After further introspection and obsessive analysis I determined that not only was I running my long interval sessions incorrectly, the same could be said for the shorter & faster sessions.
So today I decided to hop back on the treadmill.
10 x 500m @ 1:45 (3:30 pace) with same time standing recovery. This felt like a good speed form session and for the last one I even upped the speed to 3:25 pace. The goal of the session is to get the legs used to moving faster but to also push the cardiovascular system towards the later reps at keeping those fast legs moving.
The closest I have come to a session like this was back in early December with 6 x 400 @ 1:22 (3:26 pace), so longer and more reps at a slightly slower pace.
Pretty happy with that, next time I'll drop them down to 3:25 pace.
Recovery/easy run tomorrow in prep for the Striders 10km on Saturday am.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Wet Summer Series @ W Lindfield
Things were looking grim this afternoon as massive thunderstorms ripped their way across the Sydney suburbs. At work it got progressively darker outside from 3:30 and by 4:30 it was absolutely bucketing down. I left just after 5 with not much hope of having a run as it was still raining very heavily and there was thunder/lightning still going off! But by the time I got home there were patches of blue sky visible to I headed off to West Lindfield.
Todays map was based near the CSIRO Measurement Centre and took in West Lindfield and also the eastern side of Lane Cove National Park. Some nice suburban street running mixed in with more technical bush sections. I opted to head north first taking in the streets to hopefully let a little more water drain off before hitting the bush.
Pretty simple up front then with 5,13,12,2 and 11. While it was tempting to head down in the bush here I know from previous runs along the GNW at this section it would not be fast going. So instead kept up high and polished off 3,24,14,23 and 15. Making very good time with only around 15 minutes elapsed so far. In the rush to get out of the house I left behind the GPS receiver and HR so all I had was the timer.
Into the bush now crossing to 25, and then down to 16. First mistake here, I should have bush bashed down to the track coming out near 26 but instead ran away and down to 7 leaving an in and out track run to 26. Fairly smooth running although now a little slower to 28 and then onto 9. Here I decided to short cut as time was ticking down so across to 19. Back on the streets and up to 18 followed by 8. Into the nature strip behind the houses for 29 and then missed the straight trail leading to the exit for 27, running the slower fenceline route. Uphill finish after 27 with 6 on the way home.
Ended up back around 4 minutes late and missed around 160 points at either end of the map. Net score then was 400 which I was fairly happy with. In reviewing my route here :
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/West%20Lindfield.jpg
perhaps the only better thing I could have done would have been to not go to 2&11 (30 points) and have used that running time to get 30,20 & 10 (60 points).
Anyway the top guys only got 460 so I get a nice 87 points, although I do lose 2nd overall spot now in the season pointscore.
Back home the map wheel said around 8.5km in 48:41, avg pace 5:44.
Todays map was based near the CSIRO Measurement Centre and took in West Lindfield and also the eastern side of Lane Cove National Park. Some nice suburban street running mixed in with more technical bush sections. I opted to head north first taking in the streets to hopefully let a little more water drain off before hitting the bush.
Pretty simple up front then with 5,13,12,2 and 11. While it was tempting to head down in the bush here I know from previous runs along the GNW at this section it would not be fast going. So instead kept up high and polished off 3,24,14,23 and 15. Making very good time with only around 15 minutes elapsed so far. In the rush to get out of the house I left behind the GPS receiver and HR so all I had was the timer.
Into the bush now crossing to 25, and then down to 16. First mistake here, I should have bush bashed down to the track coming out near 26 but instead ran away and down to 7 leaving an in and out track run to 26. Fairly smooth running although now a little slower to 28 and then onto 9. Here I decided to short cut as time was ticking down so across to 19. Back on the streets and up to 18 followed by 8. Into the nature strip behind the houses for 29 and then missed the straight trail leading to the exit for 27, running the slower fenceline route. Uphill finish after 27 with 6 on the way home.
Ended up back around 4 minutes late and missed around 160 points at either end of the map. Net score then was 400 which I was fairly happy with. In reviewing my route here :
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/West%20Lindfield.jpg
perhaps the only better thing I could have done would have been to not go to 2&11 (30 points) and have used that running time to get 30,20 & 10 (60 points).
Anyway the top guys only got 460 so I get a nice 87 points, although I do lose 2nd overall spot now in the season pointscore.
Back home the map wheel said around 8.5km in 48:41, avg pace 5:44.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Run to the hills
Another bad night/morning and it was my 4yo daughters first day at kinder today so a great deal of excitement and just difficult to get out for a run in the morning.
So in the heat of the afternoon got home and ran around the corner for some nice hill reps! It was sure a good deal warmer than the usual morning time but off I went.
Sporadic pacing seemed the order of the day.
First six were done at an average of 88 secs, was very average after the 6th (just about chucked!) but jogged back down for #7. Total blowout with a 97 second and thus called it a day.
Glad I got out, not glad about running hills in the heat, spent about 10 minutes under a cold shower.
So in the heat of the afternoon got home and ran around the corner for some nice hill reps! It was sure a good deal warmer than the usual morning time but off I went.
Sporadic pacing seemed the order of the day.
First six were done at an average of 88 secs, was very average after the 6th (just about chucked!) but jogged back down for #7. Total blowout with a 97 second and thus called it a day.
Glad I got out, not glad about running hills in the heat, spent about 10 minutes under a cold shower.
Monday, January 31, 2005
January recap
No run this morning so January is finished!
Highlight - my race at Arizona for the half, a very positive experience
Lowlight - missing training after Arizona and stuffing up pacing at 5km challenge
Total distance for the month was 225km a little below plan.
In doing some number crunching, this January I ran 225km at an average pace of 4:59 min/km, last January I ran 227km at an average pace of 5:40 min/km!
Onto February, planned distance 300km! Runs of note include Striders 10km, Equaliser, SMC 25km and probably a 6hour Rogaine (if I can find a suitable partner!) in the build up for 6 foot!
Highlight - my race at Arizona for the half, a very positive experience
Lowlight - missing training after Arizona and stuffing up pacing at 5km challenge
Total distance for the month was 225km a little below plan.
In doing some number crunching, this January I ran 225km at an average pace of 4:59 min/km, last January I ran 227km at an average pace of 5:40 min/km!
Onto February, planned distance 300km! Runs of note include Striders 10km, Equaliser, SMC 25km and probably a 6hour Rogaine (if I can find a suitable partner!) in the build up for 6 foot!
Dee Why Dash STaR
Up early for the Dee Why Dash STaR. From last year this was a pretty hard run with a great climb from Oxford Falls up to Belrose to really work the legs over.
Started with 6:10 group today and a couple of others who also ran 6:20 last week did the same. Our group was a nice size with the "regulars" of Horrie and Superflake, along with Kevin. Barry and Peter who ran 6:20 last week, another CR I had not meet before, Coaster and a couple of triathletes getting ready for Foster.
It was very humid and had been drizzling as we set out, the initial piece of this run is deceptive as you climb up the back of Dee Why. Then some great downhill running down to Oxford Falls. Once again I did a bit of leading from the front to keep us on course as different people seemed determined to add some extra distance!
As we got to the bottom of Oxford Falls we had caught up to the 6:05 group, aka 6ft virgins apparently, and went straight past them as they took a wrong turn. Over Wakehurst parkway and along some rolling roads towards the US tracking station. Just as we turned the corner to head to the climb we ran past the very large 6am group. They were spread all up the road/hill as we started the climb. I had decided (from last years experience) to pace myself on the hill and let most of the group pull away, just keeping in contact. Kevin also slowed down to make his own way up. This climb has 2 sections and there is a nice bit of downhill between them, as we hit this bit I really upped my pace to get back onto the group and ran past plu and Bernie G, plu said afterwards he was pretty shocked at how fast I was going.
Again I let the group drift away from me up the 2nd piece of the climb and we reassmbled just over the top near where the Striders Equaliser run (a couple of weeks time!) starts and finishes. Some nice steady running through the back of Belrose but our group split up a bit. Over Warringah Rd at Frenchs Forrest and then along towards Allambie Rd. Started to feel it a little here but knew there was a good downhill to stretch out on. Down Allambie Rd, across Condamine street to Pittwater Rd. I was now really feeling the pace (we were averaging just over 5 min/km) and looking forward to the water stop near Manly.
Popped a gu away and topped up the water, Superflake caught up, saying Horrie was struggling and told him to go on. As we climbed out towards Harbord I let Superflake go on and was then also passed by a 6:20 group. Really struggling now and worried, as I knew there was a nasty hill at the end as well. Just focussed on smooth running but did some walking up steep pinches. About halfway up the Dee Why hill the next 6:20 group came through with vat_man and Blue Dog and I just hung on around 10m behind them to the finish, very knackered.
In this last little bit I gave myself a scare ducking under a tree and when I straightened up again I felt a big twinge right across my lower abs which have been giving me grief.
The stats : 29.9km in 2:35:15, give avg pace of 5:12 min/km so did slow down dramatically over the last 5/6km. Avg HR of 162. Looking back through my log last year I did the same run in 2:43:08 so close to 8 minutes faster this year!
Went for a swim in the surf which was great, big undertow though. Got out and Horrie, still wasn't back whish was a little worrying but he eventually rolled in with some 6:00 people.
A tough run but I am quite pleased, the Endura Carb drink seems to be making a real big difference to reducing post run muscle fatigue and the abs seem to have pulld up ok as well after some ice packs!
A tougher run next week with Berowra, and even more hills and bush trails. This will also be after the 10km race at Lane Cove on the Saturday as well....
Started with 6:10 group today and a couple of others who also ran 6:20 last week did the same. Our group was a nice size with the "regulars" of Horrie and Superflake, along with Kevin. Barry and Peter who ran 6:20 last week, another CR I had not meet before, Coaster and a couple of triathletes getting ready for Foster.
It was very humid and had been drizzling as we set out, the initial piece of this run is deceptive as you climb up the back of Dee Why. Then some great downhill running down to Oxford Falls. Once again I did a bit of leading from the front to keep us on course as different people seemed determined to add some extra distance!
As we got to the bottom of Oxford Falls we had caught up to the 6:05 group, aka 6ft virgins apparently, and went straight past them as they took a wrong turn. Over Wakehurst parkway and along some rolling roads towards the US tracking station. Just as we turned the corner to head to the climb we ran past the very large 6am group. They were spread all up the road/hill as we started the climb. I had decided (from last years experience) to pace myself on the hill and let most of the group pull away, just keeping in contact. Kevin also slowed down to make his own way up. This climb has 2 sections and there is a nice bit of downhill between them, as we hit this bit I really upped my pace to get back onto the group and ran past plu and Bernie G, plu said afterwards he was pretty shocked at how fast I was going.
Again I let the group drift away from me up the 2nd piece of the climb and we reassmbled just over the top near where the Striders Equaliser run (a couple of weeks time!) starts and finishes. Some nice steady running through the back of Belrose but our group split up a bit. Over Warringah Rd at Frenchs Forrest and then along towards Allambie Rd. Started to feel it a little here but knew there was a good downhill to stretch out on. Down Allambie Rd, across Condamine street to Pittwater Rd. I was now really feeling the pace (we were averaging just over 5 min/km) and looking forward to the water stop near Manly.
Popped a gu away and topped up the water, Superflake caught up, saying Horrie was struggling and told him to go on. As we climbed out towards Harbord I let Superflake go on and was then also passed by a 6:20 group. Really struggling now and worried, as I knew there was a nasty hill at the end as well. Just focussed on smooth running but did some walking up steep pinches. About halfway up the Dee Why hill the next 6:20 group came through with vat_man and Blue Dog and I just hung on around 10m behind them to the finish, very knackered.
In this last little bit I gave myself a scare ducking under a tree and when I straightened up again I felt a big twinge right across my lower abs which have been giving me grief.
The stats : 29.9km in 2:35:15, give avg pace of 5:12 min/km so did slow down dramatically over the last 5/6km. Avg HR of 162. Looking back through my log last year I did the same run in 2:43:08 so close to 8 minutes faster this year!
Went for a swim in the surf which was great, big undertow though. Got out and Horrie, still wasn't back whish was a little worrying but he eventually rolled in with some 6:00 people.
A tough run but I am quite pleased, the Endura Carb drink seems to be making a real big difference to reducing post run muscle fatigue and the abs seem to have pulld up ok as well after some ice packs!
A tougher run next week with Berowra, and even more hills and bush trails. This will also be after the 10km race at Lane Cove on the Saturday as well....
CR 5km Challenge & EOW
Finally my schedule falls into place to be able to run in my first Cool Running 5km challenge. Once a month it is organised and run over a flat course around the bay accurately measured by Action.
Now I know that my 5km pb is pretty soft since I broke it in the first 5km of the Arizona half with a time of 19:51. This run is a self seeding, self timing run and you put yourself in a group that you feel comfortable in, I chose 19 minutes as I was pretty confident that I'd drop my time down quite a bit. Also in my group were Cool Runners Horrie, Superflake, Blue Dog and Luke Skyrunner running with his son in the pram!
Somehow I managed to find myself at the front when we were given the word to go, pretty soon Blue Dog went past, he was on a mission to break 19 and using his garmin to pace him there. We got to the 1km mark and the split was 3:32! Yet again I'm out too fast! Try to ease up a little and run smoothly but somehow manage to miss the 2km marker. By the time we got to 3km Superflake had just gone past me and the lap for the 2km was 7:50, so still going ok. Luke and the pram went by, followed by Horrie as we ran towards km 4 and my split was 4:05. Now I felt like I was running on the spot as I paid for that fast start. Ended up with a 4:18 last km and even though the numbers above don't add up finished with 19:50, a PB by one second.
Not happy Jan, should have done much better than that but that is the problem with poor pacing. Oh well there is always next month for redemption!
That also ends the week, a so-so in terms of getting up and doing the running when I should but I covered well. 66km for the week and the Parrot Predictor is showing as a 3:11:11 marathon time.
Now I know that my 5km pb is pretty soft since I broke it in the first 5km of the Arizona half with a time of 19:51. This run is a self seeding, self timing run and you put yourself in a group that you feel comfortable in, I chose 19 minutes as I was pretty confident that I'd drop my time down quite a bit. Also in my group were Cool Runners Horrie, Superflake, Blue Dog and Luke Skyrunner running with his son in the pram!
Somehow I managed to find myself at the front when we were given the word to go, pretty soon Blue Dog went past, he was on a mission to break 19 and using his garmin to pace him there. We got to the 1km mark and the split was 3:32! Yet again I'm out too fast! Try to ease up a little and run smoothly but somehow manage to miss the 2km marker. By the time we got to 3km Superflake had just gone past me and the lap for the 2km was 7:50, so still going ok. Luke and the pram went by, followed by Horrie as we ran towards km 4 and my split was 4:05. Now I felt like I was running on the spot as I paid for that fast start. Ended up with a 4:18 last km and even though the numbers above don't add up finished with 19:50, a PB by one second.
Not happy Jan, should have done much better than that but that is the problem with poor pacing. Oh well there is always next month for redemption!
That also ends the week, a so-so in terms of getting up and doing the running when I should but I covered well. 66km for the week and the Parrot Predictor is showing as a 3:11:11 marathon time.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Easy Friday
Still struggling to get out of bed with the alarm, mainly due to the tennis and also being fully engrosed in one of my Christmas present books.
Decided to head down to run with the Lane Cove River Rats in the afternoon to make up. A pretty good pace with Striders Mohammed and Peter there along with Jim.
Running the Striders 10km course on a hot and humid afternoon and it was a pretty fast pace on the way out averaging 4:40 min/km to the bottom of the hill (that included up/down Scribbly).
Eased up a bit on the way back, taking into account the plan to run the Cool Running 5km challenge tomorrow. Also interesting, the GPS was in perfect synch with Action's certified markings today.
Stats : 10km in 48:04, avg pace 4:49 and avg hr 165.
Decided to head down to run with the Lane Cove River Rats in the afternoon to make up. A pretty good pace with Striders Mohammed and Peter there along with Jim.
Running the Striders 10km course on a hot and humid afternoon and it was a pretty fast pace on the way out averaging 4:40 min/km to the bottom of the hill (that included up/down Scribbly).
Eased up a bit on the way back, taking into account the plan to run the Cool Running 5km challenge tomorrow. Also interesting, the GPS was in perfect synch with Action's certified markings today.
Stats : 10km in 48:04, avg pace 4:49 and avg hr 165.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Summer Series @ Dee Why
Another Wednesday and it is again Summer Series time, this week a beach side Australia Day treat as we run at Dee Why.
Quite a hot and sticky afternoon and the legs were feeling a little tight after the intervals yesterday afternoon.
A quick look at the map and 2 very obvious loops to be done, just which one first?
I opted for the North loop first and then try and squeeze in as many as possible from the South as time allowed.
Pretty simple initial route with 2, 3, 21, 13, 4, 12, 22, 5
Then running on the sand around the lagoon was a little taxing to pick up 23 & 11.
Back on normal ground and swept through 24, 1, 14, 6 and onto the coastal path. This was a lot slower than I was expecting and so after picking up 15 and 28 I opted to heap up a pretty steep gully to get to 7, rather than keep running further from the finish.
Down to 26 and then up (again) to 19 to be able to get to 18. Up again to 27 and time is tight but Murphy steps in and I take a wrong turn, start trying to work through thick bush and lose around 4 minutes in finally getting to 27. Now to compound things there was a path unmarked on the map which I took so headed towards 9 thinking I was getting 20. Sussed this out and was way out of time so collected 10 and 25 on the way back.
Ended up with 470 but all the messing around at 27 saw me back late with 80 points deducted to end up with a net of 390, not good enough! A copy of the map with my route is here
The stats 9.5km in 54 minutes gives avg pace of 5:40.
Quite a hot and sticky afternoon and the legs were feeling a little tight after the intervals yesterday afternoon.
A quick look at the map and 2 very obvious loops to be done, just which one first?
I opted for the North loop first and then try and squeeze in as many as possible from the South as time allowed.
Pretty simple initial route with 2, 3, 21, 13, 4, 12, 22, 5
Then running on the sand around the lagoon was a little taxing to pick up 23 & 11.
Back on normal ground and swept through 24, 1, 14, 6 and onto the coastal path. This was a lot slower than I was expecting and so after picking up 15 and 28 I opted to heap up a pretty steep gully to get to 7, rather than keep running further from the finish.
Down to 26 and then up (again) to 19 to be able to get to 18. Up again to 27 and time is tight but Murphy steps in and I take a wrong turn, start trying to work through thick bush and lose around 4 minutes in finally getting to 27. Now to compound things there was a path unmarked on the map which I took so headed towards 9 thinking I was getting 20. Sussed this out and was way out of time so collected 10 and 25 on the way back.
Ended up with 470 but all the messing around at 27 saw me back late with 80 points deducted to end up with a net of 390, not good enough! A copy of the map with my route is here
The stats 9.5km in 54 minutes gives avg pace of 5:40.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Now thats a set of intervals!
After the debacle from my Yasso 800's last week I've been in serious thought about my intervals sessions and why/what I'm doing.
After reading up on some of the CR threads and also what others are/have done I came to realise that I needed to structure my sessions with a little more planning. I was trying to run too fast for too long too quickly!
Stepping back I'm aiming to have 2 sessions, one of longer intervals, say 1km/800m at around 10km race pace and then the other more of a speed session, say 400's, 30/30's at 3km-5km race pace or faster.
So this afternoon back to the gym and treadmill but set it up for 3:55 min/km pace rather than the 3:40 pace I have had. The difference being that I needed to do more intervals at this slower pace! The result being that I managed 8 full reps and then another half at this pace with 1:55 standing rest. Had to pull the pin as I was sweating so much I wa starting to slip on the belt, but in reality was pretty much toast anyway.
So I think that I should be able to knock out 10 of these (which in itself is a good sign for my sub 40min 10km goal). From there increase the pace and then wait until I get 10 reps out again at the new pace.
So a lot happier after today, a good workout!
After reading up on some of the CR threads and also what others are/have done I came to realise that I needed to structure my sessions with a little more planning. I was trying to run too fast for too long too quickly!
Stepping back I'm aiming to have 2 sessions, one of longer intervals, say 1km/800m at around 10km race pace and then the other more of a speed session, say 400's, 30/30's at 3km-5km race pace or faster.
So this afternoon back to the gym and treadmill but set it up for 3:55 min/km pace rather than the 3:40 pace I have had. The difference being that I needed to do more intervals at this slower pace! The result being that I managed 8 full reps and then another half at this pace with 1:55 standing rest. Had to pull the pin as I was sweating so much I wa starting to slip on the belt, but in reality was pretty much toast anyway.
So I think that I should be able to knock out 10 of these (which in itself is a good sign for my sub 40min 10km goal). From there increase the pace and then wait until I get 10 reps out again at the new pace.
So a lot happier after today, a good workout!
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Balmain Bungle & Bucketing Down!
A new STaR course for me this week with the Balmain Bungle. During the week Horrie had asked me if I was going to run 6:10 or 6:20, I was a little hesitant on the 6:20 knowing that this, as STaRs go, was fairly flat, and that the pace could be on!
Another factor was that we had friends down from the country over for dinner on Saturday night and while I tried to take it easy, probably a few too many red's were consumed, especially given I was running 30km early the following morning.
Anyway rocked up at Iron Cove, just as a large 6:05 group? charged off. Quickly paid the money and got the map, said Hi to a multitude of Striders and CR's when the 6:10 group headed off. To my surprise Horrie and Superflake both headed out, along with Spud, Blue Dog and my old school chum Silverfox running his first STaR! I had already mentally prepared myself for 6:20 and so continued to chat with a few runners wondering if I was in need of a mental checkover.
This concern was heightened as I had a quick chat with CR's Uncle Dave, Springer and Luke Skyrunner, all who were running 6:20 and not 6:30 and thus increasing the concern as to my wisdom, not to mention a number of other "fast" Striders!
After a couple of nasty hills early in the run I was cruising along ok in the bunch of around 15 and as usual it seems now assisting in making sure we stayed on course. It was an amazing sight as we ran along Lilyfield Road, there was a chain of groups of runners spread out for as far as you could see. At around the same time it started to rain. By the time we got to Parramatta Road it was chucking it down and there was a heap of thunder and lightning to accompany. Around here we caught up to some of the 6:10 group including Horrie, Superflake and Spud, I was a little surprised given this was just over 10km and they has 10 minutes head start. I also noticed at this point the GPS had lost signal a couple of times.
As we ran along Canterbury Road it absolutely bucketed down and crossing streets meant either long jumping about 1.5 metres or running through water above your ankles! By this stage our group had splintered into 2 groups and I elected to loiter with the 2nd group with some runners I knew were a little more my capability. As we ran along Cooks river we went past Professor, also out for his first STaR, the rain dissipated and now it was more a challenge to maintain the pace which was around 4:50 as the legs started to complain.
I rode the elastic band on the back of our second group as the faster group disappeared from sight and eventually, as we were running through Leichhardt dropped off the back to grind it home. Finished off with a time of 2:24 and since the GPS had a few problems I'll claim the published 29.9km which gives an average of 4:49 min/km with an average HR of 166! to finish off spent some good time chatting and catching up with various people afterwards, even if it was still raining.
Pretty stoked with the run today, as it is not far at all away from my actual Canberra pace of 4:47 from last year. Some concern however as my groin/abdomen "issue" seemed to be lurking so I'll up the ante on my preventative routines. A tough rest of the week scheduled, hopefully the legs will take advantage of the day off tomorrow as I continue on a pretty solid program.
Another factor was that we had friends down from the country over for dinner on Saturday night and while I tried to take it easy, probably a few too many red's were consumed, especially given I was running 30km early the following morning.
Anyway rocked up at Iron Cove, just as a large 6:05 group? charged off. Quickly paid the money and got the map, said Hi to a multitude of Striders and CR's when the 6:10 group headed off. To my surprise Horrie and Superflake both headed out, along with Spud, Blue Dog and my old school chum Silverfox running his first STaR! I had already mentally prepared myself for 6:20 and so continued to chat with a few runners wondering if I was in need of a mental checkover.
This concern was heightened as I had a quick chat with CR's Uncle Dave, Springer and Luke Skyrunner, all who were running 6:20 and not 6:30 and thus increasing the concern as to my wisdom, not to mention a number of other "fast" Striders!
After a couple of nasty hills early in the run I was cruising along ok in the bunch of around 15 and as usual it seems now assisting in making sure we stayed on course. It was an amazing sight as we ran along Lilyfield Road, there was a chain of groups of runners spread out for as far as you could see. At around the same time it started to rain. By the time we got to Parramatta Road it was chucking it down and there was a heap of thunder and lightning to accompany. Around here we caught up to some of the 6:10 group including Horrie, Superflake and Spud, I was a little surprised given this was just over 10km and they has 10 minutes head start. I also noticed at this point the GPS had lost signal a couple of times.
As we ran along Canterbury Road it absolutely bucketed down and crossing streets meant either long jumping about 1.5 metres or running through water above your ankles! By this stage our group had splintered into 2 groups and I elected to loiter with the 2nd group with some runners I knew were a little more my capability. As we ran along Cooks river we went past Professor, also out for his first STaR, the rain dissipated and now it was more a challenge to maintain the pace which was around 4:50 as the legs started to complain.
I rode the elastic band on the back of our second group as the faster group disappeared from sight and eventually, as we were running through Leichhardt dropped off the back to grind it home. Finished off with a time of 2:24 and since the GPS had a few problems I'll claim the published 29.9km which gives an average of 4:49 min/km with an average HR of 166! to finish off spent some good time chatting and catching up with various people afterwards, even if it was still raining.
Pretty stoked with the run today, as it is not far at all away from my actual Canberra pace of 4:47 from last year. Some concern however as my groin/abdomen "issue" seemed to be lurking so I'll up the ante on my preventative routines. A tough rest of the week scheduled, hopefully the legs will take advantage of the day off tomorrow as I continue on a pretty solid program.
Friday, January 21, 2005
YAIBO
Yet Another Interval Blow Out!
Scheduled for a speed work out and really have not done one for 2 weeks and the last one was ablowout 1km session.
Was originally going to head down to Rotary for some Yasso 800's, have not done them in ages. Some second thoughts last night during/after the storms and this morning had started to prepare for a treadmill session at the gym. Looked outside and it was a beautiful morning so returned to plan A.
A quick jog down the hill and across the footbridge over Lane Cove River. Think I saw MPHaz driving into the gym on my way down. The concept behind Yasso 800's is they are supposed to be a benchmark/correlation for a marathon performance. If you want to run say a 3:20:00 marathon then you should be able to run 10 x 800 @ 0:03:20 with the same time for a jog recovery.
First couple were pretty much on the mark, the third drifted a little and then the fourth was a complete blowout. I could feel the form going bad and the legs felt full of lactic. No point in belting your head against a brick wall so jogged home back up the hill.
The times were
3:02
3:01
3:04
3:13!
Don't know why but I am having real trouble with speed sessions in training, back to 2 interval sessions next week!
I'm going to call it a week, the legs feel tired, some concern over the continued tightness around the adductors and I really need a good 30km on Sunday. Total for the week 52km and the Parrot predictor says 3:21:46
Scheduled for a speed work out and really have not done one for 2 weeks and the last one was ablowout 1km session.
Was originally going to head down to Rotary for some Yasso 800's, have not done them in ages. Some second thoughts last night during/after the storms and this morning had started to prepare for a treadmill session at the gym. Looked outside and it was a beautiful morning so returned to plan A.
A quick jog down the hill and across the footbridge over Lane Cove River. Think I saw MPHaz driving into the gym on my way down. The concept behind Yasso 800's is they are supposed to be a benchmark/correlation for a marathon performance. If you want to run say a 3:20:00 marathon then you should be able to run 10 x 800 @ 0:03:20 with the same time for a jog recovery.
First couple were pretty much on the mark, the third drifted a little and then the fourth was a complete blowout. I could feel the form going bad and the legs felt full of lactic. No point in belting your head against a brick wall so jogged home back up the hill.
The times were
3:02
3:01
3:04
3:13!
Don't know why but I am having real trouble with speed sessions in training, back to 2 interval sessions next week!
I'm going to call it a week, the legs feel tired, some concern over the continued tightness around the adductors and I really need a good 30km on Sunday. Total for the week 52km and the Parrot predictor says 3:21:46
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Recovery
Certainly still felt a little tight in both legs around the adductor and/or upper quads, even after icing last night. I enjoyed the extra distance through LCNP the other day so decided to test out a new recovery run course by running to the weir and then back the same way.
Slightly warmer today than Tuesday but eventually got going and ended up with
11.8km in 58:10 (4:56 min/km) and avg HR of 166
Certainly felt last nights effort but a good slightly longer stretch out. Speed session tomorrow morning!
Slightly warmer today than Tuesday but eventually got going and ended up with
11.8km in 58:10 (4:56 min/km) and avg HR of 166
Certainly felt last nights effort but a good slightly longer stretch out. Speed session tomorrow morning!
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Summer Series @ St Joeys
After a week off from Summer Series during my sojourn in the USA it's back to the map and this week not too far from home and I think in vat_man's backyard! Missed out on the planned short recovery run this morning.
The start was at St Josephs Sports Ground (for those not in the know St Josephs is one of Sydney's more exclusive private schools and has a lot of boarders from the country. Luckily today there was a decent breeze blowing which kept things a little cooler. The map area is bounded by Victoria, Pittwater, Ryde and Burns Bay Roads, mostly centred around Tarban Creek back up into Gladesville.
Here's a link to a copy of the map and my route
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/villa%20maria.jpg
Started off pretty well, downhill to 13, then 3. A little wobble on 2 and then ran past the drop down to 21. Up hill to 11 and traversed across to 14 pretty happy so far! Finish the loop and cross the creek for 6, another little relocate and then ran out the wrong way (not up) to cut across to 22.
Now I really came unstuck at 24 confusing myself with stone fences and completely overshooting which means a climb back up, then manage to miss the cleared bush approach to the creek crossing at 7, prefering to bash through pretty green and thick creekside bush. That little section really soaked up some time. Back on track up to 4, across to 23, 17, 10 and 19. Still too many points further out and running low on time but continued on to 27, 29 and then up to Tarban Creek bridge to cross over for 30. Looking to run a fairly direct route back so it's 25,9,16 and then 5.
At that point time was pretty much up but I opted to pick up 15 and then run along to 1 only to realise 1 was on the other side of the fence. Another bit of time wasted before I eventually find a way under the fence, across to 12 and back to the finish.
Ended up with 53:48 and 490 points so a 90 point penalty gives a net of 400. Distance was 8.4 km at 6:22 min/km. Thats what happens when you stuff up a couple of controls!
Still not a totally bad scoae but will probably end up around 68 points, one which I'll need to drop in the overall pointscore.
Used my new Trance shoes acquired at the Brooks outlet store for a bargain and no blister problems, feeling more confident each day that I might have sorted them out! Of course now I'm icing up as both LH and RH adductors are a bit tight
The start was at St Josephs Sports Ground (for those not in the know St Josephs is one of Sydney's more exclusive private schools and has a lot of boarders from the country. Luckily today there was a decent breeze blowing which kept things a little cooler. The map area is bounded by Victoria, Pittwater, Ryde and Burns Bay Roads, mostly centred around Tarban Creek back up into Gladesville.
Here's a link to a copy of the map and my route
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/villa%20maria.jpg
Started off pretty well, downhill to 13, then 3. A little wobble on 2 and then ran past the drop down to 21. Up hill to 11 and traversed across to 14 pretty happy so far! Finish the loop and cross the creek for 6, another little relocate and then ran out the wrong way (not up) to cut across to 22.
Now I really came unstuck at 24 confusing myself with stone fences and completely overshooting which means a climb back up, then manage to miss the cleared bush approach to the creek crossing at 7, prefering to bash through pretty green and thick creekside bush. That little section really soaked up some time. Back on track up to 4, across to 23, 17, 10 and 19. Still too many points further out and running low on time but continued on to 27, 29 and then up to Tarban Creek bridge to cross over for 30. Looking to run a fairly direct route back so it's 25,9,16 and then 5.
At that point time was pretty much up but I opted to pick up 15 and then run along to 1 only to realise 1 was on the other side of the fence. Another bit of time wasted before I eventually find a way under the fence, across to 12 and back to the finish.
Ended up with 53:48 and 490 points so a 90 point penalty gives a net of 400. Distance was 8.4 km at 6:22 min/km. Thats what happens when you stuff up a couple of controls!
Still not a totally bad scoae but will probably end up around 68 points, one which I'll need to drop in the overall pointscore.
Used my new Trance shoes acquired at the Brooks outlet store for a bargain and no blister problems, feeling more confident each day that I might have sorted them out! Of course now I'm icing up as both LH and RH adductors are a bit tight
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Back in the swing
Determined to get back on track today and also to rack up a bit of distance. Rather than doing some short fast stuff I opted for a 15km run at reasonable pace.
Fiddled around for quite a while last night trying to alleviate the blistering on the heel problem and put a variety of different solutions in place. The most significant being using a heat gun on the heel of the shoe to try and mould the cup a bit to fit where I am suffering. Also tried a new lacing technique and I'm posting some stuff on cool running to ask the experts.
As I headed out the door this morning another runner was headed past, going in the opposite direction to me. I had decided to try a different option today and turn right at the bottom of Scribbly's to run down to the weir, turn and then see how the time and body were going for a 20km option. Just as I was getting to the weir I saw the same runner from earlier headed in the other direction.
Grabbed a quick drink at the bubbler and headed up the 10km course towards Ryde Road. There were a lot of people out running this morning and as I neared the 2km mark I saw I was gaining on that same runner again, slowly but gaining. Eventually caught up to him at the 4km mark and we had a quick chat as we headed up the hill. Turns out it was a fellow Strider and Cool Runner Steve (Kanangra) who also lives in the area, but we had never met before. He was a little stronger on the hill than me but then we ran pretty much all the way back to my place.
Given my extra effort to catch him and then a pretty good pace for the rest of the run it was a fairly good session over a non-flat course. The stats
14.69km in 1:08:30 (avg pace 4:39 min/km) and avg HR of 167.
A change in my schedule tomorrow with a 5km recovery run in the morning and then probably a fairly fast Summer Series around Hunters Hill/Gladesville based at St Josephs. the plan will be to extend these Wed morning recovery runs out to 10km.
Fiddled around for quite a while last night trying to alleviate the blistering on the heel problem and put a variety of different solutions in place. The most significant being using a heat gun on the heel of the shoe to try and mould the cup a bit to fit where I am suffering. Also tried a new lacing technique and I'm posting some stuff on cool running to ask the experts.
As I headed out the door this morning another runner was headed past, going in the opposite direction to me. I had decided to try a different option today and turn right at the bottom of Scribbly's to run down to the weir, turn and then see how the time and body were going for a 20km option. Just as I was getting to the weir I saw the same runner from earlier headed in the other direction.
Grabbed a quick drink at the bubbler and headed up the 10km course towards Ryde Road. There were a lot of people out running this morning and as I neared the 2km mark I saw I was gaining on that same runner again, slowly but gaining. Eventually caught up to him at the 4km mark and we had a quick chat as we headed up the hill. Turns out it was a fellow Strider and Cool Runner Steve (Kanangra) who also lives in the area, but we had never met before. He was a little stronger on the hill than me but then we ran pretty much all the way back to my place.
Given my extra effort to catch him and then a pretty good pace for the rest of the run it was a fairly good session over a non-flat course. The stats
14.69km in 1:08:30 (avg pace 4:39 min/km) and avg HR of 167.
A change in my schedule tomorrow with a 5km recovery run in the morning and then probably a fairly fast Summer Series around Hunters Hill/Gladesville based at St Josephs. the plan will be to extend these Wed morning recovery runs out to 10km.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Recap since Arizona
Not much to report actually.
Had a work retreat up at Sedona, it was cold there was snow on the surrounding mountains.
The work schedule & socialising pretty much made running impossible made an attempt to get up but it was still dark and cold and not enough time when the sun did come out as we were having breakfast sessions at 7:30.
Back to Scottsdale and my one major chance was stuffed up as I set the alarm wrong.
So after a long set of flights back home (Los Angeles to Sydney via Hong Kong) I was determined to get out on Sunday morning. Had to wait for the kids to stir so they knew I was home and eventually got out at around 9am. Man it was hot/humid. I felt really good for about the first 5km doing my 10km circuit in reverse so I could in a longer option if I felt like it. Wisely taking into account the heat I opted for the 10km and then pretty much straight away started to fade.
The run in either direction is a down and up run so you always get a nice hill headed home. This time it really hurt and I was contemplating walking it! Really struggled in the last km and was even starting to feel faint, noticed my HR was way up there for a shortish run so backed off.
A couple of cordials and then about 10 minutes under a cold shower made life feel a little better, I gues the combination of the heat and jet lag etc had more of an effect than I thought.
The stats 10.4 km in 49:30 (4:46 pace) but an average HR of 179!!
Now that I'm back in the Trances I also noticed the scar skin tissue on the heels did not like that so more remedial shoe action will be done.
Nothing this morning (Monday) as it was chucking it down with rain which killed the small amount of enthusiasm for running vs staying in bed and catching up on sleep.
Need to really sort myself out as January is over halfway and have now missed out on anumber of days.
Had a work retreat up at Sedona, it was cold there was snow on the surrounding mountains.
The work schedule & socialising pretty much made running impossible made an attempt to get up but it was still dark and cold and not enough time when the sun did come out as we were having breakfast sessions at 7:30.
Back to Scottsdale and my one major chance was stuffed up as I set the alarm wrong.
So after a long set of flights back home (Los Angeles to Sydney via Hong Kong) I was determined to get out on Sunday morning. Had to wait for the kids to stir so they knew I was home and eventually got out at around 9am. Man it was hot/humid. I felt really good for about the first 5km doing my 10km circuit in reverse so I could in a longer option if I felt like it. Wisely taking into account the heat I opted for the 10km and then pretty much straight away started to fade.
The run in either direction is a down and up run so you always get a nice hill headed home. This time it really hurt and I was contemplating walking it! Really struggled in the last km and was even starting to feel faint, noticed my HR was way up there for a shortish run so backed off.
A couple of cordials and then about 10 minutes under a cold shower made life feel a little better, I gues the combination of the heat and jet lag etc had more of an effect than I thought.
The stats 10.4 km in 49:30 (4:46 pace) but an average HR of 179!!
Now that I'm back in the Trances I also noticed the scar skin tissue on the heels did not like that so more remedial shoe action will be done.
Nothing this morning (Monday) as it was chucking it down with rain which killed the small amount of enthusiasm for running vs staying in bed and catching up on sleep.
Need to really sort myself out as January is over halfway and have now missed out on anumber of days.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Rock 'n' Roll Half Race Report
Ok second attempt at posting this, my computer ate the first version.
Warning, my first attempt was reasonably long and detailed so I have decided to introduce an:
Executive Summary
Had to go to Arizona for work, found out that The Rock n Roll half was on while I was there, travelled over, ran the race and posted 4 PB's and was very impressed with the organisation and running of the race. (thought it might make life easy for a blog review!)
Pre Race
After confirming I was required to visit Arizona for work (my company's head office is based there) I did a quick search for a Striders style running group to do a run with during my visit. Found that the second annual Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half were on when I was there so decided to have a crack at the half.
Departed Sydney on the Saturday, to arrive in Phoenix, via Los Angeles at about the same time on the Saturday. Given I was running the next morning I was meticulous in regards to hydrating etc and also attempted to realign my body clock on the flight to avoid jet lag. Managed about 4 hours sleep over the Pacific. After picking up the rental car and checking in at the hotel I headed off the the race registration to pick up my kit, number and chip. This was being held at an exhibition centre with an accompanying expo. Very smooth registration process and the expo was massive!
For those that have visited Sydney or Melbourne exhibition halls this filled up one complete hall. There were all sorts of stands : a massive range of event specific souvineer clothing, heaps of running gear vendors, all of the major shoe manufacturers, a lot of different sports drink/gu/bar suppliers, other US marathons promoting for entry and then some other stuff like a place that specialises in creating special stands to hold and display your different finishers medals. I picked up a few bars and gus and after a bit of a look around headed off. A major problem in getting the car out, there was a traffic jam in the parking station and it took close to an hour to get the car out!
Headed back to the hotel for dinner, the stomach was starting to complain a little about being given food when not expecting it and then not being given food when it usually was. I sorted out dinner with some chinese and keep up the rehydration regime, finally hitting the sack at around 9pm.
Up the next morning at 5am to sort myself out and drive to the finish line. Thankfully the predictions of rain did nott seem to hold up and while it was a little chilly (hey it is the middle of winter!) I'd say the temperature was around the same as at the City to Surf start. Parked the car in the parking station near the finish and then boarded one of the waiting shuttle buses to take me to the start area, all very efficient. Got to the start area and there were people everywhere! They had around 18,000 running the half and another 11,500 running in the marathon. The start area was amazing, heaps and heaps of portaloos, with the obligitary queues. But then also supplies of fresh fruit, bagels (what is it with bagels in the US?), coffee and water. I wandered around soaking up the atmosphere and headed over to look at the Marathon start. The Marathon and half had 2 separate start lines, one block apart and totally different courses all the way until the finish.
On the way I stopped off at a portaloo queue and was amazed at the casual approach that a lot of runners for the marathon had. It was 10 minutes to the start and they were still arriving and waiting in line without any stress! After watching the start I sorted out my gear to dropoff. Another great system here where your race bib had a detachable section that you cable tied to your bag, very easy to identify. The best bit then was they had around 20 UPS vans backed up, each with a section of runners allocated by surname. You just find the right van and drop off your stuff! The other great feature they had was a series of corrals, 19 for the half marathon, all based upon your approximate finishing time. As it happens I was put into corral number 1! With nothing else to do I entered the corral and lounged around. I should have made another loo stop but more of that later.
Again I was amazed at the casual approach, no big crowds, in fact with 15 minutes to go there would have only been say 20 people in my corral! I think this is because the US runners are so much more used to chip timing and base their performance on chip rather than gun time. Anyway chugged some more water and watched as a couple of running Elvis's gained a bit of attention, it seemed they were locals. I felt the need to visit the portaloos but the queues looked too long. Given the sparse crowd it would have been difficult to do a City to Surf job so I decided to hang on and hope it wouldn't get worse. With about 5 minutes to go I was expecting a whole heap of elites to be shuffled in in front of us but only a handful, so I was about 1 row back from the front, amazing! They did the national anthem thing with some Marines holding the flags and a few Arizona American Idol entrants singing and then Senator John McCain did a quick speech before firing the gun.
The actual run
Anyone still reading??
Given my prime start position there was no jostling and we went off down a long wide street. One of my identified prerace challenges was going to be pacing/splits given this would be marked in miles, so I had the trusty GPS riding shotgun to keep me honest. Was just focussing on a good efficient pace and so was surprised that the first beep from the watch indicating one kilometer showed 3:52! So I decided to ease up a little but still hit the next km with a 3:59. Despite still looking to ease up a little my third km came in at 3:48 and so I just (unofficially due to GPS measuring) broke my 3km PB with a 11:38 (the old one being 11:40 in July at Homebush for a Striders 10km).
Now I was a little worried but still felt really good, to distract myself I was also trying to do mental maths as at each mile marker they also had a timer so you could work out your splits so I was trying to determine if the GPS was maybe a bit out. At the 5km mark I found out, as they actually had a timing mat down and my official 5km time was 19:51, another PB! (previous was again the Homebush run with 19:57). Still too fast, and I still had another 16.1km to go.
On the course at around every mile they had different bands playing (thus the Rock 'n' Roll) and then each other half mile there were local cheerleading squads, I have to say you did seem to pick up the pace going past these groups, especially when they saw the Striders singlet and yelled out about Sydney! Coming up to 10km and I had slowed down a little. Another timing mat gave me an official 10km time of 41:18, thus another PB (once again bettering the Homebush run of 41:24).
I thought bugger it, just keep on going. As usual my race tactics see me in a state of never die wondering mode. The next 5km or so were all at around my original goal pace of 4:15 as I continued the mental math but also started to deal with both an urgent need to pee while also my travellers tummy was complaining. A wierd split from the GSPS at around 15km had me worried and I knew I was slowing a little. No surprise I'm sure to the experienced readers given my fast start.
The last 5-6km did see me slip in my pace a little and I felt some cramping/stitches in my gut but I had some time up my sleeve to still give 90 minutes shake. The last 2 km or so was through the Tempe (a large suburb of Phoenix where Arizona State Uni is) shopping district and there was a large crowd lining the streets. At this point I was in just get me to the line mode, not sure as to how I was going given the wierd split around 15km and unable to focus enough to convert from miles to km. Finally it seemed we were close as the Sun Devil Stadium became visible and I consciously picked up the pace. Then I could see a timer which was in the 89's and knew I must have only been a few 100 metres at the most from the finish, As I rounded the bend I could see the line but the clock had just clicked over to 90 so just ran it out to the line. Just near the line the commentator saw the Striders singlet and asked if I was from Australia and I did the thumbs up, the crowd gave a big cheer as I crossed the line with 90:25 showing, a new PB over my previous time of 93:44 set at Lane Cove in the Striders half in September.
Post race
More great organisation with a space blanket, water and finishers medallion handed out in progress as I made my way to be dechipped. Then into a large area with sports drink, fruit, more bagels, water and even Krispy Kreme mini donuts! Sat down and had a chat with another finisher for a little while but then had to get going. Very smooth gear pick up, all of the UPS trucks had parked in a big parking lot, very efficient. I made my way past the marathon finish line and they were just getting to 2:50 when I went past. The crowd was in the middle between the half and full finish lines and there was a lot of atmosphere! Got the car and went back to the hotel for a cold bath, then a shower and prepare for the drive up to Sedona for work.
All in all a great experience, I ended up finishing 178th out of 15,848 finishers. The organisation of this event was an eye opener and while it cost me around 100 AUD it certainly was worth it and I would be sure to contemplate running in another US race if and when the opportunity arises in the future. I'm sure that if I had been a little calmer in the first phase of the race I probably would have broken 90 but am stoked to have been able to perform the way I did really on the back of one months training since resuming after the groin injury. Am now very positive about breaking my shorter distance PB's just need to work out how to push myself harder or run more efficiently when I'm trying to run fast. Somewhat on target for Canberra but need to run twice the distance at just a shade faster pace as well. Can't argue with 3 official PB's and one unofficial one however!
Oh and some photos are here http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=4353&BIB=21819
The guts took a couple of days to settle down, interestingly no issues with my problematic blisters on the heels but I do notice my adductors are still both sore, hopefully not related to my recent groin injury.
Warning, my first attempt was reasonably long and detailed so I have decided to introduce an:
Executive Summary
Had to go to Arizona for work, found out that The Rock n Roll half was on while I was there, travelled over, ran the race and posted 4 PB's and was very impressed with the organisation and running of the race. (thought it might make life easy for a blog review!)
Pre Race
After confirming I was required to visit Arizona for work (my company's head office is based there) I did a quick search for a Striders style running group to do a run with during my visit. Found that the second annual Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and Half were on when I was there so decided to have a crack at the half.
Departed Sydney on the Saturday, to arrive in Phoenix, via Los Angeles at about the same time on the Saturday. Given I was running the next morning I was meticulous in regards to hydrating etc and also attempted to realign my body clock on the flight to avoid jet lag. Managed about 4 hours sleep over the Pacific. After picking up the rental car and checking in at the hotel I headed off the the race registration to pick up my kit, number and chip. This was being held at an exhibition centre with an accompanying expo. Very smooth registration process and the expo was massive!
For those that have visited Sydney or Melbourne exhibition halls this filled up one complete hall. There were all sorts of stands : a massive range of event specific souvineer clothing, heaps of running gear vendors, all of the major shoe manufacturers, a lot of different sports drink/gu/bar suppliers, other US marathons promoting for entry and then some other stuff like a place that specialises in creating special stands to hold and display your different finishers medals. I picked up a few bars and gus and after a bit of a look around headed off. A major problem in getting the car out, there was a traffic jam in the parking station and it took close to an hour to get the car out!
Headed back to the hotel for dinner, the stomach was starting to complain a little about being given food when not expecting it and then not being given food when it usually was. I sorted out dinner with some chinese and keep up the rehydration regime, finally hitting the sack at around 9pm.
Up the next morning at 5am to sort myself out and drive to the finish line. Thankfully the predictions of rain did nott seem to hold up and while it was a little chilly (hey it is the middle of winter!) I'd say the temperature was around the same as at the City to Surf start. Parked the car in the parking station near the finish and then boarded one of the waiting shuttle buses to take me to the start area, all very efficient. Got to the start area and there were people everywhere! They had around 18,000 running the half and another 11,500 running in the marathon. The start area was amazing, heaps and heaps of portaloos, with the obligitary queues. But then also supplies of fresh fruit, bagels (what is it with bagels in the US?), coffee and water. I wandered around soaking up the atmosphere and headed over to look at the Marathon start. The Marathon and half had 2 separate start lines, one block apart and totally different courses all the way until the finish.
On the way I stopped off at a portaloo queue and was amazed at the casual approach that a lot of runners for the marathon had. It was 10 minutes to the start and they were still arriving and waiting in line without any stress! After watching the start I sorted out my gear to dropoff. Another great system here where your race bib had a detachable section that you cable tied to your bag, very easy to identify. The best bit then was they had around 20 UPS vans backed up, each with a section of runners allocated by surname. You just find the right van and drop off your stuff! The other great feature they had was a series of corrals, 19 for the half marathon, all based upon your approximate finishing time. As it happens I was put into corral number 1! With nothing else to do I entered the corral and lounged around. I should have made another loo stop but more of that later.
Again I was amazed at the casual approach, no big crowds, in fact with 15 minutes to go there would have only been say 20 people in my corral! I think this is because the US runners are so much more used to chip timing and base their performance on chip rather than gun time. Anyway chugged some more water and watched as a couple of running Elvis's gained a bit of attention, it seemed they were locals. I felt the need to visit the portaloos but the queues looked too long. Given the sparse crowd it would have been difficult to do a City to Surf job so I decided to hang on and hope it wouldn't get worse. With about 5 minutes to go I was expecting a whole heap of elites to be shuffled in in front of us but only a handful, so I was about 1 row back from the front, amazing! They did the national anthem thing with some Marines holding the flags and a few Arizona American Idol entrants singing and then Senator John McCain did a quick speech before firing the gun.
The actual run
Anyone still reading??
Given my prime start position there was no jostling and we went off down a long wide street. One of my identified prerace challenges was going to be pacing/splits given this would be marked in miles, so I had the trusty GPS riding shotgun to keep me honest. Was just focussing on a good efficient pace and so was surprised that the first beep from the watch indicating one kilometer showed 3:52! So I decided to ease up a little but still hit the next km with a 3:59. Despite still looking to ease up a little my third km came in at 3:48 and so I just (unofficially due to GPS measuring) broke my 3km PB with a 11:38 (the old one being 11:40 in July at Homebush for a Striders 10km).
Now I was a little worried but still felt really good, to distract myself I was also trying to do mental maths as at each mile marker they also had a timer so you could work out your splits so I was trying to determine if the GPS was maybe a bit out. At the 5km mark I found out, as they actually had a timing mat down and my official 5km time was 19:51, another PB! (previous was again the Homebush run with 19:57). Still too fast, and I still had another 16.1km to go.
On the course at around every mile they had different bands playing (thus the Rock 'n' Roll) and then each other half mile there were local cheerleading squads, I have to say you did seem to pick up the pace going past these groups, especially when they saw the Striders singlet and yelled out about Sydney! Coming up to 10km and I had slowed down a little. Another timing mat gave me an official 10km time of 41:18, thus another PB (once again bettering the Homebush run of 41:24).
I thought bugger it, just keep on going. As usual my race tactics see me in a state of never die wondering mode. The next 5km or so were all at around my original goal pace of 4:15 as I continued the mental math but also started to deal with both an urgent need to pee while also my travellers tummy was complaining. A wierd split from the GSPS at around 15km had me worried and I knew I was slowing a little. No surprise I'm sure to the experienced readers given my fast start.
The last 5-6km did see me slip in my pace a little and I felt some cramping/stitches in my gut but I had some time up my sleeve to still give 90 minutes shake. The last 2 km or so was through the Tempe (a large suburb of Phoenix where Arizona State Uni is) shopping district and there was a large crowd lining the streets. At this point I was in just get me to the line mode, not sure as to how I was going given the wierd split around 15km and unable to focus enough to convert from miles to km. Finally it seemed we were close as the Sun Devil Stadium became visible and I consciously picked up the pace. Then I could see a timer which was in the 89's and knew I must have only been a few 100 metres at the most from the finish, As I rounded the bend I could see the line but the clock had just clicked over to 90 so just ran it out to the line. Just near the line the commentator saw the Striders singlet and asked if I was from Australia and I did the thumbs up, the crowd gave a big cheer as I crossed the line with 90:25 showing, a new PB over my previous time of 93:44 set at Lane Cove in the Striders half in September.
Post race
More great organisation with a space blanket, water and finishers medallion handed out in progress as I made my way to be dechipped. Then into a large area with sports drink, fruit, more bagels, water and even Krispy Kreme mini donuts! Sat down and had a chat with another finisher for a little while but then had to get going. Very smooth gear pick up, all of the UPS trucks had parked in a big parking lot, very efficient. I made my way past the marathon finish line and they were just getting to 2:50 when I went past. The crowd was in the middle between the half and full finish lines and there was a lot of atmosphere! Got the car and went back to the hotel for a cold bath, then a shower and prepare for the drive up to Sedona for work.
All in all a great experience, I ended up finishing 178th out of 15,848 finishers. The organisation of this event was an eye opener and while it cost me around 100 AUD it certainly was worth it and I would be sure to contemplate running in another US race if and when the opportunity arises in the future. I'm sure that if I had been a little calmer in the first phase of the race I probably would have broken 90 but am stoked to have been able to perform the way I did really on the back of one months training since resuming after the groin injury. Am now very positive about breaking my shorter distance PB's just need to work out how to push myself harder or run more efficiently when I'm trying to run fast. Somewhat on target for Canberra but need to run twice the distance at just a shade faster pace as well. Can't argue with 3 official PB's and one unofficial one however!
Oh and some photos are here http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=4353&BIB=21819
The guts took a couple of days to settle down, interestingly no issues with my problematic blisters on the heels but I do notice my adductors are still both sore, hopefully not related to my recent groin injury.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Newsflash
Hi team, sorry for the abbreviated blog but time has been scarce since I left the Aussie shores.
Anyway a quick update with a more detailed ramble (as per usual) to follow.
Ran the Rock n Roll Half at Arizona.
Posted 3 PB'S!!!! (the most important being the half in 90:23)
Details to follow.....
Anyway a quick update with a more detailed ramble (as per usual) to follow.
Ran the Rock n Roll Half at Arizona.
Posted 3 PB'S!!!! (the most important being the half in 90:23)
Details to follow.....
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Where was I....
Ok a little slack in updating, spent my available time doing my turn at the blog review.
Monday
Rest day but went into the podiatrist to try and sort out my blistering heels. Can't say I'm still happy after the session, they patched up the wear spots on the shoes and dropped the heels of the inserts slightly but it seems no magic bullet.
Tuesday
Was going to do intervals down at Rotary but it was raining so decided to treadmill it out at lunchtime. Not a good session, my heels were already sore after my warm up and while I started of well for 1km reps @ 3:40 pace it just was not going to happen. Knocked out just over 3 reps, had a 1km recovery jog and then tried again but only finished up with 4km. Not sure why, maybe Sunday took more out than I thought, anyway my heels were now severly sore and painful to even walk in. It seems the patches they put in were now putting more pressure on my hot spots.
Wednesday
Summer Series time again and this was another tough one, starting at Tunks Park and covering Northbridge through Naremburn and Cammeray, lots of ups and downs. For those with a copy of the map here was my route choice
First the controls on the flat at Tunks Park 12, 13, 2, 11, 3, 18
Then up the REALLY steep climb under the suspension bridge 19 and then stupidly across the bridge to 5 which did not seem to be there, back to 20, 27, 28, down to 23 (steep up again)
29, 6, 30, 9, 16, 8, 7, 17 and then already out of time and down to finish through 21.
Back, just over 4 minutes late so lost 50 points. Net score will depend on the verdict on control 5. With 5 included its 360, without control 5 it's 350. Top score was a pretty low 450 when I left so around 80 points towards the pointscore.
Boring I know but experimented with a different taping on the heels which failed miserably and thus earned a very nice/nasty blood blister on my lhs heel this time.
Thursday
Recovery run time, decided to do it at lunch time from work, running across the bridge, down the cahill, around the Opera House to Lady Mac's chair and the back. Very warm but did 10km in around 48 min, not too bad for recovery. Another new approach to taping seemed to ensure a neutral result, still sore while running and afterwards but at least no more blistering.
Where to from here??
I'm hoping on a plane to the US on Saturday morning for work stuff and when I found out that the annual "Arizona Rock N Roll" marathon and half marathon was being held in Phoenix on the Sunday I thought what a better way to break the jet lag than race the half!
I was going to do a fast short hit out tomorrow morning but may now decide to rest my feet and try to let them heal a little. In case I do week to date is 56km and Parrot predictor says 3.34.38.
Not sure how often I'll be updating while on the move but I'll certainly slip in a race report from the half where I hope to break 90 minutes. I need to do this really if I am at all going to be able to crack 3hours for the big one!
Monday
Rest day but went into the podiatrist to try and sort out my blistering heels. Can't say I'm still happy after the session, they patched up the wear spots on the shoes and dropped the heels of the inserts slightly but it seems no magic bullet.
Tuesday
Was going to do intervals down at Rotary but it was raining so decided to treadmill it out at lunchtime. Not a good session, my heels were already sore after my warm up and while I started of well for 1km reps @ 3:40 pace it just was not going to happen. Knocked out just over 3 reps, had a 1km recovery jog and then tried again but only finished up with 4km. Not sure why, maybe Sunday took more out than I thought, anyway my heels were now severly sore and painful to even walk in. It seems the patches they put in were now putting more pressure on my hot spots.
Wednesday
Summer Series time again and this was another tough one, starting at Tunks Park and covering Northbridge through Naremburn and Cammeray, lots of ups and downs. For those with a copy of the map here was my route choice
First the controls on the flat at Tunks Park 12, 13, 2, 11, 3, 18
Then up the REALLY steep climb under the suspension bridge 19 and then stupidly across the bridge to 5 which did not seem to be there, back to 20, 27, 28, down to 23 (steep up again)
29, 6, 30, 9, 16, 8, 7, 17 and then already out of time and down to finish through 21.
Back, just over 4 minutes late so lost 50 points. Net score will depend on the verdict on control 5. With 5 included its 360, without control 5 it's 350. Top score was a pretty low 450 when I left so around 80 points towards the pointscore.
Boring I know but experimented with a different taping on the heels which failed miserably and thus earned a very nice/nasty blood blister on my lhs heel this time.
Thursday
Recovery run time, decided to do it at lunch time from work, running across the bridge, down the cahill, around the Opera House to Lady Mac's chair and the back. Very warm but did 10km in around 48 min, not too bad for recovery. Another new approach to taping seemed to ensure a neutral result, still sore while running and afterwards but at least no more blistering.
Where to from here??
I'm hoping on a plane to the US on Saturday morning for work stuff and when I found out that the annual "Arizona Rock N Roll" marathon and half marathon was being held in Phoenix on the Sunday I thought what a better way to break the jet lag than race the half!
I was going to do a fast short hit out tomorrow morning but may now decide to rest my feet and try to let them heal a little. In case I do week to date is 56km and Parrot predictor says 3.34.38.
Not sure how often I'll be updating while on the move but I'll certainly slip in a race report from the half where I hope to break 90 minutes. I need to do this really if I am at all going to be able to crack 3hours for the big one!
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Cherrybrook STaR
My first STaR in around 4 weeks and so 30km was compulsory, even though I knew this was a tough course.
Opted for the 6:10 group, numbers were a little down with the Fat Asses mostly not backing up. We had a group of 5 including Horrie and Superflake from CR. Stayed ahead of pace with the reasoning that the bush and hills later on would slow us down. I was sort of surprised that we held the pace pretty well regardless and thus really started to struggle everytime we hit a hill.
Not sure why but I can run at pace on level ground but hills at the moment seem to knock me around! The guys were semi relying on me for navigation, having done it before and also doing orienteering. As we headed up the clmb to Pennant Hills Rd I again slipped off the back and couldn't get their attention that we needed to cross because of the fence in the median strip. They caught me again just after the Comenarra Parkway hill and I was pretty much into grit the teeth and grind it home mode.
My Timex calleed it 30.7km in 2.46.40 (avg 5.26 min/km and avg hr of 163). Now the benefits of being obsessional means that I have all the details from the same run which was on 1/Feb/04 where I ran the same course (that time was 2.52.00). So 5 minutes faster a month earlier than my previous Canberra prep, not too bad but need to really pick it up further.
Opted for the 6:10 group, numbers were a little down with the Fat Asses mostly not backing up. We had a group of 5 including Horrie and Superflake from CR. Stayed ahead of pace with the reasoning that the bush and hills later on would slow us down. I was sort of surprised that we held the pace pretty well regardless and thus really started to struggle everytime we hit a hill.
Not sure why but I can run at pace on level ground but hills at the moment seem to knock me around! The guys were semi relying on me for navigation, having done it before and also doing orienteering. As we headed up the clmb to Pennant Hills Rd I again slipped off the back and couldn't get their attention that we needed to cross because of the fence in the median strip. They caught me again just after the Comenarra Parkway hill and I was pretty much into grit the teeth and grind it home mode.
My Timex calleed it 30.7km in 2.46.40 (avg 5.26 min/km and avg hr of 163). Now the benefits of being obsessional means that I have all the details from the same run which was on 1/Feb/04 where I ran the same course (that time was 2.52.00). So 5 minutes faster a month earlier than my previous Canberra prep, not too bad but need to really pick it up further.
2004 in review and 2005 preview
2004 was my first "full" year of running. Monthly totals were :
Jan 227
Feb 302
Mar 294
Apr 128
May 114
Jun 143
Jul 146
Aug 237
Sep 87
Oct 139
Nov 92
Dec 231
Total 2140
PB wise I went into the year with
Half 1.51.27
10km 44.53
C2S 74.34
Came out the other end with
Marathon 3.22.01
Half 1.33.43
10km 41.24
C2S 61.30
Also ran new races such as NOSH and Willy to Billy.
Best performance - easily my debut marathon.
Most disappointing effort/s - post marathon training blues and then injuries once I did get my act back into gear.
For 2005 I have a 6 foot debut followed by a return to Canberra, various races through winter trying to peak again for the Sydney marathon.
Goals
To train 3000km over the year which should lead to....
Marathon sub 3hr(probably a stretch!)
Half - sub 90 minute
10km - sub 40 minute
C2S - sub 60 minute
Jan 227
Feb 302
Mar 294
Apr 128
May 114
Jun 143
Jul 146
Aug 237
Sep 87
Oct 139
Nov 92
Dec 231
Total 2140
PB wise I went into the year with
Half 1.51.27
10km 44.53
C2S 74.34
Came out the other end with
Marathon 3.22.01
Half 1.33.43
10km 41.24
C2S 61.30
Also ran new races such as NOSH and Willy to Billy.
Best performance - easily my debut marathon.
Most disappointing effort/s - post marathon training blues and then injuries once I did get my act back into gear.
For 2005 I have a 6 foot debut followed by a return to Canberra, various races through winter trying to peak again for the Sydney marathon.
Goals
To train 3000km over the year which should lead to....
Marathon sub 3hr(probably a stretch!)
Half - sub 90 minute
10km - sub 40 minute
C2S - sub 60 minute
Friday, December 31, 2004
Last run of the year!
Since I missed out on my recovery session yesterday I opted to do my 15km Tour de Ryde run again to beef up the week/month/year final totals.
Headed out a little later, still some early morning US work stuff that had to be sorted. It did seem quite warm/humid but the legs were pretty fresh after a full day of recovery after my back to back hill rep sessions.
I consciously tried to run it just a little faster, the course is pretty tough with some good undulations to make you work for your pace.
Finished off with a time of 1.12.5 (over a minute faster than on Monday) avg pace of 4.53 min/km and avg hr of 168.
So the end of another week, quite disjointed with all the xmas/holiday/work stuff going on and ended up with 48km for the week. The Parrot predictor has me at a 3.28.40 marathon time. Day off tomorrow and then the Cherrybrook STaR on Sunday, aiming for full 30+ with the 6:10am group.
I'll write up my end of month/year analysis in a separate post.
Headed out a little later, still some early morning US work stuff that had to be sorted. It did seem quite warm/humid but the legs were pretty fresh after a full day of recovery after my back to back hill rep sessions.
I consciously tried to run it just a little faster, the course is pretty tough with some good undulations to make you work for your pace.
Finished off with a time of 1.12.5 (over a minute faster than on Monday) avg pace of 4.53 min/km and avg hr of 168.
So the end of another week, quite disjointed with all the xmas/holiday/work stuff going on and ended up with 48km for the week. The Parrot predictor has me at a 3.28.40 marathon time. Day off tomorrow and then the Cherrybrook STaR on Sunday, aiming for full 30+ with the 6:10am group.
I'll write up my end of month/year analysis in a separate post.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
MTG Bay run
Wednesday and Summer Series is in mid-summer hibernation.
I think the excesses of Christmas caught up with me overnight, felt pretty crappy Wed morning (literally, sorry for the detail!) and did not feel like running at all. As the day progressed things improved and decided to head out to the bay to run with the MTG.
Pretty cruisy start but then discovered they were running hill reps up (the infamous) Lilyfield Rd, ouch I did hill reps on Tuesday. Went out way too hot on the first rep (77 sec), levelled out for the next four at around 88 and then died badly with the last 2 at 98. Was supposed to do 8 but pulled the pin at 7 as things were done and I was feeling a little shaky (think it was low blood sugar after my gut problems from the morning and the limited diet through the day as a result).
Paced back to the start ok and felt a lot better after downing a pepsi on the way home.
The blister on my right heel is now really S****ing me and is painful to walk on, let alone run. Decided to cut it and drain it to try and let it dry out, did the same for the LHS and it has healed up nicely.
So with gut and heel problems tied in with a critical day at work and it was pretty easy to opt out of the scheduled recovery run today.
Feel a lot better tonight, finished off the EOY work stuff (YIPPEE!) but the heel is still a problem after being cooped up in business shoes all day.
Will try for a longer (15-20km) run tomorrow to round out the week/month/year. Scheduled rest day on Saturday, not going up for FAT ASS, then the STaR on Sunday at Cherrybrook, which from memory has some nasty hills in it!
A recap of the running year in tomorrows blog, something to look forward to....
I think the excesses of Christmas caught up with me overnight, felt pretty crappy Wed morning (literally, sorry for the detail!) and did not feel like running at all. As the day progressed things improved and decided to head out to the bay to run with the MTG.
Pretty cruisy start but then discovered they were running hill reps up (the infamous) Lilyfield Rd, ouch I did hill reps on Tuesday. Went out way too hot on the first rep (77 sec), levelled out for the next four at around 88 and then died badly with the last 2 at 98. Was supposed to do 8 but pulled the pin at 7 as things were done and I was feeling a little shaky (think it was low blood sugar after my gut problems from the morning and the limited diet through the day as a result).
Paced back to the start ok and felt a lot better after downing a pepsi on the way home.
The blister on my right heel is now really S****ing me and is painful to walk on, let alone run. Decided to cut it and drain it to try and let it dry out, did the same for the LHS and it has healed up nicely.
So with gut and heel problems tied in with a critical day at work and it was pretty easy to opt out of the scheduled recovery run today.
Feel a lot better tonight, finished off the EOY work stuff (YIPPEE!) but the heel is still a problem after being cooped up in business shoes all day.
Will try for a longer (15-20km) run tomorrow to round out the week/month/year. Scheduled rest day on Saturday, not going up for FAT ASS, then the STaR on Sunday at Cherrybrook, which from memory has some nasty hills in it!
A recap of the running year in tomorrows blog, something to look forward to....
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Back on track
Christmas time is always going to drawn out for our family.
Christmas day at Justine's mums with her family, boxing day with my family and now we have Isaac's birthday on the 27th! I'm pretty much partied/eaten /drunk out! The kids had a great time and Isaac soon worked out what the deal was (he is 2) and was an expert at pressie unwrapping by the end of yesterday.
Anyway back to the running, I was hoping to get out on boxing day but it was just going to be to hard to do, I could stil have done it, but the wrath of the wife would not have been worth it as she would then have had to prep for my family lunch by herself.
So I had 2 days off but snuck out yesterday mid morning for my 15km Tour de Ryde! A nice undulating course to keep you honest and it was quite a warm/humid day as well.
For some reason the Timex watch had a problem with avg pace tracking today after I stopped/started early in the run so I switched to just monitoring my splits. Felt pretty cruisy pacing along at just under 5 min/km pace.
The stats
14.9 km in 1.13.11 (avg pace of 4.54 min/km) and avg hr of 164.
A sleep in this morning and tidying up/shopping to replenish the shelves etc cut out a morning run. Late in the afternoon the opportunity came up to head out, opted for the gym for a 1km interval session on the treadmill but the gym was closing up when I got there. Ran back home (the gym is only about 500m away!) and dropped off the towel etc and headed around the corner for hill reps. The problem in this was I forgot what I was doing for recovery times after the reps but opted to have 2 min jog down/backs.
Knocked out 8 reps @ avg of 85.8 secs which was pretty much the same as I did 2 weeks ago. However I found out when I got home that last time I actually had an extra 30 secs recovery on the way back down, so certainly a harder session today with similar times a nice improve on the benchmark.
Back to work tomorrow and no Summer Series so yet to work out what I'll do yet.
Christmas day at Justine's mums with her family, boxing day with my family and now we have Isaac's birthday on the 27th! I'm pretty much partied/eaten /drunk out! The kids had a great time and Isaac soon worked out what the deal was (he is 2) and was an expert at pressie unwrapping by the end of yesterday.
Anyway back to the running, I was hoping to get out on boxing day but it was just going to be to hard to do, I could stil have done it, but the wrath of the wife would not have been worth it as she would then have had to prep for my family lunch by herself.
So I had 2 days off but snuck out yesterday mid morning for my 15km Tour de Ryde! A nice undulating course to keep you honest and it was quite a warm/humid day as well.
For some reason the Timex watch had a problem with avg pace tracking today after I stopped/started early in the run so I switched to just monitoring my splits. Felt pretty cruisy pacing along at just under 5 min/km pace.
The stats
14.9 km in 1.13.11 (avg pace of 4.54 min/km) and avg hr of 164.
A sleep in this morning and tidying up/shopping to replenish the shelves etc cut out a morning run. Late in the afternoon the opportunity came up to head out, opted for the gym for a 1km interval session on the treadmill but the gym was closing up when I got there. Ran back home (the gym is only about 500m away!) and dropped off the towel etc and headed around the corner for hill reps. The problem in this was I forgot what I was doing for recovery times after the reps but opted to have 2 min jog down/backs.
Knocked out 8 reps @ avg of 85.8 secs which was pretty much the same as I did 2 weeks ago. However I found out when I got home that last time I actually had an extra 30 secs recovery on the way back down, so certainly a harder session today with similar times a nice improve on the benchmark.
Back to work tomorrow and no Summer Series so yet to work out what I'll do yet.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Xmas eve lunch time run
A late night last night with work committments and also heading down to the fish market to pick up tomorrow's lunch saw me finally get to bed at around 1:30am. At around 2:30 the wife poked me in the ribs as my mobile was ringing, ah the joys of working for a US based company....
Hit the snooze button and finally got up when yet another US based call came through, too late to go for a run now so I decided to try at lunch time.
The great thing about working in North Sydney is the accessibility to the scenic harbour so I ran across the bridge, onto the Cahill, down to the Opera House and then arounf Lady Macquaries chair up to St Mary's and then everything in reverse. Felt really good on the way out and then (yet) again started to develop a blister on my right heel. This is really starting to irk me, I'm headed back to the podiatrist as this has only started since the new orthotics.
Anyway it was quite warm and humid but I pushed it out coming bakc up and did just under 15km in 1:11:39 (4:50 pace) which considering the struggle yesterday is a good turnaround.
End of the training week for me, tomorrow is a designated rest day!
59km for the week, and the "Parrot predictor" says a 3:19:54 marathon time!
It will be a struggle to do a quality week next week but we'll wait and see.
Merry Christmas to all who actually devote themselves enough to read my ramblings and get to the end of this post :)
Hit the snooze button and finally got up when yet another US based call came through, too late to go for a run now so I decided to try at lunch time.
The great thing about working in North Sydney is the accessibility to the scenic harbour so I ran across the bridge, onto the Cahill, down to the Opera House and then arounf Lady Macquaries chair up to St Mary's and then everything in reverse. Felt really good on the way out and then (yet) again started to develop a blister on my right heel. This is really starting to irk me, I'm headed back to the podiatrist as this has only started since the new orthotics.
Anyway it was quite warm and humid but I pushed it out coming bakc up and did just under 15km in 1:11:39 (4:50 pace) which considering the struggle yesterday is a good turnaround.
End of the training week for me, tomorrow is a designated rest day!
59km for the week, and the "Parrot predictor" says a 3:19:54 marathon time!
It will be a struggle to do a quality week next week but we'll wait and see.
Merry Christmas to all who actually devote themselves enough to read my ramblings and get to the end of this post :)
Thursday, December 23, 2004
What a difference a couple of days make!
Recovery run time this morning and headed out on my normal loop.
Straight away I could tell that last night took it's toll on me as I struggled to run at the normal pace. At one stage thought about short cutting but decided to push on, fatigued legs are something I need to get used to.
As a nice diversion it started chucking it down with rain during the LCNP portion of the run. I really did slow down and just focussed on form as I struggled home.
Finished off with 56.25, as compared to Monday's time of 50.48 for the same course. Of interest though was my average HR for both runs was the same, 157. So it was certainly the legs.
Aiming for a longer run tomorrow of around 15km, given no STaR for me this Sunday due to festive celebrations!
Straight away I could tell that last night took it's toll on me as I struggled to run at the normal pace. At one stage thought about short cutting but decided to push on, fatigued legs are something I need to get used to.
As a nice diversion it started chucking it down with rain during the LCNP portion of the run. I really did slow down and just focussed on form as I struggled home.
Finished off with 56.25, as compared to Monday's time of 50.48 for the same course. Of interest though was my average HR for both runs was the same, 157. So it was certainly the legs.
Aiming for a longer run tomorrow of around 15km, given no STaR for me this Sunday due to festive celebrations!
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The Slopes of Balmoral
The final Summer Series hit out at Balmoral, this course was tough last year with quite a bit of shuffling up and down the different streets and paths on the Balmoral Slopes. Last year I climbed early, went too far north and thus ran out of time badly so this time I decided to do the flat stuff out first and then come back, thus having a down hill run to the finish, but also a whole heap of shorter routes back to the finish if I was running late. Here is a copy of the map with my route
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/balmoral.jpg
Very happy with the run and on a much more demanding course than last week, only real choice was when I got to 11 and still had 4 minutes up my sleeve so opted to pick up 15, otherwise I would have been back around 2 minutes early!
Ended up 1:45 late, losing 20 points, so 15 did not make a difference. Overall scored 520 less the 20 late penalty gives 500. Again keeping the leaders in sight with one score at 580 and then a 530, 520 and 510. Gives me 86 points in the yearly point score.
To contrast against last year I did pretty much the same route in reverse and finished with 350 points as I was back so late. I'll attribute most of the improvement to my fitness but I am also getting better at route selection and "spiking" the controls.
Running stats
7.6km in 46.46 gives an average pace of 6.11 min/km.
Pretty knackered at the end of it, those hills were tough!
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/balmoral.jpg
Very happy with the run and on a much more demanding course than last week, only real choice was when I got to 11 and still had 4 minutes up my sleeve so opted to pick up 15, otherwise I would have been back around 2 minutes early!
Ended up 1:45 late, losing 20 points, so 15 did not make a difference. Overall scored 520 less the 20 late penalty gives 500. Again keeping the leaders in sight with one score at 580 and then a 530, 520 and 510. Gives me 86 points in the yearly point score.
To contrast against last year I did pretty much the same route in reverse and finished with 350 points as I was back so late. I'll attribute most of the improvement to my fitness but I am also getting better at route selection and "spiking" the controls.
Running stats
7.6km in 46.46 gives an average pace of 6.11 min/km.
Pretty knackered at the end of it, those hills were tough!
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
30/30's
Another new session and time for a another new benchmark with the 30'30 session.
The concept is to run pretty much flat out for 30 sec, a recovery jog for 30 sec and then repeat until you are knackered.
One thing about this is it is pretty hard to "measure" the session but I tried anyway :)
Managed 15 reps and a rough distance according to the gps was averages of 136m fast and 77m jog. This came out to around 3:40 pace which would not be too far from the truth.
Rotary park seems to be open again, or at least I did not see any signs to the contrary. However the after effects of the maintenance work are still there with quite a bit of dirt on the track. About halfway through my session Spud showed up and started on 400m reps.
The calves/shins felt a little tight on the warmdown run back home but hey, I've run 7 out of the last 8 days and have not done that for a while. Finally also seemed to have my blister problem on both heels sorted out, the left being much better after I drained the fairly large blister last night.
So I've done my first 30/30 not sure if it will be a favourite but will mix it in for variety. Now for the last Summer Series of this year at Balmoral and trying to plan a route on the slopes without too much up being repeated. Found out yesterday that I finished 3rd at Ermington, only 30 points behind one of the "guns" so I'm back and on the improve!
The concept is to run pretty much flat out for 30 sec, a recovery jog for 30 sec and then repeat until you are knackered.
One thing about this is it is pretty hard to "measure" the session but I tried anyway :)
Managed 15 reps and a rough distance according to the gps was averages of 136m fast and 77m jog. This came out to around 3:40 pace which would not be too far from the truth.
Rotary park seems to be open again, or at least I did not see any signs to the contrary. However the after effects of the maintenance work are still there with quite a bit of dirt on the track. About halfway through my session Spud showed up and started on 400m reps.
The calves/shins felt a little tight on the warmdown run back home but hey, I've run 7 out of the last 8 days and have not done that for a while. Finally also seemed to have my blister problem on both heels sorted out, the left being much better after I drained the fairly large blister last night.
So I've done my first 30/30 not sure if it will be a favourite but will mix it in for variety. Now for the last Summer Series of this year at Balmoral and trying to plan a route on the slopes without too much up being repeated. Found out yesterday that I finished 3rd at Ermington, only 30 points behind one of the "guns" so I'm back and on the improve!
Monday, December 20, 2004
Recovery run
Back out today for a recovery run over my normal loop out through Nth Ryde and back through Lane Cove National Park.
Felt pretty good on the way out and consciously slowed myself as I was starting to average close to 4:30 pace (it is supposed to be a recovery after all!).
Finished up with 10.5km @ 4:48 min/km and avg HR of 158. For interest this time last year I was running 10km training runs at around 5:40 pace and I actually ran Canberra @ 4:47 pace. Also goes to show that for whatever reason I did not run well at yesterdays 10km race.
Speed session tomorrow, not sure what style yet but there's still plenty of time for that.
Felt pretty good on the way out and consciously slowed myself as I was starting to average close to 4:30 pace (it is supposed to be a recovery after all!).
Finished up with 10.5km @ 4:48 min/km and avg HR of 158. For interest this time last year I was running 10km training runs at around 5:40 pace and I actually ran Canberra @ 4:47 pace. Also goes to show that for whatever reason I did not run well at yesterdays 10km race.
Speed session tomorrow, not sure what style yet but there's still plenty of time for that.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Last race of the year
Back to Smithfield to exorcise some demons from my last DNF but running the 10km today in a somewhat vain attempt to knock off the 40min 10km goal.
Quite a field and everyone was pretty scattered from the start. I was a little slow off the line, which is a change for me, but settled into a fairly good rhythm about 5-10 m behind Horrie who was a similar distance behind MPHaz, Lone Wolf and Superflake. Started to drift going up the hill and could not reinstate the pace going down the other side. A pretty similar story on the way back, keeping Horrie in sight but seemingly unable to pick up the pace. Finished with 43:30 and was just in front in the end of Mr G with an awesome performance to back up after the Ultra last weekend.
The funny thing is, I actually could have kept on running at that pace for a while, so speed and hills will still need the focus. While it was slower (much) than hoped for looking at it optimisticly I seem to have recovered from the groin problem and I also did the race off the back of my first serious training week for quite a while
Splits were
1 4:09 4:09
2 3:56 8:05
3 4:07 12:12
4 4:14 16:26
5 4:39 21:05
6 4:39 25:44
7 4:39 30:23
8 4:18 34:41
9 4:28 39:09
10 4:21 43:30
Good time at the end spent chatting with various Cool Runners and Striders, in particular introduced myself to Ray and had a good talk about training and prep for Canberra.
I'll save my 2004 review and 2005 preview for later this week the goal is another consistent week of running, starting with a recovery 10km tomorrow morning!
Quite a field and everyone was pretty scattered from the start. I was a little slow off the line, which is a change for me, but settled into a fairly good rhythm about 5-10 m behind Horrie who was a similar distance behind MPHaz, Lone Wolf and Superflake. Started to drift going up the hill and could not reinstate the pace going down the other side. A pretty similar story on the way back, keeping Horrie in sight but seemingly unable to pick up the pace. Finished with 43:30 and was just in front in the end of Mr G with an awesome performance to back up after the Ultra last weekend.
The funny thing is, I actually could have kept on running at that pace for a while, so speed and hills will still need the focus. While it was slower (much) than hoped for looking at it optimisticly I seem to have recovered from the groin problem and I also did the race off the back of my first serious training week for quite a while
Splits were
1 4:09 4:09
2 3:56 8:05
3 4:07 12:12
4 4:14 16:26
5 4:39 21:05
6 4:39 25:44
7 4:39 30:23
8 4:18 34:41
9 4:28 39:09
10 4:21 43:30
Good time at the end spent chatting with various Cool Runners and Striders, in particular introduced myself to Ray and had a good talk about training and prep for Canberra.
I'll save my 2004 review and 2005 preview for later this week the goal is another consistent week of running, starting with a recovery 10km tomorrow morning!
Friday, December 17, 2004
Rest of the week
Thursday was my first "recovery" run rather than opting for a complete rest. Decided to head down to LCNP to suss out a possible 3km TT course for tomorrow. A cruisy 2.5 km run down through Scribbly and then out along the Striders 10km course looking for the 7km marker. The aim was to run the last 3 km in reverse and avoid including Scribbly Gums. Found what seemed to be the 7km mark but was a little vague as to the 8/9km marks. Funny how you run past these all the time in a race but have no idea as to where they are when you're actually looking for them. Finished up with close to 11km at 5min/km pace.
Swapped some emails with Action re the marker placement and upon his recommednadtion decided to actually run the last 3km of the 10km course. Could be a fairly fast 3km as perception is it is all downhill....
So Friday rolls on and a warmup of 2.5 km down to the designated start. I noticed I was sweating considerably, given it was a warm up (about 6 min/km pace!). Did a quick stretch and tied up the laces again. Time to go so reset the watch and off I go. Splits were
1km 3:54 3:54
2km 4:02 7:55
3km 3:51 11:46
Seemed to struggle to get on pace and forgot all about that "hill" after the Scribbly turn off in km 2. I think I also hit the watch a little late at the end of km 2, which means it was actually pretty even splits.
Sad to say, but a little disappointing for me, hoping more for a 11:15 to 11:30 type time. Looks unlikely for a PB on Sunday but we'll wait and see. At least I have yet another benchmark to measure against.
Work has been pretty crazy as we head towards end of year and today had Stella's school xmas concert with a small gap and then the work xmas lunch. Shuffled off after lunch which was at Hunters Hill to the triple H (Hunters Hill Hotel!). Much to my surprise I found a large group of people that I know from my previous job at Clarence St/Trek. A lot of these guys are/were runners and triathletes and my customers. It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen for over 10 years (they were having a 20 year training group reunion). Quite a few people who were Striders in the early days and some who still are, allbeit inactive.
A few too many wines/beers etc today so a rest tomorrow for sure and I'll contemplate what distance I race on Sunday, although leaning towards the 10km to try and at least post a 40:xx if not a dream of 39:59!
A look at the training log says this week (60km) is the most km since the week of Willy to Billy in mid Aug and then all the way back to April before Canberra taper for a higher week. So maybe that can be my excuse for the below planned 3km time....
Swapped some emails with Action re the marker placement and upon his recommednadtion decided to actually run the last 3km of the 10km course. Could be a fairly fast 3km as perception is it is all downhill....
So Friday rolls on and a warmup of 2.5 km down to the designated start. I noticed I was sweating considerably, given it was a warm up (about 6 min/km pace!). Did a quick stretch and tied up the laces again. Time to go so reset the watch and off I go. Splits were
1km 3:54 3:54
2km 4:02 7:55
3km 3:51 11:46
Seemed to struggle to get on pace and forgot all about that "hill" after the Scribbly turn off in km 2. I think I also hit the watch a little late at the end of km 2, which means it was actually pretty even splits.
Sad to say, but a little disappointing for me, hoping more for a 11:15 to 11:30 type time. Looks unlikely for a PB on Sunday but we'll wait and see. At least I have yet another benchmark to measure against.
Work has been pretty crazy as we head towards end of year and today had Stella's school xmas concert with a small gap and then the work xmas lunch. Shuffled off after lunch which was at Hunters Hill to the triple H (Hunters Hill Hotel!). Much to my surprise I found a large group of people that I know from my previous job at Clarence St/Trek. A lot of these guys are/were runners and triathletes and my customers. It was good to catch up with people I hadn't seen for over 10 years (they were having a 20 year training group reunion). Quite a few people who were Striders in the early days and some who still are, allbeit inactive.
A few too many wines/beers etc today so a rest tomorrow for sure and I'll contemplate what distance I race on Sunday, although leaning towards the 10km to try and at least post a 40:xx if not a dream of 39:59!
A look at the training log says this week (60km) is the most km since the week of Willy to Billy in mid Aug and then all the way back to April before Canberra taper for a higher week. So maybe that can be my excuse for the below planned 3km time....
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Super Summer Series @ Ermington
Summer Series this evening at Ermington, an area previously only known to me due to "The Ermo" aka Ermington Pub a favourite of the guys that worked at the warehouse we ran in my old job.
No quiet ales today, although the weather was actually reasonable for a change. A quick scan of the map and it looked like a lot of running with some hills near Marsden Rd if you headed east.
Sorted out my "optimum" route which had a few short cut options on the way back if time got too much. To pick up good points you really needed to venture to the other side of Silverwater Rd and crossing points were highlighted on the map. I was still running away from the start/finish at the half way point but had a much straighter run back, with those planned shortcuts.
45 minutes clicked over about 750 metres out with 2 controls worth 50 points still to be found on the way home. For the last third of the run I kept on crossing paths with one of the better vets but after we sorted the last point I really opened up to try and minimise any further point loss. Ended up finishing with 49:53 and I think he just squeezed in 5 secs later! Felt quite good really striding out, sort of like the 400's I did last week.
Anyway the stats were 9.7km in 49:53 which has an avg pace of 5:09, my fastest SS pace! My score was 450 less the 50 points for being late which gave me 400. When I left I was on top of the leaderboard with the next best score of 380 and then a few 340-320's. This was indeed a first but there were still a few fast guns out running.
Recovery day tomorrow, I'll do a reccie for the 3km I'm planning for Friday.
Also got my follow up with the Sports Specialist Dr but am more confident by the day that even if there is a slight problem it seems to be improving and I'm stepping up the training.
No quiet ales today, although the weather was actually reasonable for a change. A quick scan of the map and it looked like a lot of running with some hills near Marsden Rd if you headed east.
Sorted out my "optimum" route which had a few short cut options on the way back if time got too much. To pick up good points you really needed to venture to the other side of Silverwater Rd and crossing points were highlighted on the map. I was still running away from the start/finish at the half way point but had a much straighter run back, with those planned shortcuts.
45 minutes clicked over about 750 metres out with 2 controls worth 50 points still to be found on the way home. For the last third of the run I kept on crossing paths with one of the better vets but after we sorted the last point I really opened up to try and minimise any further point loss. Ended up finishing with 49:53 and I think he just squeezed in 5 secs later! Felt quite good really striding out, sort of like the 400's I did last week.
Anyway the stats were 9.7km in 49:53 which has an avg pace of 5:09, my fastest SS pace! My score was 450 less the 50 points for being late which gave me 400. When I left I was on top of the leaderboard with the next best score of 380 and then a few 340-320's. This was indeed a first but there were still a few fast guns out running.
Recovery day tomorrow, I'll do a reccie for the 3km I'm planning for Friday.
Also got my follow up with the Sports Specialist Dr but am more confident by the day that even if there is a slight problem it seems to be improving and I'm stepping up the training.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Hill reps
After the suffering on the hills in the last couple of runs I thought it was best to add a hill rep session into the mix. As tempting as it is to drive over to Leichhardt I actually have a Lilyfield Rd style hill just around the corner and that makes things a little easier when trying to get through the morning and out the door with the rest of the family.
By my "expert" measurements the hill is around 300m long and pretty consistent in regards to slope, some traffic but not too much, minimal on street parking and footpaths on both sides.
My last session on the hill was at the start of September 2 days before I damaged my calf at North Head and I did 10 reps at an average of 85 sec with an average 2:40 jog back/rest. This time I decided to shorten the recovery piece down to 2:30.
The reps were
1 86
2 83
3 86
4 84
5 84
6 87
7 87
8 88
So average of 86 sec for 8 but also cut out 70 seconds recovery which seemed to make a difference. The last couple were real tough and you could really feel the lactic starting to burn. Another km or so warm down via a little loop back home.
Here's the bodylink HR data, you can see my time at the top increased as the reps went on and I tried to get my breathe back to be able to jog back down.
It also was certainly a lot warmer than when I did these last in September, even at 6:30 in the morning and it took quite a few minutes under a cool shower to reduce the copious sweat output.
Pretty happy with the session and not too far from my "peak" performance in Sept, another good benchmark for the months ahead.
I've decided to mix up 5-6 different sessions to rotate through on my "hard effort" days of Tuesday and Friday, these will be
1km intervals (treadmill) - building up to 6 of these (@3:40) and then decreasing recovery to 1 min, then increasing pace
800m intervals (track) - aiming to get to 10 @ 3:00 with same recovery (aka Yasso 800's), this is a supposed benchmark for a marathon time
400m intervals (track) - build up to 8 (@80 sec) with 90 sec recovery
30/30's aka Pat special - hey everyone else seems to be doing them...
Hills - just get up to as many as possible around 85 sec per rep up to an hour long session for some real consistency
2nd long run - 15-20km @ 5min/km over good undulating ground
So there you go, Summer Series tomorrow night at Ermington/Rydalmere, not a lot of bush to be seen, or even hills for that matter, should be a fast/longish course.
Edit... Belay that fast/longish thoughts it seems the course will be set in the area between Marsden/Victoria and Silverwater Roads, I know for a fact there are some good hills there!
By my "expert" measurements the hill is around 300m long and pretty consistent in regards to slope, some traffic but not too much, minimal on street parking and footpaths on both sides.
My last session on the hill was at the start of September 2 days before I damaged my calf at North Head and I did 10 reps at an average of 85 sec with an average 2:40 jog back/rest. This time I decided to shorten the recovery piece down to 2:30.
The reps were
1 86
2 83
3 86
4 84
5 84
6 87
7 87
8 88
So average of 86 sec for 8 but also cut out 70 seconds recovery which seemed to make a difference. The last couple were real tough and you could really feel the lactic starting to burn. Another km or so warm down via a little loop back home.
Here's the bodylink HR data, you can see my time at the top increased as the reps went on and I tried to get my breathe back to be able to jog back down.
It also was certainly a lot warmer than when I did these last in September, even at 6:30 in the morning and it took quite a few minutes under a cool shower to reduce the copious sweat output.
Pretty happy with the session and not too far from my "peak" performance in Sept, another good benchmark for the months ahead.
I've decided to mix up 5-6 different sessions to rotate through on my "hard effort" days of Tuesday and Friday, these will be
1km intervals (treadmill) - building up to 6 of these (@3:40) and then decreasing recovery to 1 min, then increasing pace
800m intervals (track) - aiming to get to 10 @ 3:00 with same recovery (aka Yasso 800's), this is a supposed benchmark for a marathon time
400m intervals (track) - build up to 8 (@80 sec) with 90 sec recovery
30/30's aka Pat special - hey everyone else seems to be doing them...
Hills - just get up to as many as possible around 85 sec per rep up to an hour long session for some real consistency
2nd long run - 15-20km @ 5min/km over good undulating ground
So there you go, Summer Series tomorrow night at Ermington/Rydalmere, not a lot of bush to be seen, or even hills for that matter, should be a fast/longish course.
Edit... Belay that fast/longish thoughts it seems the course will be set in the area between Marsden/Victoria and Silverwater Roads, I know for a fact there are some good hills there!
Monday, December 13, 2004
Catch up time
A busy end of the week, with a visit to Melbourne, and then the usual crazy weekends around Christmas see a bit of a backlog on my reports so here's the abbreviated catch up.
Sunday
Today's STaR is the Xmas Brunch run which starts from The Spit and winds around the harbour to Shelley Beach through Manly. This is about 21km and given I was not going to do the "long cut" I thought I'd step up and run with the 6:20 gang. All was pretty good, although it was very humid, until we got to Clontarf. Then quite a few people wanted to divert off the course and run the bush. Well there would have been close to 20 people in the group, might have been a record for 6:20. But running through the bush that early over quite undulating tracks saw everyone string out. Sure enough large gaps appeared and a subset of us regrouped and moved back to the regular course near the large park. A more even pace all the way to Shelley Beach, where a few people continued to take the long course while the rest of us turned back. There were Striders all over the place as different groups took different options but in the end got back for just over 20km in 1:55, avg pace of 5:32. That surprised me but we really ran slower over the up and down bush track, even though it was harder. The main thing to take home from this run was I really need to improve my hill climbing, really struggled on those up hills.
A great morning then for the Striders presentation morning then a dash home for a BBQ at our place with a couple of families from Stella's primary school. Much eating and drinking and eventually everyone left at around 6pm, I was knackered!
Friday
A big presentation first thing Friday morning in Melbourne for work so headed down on Thursday to finish prep and do some general admin. Up at sparrows however and down to the closest Fitness First for another 1km interval session. Felt pretty good for the first couple, again at 3:40 pace but really started to stuggle on rep 5, only making it to 700m before pulling the pin. Was not real happy at the time as I thought this was one less than I did last week but as it turns out I did exactly the same. Next time I'll have a real crack at hanging on to finish rep 5 and I reckon that given the standing recovery I'd make it most of the way through rep 6. So 4.7 reps of 1km @ 3:40 with 1:50 standing recovery. When I get to 6 reps I'll drop away my recovery time to 90 secs.
Wednesday
Summer Series around North Ryde. Nice and close to home so I jogged down to the start. After reviewing the map for a while I realised this was going to be tough as Mike had set a real good course. This becomes apparent as there is no clear optimium route that stands out, even after looking for 30 mins. Anyway picked a route for outbound and inbound and the rest would fall into place based upon how I was going. In the end went a little too far out into a little too much bush and was pressed for time coming home, finishing 8 minutes late (ie -80 points). Quite a few had the same problem though and I'll wait for the scores to see what panned out.
9km in 52:39, again over quite a bit of singletrack bush and then some very nice hills!
This week the program looks like
Mon Rest
Tues Hill reps @ Cox's Rd
Wed Summer Series at Ermington (should be a faster course!)
Thurs Recovery run
Fri Thinking of maybe a 3km time trial...
Sat Rest
Sunday
Today's STaR is the Xmas Brunch run which starts from The Spit and winds around the harbour to Shelley Beach through Manly. This is about 21km and given I was not going to do the "long cut" I thought I'd step up and run with the 6:20 gang. All was pretty good, although it was very humid, until we got to Clontarf. Then quite a few people wanted to divert off the course and run the bush. Well there would have been close to 20 people in the group, might have been a record for 6:20. But running through the bush that early over quite undulating tracks saw everyone string out. Sure enough large gaps appeared and a subset of us regrouped and moved back to the regular course near the large park. A more even pace all the way to Shelley Beach, where a few people continued to take the long course while the rest of us turned back. There were Striders all over the place as different groups took different options but in the end got back for just over 20km in 1:55, avg pace of 5:32. That surprised me but we really ran slower over the up and down bush track, even though it was harder. The main thing to take home from this run was I really need to improve my hill climbing, really struggled on those up hills.
A great morning then for the Striders presentation morning then a dash home for a BBQ at our place with a couple of families from Stella's primary school. Much eating and drinking and eventually everyone left at around 6pm, I was knackered!
Friday
A big presentation first thing Friday morning in Melbourne for work so headed down on Thursday to finish prep and do some general admin. Up at sparrows however and down to the closest Fitness First for another 1km interval session. Felt pretty good for the first couple, again at 3:40 pace but really started to stuggle on rep 5, only making it to 700m before pulling the pin. Was not real happy at the time as I thought this was one less than I did last week but as it turns out I did exactly the same. Next time I'll have a real crack at hanging on to finish rep 5 and I reckon that given the standing recovery I'd make it most of the way through rep 6. So 4.7 reps of 1km @ 3:40 with 1:50 standing recovery. When I get to 6 reps I'll drop away my recovery time to 90 secs.
Wednesday
Summer Series around North Ryde. Nice and close to home so I jogged down to the start. After reviewing the map for a while I realised this was going to be tough as Mike had set a real good course. This becomes apparent as there is no clear optimium route that stands out, even after looking for 30 mins. Anyway picked a route for outbound and inbound and the rest would fall into place based upon how I was going. In the end went a little too far out into a little too much bush and was pressed for time coming home, finishing 8 minutes late (ie -80 points). Quite a few had the same problem though and I'll wait for the scores to see what panned out.
9km in 52:39, again over quite a bit of singletrack bush and then some very nice hills!
This week the program looks like
Mon Rest
Tues Hill reps @ Cox's Rd
Wed Summer Series at Ermington (should be a faster course!)
Thurs Recovery run
Fri Thinking of maybe a 3km time trial...
Sat Rest
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Rotary Park
Time to get serious here and so up at 6 to do a quick warmup jog down to Rotary Park. As I leave it is slightly drizzling. When I get to the park I do a few stretches etc and then notice how much I am sweating after a 1km warm up, man it was humid!
The plan today is my maiden set of 400's and so headed off. The times were
82.44
83.21
80.82
81.31
82.33
84.22
After the last set I was pretty much a basket case and about the same time Spud and his mate from work Padraig (?) showed up for km reps. At that point I could not even remember how many reps I had done so that was enough and I did a couple of warm down laps and headed home.
Pretty happy for that to be my line in the sand starting point 6 x 400m @ 82.39 avg with approx 82sec standing recovery.
Update on the injury saga, had ultrasounds and xrays yesterday. The guy that did it is supposed to be the 'guru' on groins and was very meticulous. From what he told me there is nothing massively obvious that is causing my problems but there is a "slight" bulge near my pain spot when I load my abs. I'm beginning to think that it's something that I'll live with while I continue to rehab/strengthen etc but have to wait for next week to confirm with the sports doctor. The delays in getting appointments is quite frustrating and I'm learning a few tricks for next time (hopefully neve!).
I think the acid test will be a hard race pace hit out over say a half, so SMC will probably be my litmus test. I've managed 5km races, hilly 30km training runs, 8-9km tempo/fartleks and now 400m intervals not much left to do under injury....
Summer series tomorrow night and it's pretty much in my backyard!
The plan today is my maiden set of 400's and so headed off. The times were
82.44
83.21
80.82
81.31
82.33
84.22
After the last set I was pretty much a basket case and about the same time Spud and his mate from work Padraig (?) showed up for km reps. At that point I could not even remember how many reps I had done so that was enough and I did a couple of warm down laps and headed home.
Pretty happy for that to be my line in the sand starting point 6 x 400m @ 82.39 avg with approx 82sec standing recovery.
Update on the injury saga, had ultrasounds and xrays yesterday. The guy that did it is supposed to be the 'guru' on groins and was very meticulous. From what he told me there is nothing massively obvious that is causing my problems but there is a "slight" bulge near my pain spot when I load my abs. I'm beginning to think that it's something that I'll live with while I continue to rehab/strengthen etc but have to wait for next week to confirm with the sports doctor. The delays in getting appointments is quite frustrating and I'm learning a few tricks for next time (hopefully neve!).
I think the acid test will be a hard race pace hit out over say a half, so SMC will probably be my litmus test. I've managed 5km races, hilly 30km training runs, 8-9km tempo/fartleks and now 400m intervals not much left to do under injury....
Summer series tomorrow night and it's pretty much in my backyard!
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Barrenjoey Bashed
The title of today's STaR is the Barrenjoey Bash and it goes from Mona Vale up to Palm Beach and of course back again. For the uninitiated this area can be quite hilly!
I was interested in how the different groups would form up, given the Striders email discussions during the week. An amazing group for 6am, I reckon close to 50 with the MTG shifting to 6am now. Most of the faster runners from last week migrated to 6:20 and so we had a nice compact group of 7. Was pretty sure I was going to do the 30 today but waited to see how the run unfolded before the turnoff point. It always amazes me how a lot of STaRS have a bugger of a hill right near the start!. Once we got over that it was down to Newport and we had pretty much already caught the 6am group and should have kept running as they had just finished their water stop at the surf club. But we stopped as well and then did catch the end of the conga line just as we reached the narrow bush track section around the headland between Newport and Bilgola. We didn't get clear as a bunch until Bilgola but from there it was pretty smooth sailing, just a tad under 5:30 min/km pace.
At Whale Beach it was decision time and 4 turned off, just leaving Phil (Spud), Adrian and myself. We kept rolling along pretty well but I really struggled up the first major hill climbing out of Palm Beach and the others slowly ran away from me. I kept them in sight and as the 6:30 & faster 6:20 guys came through on a nice long downhill I tagged back on but knew it was a matter of time. Had a big fuel stop at Careel Bay, downing a gel and then managed to take a slight short cut by accident, which in the end was handy. The Gel kicked in around Avalon and then the rest of the 6:20 caught up. Then there was an absolute mother of a hill coming out of Avalon around the back of Bilgola where I really blew up. From there it was a case of just bringing it home.
The stats :
30.5 km in 2:51, avg pace of 5:36 min/km.
All in all, quite happy, my longest run for quite a while and after a very refreshing swim and an Endura Optimiser on the way home the legs actually feel quite ok!
Tomorrow is the ultrasound and xray time to determine if I have anything serious to worry about before I start to pick up the distance.
I was interested in how the different groups would form up, given the Striders email discussions during the week. An amazing group for 6am, I reckon close to 50 with the MTG shifting to 6am now. Most of the faster runners from last week migrated to 6:20 and so we had a nice compact group of 7. Was pretty sure I was going to do the 30 today but waited to see how the run unfolded before the turnoff point. It always amazes me how a lot of STaRS have a bugger of a hill right near the start!. Once we got over that it was down to Newport and we had pretty much already caught the 6am group and should have kept running as they had just finished their water stop at the surf club. But we stopped as well and then did catch the end of the conga line just as we reached the narrow bush track section around the headland between Newport and Bilgola. We didn't get clear as a bunch until Bilgola but from there it was pretty smooth sailing, just a tad under 5:30 min/km pace.
At Whale Beach it was decision time and 4 turned off, just leaving Phil (Spud), Adrian and myself. We kept rolling along pretty well but I really struggled up the first major hill climbing out of Palm Beach and the others slowly ran away from me. I kept them in sight and as the 6:30 & faster 6:20 guys came through on a nice long downhill I tagged back on but knew it was a matter of time. Had a big fuel stop at Careel Bay, downing a gel and then managed to take a slight short cut by accident, which in the end was handy. The Gel kicked in around Avalon and then the rest of the 6:20 caught up. Then there was an absolute mother of a hill coming out of Avalon around the back of Bilgola where I really blew up. From there it was a case of just bringing it home.
The stats :
30.5 km in 2:51, avg pace of 5:36 min/km.
All in all, quite happy, my longest run for quite a while and after a very refreshing swim and an Endura Optimiser on the way home the legs actually feel quite ok!
Tomorrow is the ultrasound and xray time to determine if I have anything serious to worry about before I start to pick up the distance.
Friday, December 03, 2004
Returning to the Dark Side!
Yes folks after an offer from Spud to go for a ride, I went to the garage and dusted of the trusty road bike. It hasn't seen the pavement in around 4 years but the tyres/tubes were still ok and after a quick spit & polish it looked brand new (which it pretty well is anyway!).
The plan was to meet up at the Delhi Rd on ramp but I waited near the middle and Spud and his workmate cycled by below as they came up from Lane Cove. Sort of realised this a little late so headed off by myself. The first couple of km was really wierd, been a long time since I have been on a true road bike but, hey you never forget how to ride a bike.
Rode up to Windsor Rd and return, quite a bit faster on the way back it seemed and finished off with 33km and avg speed of 31.2km/hr. Decided to focus on technique rather than speed and as such sat in the lower gears with a cadence of around 100rpm. Pretty happy with the ride and I'm sure I'll do more, purely for cross training purposes off course :)
Was so excited by the ride that I decided to do my intervals today as well, knowing it would be very unlikely to do any running tomorrow after drinks tonight.
Over to the gym at lunch for the regular 1km intervals with half the time standing rest. I decided to up the ante to try and get more leg speed so went from 3:50 min/km last time to 3:40 min/km today. Very happy with the results, did the same distance as my last 3:50 set which was around 4.7km, I do have a problem hanging on when things are really grim. But another positive is again the injury was not very noticable. The standing rest was 1:50.
Still doing the ultrasound on Monday just to eliminate any possible major problems lurking in the background.
Next run is the STaR up the beaches, not sure whether I'll wimp out at 25km or push on for the 30km, will depend on the pace that the 6:10 sets out at I suppose.
The plan was to meet up at the Delhi Rd on ramp but I waited near the middle and Spud and his workmate cycled by below as they came up from Lane Cove. Sort of realised this a little late so headed off by myself. The first couple of km was really wierd, been a long time since I have been on a true road bike but, hey you never forget how to ride a bike.
Rode up to Windsor Rd and return, quite a bit faster on the way back it seemed and finished off with 33km and avg speed of 31.2km/hr. Decided to focus on technique rather than speed and as such sat in the lower gears with a cadence of around 100rpm. Pretty happy with the ride and I'm sure I'll do more, purely for cross training purposes off course :)
Was so excited by the ride that I decided to do my intervals today as well, knowing it would be very unlikely to do any running tomorrow after drinks tonight.
Over to the gym at lunch for the regular 1km intervals with half the time standing rest. I decided to up the ante to try and get more leg speed so went from 3:50 min/km last time to 3:40 min/km today. Very happy with the results, did the same distance as my last 3:50 set which was around 4.7km, I do have a problem hanging on when things are really grim. But another positive is again the injury was not very noticable. The standing rest was 1:50.
Still doing the ultrasound on Monday just to eliminate any possible major problems lurking in the background.
Next run is the STaR up the beaches, not sure whether I'll wimp out at 25km or push on for the 30km, will depend on the pace that the 6:10 sets out at I suppose.
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Back to Summer Series
After the success on Sunday of running the STaR and a couple of cautious days of recovery I thought it was time to do some Summer Series again. This week had the added advantage of being run in the same area that we also did the STaR in.
A bloody hot day in Sydney had me concerned but as I was getting ready to leave I noticed on the harbour that the southerly had arrived and so a much cooler run than it could have been.
A quick review of the map and decided to opt out of running down to the long trail that we finished up with on Sunday and rather stick to collecting the rest of the controls that were mostly street based. Of course, in a brain spasm, just before I started I thought I saw a way of getting some of the trail based points without running the entire length.
Off to number 12 first and immediately lost a couple of minutes looking under different rock ledges which were not all marked. Down the poorly marked track and went straight past 20 without seeing it, but was not too worried about that as I knew I was coming back that way. 29 and 7 were pretty easy and 20 was easier to find going up than coming down. A nice little climb then out to the streets, once I got to some reasonable pace it was obvious that I was not going to be able to collect all of the controls I had planned for. Up to 25 and then downhill to 24 and 18. A nasty climb up 2 sets of stairs to 6 and some nice flatter running past 16 and down near where the STaR started at 13. Saw a few people coming the other way and took a little too much time looking for 21, which seemed to be mapped a little incorrectly. Opted to not do more bush and cut out 2, climbing out on the oval for 26. Some good fast running with a heap of points between 27 and 23 in not much time. Probably then went the wrong way aiming for 30 with (yet) another climb and then flat out back to the finish getting in just under 3 minutes late. In hindsight I should have left 30 and picked up 14 & 8 (and maybe even 17) with a flatter run.
Here is the map and my course
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/twocreeks.jpg
Ended up with 440 points less 30 for the late 3 minutes. Distance was 7.3km, average pace of 6:29 min/km, quite a bit of that chewed up at #12 and then some of the slower bush running and those nasty hills!
It seems a lot went the trail option and so got back badly late and for a while 410 points was top of the leader board until one of the "guns" Julian Dent somehow managed 550! He is in another league though and has placed very highly in several world championship events. When I left no one else had broken 500 and 440 seemed to be the next highest score so I think I faired pretty well.
Slight tightness around the hip/abs and so iced up when I got home, having a rest day rather than even a recovery run. Will run tomorrow though probably some sort of interval type session.
A bloody hot day in Sydney had me concerned but as I was getting ready to leave I noticed on the harbour that the southerly had arrived and so a much cooler run than it could have been.
A quick review of the map and decided to opt out of running down to the long trail that we finished up with on Sunday and rather stick to collecting the rest of the controls that were mostly street based. Of course, in a brain spasm, just before I started I thought I saw a way of getting some of the trail based points without running the entire length.
Off to number 12 first and immediately lost a couple of minutes looking under different rock ledges which were not all marked. Down the poorly marked track and went straight past 20 without seeing it, but was not too worried about that as I knew I was coming back that way. 29 and 7 were pretty easy and 20 was easier to find going up than coming down. A nice little climb then out to the streets, once I got to some reasonable pace it was obvious that I was not going to be able to collect all of the controls I had planned for. Up to 25 and then downhill to 24 and 18. A nasty climb up 2 sets of stairs to 6 and some nice flatter running past 16 and down near where the STaR started at 13. Saw a few people coming the other way and took a little too much time looking for 21, which seemed to be mapped a little incorrectly. Opted to not do more bush and cut out 2, climbing out on the oval for 26. Some good fast running with a heap of points between 27 and 23 in not much time. Probably then went the wrong way aiming for 30 with (yet) another climb and then flat out back to the finish getting in just under 3 minutes late. In hindsight I should have left 30 and picked up 14 & 8 (and maybe even 17) with a flatter run.
Here is the map and my course
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/twocreeks.jpg
Ended up with 440 points less 30 for the late 3 minutes. Distance was 7.3km, average pace of 6:29 min/km, quite a bit of that chewed up at #12 and then some of the slower bush running and those nasty hills!
It seems a lot went the trail option and so got back badly late and for a while 410 points was top of the leader board until one of the "guns" Julian Dent somehow managed 550! He is in another league though and has placed very highly in several world championship events. When I left no one else had broken 500 and 440 seemed to be the next highest score so I think I faired pretty well.
Slight tightness around the hip/abs and so iced up when I got home, having a rest day rather than even a recovery run. Will run tomorrow though probably some sort of interval type session.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Taking it easy
Quick catch up with not much really to say.
Monday was always planned as a rest day and a good idea as the calves and hammies were complaining about having to do some work again... Got a good beat up by the physio!
Tuesday - had good intentions of heading down to Rotary for some 400m intervals but when the feet hit the floor still felt Sunday's effort and went for discretion over valour.
Good news is no ice at all last night and still no twinges from the injury area. Planning to race the Summer Series tonight which coincidently is based around where the STaR went on Sunday, just no where near as long, but it will be hot!
Monday was always planned as a rest day and a good idea as the calves and hammies were complaining about having to do some work again... Got a good beat up by the physio!
Tuesday - had good intentions of heading down to Rotary for some 400m intervals but when the feet hit the floor still felt Sunday's effort and went for discretion over valour.
Good news is no ice at all last night and still no twinges from the injury area. Planning to race the Summer Series tonight which coincidently is based around where the STaR went on Sunday, just no where near as long, but it will be hot!
Sunday, November 28, 2004
A new start?
Well after a week off, and even abstaining from the 5km challenge around the bay I decided to see what was happening and run the STaR on Sunday. This week it was Davidson Recreation and is based around Lindfield, Killara and Roseville with a nice piece of trail running along the upper reaches of Middle Harbour to finish.
I opted for the 6:10am group who are supposed to run @ 5:30 pace. Quite a few usual faces with Cool Runners and other Striders in the mix. After a little encouragement gnscon also joined us as we headed out. The first few km were fairly undulating and also the pace at the front was a bit faster than it should have been. Apologies to Rob (gnscon) as I was struggling a little myself and did not notice him drift off the back. At about 8-9km it was obvious that those setting the pace were still a little keen as we posted close to 5 min/km. Had a little chat with them but did not make any difference so just hung on. By this stage it was also obvious that it was going to be pretty hot so at least we stopped at every marked water spot.
I decided to peel off at the 20km mark where we were still just over 5 min/km pace and take the 25km option. Another Strider Ron joined me and we made our way down to the start of the bush section. Through here we eased off a little and eventually some of the next group caught us about 2km from home on the steady uphill. My legs were starting to struggle by then as well so I let the others go off and just focussed on getting back, the heat was certainly starting to get to me.
Finished off with a nasty uphill/stairs bush track section but did the 25 km in around 2:20 running time.
You'll notice, not a word on the injury, well because while it was still there, it did not seem to bother me and if anything the further I went the less I felt it. Best news though was once I cooled down it still did not seem to be sore, certainly in comparision with the rest of the body.
So I hope this is the start of a new beginning, I was pretty happy to run 25km at a fair pace over a difficult course and still being able to walk after my recent traumas! Saw the physio again today and we'll keep on working on core stability etc and I will probably have an ultrasound just to be sure. I'm pretty convinced that my injury is/was tendonitis of the conjoint tendon and with the icing and NSAIDs I'm now effectively managing the problem.
Even happier with the effort now that I've reviewed the last 3 months of training.
September 87km - injured calf/achilles on Sep 4, recovered enough for Sydney half and PB
October 139km - not much training with Aus Orienteering champs, just starting to get going again when injury at Nike 10km. Another half PB in Oct though!
November 92km - will probably finish with around 100-110 a struggle with the recent injury
Am feeling a lot more chipper about things, especially running and will attempt a "normal" week this week, maybe even try and slip in a ride with Spud and MPHaz...
I opted for the 6:10am group who are supposed to run @ 5:30 pace. Quite a few usual faces with Cool Runners and other Striders in the mix. After a little encouragement gnscon also joined us as we headed out. The first few km were fairly undulating and also the pace at the front was a bit faster than it should have been. Apologies to Rob (gnscon) as I was struggling a little myself and did not notice him drift off the back. At about 8-9km it was obvious that those setting the pace were still a little keen as we posted close to 5 min/km. Had a little chat with them but did not make any difference so just hung on. By this stage it was also obvious that it was going to be pretty hot so at least we stopped at every marked water spot.
I decided to peel off at the 20km mark where we were still just over 5 min/km pace and take the 25km option. Another Strider Ron joined me and we made our way down to the start of the bush section. Through here we eased off a little and eventually some of the next group caught us about 2km from home on the steady uphill. My legs were starting to struggle by then as well so I let the others go off and just focussed on getting back, the heat was certainly starting to get to me.
Finished off with a nasty uphill/stairs bush track section but did the 25 km in around 2:20 running time.
You'll notice, not a word on the injury, well because while it was still there, it did not seem to bother me and if anything the further I went the less I felt it. Best news though was once I cooled down it still did not seem to be sore, certainly in comparision with the rest of the body.
So I hope this is the start of a new beginning, I was pretty happy to run 25km at a fair pace over a difficult course and still being able to walk after my recent traumas! Saw the physio again today and we'll keep on working on core stability etc and I will probably have an ultrasound just to be sure. I'm pretty convinced that my injury is/was tendonitis of the conjoint tendon and with the icing and NSAIDs I'm now effectively managing the problem.
Even happier with the effort now that I've reviewed the last 3 months of training.
September 87km - injured calf/achilles on Sep 4, recovered enough for Sydney half and PB
October 139km - not much training with Aus Orienteering champs, just starting to get going again when injury at Nike 10km. Another half PB in Oct though!
November 92km - will probably finish with around 100-110 a struggle with the recent injury
Am feeling a lot more chipper about things, especially running and will attempt a "normal" week this week, maybe even try and slip in a ride with Spud and MPHaz...
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Tri reminiscing
Our regular program schedule is being disrupted due to urgent repairs.
Please enjoy this rerun while we attempt to repair the damage.
Reading through Plu's blog and seeing the pictures from his tri career archive prompted me to send him an email to see if his much better record keeping also managed to snare some of my performances from the mid eighties. He found my times from the Sri Chimnoy tri in 1986.
Disclaimer, 85/86 was first year uni time, much more time invested in partying than training or studying. I did manage to only fail one subject....
2.3km swim in 53 min (bloody cold swim in Lake Burley Griffin before wetsuits were the norm!)
59km cycle in 1:55 (shivered on the bike for the first half hour as body temp returned, no tri bars then!)
16km run in 1:35 (remembered walking a bit for that one!)
Total time 4hours 23 min
Did manage to find some of my own certificates!
Ride 'N' Stride 1985
Hawkesbury
8km run 38:00
30km ride 1:02:40
8km run 1:05:20
Overall 2:46:00
Nepean
8km run 30:30!!!
40km ride 1:04:00
7km run 1:15:30
Overall 2:50:00
Much faster! But I busted myself on the bike leg I'd say.
Anyway, thought that might be of interest, given the recent tri postings of some other bloggers.
Regular running info will resume shortly! (typing this with ice pack applied and enjoying a glass of red) . Thanks to Plu for all of the info he has found on my early tri career!
Please enjoy this rerun while we attempt to repair the damage.
Reading through Plu's blog and seeing the pictures from his tri career archive prompted me to send him an email to see if his much better record keeping also managed to snare some of my performances from the mid eighties. He found my times from the Sri Chimnoy tri in 1986.
Disclaimer, 85/86 was first year uni time, much more time invested in partying than training or studying. I did manage to only fail one subject....
2.3km swim in 53 min (bloody cold swim in Lake Burley Griffin before wetsuits were the norm!)
59km cycle in 1:55 (shivered on the bike for the first half hour as body temp returned, no tri bars then!)
16km run in 1:35 (remembered walking a bit for that one!)
Total time 4hours 23 min
Did manage to find some of my own certificates!
Ride 'N' Stride 1985
Hawkesbury
8km run 38:00
30km ride 1:02:40
8km run 1:05:20
Overall 2:46:00
Nepean
8km run 30:30!!!
40km ride 1:04:00
7km run 1:15:30
Overall 2:50:00
Much faster! But I busted myself on the bike leg I'd say.
Anyway, thought that might be of interest, given the recent tri postings of some other bloggers.
Regular running info will resume shortly! (typing this with ice pack applied and enjoying a glass of red) . Thanks to Plu for all of the info he has found on my early tri career!
Monday, November 22, 2004
DNF
Sydney Marathon Clinic time and was unsure what distance to run, even when I got there!
In hindsight I should have gone short but opted for the half. A heap of Cool Runners and Striders there and went out at about 4:20 min/km pace which seemed ok. Got to the first turnaround fine, slowing a little but when we hit the return hill it was a real struggle to maintain my pace. Down the other side and could not stretch out and I noticed other areas of the body were not happy (probably adjusted my stance subconsciously to compensate). Anyway the good thing is the next turnaround was near the finish and so I opted out at the 10km mark, with a 44:30 10km. This is actually my first DNF in this running life, but when I had cooled down the LHS ITB and achilles were also sore so probably a good thing that I stopped. Very depressing, especially since everyone else seemed to be smashing PB's :( and now a number of guys have gone straight past me timewise.
Now very sore across abdomen and have booked for ultra sound (unbelievable 2 weeks wait to see the "specialist"!) so a week of stretching/core stability work and NO running. That also trashes my hopes of doing a exploratory 6 foot run next Sunday. The goal is to now really sort this injury out so I can eventually commence my Canberra training program, Six foot is now looking more and more like a social run for me at nowhere near race pace. So until further notice the following sign applies to my ability to do any running.
In hindsight I should have gone short but opted for the half. A heap of Cool Runners and Striders there and went out at about 4:20 min/km pace which seemed ok. Got to the first turnaround fine, slowing a little but when we hit the return hill it was a real struggle to maintain my pace. Down the other side and could not stretch out and I noticed other areas of the body were not happy (probably adjusted my stance subconsciously to compensate). Anyway the good thing is the next turnaround was near the finish and so I opted out at the 10km mark, with a 44:30 10km. This is actually my first DNF in this running life, but when I had cooled down the LHS ITB and achilles were also sore so probably a good thing that I stopped. Very depressing, especially since everyone else seemed to be smashing PB's :( and now a number of guys have gone straight past me timewise.
Now very sore across abdomen and have booked for ultra sound (unbelievable 2 weeks wait to see the "specialist"!) so a week of stretching/core stability work and NO running. That also trashes my hopes of doing a exploratory 6 foot run next Sunday. The goal is to now really sort this injury out so I can eventually commence my Canberra training program, Six foot is now looking more and more like a social run for me at nowhere near race pace. So until further notice the following sign applies to my ability to do any running.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
More rest than planned
Still tight Friday so no running, saw physio who was positive about progress being made, but he got a note back from the sports Dr and they are both worried about my conjoint tendon...
Absolutely no ab work whatsoever allowed, well it hurts even to sit up from lying down.
Anyway keep on doing the exercises etc and still allowed to run, although it is starting to depress me again. I am aiming to run tomorrow at SMC, not sure what distance but the half is looking unlikely.
Absolutely no ab work whatsoever allowed, well it hurts even to sit up from lying down.
Anyway keep on doing the exercises etc and still allowed to run, although it is starting to depress me again. I am aiming to run tomorrow at SMC, not sure what distance but the half is looking unlikely.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Summer Series - Butchers Block Point
Flew back from Melbourne just in time to go for a Summer Series run at Longueville.
Here's a copy of the map
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/butchers%20block.jpg
Initially it seemed that the whole lot was unachievable, headed out in an anti clockwise direction and things went pretty well, even through the first section of bush. At that point I should have headed from 24 to 13 and then picked up the SW points before coming back but was a little too optimistic (read got greedy). A major snafu going between 27 and 26 where I took a wrong turn. Ended up having to go through heavy steep bush and then came out to far north of 26. Lost probablya couple of minutes at least as well as the 30 points. Time was now tight and second stuff up was from 14 to 12, stayed down in the bush rather than taking the easier option. Already running late and so passed on 22 and 3, getting back 14 minutes late (ie -140 points) and collecting 440 points so final tally was 300. If I had gone to 13 from 24 I would say it would have been much closer time wise and probably would have ended up with more overall points. The top score was only 410, lots of people back late....
The stats for the run
9.19km in 58:50 with avg HR of 175.
Given the heavy bush component and the extra sidestepping etc the ab/groin/hip area was a lot tighter last night and is still today so a complete rest day today. Maybe a hill session tomorrow morning but we'll wait and see.
Here's a copy of the map
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/butchers%20block.jpg
Initially it seemed that the whole lot was unachievable, headed out in an anti clockwise direction and things went pretty well, even through the first section of bush. At that point I should have headed from 24 to 13 and then picked up the SW points before coming back but was a little too optimistic (read got greedy). A major snafu going between 27 and 26 where I took a wrong turn. Ended up having to go through heavy steep bush and then came out to far north of 26. Lost probablya couple of minutes at least as well as the 30 points. Time was now tight and second stuff up was from 14 to 12, stayed down in the bush rather than taking the easier option. Already running late and so passed on 22 and 3, getting back 14 minutes late (ie -140 points) and collecting 440 points so final tally was 300. If I had gone to 13 from 24 I would say it would have been much closer time wise and probably would have ended up with more overall points. The top score was only 410, lots of people back late....
The stats for the run
9.19km in 58:50 with avg HR of 175.
Given the heavy bush component and the extra sidestepping etc the ab/groin/hip area was a lot tighter last night and is still today so a complete rest day today. Maybe a hill session tomorrow morning but we'll wait and see.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Gunn Runners 5km
Down in Melbourne today and given it's a Tuesday then I also get to run with the Gunn Runners tonight!
A pretty cool idea run by Fitzcameron from CR and hosted from a pub (more of that later!). Tonight is the first of the daylight saving run which means a lap around Albert Park lake, where they hold the Aussie F! GP, plus a little bit for 5km. A very flat course but it seems you always get a headwind from either the north /south. Also it is mostly on a crushed rock type surface which seems a little slow.
Despite the niggle I loaded up the GPS so I could try and run as even as pace as possible with the goal to do a sub 20 min time. Last run here was a 21.xx on a cold night with a howling northerly to run into for the last 500m.
These guys are pretty informal and when the start horn went off I had to dodge past a few slower people who stationed themselves right at the front! Anyway one guy shot off and I settled straight into my target pace about 4th/5th. As each of the guys in front started to slow I just kept the pace going until at the 1km point I was running just off the shoulder of the guy in second while the leader was slowly pulling away. Stayed that way for the next km until we hit the headwind where the guy in front started to slow so I went around him. On target at 3km but still has another km of headwind which hurt and then just tried to keep it going to the line. Ended up with 20.28, pretty close! After catching the breath, remembering the comments from CR about not doing the hands on knees look, had a look at the distance as I seemed to recall the 5km split sounding a little out from the finish line. Ended up with 5.084km on the timex and with the last 84 m in 16.5 secs was damn close to the 20min mark. Pretty happy with that given the lack of any decent training.
Splits were:
Dist Split Total AvgHR
1km 3.57 3.57 172
2km 3.59 7.56 183
3km 4.03 11.59 187
4km 4.10 16.09 188
5km 4.03 20.11 188
Finish 0.16 20.28 190
Here is the output from the Timex, pretty consistent HR and pace!
Tomorrow night, Summer Series at Longueville/Riverview!
Oh and I forgot the best bit of the Gunn Runners, a free beer included in your entry fee back at the pub and then lucky draw prizes as well! (they do also provide iced cold water as well...)
A pretty cool idea run by Fitzcameron from CR and hosted from a pub (more of that later!). Tonight is the first of the daylight saving run which means a lap around Albert Park lake, where they hold the Aussie F! GP, plus a little bit for 5km. A very flat course but it seems you always get a headwind from either the north /south. Also it is mostly on a crushed rock type surface which seems a little slow.
Despite the niggle I loaded up the GPS so I could try and run as even as pace as possible with the goal to do a sub 20 min time. Last run here was a 21.xx on a cold night with a howling northerly to run into for the last 500m.
These guys are pretty informal and when the start horn went off I had to dodge past a few slower people who stationed themselves right at the front! Anyway one guy shot off and I settled straight into my target pace about 4th/5th. As each of the guys in front started to slow I just kept the pace going until at the 1km point I was running just off the shoulder of the guy in second while the leader was slowly pulling away. Stayed that way for the next km until we hit the headwind where the guy in front started to slow so I went around him. On target at 3km but still has another km of headwind which hurt and then just tried to keep it going to the line. Ended up with 20.28, pretty close! After catching the breath, remembering the comments from CR about not doing the hands on knees look, had a look at the distance as I seemed to recall the 5km split sounding a little out from the finish line. Ended up with 5.084km on the timex and with the last 84 m in 16.5 secs was damn close to the 20min mark. Pretty happy with that given the lack of any decent training.
Splits were:
Dist Split Total AvgHR
1km 3.57 3.57 172
2km 3.59 7.56 183
3km 4.03 11.59 187
4km 4.10 16.09 188
5km 4.03 20.11 188
Finish 0.16 20.28 190
Here is the output from the Timex, pretty consistent HR and pace!
Tomorrow night, Summer Series at Longueville/Riverview!
Oh and I forgot the best bit of the Gunn Runners, a free beer included in your entry fee back at the pub and then lucky draw prizes as well! (they do also provide iced cold water as well...)
Monday, November 15, 2004
The Prognosis!
Monday morning and while there was a little tightness (I'll avoid using the words stiff and groin in the same sentence!) still felt pretty chipper but was off to the highly recommended sports doc Ken Crichton at Crows Nest.
Had a letter from the physio and then talked through whats been going on. He got me to do all sorts of left vs right standing exercises and then on the table for some hip/groin flexibility tests.
The end result is that he thinks I initially had an injury in the hip joint area which has subsided but the lower abs seem to have a strain from compensating for the initial injury. Some tenderness in the area where a sports hernia (do a google on that!) normally occurs but he did not have to scrape me off the ceiling and so thought it was unlikely.
The diagnosis, keep on with the core muscle stretches/exercises as already identified by physio, think about visiting an osteo for a hip alignment. If it does not keep on improving then in around 2 weeks head off for xrays/ultrasounds to check for more serious stuff.
The best news was that I could get running again, don't go crazy with big increases in mileage but speed sessions and races are also ok!!!!
Back into it tomorrow.
Had a letter from the physio and then talked through whats been going on. He got me to do all sorts of left vs right standing exercises and then on the table for some hip/groin flexibility tests.
The end result is that he thinks I initially had an injury in the hip joint area which has subsided but the lower abs seem to have a strain from compensating for the initial injury. Some tenderness in the area where a sports hernia (do a google on that!) normally occurs but he did not have to scrape me off the ceiling and so thought it was unlikely.
The diagnosis, keep on with the core muscle stretches/exercises as already identified by physio, think about visiting an osteo for a hip alignment. If it does not keep on improving then in around 2 weeks head off for xrays/ultrasounds to check for more serious stuff.
The best news was that I could get running again, don't go crazy with big increases in mileage but speed sessions and races are also ok!!!!
Back into it tomorrow.
Sunday, November 14, 2004
Harbourside Hike STaR
Set the alarm for 5am as I had decided to run with the 6am group as there were many cut back/short cut points if I needed to use them. Hit the alarm but went back to sleep, waking in a start at 5:20 so rushed around and chewed on a Power Bar on the way in the car. The Harbourside Hike is unusually named given the first half of it is running through the suburbs to bring you out further up the harbour and then back along all the points etc.
Arrived with minutes to spare so did some stretches and turned on the GPS. Fellow CR's gnscon and Amjan were there as well as a few familiar Striders. Didn't feel too bad and had a couple of good chats with people including John about the preparation in mind for 6 foot and then Canberra, especially about my approach of some more focus on speed work. Next thing we knew we were at the first short cut. I bid most of the group goodbye and about 6-8 of us headed back. At this point the pace had been slow (compared to my more usual STaR's) and we were just over 6min/km pace. A nice hill as we head up to Greenwich and I pushed it pretty hard with no ill effects and waited at the top. As we went on the pace seemed to slow down further and I decided that when we left Berry Island I would run the last 5km pretty hard. It was good to stretch out and ended up doing close to 5km in 22 and a half minutes.
Another little athletics thing on so had to leave before everyone else got back. The funny thing is I did not tighten up through the day and actually felt pretty good. There was still some background tightness but maybe I realigned something in running faster again?
Monday and a visit to the Sport Dr for his take on the whole episode...
Arrived with minutes to spare so did some stretches and turned on the GPS. Fellow CR's gnscon and Amjan were there as well as a few familiar Striders. Didn't feel too bad and had a couple of good chats with people including John about the preparation in mind for 6 foot and then Canberra, especially about my approach of some more focus on speed work. Next thing we knew we were at the first short cut. I bid most of the group goodbye and about 6-8 of us headed back. At this point the pace had been slow (compared to my more usual STaR's) and we were just over 6min/km pace. A nice hill as we head up to Greenwich and I pushed it pretty hard with no ill effects and waited at the top. As we went on the pace seemed to slow down further and I decided that when we left Berry Island I would run the last 5km pretty hard. It was good to stretch out and ended up doing close to 5km in 22 and a half minutes.
Another little athletics thing on so had to leave before everyone else got back. The funny thing is I did not tighten up through the day and actually felt pretty good. There was still some background tightness but maybe I realigned something in running faster again?
Monday and a visit to the Sport Dr for his take on the whole episode...
Saturday, November 13, 2004
End of the week
Not as sore on the Thursday as I was the week before but back to the physio while it was easier to identify pain cause and effect. He worked over my lower back etc and counselled against running again while also agreeing that I should see a Sports Doc to eliminate any more serious conditions. So opted to take it easy Thurs/Fri and then also took Saturday off given an earlier start for Little Athletics. The goal was then to run the STaR on Sunday, maybe 7am or if more confident the 6am group for around 15km.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Backtrack to Last week
Ok folks a bit of catch up to do...
Last Tuesday I was planning to run (despite my physio) but not sure when/how.
Was a little bit unsure to select between the MTG round the bay with hill reps vs Summer Series at Callan Park (coincidently also near/on the bay). In the end the Summer Series got the nod.
Now I remember this map from last year and quite a bit of good planning was required as they ran us around all sorts of buildings . Could still certainly feel my "injury" and so opted for not a lot of warm up but a little appropriate stretching and a conservative start. Looking at the map it seemed that collecting the lot may be achievable, even at a slower pace!
Here is a scan of the map for those interested.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/callan%20park.jpg
Off up the hill near the start to number 18 first. First mistake shortly after that where I ran back down the road rather than going cross country (the dotted line) to get to 8. Pretty much run, write, run, write for a while until 23 where I went down the wrong side of the outcrop and then had to climb up and go down on the right side. The hip/groin was still tight but not really limiting my running. More steady going until 12-14 which was up a fairly step bush track and that seemed to stimulate the pain somewhat. Then some more fairly open running all the way to 28. Timing was looking good and so decided on heading to 29. As I got near Lilyfield Rd made my second mistake. Saw the MTG doing hill reps and for some reason ran all the way down the hill rather than my planned shorter course (again a dotted line).
Time was now getting tight but I still had enough up my sleeve to at least pick up 19 and then also decided to push on to 10. Now was the time to really stretch out on the way back through 9 but still could not run at full pace and just made it back under 1 minute late. So picked up all but 20&30 which gives 450 - 10 for being 1 minute late ending up with 440.
A number of people scored the full 600 with one runner doing it in 36 minutes! I'm sure that I would have picked up my first 600 points and back in time if I hadn't made my 2 mistakes but more importantly if I wasn't limited in my pace, anyway they're the breaks.
Back home and immediate ice treatment as I had started to stiffen up while cooling down,
Last Tuesday I was planning to run (despite my physio) but not sure when/how.
Was a little bit unsure to select between the MTG round the bay with hill reps vs Summer Series at Callan Park (coincidently also near/on the bay). In the end the Summer Series got the nod.
Now I remember this map from last year and quite a bit of good planning was required as they ran us around all sorts of buildings . Could still certainly feel my "injury" and so opted for not a lot of warm up but a little appropriate stretching and a conservative start. Looking at the map it seemed that collecting the lot may be achievable, even at a slower pace!
Here is a scan of the map for those interested.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/callan%20park.jpg
Off up the hill near the start to number 18 first. First mistake shortly after that where I ran back down the road rather than going cross country (the dotted line) to get to 8. Pretty much run, write, run, write for a while until 23 where I went down the wrong side of the outcrop and then had to climb up and go down on the right side. The hip/groin was still tight but not really limiting my running. More steady going until 12-14 which was up a fairly step bush track and that seemed to stimulate the pain somewhat. Then some more fairly open running all the way to 28. Timing was looking good and so decided on heading to 29. As I got near Lilyfield Rd made my second mistake. Saw the MTG doing hill reps and for some reason ran all the way down the hill rather than my planned shorter course (again a dotted line).
Time was now getting tight but I still had enough up my sleeve to at least pick up 19 and then also decided to push on to 10. Now was the time to really stretch out on the way back through 9 but still could not run at full pace and just made it back under 1 minute late. So picked up all but 20&30 which gives 450 - 10 for being 1 minute late ending up with 440.
A number of people scored the full 600 with one runner doing it in 36 minutes! I'm sure that I would have picked up my first 600 points and back in time if I hadn't made my 2 mistakes but more importantly if I wasn't limited in my pace, anyway they're the breaks.
Back home and immediate ice treatment as I had started to stiffen up while cooling down,
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Injury Update
The scene : A well guarded and highly confidential medical facility. Inside a group of doctors are clustered around a lifeless body on the operating table.
Someone is heard to say "We can rebuild him. We have the technology.We have the capability to make a sub 40min 10km runner. Dave Bray will be that man. Better than he was before. Better . . . stronger . . . faster. "
Yes folks my main physio is back from holidays and his assessment makes me more confident in getting running again sooner rather than later.
It seems to be the age old "core muscle" imbalance problem and he wants me to primarily work on my right side which he says is causing the problems on the left. Doesn't want me getting straight back into it but I'm pretty keen to have a hit out tomorrow evening so bugger it! However I am doing my exercises and will try and run with some level of restraint....
Someone is heard to say "We can rebuild him. We have the technology.We have the capability to make a sub 40min 10km runner. Dave Bray will be that man. Better than he was before. Better . . . stronger . . . faster. "
Yes folks my main physio is back from holidays and his assessment makes me more confident in getting running again sooner rather than later.
It seems to be the age old "core muscle" imbalance problem and he wants me to primarily work on my right side which he says is causing the problems on the left. Doesn't want me getting straight back into it but I'm pretty keen to have a hit out tomorrow evening so bugger it! However I am doing my exercises and will try and run with some level of restraint....
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Back to the physio
Despite the ice last night the hip/groin were still noticably tight and it was easy to stimulate/replicate cause and effect of pain.
Spoke with the physio when I got into the office at lunch time and booked for late afternoon appointment and also got a referal to a good sports doctor in case (made a booking for the next available appointment with him which is 2 weeks away). Still very worried (and just about convinced myself that I had a Sports Hernia).
Anyway after reviewing everything the physio seems convinced that it is a Hip Flexor strain/tendinitis. Recommendation is a complete break from pretty much everything for at least a week. So this means pretty much certainly no Striders 10km on Saturday or STaR on Sunday. Looking on the positive side at least this has happened before I was starting to get serious on the training program
So limited update for a little while until I actually have something to report.
Spoke with the physio when I got into the office at lunch time and booked for late afternoon appointment and also got a referal to a good sports doctor in case (made a booking for the next available appointment with him which is 2 weeks away). Still very worried (and just about convinced myself that I had a Sports Hernia).
Anyway after reviewing everything the physio seems convinced that it is a Hip Flexor strain/tendinitis. Recommendation is a complete break from pretty much everything for at least a week. So this means pretty much certainly no Striders 10km on Saturday or STaR on Sunday. Looking on the positive side at least this has happened before I was starting to get serious on the training program
So limited update for a little while until I actually have something to report.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Summer Series Artarmon Creek
Still a bit tight in the hips/pelvic area so opted to head over to the physio for a better informed assessment than my searches over the internet (things like Oestio Pubis and Sports Hernia sounded very scary). With the extra day rest it was starting to be harder to isolate the pain and cause of the pain. Anyway the physio was not keen on me running but I thought the worst that could happen would be for the pain to return and then at least it would be easier to isolate cause/effect...
The start was based at Naremburn and most of the running would be through the Artarmon/Naremburn area around the Gore Hill Freeway and Hornsby rail line.
For anyone interested here is a link to the map
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/Artarmon%20Creek.jpg
If you look you can see the controls are broken up into 3 groupings and I decided to hit the closest group first as it seemed you would probably struggle to pick them up on the way back from the other 2 groups. The start/finish is the triangle in pretty much the centre of the map.
So a quick warmup with no traumas and I was off.
Pretty easy early up with 1,11 21 and 7. Then down the hill and under the freeway for 15 and a lap around the sports ovals with 22,6,23,10,24,14,29 and 25. The hip was starting to complain a bit but headed back under the freeway, picked up 16 after a little thinking and then along the outside of the freeway sound barrier to the next grouping with 2 very obvious.
Number 3 was a complete pain, on a rock face which was obvious on the map but there were about 5-6 rock faces and the one with the control was a little further up than expected. Spent too much time here, but also actually cooled down a little and when the running started again it was noticably more painful.
Picked up 13, up and back to 30, across to 4 and then 19 and then a good run up to 28, but I struggled to stretch out. The plan was to get 8 and then17, 27 but being a little distracted I turned the wrong way coming out under the railway and ended up relocating to 5. 20 was easy but time was really running out and I lost a lot of time (5-6 minutes) at 26 and 9, in fact I did not even find 9 but found out afterward went pretty much straight past it. Picked up 12 on the way back was pretty ticked off for a multitude of reasons. Ended up with 520 points but was back 11 minutes late and so probably ended up with 410 points. It looks like the top scores were 530.
Once cooled down it was obvious whatever my problem is was not good, headed home for ice. Early client meeting tomorrow morning on site so I'll have to wait and book with the physio once finished. At least it will be easy to identify cause/effect.
The start was based at Naremburn and most of the running would be through the Artarmon/Naremburn area around the Gore Hill Freeway and Hornsby rail line.
For anyone interested here is a link to the map
http://www.users.bigpond.com/dmbray/Artarmon%20Creek.jpg
If you look you can see the controls are broken up into 3 groupings and I decided to hit the closest group first as it seemed you would probably struggle to pick them up on the way back from the other 2 groups. The start/finish is the triangle in pretty much the centre of the map.
So a quick warmup with no traumas and I was off.
Pretty easy early up with 1,11 21 and 7. Then down the hill and under the freeway for 15 and a lap around the sports ovals with 22,6,23,10,24,14,29 and 25. The hip was starting to complain a bit but headed back under the freeway, picked up 16 after a little thinking and then along the outside of the freeway sound barrier to the next grouping with 2 very obvious.
Number 3 was a complete pain, on a rock face which was obvious on the map but there were about 5-6 rock faces and the one with the control was a little further up than expected. Spent too much time here, but also actually cooled down a little and when the running started again it was noticably more painful.
Picked up 13, up and back to 30, across to 4 and then 19 and then a good run up to 28, but I struggled to stretch out. The plan was to get 8 and then17, 27 but being a little distracted I turned the wrong way coming out under the railway and ended up relocating to 5. 20 was easy but time was really running out and I lost a lot of time (5-6 minutes) at 26 and 9, in fact I did not even find 9 but found out afterward went pretty much straight past it. Picked up 12 on the way back was pretty ticked off for a multitude of reasons. Ended up with 520 points but was back 11 minutes late and so probably ended up with 410 points. It looks like the top scores were 530.
Once cooled down it was obvious whatever my problem is was not good, headed home for ice. Early client meeting tomorrow morning on site so I'll have to wait and book with the physio once finished. At least it will be easy to identify cause/effect.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Intervals again
Stayed up a little later last night working on some spreadsheet enhancements for the Summer Series website with a glass or 2 of red wine (well maybe 3 or 4!).
Just as I was ready to go to bed Isaac (22 months) woke up distressed and so it took me another hour or so to get him back to sleep. So the alarm went this morning and I ignored it, knowing that I had a meeting at 10am at Gladesville so I could leave home late and thus go for my run a little later.
Headed to the gym for another 3:50min/km session. First km was fine at 6min/k pace for a warm up, nothing from the tender area from Sunday and so I cranked it up to 3:50 pace. Almost immediately I could feel some restriction but thought bugger it, lets get going. It seemed I was unable to fully stride out but made it through the first 4 sets, savouring the 1:55 standing break. The fifth km seemed ok but just past the 500m mark I started to struggle and unable to stretch out or seemingly pick up the pace and hit the stop button at 700m. Waited about 2 minutes and then did a km warm down and the dodgy hip area was still sore as I cooled down so I walked home.
Started doing some quick research on the net as to what it could be and did not like what I found so will go into denial and hope it goes away. Summer Series tomorrow night at Artarmon which should be a good tempo/fartlek session but will need some sort of warm up.
Got the Bodylink working again so here's what the HR looked like.
Interesting to note my max was just over 180, I've hit a lot higher than that so maybe I'm being a little soft on the treadmill (doesn't feel soft though)
Just as I was ready to go to bed Isaac (22 months) woke up distressed and so it took me another hour or so to get him back to sleep. So the alarm went this morning and I ignored it, knowing that I had a meeting at 10am at Gladesville so I could leave home late and thus go for my run a little later.
Headed to the gym for another 3:50min/km session. First km was fine at 6min/k pace for a warm up, nothing from the tender area from Sunday and so I cranked it up to 3:50 pace. Almost immediately I could feel some restriction but thought bugger it, lets get going. It seemed I was unable to fully stride out but made it through the first 4 sets, savouring the 1:55 standing break. The fifth km seemed ok but just past the 500m mark I started to struggle and unable to stretch out or seemingly pick up the pace and hit the stop button at 700m. Waited about 2 minutes and then did a km warm down and the dodgy hip area was still sore as I cooled down so I walked home.
Started doing some quick research on the net as to what it could be and did not like what I found so will go into denial and hope it goes away. Summer Series tomorrow night at Artarmon which should be a good tempo/fartlek session but will need some sort of warm up.
Got the Bodylink working again so here's what the HR looked like.
Interesting to note my max was just over 180, I've hit a lot higher than that so maybe I'm being a little soft on the treadmill (doesn't feel soft though)
Monday, November 01, 2004
Rest Day
Nothing much to say after the title of this post. Still quite sore at the left pelvic/groin area from last night and also still beating myself up for the run itself. Was going to aim to do a Pilates class but thought better of it given the soreness and that is an area they tend to work on in Pilates anyway.
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