Long run today of 65 mins
Great turn up at our fun run this morning - 97 people so hopefully lots of money for the club
Kilometres covered - 14.5 kilometres
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Friday, 13 January 2012
Ran after the children were in bed. Just a half hour jaunt
Amelia is at her Ma's this weekend and she was very excited to be going
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Amelia is at her Ma's this weekend and she was very excited to be going
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Second day of taking the kids to work as Kylie herself is back at work
Had to train after she got home. Went up to the Preston AC track at Edwardes Lake.
Did 4 x 400's with 2 mins recovery, 4 x 200's with 1 min recovery, 4 x 100's with 30 secs recovery. The 400's were each 72, the 200's were each 30-32 and the 100's were all 15-16 seconds so not much difference in pace there between the last two sets
Kilometres covered : 4 kilometres
Had to train after she got home. Went up to the Preston AC track at Edwardes Lake.
Did 4 x 400's with 2 mins recovery, 4 x 200's with 1 min recovery, 4 x 100's with 30 secs recovery. The 400's were each 72, the 200's were each 30-32 and the 100's were all 15-16 seconds so not much difference in pace there between the last two sets
Kilometres covered : 4 kilometres
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Ran after the children were in bed. Just a half hour jaunt in the dark
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
legs were feeling pretty heavy today. very tough end to the session tonight. Got down to the track and we had four laps of surges and floats. then the main set which was 3 x 400's each one having to be faster than the one before it. Managed to check all the boxes there with 57, 54 and 51. Then after a good recovery, we got hit with a 1 km time trial. Yikes! Went through the first lap in 72 but it all fell apart after that and staggered across the line in 3:08. Haven't run a 1 km that slow for a while. four laps warm down was a killer. got a lift home with Rey which was awesome
Kilometres covered : 5.4 kilometres
Kilometres covered : 5.4 kilometres
Monday, 9 January 2012
Ran after the children were in bed. Just a half hour jaunt
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Kilometres covered : 6.67 kilometres
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Decided to get long runs going again so went for 60 mins today. Did the big Gilbert, Murray Newlands road circuit then the usual Edwardes Lake circuit
Kilometres covered : 13.33 kilometres
Kilometres covered : 13.33 kilometres
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Was going to do up to 8 x 400's today but got all wussy halfway through. So it was 4 x 400's with 2 mins recovery between each - all four were at 72 secs - then 2 x 300's with the same recovery
Went to the cricket tonight for the BBL T20 local derby. Got there early and there was a women's match on so that was awesome for the girls and we got to sit just a few rows back from the fence. Much beer was consumed. especially when the brother-in-law birthday boy arrived. good night all round really and I didn;t mind it too much when we got rained out early in the Renegades reply to the Stars 167. Meant we could even get the children home before 10 pm
Kilometres covered : 3 kilometres
Went to the cricket tonight for the BBL T20 local derby. Got there early and there was a women's match on so that was awesome for the girls and we got to sit just a few rows back from the fence. Much beer was consumed. especially when the brother-in-law birthday boy arrived. good night all round really and I didn;t mind it too much when we got rained out early in the Renegades reply to the Stars 167. Meant we could even get the children home before 10 pm
Kilometres covered : 3 kilometres
Friday, 6 January 2012
Just the slow recovery run tonight, which i did at Edwardes Lake after dark when the children were in bed. Half on the Preston AC track and the other half out on the lake paths
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Down to the track tonight. three sets of 5 x 200's. recoveries of 100 m float in the first set, slow jog the second set, walk between the third set
Kilometres covered : 5.5 kilometres
Kilometres covered : 5.5 kilometres
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Feeling a bit hungover and sorry for myself this morning. Up early so that Andrew could get to a work meeting and Kylie had something to get to in the city so a lift to work which was a bonus!
Training today was a half hour run. Got home to the heavenly smell of Macaroni Cheese!! My favourite dinner! Gobbled a bowl of it down knowing I would regret it later. Helped put the children to bed then gobbled down a bit more. Tried to leave a good hour before going out for my run
Got out about 2045 and though a reasonably tough runi was gratified to see that through the middle to later part i was averaging around 4:20 per km. no wonder it felt tough in my present state of fitness. that was my recovery slow long run pre injury!!
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Training today was a half hour run. Got home to the heavenly smell of Macaroni Cheese!! My favourite dinner! Gobbled a bowl of it down knowing I would regret it later. Helped put the children to bed then gobbled down a bit more. Tried to leave a good hour before going out for my run
Got out about 2045 and though a reasonably tough runi was gratified to see that through the middle to later part i was averaging around 4:20 per km. no wonder it felt tough in my present state of fitness. that was my recovery slow long run pre injury!!
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
First work day of the new year. Some stats to finish off, plus a few longer term projects I want to knock over once and for all. The stats done and got a start on the report I wanted to get a wriggle on though still very preliminary
Ran to the track from the station to log up about 1 km before training (a little walk inbetween). Got to the track and it was a similar session to one we were supposed to on New Years Eve but that none of us from the club turned up for!
So it was 7 x 200 with 100 float recovery. Then we had a really good break, probs two or three times effort recovery before 5 x 150 hills. good recovery again and then 5 x short steep hills, maybe 50 m in length. Young Tom Clarke did these easy and Tim Holloway was looking very strong
Jogged home after this session feeling immensely proud of myself. Had a dessert bowl of cheese and salad before the wife went to collect her brother from the airport. Upon his return i had some cold spaghetti bolognaise (around 10 pm) and a bottle of wine to myself
Crawled into bed after midnight
Kilometres run : 7 km
Ran to the track from the station to log up about 1 km before training (a little walk inbetween). Got to the track and it was a similar session to one we were supposed to on New Years Eve but that none of us from the club turned up for!
So it was 7 x 200 with 100 float recovery. Then we had a really good break, probs two or three times effort recovery before 5 x 150 hills. good recovery again and then 5 x short steep hills, maybe 50 m in length. Young Tom Clarke did these easy and Tim Holloway was looking very strong
Jogged home after this session feeling immensely proud of myself. Had a dessert bowl of cheese and salad before the wife went to collect her brother from the airport. Upon his return i had some cold spaghetti bolognaise (around 10 pm) and a bottle of wine to myself
Crawled into bed after midnight
Kilometres run : 7 km
Friday, January 6, 2012
Monday, 2 January 2012
Last day of freedom before the new year of work starts. maybe a long run should have been the order of the day but it was again a stinker with the mercury in the 30's already by mid morning on its way to 39. Managed to get out at around 8.30 pm when the temperature had "dropped" to 32. Only intended to go for 30 mins but felt good in the early part thinking 40 mins might be the go. Get to halfway through and the heat was making things a bit tougher. Ended up doing 30 mins with the HR at 152 bpm, Hopped on the scales this morning for 69.2 kg so not a bad result after not running yesterday
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Kilometres run : 6.67 km
Sunday, 1 January 2012
Okay so here goes. Not sure anyone blogs anymore but this might be a good way of recording my k's other than the boring Excel spreadsheet that I used last year, though that was effective
Annual Coburg Harriers New Years Day cricket match today. Definitely no running given the 3 am bedtime after getting home from Heather Collyers house with the family this morning around 1.30 am
It was touching 38 degrees and my team got absolutely rolled for the second year in a row, even worse than last year. I batted okay but getting out to Burkey was embarrassing. I bowled a lot of leg side rubbish, probably inverse to the number of cans I had subsumed by that stage
Not many Burgers there maybe because of the heat. This concept is almost dead as an idea which is a shame as its a nice diversion from the usual stuff we do at the track. Good numbers last year but other than that it has been in general decline and there has not been much new blood from year to year
Probably should go for a long run tomorrow if it's not too hot
Annual Coburg Harriers New Years Day cricket match today. Definitely no running given the 3 am bedtime after getting home from Heather Collyers house with the family this morning around 1.30 am
It was touching 38 degrees and my team got absolutely rolled for the second year in a row, even worse than last year. I batted okay but getting out to Burkey was embarrassing. I bowled a lot of leg side rubbish, probably inverse to the number of cans I had subsumed by that stage
Not many Burgers there maybe because of the heat. This concept is almost dead as an idea which is a shame as its a nice diversion from the usual stuff we do at the track. Good numbers last year but other than that it has been in general decline and there has not been much new blood from year to year
Probably should go for a long run tomorrow if it's not too hot
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Had to run at lunchtime today and planned to do about 45 minutes easy recovery
Ran to Brian's work on Spring Street (7 minutes). Then we ran down to the Yarra and were averaging around 5:05 to the kilometre. Brian was pacesetting someone for their marathon
Pretty comfortable pace and got back to work feeling nice and fresh
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Ran to Brian's work on Spring Street (7 minutes). Then we ran down to the Yarra and were averaging around 5:05 to the kilometre. Brian was pacesetting someone for their marathon
Pretty comfortable pace and got back to work feeling nice and fresh
TOTAL DISTANCE : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Training at the track tonight but had to get session out of the way as Kylie had meeting to go to
Got to the track and by the time the regular group was ready to begin, I was finished. Session was four laps of surge bends, medium float the straights. Four minutes break. Then repeat but with three laps. Then four minute break. Then repeat again with three laps
I was pretty tired from being up late doing club stuff on the computer so the session for me was a bit harder than would probably have felt. Plus there was a bit of headwind on the Kodak side of the track, which made things tricky
Off home to put the children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm up and down
Got to the track and by the time the regular group was ready to begin, I was finished. Session was four laps of surge bends, medium float the straights. Four minutes break. Then repeat but with three laps. Then four minute break. Then repeat again with three laps
I was pretty tired from being up late doing club stuff on the computer so the session for me was a bit harder than would probably have felt. Plus there was a bit of headwind on the Kodak side of the track, which made things tricky
Off home to put the children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about five kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 6 October 2008
Rest day today. Plan to run Tuesday through Thursday, Saturday and if I can manage it, a run on Sunday
Had a meeting at North West Region tonight to attend. Very interesting meeting a lot of unhappy campers about some of the new rules and rulings for the new season. Far too tedious to go into
Had a meeting at North West Region tonight to attend. Very interesting meeting a lot of unhappy campers about some of the new rules and rulings for the new season. Far too tedious to go into
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Supposed to help at club fun run this morning but too tired (and hungover) to drag myself out of bed
Did a hill set just after lunch with 8 x longer runs, five minute break, then 8 x shorter ones
TOTAL DISTANCE : about four kilometres including warm up and down
Did a hill set just after lunch with 8 x longer runs, five minute break, then 8 x shorter ones
TOTAL DISTANCE : about four kilometres including warm up and down
Saturday, 4 October 2008
No run today as waaaay too much to do
Little Aths in the morning to scout for potential new athletes (and got six new ones, which was good)
Then off home to get ready to go out for a kid's birthday party. Get through that then ...
Then off to Harvey Norman to spend 2K on a 1K computer (we got all the bells and whistles), and ...
Then off home to get changed for Winter Presentation Night, stuff Red Rooster into the kids gobs and get driven to the tram
Get through Winter Presentation night and spend a couple of hours until 3 am doing club emails
Little Aths in the morning to scout for potential new athletes (and got six new ones, which was good)
Then off home to get ready to go out for a kid's birthday party. Get through that then ...
Then off to Harvey Norman to spend 2K on a 1K computer (we got all the bells and whistles), and ...
Then off home to get changed for Winter Presentation Night, stuff Red Rooster into the kids gobs and get driven to the tram
Get through Winter Presentation night and spend a couple of hours until 3 am doing club emails
Friday, 3 October 2008
Ran into work today. A bit weary in the legs after last night's session
Got to the office door with 48 minutes on the clock
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Got to the office door with 48 minutes on the clock
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Training at Coburg tonight was different. We had to do three sets of 600's. Each set was to consist of a slow, medium, hard 200 and then repeat the process. It sounded a lot easier than it was to actually run it
Liam and I ran together for the first set which was good. Josh seemed to be miles behind and I wondered if he was saving himself. On the second set though, through the last easy, medium, hard, he took the medium pretty hard and I just let him go. In the end, there was not much difference between his medium and hard and I was a bit surprised that he did that
The last one was tough and my legs were feeling pretty weary after the first two sets. Liam and I worked together with Josh for the first 600 in the set, but after Josh pushed the pace too much for himself, he could not stay with us for the second 600. Liam and I had a little sprint finish to the line which I let him because he was wearing spikes and I wasn't
Consumed three too many beers in the clubrooms afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Liam and I ran together for the first set which was good. Josh seemed to be miles behind and I wondered if he was saving himself. On the second set though, through the last easy, medium, hard, he took the medium pretty hard and I just let him go. In the end, there was not much difference between his medium and hard and I was a bit surprised that he did that
The last one was tough and my legs were feeling pretty weary after the first two sets. Liam and I worked together with Josh for the first 600 in the set, but after Josh pushed the pace too much for himself, he could not stay with us for the second 600. Liam and I had a little sprint finish to the line which I let him because he was wearing spikes and I wasn't
Consumed three too many beers in the clubrooms afterwards
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Rest day today. Not wanting to rush things first week back, even though only had the week off, its going to be a long summer and want to ease myself into things
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
First training session of the summer tonight. First set was five laps of surge every second barrier with float in between. Not my favourite of exercises and glad to get it over and done with
Second set was a steady one kilometre effort. Went through the first lap in 72 seconds and finished up with 3:05
Third set was another one kilometre effort, to be faster than the previous. Had young Josh breathing down my neck for most of it. Went through the first lap same as the first so had to work really hard over the last 600 metres to get the time down. Crossed in 2:55 and thought afterwards that while I was still working pretty hard, I probably wasn't at maximum pace, so that was pleasing
Josh crossed in 3:05 and I am going to have to watch that young whippersnapper. Through the five lapper, he was way behind Liam and myself and he was obviously saving himself for the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Second set was a steady one kilometre effort. Went through the first lap in 72 seconds and finished up with 3:05
Third set was another one kilometre effort, to be faster than the previous. Had young Josh breathing down my neck for most of it. Went through the first lap same as the first so had to work really hard over the last 600 metres to get the time down. Crossed in 2:55 and thought afterwards that while I was still working pretty hard, I probably wasn't at maximum pace, so that was pleasing
Josh crossed in 3:05 and I am going to have to watch that young whippersnapper. Through the five lapper, he was way behind Liam and myself and he was obviously saving himself for the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres including warm up and down
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, 29 September 2008
Well, well, well. A very long week of debauchery and sloth. It is fair to say that that it was like a week long footy trip! Plenty of booze, bad eating and a fuzzy head. So many highlights - the chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw sandwich I had for lunch on Monday, the fried food bonanza at the Show on Friday and the dozen stubbies put away on Saturday from bounce down of the Grand Final to collapsing into bed about nine hours later. But the highlight was last night - I went out with the boys from the VFL goal umpiring squad and downed quite a few ales too many. Must have been a good place to go, because the AFL fieldies gatecrashed - including one of the Grand Final field umpires: very much worse for wear
Anyway, feeling terrible today, which is fitting for my first day back running, a story in itself. Was planning to have a gentle half hour run most of the way home. But in the fun and games, I left my credit card behind the bar of this hotel last night and it only being in Richmond, I ran to the pub to get my card and then back to work
So all up around 40 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Anyway, feeling terrible today, which is fitting for my first day back running, a story in itself. Was planning to have a gentle half hour run most of the way home. But in the fun and games, I left my credit card behind the bar of this hotel last night and it only being in Richmond, I ran to the pub to get my card and then back to work
So all up around 40 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres
Saturday, 20 September - XCR R10 Tan Relays
Last race of the winter season, although the Burnley Half Marathon for me will always be the nominal end of the season
Got there relatively on time and lined up thinking it would be awesome to go quicker than last year, when I ran 12:30. Felt like I was in just as good shape as 2007
The whistle sounded and suddenly everyone was off running, with the gun firing about three seconds later. Absolute schemozzle and the field should have been called back in my opinion
Got through the first kilometre pretty swiftly and then hit the hill. It seemed a little harder to climb than other years. Started to pass a few people along the back side of the course and really tried to finish off strong
About 400 metres out, I looked at my watch and saw 11:24 on there. In the end, the official time had me at 12:40, but according to my watch 11:37. Either way, I was a bit disappointed with my time. Amazingly, my team finished up in fourth place, which was far better than we had done at this race ever, and the best result for a relay for our division three team also perhaps ever
Afterwards, we all headed over to Brian's house for our now traditional end of winter season bbq. as Kylie was off to the football, I put the children into different beds in Brian's house and we both settled in to watch the football
TOTAL DISTANCE : 4 kilometres
Am having a complete break from running now and next post will be when I return to the training track. I plan to enjoy the next eight days!
Got there relatively on time and lined up thinking it would be awesome to go quicker than last year, when I ran 12:30. Felt like I was in just as good shape as 2007
The whistle sounded and suddenly everyone was off running, with the gun firing about three seconds later. Absolute schemozzle and the field should have been called back in my opinion
Got through the first kilometre pretty swiftly and then hit the hill. It seemed a little harder to climb than other years. Started to pass a few people along the back side of the course and really tried to finish off strong
About 400 metres out, I looked at my watch and saw 11:24 on there. In the end, the official time had me at 12:40, but according to my watch 11:37. Either way, I was a bit disappointed with my time. Amazingly, my team finished up in fourth place, which was far better than we had done at this race ever, and the best result for a relay for our division three team also perhaps ever
Afterwards, we all headed over to Brian's house for our now traditional end of winter season bbq. as Kylie was off to the football, I put the children into different beds in Brian's house and we both settled in to watch the football
TOTAL DISTANCE : 4 kilometres
Am having a complete break from running now and next post will be when I return to the training track. I plan to enjoy the next eight days!
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Training at Coburg tonight with Brian. First off we had to do five laps of the track surging every second barrier
A break and then we finished off with two x 1 km efforts, without the watch. Ran the first one in around 3:10, and the second one in 2:59. Not too displeased with that considering lack of speed at this time of year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres
A break and then we finished off with two x 1 km efforts, without the watch. Ran the first one in around 3:10, and the second one in 2:59. Not too displeased with that considering lack of speed at this time of year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5 kilometres
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Rest day today. Don't want to overdo things as I wind down towards the off season!
Tuesday, 16 September 2008
Training was up at the track tonight. We had to run two sets with 4 mins, 2 mins slow jog, 3 mins, 2 mins slow jog, then 2 mins to finish off
In the first set, went out at around my 5 km race pace for the first effort, then struggled to push that pace for the 3 minute effort. The last effort was considerably faster
On the second time around, Liam Magee kindly agreed to act as the pacemaker and even though we ran the same distance, the effort seemed easier this time. He dropped off the last two efforts. Like in the first set the 3 mins seemed to be only at the same pace as the first effort. And again the last effort was considerably faster
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
In the first set, went out at around my 5 km race pace for the first effort, then struggled to push that pace for the 3 minute effort. The last effort was considerably faster
On the second time around, Liam Magee kindly agreed to act as the pacemaker and even though we ran the same distance, the effort seemed easier this time. He dropped off the last two efforts. Like in the first set the 3 mins seemed to be only at the same pace as the first effort. And again the last effort was considerably faster
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Monday, 15 September 2008
Ran home from work tonight. All up around 47 minutes
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres
Monday, September 15, 2008
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Rest day today. If I had run on Friday this would have been a fair dinkum rest day. Not to worry
Had to spend three hours at Little Aths this morning for their registration day. Coburg Harriers set up a table and we gave away snakes and jelly beans. One parent was MOST displeased that her daughter had won 300 jelly beans, but the other parents took it in the right spirit
The only flaw with my plan was that the whole three hours I was surrounded by kids, so only got to speak to one parent! What a monumental waste of time I could have spent with my own children. I am not even sure most people knew I was from Harriers as I did not have adequate signage up
Next year, I will be doing things a bit differently. Plenty of good signage and no more gimmicks for kids
Had to spend three hours at Little Aths this morning for their registration day. Coburg Harriers set up a table and we gave away snakes and jelly beans. One parent was MOST displeased that her daughter had won 300 jelly beans, but the other parents took it in the right spirit
The only flaw with my plan was that the whole three hours I was surrounded by kids, so only got to speak to one parent! What a monumental waste of time I could have spent with my own children. I am not even sure most people knew I was from Harriers as I did not have adequate signage up
Next year, I will be doing things a bit differently. Plenty of good signage and no more gimmicks for kids
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Club run today at Albert Park. After the shocking realisation that my current pair of running shoes had done over 1000 k's, I went down to Leo Russell's this morning and picked up a pair of 1130's for $130
Got to Albert Park just before the first runner was off. I gave Len Hallett a yellow t-shirt befitting our club winter best athlete award winner and proclaimed that just like the Tour de France on the last day, no-one is allowed to pass Lenny. Lenny had won a handicap race this season and I am told he was leading so its a safe bet he is going to double up on his success from last year
The best athlete award goes to the person who performs best in all our seven handicap runs over the season. Oh, and to win you pretty much have to do all 20 races of the winter season (club and av runs)
I had a 50 second gap to make up on the second last backmarker in Liam Magee. I started off like a rocket and had bridged that gap by the four kilometre mark. I would have caught Liam sooner but for the FIERCE head wind on the St Kilda Rd side of the course as you come back toward the city
I was feeling pretty good once on the tailwind side and thought I might catch Lenny just before the end. I had no idea where anyone else was in the race. Then at the six kilometre mark I caught sight of Lenny further down the path. Took me another kilometre to catch up with him and I figured I better stay true to my word
So the last three kilometres, I ran with Lenny all the way to the finish. We got joined by Liam Magee and we provided Lenny with cover acting as a couple of wind breaks so he wouldn't have to work so hard into it. He picked up a bit of speed toward the finish and we let Lenny cross the line in front of us. He hugged us afterwards and it was warm fuzzies all round
It turns out afterwards thatI could have placed in the event, perhaps even won it, with my having passed the eventual third placegetter at the three kilometre mark!!!
Off home to prepare dinner for the children before Kylie went to the football where St Kilda belted Collingwood
TOTAL DISTANCE : 10 km - 7 kilometres race pace, 3 kilometres at about 5.5 min/km pace
Got to Albert Park just before the first runner was off. I gave Len Hallett a yellow t-shirt befitting our club winter best athlete award winner and proclaimed that just like the Tour de France on the last day, no-one is allowed to pass Lenny. Lenny had won a handicap race this season and I am told he was leading so its a safe bet he is going to double up on his success from last year
The best athlete award goes to the person who performs best in all our seven handicap runs over the season. Oh, and to win you pretty much have to do all 20 races of the winter season (club and av runs)
I had a 50 second gap to make up on the second last backmarker in Liam Magee. I started off like a rocket and had bridged that gap by the four kilometre mark. I would have caught Liam sooner but for the FIERCE head wind on the St Kilda Rd side of the course as you come back toward the city
I was feeling pretty good once on the tailwind side and thought I might catch Lenny just before the end. I had no idea where anyone else was in the race. Then at the six kilometre mark I caught sight of Lenny further down the path. Took me another kilometre to catch up with him and I figured I better stay true to my word
So the last three kilometres, I ran with Lenny all the way to the finish. We got joined by Liam Magee and we provided Lenny with cover acting as a couple of wind breaks so he wouldn't have to work so hard into it. He picked up a bit of speed toward the finish and we let Lenny cross the line in front of us. He hugged us afterwards and it was warm fuzzies all round
It turns out afterwards thatI could have placed in the event, perhaps even won it, with my having passed the eventual third placegetter at the three kilometre mark!!!
Off home to prepare dinner for the children before Kylie went to the football where St Kilda belted Collingwood
TOTAL DISTANCE : 10 km - 7 kilometres race pace, 3 kilometres at about 5.5 min/km pace
Friday, 12 September 2008
Kylie's borthday today and my bad for having to be reminded
Was going to go for a run but was having a washing malfunction in that I had no clean running gear to wear! Good excuse for a rest day and after very big winter workload, I am winding down to my off season anyway
Went down to Olympic Park where two of our athletes were trying out in the Pacific School Games selection trials. Got there about five minutes before the scheduled start of Adrianna Crea's 100 metre heat to find that in fact they were running 15 minutes ahead! That never happens at an AV meet!! So I missed Adrianna's race
Did see Matthew Mifsud run well in his 100 metre heat. He seemed to start well and be about mid field before fading late and finishing last. Nevertheless a new PB of 11.69 for him
Kylie was out for dinner tonight with her old mates so I had to be home by 6:30 pm. I am about to shut down the computer and I got given an urgent job to send out. So all Kylie's plans went out the window and she had to catch a cab to her dinner. Bugger
Was going to go for a run but was having a washing malfunction in that I had no clean running gear to wear! Good excuse for a rest day and after very big winter workload, I am winding down to my off season anyway
Went down to Olympic Park where two of our athletes were trying out in the Pacific School Games selection trials. Got there about five minutes before the scheduled start of Adrianna Crea's 100 metre heat to find that in fact they were running 15 minutes ahead! That never happens at an AV meet!! So I missed Adrianna's race
Did see Matthew Mifsud run well in his 100 metre heat. He seemed to start well and be about mid field before fading late and finishing last. Nevertheless a new PB of 11.69 for him
Kylie was out for dinner tonight with her old mates so I had to be home by 6:30 pm. I am about to shut down the computer and I got given an urgent job to send out. So all Kylie's plans went out the window and she had to catch a cab to her dinner. Bugger
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. We had to do two 800's, then 3 x 600's, then 3 x 400's
Did the 800's in around 2:40 each. Just 200 metres slow jog recovery between the 2. We then had a short break
For the 600's, was doing those in around 1:55 with just jog across infield recovery for those. Then another very short break - only about three or four minutes
The 400's were reasonably solid. I know one of them was in 71. The last one was much quicker, especially when young John Persson jogged past me on the recovery to start in front. Passed him easily enough and while I didn't set my watch for the last one, it would have been mid to high 60's
We had the footy tipping presentation evening at the club tonight and Kylie won best dressed which was good, considering the same old bat wins it every other year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm down
Did the 800's in around 2:40 each. Just 200 metres slow jog recovery between the 2. We then had a short break
For the 600's, was doing those in around 1:55 with just jog across infield recovery for those. Then another very short break - only about three or four minutes
The 400's were reasonably solid. I know one of them was in 71. The last one was much quicker, especially when young John Persson jogged past me on the recovery to start in front. Passed him easily enough and while I didn't set my watch for the last one, it would have been mid to high 60's
We had the footy tipping presentation evening at the club tonight and Kylie won best dressed which was good, considering the same old bat wins it every other year
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Ran home from work tonight. Had to push things along as Kylie had to get to a meeting.
Work has been horrific this week and have been kept back each night so far to get things out for people. Today was more of the same and yet again I left late
Tried a little short cut through a few side streets closer to home but it made no difference whatsoever with 47 minutes on the clock at the finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Work has been horrific this week and have been kept back each night so far to get things out for people. Today was more of the same and yet again I left late
Tried a little short cut through a few side streets closer to home but it made no difference whatsoever with 47 minutes on the clock at the finish
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 10 kilometres
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Training was with Brian up at Coburg today
I think I was still in party mode from Sunday morning, as I completely stuffed up the first set of what we were supposed to be doing. Brian split the group up into guys who had done the HM and those that hadn't
The others were doing 12 minutes of 200;s with jog across infield recovery, while we had to do easy, medium, easy, steady. I thought that meant doing that with 200's, but in fact it was supposed to be that with 400's. oops, my bad
the second set we did with the main group which for us was the 12 minutes of 200's to join the other group's second set
Was doing 38's or so for each one and hope that will be able to reel off reps a little faster than that as the season progresses!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
I think I was still in party mode from Sunday morning, as I completely stuffed up the first set of what we were supposed to be doing. Brian split the group up into guys who had done the HM and those that hadn't
The others were doing 12 minutes of 200;s with jog across infield recovery, while we had to do easy, medium, easy, steady. I thought that meant doing that with 200's, but in fact it was supposed to be that with 400's. oops, my bad
the second set we did with the main group which for us was the 12 minutes of 200's to join the other group's second set
Was doing 38's or so for each one and hope that will be able to reel off reps a little faster than that as the season progresses!
TOTAL DISTANCE : about seven kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, 8 September 2008
Came to earth with a bit of a crash today, which was just as well given its a rest day
Felt a bit sore in various spots and did not feel like moving around too much. Even caught the tram from the station just the one stop to my work
Met the children at child care with Kylie, which was nice as would normally be running home on a Monday. Almost felt like an ordinary day - the sort that normal people who don't run enjoy
Felt a bit sore in various spots and did not feel like moving around too much. Even caught the tram from the station just the one stop to my work
Met the children at child care with Kylie, which was nice as would normally be running home on a Monday. Almost felt like an ordinary day - the sort that normal people who don't run enjoy
Sunday, 7 September - AV Half Marathon
Got the usual pre HM jitters overnight and woke up a few times - 2 am, 3 am - before springing up out of bed with my alarm going off at 6:25 am. Having meticulously packed my bag and laid out my things, I only needed the five minutes to get ready before Liam picked me up at 6:30 am
Got a drink of water, then slowly got dressed as I pondered what the day would bring. I was on my way out the door to wait outside my house when Liam pulled up. Great timing. Hopefully a good sign of things to come
We picked up Brian from his house and took City Link into town, going through the Burnley tunnel and out onto Burnley Street and we were very soon at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. All up the journey took less than half an hour, which was very quick! Was very pleased with that as it allowed plenty of time to mingle and chat before doing my warm up
Did not want to leave a thing to chance. Went for a ten minute warm up and thought the body felt a bit heavy, not altogether that fresh. Then went for a nervous wee before going through a proper stretching routine - something I usually skimp on before a race. Was in the middle of that when Allan Cook from Western A's came over. He runs pro's like me and is also an ex-AFL boundary umpire so we have umpiring in common. Finished stretching and it was only five minutes to the start
Removed the rest of my warm up gear then wandered over to the start line. Pushed my way as close to the front as I could. The worst part about these races is sometimes I get caught at the back (usually because I am gas bagging) and have to work too hard to get clear. Not this time. So the starter gives a little spiel about the race and I am fiddling with my watch when ... BANG, the gun goes off. No warning. Shit! Start running but also fiddle with my watch for ten seconds befire I can get the thing started
So far as I could tell, through the first couple of kilometres in 3:35, which was a little quicker than I had intended. Still it felt reasonably comfortable and I tried to hang onto that pace. Went through the 5 km mark in 18:05 or thereabouts. It was in this period that I started to feel that things were starting to get a little tougher and I hit a flat spot. I had been keeping in tough with a group through these early stages and they started to pull ahead of me and I lost contact
Perhaps I was thinking too far ahead, with the 10 kilometre marker a psychological marker for me. From about the 7 kilometre mark, all I could think about was getting to that 10 km point, which seemed in my mind far away. Not sure why this point was so hard but I started to feel good again at around the 11 km mark. Also, it was a little windy through this first half of the race and when I lost contact with that group I was running mostly on my own. And it was on this section that the winner of the women's section passed me like I was standing still, which did not help my mood at that point. Even less the team mate of hers that was so obviously pacing her
Anyhoo, at the 10 km stage I was on 36:30 or just under. Pretty close to that anyway. From here on in, I started to pick up individual runners and started to drop those that had been around me intermittently including my track nemesis Dave Ulbrick from Melbourne Uni. Up to the Bridge Road turnaround for the second last time (13.5 kilometre mark) and I knew that crucial 15 km mark was coming up. In other races, I have hit the wall at this point, which has prompted a big increase in mileage these last two winter seasons
I tried to focus hard on the road in front of me and to put everything else out of my mind. And it seemed to work as the going seemed to get easier. Not sure what i went through the 15 km marker in, but I knew from about this point that I was on track for a personal best it was just a matter of by how much. I did have an idea there might even be a 76 in front of it.
Down to the Monash Freeway end for the last time and I saw one of our club members Margaret Cassidy ride by on her bike. She yelled out to me and I yelled out to her, "I'm going to do a PB here!" I must have been feeling good. I tend to do that - stupid banter - when I am feeling good in a race. Adrenalin fueled stupidity. Just one complete three kilometre stretch to the last turnaround and then home!
Tried to push the pace here and as this last up and back bit progressed I noticed that I was starting to pick up the runners I had let go in that group from earlier in the race. By this time, however they were all strung out. Went through the 18 kilometre mark and on the river path I saw AFL goalie Michael Hammond who had trained with Coburg a few years ago in order to get fit enough to make the fitness requirements the AFL demands. Hammo is now training for his first marathon! He was out on his long slow distance run for the week
Up to the last turnaround and I really tried to push even harder for that last 1600 metres home. Did take in my 20 km split as being 73:13. As I got closer to the finish, I could see on my watch that I was a chance to break 77 minutes, of course forgetting in my fatigue that I had to add ten or so seconds to the time. So as I crossed the line, I had in fact broken 77 minutes on the watch, but in the end officially credited with a time of 77:05. That was good enough for 46th place (or 52nd overall if you include invites, but I don't). My best ever placing in an AV event and a massive personal best by 42 seconds
So mission accomplished and those many long runs over the course of the winter, including three two hours runs in the last two months, made all the difference. A fitting reward for a winter of hard work. Our top team finished third - our second third placing of the year, so proud of the boys for that and even happier for our second men's team who also placed third and their second third placing for the year. And the women's team had their best result for the year with ninth place. Remarkable when you consider they had the ninth placed female and one of the last placed females in that team
Afterwards I enjoyed a hot shower in the skanky clubrooms - it's a shared facility with football and cricket. And while we waited for the pub to open that we had booked lunch at, we had a beer at the Royal Oak and that first taste was heaven! Then we went over to the Granf Hotel for a meal. We were in the beer garden, which was great as it had turned into a gorgeous September day. We were very fortunate
Enjoyed a very nice lunch on my brother-in-law who not only paid for my lunch but drinks as well and then he drove me and the children home. Bought some beers on the way, tucked the children into bed, and we settled in to watch the footy. Kylie went to the game and not a great result for her or my brother in law
Threw a couple of things together for the children's dinner and once they had wolfed that down, got them down to bed nice and early as Kylie and I settled in to watch Dr Who - me with a couple of glasses of red wine. The perfect end to what was a perfect day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres including warm up
Got a drink of water, then slowly got dressed as I pondered what the day would bring. I was on my way out the door to wait outside my house when Liam pulled up. Great timing. Hopefully a good sign of things to come
We picked up Brian from his house and took City Link into town, going through the Burnley tunnel and out onto Burnley Street and we were very soon at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. All up the journey took less than half an hour, which was very quick! Was very pleased with that as it allowed plenty of time to mingle and chat before doing my warm up
Did not want to leave a thing to chance. Went for a ten minute warm up and thought the body felt a bit heavy, not altogether that fresh. Then went for a nervous wee before going through a proper stretching routine - something I usually skimp on before a race. Was in the middle of that when Allan Cook from Western A's came over. He runs pro's like me and is also an ex-AFL boundary umpire so we have umpiring in common. Finished stretching and it was only five minutes to the start
Removed the rest of my warm up gear then wandered over to the start line. Pushed my way as close to the front as I could. The worst part about these races is sometimes I get caught at the back (usually because I am gas bagging) and have to work too hard to get clear. Not this time. So the starter gives a little spiel about the race and I am fiddling with my watch when ... BANG, the gun goes off. No warning. Shit! Start running but also fiddle with my watch for ten seconds befire I can get the thing started
So far as I could tell, through the first couple of kilometres in 3:35, which was a little quicker than I had intended. Still it felt reasonably comfortable and I tried to hang onto that pace. Went through the 5 km mark in 18:05 or thereabouts. It was in this period that I started to feel that things were starting to get a little tougher and I hit a flat spot. I had been keeping in tough with a group through these early stages and they started to pull ahead of me and I lost contact
Perhaps I was thinking too far ahead, with the 10 kilometre marker a psychological marker for me. From about the 7 kilometre mark, all I could think about was getting to that 10 km point, which seemed in my mind far away. Not sure why this point was so hard but I started to feel good again at around the 11 km mark. Also, it was a little windy through this first half of the race and when I lost contact with that group I was running mostly on my own. And it was on this section that the winner of the women's section passed me like I was standing still, which did not help my mood at that point. Even less the team mate of hers that was so obviously pacing her
Anyhoo, at the 10 km stage I was on 36:30 or just under. Pretty close to that anyway. From here on in, I started to pick up individual runners and started to drop those that had been around me intermittently including my track nemesis Dave Ulbrick from Melbourne Uni. Up to the Bridge Road turnaround for the second last time (13.5 kilometre mark) and I knew that crucial 15 km mark was coming up. In other races, I have hit the wall at this point, which has prompted a big increase in mileage these last two winter seasons
I tried to focus hard on the road in front of me and to put everything else out of my mind. And it seemed to work as the going seemed to get easier. Not sure what i went through the 15 km marker in, but I knew from about this point that I was on track for a personal best it was just a matter of by how much. I did have an idea there might even be a 76 in front of it.
Down to the Monash Freeway end for the last time and I saw one of our club members Margaret Cassidy ride by on her bike. She yelled out to me and I yelled out to her, "I'm going to do a PB here!" I must have been feeling good. I tend to do that - stupid banter - when I am feeling good in a race. Adrenalin fueled stupidity. Just one complete three kilometre stretch to the last turnaround and then home!
Tried to push the pace here and as this last up and back bit progressed I noticed that I was starting to pick up the runners I had let go in that group from earlier in the race. By this time, however they were all strung out. Went through the 18 kilometre mark and on the river path I saw AFL goalie Michael Hammond who had trained with Coburg a few years ago in order to get fit enough to make the fitness requirements the AFL demands. Hammo is now training for his first marathon! He was out on his long slow distance run for the week
Up to the last turnaround and I really tried to push even harder for that last 1600 metres home. Did take in my 20 km split as being 73:13. As I got closer to the finish, I could see on my watch that I was a chance to break 77 minutes, of course forgetting in my fatigue that I had to add ten or so seconds to the time. So as I crossed the line, I had in fact broken 77 minutes on the watch, but in the end officially credited with a time of 77:05. That was good enough for 46th place (or 52nd overall if you include invites, but I don't). My best ever placing in an AV event and a massive personal best by 42 seconds
So mission accomplished and those many long runs over the course of the winter, including three two hours runs in the last two months, made all the difference. A fitting reward for a winter of hard work. Our top team finished third - our second third placing of the year, so proud of the boys for that and even happier for our second men's team who also placed third and their second third placing for the year. And the women's team had their best result for the year with ninth place. Remarkable when you consider they had the ninth placed female and one of the last placed females in that team
Afterwards I enjoyed a hot shower in the skanky clubrooms - it's a shared facility with football and cricket. And while we waited for the pub to open that we had booked lunch at, we had a beer at the Royal Oak and that first taste was heaven! Then we went over to the Granf Hotel for a meal. We were in the beer garden, which was great as it had turned into a gorgeous September day. We were very fortunate
Enjoyed a very nice lunch on my brother-in-law who not only paid for my lunch but drinks as well and then he drove me and the children home. Bought some beers on the way, tucked the children into bed, and we settled in to watch the footy. Kylie went to the game and not a great result for her or my brother in law
Threw a couple of things together for the children's dinner and once they had wolfed that down, got them down to bed nice and early as Kylie and I settled in to watch Dr Who - me with a couple of glasses of red wine. The perfect end to what was a perfect day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 23 kilometres including warm up
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Rest day today ahead of the big race tomorrow morning
We had to go to a children's party at one of those Play Centre places, this time in Hawthorn. In fact, next door to my old kindergarten and across the road from the house where I spent that part of my childhood
I don't usually socialise well at these things - don't find that I have that much in common with the other parents. So I was quite happy to keep the baby entertained in the toddler's play area.
The children were quite ratty after a long play so we took them home after 2:00 pm for a sleep.
Cooked up my now traditional spaghetti bolognaise for pre-race dinner. I know the pasta theory was debunked long ago but it seems to work for me. Packed my bag and a couple of glasses of red wine later, I was ready for the big race
Even went to bed early, well earlier than usual anyway. Have a 6:30 am start with Liam picking me up, then super coach Brian in Pascoe Vale
TOTAL DISTANCE : short sprint to the bookcase to stop baby pulling off all the books
We had to go to a children's party at one of those Play Centre places, this time in Hawthorn. In fact, next door to my old kindergarten and across the road from the house where I spent that part of my childhood
I don't usually socialise well at these things - don't find that I have that much in common with the other parents. So I was quite happy to keep the baby entertained in the toddler's play area.
The children were quite ratty after a long play so we took them home after 2:00 pm for a sleep.
Cooked up my now traditional spaghetti bolognaise for pre-race dinner. I know the pasta theory was debunked long ago but it seems to work for me. Packed my bag and a couple of glasses of red wine later, I was ready for the big race
Even went to bed early, well earlier than usual anyway. Have a 6:30 am start with Liam picking me up, then super coach Brian in Pascoe Vale
TOTAL DISTANCE : short sprint to the bookcase to stop baby pulling off all the books
Friday, 5 September 2008
A very easy run toward work was the order of the day. Just a little thirty minute run today
Wanted to be close to a train station at the end of my run, so popped down to the Merri Creek bike path but hopped off at Bell Street where I crossed the road and ran up to Coburg Station. At that stage fifteen minutes had already elapsed
Managed to run from Coburg, past Moreland station and just past Anstey station before my time was up. My last run before Sunday's half marathon
Bought myself a bottle of wine on the way home, but wanted to make sure I had enough left over to have my traditional two glasses on the pre-HM night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Wanted to be close to a train station at the end of my run, so popped down to the Merri Creek bike path but hopped off at Bell Street where I crossed the road and ran up to Coburg Station. At that stage fifteen minutes had already elapsed
Managed to run from Coburg, past Moreland station and just past Anstey station before my time was up. My last run before Sunday's half marathon
Bought myself a bottle of wine on the way home, but wanted to make sure I had enough left over to have my traditional two glasses on the pre-HM night
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Last training session before Sunday's Half Marathon. Training with Brian tonight with Kylie and the children there as I was not anticipating it would a long night. I was wrong
Tonight's session was a three setter starting with a 2 km set, 600 m slow lap and short break. Then a 1 km set, 200 m slow lap and short break, then another 1 km set. These all had to be at Half Marathon pace
Did the 2 km set in 7:17 (3:39 and 3:38). The first 1 km set was at 3:32, the second set at 3:30
Had a few beers in the clubrooms and some of the children's leftover cold fish n chips before heading home to put grumpy children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Tonight's session was a three setter starting with a 2 km set, 600 m slow lap and short break. Then a 1 km set, 200 m slow lap and short break, then another 1 km set. These all had to be at Half Marathon pace
Did the 2 km set in 7:17 (3:39 and 3:38). The first 1 km set was at 3:32, the second set at 3:30
Had a few beers in the clubrooms and some of the children's leftover cold fish n chips before heading home to put grumpy children to bed
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
Run home from work tonight, or at least part of the way
The brief was to do a very easy, very slow thirty minute run. I made a really conscious effort to slow the pace down and as I ran through Princes Park I guaged my pace from the kilometre markers as at 4:45 pace
Given all my long runs should have been at this pace, I can see now that alot of my slow runs this winter should have been a lot easier than what they were, that I have been running at far too quick a pace
Anyhoo, got to St Georges road in a new personal worst time of 31:30 which is considerably slower than any time I have ever done to that point and that suited me just fine
Had some dinner, put the children to bed and then had to head over to the track for a meeting to discuss Moreland Council's plans for the track and the implications for our club into the future
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
The brief was to do a very easy, very slow thirty minute run. I made a really conscious effort to slow the pace down and as I ran through Princes Park I guaged my pace from the kilometre markers as at 4:45 pace
Given all my long runs should have been at this pace, I can see now that alot of my slow runs this winter should have been a lot easier than what they were, that I have been running at far too quick a pace
Anyhoo, got to St Georges road in a new personal worst time of 31:30 which is considerably slower than any time I have ever done to that point and that suited me just fine
Had some dinner, put the children to bed and then had to head over to the track for a meeting to discuss Moreland Council's plans for the track and the implications for our club into the future
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Training was with Brian up at the track tonight and again Brian gave us an interesting session
There were two sets. The first set was a three kilometre continuous run with each kilometre to increase in intensity. However the first km had to be very easy, the second one slightly quicker and the third km quicker again but at half marathon pace
My first kilometre was easy enough at 4:10 pace, but the second one was way to quick at 3:40 and the last kilometre not too bad at 3:30. John Braszell was running with me through the first km, but he finished the set as we were supposed to
After a slow lap recovery and a very short break, we finished with a two kilometre set. Brazza paced me through 3:45 for the first kilometre, before I finished off with 3:15 for the second kilometre. Again way too fast, given it was supposed to be only a slight quickening of pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
There were two sets. The first set was a three kilometre continuous run with each kilometre to increase in intensity. However the first km had to be very easy, the second one slightly quicker and the third km quicker again but at half marathon pace
My first kilometre was easy enough at 4:10 pace, but the second one was way to quick at 3:40 and the last kilometre not too bad at 3:30. John Braszell was running with me through the first km, but he finished the set as we were supposed to
After a slow lap recovery and a very short break, we finished with a two kilometre set. Brazza paced me through 3:45 for the first kilometre, before I finished off with 3:15 for the second kilometre. Again way too fast, given it was supposed to be only a slight quickening of pace
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 6.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Monday, 1 September 2008
Run home from work today
Tried to go for yet another of my fruitless attempts at a tempo run. Did 13 minutes easy and was hoping to go twenty minutes steady.
Had to push a few red lights, but finally at Glenlyon Road I could not across and the clock stopped at 16 minutes. I was on the new (old) course of up Lygon Street from Park Street
Got home with 47 minutes on the watch so 13 easy, 16 steady, 18 easy in the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9.5 kilometres
Tried to go for yet another of my fruitless attempts at a tempo run. Did 13 minutes easy and was hoping to go twenty minutes steady.
Had to push a few red lights, but finally at Glenlyon Road I could not across and the clock stopped at 16 minutes. I was on the new (old) course of up Lygon Street from Park Street
Got home with 47 minutes on the watch so 13 easy, 16 steady, 18 easy in the end
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9.5 kilometres
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Rest Day Today
Hamish had a birthday party to go to at lunchtime, so in the morning I took him over to the old house and we did some cleaning up together. When it was time for the party, Kylie dropped me at our new house and I had some lunch
Once the party was over, Kylie dropped me at the old house and I finished up with the tidying as best I could. Then I was back home and feverishly trying to make sure the children were fed, washed and ready for bed before Dr Who
Got the last child into bed, just as the opening title sequence began. Kylie was over at my mothers watching Dr Who having just dropped her off. A pretty good episode
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten metres sprinting from the baby's room to the couch before I missed any Dr Who
Hamish had a birthday party to go to at lunchtime, so in the morning I took him over to the old house and we did some cleaning up together. When it was time for the party, Kylie dropped me at our new house and I had some lunch
Once the party was over, Kylie dropped me at the old house and I finished up with the tidying as best I could. Then I was back home and feverishly trying to make sure the children were fed, washed and ready for bed before Dr Who
Got the last child into bed, just as the opening title sequence began. Kylie was over at my mothers watching Dr Who having just dropped her off. A pretty good episode
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten metres sprinting from the baby's room to the couch before I missed any Dr Who
Saturday, 30 August 2008
My last very long slow boring run of the season. hooray!
Saw Kylie and the children off as they left to go shopping and watched a little cricket - Austalia v Bangladesh ODI - and played on the computer a bit before working up the courage to go for my run
From home, I ran down to the bike path and went for half an hour up towards Campbellfield. Quite a bit of that was running into a headwind, Then turned around and headed back towards the city for an hour, which took me from Fawkner down to Clifton Hill (or thereabouts)
Then there was just half an hour left of my last slow run of the season! In my enthusiasm I made the half hour trip back with a minute left so had to do a little bit extra at the finish
Had to do some work on getting our old rental ready for inspection so spent the rest of the day mowing, cleaning, shifting and throwing stuff into a skip. I didn't feel too bad after my run but as always it really hit me later that night. Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 25 kilometres
Saw Kylie and the children off as they left to go shopping and watched a little cricket - Austalia v Bangladesh ODI - and played on the computer a bit before working up the courage to go for my run
From home, I ran down to the bike path and went for half an hour up towards Campbellfield. Quite a bit of that was running into a headwind, Then turned around and headed back towards the city for an hour, which took me from Fawkner down to Clifton Hill (or thereabouts)
Then there was just half an hour left of my last slow run of the season! In my enthusiasm I made the half hour trip back with a minute left so had to do a little bit extra at the finish
Had to do some work on getting our old rental ready for inspection so spent the rest of the day mowing, cleaning, shifting and throwing stuff into a skip. I didn't feel too bad after my run but as always it really hit me later that night. Rest day tomorrow
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 25 kilometres
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, 29 August 2008
Brian wanted me to go for a forty minute easy run today. So after giving Madeleine her two weetbix for breakfast, I pulled the shorts on and began the run into work
Went onto the Merri Creek bike path and calculated that at the forty minute mark, I should be pretty close to Rushall station. Got to St Georges Road and realised that if I had continued on the bike path I would probably run over. So I ran down St Georges Rd to the Capital City Trail and ran to the station from there. All up 39 minutes
Felt fantastic for the rest of the day. Treated myself to a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Went onto the Merri Creek bike path and calculated that at the forty minute mark, I should be pretty close to Rushall station. Got to St Georges Road and realised that if I had continued on the bike path I would probably run over. So I ran down St Georges Rd to the Capital City Trail and ran to the station from there. All up 39 minutes
Felt fantastic for the rest of the day. Treated myself to a chicken schnitzel, cheese and coleslaw roll for lunch
TOTAL DISTANCE : about eight kilometres
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Training was with Brian tonight. A pretty easy session which was surprising as I thought our easy week on the track would be next week. A very different session too. I did this one when I came down to the club the first time about five years ago, but we haven't done it too often since
We jogged from the track and over to the back of Coburg Lake for a hill set on the bike path. There is an awesome hill there that goes up at about thirty degrees for some 150 metres or so. Brian put some flashing lights on the bike path (which was quite dark with no lighting there) and we were right to go
We did four long hills of about 120 metres with slow jog back down recovery. We then had a five minute slow jog and very short rest. The next set was four short hills of about 100 metres with slow jog back down recovery
Then it was jog back to the track. I found that I was able to maintain a strong pace for each effort and could probably have handled six repeats rather than four
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
We jogged from the track and over to the back of Coburg Lake for a hill set on the bike path. There is an awesome hill there that goes up at about thirty degrees for some 150 metres or so. Brian put some flashing lights on the bike path (which was quite dark with no lighting there) and we were right to go
We did four long hills of about 120 metres with slow jog back down recovery. We then had a five minute slow jog and very short rest. The next set was four short hills of about 100 metres with slow jog back down recovery
Then it was jog back to the track. I found that I was able to maintain a strong pace for each effort and could probably have handled six repeats rather than four
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 5.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Had a committee meeting tonight so wanted to get home at 6:30 pm to spend an hour with the children before they went to bed. Alas, I got an urgent work request right before I was about to leave so did not depart the office until almost 6:00 pm
This was the first run home to the new house, a back to the future as I would be taking the course I used to run when we lived in Coburg two years ago. I had to push the pace a bit as I wanted to make sure I spent some time at home. And I got stopped at every red light between work and Melbourne University
Took the usual course up behind the Vic Market, along Royal Pde to the other end of Princes Park and then hang a right into Park Street. Only at Lygon Street, I turned left and headed north towards Coburg
At Bell Street I went right and then left into Elizabeth, across Murray Road and up to my street. All told it was 46 minutes, but if I had done a proper slow run, probably would have been around 50 minutes
Quick dinner with the children, popped them down to bed and I was off to my meeting, albeit 15 minutes late
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
This was the first run home to the new house, a back to the future as I would be taking the course I used to run when we lived in Coburg two years ago. I had to push the pace a bit as I wanted to make sure I spent some time at home. And I got stopped at every red light between work and Melbourne University
Took the usual course up behind the Vic Market, along Royal Pde to the other end of Princes Park and then hang a right into Park Street. Only at Lygon Street, I turned left and headed north towards Coburg
At Bell Street I went right and then left into Elizabeth, across Murray Road and up to my street. All told it was 46 minutes, but if I had done a proper slow run, probably would have been around 50 minutes
Quick dinner with the children, popped them down to bed and I was off to my meeting, albeit 15 minutes late
TOTAL DISTANCE : about ten kilometres
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Training was with Brian today and the second last week before the Half Marathon. An interesting set today with three sets of five laps
The first set was supposed to be steady 150 metres at no more than 10 km pace, with easy jog 50 metre recovery. John Braszell and I worked together for this one and for a lark I decided to time one of our efforts on the second lap. Shocked to discover it was at 24 seconds for the 150. While we seemed to be pushing the pace a bit, I didn't think it was that fast - basically equal to a 64 second 400 metre lap. I timed another effort in lap 4 with the same result. So at the end of that set, I was certainly maintaining my 800 metre pace, and John Braszell was on his 400 metre pace! We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The next set was a little tougher, at least for me. We had to do five laps of surging every second lane barrier, but only float between each effort so no slow jog. Managed to pull consistent 85 second laps for these which I think was fairly good, although i think the float should have felt a tad easier than it did. We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The last set run the bends and slow jog the straights. We have long bends at Coburg, so this works out at being 120 metre efforts with only 80 metres recovery. A few laps slow jog and it was off home to the new house. It's now a ten minute walk home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
The first set was supposed to be steady 150 metres at no more than 10 km pace, with easy jog 50 metre recovery. John Braszell and I worked together for this one and for a lark I decided to time one of our efforts on the second lap. Shocked to discover it was at 24 seconds for the 150. While we seemed to be pushing the pace a bit, I didn't think it was that fast - basically equal to a 64 second 400 metre lap. I timed another effort in lap 4 with the same result. So at the end of that set, I was certainly maintaining my 800 metre pace, and John Braszell was on his 400 metre pace! We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The next set was a little tougher, at least for me. We had to do five laps of surging every second lane barrier, but only float between each effort so no slow jog. Managed to pull consistent 85 second laps for these which I think was fairly good, although i think the float should have felt a tad easier than it did. We had a few minutes break and then back into it
The last set run the bends and slow jog the straights. We have long bends at Coburg, so this works out at being 120 metre efforts with only 80 metres recovery. A few laps slow jog and it was off home to the new house. It's now a ten minute walk home
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, August 29, 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
The move went exceedingly well today. Only took them two hours to pack the truck, but boy will there be quite the clean up of all the stuff left behind that we did not have time to pack
I procrastinated in the house after everyone left before I went for my run. I just tidied things here and there, put things in bins and generally did bits and pieces to put my run off as long as I could
Finally off and I was going to try for 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes steady, 10 minutes easy to finish off. Not quite the way it panned out however. In the end, I did about 11 minutes easy, 17 minutes hard, and 12 minutes easy to finish off. On sitting down and evaluating that, I think I started off steady off but finished off way too hard.
The first half of the steady didn't feel too bad but I think if I had kept going for the full ten minutes on the way back, I would have finished closer to home than when I started. I suspect I did the last half of the steady way too fast and definitely explains why I woosed out at the 17 minute mark.
Went back and did some more cleaning up before Kylie and I picked up the children from child care and we went to our new local pizza restaurant on Murray Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
I procrastinated in the house after everyone left before I went for my run. I just tidied things here and there, put things in bins and generally did bits and pieces to put my run off as long as I could
Finally off and I was going to try for 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes steady, 10 minutes easy to finish off. Not quite the way it panned out however. In the end, I did about 11 minutes easy, 17 minutes hard, and 12 minutes easy to finish off. On sitting down and evaluating that, I think I started off steady off but finished off way too hard.
The first half of the steady didn't feel too bad but I think if I had kept going for the full ten minutes on the way back, I would have finished closer to home than when I started. I suspect I did the last half of the steady way too fast and definitely explains why I woosed out at the 17 minute mark.
Went back and did some more cleaning up before Kylie and I picked up the children from child care and we went to our new local pizza restaurant on Murray Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Rest day today and a big packing effort ahead of moving day tomorrow
Spent the morning at the club assisting with the fun run, then it was off home to put tired children to bed just after their lunch
I bathed them while Kylie cooked them dinner and they were all in their beds for the evening with barely enough time to spare before Dr Who. Phew!
Going for a forty minute run tomorrow after the removalists have finished loading up their truck and are off unloading it at our new premises
Spent the morning at the club assisting with the fun run, then it was off home to put tired children to bed just after their lunch
I bathed them while Kylie cooked them dinner and they were all in their beds for the evening with barely enough time to spare before Dr Who. Phew!
Going for a forty minute run tomorrow after the removalists have finished loading up their truck and are off unloading it at our new premises
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Was supposed to go for a long run today - a two hour slow run. After six days straight of running tomorrow was to be a rest day
I wanted to coincide my run with the Princes Park club run, but left home a little late (as usual). Got to the start line at Princes Park about ten minutes after my scheduled start time. It was tough going for the next half or so and I just couldn't relax or get into a good rhythm
I did a couple laps of Princes Park and lost count after a while. Started to feel good through the start of the second hour until about 20 minutes from the end, which I think was just the anticipation of finishing making the seconds and minutes drag along
As I was going I timed every kilometre or so and was stunned to find I was running between 4:05 - 4:25 per kilometre. I was bitterly disappointed to find I was running at such a "cracking" slow run pace, as I should really have been around the 4:40 mark.
Still, it felt just this side of comfortable without feeling like I was pushing too hard. But there was definitely a feeling of push there. Nevertheless, I ran a PB last year running a two hour run beforehand at this pace, so hopefully that's a good sign for two week's time
And boy was I glad to finish. Picked up a few flags from the club run and stopped for a bit of a chat with the guys and Liam gave me a lift home. A lighter moment towards the end of my run where he decided to tag along as part of his warm down and the pace was too hot for him. Funny, in a sad kinda way I guess. I really should have been running much slower. At least with all the pace verifying I was able to do, this slow run's total kilometres will be much more accurate rather than just my averaging it out at 5 min/km which does understate the distance
Off home to do some more packing and cook the children their dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 27 kilometres
I wanted to coincide my run with the Princes Park club run, but left home a little late (as usual). Got to the start line at Princes Park about ten minutes after my scheduled start time. It was tough going for the next half or so and I just couldn't relax or get into a good rhythm
I did a couple laps of Princes Park and lost count after a while. Started to feel good through the start of the second hour until about 20 minutes from the end, which I think was just the anticipation of finishing making the seconds and minutes drag along
As I was going I timed every kilometre or so and was stunned to find I was running between 4:05 - 4:25 per kilometre. I was bitterly disappointed to find I was running at such a "cracking" slow run pace, as I should really have been around the 4:40 mark.
Still, it felt just this side of comfortable without feeling like I was pushing too hard. But there was definitely a feeling of push there. Nevertheless, I ran a PB last year running a two hour run beforehand at this pace, so hopefully that's a good sign for two week's time
And boy was I glad to finish. Picked up a few flags from the club run and stopped for a bit of a chat with the guys and Liam gave me a lift home. A lighter moment towards the end of my run where he decided to tag along as part of his warm down and the pace was too hot for him. Funny, in a sad kinda way I guess. I really should have been running much slower. At least with all the pace verifying I was able to do, this slow run's total kilometres will be much more accurate rather than just my averaging it out at 5 min/km which does understate the distance
Off home to do some more packing and cook the children their dinner
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 27 kilometres
Friday, 22 August 2008
Easy run into work today. Was debating all the way into town whether to extend the run a bit given this was a lighter week in terms of mileage. But I got to near the train station and decided to hop on there instead. So just under thirty minutes all up
Got to Park Street and again it seemed a little quicker than usual. Suddenly I was pushing the pace a bit for some reason. Got to Royal Parade and kept on going through to Jewell station where I just made the train
Very busy day at work, but had long lunch to go to. Consumed more than a few glasses of red and stumbled back to work to put in a few more hours. In the end, the others left the restaurant to go on a pub crawl so I missed out big time. Bugger!
Instead, I went to the pub after work and downed a few pints before going home to find the mother-in-law in residence. Not a great way to end the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Got to Park Street and again it seemed a little quicker than usual. Suddenly I was pushing the pace a bit for some reason. Got to Royal Parade and kept on going through to Jewell station where I just made the train
Very busy day at work, but had long lunch to go to. Consumed more than a few glasses of red and stumbled back to work to put in a few more hours. In the end, the others left the restaurant to go on a pub crawl so I missed out big time. Bugger!
Instead, I went to the pub after work and downed a few pints before going home to find the mother-in-law in residence. Not a great way to end the day
TOTAL DISTANCE : about six kilometres
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Very interesting session with Brian tonight. The instruction was to run 200 metres solid with your choice of recovery in between over a period of 12.5 minutes. That was the first set and then to repeat for the second set
I started out doing 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery but when it became apparent that Liam Magee was doing shorter recoveries, I shortened mine to about 80 metres
We had a long break in between and then it was into the second set with more of the same. This time, I decided I would go 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery and Liam evidently thought this was a good idea as he did the same
Not sure how many laps I did all up, but it kinda averaged out to around 38 seconds for the 200 and about 80 seconds for the recovery
Had dinner afterwards with Liam which was great and we chatted about an opportunity for recruitment through the local African population. Definitely something worth chasing up through the city of darebin or moreland through the refugee centre off Sydney Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm down
I started out doing 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery but when it became apparent that Liam Magee was doing shorter recoveries, I shortened mine to about 80 metres
We had a long break in between and then it was into the second set with more of the same. This time, I decided I would go 200 metre efforts with 100 metres recovery and Liam evidently thought this was a good idea as he did the same
Not sure how many laps I did all up, but it kinda averaged out to around 38 seconds for the 200 and about 80 seconds for the recovery
Had dinner afterwards with Liam which was great and we chatted about an opportunity for recruitment through the local African population. Definitely something worth chasing up through the city of darebin or moreland through the refugee centre off Sydney Road
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres including warm down
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Ran home from work tonight
It was just an easy 45 minute run that didn't feel very easy. Felt a bit sick in the tummy and my shin was a bit sore so took ages to get into it
Was running a bit late to get home by the 6:15 pm I said I would be home, so had to push it all the way up St Georges Rd
Got home to see my Uncle Chris visiting from London which was nice. Less nice was seeing my mother-in-law also visiting, to help Kylie with packing for our move
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
It was just an easy 45 minute run that didn't feel very easy. Felt a bit sick in the tummy and my shin was a bit sore so took ages to get into it
Was running a bit late to get home by the 6:15 pm I said I would be home, so had to push it all the way up St Georges Rd
Got home to see my Uncle Chris visiting from London which was nice. Less nice was seeing my mother-in-law also visiting, to help Kylie with packing for our move
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 9 kilometres
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Training was with Brian at the track tonight. Similar session to one we did a while ago, with a bit of a twist at the start
First set was a five lap effort where we had to increase the pace each lap. Brian said he wanted us to be at our ten kilometre race pace for the fastest lap. While I did start nice and slow with a 90 second first lap, by the end of it I was really having to push to increase the pace. Ended up with a 79 second last lap, which was actually my 3 km race pace. I am sure Brian sets these sessions for a good reason and like an idiot I always seem to ignore the instruction. Had a one lap recovery and a bit of rest before the next stanza
The second set was a steady one kilometre effort. I wanted to go at my five kilometre pace which was the ultimate aim, but in reality I just wanted to run a nice, steady consistent effort. Tried to run just a little within myself with nice loose arms and a good stride. Ended up with 3:13 which is on my 3 km PB pace. A lap recovery before wandering over to the start of our next effort
The last set Brian wanted us to meet our 1 km race pace but maintain it for five laps to give a 2 km effort. I decided to give my watch to Brian for this set as I didn't want to get distracted from my goal of just running that consistent effort
It turned out to be a good idea. I went through the first kilometre in 3:09, still feeling good and had a bit left to try to finish strong. When I crossed the line I had 6:18, which would be a 2 km PB and I was very pleased that I had doubled up on a pair of 3:09's. If I can carry that kind of form into the summer, hopefully I can break my 3 km PB and even think about giving the 5 km PB a bit of a crack
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres including warm down
First set was a five lap effort where we had to increase the pace each lap. Brian said he wanted us to be at our ten kilometre race pace for the fastest lap. While I did start nice and slow with a 90 second first lap, by the end of it I was really having to push to increase the pace. Ended up with a 79 second last lap, which was actually my 3 km race pace. I am sure Brian sets these sessions for a good reason and like an idiot I always seem to ignore the instruction. Had a one lap recovery and a bit of rest before the next stanza
The second set was a steady one kilometre effort. I wanted to go at my five kilometre pace which was the ultimate aim, but in reality I just wanted to run a nice, steady consistent effort. Tried to run just a little within myself with nice loose arms and a good stride. Ended up with 3:13 which is on my 3 km PB pace. A lap recovery before wandering over to the start of our next effort
The last set Brian wanted us to meet our 1 km race pace but maintain it for five laps to give a 2 km effort. I decided to give my watch to Brian for this set as I didn't want to get distracted from my goal of just running that consistent effort
It turned out to be a good idea. I went through the first kilometre in 3:09, still feeling good and had a bit left to try to finish strong. When I crossed the line I had 6:18, which would be a 2 km PB and I was very pleased that I had doubled up on a pair of 3:09's. If I can carry that kind of form into the summer, hopefully I can break my 3 km PB and even think about giving the 5 km PB a bit of a crack
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 8 kilometres including warm down
Monday, 18 August 2008
Had to stay home from work this morning, so Kylie could get half a day in at her own work
We did the switch at kunchtime and I went into work for a half day. Problem was, I am so busy at work, that I did not get to leave until 7:30 pm
Decided on a 75 minute or roughly 15 kilometre run home. I am pretty certain that my slow runs are generally in the 4:30 - 4:45 range, but it just makes it easier to average it out at 5 min/km pace
Ran the usual route, but added a loop of Princes Park and also went onto the Merri Creek bike path from St Georges Rd
All up about 74 minutes and job done. While I probably should have done a two hour run, I stuffed up my program whereby, I have ended up with five weeks of long runs before the Half Marathon. So have decided to split this up with three long run weeks, one shorter run week, then two longer runs into the HM. So this Saturday will do two hours, the following weekend two hours and then the following weekend is the Half. I did do a 26 km run on the Sunday before the Half last year and ran a PB, so hopefully this will work again. Have looked at two Advanced HM training programs and they both have 2 hour runs the weekend before the race. Hopefully this short week won't cost me
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 15 kilometres
We did the switch at kunchtime and I went into work for a half day. Problem was, I am so busy at work, that I did not get to leave until 7:30 pm
Decided on a 75 minute or roughly 15 kilometre run home. I am pretty certain that my slow runs are generally in the 4:30 - 4:45 range, but it just makes it easier to average it out at 5 min/km pace
Ran the usual route, but added a loop of Princes Park and also went onto the Merri Creek bike path from St Georges Rd
All up about 74 minutes and job done. While I probably should have done a two hour run, I stuffed up my program whereby, I have ended up with five weeks of long runs before the Half Marathon. So have decided to split this up with three long run weeks, one shorter run week, then two longer runs into the HM. So this Saturday will do two hours, the following weekend two hours and then the following weekend is the Half. I did do a 26 km run on the Sunday before the Half last year and ran a PB, so hopefully this will work again. Have looked at two Advanced HM training programs and they both have 2 hour runs the weekend before the race. Hopefully this short week won't cost me
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 15 kilometres
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Was supposed to go for a slow run today, but after getting home very late last night with the children after the Trivia Night I was very tired and surprisingly sore. I was one of the organising committee for the night - a committee consisting of me, Kylie and Brian. I entertained the children briefly and made sure they were all being good while Kylie and Brian got on with the business of making oodles of money for the club.
And we raised quite a bit of cash so very pleased about that despite the disappointing turn out of only four tables - and one of those from little aths, so pretty poor performance from our club members
Anyhoo, I was feeling pretty dispirited and low due ot the tiredness and very heavy legs that I was feeling. The course yesterday was very heavy and parts of it were under water, so must have taken more out of me than I had expected. No wonder I spent parts of last night just crumpled into a chair. A big day
So after the big night before where two children did not sleep until almost midnight, we made sure all the children had morning sleeps to try to catch up, which they did. Unfortunately, Amelia was sick on the kitchen floor after breakfast so she will have to stay home from child care tomorrow
And we raised quite a bit of cash so very pleased about that despite the disappointing turn out of only four tables - and one of those from little aths, so pretty poor performance from our club members
Anyhoo, I was feeling pretty dispirited and low due ot the tiredness and very heavy legs that I was feeling. The course yesterday was very heavy and parts of it were under water, so must have taken more out of me than I had expected. No wonder I spent parts of last night just crumpled into a chair. A big day
So after the big night before where two children did not sleep until almost midnight, we made sure all the children had morning sleeps to try to catch up, which they did. Unfortunately, Amelia was sick on the kitchen floor after breakfast so she will have to stay home from child care tomorrow
Saturday, 16 August - Club XC Champs
The Championships
Felt a bit tired today which did not bode well for the big race. We did some shopping for the club Trivia Night to be held later in the evening and headed round to the track
Did a little warm up as I helped to flag the course and in no time at all race time was at hand. I had been very nervous about this all week as Liam Magee was also taking part and he had had a strong week on the track
Bolted from the gun and tried to get into an easy rhythm. From the start I established a break on Liam and after the first lap, which was 12:23 on the watch, I had about a 40 second gap.
Started to struggle on the second lap and I was starting to worry about the distance between Liam and myself. Did a quick check at the four kilometre mark and could just see him coming through the trees about 400 metres away. From here I just tried to go steady up the hills and push the flat and downhill sections. At the two kilometre mark of each lap there is a loop section where you can guage how far you are from other runners. I reached this point and was gratified to see that Liam had fallen a little bit further behind
Went through the bell lap recording 12:53 on the watch for the third lap and 25:16 race time. An anxious look behind me and I saw that Liam was now about 1:15 in arrears. Either I was feeling like I was home at this point, or the course was starting to take a toll on the legs, but for whatever reason I took the hills a little easier this time while still trying to stride out the flats and downhills
Came home recording 13:15 for the last lap and finish in 38:31 with Liam only 1:15 behind and it appears we may have recorded the same time over the last lap
So in the end another of my goals accomplished for the season and I have now won four Club Cross Country Championships in a row. Somehow, I don't think that at the age of 34 next time this race is run I will have things all my own way with Liam having a full year of training under his belt and the ever improving Josh Traine and Josh Persson getting fitter and stronger. But number 5 is definitely one to try for in 2009
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres including warm up and down
Felt a bit tired today which did not bode well for the big race. We did some shopping for the club Trivia Night to be held later in the evening and headed round to the track
Did a little warm up as I helped to flag the course and in no time at all race time was at hand. I had been very nervous about this all week as Liam Magee was also taking part and he had had a strong week on the track
Bolted from the gun and tried to get into an easy rhythm. From the start I established a break on Liam and after the first lap, which was 12:23 on the watch, I had about a 40 second gap.
Started to struggle on the second lap and I was starting to worry about the distance between Liam and myself. Did a quick check at the four kilometre mark and could just see him coming through the trees about 400 metres away. From here I just tried to go steady up the hills and push the flat and downhill sections. At the two kilometre mark of each lap there is a loop section where you can guage how far you are from other runners. I reached this point and was gratified to see that Liam had fallen a little bit further behind
Went through the bell lap recording 12:53 on the watch for the third lap and 25:16 race time. An anxious look behind me and I saw that Liam was now about 1:15 in arrears. Either I was feeling like I was home at this point, or the course was starting to take a toll on the legs, but for whatever reason I took the hills a little easier this time while still trying to stride out the flats and downhills
Came home recording 13:15 for the last lap and finish in 38:31 with Liam only 1:15 behind and it appears we may have recorded the same time over the last lap
So in the end another of my goals accomplished for the season and I have now won four Club Cross Country Championships in a row. Somehow, I don't think that at the age of 34 next time this race is run I will have things all my own way with Liam having a full year of training under his belt and the ever improving Josh Traine and Josh Persson getting fitter and stronger. But number 5 is definitely one to try for in 2009
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 11 kilometres including warm up and down
Friday, 15 August 2008
Rest day today ahead of the Club's Cross Country Championships tomorrow
We had a farewell at work today, so drank about six stubbies before stumbling onto the tram and didn't get home until 7:45 pm
Ate some dinner, and settled in front of the television for the night with a long neck
We had a farewell at work today, so drank about six stubbies before stumbling onto the tram and didn't get home until 7:45 pm
Ate some dinner, and settled in front of the television for the night with a long neck
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Training was with Brian up at the track today
Interesting little session this one. We had to do two sets. Each consisted of run 2 minutes, 1 minute rest, run 1.5 minutes, 1 minute rest, 1 minute run, 1 minute rest, then repeat. A short break and we were straight into the second set
In the first set, pretty sure my repeated efforts were further than the first half. As for the second set, I went out way too hard in the first two minute effort and had to pull back a bit. I was trying for 80 seconds a lap and ripped out 72 through the first lap. Very silly
The last half of that second set was pretty hard and had to dig deep a bit to finish it off. I almost walked the recovery before that last one minute effort
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres
Interesting little session this one. We had to do two sets. Each consisted of run 2 minutes, 1 minute rest, run 1.5 minutes, 1 minute rest, 1 minute run, 1 minute rest, then repeat. A short break and we were straight into the second set
In the first set, pretty sure my repeated efforts were further than the first half. As for the second set, I went out way too hard in the first two minute effort and had to pull back a bit. I was trying for 80 seconds a lap and ripped out 72 through the first lap. Very silly
The last half of that second set was pretty hard and had to dig deep a bit to finish it off. I almost walked the recovery before that last one minute effort
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7.5 kilometres
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Ran home from work tonight. Pretty uneventful run, except that it was pretty cold
Turned it into a semi-tempo run with a ten minute surge from the start of Princes Park, up to Park Street then along to Nicholson Street
Got home in around 45 minutes or so, a couple of minutes quicker than normal
Total Distance : about nine kilometres
Turned it into a semi-tempo run with a ten minute surge from the start of Princes Park, up to Park Street then along to Nicholson Street
Got home in around 45 minutes or so, a couple of minutes quicker than normal
Total Distance : about nine kilometres
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Kylie had a meeting to go to tonight, so I had to train at work today. Work has been really busy lately so I have been coming in earlier to keep up with it all. As a result, only got six hours sleep last night, which was not ideal after having gone for a two hour run earlier that day
The day at least started well with my morning scales ritual revealing I am the lightest I have been since I was in my early twenties, with a reading of 60.4 kg. Bit of a surprise considering how much after dinner cheese and bikkies I consumed last night
Met up with Brian at Exhibition St and we jogged over to the Tan for some 500's. We were to have 250 metres recovery between each one. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and a bit sore after yesterday's run so I wasn't sure how I would go with seven of these to do. Actually, I think I got off pretty easy as Brian usually makes us do eight when at the track and with much less recovery
Peeled off the first one at 1:33 and had a bit of extra recovery while I waited for Brian to finish his rep. The next rep started about 100 metres from the corner and then up Anderson Street - all the way to the top! That one understandably was around the 1:43 mark
Waited for Brian to catch up (and scored a little extra recovery) and then we jogged to the next start. From here I didn't wait for Brian and did the last five with just very slow jog recovery between each.
Missed the next couple on the watch, but the fifth one was 1:37 (strange, I must have slacked off there), and I scored some extra recovery because that fifth rep started at the 3 kilometre marker for the effort, finished at 3.5 km, then it was 330 metres back to the start post. Recorded 1:27 on the sixth one and the last one I did about 1:29
So happy with those reps, but the session was all over the place in terms of recovery so not sure if it was a beneficial session. I guess the consistent times tell the story. Jogged back in pouring rain and had a nice hot shower
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
The day at least started well with my morning scales ritual revealing I am the lightest I have been since I was in my early twenties, with a reading of 60.4 kg. Bit of a surprise considering how much after dinner cheese and bikkies I consumed last night
Met up with Brian at Exhibition St and we jogged over to the Tan for some 500's. We were to have 250 metres recovery between each one. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and a bit sore after yesterday's run so I wasn't sure how I would go with seven of these to do. Actually, I think I got off pretty easy as Brian usually makes us do eight when at the track and with much less recovery
Peeled off the first one at 1:33 and had a bit of extra recovery while I waited for Brian to finish his rep. The next rep started about 100 metres from the corner and then up Anderson Street - all the way to the top! That one understandably was around the 1:43 mark
Waited for Brian to catch up (and scored a little extra recovery) and then we jogged to the next start. From here I didn't wait for Brian and did the last five with just very slow jog recovery between each.
Missed the next couple on the watch, but the fifth one was 1:37 (strange, I must have slacked off there), and I scored some extra recovery because that fifth rep started at the 3 kilometre marker for the effort, finished at 3.5 km, then it was 330 metres back to the start post. Recorded 1:27 on the sixth one and the last one I did about 1:29
So happy with those reps, but the session was all over the place in terms of recovery so not sure if it was a beneficial session. I guess the consistent times tell the story. Jogged back in pouring rain and had a nice hot shower
TOTAL DISTANCE : about 7 kilometres including warm up and down
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