Day 14
Back across the road for the recovery session, this morning I was joined by #1 on her bike. For the first 15 minutes she sped around the oval, then reality set in and she parked the bike for a rest and ran 1 lap, whinged for a couple of minutes and then followed me around as I completed the 30 minutes.
Very interesting, I am running these 30 minute sessions based upon HR (under 150) and without increasing the HR I am running further each time!
Avg HR today was 144
Week 2 Wrap up
Pretty happy with the way things are going, another week of running every day with a number of hard sessions supported by the recovery runs. The main concern is the ongoing tenderness of the achilles but it is not directly affecting my running.
Weekly Summary
72.8km (around the same as last week)
Average pace for the week 4:57
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
Lunch hour rush
Day 13
A terrible night last night with #2 and the wife at RNSH until 2 in the morning with a temperature (#2) that would not come down, but all seems ok now. So a bit of a sleep in this morning. Determined not to scrap a day of running I packed the kit with the goal of getting out during the day at work.
Close to 1pm I slipped out, the Garmin struggled big time to get a good lock and so was all over the place as I could not be bothered loitering around waiting for it to get it's act together. Headed across teh Harbour Bridge and then down by the Opera House to Lady Macquaries chair and up to the Art Gallery. Certainly Clairie winter is gone and I was sweating like, well a runner in a ninja suit :)
A hard push back up to the bridge dodging the tourists and then arriving back in North Sydney. Thankfully a bit of playing around in SportsTracks enabled me to get a decent gps track. I deliberately ran this in a tempo style and was really starting to feel it climbing back up the bridge and into North Sydney.
Icing the achilles tonight as it was not as happy about things as it was yesterday, ho hum!
Stats
Distance : 14.1km
Time 1:06:04
Avg Pace : 4:42
Avg HR 171
A terrible night last night with #2 and the wife at RNSH until 2 in the morning with a temperature (#2) that would not come down, but all seems ok now. So a bit of a sleep in this morning. Determined not to scrap a day of running I packed the kit with the goal of getting out during the day at work.
Close to 1pm I slipped out, the Garmin struggled big time to get a good lock and so was all over the place as I could not be bothered loitering around waiting for it to get it's act together. Headed across teh Harbour Bridge and then down by the Opera House to Lady Macquaries chair and up to the Art Gallery. Certainly Clairie winter is gone and I was sweating like, well a runner in a ninja suit :)
A hard push back up to the bridge dodging the tourists and then arriving back in North Sydney. Thankfully a bit of playing around in SportsTracks enabled me to get a decent gps track. I deliberately ran this in a tempo style and was really starting to feel it climbing back up the bridge and into North Sydney.
Icing the achilles tonight as it was not as happy about things as it was yesterday, ho hum!
Stats
Distance : 14.1km
Time 1:06:04
Avg Pace : 4:42
Avg HR 171
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Sekrit training
Day 12
Back into the ninja suit today for my secret 1km workout.
Noticed that the achilles was not as obvious up front this morning so hopefully a good sign that things are on the improve! Once I got down to the 8km mark on the Lane Cove 10km course I took off the polypro gloves as it seemed quite temperate, winter is slowly going!!
So the goal today was to step up to 6 1km efforts with the same 2 min walking recovery. Last week I achieved 4 reps at an average of 3:55.
3:57 Up
3:54 Down
3:56 Up
3:52 Down
3:53 Up
3:52 Down
Which gives 6 reps at an average of 3:54, quite chuffed with that! Trying to do reps like this by yourself I reckon is much harder than chasing people in a group so I'd still like to mix in some attendances at Timbrell when I can. Maybe a few more weeks......
The good thing is at the end I still have to run 3km back home for a nice warm down, it is funny how the warm down feels very slow but I looked at my average pace home and it was just over 5min/km!
As I got to the corner of Delhi and Plessey Rd my ninja cover was blown as MPH cruised by on his bike.
Back into the ninja suit today for my secret 1km workout.
Noticed that the achilles was not as obvious up front this morning so hopefully a good sign that things are on the improve! Once I got down to the 8km mark on the Lane Cove 10km course I took off the polypro gloves as it seemed quite temperate, winter is slowly going!!
So the goal today was to step up to 6 1km efforts with the same 2 min walking recovery. Last week I achieved 4 reps at an average of 3:55.
3:57 Up
3:54 Down
3:56 Up
3:52 Down
3:53 Up
3:52 Down
Which gives 6 reps at an average of 3:54, quite chuffed with that! Trying to do reps like this by yourself I reckon is much harder than chasing people in a group so I'd still like to mix in some attendances at Timbrell when I can. Maybe a few more weeks......
The good thing is at the end I still have to run 3km back home for a nice warm down, it is funny how the warm down feels very slow but I looked at my average pace home and it was just over 5min/km!
As I got to the corner of Delhi and Plessey Rd my ninja cover was blown as MPH cruised by on his bike.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Cruising
Day 11
Snuck into a convenient last minute cancellation for a session with Easy Tiger. He loosened up the achilles and associated calf quite a deal which is great!
This morning everything felt pretty good, I am running these recovery sessions by heart rate and certainly today everything seemed a bit smoother, the achilles was a lot better but still quite tender and will need a bit more focus before I am out of the woods.
Snuck into a convenient last minute cancellation for a session with Easy Tiger. He loosened up the achilles and associated calf quite a deal which is great!
This morning everything felt pretty good, I am running these recovery sessions by heart rate and certainly today everything seemed a bit smoother, the achilles was a lot better but still quite tender and will need a bit more focus before I am out of the woods.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Longer
Day 10
Up earlier (in the dark even!) with the aim of a longer session. Down through LCNP to the weir but then all the way to the top gate (Striders 10km turnaround) and then bacl through North Ryde. I was tempted to extend and go past Macquarie centre and the back along Quarry Rd but the legs felt a little toastish on the climb to the rangers hut. Added in the descent down to Pittwater Rd which gave a nice (read nasty) little climb to get home.
Body status check, lh achilles still complaining, legs in general a little fatigued and I've made a real mess of my rh little toe which seems to have a blood blister on top of a blood blister and looks very manky. But I'll adopt the mentality of the knight from Monty Python's Holy Grail.
Good pick up Jen, it was just over half an hour, not an hour of the vat run :)
Stats
Distance 15.1km
Time 1:16:14
Avg Pace 5:02
Avg HR 157
Up earlier (in the dark even!) with the aim of a longer session. Down through LCNP to the weir but then all the way to the top gate (Striders 10km turnaround) and then bacl through North Ryde. I was tempted to extend and go past Macquarie centre and the back along Quarry Rd but the legs felt a little toastish on the climb to the rangers hut. Added in the descent down to Pittwater Rd which gave a nice (read nasty) little climb to get home.
Body status check, lh achilles still complaining, legs in general a little fatigued and I've made a real mess of my rh little toe which seems to have a blood blister on top of a blood blister and looks very manky. But I'll adopt the mentality of the knight from Monty Python's Holy Grail.
Good pick up Jen, it was just over half an hour, not an hour of the vat run :)
Stats
Distance 15.1km
Time 1:16:14
Avg Pace 5:02
Avg HR 157
Monday, August 14, 2006
Recovery and reflection
Day 9
Spent [edit] half an hour circling the park opposite home listening to the iPod on shuffle. A little shuffling first up but after about 10 minutes the form opened up a little. The legs felt quite fresh with the only issue being the recalcitrant achilles.
So I'm inclined to agree with a couple of comments, imagine what I could do if I was a little consistent..... I'll certainly be striving to see for myself as I head through the next 7 months (six foot 2007!) but will have a series of checkpoints along the way for reassurance and realisation. Again I'm refraining from publicly stating immediate goals other than to get consistent, I've done too much tilting at windmills underdone.
Spent [edit] half an hour circling the park opposite home listening to the iPod on shuffle. A little shuffling first up but after about 10 minutes the form opened up a little. The legs felt quite fresh with the only issue being the recalcitrant achilles.
So I'm inclined to agree with a couple of comments, imagine what I could do if I was a little consistent..... I'll certainly be striving to see for myself as I head through the next 7 months (six foot 2007!) but will have a series of checkpoints along the way for reassurance and realisation. Again I'm refraining from publicly stating immediate goals other than to get consistent, I've done too much tilting at windmills underdone.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
City to Surf
Day 8...
Got into the city around 7:30, dropped the bag off and headed to the line, finding a good group of Striders and Cool Runners already there. A good deal of chatter etc, especially with Blue Dog after knocking off 12ft track yesterday. With about an hour to go Minersrun and I opted to go and use the facilities. The lines were long and indeterminable and while persisting for a while I realised that the rate that the line was moving meant I would not get back to the start so I dashed off and joined a MUCH shorter line for the facilities in Muesem station. Got back to the line just in time, phew!
The start was pretty non eventful and I was in clear running by the tunnel. I then proceeded to stalk a few fellow Striders, including FPT, Langswd, Suzanne K and Running Wolf aka Spiderman. I was pretty happy with my pace and slipped past FPT at the Rose Bay drink station. Headed up HBH I also eclipsed Spiderman and near the top Overthehill went past with some encouragement. I kept him and Langswd in sight for about 4km where Hamburgler caught me and asked if I thought we could still make 60 min. I said that we'd need to run 3 sub 4min/km in a row to do so and was probably beyond me but I told him to go for it, in the end he missed by a handful of seconds.
As we ran down the hill to Campbell Parade, past the cheer squad sans pom poms, I was valiently trying to catch Ingrid G who had also floated about 10 metres in front of me for the last couple of km, but alas the legs would just not move any faster.
At the finish I kept sprinting past the line through to an empty line and got a timing card of 60:44, my hand timed time was 60:55. Either way I am pretty happy given the recent training regime (or lack of)!
The achilles was in the background the whole run and the associated calf muscle was doing some nice spasms at various points which I hoped would not ensue in anything more and which didn't thankfully.
I then joined a heap of Striders and Cool Runners on the grassy knoll watching others finish and comparing war stories, after a while we then adjourned to the pub for some more serious rehyrdation to cap off a great day.
Got into the city around 7:30, dropped the bag off and headed to the line, finding a good group of Striders and Cool Runners already there. A good deal of chatter etc, especially with Blue Dog after knocking off 12ft track yesterday. With about an hour to go Minersrun and I opted to go and use the facilities. The lines were long and indeterminable and while persisting for a while I realised that the rate that the line was moving meant I would not get back to the start so I dashed off and joined a MUCH shorter line for the facilities in Muesem station. Got back to the line just in time, phew!
The start was pretty non eventful and I was in clear running by the tunnel. I then proceeded to stalk a few fellow Striders, including FPT, Langswd, Suzanne K and Running Wolf aka Spiderman. I was pretty happy with my pace and slipped past FPT at the Rose Bay drink station. Headed up HBH I also eclipsed Spiderman and near the top Overthehill went past with some encouragement. I kept him and Langswd in sight for about 4km where Hamburgler caught me and asked if I thought we could still make 60 min. I said that we'd need to run 3 sub 4min/km in a row to do so and was probably beyond me but I told him to go for it, in the end he missed by a handful of seconds.
As we ran down the hill to Campbell Parade, past the cheer squad sans pom poms, I was valiently trying to catch Ingrid G who had also floated about 10 metres in front of me for the last couple of km, but alas the legs would just not move any faster.
At the finish I kept sprinting past the line through to an empty line and got a timing card of 60:44, my hand timed time was 60:55. Either way I am pretty happy given the recent training regime (or lack of)!
The achilles was in the background the whole run and the associated calf muscle was doing some nice spasms at various points which I hoped would not ensue in anything more and which didn't thankfully.
I then joined a heap of Striders and Cool Runners on the grassy knoll watching others finish and comparing war stories, after a while we then adjourned to the pub for some more serious rehyrdation to cap off a great day.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Recovery - Day 7 - Week 1 wrap up
Another gentle amble on the grass just to turn the legs over. As there was junior soccer on at my usual oval I ran down to Magdala Park which sits on the GNW. Given my later departure it was a little warmer. Certainly prefer the usual oval as it was an uphill run back home which raised the HR a little and slowed the pace. Just over 30 minutes with an average HR of 151.
Week 1 wrap up
Ran every day of the week, unusual for me in past training. In just doing this without excessive distances I clocked up around 72km, which is the longest week I have done since late January!! So folks the 10% rule has more than gone out the window, kids this man is a trained professional (idiot!) do not attempt this at home.....
City to Surf tomorrow is just going to be a hard hit out, whatever time pops out so be it. The real goal is to keep consistent in my running and then we will see what happens.
Week 1 wrap up
Ran every day of the week, unusual for me in past training. In just doing this without excessive distances I clocked up around 72km, which is the longest week I have done since late January!! So folks the 10% rule has more than gone out the window, kids this man is a trained professional (idiot!) do not attempt this at home.....
City to Surf tomorrow is just going to be a hard hit out, whatever time pops out so be it. The real goal is to keep consistent in my running and then we will see what happens.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Day 6 - Long?
Noticeably cooler this morning and I headed down for the stock standard Lane Cove Weir Run. Usually this is a tempo style run but given what I have done this week I treated this as a long run. The legs just started to fade a little on the way home. The park was pretty empty on the way in but coming back there were quite a few runners around including CR Barney!
A recovery run is on the schedule for tomorrow which we shall call my official taper for the City to Surf.
Stats
Distance 10.85km
Time 55:11
Avg pace 5:05
Avg HR 162
A recovery run is on the schedule for tomorrow which we shall call my official taper for the City to Surf.
Stats
Distance 10.85km
Time 55:11
Avg pace 5:05
Avg HR 162
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Day 5 - 1km reps
Lobbed back into beautiful Sydney last night after a long day of meetings and presentations. Accordingly I opted not to head to Timbrell with the masses at 6am but instead cruised down to Lane Cove National Park to do my own sekrit training.
A good 3km warmup on the way and the plan was for 4 x 1km reps between the 8km and 7km markers for the Striders 10km course, this being the "flatest" 1km section by my reckoning.
Banged out the reps as follows
3:58 (slight uphill from 8 to 7)
3:50 (yep felt like a bit more down)
3:58
3:54
Pretty happy that I could knock out 4 sub 4 min km right now, these were done with 2 min walking recovery.
Cruised back home, with Ellie's mention of menacing kookaburra's reminding me that it must be very close to magpie season and there is one particularly tenacious bugger that I sometimes encouter on this run.
Thanks for the tip on Easy Tiger Lulu, he was in fact my secret weapon to try and sort out the tender achilles but it seems the whole world has discovered him now and you need to plan your injuries in advance to see him :). So I adopted plan B which was the witch doctor and he diagnosed some very tight spots in the LH calf. Half a dozen needles later, plus an injection, hopefully some of Floyds unused testosterone he reckons I'm back on track!
A good 3km warmup on the way and the plan was for 4 x 1km reps between the 8km and 7km markers for the Striders 10km course, this being the "flatest" 1km section by my reckoning.
Banged out the reps as follows
3:58 (slight uphill from 8 to 7)
3:50 (yep felt like a bit more down)
3:58
3:54
Pretty happy that I could knock out 4 sub 4 min km right now, these were done with 2 min walking recovery.
Cruised back home, with Ellie's mention of menacing kookaburra's reminding me that it must be very close to magpie season and there is one particularly tenacious bugger that I sometimes encouter on this run.
Thanks for the tip on Easy Tiger Lulu, he was in fact my secret weapon to try and sort out the tender achilles but it seems the whole world has discovered him now and you need to plan your injuries in advance to see him :). So I adopted plan B which was the witch doctor and he diagnosed some very tight spots in the LH calf. Half a dozen needles later, plus an injection, hopefully some of Floyds unused testosterone he reckons I'm back on track!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Day 4
Back to the recovery regime and a run along the Yarra to the flat bit of The Tan. Running on the grass as much as possible and at one point I was headed towards 2 ducks. Normally in Lane Cove the ducks, err duck for cover as I get nearer but these 2 held their ground and one actually took the agressive position and so I put in a small detour.
Liking Don Juan's idea of extra testosterone, in the style of Floyd, I was on the lookout for any Balco reps on my run but alas not today. I'll just have to hope the slabs of hot pepperoni on my pizza provide a similar lift.
Stats
Time spent 30 minutes, average HR at 149, just below my self imposed recovery limit!
And as we know distance and pace do not count here!
Liking Don Juan's idea of extra testosterone, in the style of Floyd, I was on the lookout for any Balco reps on my run but alas not today. I'll just have to hope the slabs of hot pepperoni on my pizza provide a similar lift.
Stats
Time spent 30 minutes, average HR at 149, just below my self imposed recovery limit!
And as we know distance and pace do not count here!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Day 3 - Tan Tempo
An early appointment with the flying kangaroo to shuttle to mexico so no running in the morning. I was aiming to go and have a hit out with the Gunn Runners but my last meeting dragged on and then the freeway was chocka so I opted to head out for a couple of laps around The Tan at "tempo"! The LH achilles is certainly a little unhappy but I can fix that when I get back to Sydney.
Pretty happy with the way the legs and lungs handled it.
Stats
Distance 9.4km
Time 43:36
Avg pace 4:39
Avg HR 174
Lurking Professor asked about my goals for the Sydney Running Festival, well it will depend upon the next 3 weeks, rest assured unless I have badly broken myself by then I'll be running the half at a minimum ;-)
Pretty happy with the way the legs and lungs handled it.
Stats
Distance 9.4km
Time 43:36
Avg pace 4:39
Avg HR 174
Lurking Professor asked about my goals for the Sydney Running Festival, well it will depend upon the next 3 weeks, rest assured unless I have badly broken myself by then I'll be running the half at a minimum ;-)
Monday, August 07, 2006
Day 2...
Opted for the patented vat style run around the oval. Legs felt very heavy and LH achilles is a little tender. Anyway it is done.
For the record I climbed on the scales and I've achieved 79.1kg so quite a deal of upside on that!
Stats
Time 30 minutes distance and pace are irrelevent ;)
For the record I climbed on the scales and I've achieved 79.1kg so quite a deal of upside on that!
Stats
Time 30 minutes distance and pace are irrelevent ;)
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Day 1
A wee mental battle to shrug off the doona at 5am and head out the door to head down to today's STaR, starting between Rockdale and Botany Bay. Off we trundled at 6:10am with again everyone being very well behaved pace wise. Had a good chin wag with Horrie as we cruised along, he is on fire with PB's going left right and centre in his build up for Glasshouse.
As the 6:20 group caught us through Taren Point our pace also lifted slightly and by the time we got to Port Hacking Rd I opted for shortcut "c", joining Horrie and avoiding the hills on the back section on the route.
By the time we got to Tom Ugly's bridge I was just starting to fade and at Carrs Park I popped a gel for the run home. It did not seem to make a lot of difference as the legs really started to complain. Horrie had already sensed this, picking up my breathing pattern changing. By the time we got to Ramsgate things had got ugly and it was grind time to get home. Horrie insisted on staying with even though it felt we were now moving a tad slower than your average tortise. Finally got back to the start and I had completely depleted all the legs had to offer. Spent a bit of time chatting with one and all as the various groups drifted in. Popped the skins on when I got home and slowly perked up and as I type this, while still a little tender have actually recovered quite nicely.
Thanks to Horrie for sticking with me despite his own prep for 12 foot and Glasshouse probably warranting a harder workout at the end.
Stats
Distance 25.5km
Time 2:21:30
Avg pace 5:32
Avg HR 166
So the first step to get back on track, it can't get much more painful and ugly than today (I hope!).
As the 6:20 group caught us through Taren Point our pace also lifted slightly and by the time we got to Port Hacking Rd I opted for shortcut "c", joining Horrie and avoiding the hills on the back section on the route.
By the time we got to Tom Ugly's bridge I was just starting to fade and at Carrs Park I popped a gel for the run home. It did not seem to make a lot of difference as the legs really started to complain. Horrie had already sensed this, picking up my breathing pattern changing. By the time we got to Ramsgate things had got ugly and it was grind time to get home. Horrie insisted on staying with even though it felt we were now moving a tad slower than your average tortise. Finally got back to the start and I had completely depleted all the legs had to offer. Spent a bit of time chatting with one and all as the various groups drifted in. Popped the skins on when I got home and slowly perked up and as I type this, while still a little tender have actually recovered quite nicely.
Thanks to Horrie for sticking with me despite his own prep for 12 foot and Glasshouse probably warranting a harder workout at the end.
Stats
Distance 25.5km
Time 2:21:30
Avg pace 5:32
Avg HR 166
So the first step to get back on track, it can't get much more painful and ugly than today (I hope!).
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Goodbye July - You won't be missed!
Up for a much better breather this time and yes I am still alive.
What a shocker of a month. The first couple of weeks already blogged about and I headed down to Sutherland for the mostly downhill dash to Wanda with not a lot of running in the legs. Parked the car at Miranda to ensure a bit of a warm up and ran into Nando on the way to the start. The start was quite promising belting out 3km in 11:16 and 5km in 19:47, from here however the wheels slowly fell off and the pace followed. A procession of Striders and CR then proceeded to put me to the sword as I bumbled along the rest of the way, ending up with a time of 48:56, about 4 minutes slower than last year.
As penance I still ran back but it felt very ordinary, so total time of 1:54 for 22km.
From there no running for the rest of the month with yet another work trip, this time to Malaysia and Singapore with long working hours supplemented with "team building dinner and drinks etc". So in the end July was tragic with only 5 runs for a total of 96km!!! To add to that I have not even gone near the scales as the diet has also been pretty crappy.
So the plan for Sydney has imploded, to the point that I did not even feel enthused to run the Striders 10km in the pouring rain today, prefering to volunteer on marshaling etc.
Tomorrow needs to be the start of a new leaf and what better way to do so than the great Airport Adventure STaR!!!
I'll look to revamp the tables to the right to reflect reality and sift through the ashes to develop some sort of plan of action to fixate upon.
What a shocker of a month. The first couple of weeks already blogged about and I headed down to Sutherland for the mostly downhill dash to Wanda with not a lot of running in the legs. Parked the car at Miranda to ensure a bit of a warm up and ran into Nando on the way to the start. The start was quite promising belting out 3km in 11:16 and 5km in 19:47, from here however the wheels slowly fell off and the pace followed. A procession of Striders and CR then proceeded to put me to the sword as I bumbled along the rest of the way, ending up with a time of 48:56, about 4 minutes slower than last year.
As penance I still ran back but it felt very ordinary, so total time of 1:54 for 22km.
From there no running for the rest of the month with yet another work trip, this time to Malaysia and Singapore with long working hours supplemented with "team building dinner and drinks etc". So in the end July was tragic with only 5 runs for a total of 96km!!! To add to that I have not even gone near the scales as the diet has also been pretty crappy.
So the plan for Sydney has imploded, to the point that I did not even feel enthused to run the Striders 10km in the pouring rain today, prefering to volunteer on marshaling etc.
Tomorrow needs to be the start of a new leaf and what better way to do so than the great Airport Adventure STaR!!!
I'll look to revamp the tables to the right to reflect reality and sift through the ashes to develop some sort of plan of action to fixate upon.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Another gasp for air....
Thanks for the reminder Jen ;)
Another tale of woe this week....
More work, more hassles, less running, but hey I am still breathing so things aren't that bad!
No running at all since the 10 Bridges Star, I was aiming for the Short Course XC race at Bankstown on Saturday for a run. Pressed a little for time I opted to get to the event via the freeway route, ie Gore Hill, Harbour Tunnel, East Dist, M5 East and then M5. Of course everything came unstuck due to the semi that decided to break down in the M5 east and after 30 minutes examining the inticate detail of the M5 east tunnel construction I arrived about 2 minutes after the start. Decided to hang around and cheer people on but this turn of events just made a pretty crap week very complete.
Until Sunday that is....
Now I was going to run KOM as per previous post but given everything it was much more judicious to just pop around the corner for the star.
A good pep talk to the masses at 6am and then 6:10am about running together and we charged off into the mist. The words seemed to have an effect as everyone was very well behaved, oh the power :).
At about 15km all the groups seemed to catch each other at the same time and ours got a little disjointed which saw half of us chasing the other half. During the loop around Concord Golf Club I started to feel the pinch and I bade my CR running buddies, sfGnome, Johnny Dark and Professor a slow good bye as I then ground it out back home. In reality the run was not too bad but my lack of training, plus the late tdf nights plus, plus, plus took their toll.
Very heavy rain this morning was enough to ignore the alarm and tomorrow I'm on a day trip to Melbourne so more rest.
The challenge is to break this downward spiral which is becoming increasingly demotivating and not too much time to crack that given the looming runs coming up.
Sorry folks, nothing too exciting here and pretty small fry to what some other bloggers and CR's seem to be going through, I'll try and give myself a few uppercuts which might make a difference.
Another tale of woe this week....
More work, more hassles, less running, but hey I am still breathing so things aren't that bad!
No running at all since the 10 Bridges Star, I was aiming for the Short Course XC race at Bankstown on Saturday for a run. Pressed a little for time I opted to get to the event via the freeway route, ie Gore Hill, Harbour Tunnel, East Dist, M5 East and then M5. Of course everything came unstuck due to the semi that decided to break down in the M5 east and after 30 minutes examining the inticate detail of the M5 east tunnel construction I arrived about 2 minutes after the start. Decided to hang around and cheer people on but this turn of events just made a pretty crap week very complete.
Until Sunday that is....
Now I was going to run KOM as per previous post but given everything it was much more judicious to just pop around the corner for the star.
A good pep talk to the masses at 6am and then 6:10am about running together and we charged off into the mist. The words seemed to have an effect as everyone was very well behaved, oh the power :).
At about 15km all the groups seemed to catch each other at the same time and ours got a little disjointed which saw half of us chasing the other half. During the loop around Concord Golf Club I started to feel the pinch and I bade my CR running buddies, sfGnome, Johnny Dark and Professor a slow good bye as I then ground it out back home. In reality the run was not too bad but my lack of training, plus the late tdf nights plus, plus, plus took their toll.
Very heavy rain this morning was enough to ignore the alarm and tomorrow I'm on a day trip to Melbourne so more rest.
The challenge is to break this downward spiral which is becoming increasingly demotivating and not too much time to crack that given the looming runs coming up.
Sorry folks, nothing too exciting here and pretty small fry to what some other bloggers and CR's seem to be going through, I'll try and give myself a few uppercuts which might make a difference.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Up periscope
Yes blog readers, the absolute deluge of work has seen me well below the surface and unable to come up for oxygen or a blog :(
Some catching up to do after the shambles....
Saturday 10km at Homebush, was in 2 minds to run or not with spasms still going on in my lower back/glute area after W2G. In the end I did run and headed out ok but could not stretch out fully. Was actually reasonably happy with my time after sitting about 30m behind Professor and Superflake for pretty much the whole race. Posted a time of 41:23.
Sunday I got up at 5am for the STaR but felt like rubbish and let the doona demon trap me. From there last week was a blur, a quick jaunt across to NZ for work and then a whole heap of deadlines meaning late nights (at least I could also watch the cycling!). Then on Friday part of the work stuff finished as we completed the merger/acquisition of a significant sized competitor! Through all of this no running, the spasms getting worse, despite a visit to the witch doctor.
By Saturday I was jack of it so I headed over to the West Met run at Rydalmere to have a break from the computer, get some fresh air and stretch the legs. A funny course with 3 hairpin turns on the 2km loop made it difficult to get into a rhythm. I ran ok for the first 4km but then faded quite badly, avg HR of 185 so I was working hard!!!
Sunday was the 10 bridges STaR, I resolved to get out and ignore the spasms in the hope that a long hard run might realign things. A good group but once again some likely suspects went crazy pace wise and I ended up doing some fartlek type sections chasing the front runners down to try and keep people together, something I am starting to get pissed off about (sorry Mum if you are reading!). Anyway just started to fade across Iron Cove bridge but kept grinding away home to post about 27km in a round 5:25 min/km avg pace. The good news is that the run did just as intended and the spasms are gone, happy days!!!!
Also of interest was the results of the CT scan which showed that my legs are of equal length so now we know once and for all that everything is around my hip/pelvis alignment and that means it can be focussed on without worrying about inserts etc.
Will probably run the Shoalhaven KOM on Sunday as a longer tempo style run to get some sort of base in for Sydney.
Heres hoping that I can resurface shortly.
Some catching up to do after the shambles....
Saturday 10km at Homebush, was in 2 minds to run or not with spasms still going on in my lower back/glute area after W2G. In the end I did run and headed out ok but could not stretch out fully. Was actually reasonably happy with my time after sitting about 30m behind Professor and Superflake for pretty much the whole race. Posted a time of 41:23.
Sunday I got up at 5am for the STaR but felt like rubbish and let the doona demon trap me. From there last week was a blur, a quick jaunt across to NZ for work and then a whole heap of deadlines meaning late nights (at least I could also watch the cycling!). Then on Friday part of the work stuff finished as we completed the merger/acquisition of a significant sized competitor! Through all of this no running, the spasms getting worse, despite a visit to the witch doctor.
By Saturday I was jack of it so I headed over to the West Met run at Rydalmere to have a break from the computer, get some fresh air and stretch the legs. A funny course with 3 hairpin turns on the 2km loop made it difficult to get into a rhythm. I ran ok for the first 4km but then faded quite badly, avg HR of 185 so I was working hard!!!
Sunday was the 10 bridges STaR, I resolved to get out and ignore the spasms in the hope that a long hard run might realign things. A good group but once again some likely suspects went crazy pace wise and I ended up doing some fartlek type sections chasing the front runners down to try and keep people together, something I am starting to get pissed off about (sorry Mum if you are reading!). Anyway just started to fade across Iron Cove bridge but kept grinding away home to post about 27km in a round 5:25 min/km avg pace. The good news is that the run did just as intended and the spasms are gone, happy days!!!!
Also of interest was the results of the CT scan which showed that my legs are of equal length so now we know once and for all that everything is around my hip/pelvis alignment and that means it can be focussed on without worrying about inserts etc.
Will probably run the Shoalhaven KOM on Sunday as a longer tempo style run to get some sort of base in for Sydney.
Heres hoping that I can resurface shortly.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Shambles!!!
Warning, this is not a post about running..... (mostly a vent today, click on if you want running!)
Thursday morning after my run I dropped my car off at the dealership to get serviced. At the last service they said I had about 5000km left on my brake pads and so being the good camper that I am as the 5000 (well actually 6000!) clocked over I booked in. While there they suggested they also do the 40,000km service as it was about the right timing as well. Thinking this was a good idea I agreed.
Much later that afternoon the dealership rang with the usual, well we think you need to replace blah and blah and blah etc. I asked them what they did and quizzed them when there was no mention of the brake pads, "oh no, plenty of wear left on them, probably another 10,000km"!!! After a terse discussion about why the car was there I got back to work and then bussed it up to pick the car up.
I again expressed my disappointment that the only reason the car was booked in was to replace the pads, as they had told me it would need, felt and indicated that I had been had a little. Anyway not much joy to be had and so I hopped in the car to head home. Their service centre has a pretty tight car park and so I was carefully looking over my shoulder to keep an eye on the cars behind, of course if was actually looking in the rear view mirror I would have seen the bloody big pole that I backed straight into :( :(
After much muttering to myself and checking the damage, yep nice ding in the plastic bumper, I drove home muttering all the way.
Now to this morning, it has been 2 years (maybe more) since I had a general check up with the doctor and so about time for another. He was actually pretty impressed, I have lost 11kg since the last check up and had much better blood pressure and resting HR. Anticipating his need for me to have blood test for cholesterol etc I fasted and so trooped upstairs to the pathology unit. The guy here seemed a little cautious and after checking my right arm felt that my veins were a little hard to locate so got me some water to drink (dehydrated?) and checked my left arm. He still seemed a little worried but felt he would get a good enough feed. In goes the needle and on goes the first vial, now I don't get blood taken that often, but he seemed to be stuffing around a lot. Normally I also tend not to watch but felt compelled to see what he was doing. The vial seemed to be filling very slowly and he was wiggling the needle around a bit. By the third vial all the wiggling of the needle he was doing was starting to hurt quite a bit. He asked me if I was ok and/or getting dizzy and I mentioned that all the wiggling of the needle was hurting and yes I was getting dizzy.
Next thing I know it felt like I was dreaming and all I could hear was "sorry, sorry" I had passed out! Now of course there was plenty of blood, mostly all over my arm and shirt sleeve. After a few minutes the diziness and sweating stopped, thank goodness I think he got enough in each vial. Thats enough to make me want to avoid blood tests etc for a while. Told the wife about it, blood tests are a snack for her as she has to get one every couple of weeks and so she thought it hilarious that I had passed out from a blood test.....
Anyway also managed to get into a radiology for a CT scan to once and for all determine if I have equal leg length. That way we can adjust my new inserts if there is a difference and work on the core/pelvis area independently.
Lastly work has been flat out as well and while no Doocing is allowed lets just say there have been a few challenges this week...
10km tomorrow, a fresh six months to obsess about and only 11 weeks until the marathon, there you go, eventually back to running.
Thursday morning after my run I dropped my car off at the dealership to get serviced. At the last service they said I had about 5000km left on my brake pads and so being the good camper that I am as the 5000 (well actually 6000!) clocked over I booked in. While there they suggested they also do the 40,000km service as it was about the right timing as well. Thinking this was a good idea I agreed.
Much later that afternoon the dealership rang with the usual, well we think you need to replace blah and blah and blah etc. I asked them what they did and quizzed them when there was no mention of the brake pads, "oh no, plenty of wear left on them, probably another 10,000km"!!! After a terse discussion about why the car was there I got back to work and then bussed it up to pick the car up.
I again expressed my disappointment that the only reason the car was booked in was to replace the pads, as they had told me it would need, felt and indicated that I had been had a little. Anyway not much joy to be had and so I hopped in the car to head home. Their service centre has a pretty tight car park and so I was carefully looking over my shoulder to keep an eye on the cars behind, of course if was actually looking in the rear view mirror I would have seen the bloody big pole that I backed straight into :( :(
After much muttering to myself and checking the damage, yep nice ding in the plastic bumper, I drove home muttering all the way.
Now to this morning, it has been 2 years (maybe more) since I had a general check up with the doctor and so about time for another. He was actually pretty impressed, I have lost 11kg since the last check up and had much better blood pressure and resting HR. Anticipating his need for me to have blood test for cholesterol etc I fasted and so trooped upstairs to the pathology unit. The guy here seemed a little cautious and after checking my right arm felt that my veins were a little hard to locate so got me some water to drink (dehydrated?) and checked my left arm. He still seemed a little worried but felt he would get a good enough feed. In goes the needle and on goes the first vial, now I don't get blood taken that often, but he seemed to be stuffing around a lot. Normally I also tend not to watch but felt compelled to see what he was doing. The vial seemed to be filling very slowly and he was wiggling the needle around a bit. By the third vial all the wiggling of the needle he was doing was starting to hurt quite a bit. He asked me if I was ok and/or getting dizzy and I mentioned that all the wiggling of the needle was hurting and yes I was getting dizzy.
Next thing I know it felt like I was dreaming and all I could hear was "sorry, sorry" I had passed out! Now of course there was plenty of blood, mostly all over my arm and shirt sleeve. After a few minutes the diziness and sweating stopped, thank goodness I think he got enough in each vial. Thats enough to make me want to avoid blood tests etc for a while. Told the wife about it, blood tests are a snack for her as she has to get one every couple of weeks and so she thought it hilarious that I had passed out from a blood test.....
Anyway also managed to get into a radiology for a CT scan to once and for all determine if I have equal leg length. That way we can adjust my new inserts if there is a difference and work on the core/pelvis area independently.
Lastly work has been flat out as well and while no Doocing is allowed lets just say there have been a few challenges this week...
10km tomorrow, a fresh six months to obsess about and only 11 weeks until the marathon, there you go, eventually back to running.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Trash!
Yep, despite Monday and Tuesday off and a gentle run yesterday the glutes are still tender today. I opted for the stock standard weir run today and see how things went.
As the title says the legs still felt trashy, could not really stretch out. Regardless and despite the cooler conditions I feel better for the run now, especially after a good stretching session when I got home. No doubt about it, not a lot of people down in Lane Cove National Park in the middle of winter and early in the morning!
Stats
Distance 11km
Time 57 mimutes
Avg pace 5:12 (oh so slow compared to my tempo runs through here)
Avg HR 153 (yep pretty much legs holding up the pace)
Not sure how this forbodes for the 10km at Homebush, will see how the recovery tomorrow feels.
As the title says the legs still felt trashy, could not really stretch out. Regardless and despite the cooler conditions I feel better for the run now, especially after a good stretching session when I got home. No doubt about it, not a lot of people down in Lane Cove National Park in the middle of winter and early in the morning!
Stats
Distance 11km
Time 57 mimutes
Avg pace 5:12 (oh so slow compared to my tempo runs through here)
Avg HR 153 (yep pretty much legs holding up the pace)
Not sure how this forbodes for the 10km at Homebush, will see how the recovery tomorrow feels.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Recovery?
Not a lot done since Sunday, Monday was toast and then I Socceroo'd on Monday night and Tuesday Morning which left me in no mood to get up early to go for a run.
However up this morning and out, I shuffled the schedule around a little believing that the body would not be up for a good hill rep set yet I opted to use today as my recovery and try and get things moving again in prep for Saturday.
In the tradition of vat man I then ran around the oval just opposite my place for just over 30 minutes. The decision not to do hills was wise as the hammies/glutes/lower back are still sorting themselves out after Sunday.
Stats
Distance 5.5km
Time 33:17
Avg pace 5:59
Avg HR 140 (yes it was the legs!)
Feeling better for it now amd will aim for a longer run but not high intensity tomorrow with another recovery on Friday before hopefully a fast 10km on Saturday.
On another topic with the Tour de France looming (starts this saturday night!) I am again organising a dream team competition, might be of interest to any bloggers reading this (does anyone?) who don't read Cool Running regularly. All the details are on my "other" site here.
However up this morning and out, I shuffled the schedule around a little believing that the body would not be up for a good hill rep set yet I opted to use today as my recovery and try and get things moving again in prep for Saturday.
In the tradition of vat man I then ran around the oval just opposite my place for just over 30 minutes. The decision not to do hills was wise as the hammies/glutes/lower back are still sorting themselves out after Sunday.
Stats
Distance 5.5km
Time 33:17
Avg pace 5:59
Avg HR 140 (yes it was the legs!)
Feeling better for it now amd will aim for a longer run but not high intensity tomorrow with another recovery on Friday before hopefully a fast 10km on Saturday.
On another topic with the Tour de France looming (starts this saturday night!) I am again organising a dream team competition, might be of interest to any bloggers reading this (does anyone?) who don't read Cool Running regularly. All the details are on my "other" site here.
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