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...
Sunday, November 28, 2004
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.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Race Report!
Straight from the trenches a report on the Nike "The Race That You Want" at Sydney Olympic Park.
Alas it was actually the race that I didn't want :(
All good intentions up front but just got myself too hyped up. The signs were there with my first km split at 3:42, way too hot and even though I eased up the second km was still below target pace. As I posted on Cool Running the lungs then started to complain and I dwindled away to running 4:30 km in general and finished in 44:00. Very frustrating that this was the same time I did for the first 10km in my recent Half PB over a tougher course.
Not much more to say, other than while I had to wait around forever to get my bag back (Grr) I have seized up and the left hip/groin is quite stiff (no stiff groin jokes thankyou very much).
Time to completely rethink my 10km approach. I seem to have the longer runs sorted out but cannot manage myself over the shorter distances.
Just for posterity and a continuing reminder for me, here are the splits and avg Hr for each KM
1km 3:42 3:42 166hr
2km 3:56 7:38 175hr
3km 4:18 11:57 178hr
4km 4:25 16:22 178hr
5km 4:40 21.02 175hr
6km 4:37 25:39 174hr
7km 5:03 30:41 174hr
8km 4:38 35:19 174hr
9km 4:18 39:37 179hr
10km 4:24 44:01 176hr
Alas it was actually the race that I didn't want :(
All good intentions up front but just got myself too hyped up. The signs were there with my first km split at 3:42, way too hot and even though I eased up the second km was still below target pace. As I posted on Cool Running the lungs then started to complain and I dwindled away to running 4:30 km in general and finished in 44:00. Very frustrating that this was the same time I did for the first 10km in my recent Half PB over a tougher course.
Not much more to say, other than while I had to wait around forever to get my bag back (Grr) I have seized up and the left hip/groin is quite stiff (no stiff groin jokes thankyou very much).
Time to completely rethink my 10km approach. I seem to have the longer runs sorted out but cannot manage myself over the shorter distances.
Just for posterity and a continuing reminder for me, here are the splits and avg Hr for each KM
1km 3:42 3:42 166hr
2km 3:56 7:38 175hr
3km 4:18 11:57 178hr
4km 4:25 16:22 178hr
5km 4:40 21.02 175hr
6km 4:37 25:39 174hr
7km 5:03 30:41 174hr
8km 4:38 35:19 174hr
9km 4:18 39:37 179hr
10km 4:24 44:01 176hr
Saturday, October 30, 2004
End of week
A quick recap of the week over a glass of red wine (well for me anyway!).
51km done over 5 days. The neat little "Parrot" predictor from my tracking spreadsheet suggests a 3:23:54 marathon. This is based upon the fastest 42.2km I ran this week and I have heard of a few people that endorse this theory, so being a sceptic I'm going to track what it says. It actually predicted roughly a 3:30 time for Canberra so it may not be too far from the truth...
So a light week proportionally to begin, but that is without a true long run. Short term goal stuff this coming week with now two serious goes at 10km dashes in 7 days and a PB chase. If nothing else the Parrot time should drop.
51km done over 5 days. The neat little "Parrot" predictor from my tracking spreadsheet suggests a 3:23:54 marathon. This is based upon the fastest 42.2km I ran this week and I have heard of a few people that endorse this theory, so being a sceptic I'm going to track what it says. It actually predicted roughly a 3:30 time for Canberra so it may not be too far from the truth...
So a light week proportionally to begin, but that is without a true long run. Short term goal stuff this coming week with now two serious goes at 10km dashes in 7 days and a PB chase. If nothing else the Parrot time should drop.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Longer run
Friday will usually be when I have my second longest run. Today I'm heading for around 15km on another one of my well worn paths. The thing I do like about running in the Ryde area is there are no shortage of hills, so there is always something to think about. This run is no exception, headed through LCNP and following the bike path up a nasty little pinch to the northern side of Lane Cove Rd before heading towards Macquarie Centre and then another bike path to Quarry Rd (with another nice hill with a great view towards the city before heading down to the Field of Mars).
Target pace for my longer runs is also 5min/km at the moment. It's again slightly cooler today and I'm pretty comfortable with the pace but do have to work at it on the slopes. I'm on pace but there's a nasty little down/up section right at the end (I sometimes do my hill reps there) which does hurt!
Stats were 14.75km @ 1:13:50 (4:59min/km) with average HR of 161.
Now that perplexes me a little, the avg hr is lower than a shorter/easier recovery run the day before!
Usually I'd have a deeper look through the Timex Bodylink data but for some reason the data did not upload correctly and was automatically deleted (I've changed that option now).
Just for extra benefit picked up a Pilates class today at lunch time, boy that is a good workout on the abs...
Rest day tomorrow (heaps of stuff to do around the house) and I've decided to be serious about the Nike run at Homebush now that the course has been revised slightly so no STaR Sunday morning and a concerted effort to lower the 10km PB, maybe even below 40min (I wish). A good hit out in prep for the Striders 10km at Lane Cove next Saturday.
Target pace for my longer runs is also 5min/km at the moment. It's again slightly cooler today and I'm pretty comfortable with the pace but do have to work at it on the slopes. I'm on pace but there's a nasty little down/up section right at the end (I sometimes do my hill reps there) which does hurt!
Stats were 14.75km @ 1:13:50 (4:59min/km) with average HR of 161.
Now that perplexes me a little, the avg hr is lower than a shorter/easier recovery run the day before!
Usually I'd have a deeper look through the Timex Bodylink data but for some reason the data did not upload correctly and was automatically deleted (I've changed that option now).
Just for extra benefit picked up a Pilates class today at lunch time, boy that is a good workout on the abs...
Rest day tomorrow (heaps of stuff to do around the house) and I've decided to be serious about the Nike run at Homebush now that the course has been revised slightly so no STaR Sunday morning and a concerted effort to lower the 10km PB, maybe even below 40min (I wish). A good hit out in prep for the Striders 10km at Lane Cove next Saturday.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Another day another recovery run
Back out this morning on my usual 10km recovery run. Somehow managed to incite a muscle spasm in my neck before getting up which is just annoying more than anything else.
A great morning for running, a little cooler with a nice breeze but plenty of daylight. As usual once I get into LCNP barely see a soul, but there was a lot of branches etc on the ground as a result of yesterday afternoon's high winds.
The stats
10.2km @50:24 = pace of 4:56min/km and avg hr of 166.
Interesting, a faster pace than yesterdays effort but a much lower avg HR, goes to show those hills yesterday were deceiving....
A longer run tomorrow (say 15km) with a rest on Saturday and then I'm in 2 minds for Sunday. I've entered the much hyped Nike 10km run. Not sure to treat it as a full on race to see how I might go for the final Striders 10km next week or to go out and do the STaR and have a bit of a hit and giggle style run for the Nike. The course looks flat and so a PB could be begging but it will surely be a lot more crowded than the usual Striders 10k at Homebush.
A great morning for running, a little cooler with a nice breeze but plenty of daylight. As usual once I get into LCNP barely see a soul, but there was a lot of branches etc on the ground as a result of yesterday afternoon's high winds.
The stats
10.2km @50:24 = pace of 4:56min/km and avg hr of 166.
Interesting, a faster pace than yesterdays effort but a much lower avg HR, goes to show those hills yesterday were deceiving....
A longer run tomorrow (say 15km) with a rest on Saturday and then I'm in 2 minds for Sunday. I've entered the much hyped Nike 10km run. Not sure to treat it as a full on race to see how I might go for the final Striders 10km next week or to go out and do the STaR and have a bit of a hit and giggle style run for the Nike. The course looks flat and so a PB could be begging but it will surely be a lot more crowded than the usual Striders 10k at Homebush.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Summer Series Abbotsford
Wednesday afternoon in summer for me means the Orienteering Summer Series. This is a 23 race series at different venues around Sydney so you get to see a lot of place you would not normally see. Today we raced at Abbotsford, just towards the end of the Great North Road.
For the uninitiated these races are great, you have a flexible start time, anywhere from 4pm onwards and with daylight saving this means you can start up to around 6:30pm and still have daylight. You get given a detailed map with 30 control points placed at various objects, each control point has a point value (1-10 = 10 points, 11-20 = 20 points and 21-30 = 30 points). The goal is to accumulate as many points within the 45 minutes allotted time from when you start. The big trap though, is for every minute or part thereof you are late you have 10 points deducted from your score. More info here http://www.sydneysummerseries.com.au/ (not a bad website even if I say so myself). For those familiar with Rogaining, this is like a sprint Rogaine.
Anyway enough of the plugs I hear you say what about the run?
Quite a warm and windy afternoon and I get the map and do a quick planning session as to my proposed optimum route to get the most points in the least time. Quite a few hills/steps and I identify a couple of cut back points if time starts running out. I run these now with the bodylink on to try and get a feel for my pace and also distance run. Head off and try and maintain 5min/k pace which will be tight given some of the terrain and also because you have to slow down/stop to find the control which is usually an inverted painted pot plant bowl.
Midway through the course I'm a little behind the schedule but have done the worst of the cutting back portions and also the hills so some faster flat running. Opt to leave out 2 x 20 pointers that would require quite a deal of climbing and cutting back and in the end have to sprint to the finish, already running late with about 2 seconds to spare to avoid losing 20 points.
End up with 550 out of a maximum of 600 points which is above my par from last year. A couple of guys picked up the 600 in the required time and I probably would have been a little closer with slightly better route choice.
Run stats were
8.6km in 45:58 which gives an average pace 5:21, not too bad for what was a challenging hilly course. Average HR was 179, probably a bit too low....
Managed to pick up a blister again on my left heel, bugger.
For the uninitiated these races are great, you have a flexible start time, anywhere from 4pm onwards and with daylight saving this means you can start up to around 6:30pm and still have daylight. You get given a detailed map with 30 control points placed at various objects, each control point has a point value (1-10 = 10 points, 11-20 = 20 points and 21-30 = 30 points). The goal is to accumulate as many points within the 45 minutes allotted time from when you start. The big trap though, is for every minute or part thereof you are late you have 10 points deducted from your score. More info here http://www.sydneysummerseries.com.au/ (not a bad website even if I say so myself). For those familiar with Rogaining, this is like a sprint Rogaine.
Anyway enough of the plugs I hear you say what about the run?
Quite a warm and windy afternoon and I get the map and do a quick planning session as to my proposed optimum route to get the most points in the least time. Quite a few hills/steps and I identify a couple of cut back points if time starts running out. I run these now with the bodylink on to try and get a feel for my pace and also distance run. Head off and try and maintain 5min/k pace which will be tight given some of the terrain and also because you have to slow down/stop to find the control which is usually an inverted painted pot plant bowl.
Midway through the course I'm a little behind the schedule but have done the worst of the cutting back portions and also the hills so some faster flat running. Opt to leave out 2 x 20 pointers that would require quite a deal of climbing and cutting back and in the end have to sprint to the finish, already running late with about 2 seconds to spare to avoid losing 20 points.
End up with 550 out of a maximum of 600 points which is above my par from last year. A couple of guys picked up the 600 in the required time and I probably would have been a little closer with slightly better route choice.
Run stats were
8.6km in 45:58 which gives an average pace 5:21, not too bad for what was a challenging hilly course. Average HR was 179, probably a bit too low....
Managed to pick up a blister again on my left heel, bugger.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)