Training Log Archive: Bruce

Melbourne Forest Loop
Not surprisingly, I was a bit below my best times on the terrain loop. But I have to start somewhere. I still have a way to go, but what I learnt was:
- my forest speed is proportionally worse than my open speed, so I need more forest strength
- uphill was not too bad
- I need to attack the downhills more, especially open downhills.


Statistics
Grade Terrain Distance Time % behind km rate
flat 3.546 0:18:09 11% 0:05:07
uphill 1.693 0:11:18 11% 0:06:40
downhill 2.253 0:10:25 14% 0:04:37
forest 5.074 0:28:38 14% 0:05:39
semi-open 2.418 0:11:14 7% 0:04:39
flat forest 2.441 0:13:26 15% 0:05:30
flat semi-open 1.105 0:04:43 1% 0:04:16
uphill forest 1.233 0:08:43 12% 0:07:04
uphill semi-open 0.46 0:02:35 7% 0:05:37
downhill forest 1.4 0:06:29 13% 0:04:38
downhill semi-open 0.853 0:03:56 16% 0:04:37

Sector Splits
1 1.45 0:07:21 12% 0:05:04
2 1.76 0:09:35 12% 0:05:27
3 1.32 0:07:00 12% 0:05:19
4 1.08 0:06:51 16% 0:06:22
5 1.23 0:05:39 9% 0:04:36
6 0.66 0:03:26 8% 0:05:11
Improved a bit towards the end. This probably means that I didn't go out hard enough in the early sectors.

Nice steady pace up the Yarra to MacRobertson Bridge, and back on the other side. Good conversation, and felt quite comfortable throughout.

Brent Harvey was out of my DreamTeam, so I replaced him with David Wirrapunda. I also thought that I had better include Hamish Hartlett on the bench in the midfield before his price rises.

For SuperCoach, the only change this week was Ben Warren (NM) in for Taylor Walker (Ad) on the bench in the forward line. This was pretty much a like for like replacement, but gave me an extra $100K.

500m on 500m off 2 laps
Split time Split distance Split pace Elev. chg.
9:45 2.07 4:42 +126
1:34 0.49 3:14 +1
2:06 0.48 4:27 +20
1:49 0.50 3:40 +24
1:58 0.51 3:52 +5
1:43 0.49 3:30 -10
1:56 0.50 3:55 -16
1:43 0.50 3:27 -11
3:19 0.81 4:08 0
1:54 0.49 3:55 +19
2:22 0.50 4:45 +20
1:40 0.50 3:21 -2
2:16 0.50 4:33 -9
1:38 0.50 3:16 -4
2:06 0.50 4:16 -24
0:59 0.31 3:09 -6
17:21 2.44 7:07 +51

I had a lunch time meeting, so I got out for a short run late in the afternoon around 5pm.
Jogged a lap of the tan. Good start, but I struggled in the middle, feeling very lethargic. Then improved again towards the end.

Nice to get back to some speed work. I am fairly satisfied that I have been able to get through some steady runs over the last week so it was time to ramp the intensity up a bit.

3 x 2000m at the tan.
Splits
7:01 up hill from 3.75km to 1.75km marker.
2:30 recovery
6:45 down hill (reverse of 1)
2:30 recovery
7:08 finish to Gov House Drv and return

Tough session, but I'm feeling fitter.

Final run at Noosa. Dropped off the rental car, and then ran back through the NP to Hells Gate. The weather was perfect, skies clear and the seas quite calm. Running across Alexandria Bay back to Sunshine Beach was awesome.
There were only a few nude bathers at Alexandria Bay, but they were all old and saggy.
I spent most of the rest of the day either at the beach or in the pool.
We had a great time and are already thinking about going back.

It was certainly a shock to arrive back in Melbourne in the evening to single digit temperatures and steady rain.

Great trails through the middle of Noosa National Park, ending up running along Hastings Street, and through the Noosa Woods.
I checked out the end of the spit at Noosa Woods and concluded that it would be suitable for a sprint orienteering map. Some of the forest was a bit green, but there was enough runnable parts near the mangrove trees to make a suitable course with enough length.

The other purpose of the run was to pick up a rental car from Noosa Junction so that we could take the kids to Australia Zoo for the day. The zoo was quite impressive, and better than I expected.