Earning my Christmas Pudding

24 December 2016

Next marathon on the 'bucket list' is the Cadbury Marathon in Hobart in mid-January 2017. This morning I did the last long run in the race simulation phase of my training plan - 37 kms in pretty testing conditions, with the first real burst of warm summer weather arriving in Melbourne today. 

I set off in warm sunny conditions, wearing sunglasses for the first time this year, to run the Eastlink trail to Jells Park, with fully loaded with drink bottles and gels in the hydration belt. I had run this route many times and knew it was good for warmer weather conditions as there are a number of drinking taps along the route. 

By the time I got to the bottom of Jells Park storm clouds had swept in, blocking out the direct sun, which gave some relief. Then the rain started, heavy at first and continuing lightly as I headed back along the Dandenong Creek trail. While the light rain was cooling, this pushed the humidity up, so even though I was drinking plenty of water, I was struggling with leg cramps in the last few kms of the run - coming up the Heathmont hill from HE Parker Reserve was a real bastard with my calves screaming!

Hopefully mid-January in Hobart won't be quite so warm and humid for the marathon, but post-Christmas taper should have me ready to line up at the Cadbury Factory on 15 January.

Trailing fueling on these long runs has been useful. Pre-run pikelets with jam and honey, and a banana, work well. Also little sachets of honey during the run are a nice alternative to gels, however the cherry flavoured GU gel was totally disgusting, tasting like horrid medicine! I'll save the Cadbury chocolate for post-run treats :-)

BBQ eggs and bacon was the post-long run "breakfast of champions" with the family, and I reckon I've earned a guilt-free serve of Christmas pudding with custard tomorrow!

When a marathon goes wrong, sometime you can get lucky.....

Here's an incredible story from the Queenstown International Marathon, via Stuff.co.nz

Australian doctor comes to the rescue during Queenstown Marathon

Jo McKenzie-McLean

Emergency physician Domhnall Brannigan based in Hobart, Tasmania, who is attending an emergency medicine conference in Queenstown, found himself helping a fellow marathon runner who collapsed during the race on Saturday. 

The Queenstown Marathon took an unexpected turn for an emergency physician who stopped to help another runner who collapsed during the race.

Dr Domhnall Brannigan, who is based in Hobart, Tasmania, is in Queenstown attending the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. 

"I took the opportunity to do the Queenstown Marathon while I was here because it was the day before the conference. This was my first marathon, in fact, I only decided to do it when booking my flights for the conference. It was 12 weeks before the conference and I saw the ads when i was on the Air New Zealand website and thought 'why not?'."

He had the typical nerves and excitment at the start line, and was "gunning for a solid four-hour" time. 

"I went out a bit too quickly as most people do probably. I was pretty happy with my pace and I had managed the first half marathon in pretty good time. I had just done first hilly section and was coming along a straight piece of road and my race took a slightly unexpected turn. I ran past a young man who was looking a little bit unsteady on his feet, which was surprising that early in the race I guess. But it was a warm day, I'm not sure what was going on but he didn't look great.

"As I passed him I looked at his face and he looked pale and I said, 'are you OK?'. He looked right at me and said, 'I'm OK'. So I thought OK and kept running because you see people in these events struggling and most ultimately look OK. I was about 150 metres further on and heard a shout for help. I glanced over my shoulder and there were four or five people already there and I thought, that's fine, they don't need me, so I kept running. Then I heard a second call and it sounded much more urgent and I thought I'm going to have to help so I stopped and ran back. There was a young man...he was in a bad way." 

The man was lying face down completely unconscious, had struck his head and was obstructing his airway, Brannigan said.

"He had an obstructed airway with a locked jaw and wasn't really breathing very effectively but he still had a good pulse...I placed him in the recovery position and held his airway open with a jaw thrust manoeuvre which any first-aider will know. I had no equipment with me so I tried to keep his airway open as best I could providing a jaw thrust."

Brannigan got a bystander to make a call to emergency services, sent messages to the aid station and co-ordinated other people there to help, he said.

"Several people came forward with skills that could have been helpful but it turned out because we didn't have much equipment there wasn't much they could do either. I actually had two anaesthetists, a cardiologist and registered nurse at the scene within a few minutes. A couple were in the marathon and a couple were spectators."

After spending 30 minutes at the scene, he turned around and finished the second half marathon.

  - Stuff

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/86704864/australian-doctor-comes-to-the-rescue-during-queenstown-marathon

So Domhnall was one of the doctors attending my organisation's conference in Queenstown and I was lucky enough to catch up with him and get a bit more of the back story to his 'rescue mission' in the marathon.....

The good news is that the young man survived but was still suffering concussion a few days later. Apparently the young guy had run a few 5kays and had decided to have crack at the marathon, with no training plan, no preparation and no idea - he was a disaster waiting to happen somewhere on the 42km course, especially as he went out hard and fast (at 5k pace)!!! Lucky that Domhnall was around when things suddenly went seriously wrong for this young man....

More running in Queenstown

22-23 November 2016

In previous blogposts, I have mentioned that, when I am travelling for work, I like to pack my running gear and get out for an early morning run in cities I am visiting. So being in Queenstown for a week, for my organisation's annual conference, gave me some great running opportunities, as well as the chance to run the HM in Queenstown International Marathon.

Instead of running past impressive buildings and iconic capital city landmarks, the Queenstown Trail, beside Lake Wakatipu, had me running past glorious views of the turquoise green lake and spectacular Remarkables.

An easy "5k" run around Queenstown Gardens and docks, a coupe of days after the HM:

Then out and back to the mouth of the Kawarau River, for a fast 14k:

Loved it - could run this trail any day not not tire of it!!!

 

Queenstown Half

19 November 2016

The annual conference for the organisation I work for happens to be in Queenstown, New Zealand this year and (un)fortunately it coincides with the Queenstown International Marathon! While my organisation has been concerned about availibity of accommodation and venues for the conference, due to the clash of events, I have only been able to see an upside - being able to start a busy week working at the conference (away from my family and friends) by signing on to run one of the events in the Queenstown Marathon.

  

Having recently run the Sydney Marathon and half marathon at Melbourne Marathon, and with a busy week at the conference ahead, I choose to register for the half marathon here in Queenstown. 

The course was point to point, so we were bused out to the starting area at Speargrass Flat (about halfway to Arrowtown, where the marathon start point was located). This transfer was very well organised - I walked down from my hotel (after pre-fuelling on a banana, Up&Go and coffee with glucose) to the Queenstown Recreation Ground at about 6:30am and was able to get straight on to a bus. 

Bananas were probably the biggest import to Queenstown this weekend! I had visited the local Big 4 supermarket yesterday specifically to get bananas along with a few other pre- and post-race supplies (Up&Go, chocolate milk and yoghurt). The supermarket had a huge stack of banana boxes and was full of people (including me) with 2 bananas in their shopping basket. The girl at the checkout wished me well for the marathon - heh, how did she know....

Glorious blue skies but quite cold at the start area, and had a bit of a wait for the 8am start, so I was glad that I had gone with a long sleeved top. The starting shute was seeded, based on estimated finish time and, while there wasn't a lot of race marshals, this was well signed with runners seeming to get into the right sections as I didn't encounter any problems with people stopping to walk, in front of me, in the first few kms of the race.

The course was mostly flat on a mix of road and smooth hard packed trails, which made it interesting. Started on the road for first 4-5kms or so, which meant the field could spread out a bit before we hit the trails. It was easy running so I was able to take in the views, which were spectacular with lots of remnant snow on the nearby mountains. The first section of the trail started with a steep downhill and rocky under foot, so I was very cautious of taking a tumble or, worst, spraining an ankle; but this soon flattened out to smooth trail alongside the Shotover River. The trail was wide enough for two or three runners, which was fine at this stage of the race, and I was able to maintain a good pace for the rest of the race.  

With the sun out, I was beginning to wonder about my choice of long sleeve top, but there were plenty of aid stations along the route so I kept well hydrated and tipped water on my head and back to stay cool. Back onto road for a bit then rejoined the trail beside the Kawarau River. A steep pinch at the 9-10km mark was a real test, which reduced a lot of people to a walk, but I just managed to keep running all the way up but was blowing hard at the top. 

Near Franktown, we joined the trail along side Lake Wakatipu and followed this all the way into Queenstown, skirting around the Queenstown Gardens, through the streets of Queenstown to finish at the Queenstown Recreation Ground. Huge piles of bananas, bottles of poweraid and water was available at the finish - which was great! 

Fantastic course - interesting and the views were spectacular - and a really well organised event. My time was 1:44:26, which was not a PB but I was happy with this, as I had really enjoyed the run and managed to sneak in under 1:45 (which was kind of my goals for this race).

Half Melbourne Marathon

16 October 2016

The Melbourne Marathon was my first ever marathon - I ran it in October last year (2016) and that's a story for another post - but having ran the Sydney Marathon in September I wasn't planning on entering for Melbourne this year... That is until Ina Graham asked me to run to raise funds for the Lentara Asylum Seekers Project. Ina can be very persuasive and, while I prefer not to run to fund raise (I don't like the idea of always asking my friends and family for donations, when I am running because running is just something I enjoy doing) this was a really important and worthy cause, so I signed up for the half marathon (too close to the Sydney Marathon to contemplate having a crack at the full 42kms) and got my fundraising webpage set up....

Joel also joined me in the fundraising efforts, taking on the 10k course....

Starting in Batman Avenue, we headed up into Flinders Street, theninto Swanston Street, over Princes Bridge and then south along St Kilda Road. At St Kilda Junction, we turned  into Fitzroy Street then into Lakeside Drive and do an anticlockwise lap of Albert Park Lake, Then headed up St Kilda Road into Southbank Blvd, Sturt St, under the St Kilda Rd, along Alexandra Ave into Linlithgow Ave loop[ing back into St Kilda Road. Then turning for home at Princes Walk through Birrarung Marr overf the William Barak Bridge, to take a hairpin turn on to Jolimont St to Brunton Avenue for final turn into MCG and do a lap of "The G" to finish.

It was quite windy during the race which made some sections quite challenging, particularly around Albert Park Lake, but overall very enjoyable and I managed a pretty good time of 1:41:21.

Joel comfortably finished the 10k in 51:02 then went off to play premier cricket in the afternoon (taking 3 wickets too). Between the two of us we raised over $2,100 for the Lentara Asylum Seekers Project - big thanks to all our supporters!!!

Run Maroondah

25 September 2016

My 12 year-old nephew, Sam, heard about my marathon escapades and told his dad that he would like to run a marathon too! Sam's dad, my brother Trev, did the math and suggested Sam have a go at a few fun runs first, and signed up for Run Maroondah. We registered too, to make it a family event.

Run Maroondah is organised by my local council, and is held on a picturesque section of the Dandenong Creek - a favourite training route of mine. From HE Parker Reserve along the creek to the Marlborough Street footbridge then back along the bike path on other side to the footbridge at the Reserve. One lap is 5k, twice around for 10k. A 1.2k Kids Dash around the oval was also on the program. 

My little niece, Laura, took on the Kids Dash with short-lived enthusiasm then a fair bit of walking and a big sprint finish. With our loud cheering and medal around her neck, she wore a grin for the rest of the morning.

Sam took on my Ben and Kerryn in the 5k run. Sam did pretty well for his first fun run, finishing in 27:04 ahead of both Ben (31:40) and Kerryn (34:35), but later declared that he thought he was more of a sprinter, so I guess his marathon plans may be on hold for a few years! 

Joel and I ran the 10k with Trev. It was a slow steady jog for me, as I was still a little sore from running the Sydney Marathon the previous weekend, but nice to run most of the way side-by-side with Trev, until his calf cramped up, late in the second lap. I finished in 52:07, with Joel out in front (51:14) but a tad disappointed to not break 50 minutes. Trev still managed a respectable 54:15, on his bung leg. 

A pancake brunch to refuel the family after our run efforts rounded out a fun morning....

 

Sydney Marathon

18 September 2016

The day before the marathon caught a flight to Sydney in anticipation of a great run, and with some trepidation, as the weather outlook was not good, with heavy rain forecast. 

Picked up race pack from Sydney Town Hall then checked into our accommodation, which was handy to Wynyard Station and convenient to get to race start point. 

Took it easy for the rest of the afternoon wandering around The Rocks then wood-fired pizza at The GPO in Martin Place before turning in for an early night. 

Woke to a very early alarm (4:45am) to have a pre-race feed of crumpets with jam (no toaster so these weren't the best eating), black coffee with glucose, a banana, an Up&Go breakfast drink and some apple juice. Then got into running gear and checked the rain radar on the phone - it looked promising, with no sign of rain in the Sydney area at this time. I spent some quiet time on visualisation - no nerves but a tinge of excitement. 

Took the train from Wynyard across the Harbour Bridge (watching the runners in the HM go by) to the starting point at Bradford Park, Milsons Point, arriving at a bit after 6:15 for the 7am start time. It was cloudy but no sign of rain. I had a gel with some water, then a quick pit stop at the portaloos and some dynamic stretching before heading to the starting area on Alfred St. Well organised marshalling ensured wave starts worked smoothly. 

I was in wave A (sub 3:45) so soon after the gun I was across the start line and heading up Alfred St then making a loop turn onto the Bradfield Hwy and up onto the Harbour Bridge. What a spectacular way to start the race! It was a thrill to run the Bridge. The wave starts ensured that it wasn't too crowded so I could take in the Harbour views without being jostled around.

Off the Bridge, looped onto the Cahill Expressway and across the top of Circular Quay with more spectacular views, before turning the corner at the edge of the Bontanic Gardens then onto Macquarie Street. This led us straight down the middle of Hyde Park, across a very bouncy temporary bridge across Park St. Out of Hyde Park, we were heading up Oxford St towards Darlinghurst. Looped past the SCG, then on to run a couple of laps around Centennial Park. Hit the halfway mark coming out of the Park then backtracked to Hyde Park.  

Drink stations were regularly spaced along the course and I began taking fluids and fuel from early in the race, having half a gel and a cup of water at nearly all stations, sometimes mixing it up with a cup of electrolytes to drink instead. 

Out of Hyde Park again, we headed up Phillip St and on to Alfred St, on ground level, at Circular Quay. I was feeling good when I spotted my "support crew", Kerryn and Ben, on the corner of George St and gave them a big wave as I ran past, on the way to The Rocks and on to Hickson Rd to take us under the Harbour Bridge and round the corner into Darling Harbour. There was some very light rain now, which was refreshing. We took an inland route through Pyrmont, before turning at the foot of ANZAC Bridge to head back along the waterfront. We had passed the 30km mark by now and I was still feeling ok and seemed to be holding a steady pace. Winding along the water's edge through Darling Harbour was picturesque but by 37km I was hurting but still able to push through (perhaps feeling in a bit better shape, at this stage, than previous marathons). 

Back on Hickson Rd, under the Harbour Bridge I was turning for home at Dawes Point with Circular Quay and the finish line, in front of the Opera House, in sight. With less than 2kms to go, this was such a boost and I found an extra gear to kick hard for the finishing line. My support crew were cheering me on from the sideline, a few hundred metres from the finish line, but I was in the zone and totally focused on getting to that finish line, so I didn't notice them. I caught up with Kerryn and Ben in the marathon finishers area, under the steps of the Opera House, and gave them both big hugs and kisses. My calves and hamstrings were screaming, but I was elated - another marathon done, a great run and new PR of 3:42! 

Running with my boy

4 September 2016

My son, Joel, agreed to do a 10k fun run with me for Fathers Day - the inaugural YMCA Fathers Day Fun Run. 

A cool morning but sunny and not too many people running the 10k, so all very pleasant conditions. 

We ran shoulder to shoulder the whole way - two loops of the Tan Track through the Alexandra Gardens - at a relaxed pace, chatting about sport and other stuff as we ambled along. 

Then we picked up the pace in the last couple of kilometres, picking off other slower struggling runners as we dashed past on the way to the finish. Crossed the finish line together, in exactly the same time, 53:50.80. No PR but that wasn't the goal - just enjoyed being out on a run with my boy!! 

And to finish off a great morning, we enjoyed a post run "breakkie of champions" on Southbank. 

Really enjoyed this run - thanks very much Joelly-boy. You are a great mate! Wish I could have done something like this with my Dad.....

How good is this....

1 September 2016

As I've said in previous blogs, I like to go for a run when I'm traveling. On business trips this usually means running city streets and parks, past iconic buildings and landmarks. But on holidays, the destinations are more exotic and the running is very enjoyable. 

Tropical Port Douglas has been paradise! No getting up early for a mid-week winters run in the cold and dark before rushing off to work - a run in the warm sunshine before a leisurely breakfast beside the pool is what I'm talking about. 

Ran down the bike path, along the Port Douglas Road, past the resorts and lush greenery, then back along the Four Mile Beach. Warm conditions and a flat course made for a pretty cracking pace, which felt effortless - if only running was like this every time! 

I was soaked in sweat by the end of this 10km run so a quick dip in our resort pool was a great way to cool off and warm down.

Returning to Melbourne this weekend so it wil be back to long-sleeves and leggings for a few more weeks, but hopefully Spring will bring some warmer running conditions back home...

Running in paradise

31 August 2016

Making the most of an end of winter escape to tropical Port Douglas (in Far North Queensland) to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, it was an absolute joy to go for a run along Four Mile Beach with the morning sun on my shoulder. 

A short but very enjoyable trundle in the sand and looking forward to a longer run up here later in the week - so nice after rugging up to run in Melbourne the past few months. 

Last long run before Sydney Marathon

27 August 2016

Last "20 miler" before tapering to the Sydney Marathon - smashed out 36kms this morning. Perfect running conditions for late winter in Melbourne - cool, around 12oC, with light breeze and a bit of sun, but certainly not warn enough to breakout my Sydney Marathon training singlet. 

Running for 3+ hours is hard work (but maybe just a little easIer than the 32 km I did last weekend, as the body starts to adapt to longer distances) yet enjoyable, even an escape, after a pretty tough week at work. 

Today's run followed a route that we have cycled many times as a family so there was a bit of reminiscing as I plodded along. As I was running mostly on bike paths it was good to be away from road traffic and heading through green space along creeks, parklands and rail-trails; also a number of drinking taps enroute were handy. While yellow wattle blossom along the way gave a hint of Spring being just around the corner. 

The 20 milers I've run the last couple of weekends are a great tune up for marathon day, but tired and sore legs for the rest of the day are also a good reminder that the marathon is a bloody long way to run! Despite that, I am looking forward to running marathon number 3, later in September. 

Why I like Saturday long run - post-run pancakes!

6 August 2016

After 27km run I cooked up these beauties for a late breakfast - not a bad way to start the weekend!

Sift 3 cups S/R wholemeal flour, 2 scoops vanilla protein powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda in a bowl. Whisk 600ml buttermilk, 3 eggs and 5 Tbspn vegetable oil in a separate bowl; pour buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients. Stir just until combined adding little extra milk (batter may seem a bit thick). Cook ladlefuls on hot non-stick pan. Serve in stacks with sliced fruit, yogurt, Nutella, crushed nuts, LSA and cinnamon. 

Signed up for Sydney

31 July 2016

After much procrastination on what big race to run next, I signed up for the Sydney marathon today (last day for 'early bird' registrations too)! 

I've been following a marathon training plan on the 'My ASICS' app since May, so preparation is on track but will just need a little fine tuning now I have a race date locked in. As much as I like the My ASICS app, and it has been very useful in guiding my training for previous HMs and marathons, it is limited in being able to make changes. While I could start a new plan on the app, this would kick me right back to the starting 'preconditioning' phase, which won't work for the September race date, as I am about to move into 'race simulation' phase!  As a work around I have manually rescheduled the training plan to, hopefully, have me fully prepared and perfectly tapering for 18 September.

So I'm looking forward to running across the Harbour Bridge and past some iconic Sydney landmarks in my next marathon adventure......

Run Melbourne 2016

24 July 2016

Run Melbourne is a sentimental favourite for me as this was the first event I ran, back in 2013 when I was a middle-aged bloke just trying to get fit! Way back then I ran the 5km with Joel and Em; happy to get to the finish line in a bit over 26 minutes.  In 2014 I stepped up to the 10km (46:53) then 2015 it was the half marathon and a pretty pleasing time (1:39:46) as I was in training for the Melbourne Marathon (my first marathon) later that year. 

Today I was back for another crack at the HM and looking forward to a new route through Melbourne. With a start time of 7am, I was up early (4:30am) for a feed - a couple of wholemeal crumpets with jam and Nutella and a strong black coffee with some glucose. A quick hot shower to wake me up a bit more, then a banana and an Up&Go at around 5am. 

Kerryn (bless her) crawled out of bed and drove me into the city, dropping me off at 6am. It was dark and cold (5oC) so I was glad I had decided to wear an old fleece windcheater, as a throw-away at the start line (there were donation bins beside the start shute), but I did question my decision to go with shorts rather than leggings in the predawn chill.

The start was on Flinders St this year, just west of Elizabeth St, which was easy to access from the bag drop at Fed Square. Despite the morning chill it didn't take long to warm up, as we headed off to run a loop around Docklands. This was great and as we ran past the Polly Woodside with the sun rising over the city, I was filled with a sense of joy - how great is it to be able to run!! 

Sun out and blue skies - I was glad I went with the shorts and long sleeve top combination, as we ran through the Alexandra Gardens and turned down St Kilda Rd. 

The course had quite a few turnaround loop backs - in the Botanical Gardens, Alexandra Ave and Batman Ave. I took water and electrolytes at each drink station, and while I carried a gel on my waistbelt I didn't use it. 

I ran at a good pace throughout the race and, while I didn't use headphones, there were some nice periods of flow. Within the last 5km I knew I was a chance to PR so kicked hard for last few kms. The climb up Wellington Pde was an effort but I keep at, as I knew there was a downhill in the run home, along Batman Ave and into Birrarung Marr to nail a new PR 1:37:45, improving my HM best by 2 minutes!!

As much as I really enjoy Run Melbourne, the post race nutrition is sub-standard - a bottle of water and a sachet of protein powder (no fruit). I grabbed a coffee and tub of yogurt at Flinders St Station before catching the train home, making a mental note to bring fruit and fuel for 2017! 

PS: lesson learned in the post race refuel as I felt pretty uncomfortable in the guts until mid afternoon due to hunger pains.