Four to Go

Monday:
Distance: 10.2 km in 54' 17" at 5' 19" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 13 degrees, humidity 50%, wind NW 20 kmph
Today:
Distance: 6.3 km
Time: 33' 06"
Rate: 5' 15" per km
Weather: high cloud, temp 14 degrees, humidity 55%, wind northerly at 15 kmph
Week: 34.85 km
August: 294.2 km in 19/31 days at ave 15.5 km per run day
Year: 3143.85 km in 8 months at ave 392.98 kms per month

Only four months to go this year but at least spring starts tomorrow and we hopefully get some better weather.
The problem with an ultra in the middle of a month is that tapering and recovery take away good running time, so the distance totals look very average. But I can remember may be 10 years ago, that 300 kms in a months was pretty handy. Now, I think, very slack.
Yesterday and today's running were curtailed by the beginning of the trial of the new bus ticketing system at work. I am caught up with being a test crash dummy to find the weaknesses in the system. It is still a trial, we have found a few technical bits that require adjustment.
Plenty of discussion eating into my free time, so only a couple of shortish outings on very nice days. Should pick up later in the week if the rain holds off. Could be wet weekend.

Mt Taylor - Handicap No 163

Today:
Day- distance: 18.35 km including race 7.0 km
Day- time: 1 hr 52 mins 45 - race time 30' 42"
Day - Rate: 6' 08 " race rate - 4 ' 23" per km
Race finish place: 49th
Weather: sunny, temp at 9 am, 7 degrees, humidity 67%, wind calm
Week: 18.35 km, August: 277.7 km, Year: 3127.35 km

Race day over the fire trail on the Torrens side of Mt Taylor. A gentle undulating course on a good gravel surface with a few exposed rocks to jump over just to keep the mind focused. Luckily only two required first aid attention from falls, not too bad on this course.
Started well, and ran Ok all the way even without too much speed to catch Jen & CJ. Caught Strewth with a km or so to go. Happy with the effort, should move me closer to the point score leaders with 3 races to go and being able to drop a couple of the worst results.
Corrected rate after course difficulty should again see sub 4 minute pace, close to my group rate but not being penalized by the handicapper.

Playing With The Hills

Today:
Distance: 24.25 km
Time: 2 hrs 42 mins 53 secs
Rate: 6' 42" per km

Altitude gain/loss: 530 metres

Calories used: 1900
Weather: sunny, temp at 7:30 am, zero rising to 9 degrees, humidity 90% down to 50%, wind calm
Week: 56.35 km, August: 259.35 km, Year: 3109.00 km

We started at Mawson Playing Fields at 7:30 am getting a parking spot before the mums and dads arrived with the kids for soccer games. Elle was there as well having already been out for an hour but she looked fresh & still rearing to go. Or were those couple of laps of the car park to keep warm?
We ran slowly, I walked up the hills over Farrer ridge & then on to Wanniassa Hill & up Isaacs Ridge. I need all the training I can get, the walking was slow but the chatter was good.
Each of us had stories to tell, some good & some not so good, but running with company is as much about de stressing & the benefits of getting fit & being healthy.
Elle left us after one Isaacs ridge, having covered her 25 kms for the day. Softshoe & Two Fruits crossed back towards Mt Taylor as I needed to have a look over the vet's handicap to be used on Sunday.
Gave the climb to the top of Mt Taylor a miss, we will do that next Saturday. It would have been a good day for viewing the sights of the southern valleys, a nice clear morning.
Left hammie & groin a little sore, legacy of two weeks ago. However I will be Ok for Sunday so get your skates on & go fast or I will be at your heels.

Blown Home

Today:
Distance: 6.3 km
Time: 33' 06"
Rate: 5' 15" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 11 degrees, humidity 50%, wind NW at 20 kmph
Week: 32.1 km, August: 235.1 km, Year: 3084.75 km

Nice strong breeze to blow me home on another average day. Nothing special except I didn't have to do too much to cover the distance.
We are still in winter, but on this day in 2007, the highest August temperature recorded in Tuggeranong was reached when the day time temp topped out at 22.5 degrees.
We need a few of those days right now !!

Only A Week To Go

Today:
Distance: 8.1 km
Time: 43' 19"
Rate: 5' 20" per km
Weather: cloudy, cold, air temp 7 degrees, humidity 60%, NW wind 20 kmph reducing apparent temp to 4 degrees.
Week: 25.8 km, August: 228.8 km
Year: 3078.45 km in 34 weeks at ave 90.5 kms

Unlucky ones that run early mornings might have had it a little better than at mid day today. Just plain ugly with a wind that went straight through instead of around.
It was a day for the kangaroos, plenty out and about watching a silly runner go past. Still, the recovery is going well, the energy levels slowly returning. In spite of the weather, actually look forward again to going running. A sure sign all is well.

Wild & Windy

Tuesday
Distance: 9.6 km
Time: 52' 48"
Rate: 5' 30" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 12 degrees, humidity 50%, wind NW 25 kmph
Week: 17.7 km, Aug: 220.7 km, Year: 3070.35 km

Tuesday similar to Monday's running, a couple of short outings, nothing special. Feeling OK and slowly freshening up.
Today, too cold & windy to enjoy any running so used it as rest day. Really waiting for spring to get here and the sun to raise the temperature a few degrees. Can't wait for winter to finish & the snow to melt.

Slowly Returning To Normal

Today:
Distance: 8.1 km
Time: 44' 06"
Rate: 5' 27" per km
Weather: sun/cloud, temp 11 degrees, humidity 50%, wind calm
Week: 8.1 km, August: 211.1 km, Year: 3060.75 km

Two short outings around 4 kms each, before and after lunch.
Nothing exciting, just happy to roll the legs over. No problems so will continue to slowly up the distance during the week.
Except Thursday, work training session on new bus ticketing system.

Back on the Big Island

Saturday:
Distance: 6.5 km
Time: 36' 16"
Rate: 5' 35 " per km
Weather: part sun/cloud, temp 12 degrees, humidity 60%, wind WNW at 30 kmph

Very easy along Ulverstone beach and part of the old golf course. Ran with younger brother who is in training for the Burnie 10 in October. He needs plenty of time on the road to be ready.
However, back in his prime he did have some ability and much better than I could have dreamed to be, a 33 minute 10 km performer. He may have won a dollar or two running on the professional scene back in those days.
I think too many chocolates have contributed to his slowing.
Trip back across Bass Strait was smooth, wasted half the night watching the election result, but did meet up with a work colleague from my old banking days in Launceston. Found out about many of our old work mates, a " where are they now".
I've added the possibility of Dusk to Dawn at Caboolture in February to the plan for early next year. May be instead of Maroondah Dam, I would like to run another 12 hour, just going around in circles as the track is 500 metres. Wait and see about this one.

Tassie

Running since Tan: Nil
Reason: rain, rain & more rain

It hasn't stopped since the rough trip across Bass Strait on the ship, Spirit of Tasmania 1.
I've felt really good since Tuesday and really only needed to see the sun and for the rain & wind to stop to go for a run.
No chance of that so I will have to wait to get back home.
Coincidences happen easily in Tassie, caught up with family while visiting my Auntie I didn't expect to see this trip. As well in Hobart, by chance caught up with other family members. Before anyone else says it, Tassie is a small place, and no, everyone is not related.
Apart from the weather, it's been a great trip, the sea food is cheap, a big feed tonight. That means nothing will be wasted if the return trip on the boat is rough, and it all comes back up on Saturday night. Hopefully not.
Good luck to all running the vet's half marathon at home on Sunday.
What's next is all planned out until end of March 2011. After that, a very long holiday to miss winter, so some Qld running is on if I get motivated and out of the chair or away from the waves at the beach.
Back home late Sunday, getting ready to be launched into Deep Space in November.

Tan 100 km

Sunday:
Distance: 100 km
Time: 11 hrs 38 mins 23 secs
Rate: 6' 59" per km
Weather: all seasons in one day, we were in Melbourne, temp 10-15 degrees, heavy rain to bright sunshine, calm to windy

Hoped to get finished in under the cutoff of 12 hours and made it. Felt Ok all day with only hip flexor problems after 9 hours when I needed some help from Liz's crew to get through to the finish. That slowed me down especially on the down hill.
Walked well up Anderson St to make up for it. Enjoyed the day immensely. It is good to see the leaders going past so fast and so often which you don't see on most other events. Congratulations to everyone that competed.
Brilliant effor by Barry the male winner in the 100 kms and especially great running by Liz be the leading female in a great time at this distance. Better results in store, go for it.
Writing this in Tassie on a week long family visit. Trip across Bass Strait very rough, good I am still a bit tired. Hip flexor problem has gone and now feel Ok. Will run again on Thursday after getting some visiting out of the way. Cold water in Bass Strait will fix any other problems.
Nana naps the real deal in the afternoons this week.

Last Run...Melbourne Next

Thursday:
Distance: 5.8 km
Time: 33' 29"
Rate: 5' 46" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 11 degrees, humidity 50%, wind SW at 20 kmph
Week: 23.7 km, August: 96.5 km
Year: 2946.15 km in 32 weeks at ave 92.06 km
Today: Nil

Ran and walked from work to home. Nothing too exciting trying to go slow. Weather improving after two days of rain, good chance to not run during tapering week.
Today, Friday is a nice winter's day, would like today's weather in Melbourne on Sunday but the forecast is not that great.

Race Pace

Today:
Distance: 6.3 km
Time: 36' 03"
Rate: 5' 43" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 12 degrees, humidity 50%, wind calm
Week: 17.9 km, August: 90.7 km, Year: 2940.35 km

Easy run home at Tan race pace. At least I tried to run/walk, but found myself still going a little too fast.
And that was with walking up Woodcock Dr and a short part of Johnson Dr. Early pace at Tan will need to be slower than today.
After Liz has used her pacers up to slow her down, I may get Ewen to run a few laps with me to slow me down, or Strewth beside me to tell me a few funny stories.
No runnning tomorrow, hopefully rain again on Wednesday, short 5 km on Thursday and that's all until 7am on Sunday.
Plenty of stretching during the week, a few exercises in the gym, and of course plenty of sleep.

12 Foot Track

Today:
Distance: 11.6 km
Time: 63' 10"
Rate: 5' 26" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 11 degrees, humidity 45%, wind northerly at 13 kmph
Week: 11.6 km, August: 84.4 km, Year: 2934.05 km

Just read Jog's blog, short , easy & lazy sounds exactly like how tapering for an ultra should be. With a bit of luck, a couple of rainy days this week will remove the urge to run as well and then be true rest days. Last run day will be Thursday, no more than a flat 5 kms.
Played at house keeping duties this morning doing those small odd jobs that get left in a runner's house.
Mid afternoon while the sun was still shining with an little bit of warmth, I headed out. Nothing fancy or fast. Plenty of cars on the road and a few people out walking their dogs.
Feeling fresh, the first part was quicker than planned, so slowed down, and walked in a couple of places. Need to be able to walk at a reasonable pace.
I will use the same run plan as I used at Caboolture last year where I did 95 kms in 12 hours and that was the first half of a 24 hour event. Fell apart with sore knee due to ITB problem after that, but was just one of those things that happen during ultras. I know my weaknesses, just need to manage them properly.

I have just read the thread on Coolrunning about this year's 12 Foot Track. It's the Six Foot Track course done out to Jenolan Caves & back to Explorers Tree. The image is taken from Coolrunning thread, I would acknowledge who made if I knew. But thanks anyway.

Great ultra runner Spud, aka Phil Murphy did 12 foot track on Saturday ( 7th August) in 11 hours 39 mins ( 1st half in 5 hrs 5 mins). A very good effort in anyone's language.

THEN, backed up to run City to Surf in 68 minutes today ( Sunday). Unbelievable.

And I worry about getting a flatish 100 kms done in 12 hours.

A Hill Behind Theodore

Today:
Distance: 20.00 km
Time: 1 hr 58 mins 10 secs
Rate: 5' 54" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 10 degrees, humidity 45%, wind calm
Week & August: 72.8 km, Year: 2922.45 km

I haven't done this run for many years due to much of my mid week running starting from work.
This is good hilly outing going past Calwell shops to the oval. Plenty of soccer players there today. Then continue to the fire trail behind Theodore until the sub station is reached.
The circuit of Mt Tuggeranong was done Theodore side first, over the ridge to Conder and back to the sub station. Returned home the same way as going out.
I walked up a few of the hills, ran the rest, good day out trying to run slowly which isn't easy.
Not much to do to this week except rest up and get organised for Melbourne.

The Wind, The Cold, The Winter

Today:
Distance: 9.55 km
Time: 51' 55"
Rate: 5' 26" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 9 degrees, humidity 50%, wind NW 20 kmph
Week & August: 52.8 km,
Year: 2902.45 kms in 31 weeks at ave 93.6 km pw.

Probably time for a rest day from running, tomorrow may be it if the cold westerlies continue to blow. Although, if I run home from work the wind will assist. It's only the run back that is a bit tougher.
I read Jog's latest short story. Same with me there are no great expectations at Tan 100 km. In order to be satisfied with the day, I expect to finish and complete 100 kms.
There are so many variables that anything can and probably will happen. Never expect all will be perfect on the day. Last weekend in Melbourne from the football pictures on TV, sunny one minute then hail storm, that's Melbourne's four seasons in one day. Or the wind could blow all day.
If you look at race results over 100 kms or 12 hour track races, usually no more than 1/3rd of the field get over 100 kms in 12 hours. So, if that was achieved, that is a very good result for us that are out there for personal satisfaction. It's along way to go, so Ewen had better get Ruth to have some good jokes ready. That joke about about the iPad, iPod & iRon won't be very funny after being told many times. Hope they get better than that.
Don't forget the scenery won't change much, same at lap 1 as at lap 26. Pity we don't change direction every 3 hours like other track races. A few Sunday walkers out, no dogs I hope.
We could always chase Carol Baird's W55 Australian record for 100 kms track, 10 hours 33 mins, just a couple of minutes slower than the M55 record, hero or zero. Don't think so.

Same Again

Today:
Distance: 12.8 km
Time: 67' 16"
Rate: 5' 15" per km
Weather: sunny, cool, temp 9 degrees, humidity 55%, wind NW at 20 kmph
Week & August: 43.25 km, Year: 2892.9 km

Another " run around the block" type run at lunch time. Nothing special.
I don't know if I could run 100 kms at this pace on average. That is near enough to the pace Kerrie B ran at Gold Coast in June to get under 9 hours. Way too fast for me, I'm thinking more like 1 minute slower on average at least, so starting at 6 minute pace.
That's 10 km per hour or try to get to 60 km in 6 hours and see how it's going. To do that will mean very little stopping to eat and drink, just grab & continue on. Even a little walking to get the food and drinks down early will pay dividends later on.
It's not the pace you do the 1st half in, it's the pace you go in the 2nd half. Most time will be lost when you ache all over, feel like sitting under the next tree and going to sleep. And that's on a good day, too bad if that happens early, or Melbourne's weather turns bad.
That's when we call on Ruth & Ewen for some pacing and help. I hope they know plenty of jokes or can sing me a song. Anything distraction will do.
Looking forward to the whole adventure, it's going to be a great day. Can't wait.

Tapering, It Ain't Easy

Today:
Distance: 12.6 km
Time: 66' 52"
Rate: 5' 18" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 13 degrees, humidity 50%, wind SE at 20 kmph
Week & August: 30.45 km, Year: 2880.1 km

My birthday today, this getting old is no fun, and celebrating is not my scene either.
But I still ran home at lunch time and back to work. Luckily the weather for mid winter was kind, and nice enough to enjoy the outdoors. Tried to run slowly, just couldn't slow down on the way back to work with a bit of down hill and the wind helping.
Working out a race plan is proving to be more difficult than I thought. Trail races are paced by the terrain, 24 hour races are just slow and survive for me. A 100 km run is somewhere in between, not sure on how to approach this one, may be the weather will decide for me.
I will buy new running shoes as a present to myself to wear at Tan 100 km in time to have a few short runs in them. I don't think the trail shoes will be needed around the Botanical Gardens unless I take a short cut.

Snow on the Brindies

Today:
Distance: 8.6 km
Time: 47' 18"
Rate: 5' 30" per km
Weather: sunny, temp 9 degrees, humidity 60%, wind westerly 10 kmph
Week & August: 17.85 km, Year: 2867.5 km

Plenty of snow on the Brindabellas from a good dump on Sunday. Still too cold for me to venture up that high to visit the mountains, I'll wait till summer. But it does look good, from a distance.
Busy day today, lucky to get a short run in at lunch time. This week won't be anything special.
Hopefully we will get a couple of days of reasonable weather, I can get a final medium long run done and then taper in the last week before Tan 100 km.
Liz, we are driving down on Saturday morning, leave early, get down to Melbourne early afternoon. We are staying close to the start line at apartment on Punt Road, South Yarra.
Will then go for a look around at the start area, where to set up our table & chair for the run, and have a look at the Anderson St hill.
Monday night after the run we catch the boat to Tassie for a week with family.

Weekend Update

Saturday:
Distance: 16.05 km in 104' 51" at ave 6' 32" per km
Weather: sun/cloud, temp 14 degrees, humidity 60%, wind West 25 kmph
Today:
Distance: 9.25 km in 48' 40" at ave 5' 16" per km
Weather: cloudy, rain, temp 8 degrees, felt like 5, humidity 90%, wind NW 20 kmph
Week & August: 9.25 km Year: 2849.65 km

Yesterday I made my way to the ultra turnaround point for the Bush Capital 60 km event. The day proved to almost perfect for winter, not cold by our winter standard. Certainly better than today's weather.
I ran up and down a dirt road from the Mulligan's Flat road drink station to the turnaround many times keeping a watch over the ultra runners. Not that any would cut the course short, more to make sure they were all Ok.
I finished by collecting the signs over a hilly new section of the course. That part would have had most walking up the hill, very tough at the 30-35 kms part of the race.
Today, I tried to be beat the bad weather, but failed as it started to rain just as I stepped out the front door. However, I used it as if Melbourne's weather could be the same in a couple of week's time.
Not nice but I was comfortable with a suitable spray jacket keeping the rain out. Actually enjoyed the run knowing I could learn a bit today. If Melbourne turns on weather like this, I still should be able to compete and do my best.
A couple of others out in the rain as well. I caught up to Laurie almost finishing his 20 km run. He has started this training for his 5th Ironman Triathlon in December in WA. He knows what to expect and now has to put in the hard yards to be ready. Good luck to him.
Well done to Kelley on her result in the 60 km. Great run and surprise, and well done to everyone else that competed yesterday.
Also waiting for the final results from Caboolture for the 48 & 24 hour events held there over the weekend. Shaz ( Sharon Sholtz) competed brilliantly to win the 48 hour, just waiting for Kerrie's result in the 24 hour. Looked like the weather up there was better than we had last year when it was freezing overnight and I couldn't get warm. Must get back up there again, a great event which ever one attempted.