism resulted in a good race. I was relaxed and enjoying the day. I even threw my arms in the air in time to Enter Sandman, belted out by the band on the roof of the Golden Sheaf Hotel. I didn't die running up heart-break hill! I had time to look around and marvel at the people I was running with — from young teenagers to grey-haired ladies and a man pushing his child in a three-wheeled stroller.

I ran a strong last 4k, rushing down Military Road with my friends, and even managing something of a sprint for the 300 metres of Queen Elizabeth Drive to the finish. A 67:18 chip time was slower than last year, but I was happy. Maybe next year I'll listen to Metallica before the race, and that'll fire me up enough to race like Pre!

Me with my friends! This photo was in the C2S gallery but now it's gone. Was I too ugly?

The ski jumps at Calgary

2009-08-05T20:12:00.002+10:00

One day I'll get the hang of this racing game. Last Saturday I placed 40th in a local 5k "road" race — it was actually an out and back run on a flattish bike path next to Lake Burley Griffin.

I started with the intention of running something close to 21 minutes (I would have been happy with 21:30). After 500 metres or so I thought I had an achievable pace going and was feeling good. Then Roger (20:27) and Geoff (21:20) glided past. I ran more or less with Heidi for 3k, and was managing to hold a gap of 30 metres or so to a couple of young girls from my club, Lili and Caitlin.

The last 2k was not a pretty sight as Heidi and the two girls disappeared over the horizon. I've made a chart of kilometre splits — it dramatically shows my wheels falling off one by one. My race looks like the profile of one of the big ski jumps at Calgary. I know because I took the lift to the top of the biggest one in 2003.

The other two lines on the chart show a better way to race a 5k. The middle one is from my all-time 5000m PB. The bottom line shows the splits Ron Clarke ran in 1966 on his way to a World Record. I'd like to run an M50 PB this coming track season. To do that, I need something under 4:15 kilometres. I'm inclined to keep my starts like the lower slopes of the Calgary ski jump, and hopefully flatten it out as my fitness and speed improves.

Running up the big ski jump at Calgary is not easy!

[ Splits - 4:11, 4:13, 4:35, 4:43, 4:51 ]

Something Borrowed, Something New

2009-07-28T20:54:00.003+10:00

The toasty smoke has gradually cleared from my kitchen these past two weeks. It's taken awhile, because I tend to leave windows closed on frosty Canberra mornings.

Until I can scrape together enough cash for the uber-expensive Polar or Suunto HRV watches ($699 online for the latter), I've decided to implement a rather conservative training program. This is a borrowed plan, but it's new for me. It comes from the training diary of Sean Wade. Basically it calls for two easy days between hard sessions. The easy days for me will be an hour or so of running at 76% or less of maximum heart-rate (about 5:45 to 6:00 per km). The hard days will be whatever I feel I need — most likely long hard efforts, such as marathon-pace runs, longer tempo runs, or intervals with minimal recoveries.

I scanned the photo below from a Kodachrome slide. It shows Adam Hoyle and Steve Moneghetti (792) racing in the 1986 World Cross Country selection trial in Canberra. The 12k race was won by Rob de Castella in 36:30, with a fresh-faced Moneghetti placing 4th in 37:18. It occurred to me that Mona has the longevity of my chrome-plated Chinese-made toaster. Just the other day he ran 30:00 for a road 10k in Launceston, two months shy of his 47th birthday. What an example to keep on running!

Steve Moneghetti - Canberra, 1986

Burnt Toast and HRV

2009-07-19T19:46:00.003+10:00

My toaster refuses to die. I purchased it in 1989, the year I bought my house. It was made in China — the country that produces most of our running shoes and LCD screens. It's chrome plated, and such are the whims of fashion, this virtue has transformed it into a totally modern, "must have" kitchen accessory.

So all is good with my toaster! Or is it? Occasionally I'll forget to adjust the timer and be presented with two pieces of charcoal encrusted raisin toast. I was thinking the other day that I'd love to have the longevity of my toaster. To be running with the same speed that I had (and took for granted) in 1989. The unpredictable burning of raisin bread, I see as a metaphor for my (I suspect) recent problem with over-training.

At some point during my 12 weeks of Hosaka-Hadd training my body started to object. I slowly went from continual gains in fitness to struggle-mode. I was becoming burnt toast. Looking back at my training diary, I can see the point where smoke started rising to the ceiling. For 10 weeks, my heart-beats per kilometre (the RS scale), had been steadily decreasing, showing gains in aerobic fitness. I was running my 7k kangaroo/wombat course at below 700 heart-beats per kilometre. At the point of over-training my heart-beats per kilometre climbed, reaching 715 to 720 beats per kilometre.

Is there a way of predicting the onset of over-training, or better still, preventing it from happening in the first place? I've been following with great interest a series of posts from Canute which tackle this issue. Heart rate variability (HRV), or more pertinently the lack of HRV, is a good indicator of over-training stress. "What is HRV?" I hear you asking. Simply put, it's the beat-to-beat timing of the heart-rate. If your heart is beating at 60 beats per minute and you have little HRV, then each of those beats will be extremely close to one second apart. This indicates a highly stressed (or over-trained) state. If you have good HRV, then some beats might be 0.9 seconds apart, with others 1.1 seconds apart.

So it seems you can use the HRV result on any particular day to indicate what sort of a training session you should do. If one's HRV is low, then it may pay off in the long term to postpone a planned hard training session. There are two heart-rate monitors (that I know of) capable of measuring HRV: The Polar RS800CX and the Suunto t6c. Now all I have to do is figure out if I should invest the money I've saved on toasters over the years into one of these high-end heart-rate monitors.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend. May your coming week be stress-free and full of happy running memories!

On the Beach at Surfers Paradise, July '09

On the Beach

2009-07-07T14:12:00.004+10:00

After an all too brief five days in the blazing Queensland sun, I'm back in cool quiet Canberra. To tell you the truth, the sun lacked the intensity of the one now burning over the desert in Arizona — in fact the weather was as perfect as can be — and especially perfect on race-day.

In the end, I didn't run the fast half marathon I was hoping for. A late rush to regain some fitness resulted in a worrying injury gatecrashing the party. It wasn't the left shin — that was rather docile. It was a tight right hamstring. When we visited the expo, I transferred my entry to the 10k race, such was my concern about the leg surviving 21 kilometres of hard running.

After all that, the 10k went surprisingly well, although the tight right leg refused to lay low. My chip time was 45:44 — 37 seconds slower than last year — but the race felt quite different. Aside from the bothersome hamstring, the legs were good throughout. Strained breathing and a high heart-rate during the second half indicated some lost fitness. I was a minute slower on the return journey from Surfers Paradise — running the first 5k in 22:22 at an average heart-rate of 152, with the second 5k a fading 23:22 at 155.

Thinking about it now, two days later, I can see some good racing happening in the months ahead — perhaps in the City to Surf, or the Melbourne Half Marathon. I do feel rejuvenated after my holiday, and can't wait to resume training. There's something about catching up with old friends and witnessing some inspirational racing that's good for the soul.

Dinner with Plu outside the Jolly Chinaman in Main Beach

View north of the marathon and 10k course from the 22nd floor

Running again

2009-06-28T21:08:00.003+10:00

I've had song lyrics going around in my head this week — lines from two songs in particular: From Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi, I've been singing "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone"; and from Paul Simon's Slip Slidin' Away, "You know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away".

I'm running again. Hallelujah! Okay, that's over the top — but I'm so happy to be running. Have I told you that I like running? Twelve weeks of averaging 112 kilometres per week have been followed by two weeks which included eight days of "nil" in the diary. I ventured out yesterday with great trepidation to huff and puff my way around the Kangaroos & Wombats course. Apart from the high heart-rate and particularly rusty form, it was all good.

Next Sunday I hope to be a starter in the Gold Coast Half Marathon. The nearer this race has come, the more my condition has been slip slidin' away. Nevertheless, I intend to thoroughly enjoy my brief few days in the blazing Queensland sun! I'll take a few Kodachromes while I'm there, and catch up with you all on the other side.

On the Beach at Surfers Paradise, July '07

Off the rails

2009-06-21T13:09:00.002+10:00

You might have guessed correctly that my running has sailed into a bit of a lull this past week. At least I hope it's just temporarily becalmed. Last Sunday during my long run I noticed a slight niggle in the left shin. On Monday it was aching enough that I cut short my run with the Speedygeese. I rested Tuesday and Wednesday, then ran a not entirely comfortable 7k on my Fire Trail course on Thursday — 5:08 per km pace at 84% of maximum heart-rate.

On Friday I went for a walk, and made my first YouTube movie, Looking for Kangaroos and Wombats, which you can view below (if you have a spare 5 minutes) — I walk around my 7k course and manage to get some good film of the local wildlife. Yesterday I rested again (the shin was feeling better), and this afternoon I might test the leg with a short run at Fadden Pines.

I think my recent tiredness and higher heart-rate on the 7k runs was an indication that I was teetering dangerously on the Hosaka-training tightrope. I'm thinking of scaling back the volume for a while (to around 90-110 km per week) in order to regain my balance. I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and is doing better than me at staying balanced!

Racing tired

2009-06-13T19:22:00.004+10:00

I raced 6k with the ACT Cross Country Club this afternoon. I didn't run that well! The race used the "old" Jogalong course in Stromlo Forest. It's a slightly slower course than the "original old" Jogalong course, due to the fact that the last kilometre of the race is uphill, whereas it used to be downhill.

It's one of the courses I ran in the old days — as a 32-year-old whipper snapper I placed 41st in 22:54, splitting sub-3-hour marathoners Carol Ey and Mary Silver. Today, 19 years later, I was a little over 6 minutes slower — 29:05 for 51st place.

As a race, it was good and bad. I felt I was running well during the first 3k, and actually closed to within 10 seconds of my habitually fast-starting rival Jim (who would finish just over a minute ahead). I was thinking 'gee, I'm going to catch him today!' before the wheels promptly fell off as I hit the rutted uphill bit. From then on it was a struggle. A woman in black passed me, as did Andrew G, and during the last long uphill kilometre, Burkie. Heidi would have been next, but thankfully the finish-line arrived in the nick of time.

I'm not enjoying racing tired. Two weeks ago my race at North Lyneham was pretty uninspiring. As for training, yesterday was another 7k + 10k Hosaka double. Now these training days have been going well! I'm enjoying them — even in the 2 degree temperatures we've had recently. I just about have the repeatable balance right. Not quite Zen days, as Scott suggests they should be, but getting close. Tomorrow will see another 120k for the week under the Frees/Asics, for a 4-week total of 480 kilometres. I'm thinking about racing the Canada Day 5k next Sunday, but with a week of easier running first! I'd like to feel fresh for a change.

Follow the yellow dirt road!

A training day, repeated

2009-06-07T10:55:00.003+10:00

I'd like you, my readers, to consider something which may at first seem absurd: What is the type of training day you could repeat ad infinitum, à la Yoshihisa Hosaka?

Why I ask, is that after doing quite a few Hosaka-style days, I'm learning something new about myself as a runner. You see, taking 24 hours and repeating it requires a certain tightrope-like balance. Get it wrong and you teeter to one side, and find yourself suddenly shifting weight to the skyward end of your flailing balance pole. Of course, under ideal circumstances, these adjustments would be subtle, and undetectable to gasping onlookers. You won't suddenly need a rest day from running to regain your balance.

Now some of you will be clever, and say something like "I could run 5k per day ad infinitum", or if you're a speedster like Jo, you might say "My repeatable training day would be a 5-lap warm-up and 5 x 200m sprints". That's the easy way out! I want you to think about a day that might be close to your limit. A day right on the edge of your comfort zone. Let me know, hypothetically, what this day might be.

For myself, I've zeroed in on about 17 kilometres per day. From Tuesday through to Friday I run this in two sessions: 7k after work, which I run on trails at mid to upper aerobic effort, then an hour or so later an easy 12k out and back towards Rose Cottage Inn. I've learned rather quickly to rein myself in during the 7k run, lest the 12k become an excruciatingly slow plod, and I find myself sleeping for 9 hours instead of 8 — not a good look when I stagger into work all bleary-eyed, half an hour late! I run the 7k at between 5:10 and 5:25 per km, although if my aerobic condition improves, these paces may become faster. On the weekends, although I could do the same, I usually run once per day for around 17 kilometres. On Monday afternoons I run an easy 14 or so with the Speedygeese.

Now is this a logical, sensible or effective training plan? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. Perhaps you can offer an opinion? I'm doing it in essence, as an experiment. I'm trying to understand Hosaka, and what made him the fastest 60-year-old marathoner in the world. I don't have an overwhelming desire to break 21 minutes for 5k or 1:38 for the half marathon, although as a side-effect of this unusual training plan, that would be nice. I'm quite enjoying the simplicity of running the same amount and effort during 24 hours, for day after day.

My last training week went — 14, 7-12, 7-12, 7-12, 7-8, 18, 9-8. The last 7 weeks in kilometres have been — 126, 124, 123, 69, 113, 126 and 121 — so not quite the beautiful set of numbers that Hosaka records, but I'm working on it.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. This photo proves bearded runners are faster. In this recent "race" at North Lyneham, both bearded runners finished well ahead of the clean-shaven one!

Hosaka for Ewen Average

2009-05-27T19:04:00.002+10:00

Earlier this week my eyes lit up when I read Sling's latest blog post. It described the finer details of Yoshihisa Hosaka's unique and somewhat repetitive training, as told in the June edition of Running Times magazine...

"His training is as follows: AM: 2.5k warm-up, 5 x 1 km from 4:00/km to 3:20/km pace, 2.5k warm-down (10k total). PM: 12k (6:00 - 5:00/km pace), 5 x 1 km downhill from 3:40/km to 3:20/km pace, jogging uphill for recovery (22k total). Essentially, Hosaka does these two workouts every day, all year around, aka 32k per day in doubles (no long runs). He said intervals are the way to go for old runners since long runs are very taxing on the body. When asked about the lack of variety, he said that the marathon is all about running at constant effort, therefore a runner needs to train to manage that constant."

What does this mean for your humble blogger, an admitted fan of Hosaka? I'd like to report that I'm cruising down the highway logging just the hours that Hosaka runs (46 minutes for the first session, 1 hour 45 minutes for the second), but I'm not. I'm running about 34 minutes for my first run then a couple of hours later 1 hour 15 minutes for my second. I haven't even thought about attempting his twice-daily sessions of speedwork.

The times that Hosaka runs for the 5 x 1 km repeats are fairly moderate for a man who, as a 60-year-old, has run 2:36:30 for the marathon. His marathon race-pace is 3:42 per km, so for the morning repeats he starts at M-pace plus 8% and finishes with M-pace minus 10%. If I were to attempt such a session, and presuming as a 50-54 Master I could run 3:30 for the marathon, my interval goal times for the kilometres would be something like 5:23 down to 4:29, which seems feasible. What doesn't seem feasible is doing a similar thing for my second run and then repeating it day after day, week after week, month after month. Instead, I plan to keep running around 125 kilometres per week of Hosaka-Hadd, perhaps less for the third week, and eventually bring in a session of Hosaka-style speedwork to go with a weekly Cross Country Club race or High Noon track race. Stay tuned!

One quarter of a good Half in Sydney

2009-05-18T16:02:00.002+10:00

I enjoyed my weekend in Sydney — all of it but for the last 30 minutes of the SMH Half Marathon on Sunday. The morning dawned with stunning perfection. I managed to squeeze sufficiently close to the front of the 8,400-plus field prior to the start — it only took 22 seconds to cross the timing mats. Soon enough I was able to find space to run at the speed I wanted. It was exciting to be running through the city amongst thousands of like-minded people, all following 2000 Olympic steeplechase gold medallist Reuben Kosgei.

We turned left into Hunter Street, then sped downhill towards Circular Quay and The Rocks. I must have been channelling Scott Brown's positivity as I ran at M50 PB pace. 23:13 at 5k. If I could keep that going I'd run 98 minutes! Unfortunately it was not to be — I felt sort of okay through the next 5k (24:58) but just as JD and Tesso blew past I felt suddenly tired. The rest of my race was spent trying to preserve the pace I happened to be running at the time. The 5k to 15k took 24:57 but the next 5k was a very pear-shaped 26:50. I knew I was slowing by the hundreds of runners that went past. I was extremely happy to finally see the finish line in beautiful Hyde Park. My chip time was 1:45:36 (2,339th place).

So, it was a pretty ordinary race. I think I'll run the half marathon at the Gold Coast. I want to run faster!

5k splits and average heart-rates: 23:13 (150), 24:58 (150), 24:57 (147), 26:50 (145), 5:38 (151).

Hotel room view of Hyde Park and St Mary's Cathederal where the race started

Ghosts of Races Past

2009-05-10T19:26:00.004+10:00

I run what seems like a million kilometres per week and I'm still here. It's amazing what the body will put up with! Three weeks of the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan are in the diary — 126k, 124k, and this past week, 123k. I have a half marathon race in Sydney next Sunday but I'm over it already. I've read there are 10,000 runners entered for the race on a course which is too narrow in places for the former limit of 5,000.

Last Sunday I had a surprisingly good race in the Nail Can Hill Run — an 11.3k trail race in sunny Albury which attracted almost 1400 runners. I ran a recent PB of 55:51, placing 176th. More importantly, I beat my friend and long-time rival Jim! Now, I know he had a bad race, but who cares? I beat the bastard! I caught him 1k into the race and ran scared for the next 10.3k, thinking he might catch up at any moment.

Here are my kilometre splits for the race, which clearly shows "the hill": 4:28, 4:37, 7:38, 6:26, 4:36, 4:37, 4:29, 4:42, 3:45, 4:53, 4:28, 1:12 (300m). Here are the ghosts of races past: 1981 - 50:40, 2006 - 60:56, 2007 - 59:17, 2008 - 56:53. Photos from last year's race.

Jim - back row, 5th from left.
Kathy (adidas top) placed 4th female and 1st W50.

A Fistful of Running

2009-04-30T15:48:00.002+10:00

My first week of the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan is behind me — 125 kilometres of running in eleven sessions. My shower is starting to go mouldy! For the future, this volume of training seems doable, but not something that will be despatched with the certainty of my mate Scott demolishing a personal-best time whenever he finishes a race.

Speaking of the 3:00:08 marathon man, he recently wrote a post that caused me to spray a mouthful of Twinings Earl Grey all over my keyboard. Scott reckons I could pass for Clint Eastwood's better looking younger twin brother. Do you really think so punks? Go ahead, make my day! If you don't think so amigos, I'll order three — no four — coffins.

Avid Six Footer and ultra runner Two Fruits is wondering how I'll hold up to the double running and high mileage. It's too early to say, but I hope I have the miles/recovery/sleep balance right. Runner Susan wants to know if I was stuck for a blog idea. Not stuck Susan, just falling asleep on the couch when I'd normally be typing! One thing I can say already is that my aerobic fitness signs are promising.

I'm a big fan of the Robert Song Scale for tracking how aerobic improvement is progressing. Robert Song multiplies average heart-rate by the average pace of a run on a particular course to come up with a number, which I call the RS result. For example, if I run my 12k course at 5:12 per km with an average heart-rate of 136, this equates to an RS number of 707. This happened to be the first run I did yesterday afternoon. The lower the RS number, the better. On January 22 I ran the same course at 5:25 per km with an average heart-rate of 134, giving an RS number of 726. To me, yesterday's run seems like a significant improvement, even though it was 21°C in January, and 9°C yesterday.

Like Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars, I wear black! [Tesso took this photo of Helen, Robbie and myself just prior to the start of the Canberra Marathon-Eve 10k — then she gave me a punch in the guts for good luck]

Putting in the hours

2009-04-19T19:16:00.003+10:00

I raced 10k yesterday afternoon. It was a spectacular day — the sky suitably blue and free of clouds. The gentlest of breezes disturbed the tall grasses in the paddock I have for a back yard. I was excited to be racing again and curious to discover how I'd react to 3 weeks of distance training. I've run weeks of 118, 112 and 108 kilometres. In the end, I had what I'd call an "okay with it" type of race. I ran 46:56 — 18 seconds slower than for last October's Melbourne 10k, but on a harder course. It was a 5-lap course — the first two laps included a short gradual hill, with the next three laps a long gradual hill. I had a fun race with JD (who caught me on the third lap) and an unknown girl in pink. It came down to a sprint finish. I managed to get the better of JD, but the UGIP came with a late rush and surprised the both of us!

I've been following what I like to call the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan — running as many 'doubles' as I can — usually 6k in the early afternoon followed by 12k a couple of hours later. I've decided that a morning run at 4:30 a.m. isn't going to work for me through a Canberra winter. Running under a cool sun is a far more enjoyable prospect, so I've advanced my clock-on time at Tiny Global Corporation by an hour to 5:00 a.m. This means if I'm not working overtime I can be home by 1:15 p.m. and off for my first run of the day shortly thereafter.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to run what I consider to be "high mileage training" — at least for a number of months. For me that means running consistent weeks of 125 or more kilometres (78 miles). It's something I've never attempted before. Ever. In my wild youthful days there were some weeks of 110 to 130 kilometres, but never for weeks and months at a time. I want to do significantly more running than I'm used to in order to see if it has any positive effect on my aerobic fitness. There will be races during this period, but I'm not planning on tapering for these races.

I don't expect the Hosaka-Hadd Training Plan will be easy, but as Bryan Brown said in the following song by Karma County: "You've got to want, you've got to need. But most of all, you've got to put in the hours". I like this video-clip because it's quintessentially Australian — there's the Hills Hoist and the BBQ; and just like at the home of my youth, the car gently scrapes it's exhaust as it's driven into the driveway.

Hosaka is my new Hippie Steve

2009-04-04T16:01:00.005+11:00

I decided not to race on Thursday night. I was tempted by the final 3000 metre event of the season, but lethargy got the better of me and I stayed down south and ran on the sumptuous grass at Calwell. There will be plenty of opportunities to race on the track during winter in the "High Noon" meetings. I've commenced base training, running 118 kilometres last week and what looks like being 115 this week if I manage to do the 16k run planned for Sunday.

My favourite running heroes are what I like to call "blue-collar runners". They work in ordinary jobs, fit in their running when they can, and often do amazing things with modest talent. In the 1980s I admired Hippie Steve, who ran with our group in Sydney's Lane Cove River Park [number 8 in the photo on this page]. Steve was a great enthusiast and I was forever impressed by the way he could run 35 to 36 minutes for 10k at Lane Cove without even thinking about it, and also be happy enough to jog the bush track on Fridays with snails like myself.

Now I have a new hero, although I'll never get to run with him, and his talent may be slightly superior to Hippie Steve's. Thanks to Bob, I've become fascinated by Yoshihisa Hosaka — the 60-year-old Japanese runner who in February ran 2:36:30 for the marathon. Yes, Hosaka is even quicker than my other hero — that connoisseur of black fish and huge exotic marathon PBs — Scott Brown. Apparently Hosaka tries to average 30 kilometres per day when training for marathons — 10k in the morning before work and 20k in the evening.

I've tried to emulate Hosaka by running 6k in the morning and 12k in the evening on eight days in the past fortnight. Now before all you brilliant mathematicians jump in and say that only adds up to 18k, I'll quickly add that I'm a much slower runner than Hosaka, and my kilometres take longer to run. A hard 6k for me takes around 33 minutes to complete, whereas a hard 10k for Hosaka would have him on the road for perhaps only 35 minutes. My 6k course follows a 2k loop through and around the suburb where I live. About half the course is on a lovely dirt track and it climbs about 50 metres in the first kilometre of each lap.

One interesting thing I've noticed on these "double" runs is that my resting heart-rate prior to the afternoon run isn't as low as it would be if I'd had a normal break of 23 hours between outings. It's been about 4 beats higher and consequently has remained high during the second run, even when my legs are telling me I'm running easily. I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Is it a good training effect, or am I overdoing things?

Anyway, good luck to all who are racing this weekend. Run like Hosaka!

View from space of my 2k loop near home

It's not exactly flat!

The Weakness In Me

2009-03-28T16:48:00.004+11:00

My recovery from Six Foot has been faster than last year, perhaps because I walked so much of the 19k journey from Pluvi to Caves House. The slow death march did reveal a weakness in my running — poor endurance. I suspect the recent track season and associated lactic-acid-intense running has eroded my aerobic ability. Average heart-rates on the various courses I run are higher than they were when I was following Hadd.

Perversely, the speedwork and racing I did over summer actually made me slower. I'm one of those runners who don't respond well to fewer weekly miles. Especially when an ever increasing percentage of those miles are run anaerobically. My fastest 1500m race last year (5:38) came after 4 weeks of around 95 kilometres (59 miles) per week of mostly aerobic running. The day before that race I ran an easy 17.6k at 5:52 per km for an average heart-rate of 123. If I were to run the same course now at the same pace, my average heart-rate would be a solid grey 129.

Can I run faster for 3000 and 5000 metres? I hope so! My aerobic condition is less than it could be, which means my speed at 5k racing heart-rate (92-93% of max) is too slow. That's one obvious weakness. Another weakness is my lack of speed. I'm naturally slow and always have been — my 20-something PB for 200 metres is a modest 28.7 seconds. If I were to race 200 metres now I'd be around 5 seconds slower. But how much basic speed do I need? Which of my weaknesses should I work on? My 11:39 goal for 3000 metres only requires a pace of 46.6 seconds per 200 metres. Will improving my 200 speed by 3 seconds, say from 34 to 31, make me faster at three and five kilometres, or am I better off going back to a more Hadd-based aerobic programme? I think the latter. So, I'm modifying the programme I outlined in 'The 11:39 Plan'. I'll replace the 1000m intervals with another aerobic run, finishing with some short sprints. Sprints of less than 10 seconds use the alactic system so don't produce lactic acid, which makes them ideal for building strength and speed without damaging aerobic condition. I'll also try and run 100 kilometres per week — perhaps more if possible. If I get bored I'll listen to the Tower Of Robert Song album or tunes like this on my miniature portable music player.

It must be the Bellbirds

2009-03-21T18:12:00.005+11:00

Saturday, 2:20 pm. At this time a week ago I was commencing the final two kilometre treacherous descent to the most welcoming finish line of any race in Australia. Well, the word race is a misnomer, as Six Foot is an event with no peer. It's an event where a sold-out field of 849 runners tested their endurance against 45 kilometres of the toughest terrain in the Blue Mountains.

Last year I finished with an unexpected PB. This year my 'Plan-A' was to run a similar sort of race, while 'Plan-B' was to make it safely to Caves House inside the 7-hour time limit, thus securing the mysterious and coveted belt buckle for six finishes. I was eight minutes behind PB schedule at the Pluviometer — 26 kilometres down and all the big climbs were over. Just 19 kilometres remained. Once the track along the Black Range became runable I broke into a Cliffy shuffle but as soon as I hit the next small rise I reverted to walking. I was gone. Time for 'Plan-B'. Lots of walking, slow running on the downhills and an eternity of time for thinking...

I wondered about what it is that draws me back to this event. It can't be the satisfaction of putting in a maximal all-the-way effort, for I don't have the endurance and hill running ability to do that. Maybe it's both the familiar and the different things you notice each year — like the soothing cool waters of the three streams after the Alum Creek aid station. Or the distant view of a line of people walking up to Pinnacle Hill. Or chatting to fellow runners before the start and on the dark, cool, damp steps of Nellie's Glen. This year there was enthusiastic ear-piercing screaming from a small cheer-squad on the Deviation which lifted me into a run until I was safely out of sight.

I just love the first 16 kilometres of Six Foot. It has such a variety of running and I like it all. It's an adventure! My favourite part is the final five kilometres down to the Cox's River — a narrow single-track of twists, turns, steps and rocks — running in a line of people all enjoying the same thing. There are many reasons why I keep coming back, but if pushed for a single one I'll just say "It must be the Bellbirds". For they have a song which is surely made in heaven — tinkling and shrill. I hear it from what must be hundreds of birds and I look high into the tree-tops for the source of such delightful sound. No wonder they inspired Henry Kendall to write his most loved poem.

Splits 2009: Nellie's (1.7k) 21:45, Megalong Valley Rd (8.1k) 53:36, Pinnacle Hill (10k) 1:04:37, Cox's River (15.5k) 1:42:22, Mini-Mini summit (20k) 2:30:33, Pluviometer (26k) 3:30:50, Caves Rd (37.9k) 5:18:20, Finish (45k) 6:23:23.

Splits 2008: Nellie's (1.7k) 19:25, Megalong Valley Rd (8.1k) 52:14, Pinnacle Hill (10k) 1:03:07, Cox's River (15.5k) 1:39:40, Mini-Mini summit (20k) 2:25:24, Pluviometer (26k) 3:22:28, Caves Rd (37.9k) 4:49:42, Finish (45k) 5:41:07.

It's not easy to walk, but easy to smile on the day after Six Foot

It took six years and 270 kilometres for the buckle

1964

2009-03-07T20:11:00.002+11:00

I'm touched with nostalgia after stumbling across a fascinating documentary film from 1964. A year from my childhood. I was seven years old and remember all too distinctly the houses, the cars, the simple life, and Mum's cooking. I wasn't a runner, but did lots of running — playing games of hide and seek; chasing; British bulldog; cowboys and indians; backyard cricket and soccer. Like all children, we ran and walked to get places.

The film is about Peter Snell, "a tennis player who tried his luck at running". It's in two parts, and can be seen here. It shows Snell running in the Waiatarua hills, over farmland, up steep bush tracks and through suburban streets. You also get to see some of the races he ran on the grass and cinder tracks of the day. There's footage of some world records, including the 3:54.4 mile he ran on a grass track in Wanganui. In one particular race he finishes a distant third and says "I made up my mind after this disappointment I was going to get right into a build-up of 100 miles a week as soon as possible".

Most runners would know that Snell was a pupil of the legendary New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard. Although Snell was a middle distance runner, with the one mile his longest race, Lydiard convinced him to follow training methods which included a base-building stage of many weeks of running 100 miles per week. In the documentary it's revealed that the 100 miles per week in seven sessions was supplemented by morning runs of five miles.

My training diary shows I've only missed a little running with my dodgy back. The stretching and strengthening exercises seem to be doing the trick. I'm yet to attempt any hard workouts or races. The ACT Masters' 5000m Championship race is on this coming Thursday. I may not run though, as I'm doing a long run and walk through the Blue Mountains on Saturday morning.

Mum's kitchen looks just like this one from New Zealand!

Buckled Wheels

2009-02-25T16:46:00.002+11:00

Have I told you lately how much I love running? In the 1980s I ran with a group in Lane Cove National Park. When we talked about runners who were injured, we'd refer to their wheels — as in "Hippie Steve's wheels have fallen off." We'd say the same thing if a runner failed to finish a race — "Jenny's wheels must have fallen off." Yes, we were indestructible heartless bastards!

Well, since Saturday afternoon my wheels have been off and on like those of a Formula One car. When on, they've been buckled. I've done two short runs — both Cliffy shuffles that had me feeling like Walt Kowalski chasing the neighbours from his front lawn. I did something to my back. I'm pretty sure it's a pinched sciatic nerve.

Today, standing up and walking is less painful, so I'll try another easy run this evening. This minor drama makes me think about how much I'd miss running if I were unable to do it. I'd miss it a lot. I first had this realisation after my second marathon in 1981 — a knee injury made me a spectator for five months. Since that time, I've always trained conservatively, hoping that keeping something in reserve will extend my time as a runner. I'd like to run until I'm old enough to say to the Walt Kowalskis of my neighbourhood "Hey young fella — back in my day we used to chase kangaroos to exhaustion around the grass track at Stromlo!"