Gold Coast Marathon: Kookaburra Nestles In

Week #3 saw a smaller turnout by The Kookaburras, mainly due to a number of participants having a Run350 HM race early next morning.  The Kookaburras gathered at MacRitchie Reservoir park for their first visit for a 16km and 25km Marathon Pace (MP) long run.

In view of the longer time to be spent on our feet, we started registration at 7:00pm and by 7:30pm, we were flagged off in our respective groups along Thomson Road.  

The Kookaburra Pacers were well represented in the respective pace groups (HM 2:00h, 2:15h, 2:30h) and (FM 4:00h, 4:30h, 5:00h, 5:30h)  to lead their respective groups of trainees along the winding Old Upper Thomson Road (OUTR), and then onto the long stretch of Sembawang and Mandai Roads.

The first half of the run went great for all the pace groups who were keeping close with one another till the U-turn points of the Half Marathoners at the end of OUTR.  The return for the HMers went reasonably well with most completing their 16km within MP.

The Full Marathoners proceeded strongly and on target MP along Mandai Road till the U-Turn at 12.5km.  After a brief 'technical' pause for the respective group members  to reconvene and have a refuel, the Kookaburras made their way back along the route, continuing to maintain their target MPs.

The humid weather, especially along the heavy vegetated OUTR and parts of UTR made it a lot more challenging to sustain the pace.  It was only along the straight Mandai Road stretch where there were mild winds, giving the Kookaburras some reprieve.  

The smallish combination of Groups 4:00h and 4:30h marathoners were spread out but were guided along by the experienced Trainers who were familiar with the training area.  There was a smaller Group 3 which did reasonably well to complete their training requirements without much of a hitch.

Some of the newer Kookaburras arrived late, but did their best to follow the training routes sent out earlier in the week.  They were able to catch up with the returning team mates and completed the training LSD together.

All the runners completed their quests by 10:30pm.  Overall it was good base and foundation build up for the Kookaburras, and with more weeks ahead to strengthen  that base at Marathon Pace, the Kookaburras are on track to condition well for their Golden race in Gold Coast, 6-7 July.

Next weekend will see the Kookaburras doing their personal LSD, and some of whom have signed up with the Sundown Lead Up Run will tap on this progressive training run to affirm their foundation for long distances in the morning with the possibility of heat coming on in the later part of the day.

The Kookaburras Are Looking & Feeling Strong!

Photos from FatBird Chin