Training Log Archive: devil

Tonights bilbys was north lyneham hills - I ran to the ovals from home then round the hills with gary, nat, dave and the austrians. A bit slow at first but got better as I warmed up.

Bilbys intervals on anzac parade. Not a very big group due to the location. I did 7 reps of 750m effort. These started at 2.33 but had blown out to 2.51 by the end. Not too worried as this was the first running for 2 weeks so was a bit tight and also jetlagged

A bit more efficient than the warm ups last month. Made the mistake of doing a cool down with fast kate who lived up to her name.

Weighed myself again this morning by the acejase protocol and was 70.6, had to repeat the weighing a few times to be sure. Then set out for the traditional bilbys 5 hills holiday monday ride. There were a about 15 of us to start off, and we did blackie, pleasant, ainslie, red hill then stromlo. Felt pretty ordinary on the climbs but luckily we had to wait at the end of each hill for slower riders so I got a bit of recovery.

Have had 2 weeks of recovery involving a bit of walking and sitting on planes and trains. Was shocked to see my weight at 72kg, perhaps due to swiss chocolate, french cheese and fish'n'chip diet. Tendonitis seems to have fully gone so not running at all has paid off.

Event: Jungfrau Marathon
 

The marathon started at the civilised time of 9am (note to john harding) so there was chance for breakfast at the hotel before the short walk across to the casino and the start. Dropping off a bag and queuing up for the pre-race dump took a while. During the wait the entertainment was a spin class being towed round on a trailer. There were a lot of very fit runners hanging around at the start so I got into what I thought was the sub 4.10 area of the start. I think I was a bit far back as it took 30 seconds to get through, then I was having to overtake a lot of people. I just tried to run well within myself and enjoy the atmosphere. The first 10km does a lap around interlaken and there were bands on every corner and a lot of people out on the street. The highlight in here was a gauntlet of 20 massive cowbells in Bonigen. I was with some of the elite women at this stage and the locals among them were getting really big cheers. Got to 10km in 41 mins which I thought was OK.
Straight after this the course crossed a wooden bridge and entered the valley up to lauterbrunnen. Suddenly it switched to a combination of country lanes, tracks and grass - plus it wasn't flat either (unlike the course profile) with quite a few reasonable climbs plus a few downhill sections. The way the gradient changed meant that who you were running with was changing pretty constantly. There were a few quieter sections through the forest, but there were people calling 'hopp-hopp' outside every house. It didn't seem like too long before we got to Lauterbrunnen where the 20km banner was. The main street was lined all the way through the village which gave me a bit of a lift - it also helped that it wasn't uphill at this point. After that there was a bit of a loop up towards trummelbach before we swang back down to the other side of lauterbrunnen. Went through the half in 92 - a bit slower than the sub 90 I was aiming for, I think this was probably about the right pace for the day though as I didn't want to overdo it in the first part of the run.
Then back at lauterbrunnen the first real hill kicked off - and it was a real shocker - steeper than anything mt tennant has to offer. I dropped to a grinding upwards pace - a bit quicker than walking (and there were plenty doing that). The km markers also dropped to being 250m markers - always a bad sign. Up to here I'd been chancing my arm at the drinks stations - not knowing what the signs all meant, and getting various sports drinks or water. At the wengwald I grabbed a cup which turned out to be some kind of hot broth, luckily there was water at the end of the station so I could spit it out and at least get something cold. Wengen was a repeat of lauterbrunnen, with a massive crowd through the town, I didn't repeat my surge as the uphill had taken its toll and slowed me a lot, I was also starting to feel the tendonitis coming back a bit. At this point I was wondering if 4 hours was still possible as there was about 10km to go and I'd been going about 2 1/2 hours. Then outside wengen was a great sign saying that we'd done half the climb - somehow this wasn't too motivating. From here was steadily up, I took a cue from the runners around me and walked on a few of the steeper sections, but there were also some great sections traversing around then dropping to the final climb. The downhill here was not feeling too good, so I was having to concentrate on each step to avoid rocks and land comfortably. I took a second gel at a drinks station at 35km along with banana and coke - I could see what was coming and it didn't look good...
By now there were only 7km or so to go, and I knew the last km was downhill - the climb was still going and I was into a walk-run rhythm. The 4 hours was looking a bit marginal as there was about 45 min left. There was a bit of a drop and another banana and coke refuelling before the final climb - this was 2km of single track, but it was steep and rocky. And I discovered slippery too when I fell early on. Probably a PW for 2kms as it took at least 20 mins, with my legs starting to cramp, but there was no option to run here even if I could have. Finally the strains of the bagpipes could be heard and I crawled on to the summit. From here there was a traverse round to another little climb and a largely downhill km to the finish. A lot of people had fresher legs than me and went flying past, I was trying to avoid cramping and had to stop and stretch once. I certainly wasn't breaking any speed records here and stumbled over the line in a touch over 4.10 (283rd). Heard a call of 'devil' from sanders waiting at the finish and hobbled over to lean on the fence.
Was completely stuffed and it was hard work to go and find my bag then head off for the communal hot shower that had been erected at the summit. The coke-banana-gel combo was not working well at this stage and my guts were not good so we headed for the trains and some relaxing at the hotel.
Was a bit disappointed with 4.10 as gramps, vanessa and jackie all went sub 4 hours a couple of years ago, but on the other hand don't think I could have gone any faster on the day, so am happy to have made it to the finish. And it was a great race to have done - the first big marathon I've run in.

C • hopp hopp 5

A bit of a short warmup followed by 15 mins standing around at the start so not sure it had a lot of effect. There was no warmdown unless you count the 15 min 'walk' from the railway station to the hotel

Collected number, timing chip etc this morning. Avoided 'bargains' in the marathon expo as they were all bargains by swiss standards (i.e. double the wiggle price). Went for a half hour run through some farmyards on the edge of interlaken with a bit of a surge. In the meantime sanders was reading the program and decided to support 'mr switzerland 2009', who is running tomorrow.

After a long day on the train, finally in Interlaken and begining to feel more pumped for the marathon. The first thing the hotel reception guy asked was if we were running and there are banners up in the streets. Just jogged along the canal between the lakes to turn the legs over. Quite damp here and plenty of cloud. Hopefully will improve by saturday.

Went out for a morning run in the forest near Potsdam where we're staying with a friend. I started off along a ridge and did a few surges on a bit of a hill I found then dropped down and ran back along the lower slopes. Somehow I must have crossed the first track without noticing and I was running through an area full of old bunkers and trenches - would have made a good sprint map - but it definitely wasn't where i wanted to be. Eventually caught up with an old man out for his run and managed to ask him the way back - it was pretty complicated so he ran with me for a while until I recognised a pond I'd passed early in the run. So was a bit longer than planned but got back in time to head off to the institute I was visiting for the day.

Morning run from the hotel to the olympic stadium and back with sanders. It was warmer than yesterday so thermals turned out to be too much. For a nation that produces a few long distance runners there weren't many out today.

Early arrival in Helsinki, would have gone for a run but was suffering a bit from a cold so ended up having an afternoon nap, even though this goes against the getting over jetlag rule of staying awake all day and going out in the sun.

'Rest day' consisting of dropping cat off at the cattery, driving to sydney then sitting on planes for a long time - well lying down actually.

Bilbys swimming session - only three of us in the slow lane, me, emily and deci. we persuaded the coach that we shouldn't do any kicking drills as my leg was sore and emily has an injured leg so instead had a lot of pull buoy stuff instead. I discovered that using 2 pull buoys actually kept my legs up so I could keep up with the others.

C • Jungfrau 6

Bilbys intervals - quite a few cockies there; sanders, mace, hyslops, schmolle. Natalie did the warmup then we had a set of 600s and 300s. I did 7x600s then 6x300s. The 600s were between 2.04 and 2.12 and the 300s were 1.03 to 1.05. Still sore in the leg but moving OK.