A quick 2 day trip to Bangkok saw me back at the run around the lake which I last did way back here. A slightly better result this time around, given recent training, with 4 laps at 5 min/km pace but I was pretty taxed towards the end....
Sunday and yet another exploration run, this time I ran from home to the fabled Macritchie Resovoir. The run to there was a decent 5km warm up and so I refueled and headed of one what was a publicised 11km lap around the water. I have to say I really enjoyed most of this run, running on trails, with the shade giving some relief from the sun and the added attraction of very close at times proximity to monkeys. These guys are amazing, just like the ducks at LCNP, they will move out of your way if you run at them but otherwise are oblivious to your presence!
Another attraction of this run, other than the trails and monkeys was that there were some hills! As a rough guide my last 3 weeks runs had pretty much 0m climb where as today it was around 160m. The legs held up well and really only faded in the last 5km as I ran back home.
Thanks to all who commented, yes a camelbak has been contemplated but I'd truly like to avoid running on training runs with a backpack. Today was a lot better with very convenenient water refill points available. I am/have been running with the Nathan hand held bottle (no I am not totally crazy!).
So today start weight was 82.4 and end was 80.4 so 2kg net loss. The distance keeps extending with just over 20km today in just under 2 hours with an avg HR of 164bpm, another good sign that I am acclimatising. (ie it was lower than the last couple of weeks)
This week has been tougher for me on the relocate front, homesickness hitting, especially after reading the CR threads about the Striders 10km race at Lane Cove. It was interesting today, as I arrived at the car park for the reserve it was obvious there was a lot of organised running going on with 2 clear identifiable groups, but I just kept on going by myself. This next week will be tough to try and do much but even if I can just keep the Sunday runs going with increased distance I am positioning myself better for whatever I opt to try....
Monday, November 05, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Lazy Sunday...
So another Sunday and another attempt at climatisation. The Saturday night/Sunday morning was very uncomfortable and for a little while I thought about not running but headed out anyway! (starting a bit earlier to try and avoid the heat)
This time I decided to explore down the Kallang River (canal) rather than up. The goal was also to run a "bit" longer than the last 2 weeks. As usual exploring sees a little bit of navigational challenge in identifying the best route and I encountered a few sets of stairs, but in general fairly good pretty flat running along a bike path. I kept going all the way to the ECP (East Coast Parkway) overpass into the Marina Bay area of Singapore. This is where next year's F1 Grand Prix will be held under lights.
I am noticing a disturbing trend in the extreme lack of available water refill points and will certainly have to plan my routes very carefully going forward. Coming back I adjusted the route slightly to eliminate a few of the sets of stairs and this worked well.
So the stats
Start weight 82.4kg, finish weight 80.2kg, loss of 2.2kg!!!
Distance 17.8km
Time 1:46
Avg Pace 5:57
Avg HR 166 (interesting as this is down quite a bit over the previous 2 runs)
Tough going but I think it is getting a little easier????
This time I decided to explore down the Kallang River (canal) rather than up. The goal was also to run a "bit" longer than the last 2 weeks. As usual exploring sees a little bit of navigational challenge in identifying the best route and I encountered a few sets of stairs, but in general fairly good pretty flat running along a bike path. I kept going all the way to the ECP (East Coast Parkway) overpass into the Marina Bay area of Singapore. This is where next year's F1 Grand Prix will be held under lights.
I am noticing a disturbing trend in the extreme lack of available water refill points and will certainly have to plan my routes very carefully going forward. Coming back I adjusted the route slightly to eliminate a few of the sets of stairs and this worked well.
So the stats
Start weight 82.4kg, finish weight 80.2kg, loss of 2.2kg!!!
Distance 17.8km
Time 1:46
Avg Pace 5:57
Avg HR 166 (interesting as this is down quite a bit over the previous 2 runs)
Tough going but I think it is getting a little easier????
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Another attempt
Well the DOMS well and truly kicked in after last week, that coupled with being in Manila on work and not being very excited about treadmill running at the moment, plus a bit of CBA (couldn't be arsed) syndrome saw no running. I was also intrigued to have DOMS on the back and shoulders as well and it took until today for the penny to drop (more later).
So I headed out about the same time as last week to run pretty much the same course. Felt quite a bit more chipper on the way out and while I did still fade coming home I did not have to have as many breaks on the way back. Only marginally faster overall but dropped off quite a bit of the stop time which is very encouraging.
Our new house has a basement access from the car parking and so I have set up a little recovery area to avoid trailing massive quantities of sweat through the house (not a good way to impress the wife!). Also on the basement level is our guest/play room and a complete bathroom so I am able to have a cold shower to try and lower the body temperature. From there I dry off and then head up to the pool which is making a massive difference. Today I opted to swim quite a few laps and this is when I realised I also swam some laps last Sunday and thus the DOMS of the upper, non running related muscles.
Then, since we still have no car I walked the 2 odd km each way to and from the kids school which has a pool where there is a swim squad that the girls are going in, just to stretch the legs out a little more :) I even tossed in a bike ride, just down to the shop for some bread as well, which felt good!
I've joined up on the local Singaporean version of cool running as well and have immediately found out about a very interesting race to think about for next year. As part of my intro I mentioned Six Foot Track and one of the members suggested that I check out this race :)
Really hoping to do a few more runs this week....
Oh on the weight side of things 82.7kg this morning and 80.7kg when I got back, got to love running in a sauna!
So I headed out about the same time as last week to run pretty much the same course. Felt quite a bit more chipper on the way out and while I did still fade coming home I did not have to have as many breaks on the way back. Only marginally faster overall but dropped off quite a bit of the stop time which is very encouraging.
Our new house has a basement access from the car parking and so I have set up a little recovery area to avoid trailing massive quantities of sweat through the house (not a good way to impress the wife!). Also on the basement level is our guest/play room and a complete bathroom so I am able to have a cold shower to try and lower the body temperature. From there I dry off and then head up to the pool which is making a massive difference. Today I opted to swim quite a few laps and this is when I realised I also swam some laps last Sunday and thus the DOMS of the upper, non running related muscles.
Then, since we still have no car I walked the 2 odd km each way to and from the kids school which has a pool where there is a swim squad that the girls are going in, just to stretch the legs out a little more :) I even tossed in a bike ride, just down to the shop for some bread as well, which felt good!
I've joined up on the local Singaporean version of cool running as well and have immediately found out about a very interesting race to think about for next year. As part of my intro I mentioned Six Foot Track and one of the members suggested that I check out this race :)
Really hoping to do a few more runs this week....
Oh on the weight side of things 82.7kg this morning and 80.7kg when I got back, got to love running in a sauna!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Hot running
So just under 2 months since my last run, the ill fated "10km" race in Singapore and here I am going back out.
The plan was an exploration run to seek out a few areas that I had heard off and try and identify some good options for the future.
About a km from home is a canal (ex river) that looked pretty flat and on checking the maps seemd to link up to quite a nice park area called Bishun Park. So down to the "river" and was interested to see that not only was it pretty flat but also had 100m distance markings painted on the path which seemed to be pretty accurate!
A couple of km later and I hit Bishun Park which was welcome as it had some good shade under trees. Lots of people out and about through here but no real traffic problems. Right at the end of the park the river ended at the bottom of a dam for one of the islands water resevoirs, I ran up a little further to check it out as this is where the "jungle" starts and I have heard there are some very good trails through here (not today though).
Coming back I started to fade through the heat and added a few stops to cool down, which were also handy to get an idea of where water was as there seems to be a dearth of taps/bubblers available, lucky I had a hand held to keep me going.
Finally back home feeling quite average and sweating heavily, after a cold shower and then a swim in the pool I started to feel human again! I did a pre and post run weigh in, the pre run was a little scary, 83kg, yikes talk about a lardy! The post run saw me at 81.4kg, so a drop of 1.6kg.
As expected it will take a while to climatise, but at least I've started with 14.6km in 1:24:47 or avg pace of 5:47, the avg HR tells it all though with 176! The legs have pulled up reasonably ok, although I expect DOMS on Tuesday... I think the cardio training is going to be just as hard as actual muscle with the added heat complication.
Heres a satellite view of the run for anyone interested.
The plan was an exploration run to seek out a few areas that I had heard off and try and identify some good options for the future.
About a km from home is a canal (ex river) that looked pretty flat and on checking the maps seemd to link up to quite a nice park area called Bishun Park. So down to the "river" and was interested to see that not only was it pretty flat but also had 100m distance markings painted on the path which seemed to be pretty accurate!
A couple of km later and I hit Bishun Park which was welcome as it had some good shade under trees. Lots of people out and about through here but no real traffic problems. Right at the end of the park the river ended at the bottom of a dam for one of the islands water resevoirs, I ran up a little further to check it out as this is where the "jungle" starts and I have heard there are some very good trails through here (not today though).
Coming back I started to fade through the heat and added a few stops to cool down, which were also handy to get an idea of where water was as there seems to be a dearth of taps/bubblers available, lucky I had a hand held to keep me going.
Finally back home feeling quite average and sweating heavily, after a cold shower and then a swim in the pool I started to feel human again! I did a pre and post run weigh in, the pre run was a little scary, 83kg, yikes talk about a lardy! The post run saw me at 81.4kg, so a drop of 1.6kg.
As expected it will take a while to climatise, but at least I've started with 14.6km in 1:24:47 or avg pace of 5:47, the avg HR tells it all though with 176! The legs have pulled up reasonably ok, although I expect DOMS on Tuesday... I think the cardio training is going to be just as hard as actual muscle with the added heat complication.
Heres a satellite view of the run for anyone interested.
Oh and in my tourist roaming of Singapore I think I have uncovered an excellent hill/mountain already to go to work on but am expecting more good discoveries when I hit the trails proper! Never know if I might need these if I am to try and target 6 ft next year.....
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Can you hear me Major Tom?
Please stand by for a recommencement of our regular service.
The broadcasting unit has been transported to the hot, steamy, lush tropical climes of Singapore and finally all is in place to resume the boring inane dribble that solved many an insomnia problem.
Yep, the move is done and finally the whole family have been (successfully?) transplanted to Singapore, the boxes are mostly unpacked and the local Ikea and Harvey Norman are reporting unseasonal record sales figures.
Very sad to look back through the training log, essentially no running in 2 months as the whole relocate thing consumed any spare moments from the usual hectic timetable. That coupled with the efforts to drink down the balance of the liquor cabinet that could not be shipped see me very grateful that we have not yet located where the scales were packed.....
Anyway I have more than the usual sense of foreboding about getting going again. Just tonight as I stuffed around in the lounge room reassembling the computer I worked up enough sweat to take Warragamba back up to around 75% capacity!!! Hell knows what is going to happen when I actually lace up some shoes in anger...
Stand by for tales of woe as I attempt to climatise by running my arse (and gut) off. As they say "what doesn't kill you..." well lets not go there yet.
Apologies to all who have faithfully blogged despite the lack of inciteful and humourous (not!) comments from myself. No apologies to the sad cases who actually regularly checked in to see if I have actually been doing anything, get a life folks!!!
The broadcasting unit has been transported to the hot, steamy, lush tropical climes of Singapore and finally all is in place to resume the boring inane dribble that solved many an insomnia problem.
Yep, the move is done and finally the whole family have been (successfully?) transplanted to Singapore, the boxes are mostly unpacked and the local Ikea and Harvey Norman are reporting unseasonal record sales figures.
Very sad to look back through the training log, essentially no running in 2 months as the whole relocate thing consumed any spare moments from the usual hectic timetable. That coupled with the efforts to drink down the balance of the liquor cabinet that could not be shipped see me very grateful that we have not yet located where the scales were packed.....
Anyway I have more than the usual sense of foreboding about getting going again. Just tonight as I stuffed around in the lounge room reassembling the computer I worked up enough sweat to take Warragamba back up to around 75% capacity!!! Hell knows what is going to happen when I actually lace up some shoes in anger...
Stand by for tales of woe as I attempt to climatise by running my arse (and gut) off. As they say "what doesn't kill you..." well lets not go there yet.
Apologies to all who have faithfully blogged despite the lack of inciteful and humourous (not!) comments from myself. No apologies to the sad cases who actually regularly checked in to see if I have actually been doing anything, get a life folks!!!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Big news!!!!
Sorry for those that have been holding off from eating between my posts, I suppose you get to lose some weight!
Where do I start, from the last post seems good I suppose.
The cold/flu/virus lasted longer than expected, I did run a Winter Orienteering race at Westleigh which only served to remind me of my lack of fitness.
From there it was another sojourn back up to SE Asia for work. I did sneak a run in at Singapore with a friend of a friend expat. We headed out on a Sunday morning and after about 4km at about 4:30 pace I finally decided to ask him about his marathon PB which was 2:49 and here I was trying to match him stride for stride in the tropics with no base.....
A discrete turnaround after I urged him to not fuss over me and keep going and catch me on the way back. I suffered like a dog all the way back. Those who know me well know my predisposition for sweating and dislike of heat. Well the heartrate was telling the story and I eventually opted for a 500m walking cool down back to the start, after a few breaks to try and stay under control.
The following weekend I was back in Singapore again and had entered in advance a local "10km" race. It is sufficient to say that I have been very spoiled by the Striders races. This race was chaos at the start, had a bottle neck for the first 2km, no marshals on the course at all, the actual course was different from the published map and at the end there was no official finish line! I won't even go into the details of then trying to retrieve my clothes bag and then the "goodie" bag. The whole thing was a shambles and then my run was not much better...
Some more stuffing around in SE Asia and then finally back home, just in time to join up with the family to drive up to Guyra for one of my mate's 40th birthday party. His family live on a property about 15km N of Guyra and so on the Saturday we did all the country things with the kids, chasing the cows and horses around etc etc.
Dave has got into mountain bike riding and adventure races and so had organised a mttb ride with a few of his mates and at the last minute asked me along. Despite having no gear he borrowed a bike for me and so I was sort of set. Until I saw his and his mates bikes which were all multi thousand dollar full suspension bikes. The bike I had was probably worth all of $400 and had NO suspension at all!
Anyway it was all great fun, I had no chance at keeping up with them on the technical downhill sections but had great delight in smoking all of them on the uphills, even on the bike I had :) The best bit was a technical creek crossing which was reasonably deep and about 20m wide. Dave went first and made it about halfway before falling over in the water. I adopted the "go hard or go home motto" and headed through, with the (undeclared) advantage of having actually riden in a few mountain bike races, including a national title I tracked through quite nicely with steady balance and rode out the other end. After the other 3 also fell off halfway all of a sudden they looked on me with some new respect, despite my steed :)
Great stuff, I really enjoyed being back on the bike and the body, other than the crotch and hands pulled up with no problems!
Anyway, back to the title for this post. I do actually have some very big news that I have been sitting on.
With my recent promotion and additional responsibilities at work it had become obvious that something would have to give. So it has been agreed that I, and my family thankfully will be moving to Singapore! The good news is that during my last visit I managed to organise for the better half to come up and visit Singapore for the first time and look at accommodation and schooling options. Thankfully it was all good and we seem to have found good lodgings and also a great Aussie based school!!!
Also on the good news side is that the running scene in Singapore seems alive with a seemingly decent but unexplored Striders equivalent in MacRitchie Runners and also a semi Coolrunning parallel in SG Runners.
Suffice to say that it is with very mixed emotions that I write this post. I have established some great friends through Striders and Cool Running, the opportunity I have been given is great but I will deeply miss the great running society that has developed in Sydney and Australia. All I can do is look forward with excitement but for anyone who happens to be passing through Singapore I will be mortally aggrieved if you do not stop over and catch up.
The blog will continue, with a few changes, I think the sub 40 at 40 might be out of reach in running in the tropics but I do have a few goals/challenges in mind. However I can be certain that both the running and posts with be sporadic in the next 6-8 weeks as I stretch to move the family and our belongings as well as trying to keep on top of my new work responsibilities!!!
Not much more to say with out starting to sound too cliched after a glass too many of red as I work towards tidying up the cellar.
Where do I start, from the last post seems good I suppose.
The cold/flu/virus lasted longer than expected, I did run a Winter Orienteering race at Westleigh which only served to remind me of my lack of fitness.
From there it was another sojourn back up to SE Asia for work. I did sneak a run in at Singapore with a friend of a friend expat. We headed out on a Sunday morning and after about 4km at about 4:30 pace I finally decided to ask him about his marathon PB which was 2:49 and here I was trying to match him stride for stride in the tropics with no base.....
A discrete turnaround after I urged him to not fuss over me and keep going and catch me on the way back. I suffered like a dog all the way back. Those who know me well know my predisposition for sweating and dislike of heat. Well the heartrate was telling the story and I eventually opted for a 500m walking cool down back to the start, after a few breaks to try and stay under control.
The following weekend I was back in Singapore again and had entered in advance a local "10km" race. It is sufficient to say that I have been very spoiled by the Striders races. This race was chaos at the start, had a bottle neck for the first 2km, no marshals on the course at all, the actual course was different from the published map and at the end there was no official finish line! I won't even go into the details of then trying to retrieve my clothes bag and then the "goodie" bag. The whole thing was a shambles and then my run was not much better...
Some more stuffing around in SE Asia and then finally back home, just in time to join up with the family to drive up to Guyra for one of my mate's 40th birthday party. His family live on a property about 15km N of Guyra and so on the Saturday we did all the country things with the kids, chasing the cows and horses around etc etc.
Dave has got into mountain bike riding and adventure races and so had organised a mttb ride with a few of his mates and at the last minute asked me along. Despite having no gear he borrowed a bike for me and so I was sort of set. Until I saw his and his mates bikes which were all multi thousand dollar full suspension bikes. The bike I had was probably worth all of $400 and had NO suspension at all!
Anyway it was all great fun, I had no chance at keeping up with them on the technical downhill sections but had great delight in smoking all of them on the uphills, even on the bike I had :) The best bit was a technical creek crossing which was reasonably deep and about 20m wide. Dave went first and made it about halfway before falling over in the water. I adopted the "go hard or go home motto" and headed through, with the (undeclared) advantage of having actually riden in a few mountain bike races, including a national title I tracked through quite nicely with steady balance and rode out the other end. After the other 3 also fell off halfway all of a sudden they looked on me with some new respect, despite my steed :)
Great stuff, I really enjoyed being back on the bike and the body, other than the crotch and hands pulled up with no problems!
Anyway, back to the title for this post. I do actually have some very big news that I have been sitting on.
With my recent promotion and additional responsibilities at work it had become obvious that something would have to give. So it has been agreed that I, and my family thankfully will be moving to Singapore! The good news is that during my last visit I managed to organise for the better half to come up and visit Singapore for the first time and look at accommodation and schooling options. Thankfully it was all good and we seem to have found good lodgings and also a great Aussie based school!!!
Also on the good news side is that the running scene in Singapore seems alive with a seemingly decent but unexplored Striders equivalent in MacRitchie Runners and also a semi Coolrunning parallel in SG Runners.
Suffice to say that it is with very mixed emotions that I write this post. I have established some great friends through Striders and Cool Running, the opportunity I have been given is great but I will deeply miss the great running society that has developed in Sydney and Australia. All I can do is look forward with excitement but for anyone who happens to be passing through Singapore I will be mortally aggrieved if you do not stop over and catch up.
The blog will continue, with a few changes, I think the sub 40 at 40 might be out of reach in running in the tropics but I do have a few goals/challenges in mind. However I can be certain that both the running and posts with be sporadic in the next 6-8 weeks as I stretch to move the family and our belongings as well as trying to keep on top of my new work responsibilities!!!
Not much more to say with out starting to sound too cliched after a glass too many of red as I work towards tidying up the cellar.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Speedhump
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!!!
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 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....
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