Tuning in Tokyo...

I took it very easy on Monday, just a 20 min stroll in the domain. I ran the last 10 mins with Serg and Anthony Murrell. I noticed on Superflake's blog that Serg ran Sunday's 30k Star. He confirmed his attendance (you can't do much in Sydney with all the blogs floating around) and felt the going tough in the last few kms keeping up with Fats and Truscott. He's looking at running the Gold Coast marathon in July. He's got five months and with his half time 68.58 he should have no problem running 2.35 for his first one.
Went for a massage in Jackie's after work and spent the rest of the evening working on my core and doing some stretches after a hot bath.
The Tuesday session was 3 by 10 mins with 3 min recovery. I opted for a very easy session. One 3k rep at 3.45 pace, then 1 min on (3.30 pace) by 5, 1 min off (slow jog). Large crowd in attendance, Mike Harrison pushed the pace at the front (he was surprisingly caught in the last rep by a new guy who looked very comfortable pushing 3.15 pace). Tim Craddock, Springer & Anthony looked very strong for all the reps. Tucks as he does every week was close to front and ran at his own pace (bang on his lactate threshold pace of around 3.24). Ray who keeps his best running for key races held back again today. I wonder if Tom was surprised with Ray's sub 33 on Friday night?
Flying out in the morning and I'm planning on doing very little in the lead up to the race (5 - 8k easy). I've run six 6 marathons and 2 ultra's (sixfoot is classed as an ultra), each time I've ran a tad quicker (Gold Coast '04 - 3.20, Honolulu '05 - 3.19, Canberra - 3.18, Melbourne - 2.55, Canberra - 2.47 & Auckland - 2.46). I only got back running in October after surgery in August so I really didn't think I'd have any chance of running quicker than Auckland but with last week's 35.19 I'm in with a very slim chance. The plan is to ease into it in Tokyo, run 4m/k for 25k and see how I go. If I can the hold pace I'll finish in 2.48.48. If I run a tad quicker in the second half I might have a chance of a pb. Either way, I'm happy with the progress over the last few months and the base I've built will serve me well for the racing calendar of '08. My brother in law Chris (Big Bear) will definitely run a pb...