A quick review of 2006 for posterity....
January - Somewhat steady training for Six Foot but a little inconsistent - 323km
February - Started pretty well with a couple of decent runs in the 10km and Equaliser but training slipped pretty dramatically in the middle - 175km
March - Started with a bout of the flu from which in hindisght I did not recover fully. Six Foot was a shambles and I withdrew halfway up Pluviometer. Did get to watch the Commonwealth Games 5000m race live, which was an absolute belter. Overall a very slack month - 126km
April - Somewhat pleasing to just squeeze in under 3:30 for Canberra given the poor preparation, mentally came out of my hole a little - 177km
May - A little more consistent, including running during my US trip, but still down on distance. Highlight was the SMH Half going within a whisker of my half PB in a pretty well paced race - 171km
June - A fairly quiet month but I did race the NSW XC championships and also lowered my PB at Woodford to Glenbrook - 192km
July - A shambles of a month, only 2 blog posts and minimal running - 96km
August - Finally got myself a little motivated, especially after a horrendous Airport Adventure STaR. A lot more consistent training saw decent times for both City to Surf and Willy to Billy, promising given the lack of real distance in the legs - 239km
September - Again some consistency without really digging in. Ran Sydney Marathon as a pacer with SilverFox and faded in the last 10km. Some decent speedwork was seeing my rep times dropping - 234km
October - A pleasing month with some good running. First race at Fitzroy Falls in the marathon and also a first in equal highest points for a Summer Series event. A very strong run in the internal half capped off with a good jaunt along part of the GNW course with Blue Dog - 321km
November - Started by just about breaking my 10km PB, getting within 10 seconds at Lane Cove. The rest of the month centered around the GNW, I had a great time, but sadly was probably a little underdone and that was not helped by the heat. A reluctant but wise decision to withdraw at the 52km mark. After that pretty much a break to recover mentally and physically - 107km
December - The start of the Six Foot Campaign, funnily enough, not a single race in December, unusual for me (other than Summer Series!). Some good longer runs but the usual work and family stuff this time of the year reduced my ability to run every day - 255km
Summary - In hindsight a lot of expectations but not enough preparation to try and achieve stated goals. Probably the best yardstick is my stated goal in January to run 3000km for the year, in fact the actual yearly total just snuck over 2400. Some encouraging signs at various points through the year.
My PB table is starting to look somewhat dusty. 2007 should hopefully be a watershed year in my running, more consistent training will help. As I turn 40 in March the major focus will be to go sub 40 when 40 :)
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Seeing out 2006
Last runs for 2006
Thursday - Out for a tempo run around my 14km circuit, went out in the late afternoon but still quite warm and I was pretty lathered by the time I got home.
Distance 14.3km
Time 1:05:38
Avg Pace 4:35
Avg HR 167
Saturday - This time I opted for my "Half Marathon" route with some good decent hills including a nasty long 1km haul up Pittwater Road to get home. Again I was pretty spent when I had finished.
Distance 20.84km
Time 1:41:43
Avg Pace 4:52
Avg HR 163
So that ends December and 2006 (I'll do a separate 2006 summary blog)
Six Foot Campaign Summary
Day 29 of 96
Days run 15
Total distance 255
Total climb 2142
Still somewhat inconsistent but the days I have dropped/not run I have used as recovery runs and shuffled my more intense sessions around and kept them.
Thursday - Out for a tempo run around my 14km circuit, went out in the late afternoon but still quite warm and I was pretty lathered by the time I got home.
Distance 14.3km
Time 1:05:38
Avg Pace 4:35
Avg HR 167
Saturday - This time I opted for my "Half Marathon" route with some good decent hills including a nasty long 1km haul up Pittwater Road to get home. Again I was pretty spent when I had finished.
Distance 20.84km
Time 1:41:43
Avg Pace 4:52
Avg HR 163
So that ends December and 2006 (I'll do a separate 2006 summary blog)
Six Foot Campaign Summary
Day 29 of 96
Days run 15
Total distance 255
Total climb 2142
Still somewhat inconsistent but the days I have dropped/not run I have used as recovery runs and shuffled my more intense sessions around and kept them.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Merry Christmas!!!
First of all Merry Christmas to all readers and fellow bloggers, a little belated but then that's life I suppose when you have 3 kids over Christmas, plus one of them having a birthday 2 days later.....
Now where was I? (warning longish type post to cover a week and a half)
A trip to Melbourne screwed up Mon/Tues after the STaR so I headed to Balmoral for the Summer Series event on Wednesday. Running here is always a challenge with controls usually set at the top of the ridge, halfway down and then along the waterfront with generally a good amount of climbing required to collate a decent score. I worked out a route which kept most controls open depending upon my progress. As it happens the progress was good. I know some lurkers are Summer Series runners and so below is my route, with a commentary, scroll down further for other stuff if not interested.
Initially some easy pickings with 3,12 and 4 then up the hill/path to 11, dropping back a little to then climb up further to 22. Then following the contours along to 21, dropping down to 13, missing 30 points at 2 and 14. Back up and along to 24 (droppong another 10 points with 1) then halfway down the slope to 25, climbing back up to 16. TRaversing the slope to 6 (on Awaba) up to 27 then zig zagging down to 19 and 18. Across and then up to 28 then down through Chinamans Beach for 9 and 29. Anothet climb out and along to 30 then 20, dropping back down to Balmoral for 7. Running low on time but out to the island for 26 then weaving the streets of Balmoral for 17 and 10. I was on around 43 minutes here so knew I would be late but decided to be greedy and hit 15, looping around and up for 23, with a final downhill surge to 5 and home. Six and a bit minutes late saw 70 points deducted from my gross score of 550 to give a net of 480.
Stats
Distance 9.3km
Time 51:49
Avg Pace 5:35
Avg HR 171
Climb 120m
Friday
Did the stock standard weir run but felt pretty crappy throughout seemed to be very humid. Somewhat slower than my best but anyway...
Saturday
Initially planned a Quarry Rd jaunt in place of the CR Xmas eve run but fell short so headed out in the middle of the day with the goal of a longer run, including some good bush. A short cut through to Deburghs Bridge and already the heat and humidity were evident, putting my head under the tap at the rangers hut to try and cool down. New territory on the Eastern Side of Lane Cove River along the GNW with some good undulating trail running. As I paused at one intersection another runner approached who I recognised as Tom, a fellow Strider. We continued together up to Browns Waterhole where he turned around and I crossed the river and climbed up to Vimiera Road. A long pause near Macquarie Uni where I rehydrated, popped a gu and endeavoured to try and cool down. Eventually took a short cut or 2 on the way home and was pretty wiped by the end.
Stats
Distance 19km
Time 1:42
Avg Pace 5:27
Avg HR 165
Climb 160m
Tuesday (Boxing Day)
Took advantage of the reshuffled family Xmas arrangements and cooler weather to head out for a longer run. Dropped through LCNP, seeing Tom again and then also catching up with Jim Moody near the start of the Striders 10km races. A good long climb up to West Lindfield and then hit the bush in an effort to do the Striders Chatswood Chase in reverse. I missed one turn in the bush and was momentarily dislocated but kept on running on commonsense and eventually reestablished contact with the planned run. Kept climbing up to the Mona Vale Rd/Pacific Hwy intersction and across for some climbing up to Gordon and then along the rollercoaster parallel to the railway line to Boundary St. I decided to take the "long option" and headed east towards Penshurst St all the way down to Mowbray Rd. It finally started to warm up by now but I pushed hard home, grinding out the climb up Epping Rd back to home. Overall a much better run than Saturday!
Stats
Distance 28.2km
Time 2:29:40
Avg Pace 5:18
Avg HR 152 (legs seemed to be limiting factor!)
Climb 240m
Six Foot Campaign Summary
Day 25 of 96
Days run 13
Total distance 220km
Total climb 1965
Better than nothing I suppose but more consistency required which knowing my timetable will be tough.....
Also apologies to fellow bloggers for lack of recent comments, a little bit stretched at the moment!!
Now where was I? (warning longish type post to cover a week and a half)
A trip to Melbourne screwed up Mon/Tues after the STaR so I headed to Balmoral for the Summer Series event on Wednesday. Running here is always a challenge with controls usually set at the top of the ridge, halfway down and then along the waterfront with generally a good amount of climbing required to collate a decent score. I worked out a route which kept most controls open depending upon my progress. As it happens the progress was good. I know some lurkers are Summer Series runners and so below is my route, with a commentary, scroll down further for other stuff if not interested.
Initially some easy pickings with 3,12 and 4 then up the hill/path to 11, dropping back a little to then climb up further to 22. Then following the contours along to 21, dropping down to 13, missing 30 points at 2 and 14. Back up and along to 24 (droppong another 10 points with 1) then halfway down the slope to 25, climbing back up to 16. TRaversing the slope to 6 (on Awaba) up to 27 then zig zagging down to 19 and 18. Across and then up to 28 then down through Chinamans Beach for 9 and 29. Anothet climb out and along to 30 then 20, dropping back down to Balmoral for 7. Running low on time but out to the island for 26 then weaving the streets of Balmoral for 17 and 10. I was on around 43 minutes here so knew I would be late but decided to be greedy and hit 15, looping around and up for 23, with a final downhill surge to 5 and home. Six and a bit minutes late saw 70 points deducted from my gross score of 550 to give a net of 480.
Stats
Distance 9.3km
Time 51:49
Avg Pace 5:35
Avg HR 171
Climb 120m
Friday
Did the stock standard weir run but felt pretty crappy throughout seemed to be very humid. Somewhat slower than my best but anyway...
Saturday
Initially planned a Quarry Rd jaunt in place of the CR Xmas eve run but fell short so headed out in the middle of the day with the goal of a longer run, including some good bush. A short cut through to Deburghs Bridge and already the heat and humidity were evident, putting my head under the tap at the rangers hut to try and cool down. New territory on the Eastern Side of Lane Cove River along the GNW with some good undulating trail running. As I paused at one intersection another runner approached who I recognised as Tom, a fellow Strider. We continued together up to Browns Waterhole where he turned around and I crossed the river and climbed up to Vimiera Road. A long pause near Macquarie Uni where I rehydrated, popped a gu and endeavoured to try and cool down. Eventually took a short cut or 2 on the way home and was pretty wiped by the end.
Stats
Distance 19km
Time 1:42
Avg Pace 5:27
Avg HR 165
Climb 160m
Tuesday (Boxing Day)
Took advantage of the reshuffled family Xmas arrangements and cooler weather to head out for a longer run. Dropped through LCNP, seeing Tom again and then also catching up with Jim Moody near the start of the Striders 10km races. A good long climb up to West Lindfield and then hit the bush in an effort to do the Striders Chatswood Chase in reverse. I missed one turn in the bush and was momentarily dislocated but kept on running on commonsense and eventually reestablished contact with the planned run. Kept climbing up to the Mona Vale Rd/Pacific Hwy intersction and across for some climbing up to Gordon and then along the rollercoaster parallel to the railway line to Boundary St. I decided to take the "long option" and headed east towards Penshurst St all the way down to Mowbray Rd. It finally started to warm up by now but I pushed hard home, grinding out the climb up Epping Rd back to home. Overall a much better run than Saturday!
Stats
Distance 28.2km
Time 2:29:40
Avg Pace 5:18
Avg HR 152 (legs seemed to be limiting factor!)
Climb 240m
Six Foot Campaign Summary
Day 25 of 96
Days run 13
Total distance 220km
Total climb 1965
Better than nothing I suppose but more consistency required which knowing my timetable will be tough.....
Also apologies to fellow bloggers for lack of recent comments, a little bit stretched at the moment!!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Reaping what you have sown!
So over to Centennial Park for the Tourist Trot STaR. A good sized group but immediately the pace was on....
I won't rant too much about the group pace but suffice to say I eventually faded at around 18km drifting off the back. If the goal was to run on tired legs then mission accomplished! Also heartening to hear that the bulk of the 6:10 group finally realised that they really should be running 6:20 (especially since they averaged 4:59 pace....)
So to my run
Distance 28km
Time 2:26
Avg Pace 5:14
Climb - Garmin initially says 410 but I will revise that back to 330 after it plotted a 140m peak in the middle of King St.....
Campaign status
Day 16 of 96
Days run 9 (David must be more consistent....)
Total distance 153km
Total climb 1370m
I won't rant too much about the group pace but suffice to say I eventually faded at around 18km drifting off the back. If the goal was to run on tired legs then mission accomplished! Also heartening to hear that the bulk of the 6:10 group finally realised that they really should be running 6:20 (especially since they averaged 4:59 pace....)
So to my run
Distance 28km
Time 2:26
Avg Pace 5:14
Climb - Garmin initially says 410 but I will revise that back to 330 after it plotted a 140m peak in the middle of King St.....
Campaign status
Day 16 of 96
Days run 9 (David must be more consistent....)
Total distance 153km
Total climb 1370m
Saturday, December 16, 2006
U can't touch this
To borrow from my pal MC a few slack days (more travel and some Xmas carousing) so it is hammer time....
Hard tempo run down to the weir and back with the Garmin Virtual Partner for company using the course feature from a previous run. Suffice to say that I smoked his arse but was absolutely knackered at the end. Probably more than a standard tempo, slipping closer to race pace...
Distance 10.92
Time 48:40 (a course PB of 35 seconds!)
Avg Pace 4:27
Avg HR of 169 so still a little in the bank
So the desired goal of heading into a 30km Star on tired legs seems to be in process.
Hard tempo run down to the weir and back with the Garmin Virtual Partner for company using the course feature from a previous run. Suffice to say that I smoked his arse but was absolutely knackered at the end. Probably more than a standard tempo, slipping closer to race pace...
Distance 10.92
Time 48:40 (a course PB of 35 seconds!)
Avg Pace 4:27
Avg HR of 169 so still a little in the bank
So the desired goal of heading into a 30km Star on tired legs seems to be in process.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Tis the season to be busy....
Heaps happening (whats new, I hear you say) but managing to fit running into the schedule, here is what has happened since my last post.
Friday - saw me back up at Duffy's Forest to check out and map the back half of the Striders Xmas Brunch. This session actually beat me up quite a bit with some impressive hills on the trails between Duffys Forest and Mona Vale Road.
Distance 13.1km
Climb of 225m
Saturday - lots of non running stuff and then my work Xmas party, walked the fine line of consumption/sleep/partying.
Sunday - Got the chance to test out the course I had laid out. A good sized 6:10 group and very well behaved. When we hit the decent climb the group fragmented and I ran back with various people, settling in along the final section of the perimeter trail with the faster girls. Then some great food as part of the awards brunch. Some pretty good feedback on the course and if we can add a little bit of extra distance it will be a great 6 foot preparation run!
Distance 23.6km
Climb of 305m
Tuesday - With Six foot in mind I had mapped out a new hills course which is pretty much straight out and back to Parramatta River, see below.
The goal will be to add in some reps of the section between around 3km and 7km.
Distance 9.3km
Climb of 120m
Wednesday - With extra curricular activities associated with the kids school Summer Series is out so I opted for a tempo run on my 14km standard route. Seemed quite humid and I really felt like I was struggling, especially up the hills, probably after affects from yesterdays session. Ended up with 1:04:35 which when I checked my records is the 2nd fastest time over this route, so the suffering was meaningful!
Distance 14.2
Climb of 60m
So the campaign summary looks like....
Day 11 of 96
Days run 7
Total distance 114.5km
Total climb 970m
Friday - saw me back up at Duffy's Forest to check out and map the back half of the Striders Xmas Brunch. This session actually beat me up quite a bit with some impressive hills on the trails between Duffys Forest and Mona Vale Road.
Distance 13.1km
Climb of 225m
Saturday - lots of non running stuff and then my work Xmas party, walked the fine line of consumption/sleep/partying.
Sunday - Got the chance to test out the course I had laid out. A good sized 6:10 group and very well behaved. When we hit the decent climb the group fragmented and I ran back with various people, settling in along the final section of the perimeter trail with the faster girls. Then some great food as part of the awards brunch. Some pretty good feedback on the course and if we can add a little bit of extra distance it will be a great 6 foot preparation run!
Distance 23.6km
Climb of 305m
Tuesday - With Six foot in mind I had mapped out a new hills course which is pretty much straight out and back to Parramatta River, see below.
The goal will be to add in some reps of the section between around 3km and 7km.
Distance 9.3km
Climb of 120m
Wednesday - With extra curricular activities associated with the kids school Summer Series is out so I opted for a tempo run on my 14km standard route. Seemed quite humid and I really felt like I was struggling, especially up the hills, probably after affects from yesterdays session. Ended up with 1:04:35 which when I checked my records is the 2nd fastest time over this route, so the suffering was meaningful!
Distance 14.2
Climb of 60m
So the campaign summary looks like....
Day 11 of 96
Days run 7
Total distance 114.5km
Total climb 970m
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Summer Series - Shrimpton Creek
Summer Series tonight, some sort of advantage given the map is based around the bike path that I regularly run on my longer runs. To make things more interesting I opted to run to the start from home. Not going to go into a complete analysis of the run but from a quick look at the map the lot were gettable. I charged around with only 2 small stumbles in locating the controls. Ended up getting back just over 1 minute late so got docked 20 points, however, I'm pretty sure this was the first time I got the lot, only problem was that the speedsters were also out in force and Ben Rattray scorched the lot in 39 minutes 30 seconds.....
Distance 9.6km
Avg Pace 4:51
Avg HR 181
A warm downish type run home to give me 16km all up.
Day 4 of 96
Days run 3
Total campaign distance 54km
Total climb 260m
Distance 9.6km
Avg Pace 4:51
Avg HR 181
A warm downish type run home to give me 16km all up.
Day 4 of 96
Days run 3
Total campaign distance 54km
Total climb 260m
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Stealth
The campaign has started.....
A variety of factors, including DTI maintenance saw me reluctantly bypass the Central Coast Half, opting instead for my first STaR for quite a while. I had heard/read a few things about (sigh) pacing at STaR's and so was very amused when the 6:10 group started to form. One of the main fast pace culprits (lets call him tiger) noticed my presence and immediately announced his intent to run 6:20 this week. So a fairly subdued bunch headed out. Regardless it was still a good pace in cool and wet conditions around Homebush/Meadowbank. Some slight twinges in the LH hammie extended down to the calf at around 20km and I started drifting a little, opting to take the short cut.
Monday was a break and today I headed out for a reconnoitre of the Striders Xmas brunch course at Terrey Hills/Duffy's Forest. Some work to do to get the whole thing mapped out yet....
The Stealth title refers to my official kick off to the Six Foot Campaign :)
Days into campaign 3
Days run 2
Total campaign distance 38km
Total climb 195m
More details on the stealth runs when I reappear next.....
A variety of factors, including DTI maintenance saw me reluctantly bypass the Central Coast Half, opting instead for my first STaR for quite a while. I had heard/read a few things about (sigh) pacing at STaR's and so was very amused when the 6:10 group started to form. One of the main fast pace culprits (lets call him tiger) noticed my presence and immediately announced his intent to run 6:20 this week. So a fairly subdued bunch headed out. Regardless it was still a good pace in cool and wet conditions around Homebush/Meadowbank. Some slight twinges in the LH hammie extended down to the calf at around 20km and I started drifting a little, opting to take the short cut.
Monday was a break and today I headed out for a reconnoitre of the Striders Xmas brunch course at Terrey Hills/Duffy's Forest. Some work to do to get the whole thing mapped out yet....
The Stealth title refers to my official kick off to the Six Foot Campaign :)
Days into campaign 3
Days run 2
Total campaign distance 38km
Total climb 195m
More details on the stealth runs when I reappear next.....
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