Thursday I woke up with a dodgy gut and opted not to run, this continued through most of the day but improved in the evening.
Friday, the gut seemed a bit better so I ventured out for my staple tempo run down to the weir and back. Noticeably a little cooler this morning but fairly good running, pushed it hard coming home.
Distance 10.9, time 50:11 avg pace 4:36, avg HR 164
My next little adventure is on tomorrow as I head out to Capertree (between Lithgow and Mudgee), picking up Mr G on the way for a tilt at the Turon 24 hour Rogaine, should be heaps of fun!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Night running
Took the opportunity of the last autumn night series orienteering event which was close to home, being at Macquarie Park. Felt pretty comfortable about the map layout and route selection leaving lots of options on the way home.
Everything went pretty smoothly, no issues with any of the controls and in some sections with a bigger gap between controls I got a decent pace going.
Finished up just over a minute late :( for a 20 point penalty but when my tally went up on the leaderboard I earned 470 points net which was sitting in second place just behind veteran speedster Michael Burton with 490!
More importantly the stats were 9.07km in 46:09 for an average of 5:05 min/km and avg HR of 177. Interestingly we ran the same map (with different controls) back in December, where running in the daylight I knocked out 9.56km in 46:27!
Pity I won't be able to run the Orienteering Night Championships on Saturday night but have prior plans....
Everything went pretty smoothly, no issues with any of the controls and in some sections with a bigger gap between controls I got a decent pace going.
Finished up just over a minute late :( for a 20 point penalty but when my tally went up on the leaderboard I earned 470 points net which was sitting in second place just behind veteran speedster Michael Burton with 490!
More importantly the stats were 9.07km in 46:09 for an average of 5:05 min/km and avg HR of 177. Interestingly we ran the same map (with different controls) back in December, where running in the daylight I knocked out 9.56km in 46:27!
Pity I won't be able to run the Orienteering Night Championships on Saturday night but have prior plans....
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sweet home....
Sydney, not Alabama!
Yes I'm back in Oz thank goodness. So a quick summary of recent events.
Another run in New Orleans, this being my annual run with my French colleague from work who just ran a 2:57 at New York last year. A nice tempo style run along most of the course from the day before, pretty toasted at the end. That completed my US runnign shenanigans with post conference drinks etc wiping out any chance for another dig.
Back in Sydney late Friday night with a full day planned for Saturday so I headed off to Waverton on Sunday for the STaR. Actually quite pleased with the run as the Harbourside Hike is a little under-rated, seems every corner you go around there is another up or down slope to deal with. Also quite amusing to see the guys that I berated a few weeks ago for running too fast for the 6am group, now at the front of the 6:10 group, and still running too fast, sigh. Ended up knocking out 24km which on the jet lagged body was adequate.
Today - another session for penance for the sins of recent past with hill reps. I have decided to call this session Crazy Cox's since the SWEAT guys have Wild Wally etc. Today was certainly a challenge and eye opener as I struggled. Ended up with 10 reps @ 1:37, a fair cry from last October with an average of 1:28, still I suppose I know where I am coming from and get get to......
Yes I'm back in Oz thank goodness. So a quick summary of recent events.
Another run in New Orleans, this being my annual run with my French colleague from work who just ran a 2:57 at New York last year. A nice tempo style run along most of the course from the day before, pretty toasted at the end. That completed my US runnign shenanigans with post conference drinks etc wiping out any chance for another dig.
Back in Sydney late Friday night with a full day planned for Saturday so I headed off to Waverton on Sunday for the STaR. Actually quite pleased with the run as the Harbourside Hike is a little under-rated, seems every corner you go around there is another up or down slope to deal with. Also quite amusing to see the guys that I berated a few weeks ago for running too fast for the 6am group, now at the front of the 6:10 group, and still running too fast, sigh. Ended up knocking out 24km which on the jet lagged body was adequate.
Today - another session for penance for the sins of recent past with hill reps. I have decided to call this session Crazy Cox's since the SWEAT guys have Wild Wally etc. Today was certainly a challenge and eye opener as I struggled. Ended up with 10 reps @ 1:37, a fair cry from last October with an average of 1:28, still I suppose I know where I am coming from and get get to......
Monday, April 16, 2007
Running in "The Big Easy"
Some more flights, with a quick stop over in Dallas/Fort Worth and I lobbed into New Orleans. Headed out for a cobweb clearing run and to check out some sights. A pretty cruisy recovery style run with just over 8km in 45 minutes
Sunday - before the work kicks back in I aimed to go out for a longer run. It was quite a deal cooler than yesterday afternoon and a cold wind blowing. Some research online had turned up a potential run route so off I went. After a few minutes running through downtown from the hotel I got to my first destination which is a tramway (now not used) that runs down the middle of a major road, but in a separate traffic island. The best thing is that the surface was pretty even, no gutters to traverse and it was all grass/dirt so low impact. This went for around 7km to reach a park which then went all the way down to the river and is New Orleans version of Hyde/Central Park. One lap of the park, stopping for a quick drink and then back along the tramway, consciously upping the pace to around 4:50 min/km all the way home.
Very pleased to knock out just under 20km in 1:40:33 for an average pace of 5:07 and average HR of 155. Here is a map of the route.
Sunday - before the work kicks back in I aimed to go out for a longer run. It was quite a deal cooler than yesterday afternoon and a cold wind blowing. Some research online had turned up a potential run route so off I went. After a few minutes running through downtown from the hotel I got to my first destination which is a tramway (now not used) that runs down the middle of a major road, but in a separate traffic island. The best thing is that the surface was pretty even, no gutters to traverse and it was all grass/dirt so low impact. This went for around 7km to reach a park which then went all the way down to the river and is New Orleans version of Hyde/Central Park. One lap of the park, stopping for a quick drink and then back along the tramway, consciously upping the pace to around 4:50 min/km all the way home.
Very pleased to knock out just under 20km in 1:40:33 for an average pace of 5:07 and average HR of 155. Here is a map of the route.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Where's Dave (Wally)
As forecast a frantic week since my long run on Sunday. I have mostly seen the interior of either hotel rooms or aircraft cabins, but have had some success in trying to keep running!
A brief sojourn back to Seoul but I had a little free time and so headed to the hotel gym for some treadmill therapy. The gym is a room in the middle of the hotel, no windows to the outside and as I found out quickly not a lot of ventilation or air conditioning. After determining the set up of the treadmill and the fact that they were reading in km and not miles I set the dial for 4 min/km with the aim to replicate my LCNP session with 2 min standing rest. After about my third rep the little Korean gym attendant came and had a look and immediately dashed away to get extra towels as the sweat was certainly starting to flow.
Ended up with 7 reps, but was pretty taxed at the end. Then went out with one of our business partners and proceeded to drink my body weight in beer and whisky (again), bloody hell these Koreans drink! This of course left me in no state to do my planned session the following morning....
More long flights and now I am in Los Angeles on my way to New Orleans. Desperate to stretch the legs after the long flights I headed out with the goal of hitting the Pacific on the Eastern edge. As you will see from the image below I got close but the whole area between the airport and sea is blocked off for obvious security reasons. A good stretch out with 16.7km done in 1:22 for avg pace of 4:56.
Am desperately not happy about missing Canberra and catching up with people and teh malaise of time zone changes, flying and meetings has meant not a lot of chance to wish all those running the best, so now I have at least done it, even though no one will probably read this until after their race.
A brief sojourn back to Seoul but I had a little free time and so headed to the hotel gym for some treadmill therapy. The gym is a room in the middle of the hotel, no windows to the outside and as I found out quickly not a lot of ventilation or air conditioning. After determining the set up of the treadmill and the fact that they were reading in km and not miles I set the dial for 4 min/km with the aim to replicate my LCNP session with 2 min standing rest. After about my third rep the little Korean gym attendant came and had a look and immediately dashed away to get extra towels as the sweat was certainly starting to flow.
Ended up with 7 reps, but was pretty taxed at the end. Then went out with one of our business partners and proceeded to drink my body weight in beer and whisky (again), bloody hell these Koreans drink! This of course left me in no state to do my planned session the following morning....
More long flights and now I am in Los Angeles on my way to New Orleans. Desperate to stretch the legs after the long flights I headed out with the goal of hitting the Pacific on the Eastern edge. As you will see from the image below I got close but the whole area between the airport and sea is blocked off for obvious security reasons. A good stretch out with 16.7km done in 1:22 for avg pace of 4:56.
Am desperately not happy about missing Canberra and catching up with people and teh malaise of time zone changes, flying and meetings has meant not a lot of chance to wish all those running the best, so now I have at least done it, even though no one will probably read this until after their race.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Wet Weekend Wanderings
Saturday - up at sparrows to head into The Domain to set up for the 10km. As per previous post I was unsure whether I'd run the 10km, West Met or both but after setting up and giving Bernie G, Kit and Razor a briefing on the timing system and associated programs I did a quick warmup and headed down to the start line.
This course is trying, jammed pack running for the first 2km, uphill no less and dodging puddles then a downill back to the point of Lady Macquaries chair before doing it again another 2 times!
I felt a little tight all over but just kept on trying to stay smooth and economical, also missed a few km markers. The last km is a bit of a lung buster with a downhill kick to get the legs cycling over and then about 400m to try and hold (or increase) that pace.
Actually quite happy with the end result posting 43:30 a 47 second improvement over Homebush with not a lot done in between.
After I finished teh slight drizzle that had been threatening evolved into a torrential downpour so no chance to catch up an talk with anyone as they were already all up at presentations and then naturally scarpered while I sorted out packing up the timing gear.
Sunday - Given the STaR today was a DIY rocket around the bay area I opted for something a little different that I had been planning to do for a while. There was a family do at my mother-in-law's place at Hornsby and so I decided to run up the GNW to Hornsby to get some time on the legs over trails and also to give the new camelbak another trial.
Got up to Browns Waterhole in about an hour and then it was into unknown territory as I followed the GNW up to Thornleigh. There was considerable groundwater on the trail and also some good stream crossings. The run down the other side of Thornleigh was really nice and then the trail turned a little more technical as it followed Berowra Creek (?) up to the back of Hornsby. Just as I finally popped out of the bush it started raining (again) and I got soaked as I climbed up quite a steep section on Pretoria Parade to Hornsby.
Stats - 26.75km in 3:17:00 which included 500m of climb for a net climb of about 150m. The legs while tired were not smashed and this is exactly what I was looking for.
Last week - Pretty pleased with the start of April with 71km under the belt and a couple of good runs. The next 2 weeks will be challenging to say the least to try and keep things going under what I know will be difficult conditions with a long work trip.
This course is trying, jammed pack running for the first 2km, uphill no less and dodging puddles then a downill back to the point of Lady Macquaries chair before doing it again another 2 times!
I felt a little tight all over but just kept on trying to stay smooth and economical, also missed a few km markers. The last km is a bit of a lung buster with a downhill kick to get the legs cycling over and then about 400m to try and hold (or increase) that pace.
Actually quite happy with the end result posting 43:30 a 47 second improvement over Homebush with not a lot done in between.
After I finished teh slight drizzle that had been threatening evolved into a torrential downpour so no chance to catch up an talk with anyone as they were already all up at presentations and then naturally scarpered while I sorted out packing up the timing gear.
Sunday - Given the STaR today was a DIY rocket around the bay area I opted for something a little different that I had been planning to do for a while. There was a family do at my mother-in-law's place at Hornsby and so I decided to run up the GNW to Hornsby to get some time on the legs over trails and also to give the new camelbak another trial.
Got up to Browns Waterhole in about an hour and then it was into unknown territory as I followed the GNW up to Thornleigh. There was considerable groundwater on the trail and also some good stream crossings. The run down the other side of Thornleigh was really nice and then the trail turned a little more technical as it followed Berowra Creek (?) up to the back of Hornsby. Just as I finally popped out of the bush it started raining (again) and I got soaked as I climbed up quite a steep section on Pretoria Parade to Hornsby.
Stats - 26.75km in 3:17:00 which included 500m of climb for a net climb of about 150m. The legs while tired were not smashed and this is exactly what I was looking for.
Last week - Pretty pleased with the start of April with 71km under the belt and a couple of good runs. The next 2 weeks will be challenging to say the least to try and keep things going under what I know will be difficult conditions with a long work trip.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Circlework 101
A great way to start the day, a sleep in followed by a controlled 30 minute recovery run under a certain HR. This was made even more enjoyable by the cooler weather, my shuffle going in the background and the personal trainer looking after her student on one corner of the oval :)
It has been ages since I actually did a recovery run, having opted mostly for rest days. felt fairly good but lower legs, especially shins are still coming to grips with what I have been doing to them.
A few different options tomorrow with Striders 10km at The Domain in the morning and West Met XC in the afternoon at Concord, or both.....
It has been ages since I actually did a recovery run, having opted mostly for rest days. felt fairly good but lower legs, especially shins are still coming to grips with what I have been doing to them.
A few different options tomorrow with Striders 10km at The Domain in the morning and West Met XC in the afternoon at Concord, or both.....
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Momentum
is a wonderful thing!
Wednesday - Autumn night series at Ermington, I have had reasonable success on this map during the daytime. Certainly a little more difficult than last week with a lot more running not on roads and thus also much less available street lights.
I reckon if the people in the suburbs are a little intrigued by summer series then the night running stuff must really grab their attention as various bodies charge in and out of the dark with head lamps and torches clutching a map, running like a mad man!
Was pretty happy with the course selection and my run, some others commented that they struggle running at pace over uneven terrain in the dark but I don't find it too bad. Might have something to do with my headlamp :)
Stats - 9km in just under 50 minutes for avg pace of 5:33, not bad for night running and navigating (well I think so)
Thursday - Tempo run, the staple down to the weir and back to see what is left in the legs after the last 2 days and having not done much for a while before that. Again pretty pleased but also was stuffed when I finished.
Stats - just under 11km in 51:10 so avg pace of 4:42, not my best but far from my worst...
So three hard days in a row, that means recovery/rest tomorrow!
Wednesday - Autumn night series at Ermington, I have had reasonable success on this map during the daytime. Certainly a little more difficult than last week with a lot more running not on roads and thus also much less available street lights.
I reckon if the people in the suburbs are a little intrigued by summer series then the night running stuff must really grab their attention as various bodies charge in and out of the dark with head lamps and torches clutching a map, running like a mad man!
Was pretty happy with the course selection and my run, some others commented that they struggle running at pace over uneven terrain in the dark but I don't find it too bad. Might have something to do with my headlamp :)
Stats - 9km in just under 50 minutes for avg pace of 5:33, not bad for night running and navigating (well I think so)
Thursday - Tempo run, the staple down to the weir and back to see what is left in the legs after the last 2 days and having not done much for a while before that. Again pretty pleased but also was stuffed when I finished.
Stats - just under 11km in 51:10 so avg pace of 4:42, not my best but far from my worst...
So three hard days in a row, that means recovery/rest tomorrow!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Do not fall off the chair!
Yes two blog posts in 2 days, which obviously means I did get out for another run.
Nothing like serving some penance for the sins of no running so off down to LCNP for some 1km reps. Legs certainly felt clunky on the way down and some residual tightness in the lower legs from the weekend. Anyway I hit out with 6 1km reps with standing 2 min rest. Saw Spud cruise by twice so my sekrit training cover has already been blown!
Pretty ugly reps and time, have had for a while what I believe deferred sciatia/piriformis pain for a while in the top of my LH hammie and this was again noticeable when I tried to stretch out.
Reps were 4:04, 4:00, 4:04, 4:01, 4:00 and 3:58
Always interesting running home after a rep session, subconsciously the pace feels slow but I actually ran quite a bit faster than my warm up on the way down....
Back home for some stretching and I was sweating buckets. A good thing happend while stretching my SI joint cracked twice and the deferred hammie tightness seems to have decreased significantly! Lower legs are tender, which in some ways is good, I have my shin high skins on today under the work clobber.
Oh and for Gnome's benefit I am still on CR, now known simply as Dave, to coincide with my 1000th post :) and I can only dream of being as fast as some of the vets around the place.....
Nothing like serving some penance for the sins of no running so off down to LCNP for some 1km reps. Legs certainly felt clunky on the way down and some residual tightness in the lower legs from the weekend. Anyway I hit out with 6 1km reps with standing 2 min rest. Saw Spud cruise by twice so my sekrit training cover has already been blown!
Pretty ugly reps and time, have had for a while what I believe deferred sciatia/piriformis pain for a while in the top of my LH hammie and this was again noticeable when I tried to stretch out.
Reps were 4:04, 4:00, 4:04, 4:01, 4:00 and 3:58
Always interesting running home after a rep session, subconsciously the pace feels slow but I actually ran quite a bit faster than my warm up on the way down....
Back home for some stretching and I was sweating buckets. A good thing happend while stretching my SI joint cracked twice and the deferred hammie tightness seems to have decreased significantly! Lower legs are tender, which in some ways is good, I have my shin high skins on today under the work clobber.
Oh and for Gnome's benefit I am still on CR, now known simply as Dave, to coincide with my 1000th post :) and I can only dream of being as fast as some of the vets around the place.....
Monday, April 02, 2007
Helllllllloooooooooooooooo
Yep, that sounds like an echo, understandable given my recent blogging slackness!
So not a heap of anything going on unfortunately, I have done a "little" running. Mostly some more orienteering which in itself is funny given I just gave up the O Runner tag on Cool Running.
Socially life has been a bit hectic, as some may be aware I turned 40 a few weeks ago and given circumstances the celebrations drifted on for a while, culminating in a large BBQ party.
The first quarter is gone and according to my trusty SportTracks I have clocked up 345km in 3 months...
Some of the recent runs,
Last summer series event at Hunters Hill, a pretty good route selection saw me pretty ragged at the end. A decent score lifted me up the ladder, thankfully next season I am in the vet category, no more racing against speedsters like Andrew Hill!!
First autumn night series, last Wed night, same as summer series but now with headlamps and night navigation to make it interesting. Went a bit too far down and out from North Sydney oval to Neutral Bay which proved my downfall on the way home. Another hard run though!
Saturday - first of the West Met series at Haberfield, which I hope to have as a regular staple through winter. Aimed to hold onto a couple of benchmark runners I had from last year, which I did for around 4km and then had a good duel with a Hills runner, shedding him with about a km to go, only to have another Hills runner try and put a burst on me with 500 to go, I held him until about 200m but faded. He told me after the finish that he was just about to clag out as well when I dropped off :( A decent benchmark hitout with around 7.7km in 32:39
Sunday - Again something different, running from home to test out my new camelbak octane I did a loop through Putney, Gladesville and Hunters Hill before arriving at Boronia Park for (believe it or not) another orienteering event. Pretty much baked myself before running home, very trashed at the end....
Also for Ewen/Wombatface the gaiters I wore at Six Foot were Dirty Girl gaiters. I found them through a few Ultra heads and ordered some for myself. The great thing is that the lady who makes them turns all the profits back into trail maintenance and she is also an Ultra runner!
Anyway enough dribble for an infrequent post, aiming for more running related stuff, hoping I can translate the motivation from watching the Iron Man live web feed last night into geting up when the alarm goes off!
So not a heap of anything going on unfortunately, I have done a "little" running. Mostly some more orienteering which in itself is funny given I just gave up the O Runner tag on Cool Running.
Socially life has been a bit hectic, as some may be aware I turned 40 a few weeks ago and given circumstances the celebrations drifted on for a while, culminating in a large BBQ party.
The first quarter is gone and according to my trusty SportTracks I have clocked up 345km in 3 months...
Some of the recent runs,
Last summer series event at Hunters Hill, a pretty good route selection saw me pretty ragged at the end. A decent score lifted me up the ladder, thankfully next season I am in the vet category, no more racing against speedsters like Andrew Hill!!
First autumn night series, last Wed night, same as summer series but now with headlamps and night navigation to make it interesting. Went a bit too far down and out from North Sydney oval to Neutral Bay which proved my downfall on the way home. Another hard run though!
Saturday - first of the West Met series at Haberfield, which I hope to have as a regular staple through winter. Aimed to hold onto a couple of benchmark runners I had from last year, which I did for around 4km and then had a good duel with a Hills runner, shedding him with about a km to go, only to have another Hills runner try and put a burst on me with 500 to go, I held him until about 200m but faded. He told me after the finish that he was just about to clag out as well when I dropped off :( A decent benchmark hitout with around 7.7km in 32:39
Sunday - Again something different, running from home to test out my new camelbak octane I did a loop through Putney, Gladesville and Hunters Hill before arriving at Boronia Park for (believe it or not) another orienteering event. Pretty much baked myself before running home, very trashed at the end....
Also for Ewen/Wombatface the gaiters I wore at Six Foot were Dirty Girl gaiters. I found them through a few Ultra heads and ordered some for myself. The great thing is that the lady who makes them turns all the profits back into trail maintenance and she is also an Ultra runner!
Anyway enough dribble for an infrequent post, aiming for more running related stuff, hoping I can translate the motivation from watching the Iron Man live web feed last night into geting up when the alarm goes off!
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