Made my first foray back into training on Sunday at the Middle Harbour Picnic STaR. It started out good, seemingly cruising with the 6:10 group, got bad around Balmoral as I started to struggle and then plain bloody ugly as I very nearly did not even finish the run. My legs were extremely painful which for a while I was perplexed, surely I could not loose that much condition over a couple of weeks. Afterwards I realised that since my six foot hit out I have been wearing my Nike free's and am thinking that I actually "conditoned" my legs/feet somewhat out of my orthotics??? Seriously I don't think I have ever felt as bad in the legs during a run, even at the end of various marathons.....
Feel much better physically today but have had a major distraction with Striders, one of our members getting in a very bad situation out on six foot and I have found it very taxing trying to work through things with all concerned.
Hoping for a better remainder of the week, Summer Series to hopefully blow the cobwebs out and get some confidence back in my condition and legs :(
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
We apologise for this break in transmission.....
A bit of time between posts but all for a good reason!
Just flew back into Sydney yesterday after a family holiday to the US. Obviously I did not blog about this ahead of time as it is not a wise idea to put out in the public domain that the house will be unoccupied for a couple of weeks.
We had an absolute blast, with the focus being on Disneyland (for 3 days!), San Diego (what a great zoo), Las Vegas (Disney for adults!) and the Grand Canyon.
Only downer was record low temperatures during our visit, that combined with a pretty hectic schedule (we drove everywhere) saw absolutely no running, even though I took my gear. So now time is short for Six Foot prep and I have not ventured near the scales yet to see the damage american food has done. Regardless the absolute great time in experiencing everything with my wife and kids more than outweighs any potential performance impact at six foot, some things in life are much more important!
Just flew back into Sydney yesterday after a family holiday to the US. Obviously I did not blog about this ahead of time as it is not a wise idea to put out in the public domain that the house will be unoccupied for a couple of weeks.
We had an absolute blast, with the focus being on Disneyland (for 3 days!), San Diego (what a great zoo), Las Vegas (Disney for adults!) and the Grand Canyon.
Only downer was record low temperatures during our visit, that combined with a pretty hectic schedule (we drove everywhere) saw absolutely no running, even though I took my gear. So now time is short for Six Foot prep and I have not ventured near the scales yet to see the damage american food has done. Regardless the absolute great time in experiencing everything with my wife and kids more than outweighs any potential performance impact at six foot, some things in life are much more important!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Back to the mountain
Since Black Stump I have again been busy with a Summer Series jaunt around Lindfield, lots more climbing and I absolutely ran myself into the ground.
Again some slackness drifts in but the buck stops on Sunday with a return to Six Foot today. An early start to get up to Megalong Rd to start at 7am with a group of around 10. A conga line down to Cox's River at a pretty good clip, although the group fragmented a little. The water was pretty low but we rock hopped across. I had a need to make a pitstop while the others kept going.
About half way up Mini Mini another runner caught me who I found out was Vurt, the rest were off in the distance. Cruised back past Vurt on the descent down to Allum and then he went past again as we ascended Pluvi. I paused for a second at teh site of my misfortune in last year's race. Right near the top the main group went past headed back down. A quick gu at the top and time to smash the quads....
Back up to Mini Mini before headed all the way to the river. Here vurt, superflake and aimhigh were waiting. I did not realise how tough the climb back up to Megalong was, I was pretty much done (read stuffed) with more walking than running in the final pieces of the climb before thankfully seeing the car.
Stats
Distance 35.4km
Time 4:31:11
Avg Pace 7:39
Avg HR 155
Total climb 1385m (yowsa!)
I'd say this route actually has more climb than the race due to the climb back out from Cox's which is a lot more than Black Range. Legs are not too bad tonight, assisted by the cold dip in the creek, putting on the skins and also some Endura opti.
Again some slackness drifts in but the buck stops on Sunday with a return to Six Foot today. An early start to get up to Megalong Rd to start at 7am with a group of around 10. A conga line down to Cox's River at a pretty good clip, although the group fragmented a little. The water was pretty low but we rock hopped across. I had a need to make a pitstop while the others kept going.
About half way up Mini Mini another runner caught me who I found out was Vurt, the rest were off in the distance. Cruised back past Vurt on the descent down to Allum and then he went past again as we ascended Pluvi. I paused for a second at teh site of my misfortune in last year's race. Right near the top the main group went past headed back down. A quick gu at the top and time to smash the quads....
Back up to Mini Mini before headed all the way to the river. Here vurt, superflake and aimhigh were waiting. I did not realise how tough the climb back up to Megalong was, I was pretty much done (read stuffed) with more walking than running in the final pieces of the climb before thankfully seeing the car.
Stats
Distance 35.4km
Time 4:31:11
Avg Pace 7:39
Avg HR 155
Total climb 1385m (yowsa!)
I'd say this route actually has more climb than the race due to the climb back out from Cox's which is a lot more than Black Range. Legs are not too bad tonight, assisted by the cold dip in the creek, putting on the skins and also some Endura opti.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Black Stump Bush Run
Up early after seeing in the New Year with caution on the drinks front. A good thing as I got stopped at Roseville for a random breath test!
An amazing turnout of runners, especially if you compare to last year where there might have been 20 of us. This year around 120!!!
Started out cautiously and ran with Spud and Tom for a way until we hit the uphills where I eased back a little, content to save myself a little, especially if I needed to sprint for the ferry. As it happened I got to the water and the ferry was chugging back so I popped a gu and drank some water. The departure was a little delayed as a couple of groups of runners showed up.
Off the other side and it was a scramble of a large group up the hill. I ran with Blue Dog for a little while and loitered just behind Spud, just losing him at the top. I really enjoyed the run down to the castle and Ron Schwebel caught up to me just after the turn. I was still struggling a little up the hills and just at the top of teh long descent back to the ferry sfGnome ran past. I was content to keep him in sight and again see what happened with the ferry. This time we just missed it so a good regroup again, topping up the camebak and around 6 of us ran off the other side.
I hung in with the group for most of the first climb but really struggled towards the top letting them drift away. It was very pleasing to see the drink drop at the top of the second climb and now I knew it was just good steady running all the way back. Despite feeling tired I kept the legs turning over all the way back and finished in 3:51:35, slight improvement over last year. Got changed and hung around to see most of the others come in, certainly it was a little warmer than the run last year (not the furnace option). Have done some comparision splits for those interested....
TY LY
Berowra to ferry 0:53:10 0:52:30
Ferry over 0:11:22 0:08:00
Ferry to Castle 0:50:41 0:49:27
Castle to Ferry 0:50:00 0:47:18 (really ran hard downhill)
Ferry Back 0:10:00 0:04:45
Ferry to Finish 0:59:34 1:07:45
Act. running time 3:33:35 3:37:00
A decent benchmark, certainly I did a lot better in the last steep section back up the hill this year. Also encouraging that the legs feel not too bad today, despite being pretty much toast when I finished. A good sign that while I did not race the run it was a good solid hit out.
An amazing turnout of runners, especially if you compare to last year where there might have been 20 of us. This year around 120!!!
Started out cautiously and ran with Spud and Tom for a way until we hit the uphills where I eased back a little, content to save myself a little, especially if I needed to sprint for the ferry. As it happened I got to the water and the ferry was chugging back so I popped a gu and drank some water. The departure was a little delayed as a couple of groups of runners showed up.
Off the other side and it was a scramble of a large group up the hill. I ran with Blue Dog for a little while and loitered just behind Spud, just losing him at the top. I really enjoyed the run down to the castle and Ron Schwebel caught up to me just after the turn. I was still struggling a little up the hills and just at the top of teh long descent back to the ferry sfGnome ran past. I was content to keep him in sight and again see what happened with the ferry. This time we just missed it so a good regroup again, topping up the camebak and around 6 of us ran off the other side.
I hung in with the group for most of the first climb but really struggled towards the top letting them drift away. It was very pleasing to see the drink drop at the top of the second climb and now I knew it was just good steady running all the way back. Despite feeling tired I kept the legs turning over all the way back and finished in 3:51:35, slight improvement over last year. Got changed and hung around to see most of the others come in, certainly it was a little warmer than the run last year (not the furnace option). Have done some comparision splits for those interested....
TY LY
Berowra to ferry 0:53:10 0:52:30
Ferry over 0:11:22 0:08:00
Ferry to Castle 0:50:41 0:49:27
Castle to Ferry 0:50:00 0:47:18 (really ran hard downhill)
Ferry Back 0:10:00 0:04:45
Ferry to Finish 0:59:34 1:07:45
Act. running time 3:33:35 3:37:00
A decent benchmark, certainly I did a lot better in the last steep section back up the hill this year. Also encouraging that the legs feel not too bad today, despite being pretty much toast when I finished. A good sign that while I did not race the run it was a good solid hit out.
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