The Horrie and Belinda Show

1/1/07

We were up early after not much sleep to head out to Beyond the Black Stump. We were happy to be starting the new year in such a positive way. We were both shocked and happy to see over 100 runners turn up. We gravitated towards the back and then we were off. Caught up with Ken and Linda who we ran with at Fitzroy Falls before letting them go when we started going up hills. We soon found ourselves running with Thomo, The Keg, Ellie, Jen, Blkbox and Beki. There was a great feeling out on the trails and a glorious day to match. It wasn't long before we headed to the ferry crossing with Jen while the others made their way back for the Party Poopers Option. Once off the ferry, we headed up the 4km hill that takes us to the trail that leads out to the Kalabash Castle. I settled into a slow rhythm and just worked my way up the hill. Jen was about 100m behind me with Belinda the same distance behind her. Once we got to the road where you turn off to head out to the trail, I decided to stop and wait for Belinda while Jen continued to roll along at good pace. On this section, we started to see most of the runners making their way back. At the turnaround from the castle, I estimated that we were now about 5 minutes behind Jen and a few others who she had caught up to. We made our way back to the road and managed to overtake an older guy meaning we were no longer in last place. We picked up the pace running the 4km downhill back to the ferry with the hope of picking up a few more runners and hoping to catch the ferry with them. Even though we managed to pick up 2 runners on the downhill, we weren't quick enough to catch the ferry and again had to wait around 10 minutes to get to the other side. Once across the water we now headed to the toughest part of the trail where there is a lot of climbing and not much running. We had heard how tough this part was but did not run it last year as we were with Luckylegs and took the road option to save time. This part was as hard as it had been explained and Belinda just wanted it to be over. We were happy when we finally saw some sandy trail that was runnable and we broke into a jog. We were even happier to see the last drink drop but were disappointed to find no drinks left but made good use of the ice to cool us down. Now back on the road, we slowly ran the last section all the way in and were happy to finish in under 5 and a half hours, which was a good result considering we lost around 20 minutes on ferry crossings. Even better was the fact Belinda pulled up feeling good and was not too bashed up at all and would be able to continue training for the rest of the week.

2/1/07

We were back at SWEAT and had intervals on the program. I had 5x1km reps while Belinda had 5x600m reps. We both agreed that we would not run them flat out as we knew that we had been on our legs for 5.5 hours the day before. I settled in behind Pres and was happy for him to make the pace. I was surprised to finish the first rep in 4:01 as it didn't feel that fast. After running 4:03 for the second, we found ourselves overtaking people for the following reps and ran the 3rd and 4th in 3:59. We both agreed if we kicked with 200m to go on the last rep we would run it in under 3:55. That was the way it turned out when we both finished in 3:53, dragging Darren through with us. Belinda was cruising her 600m reps and found herself way out in front in every rep even though they weren't as quick as her last session of these reps. She was happy to run them all a bit over 3 minutes each.

3/1/07

We had 90 minutes on the program so I decided that with 6 Foot Track looming we needed to get more hill training so we headed to Coogee. I have a great circuit where I run all the hilly streets between Coogee and Clovelly in a run that is around 12.8km in distance. Belinda was in good spirits when we started but about half way through the session, she was starting to question our sanity in doing such a tough run 2 days after Black Stump. Despite this we both battled on and finished the run in 97 minutes and was glad when it was over.

4/1/07

Back to SWEAT for more hills with 10 continous laps of Big Bertha on the menu. I decided to hold back and settled in behind runners I am normally ahead of. After running the first lap in 1:59 I wanted to keep the pace of each lap to under 2 minutes. I managed to do this fairly comfortably and was running them like clockwork going through the half way point in 9:53. As expected it was now getting harder to keep them under 2 minutes but I was just managing to do this. With 2 laps to go, I realised I was getting closer to runners I am usually racing so my competitive instincts got the better of me and I started to pick the pace up and managed to go past 1 of them on the 9th and managed to catch Darren just before the finish to stop the clock at 19:40 for 9:47 for the second 5 laps which was a 6 second negative split.

Belinda ran it in the opposite manner and bolted out of the blocks running the first lap in 2:15 before fading to run them at a slower pace. In the confusion of how well she ran the first few laps, Sean got confused and told her she had finished when she completed her 9th lap. A check of her splits later on confirmed this but it was a great run and she was not far behind Bernie and Kerry when she finished.

5/1/07

With the Coastal Classic on tomorrow night, I opted for an easy half hour around my local park to get a feel for what I will be doing. I settled into running 5:23/km and ran comfortably at this pace for the half hour. This has given me a good feeling about tomorrow night and I am hopeful of improving on my 102km from last year.

Belinda decided to rest today and save herself for her 12 hour debut tomorrow.