Six Foot Track Training Diary 2009

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2008-12-09T21:59:00.002+11:00

23 Degrees and 65% does not make for good conditions to do hill reps in. I thought the flood I was creating from the sweat would water the greens of Royal Sydney Golf Course at the bottom of the hill.
Secret hill location. Maybe not so secret after the Scots College students revealed what they thought of Bellevue Hill. Must have gone downhill since I went there.

Reps were 5:45, 5:56, 5;58, 6:05, 5:56. All done with equal recovery back down the hill again. Oh man they were hard work tonight.

Six Foot 2009

2008-10-23T17:14:00.002+11:00

Dreaming of doing it next year. Had so much fun running the race in 2007. Well for me it was fun, not sure about some of the sad souls I ran past on Black Range though.

I'll get around to specific training eventually.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2007-12-27T23:33:00.000+11:00

Felt very much like hard work tonight to do these reps. No power in the bum and legs to get up the hill quicker. The suffering is all for Six Foot Track so it just has to be done.

Reps were 5:34, 5:29, 5:33, 5:38, 5:33. All done with about the same recovery back down the hill. A nice cool breeze was blowing and it wasn't too humid which is good.

The 2008 adventure begins. Yeehah!

2007-12-06T21:10:00.000+11:00

Well it is about time that we got started on another leg smashing mission to conquer Six Foot.
I've found myself a lot faster running up this hill than last year. Funny about that. Maybe there is some truth in making yourself faster on the flat helps you run up hills a bit faster as well.

Thats my theory and I'm sticking to it. Secret Eastern Suburbs Hill location. Very humid tonight and not too many cars and people got in my way.

Had 5 reps of the 1.1k hill. Not very steep but it only goes up or partially flat. No downs until I turn around and stagger back for the recovery.

Reps were: 5:23, 5:22, 5:27, 5:32, 5:28. All done with about the same recovery back down the hill again. They really were hard work tonight. But I do feel I can do these a lot quicker and more of them before the race gets near.

Are you in?

2007-11-16T08:27:00.000+11:00

The date of the next race is 8am, Saturday 8th March 2008.

Must start doing some long runs soon.

Maybe I should clean out the camelbak!

See the fun from last year.

Six Foot Track Race Report 2007-45ks

2007-03-10T21:16:00.000+11:00

Had a long drive up from Sydney on Friday night taking 2hrs in the traffic. Stopped at the Edge and picked up my number and chatted to Evie, Tux, Plu, Sportsman, Will, Kev and Mohammad for awhile before heading for some dinner and the hotel. Didn't have a good nights sleep but do you ever before a big race. Let alone your first ultra ever and first marathon in 2 years.

Arrived at the start about 7:15 feeling good but a little nervous about the day of racing ahead. Chatted to the non racing Leftie, Nando and Vat at the start. Sportsman gave me a tip the previous night that it was a bit rough before the stairs.

Started next to Shell and then didn't see her for another 5hrs.I just took it easy to the stairs and joined the line down the stairs just behind 2p. It was great going slow down there as I eased into the race. Nice and cool and lots of laughter happening in wave 2. Kept motoring along the road to Megalong catching back up to 2p after an unscheduled pit stop. Ran straight through the creek and up across the farm land and back into the bush. You could here the crowd about 500m before I saw them.

Crossed Megalong Rd getting the Colin's photo op with the 8.066ks(Action) in 48mins. Right on schedule. Ran through the farm and ran up and over Pinnancle Hill and stopped at the top as I spyed a few red snakes at the drink station. Caught up to Tuttle here as well. After that it was into the bush down to the river, took a speccy dive going to the river ending up sliding head first on my back. A few nice scars later and I ploughed through the river. Why was the boulder in the middle? Hit the river at 1:30.29. On schedule. The river was so nice and a great squelching noise from the shoes as the water seeped out along the road.

Filled up with a bit of food and drink and emptied the shoes of gravel from the run to cox's and not sand from the river. Stopped up Mini mini a bit later but still couldn't find the piece that lead to a big blister later. Walked and ran up Mini mini whenever I could depending on the hill. Was being passed constantly by many kings/queens of the mountain. Ran down to Alum creek running through all the creeks, it was so refreshing splashing through here.Saw R2B at the aid station at Alum Creek. Commenced the walk trudge up Pluvi being passed by more runners. Included seeing Grandpa a couple of times between the Cox's and Pluvi as he was having trouble with a glute spasm I think. During the king of the mountain section I chatted to Digger,R2B and Mikey Boy as we swapped a few places.Pluvi was crested in 3:07. I told a few runners behind me that I knew where the top was as I could here the timing mat beeps. It was great to hear them all give thanks for the summit reached.
Yes I felt like a slug up the hills and I was 7mins over what I thought I wanted to do, but I didn't care anyway. I knew from talking to many previous six foot runners that the race begins at Pluvi.

The plan was to walk up that first hill after Pluvi and then run to the finish. Ran all of the Black Range to the campground passing so many slow or walking runners. Walked up the final cliff hill of the deviation and then stopped at the caves rd crossing for a final feed. Chatted to Don Juan here. Took a swig of some disgustingly warm coke here. Turns out it had been poured pretty early on. Yuck! Don Juan mentioned the crowd of runners coming behind me, I had a look behind and took off immediately sprinting across Caves Rd and into the bush.

Picked up a lot of runners heading towards Binda Cabins and Kiaora Hill, with plenty of them giving me looks of surprise as I ran past.
Finally caught Shell as we started going downhill. Tried to push her to run faster as I knew she wanted sub 5hrs. I was given the "it hurts" line but said don't we all and kept running. I think Shell fired up a bit from that and came after me. Had a slight quad cramp here which fixed itself within 10secs. With Shell checking on me from up the hill. Thanks Shell.
Heard the announcer and the roars of the crowd a long time before seeing them.Very rough that single track to the stairs before the arch. Very dangerous.
Nearly slid down the final stairs as I had the pedal down along the last bit above the caves and couldn't stop on the gravel in time. Lucky for that railing. High fived the crowd as I raced to the line.Finished in 5:02.05. Did Pluvi to the finish in 1:55. Very happy with that as the goal was 2hrs. Just missed the 5hr goal but couldn't care less. The caves house shower was excellent. Sorry I used all the hot water.

Thanks to Kevin Tiller and all the Striders for helping and organising the race. Sensational effort from start to finish. Also all the SES and RFS people who spent all day helping us. The encouragement on the course and at the finish was fantastic. The cheersquad at the start/megalong and finish was awesome. Thank you.

I found the key to running a good race was not being King/queen of the mountain or the gun to Cox's. It is how fresh do you feel when you get to Pluvi. Can you run to the finish?
My point being I was the 380th runner in the KOM split but I finished 202nd overall. Checked a few more numbers and worked out time wise that from my using my Pluvio split against my finish time I passed 127 runners who were quicker than me to Pluvio. I didn't physically pass them as some were on different wave starts and all that. But that is just from checking the spreadsheet. Very happy with how I held the back half of the race together. Felt strong and was a great feeling.
I'll be back next year, but the same again as it will be a training run for Boston Marathon 2008(when I qualify).

Thanks for everyones' comments on this blog although a long running but post lacking blog it has been fun to post about some parts of my training for the race. I might use this again for every year from now on. Did I just commit? See you when I have some secret training for 2008. Cheers everyone.

Race Day Looms

2007-03-09T23:36:00.000+11:00

Well tomorrow is it D-Day. Hard to believe I've had this blog running since late 2005. I didn't really use it until late last year.

You start to wonder why you invest this much time in a race that only happens once a year?
It is effectively an ultra whilst being called a marathon by name. But the hardness of the terrain leads you to question why you want to put in so much more training than a road marathon.

For example to get in it was do a sub 4hr marathon, which you then get told if you run ok means you might spend 6hrs doing this race.
When I trained for Canberra 2 years I did a dozen runs of 30ks and over peaking at 38ks, but in time only just on 3hrs.

For Six Foot I have had 3 runs of 40+ klms amongst others with another day doing a double making 42ks.
I've also had four runs on the track doing training. Spending 3:00, 4:24, 4:45 and 5:15 in time on my feet. You question your sanity in doing those runs alone. Ok one wasn't, but you get the picture. Uphill and downhill reps to condition the legs to withhold the pain of the hills.

Have I done enough training. Certainly in my mind I believe I have. I can't see that I have missed anything that would cause failure out in the bush. Failure to me is having my body reject the punishment I could inflict on it during the race. Nothing to do with anyone else's races.

My goal is to get through enjoying my race, pushing as hard or as slow as I feel like it in sections of the course. I'm not on the 'go hard or go home' bandwagon. I no doubt will be passed from the start to Pluvi by many 'legends' who have not done the training going out too hard. No offence intended. Just from previous reports it happens.
I don't plan to be cramping along Black Range or anywhere else.

And the goal is 5hrs in case anyone had forgotten. But that is open to discussion as the feel of the race develops. The first beer at the finish won't even touch the sides. Sorry for the ramble.

Picked up the number from the Edge Cinema tonight seeing Mohammad, Sportsman, Evie, Tux and Plu in the process. Plus Coaster and Royworlds later on. There were about 200 numbers left for race morning to pickup.

Catch you all Saturday night if I can type. Cheers everyone.

Rest Day

2007-03-08T20:52:00.000+11:00

It's time for a rest day.

Discovered one of the highest Carbohydrate foods in Coles. Ginger Nut biscuits. 81g per 100g. Sounds pretty high to me. I actually already had a pack. Scoffing plenty at the moment, plus some Jam Mini Rolls as they were high as well.

Downhill Reps 4x400m

2007-03-07T21:09:00.000+11:00

In the middle of doing a run around Centennial Park I did a few downhill reps just to remind the quads that they have work to do this Saturday.

1:12, 1:11, 1:13, 1:15. All done with double the recovery back up the hill.

I found these couple of classic Six Foot photo's involving crossing the Cox's River. They are from the 2005 Race. One is a CR but it is too far away to tell who. The second one needs a snorkel so is not Mister G.

Downhill Reps 7x400m

2007-02-27T21:44:00.000+11:00

Much better conditions than yesterday. No rain and the grass was pretty soft in Centennial Park. Very humid and the sun was out so I'm happy.

Down hill reps on the grass hill in the park.

1:09, 1:07, 1:10, 1:12, 1:11, 1:10, 1:09. All done with about double the recovery time back up the hill.

Did a 2k warmup and a 2k cooldown after the session.

Downhill Reps 10x400m

2007-02-23T21:18:00.000+11:00

The grassy knoll was a special for some down hill reps tonight. Into Centennial Park with the Moonlight Cinema crowd. Really half a moon light tonight.
The legs were finally responding after having a forced day off yesterday with a meeting and dinner.

The reps were 1:13, 1:12, 1:12, 1:09, 1:11, 1:11, 1:09, 1:12, 1:13, 1:11.
All done with about double the recovery back up the hill.

Very humid 72% and 23 degrees when I started and the humidity didn't get much better when the sun went down. Did a 2k warmup before the session and a 3k cool down after.

Explorers Tree to Mini mini & Return-40ks

2007-02-18T16:33:00.000+11:00

Started about 7:10 from the shelter in the car park. The first part down the wide fire trail was longer than I thought it was supposed to be, and then I hit the steps and Nellies Glen. Those steps are seriously dangerous and I wouldn't put it past someone breaking an ankle down there.
When the steps finished it became a narrow single track through the bush until I got to the open fire trail after about 3ks. It was very hard to run down those steps, heaps of water in there due to the rain last week.
The long fire trail after that was great to run on and lead down until I came upon a creek I had to cross after about 3ks of running down the road. No sign on the other side and it was an open paddock. Lucky a couple of bush walkers came down and I spotted the little sign up the hill. Pretty uneventful after that as I ran down to Megalong Rd and then basically through to the river. Arrived at the Coxs in 1hr 45mins. Filled my water bottle up after only using that from the start down to Coxs.

Started off up Mini mini using my race strategy of walking and running in certain places. Was passed by a few dirt bike riders who were tearing down Mini mini stirring up dust. Great stuff.
Arrived at Mini mini in 2:28:00. And talked to a couple of runners who had camelbaks on and were asking me where some water was. So I sent them down to Alum creek as they had just come up from the Coxs. Maybe they didn't know about the water tank?
Told them only drink from the 3rd creek which looks like it is moving faster so should be ok. Had a powerbar and a drink while I was on the top of Mini mini.

Back down Mini mini and I could finally run again. Filled up the water bottle at the tank and then tried to cross the Coxs via the rocks like the first time. Slipped and ended up dipping one shoe in. Bugger! The River was a dirty brown colour by the way. Not a good look.
The haul back up from the river began and I ran better along here than the training run in January. Had a Gu just before reaching Pinnacle Hill. A few fresh cow pats covered the single track which hopefully will be frisbees by race day. There is a tree down across the track along here as well. Had to duck under it putting my hand down to do so. Would hold up plenty on race day. Must tell Kev.

Back to Megalong Rd arriving at a spectacular time of 4hrs. Into the bush again picking up an extra water bottle that I left on the way down. Good running through the bush here, and then I hit the road again. The fire trail was hot, hot, hot, and seemed to go on for ever. Possibly did. The road has a double tree down along, probably about 1k from where the Nellies Glen sign is. Would need a good hurdle to clear it, or you can step in the middle and keep going.

When the road finished and it went to single track I think I had about 3ks to go. Had no energy left at all so basically had to walk most of it. When the stairs arrived it meant the heat was gone as the Glen has great tree cover. Had to walk all of the very wet stairs, with a few creeks actually flowing down the track at different points. I'm convinced there are 5000 stairs and not 500. My legs didn't hurt but it was just neverending. Some choice swear words were heard across the valley while I climbed the stairs.

The stairs finally finished and I had a few more hills up the fire trail to get back to the car. Which was still waiting for me. It was so good to get back and crack open the esky for a cold drink. A few gatorades and cokes later I left. But shall return on race day.

Some stats:
Start to the River 1:45:00. 15.5ks in 1:45:00. Average pace of 6:46 per klm.
Coxs to Mini mini 2:28:00. 4.5ks in 43 mins. Average pace of 9:33 per klm.
Mini mini to Coxs 2:55:00. 4.5ks in 27 mins. Average pace of 6:00 per klm.
Coxs to Megalong Rd 4:00:00. 7.5ks in 65mins. Average pace of 8:40 per klm.
Megalong Rd to the shelter 5:14:52. 8ks in 74:52. Average pace of 9:20 per klm.

Total was 40ks in 5:14.52. Average pace of 7:52 per klm.

This won't happen again as I can't see the point in running back up Nellies Glen for training. Well I couldn't run it anyway so it was a waste today.
Today was very hard work and from Megalong Rd I really did not want to run back. Longest time on my feet ever yet again.
The cramp bear don't live on this body as I had no problems at all, only tightness in the legs near the end which is normal as we all know.
Just hurry up with the race already. Now I can taper! Yeehah!

My Legs, I can't feel my legs

2007-02-15T22:00:00.000+11:00

That was what my brain was saying to my legs near the end of these hill reps.
A very uncomfortable 26 degrees and 65% humidity during the session.
The reps were up my 1.1k hill and I struggled to do 8 reps.

The reps were: 5:31, 5:25, 5:32, 5:33, 5:31, 5:36, 5:31, 5:25. All done with about equal recovery back down the hill again.
A lot slower than 2 weeks ago, but I guess the week off last week had a bit of an effect. Plus yesterday's longish run.

Downhill Demon 12x400m reps

2007-02-13T20:52:00.000+11:00

A 2k warmup over to the grassy hill in Centennial Park for some down hill reps.
Lots of people in the park tonight. I even saw Mohammad driving by after finishing his training with Long Arms.
As per usual tried to keep the reps consistent.

Reps were: 1:13, 1:13, 1:13, 1:13, 1:13, 1:15, 1:12, 1:14, 1:13, 1:13, 1:11, 1:10.
All done with almost double the recovery time back up the hill again.

Did a 2k cool down back home after the session. Legs feel good, it was only darkness that forced me to stop. No lights in the park you see, or can't see.

Caves House to Pluvio & Return-40ks

2007-02-04T19:34:00.000+11:00

The reason for 40 was due to getting to a sign on the way up from the Caves which only said that I had just come up the track not which way to go forward. Consequently walked up the track for 1k then turned around due to thinking I was wrong. Then spotted a walker who told me, yep the same hill I had to go up again. Bugger.

The start was at 7:30am this morning from Caves House after not finding the turnoff to the Black Range Campground where I intended to start from. No sign?
The start was all up hill and down and up hill again after the mistake and arriving at 6ks in an hour. That hill out of the caves was brutal and I could only walk it. Lucky we get to run down it during the race.

Trudged along to the Binda Cabins and then met up with Caves Rd. Couldn't work out where the track went and finally found it on the same side I had been running. Nothing to bad about this part. Eventually got down to the official crossing of Caves Rd. Made my way down to the Black Range campground discovering there were at least five nasty hills to go up between Caves Rd and the campground.
Down Black Range with the sun still behind the trees giving me plenty of shade. Not too bad the hills down here, coming back would be another story. Finally arrived at Pluvio after doing 21ks in 2:26:00.

Met Kev Tiller and Becky O plus 3 other stragglers doing the fatass "megalong to Mega". Had a powerbar here at half time.
Filled my camelbak up with some water and headed back.

Worked out that coming back along Black Range the first hill after Pluvio you would have to walk up as it was too steep. Found about 4 others that gave me the same feeling in the legs. Why run it. I did run all of Black Range bar the worst hills and arrived back at the campground after 60 minutes for the 8.7ks.
Met Ray(Kit's other half) and Deanna doing a bush walk towards Pluvio to meet Bernie g, Kit and Blue Dog later on. Filled up my water bottle from the tank. It was nice and cool actually. Excellent considering the water in the camelbak was copping the sun. Also had a my first ever Gu here. Seriously I didn't feel any effect at all.

From then I knew that the bit back to Caves Rd had five soul destroying hills. Two of which were at least 500m in length and quite steep.
Made the crossing of Caves Rd and trudged up and down the trail, walking a few more hills as I was knackered back to Binda Cabins. The sign for a shower made me nearly attempt a full clothed dip. Maybe race day! Just kidding.

There were a few more hills from the cabins until I finally reached the summit of Kiora Hill and I could run a bit quicker down hill. Very slippery down the single track to the stairs at Carlotta's Arch. Raced down the stairs and broke the imaginary finishing tape.
Trudged uphill to the car to break open the esky with a few much needed suppliers of gatorade and coke. Plus some snakes!

The important splits:
Caves House to Pluvio: 2:26:30. 21ks in 6:58 per klm.
Pluvio to Black Range campground: 3:25:50. 8.7ks in 6:49 per klm.
Black Range to Caves House: 4:41:06. 10.3ks in 7:18.
Finished with 40ks on the clock for 4:41:06. Average pace of 7:01 per klm.

The bit from Black Range to Caves House had more up hills than I could ever have imagined from the course map. Especially the part to the Caves Rd crossing was particularly hard for me. Heaps of walking up every hill and a slow trudge along the flat to get my breath back.
Learnt a lot about the course. If any tells you it is easy from Pluvio to the finish then they are lying. The sun was killing me now as the shade had gone from Black Range with the sun straight overhead, just like race day.
My last visit to the track before the race. For the stairs and Nellies I'll just have to see that on the day.
Yet again it was my longest ever timed run. And the best part was that I have had no cramps whatsover despite all the up and downhills I had in this run. Hope for the same on race day.

Long Hill Reps 6x1.1k

2007-02-01T21:16:00.000+11:00

After doing an extra downhill rep on Tuesday I had to put in the effort to do an extra uphill rep tonight. Very tough in the humidity.

Reps were 5:16, 5:10, 5:17, 5:15, 5:16, 5:20. All done with about the same time recovery back down the hill.

2p one grandparent was scottish, one english and two aussies with german/belgian heritage.

Filled the online entry about 11pm last night while still at work. That's why no run yesterday.

Locked and Loaded

2007-01-31T23:53:00.000+11:00

Payment To
Six Foot Track Marathon

For
Six Foot Track Marathon 2007
10/03/07
Age Group - 40-49

No turning back now!

Downhill Reps 11x400m

2007-01-30T21:04:00.000+11:00

The program said:............. Well nothing because I make it up as I go along.
Anyway decided since there was a possibility of rain on Thursday I would do some downhill reps today as I have to do them on grass and it might get a bit slippery in the wet.

The reps were 1:12, 1:10, 1:15, 1:12, 1:11, 1:12, 1:12, 1:13, 1:12, 1:13, 1:11.
The recovery was about double the effort.

Had a 2k warmup and then a 2k cooldown after the session. A nearly full moon started to rise over the park as the sun was going down in the west. Very nice.

Downhill Reps 10x400m

2007-01-23T21:17:00.000+11:00

Found a nice hill that is mostly downhill all of the distance. Not very steep but downhill most of the way. And all grass which helps if I happen to fall.
The hill was about 400m downhill and runs from the Paddington Gates in Centennial Park down to the cafe.

The reps were 1:09, 1:09, 1:13, 1:11, 1:11, 1:12, 1:12, 1:14, 1:16, 1:13. All done with equal recovery back up the hill which sounds very strange having to do that. Basically it took about double the time to go back up the hill again.

Had a light shower fall one me while I was running on that side of the park. When I finished and ran back home to the other side of the park the gutters were all flowing with water. Must have missed me.

Did a 2k warmup and a 2k cool down after the session.

Megalong Rd to Pluvi & Return 36ks

2007-01-07T19:36:00.000+11:00

The longest time on my feet ever today turned out to be and wasn't it painful.

Arrived to meet O Runner, Vurt, Spud and some members of the mysterious Masai tribe in full tribal kit. Including sandals and spears. Very impressive.
Off we ran about 7:10 with the 10 of us taking a good pace down to Cox's River. I arrived after the 7.5ks in 46 minutes. So far so good inspite of the humidity caused by the low cloud cover.

Off we ran to Mini Mini with some of the tribe trying to exert there superior leg strength up the hills. A walk and run program was in order as I did so with Spud going up to the saddle. Didn't get that split as we gathered up the top minus O Runner and Vurt.

Then down to Alum Creek where we had the three crossings with one involving get the shoes wet, but the others being able to cross over at the rocks which I did so.
When Pluvi arrived I mostly walked it and looked at places I could run during the race, which didn't look like many. I arrived with Andrew a multiple six foot tracker runner. Who did 4:28 last year. I arrived on top with a split of 2:10:00. As I intended to do this around the 1hr 30min mark in the race I will have to readjust my time, as I don't think I can walk anymore than I did during the race.

Back down again as we had reached our turnaround point. The other guys went flat out downhill and I just rested the legs as I really didn't want to fall down Pluvi as the rocks looked pretty sharp coming up. Splashed through the Alum Creek crossings and failed to remember than I had to climb back up Mini Mini again. It killed me I had to walk nearly the whole way as the legs were stuffed.

Then back down Mini Mini with the road being really slippery from the loose dirt as a surface. Caught up to Andrew just near Cox's and we had a rest there and a drink. Time here was 3:21. Waited for Vurt and O Runner to run back with us. O Runner in his flashy gaitors waded across Cox's knee deep and the rest of us took to the rocks.

The run back was the worst I have felt all day as I was already past my longest ever timed run and my legs were reminding of such. Many of the hills I had to walk and at the end I had to struggle to run along the flat near the farm at the end. Struggled to the end and finished in 4:24:45. Longest run over.

O Runner, Vurt, Andrew and myself dragged our bodies down to the little creek near Megalaong Rd for a quick dip. The water felt really good on the legs. After finishing I proceeded to drink 3l of fluid until I had to use the bathroom. Thats a lot of sweating.
I ran with a 2l camelbak and a handheld water bottle. Finished the bottle and probably about 75% of the camelbak. Had a few showers during the run which was great, very windy in places as the southerly was arriving. Very refreshing.

Much to do before the race. Plenty of ways to help my legs on the run up to Pluvi. Just have to remember during the race.

Splits were:
Megalong Rd to Cox's River 7.5ks 46:00. Average pace of 6:08 per klm.
Cox's River to Pluviometer 10.5ks 84:00. Average pace of 8:00 per klm.
Pluviometer to Cox's River 10.5ks 81:00. Average pace of 7:42 per klm.
Cox's River to Megalong Rd 7.5ks 63:00. Average pace of 8:14 per klm.
Total Megalng Rd to Pluvi and back 36ks in 4:24:45. Average pace of 7:21 per klm.
Pretty tragic some of those splits especially the one coming back to the car. Lots of walking and I was stuffed literally. I did have to walk down Pluvi for about 10 minutes as I got a stitch from the water I had drunk. Must be the downhill puts pressure on the spot where the stitch came from.
A good day out nonetheless. And thanks to O Runner for organising. Apologies for long post again.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2007-01-02T21:47:00.000+11:00

I felt surprisingly good doing the hill reps tonight. Musn't have run hard enough on Sunday. Blah, Blah, Blah....
Had a few showers fall during the session which was great as it was really humid.

The reps were 5:32, 5:21, 5:21, 5:22, 5:22. All done with about the same time recovery back down the hill.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2006-12-28T21:20:00.000+11:00

I tried to drag a couple of unco-operative legs up a few hill reps tonight. They really didn't like it after doing nearly 23ks yesterday.
Ran up the secret hill location. Didn't see that wheelie bin thank god. A shocking crime.

Reps were 5:50, 5:41, 5:48, 5:53, 5:49. All done with a jog down recovery of about the same time length.

All up 11ks for the session. It was pretty humid tonight with a strong North Easterly breeze blowing.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2006-12-21T21:17:00.000+11:00

Back to not so secret hill to run some reps.
Legs felt very tired and the right hip wasn't too good either.

Reps were 5:34, 5:34, 5:36, 5:40, 5:33. Nice consistency in the reps which is good. I guess I've gotten a lot better at pacing myself since I started running a couple of years ago.

Pretty windy and humid, but no rain around. The Quarry Road run doesn't look that flash on Sunday as the forecast is for rain.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2006-12-05T21:43:00.000+11:00

Back to secret hill to do some more reps. Just tried to run the reps faster than the last time I did them, which meant beating 5:57 as my slowest time.
Pretty shocked when my first rep came out as 5:37. I then thought hell I'm going to have run them all that fast.

Anyway the reps came out as 5:37, 5:34, 5:33, 5:36, 5:31. All of these were done with about the same time recovery back down the hill. I felt for a second about having a go at one more to go under 5:30 and then thought better of it as I didn't want an injury.

Megalong Valley to Alum River & Return

2006-10-29T16:14:00.000+11:00

A lovely 3 degrees at 8am when I headed off towards Alum River.
Going down hill straight off and through the cattle grids and farmlands of the Mcgees homestead. Those rotten ladders to climb the fences are the worst part about this section plus the boring farmland. I also had to contend with a few steaks not wanting to move from the track going there and back.

When I climbed the fence into the single track bush section I felt a lot better as the feel was like I was really in the bush now. The early morning bird calls were so loud, it was fantastic.
Had a bit of confusion going down to Cox's River as I recalled reports of the race that the swing bridge was near the actual crossing. Well I consequently stopped at the swing bridge had a look and then kept running and looking for the crossing. I ran 1k before thinking I must have missed it so had to run back uphill again to the bridge to check. Worked out that I'm an idiot so turned around and ran back to what eventually became the open grassed area just before Cox's.

I class Cox's today as a pond as the water was certainly not moving. I crossed at the rocks not wanting to get my feet wet on a training run. I finally felt like I could run normally again as I proceeded up the Road to Mini-Mini saddle. The road is deeply rutted, most likely from 4wd's using the camp ground at Cox's River. The road up to Mini-mini was very hard work as it was open from the trees and starting to get warm I felt. Mixed walking and running up here as it was steep.

Finally I reached the top noted by a spray painted yellow 20 on a post. I proceeded down to Alum River knowing it was only 2ks down the track from the top of Mini-Mini. Ran well through here as it was pretty easy going but became really steep as I got closer to the River which was a trickle. Here the story changed and I ran back to the car.

The climb out of Alum Creek up to Mini-Mini saddle was hard work but at least I was shaded from the sun which was now pretty high up. Then the long down hill to Cox's was fairly easy as I didn't push it too hard. Arrived at Cox's and filled my now empty water bottle at the toilet.

Proceeded up the long climb back to Megalong, which meant tackling the many wooden stairs that I had run through on the way down. Plenty of walking was needed by me especially on the stairs. Finally came out to the farmland again and had to navigate past the cattle who were still refusing to get off the track. Where's my BBQ?
Through the farmland and finally back up the track to my car.

Ran 30.01ks in 3:10:16. Average pace of 6:20 per klm.
Today was really just a reconnaissance mission for the race, so time was not important. I took plenty of time looking around and taking some photos. Plus chatting to the many bush walkers, some of who were a bit freaked out by me running the track. Nutter I'm sure they were thinking. Saw a few Roos on the track plus an Echidna.
I ran only in singlet and shorts. I had a water bottle in one hand and my camera with a powerbar in the pouch in the other hand. I used the water bottle by the time I got to Cox's River the 2nd time. Filled up there and promptly drank the whole lot in the 7.5ks back to the car. I ate the powerbar going out of Cox's at the same time. I didn't feel I needed anything else while running and holding the bottle was no hassle.
Apologies about the long post.

Long Hill Reps 5x1.1k

2006-10-24T21:25:00.000+10:00

A secret hill location in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.
Found a hill that appears to have a continous up from start to finish. The rise is 65metres vertical over the distance of 1.1ks. One part of about 100 metres on google earth says it goes down but it certainly is still rising in that section so I don't know what happened there.

Reps were 6:04, 6:08, 5:57, 6:05, 6:09. Recovery down was about the same time length.

65 metres vertical isn't very steep but the purpose was to keep using the same muscles going up for the long period. Worked quite well.

Secret Training

2006-10-19T11:39:00.000+10:00

I am expecting to have a secret training session in the very near future, of course it won't be secret when I blog about it.

Six Foot Track 2007

2006-03-12T12:26:00.000+11:00

I'm excited just reading the early reports from this years race.

With less than a year to go till Six Foot 2007, I thought I should do a post.

At the moment I am still not running but reading about the race I get a greater appreciation of what I will have to go through next year.

Definitely 2007 Six Foot

2005-10-16T13:15:00.000+10:00

Sorry to disappoint.
I know forward planning got to me a bit on setting this blog up.

I have already run a 3:16 Marathon so have a qualifying time to do Six Foot.

For 2006 I want to do a fast marathon so the concentration is on training for the road and not for Six Foot in March.

Canberra 2006 in under 3hours is the main goal for next year amongst others.

The Goal for 2007

2005-10-13T17:20:00.000+10:00

The goal for 2007 is to run the Six Foot Track Marathon.

The Marathon is actually an ultra as it is 45 klms in length.

Goal time based on reading past runners times is to do it in under 5 hrs.