Back On Track

Its our TT next Tuesday so that meant 500m reps yesterday. I was rapt to record my best ones in months - 1:55, 1:52, 1:57, 1:55, 1:58, 1:52. The first, third and fifth are slightly uphill ... which means the others are slightly downhill :-) I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for the little pack of 8 or so of us that I ran in, we dragged eachother along each time.

Did another lunchtime run today, 15k in 1:13.30 (av 4:54s). Though I pushed harder in the second half to negative split it by 1m30s. Feels like a good start to the Melbourne Marathon training.

A more few pics from the GC (thanks Pat!). Let's hope I feel this good in the final kilometre in October .... or at any stage of the race for that matter :-)

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Friday morn went back to PCRG for another session of 4 x 4 mins, though this time I held back a bit. I wanted to try out my new shoes, Nike Air Zoom Elite, which I won at Warwick. They were a random prize kindly donated by fellow five time Warwick-er Peter Hall who owns and operates Victory Sports at the Gold Coast. They felt great, though I think I'll save them for shorter stuff like speed work for the time being. I like the green :-)


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Saturday morning met up with Mat and Sal early and we put in about 4.5k before hooking up with the 6am crew. Not sure how far we ran altogether as Mat's Garmin exploded along the way, I'm guessing 25k.

That evening was the PCRG annual dinner. What a top night! So much seemed to happen and it was all over way too fast. I'll post some pics tomorrow. There were so many great moments but one of the highlights of the night was the announcement that in our Gold Coast campaign we raised well over $17000 for Childhood Cancer Support!

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Took the Nike's for another run at lunchtime today. I'm not used to running on my own so was happy to bump into Little Claire (who thankfully was walking so at least I could keep up!) and then later on Annie. A very leisurely 11k all up.

Nikki is Cold

Tuesday morn at PCRG was 1 minute efforts. Though I couldn't really call mine 'efforts' as I spent most of the time running with Tara and chatting. The last couple I ramped it up from half-hearted to about three-quarter-hearted.

Wednesday was supposed to be a lap of Mt Coot-tha with Mat. But it was also supposed to be 5 degress so I was a Neville No-Show.

This morning at PCRG we had 4 min efforts with a 30 sec SR. I figured it was about time I pulled my finger out and got stuck into it. Trouble is I thought Pat said we were doing three of them so gave it my all on the third only to find we had to do another. That hurt. Felt good but.

Speaking of all things 4 according to the Met Bureau when we set off the temp was sub 4, and the apparent temp was under 1. Even my eyes were cold! I can't recall ever rugging up so much to run, layer upon layer. Just call me Sarah Lee. Or Nikki.

Was It Something I Said

Did another PCRG session Friday (same as Thursday) and then the 18k green bridge loop Saturday. Though this time we went in reverse, which is a bit harder hill wise. Still, I like the fact that we do West End bit first rather than making an optional 5k extra at the end.

It was a good run, averaging 5:10 pace for the 18k, though Mat tells me there were a few sub 5s in there, and one km was a 4:38. With a few km to go some of the guys were several hundred metres in front so I put the foot down and finally caught them 1k from the finish. Toasty took one look at me (I was huffing and puffing from the effort) and with an evil grin said something like "let's go guys" and they all bolted :-)

Haven't run since Saturday - still milking the old marathon recovery for all its worth. But really its this cold weather, it makes it so difficult to get motivated and get out there. Last month was our coldest June since 1950, I wouldn't be surprised if its a similar thing for July.

Easing Back Into It

Made the return to PCRG on Tuesday. I can't even say exactly what the session was, some 1 minute reps and some 30 second ones. Pat suggested that those of us who did the marathon take it easy so I did, and just ran the circuit around the Gardens chatting with a few of the girls. Fun :-)


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This morning at PCRG we all wore pink to show support for annual Think Pink Week and the Kim Walters Choices Program. Terry from 97.3 FM joined us for the warm-up and crossed live to air a couple of times. We made a stop at Riverside where the rest of the morning crew were broadcasting from.

The session itself was a mix of 4 and 2 minute efforts. The first couple I held back a bit and then ramped it up to about 75% in the second couple. Felt good.

Pity Pat didn't have his camera on hand, the boys all looked so pretty.


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I've more or less decided Melbourne Marathon (Oct 7th) will be the next one. I was going to do Sydney but this will give me an extra two weeks to train. And how good would it be finishing with a lap of the MCG. It seems stacks of Brissos are going, could be a good little party happening Sunday night :-)

Gold Coast Post Mortem

Not just did I feel great during the marathon, I seemed to have pulled up really well from it. The legs weren't too bad at all, a little bit of DOMS but nothing like I normally have even after half marathons. Go figure!

But as for why the race went so well I'm still trying to work it out. Considering my lack of long runs my strength in that final 10k had to come from somewhere and I can only think its all the physio and core stability exercises (minimum of 1 hour a day, 5 or 6 days a week). Not to mention the 22 push-ups after each PCRG session and some other runs :-)

As for my race day strategy I used the McMillan calcualtor to work out what I was capable of in the race, recent results said 3:30 to 3:34 so went out at a pace that would bring me home around 3:35. I really didn't expect to be able to maintain it but had enough left in the tank to kick it in the guts in the final stages, with the two kms being just under 5 minute pace.

A finish time of 3:34.14 came as a surprise (especially considering I lost half a minute or so sitting at a bus stop attending to a sock malfunction). Makes me kind of excited thinking about what I can do if I can string a three months of injury free training together before the next one.

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Post race I had a whole five days with lots of eating, a little wine drinking, and no running.

Saturday was an easy 8k.

Yesterday was the 14k at BRRC - finish time 66:03 (av 4:43s). Huge congrats to fellow PCRG-er Michelle for winning the novice race, with Margy a close second - see girls, those push-ups do pay off!

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A couple of pics from the big day ....


With CR Tuttle just before kick-off (thanks to Hannah)



At 41k (thanks to Mike R from PCRG)

Gold Coast Marathon 2007

Just a quick post as I'm about to head off for a couple of days R & R. I might write a longer one when I return.

'A' goal was 3:45, 'B' goal was 3:55, secret goal 3:38, super secret goal was 3:36.

In short, I had the perfect run. Set out to run 5:05 to 5:10 pace the whole way, and lo and behold I managed it. A few kms were a little faster, and a couple a few seconds slower but basically I was able to hold it together for the whole 42.195k.

Finish time - 3:34.14.

No wall, no cramping, no heavy legs, no flat spots, no nothing :-) I have never ever felt so good in a marathon.

More later. Gotta go sit in a spa, eat chocolate and drink champagne.