Included is a Word document and also a PDF version.  For more info talk to Mary or Stan or Michael.

Twilight Half Training Plan – PDF

Twilight Half Training Plan – Word Document

Jenny Cawood and Sandy Scott are our most consistent half marathoners, Sandy did one in Sydney and Melbourne as well as races in SE Qld. Last year’s title was won off only 6 races so the challenge is on.  You can choose whatever distance you want if the designated event has it.  The only race that doesn’t provide any choices is the Pinnacles Classic which is an 18km trail run (18 hills in 18km’s as they say!).

In order to qualify for points in the club championship you need to be a financial member of the club at the time of the race. Points are accumulated and after the final race of the season in Toowoomba the winner is announced at our Annual Awards.  The winner receives a perpetual trophy for the year as well as a take home trophy to keep.

The Club Championship races for 2012 are:

1.  Twilight Running Festival: Sunday night 18 March (10km, Half marathon)

2.  Pinnacles Classic: Saturday morning 14 April (18km trail)

3.  Noosa Half Marathon: Sunday morning 6 May (10km, Half marathon)

4.  Gold Coast Marathon: Saturday 30 June-Sunday 1 July (10km, Half marathon, marathon)

5.  Jetty @ Jetty: Sunday morning 15 July (10km, Half marathon)

6.  Brisbane Running Festival: Sunday morning 5 August (10km, Half marathon, Marathon)

7.  Bridge 2 Brisbane: Sunday morning 9 September (10km) – to be confirmed

8.  Toowoomba Marathon: Sunday morning October 21 (10km, Half marathon, Marathon) – to be confirmed

Mary was honoured with a Good Samaritan award because she broke her race 3 times to assist people in need including our own Gazza. Gazza collapsed about 200m from the finish suffering from severe dehydration and muscle damage. After some initial difficulty getting propoer help and ambulance arrived. Gary had been supported initially by Abi and Sandy and then Stan and Mary came along. Mary’s presence was greatly valued as she is a nurse and understands the medical needs of athletes in such conditions. Thankfully the hospital took good care of Gary. Mary got dropped off at the hospital whilst we had a somewhatt deflated meal at Sizzler, getting text updates from Mary. We eventually made it over to the hospital and Stan & Mary saw him before he was taken up to a high care ward. Latest update from lunchtime today is that Gazza will be released on Friday this week.  It will be great to see him back home and recovering over the next few weeks.

There are a couple of reflections I have. Firstly, a big thank you to Mary, who always thinks more of others than herself. The support she provided to Gary was incredibly valuable. She also helped a runner hit by a car and another woman who also collapsed. Her support of Gary in the hospital would have made the world of difference to him as well, ensuring that he got the best care and the medical staff understood the unique nature of the injury (you never know – its Toowoomba).

The other reflection I have is just how dangerous running can potentially be, especially at events where the temperature is either high or low. We have been running information nights on nutrition and hydration already, but I will endeavour to put together a factsheet for our website of essential information about nutrition and hydration for long distance running which clubbies can access 24/7. What happened this weekend is both avoidable but also easy to understand how it happened. It doesn’t take long for you to get distressed and not make good decisions (or be aware of making good decisions). Ultimately we don’t want anything like this to happen to anyone else, cos as Gazza will no doubt tell you, its not pleasant. I really did get a big fright out of this. Long distance running is a tough gig, and we need to know as much as we can and also know our bodies. Be careful peeps!

Dackie & Enda accompanying the female marathon winner

Gazza whilst he was still powering!

Stan had good company from Barry, a Moreton Bay runner

Brownie - Karen Brown nails her second marathon for 2011

Jerrod was a running advert for compression garments

Scotty Brown cruising in the Half after a great training run up

It was great to see Abi again!

Abi keeping the pack on track

The race is organised by the Trail Running Association of Queensland (TRAQ – http://runtrails.org/articles/). TRAQ put on a number of trail races throughout the year and most of the events have a range of distances to cater for fun-runners to ultra competitors. The Lake Manchester event had options of  6km or 22km, utilising the dirt and gravel tracks in the forest around the lake. Lake Manchester is situated at the very southern end of the Brisbane Forest Park near Mount Crosby.

I entered the 22km run and after driving along some twisting gravel roads I arrived at the race start/finish which is situated close to the Lake Manchester dam. These events have their own distinct ‘scene’ and require a slightly different set of skills, approach and equipment to road races. For example many off-road events are turning ‘green’ and do not supply cups at the drink stations.

The route follows the western side of the lake for about 8km, has a loop over a hill and then returns along the path as the outward route. Having read this description I was lulled into thinking that any route which follows a lake shore can’t be too tough. How wrong I was! The lakeside path has 7 very steep climbs and descents of varying length, which the organiser referred to in his briefing as ‘the Seven Dwarves’. I thought the degree of steepness was very similar to some of the hills in Clear Mountain forest and definitely not dwarfish at all. I presume that Snow White is the monstrous climb encountered on the loop part! The organisers final comment of his briefing caused  ripple of disconcertment through the field. It was this, “if anyone is wearing a GPS, please tell me how long the course is”. That’s the last thing you want to hear when you are on the start line of a long race!

The race started and I settled into a nice pace around about 12^th place. I don’t have any recent long run background apart from a 25km trail race I ran in July so this dictated a conservative approach. From 6km the field had sorted itself out a bit and I then ran the whole of the rest of the race with two other runners. I found that I was running slightly faster than them on the down-hills and moderate up-hills but I was losing out on the steep up-hills. Consequently by the time we reached the loop they had put a bit of distance on me. However, the loop had a long downhill section and then a number of river crossings and here I gained on them and overtook them. I think at one point I was about 30 seconds ahead. Then there was a long hill and again on the steep sections I started to lose ground. One of the guys overtook me on the hill and then proceeded to steadily draw away over the ‘seven dwarves’ on the way back but I was pleased to hold off the other chap.

The return journey didn’t seem quite as severe as it did outbound, although that may because I knew what to expect. I was quite pleased with my strength at the end and I actually managed to do the return 2 minutes quicker than the outbound (although that was partly to do with the altitude gained on the outbound route).

At the finish someone who was wearing a GPS confirmed that the course was 22.6km with an overall climb of 544m. I was pleased to have finished 10^th but my time of 1:58:46 was some 20 minutes slower than my estimated time based upon my pace at the 25km race I did a few weeks previously! This bears testament to how tough the course was.

So all in all a really great event. A fantastic, challenging course, well organised and a very enjoyable experience. For anyone wanting to try a trail race the next TRAQ event is on 11^th September at the Glasshouse Mountains. This event has 10km, 30km, 50km, 100km and 100 miles races (the latter starting the day before). Details here; http://runtrails.org/articles/events/glasshouse.

Dave Holland.

*From the Editor: Thanks Dave for your article.  If you have done a walk or run and can write a report up we’d love that. Contact Stan if you have some content we can put on the club site.  It’s great to welcome Dave to our club.  Dave has considerable running experience, and also brings a love of trail running with him into the club.  I’m sure that we will benefit greatly from his knowledge and experience and he will get us running in places we never imagined we would be soon!

Stan Fetting, Jerrod Smith & Mark Lawton enjoy some post race celebrations

This year’s Brisbane Marathon Festival was blessed with fantastic weather and a 15 degree start to the Marathon and Half at 6am. The course this year was greatly affected by the floods and also the difficulties organisers had with an uncooperative Council.  There were 4 bridge crossings, lots of twists and turns, dips and rises and two crowded laps of the Botanic Gardens at the start. However runners made the best of the difficult course and aided by enthusiastic volunteers enjoyed a warm morning of running.  Striders managed to get a runner in the top 5. There weren’t many club members competing having raced at Gold Coast and Jetty 2 Jetty.

The evergreen Thomas Donnet nailed another excellent Half in 1:53.  Mark Lawton pulled off a huge PB, significantly bettering his time at Noosa for the Half.  Jerrod Smith managed to run an extra lap of the Botanic Gardens and finished with a 1:48 which was actually a 1:42 when he stopped his Garmin at the 21.1km mark!  Stan Fetting wasn’t expecting a good day being short on preparation but ended up sneaking in under 3 hours with seconds to spare with a 5th overall.  Tony Banfield pulled off an excellent 3:27 well under his target time.

Matt & Emily Stark after a blistering 4km race

*Updated* This years Gold Coast Marathon saw the biggest contingent of Striders ever. As last year there were plenty of debutantes at half and full marathon. There were some inspirational performances as well, not necessarily at the front of the field. Alan Whittle is facing a heart operation in days and he defied doctors orders to finish after careful but determined training. Alan ran across the line with Fabian Gonzales (Pix) who hit trouble at 27km’s. As usual, the race was graced by the presence of the perpetual angel who never runs for herself and always helps others to get across the line. Mary Jackson helped Fabian push through the barriers and eventually gathered Alan as well. The genetic freaks at the front are impressive but the people who finish despite significant difficulty (and those who help them) are inspiring.

The debutantes are inspiring as well. Each Half Marathon and Marathon medalists are winners in their own right. Many have come a long way from the couch, into an active life and to the point where they set themselves big goals and have now achieved them. That is inspiring to watch from the side and a pleasure to cheer on. To see people live their athletic dreams is a joy. For some, its more than simply an athletic dream and there is a lot more riding on the event in terms of overcoming significant life challenges.

On Saturday our hot to trot juniors Mat & Emily Stark took on the 4km with a fast finish of 18:11 & 19:04 respectively. Gary Wood also took on the 10km and finished in 48min with a big smile. Warren Jensen nailed his first 10km in 1:04. On Sunday morning the Half Marathoners kicked off first in perfect weather, overcast and cool with little wind. First across the line from Striders was Michelle Brownhill with a blistering 1:37 Gavin Hendry at 1:46 and then a good bunch: Tony Sampson (debutant) 1:48, Tim Carr 1:50 (debutant) , another inspirational run by Thomas Donnet in 1:51, Sandy Scott 1:52, Geoff Oliver (debutant) 1:57, Karen Reardon 2:00, Amanda McQueen (debutant) 2:01, Zhara Dibella 2:02 and Jane Schmidhauser 2:07.

In the marathon Wayne Jones crossed the line first in an excellent 3:14. Enda Cotter started the day without much sleep after a robbery at his house and the police being around in the early hours of the morning. He shook that off for an excellent debut at 3: 25. There was a battle royal going on between Duncan Price and Abi Griffin with Duncan finishing a nose (5 seconds) in front with them both on 3:33. Luis Fernandes was backing up from the Madrid Marathon only about 7 weeks prior to he ran a very good 3:35. Michael Stark toughed it out through Labrador and crossed in 3:40, impressive for such a tall fella. Karen Brown made an impressive debut at 3:42 followed by Jenny Cawood in 3:48 and yet another debutant Megan Watterston at 3:49. Corne Grotius was all smiles for a 4:27. Fabian Gonzalez and Alan Whittle were chaperoned across the line by our club saint Mary Jackson in 5:21.  Check out a gallery of pics Stan took here.

Gary Wood all smiles after finishing the 10km

The usual apologies apply to anyone whose name didn’t make it into the list. If you are aware of any please let me know and I’ll edit.

So what’s next? The Brisbane Marathon Festival is on August 7, perhaps there would be some interested in the 10km or Half? Ok think about it next week!

Michael Stark, Enda Cotter & Duncan Price recover at the end of the Noosa Half

Noosa once again played host to another exceptionally well organised USM weekend of events, with the Half Marathon, 10km and 5km the focus for Striders members.  The weekend rain saw the humidity soar to 97% at 7am, when the Half Marathon was 30min underway.  Most competitors felt the effects of the humidity on the second 5km lap, but it could have been a lot worse with a lot of rain and wind the night before.  The Noosa course is a flat and fast out and back lap course, which some runners prefer as it helps break the race down into sections which helps with pacing and anticipating just where you are on the course.  The timing of the Noosa Half now makes it ideal preparation for the Gold Coast Marathon, with enough time to recover and finish off the last 6 weeks of marathon training.  The girls outnumbered the boys once again, and there were some great new PB’s.

Half Marathon

First Strider across the line was Stan Fetting making a return to long distance racing after an annus horribilis last year with a recurring calf tendon injury. Stan bagged a PB of 1:24:05 for a 53rd overall and a 4th place in the 45-50 category and a tidy negative split and an average of 3:59 per/km.  Second Strider across the line (wearing the club kit for the first time) was Enda Cotter with an impressive 1:29:21 and a big negative split.  Duncan Price (aka Sherlock) continued a speedy return to running and fitness with a 1:32:30.  Not far behind was a very fit Michael Stark (aka Mancoach) with a new PB of 1:35:39 despite the effects of his recent triathlon at Hervey Bay. Wayne Billington was next in 1:37:04, a great time given the disruption to his training schedule by work.

Revelation of the day had to be the first female Strider across the line Michelle White who had a massive PB of 5min! to record a 1:42:05.  Just behind her was Jenny Cawood notching up yet another Half with 1:42:45 and 12th in her category. Karen Brown (aka Brownie) ran a solid 1:44:12 for a 7th in category and despite virtually de-gloving her entire big toe in a blister that has to be seen to be believed! Meg Watterston (Moretti) raced under her new married name for the first time and looked good out on the course for a 1:48:04. Sandy Scott backed up from the SMH Half Marathon in Sydney the weekend before for a 1:50:47 but you wouldn’t have known it was her second consecutive Half across 2 weekends! Paul Dack was sporting a much better pair of legs than the last time we saw him! – and that’s because due to injury his place was taken by Nina Studenko who ran across in 1:51:51.  As she approached the 10km turnaround the announcer said “And here comes Paul Dack!”, with Nina waving and acknowledging the crowd. Classy quick thinking woman!  Mark Lawton notched up another good race finish with a 2:23:07.

10km – our only competitor was Zara Di Bella who notched up a very good 57:59.

5km – Striders legend Tommy Donnet nailed another impressive run with a 26:21 to take out 4th place in his category M60-69.  We can only dream of running on into our 60′s, and as fast as Tommy who keeps himself exceptionally fit.

Big thanks to Kymberly Stark for being our official photographer. To all those who competed, make sure you use this week to recover well, and restart your training sensibly.  Perhaps you all want to think about running in the 5km, or 10km at Doomben on June 4 as another racing opportunity to sharpen you up for the Gold Coast.

Sandy Scott specialist in 'happy running'

Jenny Cawood, Half Marathon veteran, looking very strong

Michael Stark and Duncan Price still smiles at the start

Stan Fetting digs deep at the 10km turnaround

Karen Brown running strong

Duncan Price at the 10km turnaround still looking comfortable

Michael Stark working hard but having fun

Enda brings it home for a great negative split!

Stan Fetting brings it home for a Pb in his first race as a grandad

Sandy checking out the talent!

Jerrod & Gavin limber up for the Half Marathon

It was a busy weekend for a lot of Striders either warming up for Mooloolaba Triathlon on Saturday, racing at the Bribie Tri on Sunday or competing in the Twilight Running Festival on Sunday night. It’s a tough race at the start of the race season but our runners toughed it out and the rain held out as well.  It was an evening of impressive achievements and at least two firsts.

Mary and I went along to cheer on Gail, Ash, Lisa, Ernie, Sandy, Corne, Wayne, Gavin, Jenny, Tony and Dawg at the Twilight Festival. Ash and Gail were STOKED with their first 10km! Well done girls! It’s been awesome watching you get fitter and faster.  Ernie had a tough day and had to pull out ofter coming down crook, he looked like a ghost. Hope you pull up ok and get better Boet!  After the girls, run of the day went to Tony who looked super-cool and collected in the Half with a good 1:34. Sandy looked in control as well, well under her goal time. Jenny Cawood was also super cool and notched up about her 50 000th Half.  Lisa had an excellent run, looking well balanced and confident in her running. Gavin ran a good Half off the back of little technical training, taking the pressure off himself and pacing himself naturally. Corne had a solid run, Wayne (not Dackie) ran a good 1:38.

Dawg was aiming a lot higher than he got but had a hard night. Still, a MASSIVE improvement from last year’s Twilight which he did in somewhere around 2:05, this crossing in under 1:43, a huge improvement. We are all amazed at his transformation.

Twilight is tough – no question about it. Run at night after a day of nerves and toilet visits, lots of turns and some vicious little climbs at all the wrong times and places. It’s not a race where you normally PB, but it is a good honest race to help set up a much faster season. It’s early enough to spot areas where you need to improve.

Here’s a little movie I shot on my iPhone.

Our marathon debutantes were Duncan Price , Michael Stark, Abi Griffin, Paul Dack and Emma Chandler. Also competing were Mary Jackson, Jenny Cawood and John Brown.

The debutantes had prepared since January and most had to negotiate the usual hurdles of injury, illness and the normal interruptions of life (life often gets in the way of running doesn’t it?). Paul Dack had a faultless preparation that included a sizzling 1:29 at Noosa Half. Paul ran perfect 5km’s splits at 22min until the 35min mark and then cramps hit him hard and he struggled home after an otherwise magnificent run. He crossed the line in 1:29 for an impressive (if not painful) debut.

Next across the line was Michael Stark who missed out on the run last year due to injury. A bike fall two weeks out caused some concern but he shook that off for an excellent debut at 3:35. Starkie is our tallest runner and the marathon is typically a huge ask for big guys but he’s pulled it off. Since the start of the season when Duncan Price crossed the finish line of the Twilight Half there’s been a lot of jabber heading Starkie’s way about being beaten by the light-footed copper who then reprised his act at Noosa. Duncan got the flu during his taper and his preparations were thrown into disarray before the race. He toughed it out and crossed in 3:53, giving the ascendancy back to Starkie who must be complimented on his lack of sledging.

Starkie said “I didn’t worry too much about the Half marathons because I’ve always thought the true test of a man is the marathon.” Jerrod made another excellent debut at 3:41 and has shown that apart from being a much fitter and better-prepared runner he has nailed the headspace dimension and was able to stay in the hurt locker for as long as he needed to.

Abi Griffin had numerous injuries during her marathon training and ran with Emma until the 35km and stormed home for a brilliant debut of 3:49. Jenny Cawood clocked up yet another marathon with an excellent time of 3:55. Emma Chandler had a tough day at the office feeling a bit sick but also toughed it out and made a great debut at 3:59. Emma combines being a working mother of four children along with lots of gym, cycling and run training. Mary Jackson yet again chaperoned another runner to their first ever marathon and finished in 4:26. John Brown ran what I think is his first marathon in 5:22.

Lessons Learned

I think all the debutantes learned that the marathon is a different beast from shorter races, especially the Half. Runners who posted very fast times at the Half were unable to match that equivalent time in the marathon due to the X-factors of cramp, dehydration and fatigue. The marathon is a respecter of nobody, and it must be approached with the knowledge that it can throw up some challenging physiological and mental challenges that you otherwise don’t experience in training or racing at shorter distances.

Mary suggested that runners do at least one of their long training runs at the same time as the marathon (instead of at 5am when it is cooler) and this proved to be very wise advice. Runners suffered from the higher temperatures.

The golden rule of nutrition is that you don’t consume anything on race morning that you haven’t done in training. This leads to unforeseen issues and this proved to be the case.

Coping with cramp is a complex issue, and there is no easy answer. The more marathons you do the better your legs cope, with smarter training and perhaps better pacing and also a more thorough hydration and nutrition plan for the run.

Having said the above, every marathon finish is a major success, and puts you in the top percentile of the population. The many months of training required lots of difficult balancing and juggling with time and other important commitments and the training sessions themselves required dedications. The runners can rightly feel immensely proud of their achievements.

I missed out on Gold Coast due to injuries but I am hoping to give the Brissy marathon a good shake on August 1.