After the wet of Sunday I hopped on a plane on Monday to do another SE Asia jaunt.
On Tuesday I visited the shopping centre below our Singapore office, it is a theme shopping centre, focussed on sporting goods. So there are a number of great shops in there, including a running specialty shop. I made one purchase, knowing in advance that running up here would be hot and humid, they had quite a good range of the Nathan products in stock so I meight be back...
On Tuesday night I noticed my throat was a little scratchy, probably due to the sub zero air conditioning temp that Singapore Airlines had for the flight to Bangkok.
Wednesday morning in Bangkok I got up and despite the niggly throat headed out for a run. The hotel had provided a jogging map inside the room and I was pleased to see there was a running circuit just around the corner which is just under 2km and around a man made lake complex. I decided to head out on a tempo run, of some concern was the fact that in my warm up run to get there I was already sweating profusely. Anyway after 2 laps I was struggling to hold the pace, I held up to get to 5km, averaging 4:30 pace but my HR was hovering around 190bpm as I finished. After a break I then did a recovery run back to the hotel. It took me ages to cool down, even after a cold shower I was still sweating an hour later, not a good sign!!
Anyway the rest of the day went downhill, the throat got worse, I kept on going on my schedule and by Thursday night I felt like absolute crap. At one point I was unsure if I would even get on the plane home, but with a few drugs I did so, thankfully. Saturday I was even worse, and to think I had contemplated running PMC, it was enough of a drain to shuffle from the bedroom to the loungeroom! I did think of those hardy souls out in the rain.
Today was not much better, with a big case of night sweats, so I tripped off to the doctor as my wife was now convinced that I had bird flu or SARS! A very quick examination (bulk bill) and the doctor disgnosed a bad case of the flu/cold with bronchitis so I am on antibiotics to try and clear the respritory system.
Anyway that ends a pretty crap week, with me feeling like crap. Here's hoping the drugs kick in!!!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Splish Splash
Thursday - scheduled day off with a 6am flight to Melbourne, complicated by the absolute crap Jetstar service on the way home, my booked 5:30pm to arrive in Sydney at 6:50 eventually saw me actually land at 10:55, just inside the curfew.
Friday - Absolutely knackered after yesterday's effort (non running unfortunately) and also had it bucketing down outside.
Saturday - The downpour continued and while I was planning on West Met when it was time to get ready it was serious Noah style weather and I wimped out.
Sunday - Despite looming rain (again) it was off to the Willoughby Winder. For a twist we ran it in reverse which caused no end of confusion as those at the front of the pack tried to read maps in the dark in reverse order :). The rain was somewhat light or steady until we ran around the back of Northbridge when it bucketed down. We had a decent group together but at around 20km had to improvise a little to avoid the bush trails which would have been seriously waterlogged. Just snuck in under 30km
Was very pleased to hold the pace on the push home, the last few Sundays are already showing!
Friday - Absolutely knackered after yesterday's effort (non running unfortunately) and also had it bucketing down outside.
Saturday - The downpour continued and while I was planning on West Met when it was time to get ready it was serious Noah style weather and I wimped out.
Sunday - Despite looming rain (again) it was off to the Willoughby Winder. For a twist we ran it in reverse which caused no end of confusion as those at the front of the pack tried to read maps in the dark in reverse order :). The rain was somewhat light or steady until we ran around the back of Northbridge when it bucketed down. We had a decent group together but at around 20km had to improvise a little to avoid the bush trails which would have been seriously waterlogged. Just snuck in under 30km
Was very pleased to hold the pace on the push home, the last few Sundays are already showing!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Spotted Spud
No I am not talking about something festering away at the bottom of the vegetable drawer!
A "long" day today and I opted for my C2S route, on the way down to the weir near the boathouse I saw Spud and a mate and then as I made my way up towards the rangers hut, there they were again, just near Scribbly's. Then as an extra spotting I saw Strider Greg D out near the 7km marker.
The legs were a little dusty after yesterday but the goal was not to run at tempo pace, more a fast long run pace.
Mission accomplished as I got home running the just over 14km in 1:10 for 4:54 avg pace.
Just noticed on 26miles' blog that there is only 16 weeks until Sydney, might be a good focus point???
A "long" day today and I opted for my C2S route, on the way down to the weir near the boathouse I saw Spud and a mate and then as I made my way up towards the rangers hut, there they were again, just near Scribbly's. Then as an extra spotting I saw Strider Greg D out near the 7km marker.
The legs were a little dusty after yesterday but the goal was not to run at tempo pace, more a fast long run pace.
Mission accomplished as I got home running the just over 14km in 1:10 for 4:54 avg pace.
Just noticed on 26miles' blog that there is only 16 weeks until Sydney, might be a good focus point???
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Make haste!
A bit of a break between 1km rep sessions again but back down to LCNP to check the benchmark after not a lot of running in the last month.
Reps were
3:54
3:54
3:58
3:45!
3:56 (a liitle lactic after the previous rep)
3:51
So gives me an average of around 3:53 with 1:31 standing recovery. Not bad given I ran only 120km in all of May!
Saw fellow CR Barney and Rock Doctor out as well as I rolled through the reps.
Reps were
3:54
3:54
3:58
3:45!
3:56 (a liitle lactic after the previous rep)
3:51
So gives me an average of around 3:53 with 1:31 standing recovery. Not bad given I ran only 120km in all of May!
Saw fellow CR Barney and Rock Doctor out as well as I rolled through the reps.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Step by step
After the Bobbin Head run I went out on Tuesday for a steady paced run to the weir and back, the legs certainly had a bit of recovery to go from the first longer run for a while. The rest of the week flew, more work stuff and also general slackness!
Saturday I opted not to run 10km at Lane Cove, opting instead for the XC relays at Miranda. I got appointed the lead runner gig which is a little daunting lining up with all of the guns! I focussed on keeping a little in reserve for the second lap, given the climb involved but was surprised to see my relative place in the field against some benchmark runners. The garmin had somehow had no charge so I was running sans technology and thus no idea as to how fast I was or wasn't going! Crossed the line and tagged Ron and promptly forgot to check the time on the clock but from talking to the guys around me it was roughly 15:5X for the 4km which I was actually pretty chuffed with given the number of turns and climbs that broke up any steady pace!
Sunday was a toss up between the 10 Bridges STaR or the NOSH and the better DTI ranking on the STaR won the day. I enjoyed this run as I started with the 6am group who were very well behaved today, apparently the President was running with them! After the last shortcut things heated up a little and I stayed with the leaders for a while before opting to ease up a little. Saw Silver Fox out on some fast bay running and had a quick chat. On the way home I caught up with Todd, apparently a lurjing CR and blog reader who was struggling a little. I ran home with Todd and EJ, happy just to knock out another 30km on the legs.
ps - Just found out that my official time for Saturday was 15:49 :)
Saturday I opted not to run 10km at Lane Cove, opting instead for the XC relays at Miranda. I got appointed the lead runner gig which is a little daunting lining up with all of the guns! I focussed on keeping a little in reserve for the second lap, given the climb involved but was surprised to see my relative place in the field against some benchmark runners. The garmin had somehow had no charge so I was running sans technology and thus no idea as to how fast I was or wasn't going! Crossed the line and tagged Ron and promptly forgot to check the time on the clock but from talking to the guys around me it was roughly 15:5X for the 4km which I was actually pretty chuffed with given the number of turns and climbs that broke up any steady pace!
Sunday was a toss up between the 10 Bridges STaR or the NOSH and the better DTI ranking on the STaR won the day. I enjoyed this run as I started with the 6am group who were very well behaved today, apparently the President was running with them! After the last shortcut things heated up a little and I stayed with the leaders for a while before opting to ease up a little. Saw Silver Fox out on some fast bay running and had a quick chat. On the way home I caught up with Todd, apparently a lurjing CR and blog reader who was struggling a little. I ran home with Todd and EJ, happy just to knock out another 30km on the legs.
ps - Just found out that my official time for Saturday was 15:49 :)
Monday, May 28, 2007
Back to basics
Thanks for the comments on the last post! I do seem to have this natural ability to maybe bite off a little more than I can chew in one sitting :) That combined with my other habit of "all or nothing" does make life interesting. I like the saying that Plu has, ie "the mind writing cheques that the body cannot cash". That is a pretty good summary of my running, sometimes I do have enough training in the bank but even if I don't I'll still have a crack :)
Anyway, immediate running goal #1 was to get some endurance in the legs and so I lobbed up for the 6am Bobbin Head Revisited STaR on Sunday. Felt pretty good rolling along with the group but as we neared North Turramurra I had quite an urgent need and so dashed ahead of the group at a water stop, just as the 6:10 group steamed through (way ahead of pace....) in search of a toilet. After making good use of a tree in the bush at the entrance to the Bobbin Head National Park it seemed I had been passed by not only the bulk of the 6am group but also the backmarkers of the 6:10 group. So from here it was sort of solo running as I went past Bandana, just about caught up to the 6:10 rear group at the top of Bobbin Head and then swapped around with another Strider and Bandana who caught up to us at a water stop while I was downing a gu.
Anyway mission accomplished with about 31km down in around 2:55, somewhat slower than my last excurion through here but an enjoyable run on a great day!
Anyway, immediate running goal #1 was to get some endurance in the legs and so I lobbed up for the 6am Bobbin Head Revisited STaR on Sunday. Felt pretty good rolling along with the group but as we neared North Turramurra I had quite an urgent need and so dashed ahead of the group at a water stop, just as the 6:10 group steamed through (way ahead of pace....) in search of a toilet. After making good use of a tree in the bush at the entrance to the Bobbin Head National Park it seemed I had been passed by not only the bulk of the 6am group but also the backmarkers of the 6:10 group. So from here it was sort of solo running as I went past Bandana, just about caught up to the 6:10 rear group at the top of Bobbin Head and then swapped around with another Strider and Bandana who caught up to us at a water stop while I was downing a gu.
Anyway mission accomplished with about 31km down in around 2:55, somewhat slower than my last excurion through here but an enjoyable run on a great day!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The week that wasn't
Ok quite a deal going/gone on since the last post, but I try to avoid the title "update" for my intermittent blogs!
After the West Met success I had decent intentions of a long run on Sunday, but given it was Mothers Day (and I was flying out in the afternoon!) I judged that the DTI was in much more need of focus than 30km in the legs....
A nice Mothers Day family lunch saw me then dropped off at the airport for a whirlwind few days. A few days in Singapore and then a quick stopover in Bangkok for some more meetings eventually saw me back in Sydney early Thursday morning, just before the fog closed the airport! I actually got home around 6am and was tempted to go for a head clearing run but instead slept for around 3 hours before going off for a 3 hour customer presentation.
So this then brings me to the SMH, I had subscribed to the whole 90 min bus thread on cool running and even though I knew I had no chance, I thought I'd go out and see what happens. Started a bit further back in teh field than normal but was running in the clear after about 30 seconds and slotted in just ahead of Eagle and Greg. The pace felt ok but as I hit each hill I could sense the effort and on the way back out of Lady Macquaries chair I slid off the back of the back of the bus. I held them in sight until Argyle hill where I slowed a bit further. At the finish line I judge that I was on around 92 minute pace however at each climb the legs complained more and more. At the drinks stop at Lady Macquaries chair I did a walk break and by now the heart rate was down from around 175 when I was doing the 4:15 pace to 145 at god knows what pace! There was absolutely nothing left in the legs and for sure it was no a good sight as I ground my way back to the finish.
Popped up to the Striders HQ and chatted for a while and then walked with Horrie towards the CR watering hole. We had a good chat and I fessed up that for me at the moment that I am finding running frustrating. This is really as a result of what else is going on in real life.
Work has become even busier, with more responsibility and probably more travel, a growing family is obviously number one focus and we are spinning into a whole lot of after school committments, my extra curricular activities such as the Striders stuff is always still there and at the moment, despite the best intentions running and especially training is coming last.
Hopefully I can get over this hump of extra work and Striders stuff (annual presentation night) but the biggest problem with my running has been the lack of long runs, it seems ages since I did a full 30km star and it is now dawning as to the way these runs have helped me in the past.
Anyway, such is life and I'll squeeze in what I can, when I can, I just need to enjoy what I can do rather than hoping to achieve what I might be able to do if I was training properly.
After the West Met success I had decent intentions of a long run on Sunday, but given it was Mothers Day (and I was flying out in the afternoon!) I judged that the DTI was in much more need of focus than 30km in the legs....
A nice Mothers Day family lunch saw me then dropped off at the airport for a whirlwind few days. A few days in Singapore and then a quick stopover in Bangkok for some more meetings eventually saw me back in Sydney early Thursday morning, just before the fog closed the airport! I actually got home around 6am and was tempted to go for a head clearing run but instead slept for around 3 hours before going off for a 3 hour customer presentation.
So this then brings me to the SMH, I had subscribed to the whole 90 min bus thread on cool running and even though I knew I had no chance, I thought I'd go out and see what happens. Started a bit further back in teh field than normal but was running in the clear after about 30 seconds and slotted in just ahead of Eagle and Greg. The pace felt ok but as I hit each hill I could sense the effort and on the way back out of Lady Macquaries chair I slid off the back of the back of the bus. I held them in sight until Argyle hill where I slowed a bit further. At the finish line I judge that I was on around 92 minute pace however at each climb the legs complained more and more. At the drinks stop at Lady Macquaries chair I did a walk break and by now the heart rate was down from around 175 when I was doing the 4:15 pace to 145 at god knows what pace! There was absolutely nothing left in the legs and for sure it was no a good sight as I ground my way back to the finish.
Popped up to the Striders HQ and chatted for a while and then walked with Horrie towards the CR watering hole. We had a good chat and I fessed up that for me at the moment that I am finding running frustrating. This is really as a result of what else is going on in real life.
Work has become even busier, with more responsibility and probably more travel, a growing family is obviously number one focus and we are spinning into a whole lot of after school committments, my extra curricular activities such as the Striders stuff is always still there and at the moment, despite the best intentions running and especially training is coming last.
Hopefully I can get over this hump of extra work and Striders stuff (annual presentation night) but the biggest problem with my running has been the lack of long runs, it seems ages since I did a full 30km star and it is now dawning as to the way these runs have helped me in the past.
Anyway, such is life and I'll squeeze in what I can, when I can, I just need to enjoy what I can do rather than hoping to achieve what I might be able to do if I was training properly.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Another step forward
Back to West Met today for a 10km rather than the usual 8km on offer. This was promised as a flat course and you's be hard pressed to get much flatter other than running 25 laps around a track!
Saw Kev and entourage at the start waiting for Dawn and also caught up with superflake, seagull and Rod from Striders, also seeing Graham and Geoff from Striders.
The usual casual send off and I quickly slotted into the goove lurking behind Graham and Richard, the goal to stay with them as long as possible! Better effort than the last West Met, this time I held on until around 6km and even then they only slowly pulled away. The only negative feature of this course was the headwind on the outward leg, which seemingly increased on our second lap!
Despite some attrition in pace I held up sort of ok, posting a 41:51 which is a 1:39 improvement over the Domain Striders race 5 weeks ago!
Splits were
1km 3:55 3:55 (a little hot!)
2km 4:01 7:56
3km 4:03 11:59
4km 4:02 16:01
5km 4:08 20:09
6km 4:10 24:19
7km 4:25 28:44 (headwind/fitness takes it's toll)
8km 4:24 33:08
9km 4:23 37:31 (looks like I'm in the slower groove)
10km 4:20 41:51
Garmin said 9.99km which is close enough for me :)
Superflake took advantage and posted a good PB, for me I'm still climbing slowly back.
Saw Kev and entourage at the start waiting for Dawn and also caught up with superflake, seagull and Rod from Striders, also seeing Graham and Geoff from Striders.
The usual casual send off and I quickly slotted into the goove lurking behind Graham and Richard, the goal to stay with them as long as possible! Better effort than the last West Met, this time I held on until around 6km and even then they only slowly pulled away. The only negative feature of this course was the headwind on the outward leg, which seemingly increased on our second lap!
Despite some attrition in pace I held up sort of ok, posting a 41:51 which is a 1:39 improvement over the Domain Striders race 5 weeks ago!
Splits were
1km 3:55 3:55 (a little hot!)
2km 4:01 7:56
3km 4:03 11:59
4km 4:02 16:01
5km 4:08 20:09
6km 4:10 24:19
7km 4:25 28:44 (headwind/fitness takes it's toll)
8km 4:24 33:08
9km 4:23 37:31 (looks like I'm in the slower groove)
10km 4:20 41:51
Garmin said 9.99km which is close enough for me :)
Superflake took advantage and posted a good PB, for me I'm still climbing slowly back.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Crazy Cox's
Back to the hill for more solo reps. For reference last session (2 weeks ago) the 10 reps averaged out at 1:37.4 with 1:50.2 recovery (the length is approx 300 metres).
So some improvement with posting 1:33.4 and 1:43.6 respectively. Really focussed on lifting the intensity in the last few reps and despite going pretty lactic managed to hold the splits and even pull in a 1:32 as the last rep.
Interestingly this is pretty close to a session back in September as I was building up back then, although the recovery reps are this time quite a bit faster.
Funny about 3/4 up the hill towards the end of my session there was a disabled lady in a wheelchair, probably waiting for a maxi-taxi who was quite amused with me grinding my way up and then gasping my way down :)
So some improvement with posting 1:33.4 and 1:43.6 respectively. Really focussed on lifting the intensity in the last few reps and despite going pretty lactic managed to hold the splits and even pull in a 1:32 as the last rep.
Interestingly this is pretty close to a session back in September as I was building up back then, although the recovery reps are this time quite a bit faster.
Funny about 3/4 up the hill towards the end of my session there was a disabled lady in a wheelchair, probably waiting for a maxi-taxi who was quite amused with me grinding my way up and then gasping my way down :)
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Tracking on
Friday - Out for the standard weir run at tempo pace, held it pretty well on the way down but coming back it was obvious that the 1km reps yesterday had taken some sting out of the legs. Still 10.9km in 51 minutes for averages of 4:42 min/km and 166 bpm
Saturday - Not able to race the 10km at North Head as I had the 2 youngest in tow as our eldest and my wife were at a band weekend. So I headed over to setup and operate the timing system, with my 2 new assistants. A superb morning for running and PB's tumbling all over the place, especially for a number of runners I have crossed swords with who nailed the somewhat holy grail of the midpack runner, the sub 40 minute 10km. Congrats to Horrie, Hamburgler, langswm and Professor!!! Hopefully if I can pull the finger out for the next few weeks I might have half a chance of getting close at Lane Cove in June.
Sunday - Finally the rest of the family returned from the band thingo and I slipped out for my patented C2S prep route for another tempo run. The legs felt fresh after a day off and I pounded the stretch down to the weir! From here it was a push to keep that pace going with the hilly back end of this run. Anyway I really gritted the teeth to try and keep it going. Fairly happy with the 14.25km in 1:05:23 which averages out at 4:35 min/km and 170 bpm, good evidence that I pushed hard.
Rest day tomorrow as work sees me bouncing down to Melbourne and back with one of our senior execs, then back into it on Tuesday.
Saturday - Not able to race the 10km at North Head as I had the 2 youngest in tow as our eldest and my wife were at a band weekend. So I headed over to setup and operate the timing system, with my 2 new assistants. A superb morning for running and PB's tumbling all over the place, especially for a number of runners I have crossed swords with who nailed the somewhat holy grail of the midpack runner, the sub 40 minute 10km. Congrats to Horrie, Hamburgler, langswm and Professor!!! Hopefully if I can pull the finger out for the next few weeks I might have half a chance of getting close at Lane Cove in June.
Sunday - Finally the rest of the family returned from the band thingo and I slipped out for my patented C2S prep route for another tempo run. The legs felt fresh after a day off and I pounded the stretch down to the weir! From here it was a push to keep that pace going with the hilly back end of this run. Anyway I really gritted the teeth to try and keep it going. Fairly happy with the 14.25km in 1:05:23 which averages out at 4:35 min/km and 170 bpm, good evidence that I pushed hard.
Rest day tomorrow as work sees me bouncing down to Melbourne and back with one of our senior execs, then back into it on Tuesday.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Slowly but surely
A few days rest to let the blisters settle down and also seek some advice on the lingering piriformis/hammie/sciatic issue I have been having without the analysis being complicated by fatigued muscles.
A bit of a struggle to get out of bed, but the thought of Horrie and Professor regularly knocking over PB's somehow had a strange influence on seeing me headed out the door :)
Back down to my favorite spot in LCNP for some serious 1km intervals and assess if there was any improvement since the last set a month ago (average of 6 @ 4:01 with 2:00 standing rest).
The first rep is always a challenge and I just slipped under 4:00. I decided to abbreviate the standing rest back to 90 seconds and really hammered out the 2nd rep, no doubt enthused by having to chase another runner who had run past while I was gasping for air/recovering. To my amazement I posted a 3:45!
The subsequent reps were pretty consistent and so the whole session looked like
3:59, 3:45, 3:53, 3:51, 3:54 and 3:53
This equated to an average of 3:52.5 with average recovery of 1:30.5 so a reasonable improvement, but more to come.....
A bit of a struggle to get out of bed, but the thought of Horrie and Professor regularly knocking over PB's somehow had a strange influence on seeing me headed out the door :)
Back down to my favorite spot in LCNP for some serious 1km intervals and assess if there was any improvement since the last set a month ago (average of 6 @ 4:01 with 2:00 standing rest).
The first rep is always a challenge and I just slipped under 4:00. I decided to abbreviate the standing rest back to 90 seconds and really hammered out the 2nd rep, no doubt enthused by having to chase another runner who had run past while I was gasping for air/recovering. To my amazement I posted a 3:45!
The subsequent reps were pretty consistent and so the whole session looked like
3:59, 3:45, 3:53, 3:51, 3:54 and 3:53
This equated to an average of 3:52.5 with average recovery of 1:30.5 so a reasonable improvement, but more to come.....
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Going loooong!
Race report for Turon 24 hour Rogaine.
Firstly for the uninitiated a Rogaine is a long distance orienteering style event. Teams are given a pre-printed map with around 50 controls marked, each control having a points value and description to help locate. Generally the descriptions are terms like "the gully" or "the spur". You then need to plan a rough route to achieve the highest points yield for time/distance, also taking into account locations of water drops etc etc.
Picked Mr G up at around 7am and we got to Turon, with steady rain falling around 9:30. We spent time (in retrospect too much) trying to pitch the tent only to realise there was a bag of pegs missing, so we used some large stones to hold down the main part of the tent, which was a contingency anyway as the plan was to stay out for 24 hours.
The time lost in messing around with the tent then saw us rushing to prepare, ie getting changed, sorting out what to pack into the backpacks and very importantly plan our route!
We joined the masses at the start point for a final briefing which was pretty impossible to hear and then we were off! We had decided to do a northerly sweep first and then down the west side of the map before doing a full loop across to the east and north back home.
Through the northerly sweep navigation was good and we moved along pretty well. Mr G and I fell into a pretty standard pattern of me mostly leading and especially on the steep up or down hills where I would try and pick the best route, if possible taking advantage of tracks made by various animals etc. If I hit a tougher section then I could double back and lookm for a better option while he caught up. Certainly I took advantage of my lighter weight on the uphills, to the point that Mr G postulated that Dave in Chinese means calves of steel :)
We arrived at the first water drop just after dark and topped up camelbaks etc and had a more serious bite to eat than the nibbles consumed so far. Two controls later we had a significant nav challenge as we found ourselves headed east along a fence when we were supposed to be going south! A little teeth gnashing and eventually we righted ourselves. As we headed to the next water drop we came across a competitor rugged up sitting by the side of the track. Seems he had twisted his ankle and his partner had headed up to the water drop to flag down the sag wagon.
It was still quite a hike, including another steep uphill, to the water drop, which was located at a house. As we arrived there were some other competitors there trying to get a fire going. One of these was the teammate of the guy with the ankle while the others had had enough and were waiting to get a lift out. This was around midnight and so a logical point to have some more substanial food and also change socks etc. We did 2 loops out of the water drop to some nearby controls and still no sag wagon as we eventually left them at around 2am headed east towards the all night cafe.
As we headed towards #48 we finally saw some lights headed towards us, the first time we saw other teams on the course since about 5pm. One of these teams were 2 females who asked us if we had seen #48. I replied that I believed it was still about a km ahead of us, ie they had seriously gone past it! They then just asked if there was a road to the water drop which we confirmed and they kept going, rather than follow us back.
Our major mistake of the night now occured, after we got #48 and headed to #92, which was always going to be tricky a spur off a spur, we located the first spur, on very steep terrain but obviously dropped too early looking for the next spur and spent some time on the very steep slope before opting to move on rather than try and locate. We then spent a large amount of time negotiating our way down the steep slope in the dark to the creek bed below. Previous creek beds we had used were very navigable but this one was a nightmare and we lost a lot of time working our way down to the next major waterway which also had a proper track on it.
From here we had to adjust our plans based upon the lost time and head directly towards the all night cafe rather than taking a much more points rewarding option. Along this track Mr G was noticeably slowing down and becoming less lucid. Eventually he requested that we stop for a quick snooze and so we simply sat down on the grass next to the track, took off the back packs and he went to sleep! I tried but could not sleep and started to get cold. After about 10 minutes I made a bit of noise and suggested that if we were going to stay any longer I'd need to get out my space blanket to stay warm! He felt better after the break and so we decided to get going, finally getting in to the all night cafe just after 6am, only to find most of the food gone and only options were apples, bananas and cake, which we wolfed down.
We resolved to do a fast march back north as quickly as possoble, spurning points options on immediate offer in order to be closer to the finish and pick up points as available without worrying about time constraints. Eventually we hit the more open grazing land which was easier to navigate on and dropped back down through another creek bed to get back to the river. Unfortunately through here the blisters on my feet started to worsen and in the end when we hit the river we had to abandon plans to go a bit further south to pick up a pretty easy 100 pointer on offer as it would be touch and go if we would get back in time. As it happens we got back with about 30 minutes up our sleeve, bypassing a few more controls on steep terrain as mutually between my feet and Mr G's legs on hills we would have struggled.
Overall I was very happy with how things went. The only limiting factor for me turned out to be the blisters and the legs felt if they could keep on going for quite a while. This is a very good confidence builder for some future plans, granted we did not run, but just to stay mobile for around 24 hours and still being able to move is a considerable lift over my last tilt at a 24 hour event. Mr G also noted that I seemed to have a reasonable endurance base to operate from. Navigation wise we did ok, really only 2 significant errors which together cost us 90 points, but also I would say over 2 hours, which in itself is a large points penalty!
I have mapped out our rough route on GMap, with a link here. According to GMap we did around 56km but that is point to point and does not take into account vertical climb, which there was a lot! So the quandry is do I include this in the training log, ie is/was it beneficial to my running? I am inclined to say yes....
Have had 2 days off to sort out the blisters, should be back running tomorrow. Cheers to Mr G for being a great partner with all sorts of interesting facts, stories and jokes up his sleeve for use at appropriate times, I'm sure he must have gotten a little tired of me continually haring up the steep slopes like a mountain goat!
Firstly for the uninitiated a Rogaine is a long distance orienteering style event. Teams are given a pre-printed map with around 50 controls marked, each control having a points value and description to help locate. Generally the descriptions are terms like "the gully" or "the spur". You then need to plan a rough route to achieve the highest points yield for time/distance, also taking into account locations of water drops etc etc.
Picked Mr G up at around 7am and we got to Turon, with steady rain falling around 9:30. We spent time (in retrospect too much) trying to pitch the tent only to realise there was a bag of pegs missing, so we used some large stones to hold down the main part of the tent, which was a contingency anyway as the plan was to stay out for 24 hours.
The time lost in messing around with the tent then saw us rushing to prepare, ie getting changed, sorting out what to pack into the backpacks and very importantly plan our route!
We joined the masses at the start point for a final briefing which was pretty impossible to hear and then we were off! We had decided to do a northerly sweep first and then down the west side of the map before doing a full loop across to the east and north back home.
Through the northerly sweep navigation was good and we moved along pretty well. Mr G and I fell into a pretty standard pattern of me mostly leading and especially on the steep up or down hills where I would try and pick the best route, if possible taking advantage of tracks made by various animals etc. If I hit a tougher section then I could double back and lookm for a better option while he caught up. Certainly I took advantage of my lighter weight on the uphills, to the point that Mr G postulated that Dave in Chinese means calves of steel :)
We arrived at the first water drop just after dark and topped up camelbaks etc and had a more serious bite to eat than the nibbles consumed so far. Two controls later we had a significant nav challenge as we found ourselves headed east along a fence when we were supposed to be going south! A little teeth gnashing and eventually we righted ourselves. As we headed to the next water drop we came across a competitor rugged up sitting by the side of the track. Seems he had twisted his ankle and his partner had headed up to the water drop to flag down the sag wagon.
It was still quite a hike, including another steep uphill, to the water drop, which was located at a house. As we arrived there were some other competitors there trying to get a fire going. One of these was the teammate of the guy with the ankle while the others had had enough and were waiting to get a lift out. This was around midnight and so a logical point to have some more substanial food and also change socks etc. We did 2 loops out of the water drop to some nearby controls and still no sag wagon as we eventually left them at around 2am headed east towards the all night cafe.
As we headed towards #48 we finally saw some lights headed towards us, the first time we saw other teams on the course since about 5pm. One of these teams were 2 females who asked us if we had seen #48. I replied that I believed it was still about a km ahead of us, ie they had seriously gone past it! They then just asked if there was a road to the water drop which we confirmed and they kept going, rather than follow us back.
Our major mistake of the night now occured, after we got #48 and headed to #92, which was always going to be tricky a spur off a spur, we located the first spur, on very steep terrain but obviously dropped too early looking for the next spur and spent some time on the very steep slope before opting to move on rather than try and locate. We then spent a large amount of time negotiating our way down the steep slope in the dark to the creek bed below. Previous creek beds we had used were very navigable but this one was a nightmare and we lost a lot of time working our way down to the next major waterway which also had a proper track on it.
From here we had to adjust our plans based upon the lost time and head directly towards the all night cafe rather than taking a much more points rewarding option. Along this track Mr G was noticeably slowing down and becoming less lucid. Eventually he requested that we stop for a quick snooze and so we simply sat down on the grass next to the track, took off the back packs and he went to sleep! I tried but could not sleep and started to get cold. After about 10 minutes I made a bit of noise and suggested that if we were going to stay any longer I'd need to get out my space blanket to stay warm! He felt better after the break and so we decided to get going, finally getting in to the all night cafe just after 6am, only to find most of the food gone and only options were apples, bananas and cake, which we wolfed down.
We resolved to do a fast march back north as quickly as possoble, spurning points options on immediate offer in order to be closer to the finish and pick up points as available without worrying about time constraints. Eventually we hit the more open grazing land which was easier to navigate on and dropped back down through another creek bed to get back to the river. Unfortunately through here the blisters on my feet started to worsen and in the end when we hit the river we had to abandon plans to go a bit further south to pick up a pretty easy 100 pointer on offer as it would be touch and go if we would get back in time. As it happens we got back with about 30 minutes up our sleeve, bypassing a few more controls on steep terrain as mutually between my feet and Mr G's legs on hills we would have struggled.
Overall I was very happy with how things went. The only limiting factor for me turned out to be the blisters and the legs felt if they could keep on going for quite a while. This is a very good confidence builder for some future plans, granted we did not run, but just to stay mobile for around 24 hours and still being able to move is a considerable lift over my last tilt at a 24 hour event. Mr G also noted that I seemed to have a reasonable endurance base to operate from. Navigation wise we did ok, really only 2 significant errors which together cost us 90 points, but also I would say over 2 hours, which in itself is a large points penalty!
I have mapped out our rough route on GMap, with a link here. According to GMap we did around 56km but that is point to point and does not take into account vertical climb, which there was a lot! So the quandry is do I include this in the training log, ie is/was it beneficial to my running? I am inclined to say yes....
Have had 2 days off to sort out the blisters, should be back running tomorrow. Cheers to Mr G for being a great partner with all sorts of interesting facts, stories and jokes up his sleeve for use at appropriate times, I'm sure he must have gotten a little tired of me continually haring up the steep slopes like a mountain goat!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Staple diet
Thursday I woke up with a dodgy gut and opted not to run, this continued through most of the day but improved in the evening.
Friday, the gut seemed a bit better so I ventured out for my staple tempo run down to the weir and back. Noticeably a little cooler this morning but fairly good running, pushed it hard coming home.
Distance 10.9, time 50:11 avg pace 4:36, avg HR 164
My next little adventure is on tomorrow as I head out to Capertree (between Lithgow and Mudgee), picking up Mr G on the way for a tilt at the Turon 24 hour Rogaine, should be heaps of fun!
Friday, the gut seemed a bit better so I ventured out for my staple tempo run down to the weir and back. Noticeably a little cooler this morning but fairly good running, pushed it hard coming home.
Distance 10.9, time 50:11 avg pace 4:36, avg HR 164
My next little adventure is on tomorrow as I head out to Capertree (between Lithgow and Mudgee), picking up Mr G on the way for a tilt at the Turon 24 hour Rogaine, should be heaps of fun!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Night running
Took the opportunity of the last autumn night series orienteering event which was close to home, being at Macquarie Park. Felt pretty comfortable about the map layout and route selection leaving lots of options on the way home.
Everything went pretty smoothly, no issues with any of the controls and in some sections with a bigger gap between controls I got a decent pace going.
Finished up just over a minute late :( for a 20 point penalty but when my tally went up on the leaderboard I earned 470 points net which was sitting in second place just behind veteran speedster Michael Burton with 490!
More importantly the stats were 9.07km in 46:09 for an average of 5:05 min/km and avg HR of 177. Interestingly we ran the same map (with different controls) back in December, where running in the daylight I knocked out 9.56km in 46:27!
Pity I won't be able to run the Orienteering Night Championships on Saturday night but have prior plans....
Everything went pretty smoothly, no issues with any of the controls and in some sections with a bigger gap between controls I got a decent pace going.
Finished up just over a minute late :( for a 20 point penalty but when my tally went up on the leaderboard I earned 470 points net which was sitting in second place just behind veteran speedster Michael Burton with 490!
More importantly the stats were 9.07km in 46:09 for an average of 5:05 min/km and avg HR of 177. Interestingly we ran the same map (with different controls) back in December, where running in the daylight I knocked out 9.56km in 46:27!
Pity I won't be able to run the Orienteering Night Championships on Saturday night but have prior plans....
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sweet home....
Sydney, not Alabama!
Yes I'm back in Oz thank goodness. So a quick summary of recent events.
Another run in New Orleans, this being my annual run with my French colleague from work who just ran a 2:57 at New York last year. A nice tempo style run along most of the course from the day before, pretty toasted at the end. That completed my US runnign shenanigans with post conference drinks etc wiping out any chance for another dig.
Back in Sydney late Friday night with a full day planned for Saturday so I headed off to Waverton on Sunday for the STaR. Actually quite pleased with the run as the Harbourside Hike is a little under-rated, seems every corner you go around there is another up or down slope to deal with. Also quite amusing to see the guys that I berated a few weeks ago for running too fast for the 6am group, now at the front of the 6:10 group, and still running too fast, sigh. Ended up knocking out 24km which on the jet lagged body was adequate.
Today - another session for penance for the sins of recent past with hill reps. I have decided to call this session Crazy Cox's since the SWEAT guys have Wild Wally etc. Today was certainly a challenge and eye opener as I struggled. Ended up with 10 reps @ 1:37, a fair cry from last October with an average of 1:28, still I suppose I know where I am coming from and get get to......
Yes I'm back in Oz thank goodness. So a quick summary of recent events.
Another run in New Orleans, this being my annual run with my French colleague from work who just ran a 2:57 at New York last year. A nice tempo style run along most of the course from the day before, pretty toasted at the end. That completed my US runnign shenanigans with post conference drinks etc wiping out any chance for another dig.
Back in Sydney late Friday night with a full day planned for Saturday so I headed off to Waverton on Sunday for the STaR. Actually quite pleased with the run as the Harbourside Hike is a little under-rated, seems every corner you go around there is another up or down slope to deal with. Also quite amusing to see the guys that I berated a few weeks ago for running too fast for the 6am group, now at the front of the 6:10 group, and still running too fast, sigh. Ended up knocking out 24km which on the jet lagged body was adequate.
Today - another session for penance for the sins of recent past with hill reps. I have decided to call this session Crazy Cox's since the SWEAT guys have Wild Wally etc. Today was certainly a challenge and eye opener as I struggled. Ended up with 10 reps @ 1:37, a fair cry from last October with an average of 1:28, still I suppose I know where I am coming from and get get to......
Monday, April 16, 2007
Running in "The Big Easy"
Some more flights, with a quick stop over in Dallas/Fort Worth and I lobbed into New Orleans. Headed out for a cobweb clearing run and to check out some sights. A pretty cruisy recovery style run with just over 8km in 45 minutes
Sunday - before the work kicks back in I aimed to go out for a longer run. It was quite a deal cooler than yesterday afternoon and a cold wind blowing. Some research online had turned up a potential run route so off I went. After a few minutes running through downtown from the hotel I got to my first destination which is a tramway (now not used) that runs down the middle of a major road, but in a separate traffic island. The best thing is that the surface was pretty even, no gutters to traverse and it was all grass/dirt so low impact. This went for around 7km to reach a park which then went all the way down to the river and is New Orleans version of Hyde/Central Park. One lap of the park, stopping for a quick drink and then back along the tramway, consciously upping the pace to around 4:50 min/km all the way home.
Very pleased to knock out just under 20km in 1:40:33 for an average pace of 5:07 and average HR of 155. Here is a map of the route.
Sunday - before the work kicks back in I aimed to go out for a longer run. It was quite a deal cooler than yesterday afternoon and a cold wind blowing. Some research online had turned up a potential run route so off I went. After a few minutes running through downtown from the hotel I got to my first destination which is a tramway (now not used) that runs down the middle of a major road, but in a separate traffic island. The best thing is that the surface was pretty even, no gutters to traverse and it was all grass/dirt so low impact. This went for around 7km to reach a park which then went all the way down to the river and is New Orleans version of Hyde/Central Park. One lap of the park, stopping for a quick drink and then back along the tramway, consciously upping the pace to around 4:50 min/km all the way home.
Very pleased to knock out just under 20km in 1:40:33 for an average pace of 5:07 and average HR of 155. Here is a map of the route.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Where's Dave (Wally)
As forecast a frantic week since my long run on Sunday. I have mostly seen the interior of either hotel rooms or aircraft cabins, but have had some success in trying to keep running!
A brief sojourn back to Seoul but I had a little free time and so headed to the hotel gym for some treadmill therapy. The gym is a room in the middle of the hotel, no windows to the outside and as I found out quickly not a lot of ventilation or air conditioning. After determining the set up of the treadmill and the fact that they were reading in km and not miles I set the dial for 4 min/km with the aim to replicate my LCNP session with 2 min standing rest. After about my third rep the little Korean gym attendant came and had a look and immediately dashed away to get extra towels as the sweat was certainly starting to flow.
Ended up with 7 reps, but was pretty taxed at the end. Then went out with one of our business partners and proceeded to drink my body weight in beer and whisky (again), bloody hell these Koreans drink! This of course left me in no state to do my planned session the following morning....
More long flights and now I am in Los Angeles on my way to New Orleans. Desperate to stretch the legs after the long flights I headed out with the goal of hitting the Pacific on the Eastern edge. As you will see from the image below I got close but the whole area between the airport and sea is blocked off for obvious security reasons. A good stretch out with 16.7km done in 1:22 for avg pace of 4:56.
Am desperately not happy about missing Canberra and catching up with people and teh malaise of time zone changes, flying and meetings has meant not a lot of chance to wish all those running the best, so now I have at least done it, even though no one will probably read this until after their race.
A brief sojourn back to Seoul but I had a little free time and so headed to the hotel gym for some treadmill therapy. The gym is a room in the middle of the hotel, no windows to the outside and as I found out quickly not a lot of ventilation or air conditioning. After determining the set up of the treadmill and the fact that they were reading in km and not miles I set the dial for 4 min/km with the aim to replicate my LCNP session with 2 min standing rest. After about my third rep the little Korean gym attendant came and had a look and immediately dashed away to get extra towels as the sweat was certainly starting to flow.
Ended up with 7 reps, but was pretty taxed at the end. Then went out with one of our business partners and proceeded to drink my body weight in beer and whisky (again), bloody hell these Koreans drink! This of course left me in no state to do my planned session the following morning....
More long flights and now I am in Los Angeles on my way to New Orleans. Desperate to stretch the legs after the long flights I headed out with the goal of hitting the Pacific on the Eastern edge. As you will see from the image below I got close but the whole area between the airport and sea is blocked off for obvious security reasons. A good stretch out with 16.7km done in 1:22 for avg pace of 4:56.
Am desperately not happy about missing Canberra and catching up with people and teh malaise of time zone changes, flying and meetings has meant not a lot of chance to wish all those running the best, so now I have at least done it, even though no one will probably read this until after their race.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Wet Weekend Wanderings
Saturday - up at sparrows to head into The Domain to set up for the 10km. As per previous post I was unsure whether I'd run the 10km, West Met or both but after setting up and giving Bernie G, Kit and Razor a briefing on the timing system and associated programs I did a quick warmup and headed down to the start line.
This course is trying, jammed pack running for the first 2km, uphill no less and dodging puddles then a downill back to the point of Lady Macquaries chair before doing it again another 2 times!
I felt a little tight all over but just kept on trying to stay smooth and economical, also missed a few km markers. The last km is a bit of a lung buster with a downhill kick to get the legs cycling over and then about 400m to try and hold (or increase) that pace.
Actually quite happy with the end result posting 43:30 a 47 second improvement over Homebush with not a lot done in between.
After I finished teh slight drizzle that had been threatening evolved into a torrential downpour so no chance to catch up an talk with anyone as they were already all up at presentations and then naturally scarpered while I sorted out packing up the timing gear.
Sunday - Given the STaR today was a DIY rocket around the bay area I opted for something a little different that I had been planning to do for a while. There was a family do at my mother-in-law's place at Hornsby and so I decided to run up the GNW to Hornsby to get some time on the legs over trails and also to give the new camelbak another trial.
Got up to Browns Waterhole in about an hour and then it was into unknown territory as I followed the GNW up to Thornleigh. There was considerable groundwater on the trail and also some good stream crossings. The run down the other side of Thornleigh was really nice and then the trail turned a little more technical as it followed Berowra Creek (?) up to the back of Hornsby. Just as I finally popped out of the bush it started raining (again) and I got soaked as I climbed up quite a steep section on Pretoria Parade to Hornsby.
Stats - 26.75km in 3:17:00 which included 500m of climb for a net climb of about 150m. The legs while tired were not smashed and this is exactly what I was looking for.
Last week - Pretty pleased with the start of April with 71km under the belt and a couple of good runs. The next 2 weeks will be challenging to say the least to try and keep things going under what I know will be difficult conditions with a long work trip.
This course is trying, jammed pack running for the first 2km, uphill no less and dodging puddles then a downill back to the point of Lady Macquaries chair before doing it again another 2 times!
I felt a little tight all over but just kept on trying to stay smooth and economical, also missed a few km markers. The last km is a bit of a lung buster with a downhill kick to get the legs cycling over and then about 400m to try and hold (or increase) that pace.
Actually quite happy with the end result posting 43:30 a 47 second improvement over Homebush with not a lot done in between.
After I finished teh slight drizzle that had been threatening evolved into a torrential downpour so no chance to catch up an talk with anyone as they were already all up at presentations and then naturally scarpered while I sorted out packing up the timing gear.
Sunday - Given the STaR today was a DIY rocket around the bay area I opted for something a little different that I had been planning to do for a while. There was a family do at my mother-in-law's place at Hornsby and so I decided to run up the GNW to Hornsby to get some time on the legs over trails and also to give the new camelbak another trial.
Got up to Browns Waterhole in about an hour and then it was into unknown territory as I followed the GNW up to Thornleigh. There was considerable groundwater on the trail and also some good stream crossings. The run down the other side of Thornleigh was really nice and then the trail turned a little more technical as it followed Berowra Creek (?) up to the back of Hornsby. Just as I finally popped out of the bush it started raining (again) and I got soaked as I climbed up quite a steep section on Pretoria Parade to Hornsby.
Stats - 26.75km in 3:17:00 which included 500m of climb for a net climb of about 150m. The legs while tired were not smashed and this is exactly what I was looking for.
Last week - Pretty pleased with the start of April with 71km under the belt and a couple of good runs. The next 2 weeks will be challenging to say the least to try and keep things going under what I know will be difficult conditions with a long work trip.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Circlework 101
A great way to start the day, a sleep in followed by a controlled 30 minute recovery run under a certain HR. This was made even more enjoyable by the cooler weather, my shuffle going in the background and the personal trainer looking after her student on one corner of the oval :)
It has been ages since I actually did a recovery run, having opted mostly for rest days. felt fairly good but lower legs, especially shins are still coming to grips with what I have been doing to them.
A few different options tomorrow with Striders 10km at The Domain in the morning and West Met XC in the afternoon at Concord, or both.....
It has been ages since I actually did a recovery run, having opted mostly for rest days. felt fairly good but lower legs, especially shins are still coming to grips with what I have been doing to them.
A few different options tomorrow with Striders 10km at The Domain in the morning and West Met XC in the afternoon at Concord, or both.....
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Momentum
is a wonderful thing!
Wednesday - Autumn night series at Ermington, I have had reasonable success on this map during the daytime. Certainly a little more difficult than last week with a lot more running not on roads and thus also much less available street lights.
I reckon if the people in the suburbs are a little intrigued by summer series then the night running stuff must really grab their attention as various bodies charge in and out of the dark with head lamps and torches clutching a map, running like a mad man!
Was pretty happy with the course selection and my run, some others commented that they struggle running at pace over uneven terrain in the dark but I don't find it too bad. Might have something to do with my headlamp :)
Stats - 9km in just under 50 minutes for avg pace of 5:33, not bad for night running and navigating (well I think so)
Thursday - Tempo run, the staple down to the weir and back to see what is left in the legs after the last 2 days and having not done much for a while before that. Again pretty pleased but also was stuffed when I finished.
Stats - just under 11km in 51:10 so avg pace of 4:42, not my best but far from my worst...
So three hard days in a row, that means recovery/rest tomorrow!
Wednesday - Autumn night series at Ermington, I have had reasonable success on this map during the daytime. Certainly a little more difficult than last week with a lot more running not on roads and thus also much less available street lights.
I reckon if the people in the suburbs are a little intrigued by summer series then the night running stuff must really grab their attention as various bodies charge in and out of the dark with head lamps and torches clutching a map, running like a mad man!
Was pretty happy with the course selection and my run, some others commented that they struggle running at pace over uneven terrain in the dark but I don't find it too bad. Might have something to do with my headlamp :)
Stats - 9km in just under 50 minutes for avg pace of 5:33, not bad for night running and navigating (well I think so)
Thursday - Tempo run, the staple down to the weir and back to see what is left in the legs after the last 2 days and having not done much for a while before that. Again pretty pleased but also was stuffed when I finished.
Stats - just under 11km in 51:10 so avg pace of 4:42, not my best but far from my worst...
So three hard days in a row, that means recovery/rest tomorrow!
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